The 49-yard kick was good, ending Clemson’s ideal season with a 43-42 victory in Death Valley.
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All they need is one more win.
Pitt immediately took over on downs, easily threw the ball on Clemson to get into field position and nailed a 48-yard game-winner with a couple seconds left on the lock.
According to oddsmakers at BetDSI, Clemson is favored at home, as the Tigers are getting odds of -20.5 points against Pittsburgh.
Clemson had won 21 consecutive home games at Memorial Stadium – the longest streak in the FBS before Saturday’s stunning loss – which will likely affect the Tigers’ Playoff positioning where they were No. 2 last week.
Clemson junior wide receiver Mike Williams set career highs with 15 receptions for 202 yards and a touchdown while fellow receiver Artavis Scott had 125 yards on 13 catches, but the Tigers’ running game struggled, accumulating only 50 yards.
Watson threw for an ACC record 580 yards and three touchdowns for Clemson (9-1, 6-1). “Just have to keep our heads up, realize not everybody’s ideal”.
Things couldn’t have started on a much better note for Pittsburgh. We tried to sprinkle in the run, and we just didn’t have time to sit there and go 1 and 2 yard gains.
No. 17 OKLAHOMA STATE 45, TEXAS TECH 44 (at Stillwater, Okla.) -Clayton Hatfield missed the PAT after Quinton White’s 1-yard TD for the Red Raiders (4-6, 2-5 Big 12) with 1:39 left, and the Cowboys (8-2, 6-1) escaped. FB wunderkind George Aston didn’t have a single attempt on the ground, but had two touchdowns by halftime, scoring on a 15-yard shovel pass and a 1-yard catch in the back of the end zone on 4th and goal from the half yard line.
Swinney didn’t hesitate to go for it, but Gallman came up short on fourth down, and the Panthers took over with 58 seconds remaining. The career performance was marred by an interception and fumble, but the Tide’s dominating defense made sure the miscues didn’t matter too much. We had been making those kinds of plays this year, so give them credit. Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades was at Missouri past year when the Tigers passed on a bowl invite when it was going through a coaching search. In addition, the Panthers missed an extra point in the second quarter, which looked like it would be the difference in the ball game.
Until playing Pitt, the Tigers had been unbeaten, but a lot of their wins came in alarming last-minute scrambles.Their season-opening win over Auburn ended with the other Tigers hurling the ball unsuccessfully into the end zone. We are going to get better and have a good team.
Clemson’s re-manned defense, which lost seven starters from previous year, including six taken in the last National Football League draft, was also gashed by the Panthers.
Reed scored 19 points, including seven straight during a crucial second-half stretch, to lead the Tigers to a 74-64 victory over Georgia at re-opened Littlejohn Coliseum on Friday night.
Watson said it’s essential that Clemson regain its swagger and finish strong.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about finishing”. If Clemson wins this game, it will clinch the Atlantic, since one of its remaining games is against a non-conference team, SC of the SEC in Week 13.
The Demon Deacons are bowl eldgible already but they now look to crush the hopes and upset one of the most dynamic teams in the nation this season in Louisville. The college football odds for the game have the Tigers favored to pick up the win by a comfortable margin.
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Alas, that did not happen, so the playoff committee is highly unlikely to catapult Louisville over the team it lost to, especially if both teams end the season with the same record and Clemson has a conference championship to its name. “I believe that adversity builds character and reveals it”.
