With an ACC Championship record 56-yard game-winning Nolan Hauser field goal as time expired, the Clemson Tigers stunned the SMU Mustangs, 34-31, as time expired Saturday night at Bank of America Stadium to land a spot in the College Football Playoff.
Welcome back to the CFP, Clemson. It’s been a while.
The Tigers (10-2 overall) got out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter and led 24-7 at halftime, then had to hang on for its postseason life when SMU (10-2) quarterback Kevin Jennings rallied the Mustangs back from a 17-point deficit entering the fourth quarter to tie the game at 31-31 with only 16 seconds remaining in regulation.
Overtime? Forget that, Clemson said.
Here’s how the Tigers pulled off a thrilling win over SMU and punched their ticket to the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2020.
Clemson special teams shined with game on the line
When SMU tied the game with 16 seconds left on a four-yard touchdown pass from Jennings to Roderick Daniels, it looked like things were destined for overtime. Only Clemson’s Adam Randall returned the ensuing kickoff 41 yards to give Cade Klubnik and the Tigers’ offense a shot at getting into field goal range.
Klubnik hit Antonio Williams for 17 yards and a first down to the Mustangs’ 39-yard line with three seconds to play. Hauser showed nerves of steel after previously missing a 43-yard field goal in the first half when the Tigers’ protection on the left side of the offensive line broke down — a troubling and recurring theme for Dabo Swinney’s team all season long.
Hauser closed out the Tigers’ scoring in the first half by hitting a 44-yard field goal that made the score 24-7 at intermission.
Bryant Wesco had a career night on his biggest stage yet
Cade Klubnik to Bryant Wesco. It was a familiar and much welcomed sight for Clemson fans Saturday night. Wesco exploded for 142 yards and two touchdowns on eight catches — all career-bests.
After stud defensive end T.J. Parker forced a Jennings fumble on the Ponies’ first drive, Clemson took over at the SMU 33-yard line. Klubnik soon hit Wesco on a wide-open 35-yard touchdown pass. Wesco made the grab inside the 20 and waltzed into the end-zone for a quick 7-0 lead just 1:25 into the game.
Clemson’s defense forced a three-and-out and the offense took over in a great spot at the SMU 28-yard line. Wesco’s electric start continued when he took a misdirection and ran 11 yards for a first down to the 17. That set up a quick pass from Klubnik to tight end Jake Briningstool in the flats for a five-yard score and a 14-0 lead. Clemson had two touchdowns in the game’s first four minutes and 13 seconds.
Wesco would strike yet again when the 5-star freshman out of Midlothian, Texas, hauled in a perfect pass from Klubnik on a seam route for a 43-yard touchdown to put Clemson ahead 21-7 with 3:28 to play in the first quarter. The drive covered 73 yards in eight plays.
Clemson found tight end Jake Briningstool in critical moments
Tight ends can be a great weapon and a quarterback’s best friend, and that’s just what Briningstool was for Klubnik in the red zone. Briningstool had four catches for 23 yards and two touchdowns.
After his five-yard catch in the first quarter that put Clemson up 14-0, Briningstool got the ball again in the waning seconds of the third quarter. On third-and-goal from the SMU 5-yard line, Klubnik found Briningstool on a short cut for a touchdown that put the Tigers up 31-14 entering the fourth quarter.
It wasn’t just the catches Briningstool made, either. In the second quarter, he recovered a fumble after Klubnik was hit from behind that resulted in a 10-yard Clemson gain.
Cade Klubnik was an absolute stud
The big games that Wesco and Briningstool had wouldn’t have been possible without their general at quarterback.
Klubnik, who led Clemson to an ACC title two years earlier, was 24-of-41 for 262 yards and four touchdowns. Despite the aforementioned fumble, the Tigers’ quarterback ended the night without a turnover.
His 17-yard completion to Randall in the final seconds was a throw that a 5-star quarterback should make in games of this magnitude. And Klubnik’s 8-for-10 start for 120 yards and three touchdowns in the first quarter ultimately proved too much for SMU to overcome.
Clemson’s defense made some big plays
Most people thought this would be a high-scoring game and it was. Yes, the Tigers’ defense allowed SMU to crawl out of a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit, but Wes Goodwin’s unit also made some pretty explosive plays — one of which directly led to points. Parker’s strip sack of Jennings on the Mustangs’ third snap of the game led to Clemson’s first score.
With SMU facing third-and-10 in the second quarter, Khalil Barnes made a heads-up play when he reached down and picked off an ill-advised pass from Jennings for an interception at the SMU 47. While the ensuing drive yielded no points, it marked the third time the Tigers had started in SMU territory in the first half.
Quote of the night: ‘So you’re saying there’s a chance?’ Dabo Swinney quotes ‘Dumb and Dumber’
Dabo Swinney doesn’t care who the Tigers will play next. The affable Clemson coach, declared obsolete by many in the national media all throughout the offseason for his stance on the transfer portal, was a bundle of joy in his postgame interview with ABC’s Molly McGrath.
Swinney even quoted Lloyd Christmas, the iconic ‘Dumb and Dumber’ character played by Jim Carrey in the 1994 comedy.
Swinney told McGrath:
“Hey, it’s a new season, and we’re 1-0 in the postseason. And now we’ve got a chance and I think Lloyd Christmas said it best: ‘So you’re saying there’s a chance?!”
There is always a chance in college football, especially in 2024.
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