In a season filled with mind-numbing conference officiating moments, it’s only appropriate the ACC Championship game ended with an egregiously bad call.
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Heisman Trophy hopeful Deshaun Watson threw for 289 yards and three touchdowns and ran for two scores, and No. 1 Clemson captured the ACC championship by holding off 10th-ranked North Carolina 45-37 on Saturday night.
On the game’s first drive the Tigers ran the ball at will against the UNC defense, but a key stop on 3rd-and-8 led to a 47-yard field goal by kicker Greg Huegel that came up just short.
The Tar Heels managed to recover from their season-opening loss to SC and go on to have one of the most successful seasons in North Carolina history.
Clemson punter Andy Teasdall has not officially cost the Tigers the ACC Championship, but there’s a great chance that he will become the goat if they lose to North Carolina. “What a crowd. It felt like a home crowd and I just can’t thank our fans enough”. “It’s just the way it is”.
The Tigers have some of the best college defensive players on their squad and they’ll need them to be on top form against an explosive UNC offense when we watch the ACC Championship game live streaming or on TV.
Trailing 42-30, North Carolina reached the Clemson 36-yard line with less than seven minutes to play before Williams fumbled on a sack.
Most of the championship-game record 74,514 fans on hand were pulling for Clemson, which wrapped up a spot in the title game almost a month ago.
Now any hopes of getting into the college football playoffs has diminished for the Tar Heels. He caught a 16-yard pass from Watson in the first quarter for Clemson’s first score. “Everybody was saying we’re still in it. That’s what I love”.
Clemson’s Christian Wilkins tackles North Carolina quarterback Marquise Williams (12) during the second half of the Atlantic Coast Conference championship NCAA college football game in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015. Or the fact that Clemson had several bogus personal foul calls. The Tar Heels came back from a 21-14 hole (after trailing 21-0 earlier) to defeat Georgia Tech on October 3. Our guys fought all the way till the end and it felt like we were in it all the way to the end.
UNC started the second half fast, moving the ball down field with runs and a 25-yard pass to Mack Hollins that got the Tar Heels down to Clemson’s 16 yard line.
Clemson marched 96 yards on 12 plays to go back ahead, with Watson running 9 yards for the score.
The Tar Heels had pulled to within eight points with 1:13 remaining on Ryan Switzer’s second scoring reception of the game.
Of course, it’s important to note that, even if that call had not been made and UNC had gotten the ball back, there’s hardly any guarantee that the Tar Heels would have scored. He did this on a 4th-and-15 play and only gained four yards.
Clemson took the lead back with 10:35 left in the second quarter with a Deshaun Watson nine-yard run into the end zone.
SAN DIEGO – Donny Hageman kicked a 46-yard field goal with 5:10 to go and San Diego State beat Air Force 27-24 to win the Mountain West Conference championship, the Aztecs’ first outright title since 1986. UNC recovered the kick. “They were wrong. That’s all I’m going to say about it”.
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Just after Williams finally appeared to regain his form, he was intercepted by Cordrea Tankersley at the Clemson 3.
