It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood.
Second-year starter, quarterback Cade Klubnik, kept the Clemson Tigers college football playoff hopes alive, at least for one more week. But it did not come without its fair share of controversary and turbulence against a scrappy and tough Panthers team.
The Tigers signal caller scampered for a 50-yard touchdown with 1:16 to go in the fourth quarter to give No. 20 Clemson a 24-20 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday.
“It doesn’t feel real in a moment like that,” said Klubnick. “You’re just like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m loose.’ Those last 15-20 yards was a crazy feeling for sure.”
Klubnik’s run came on the third play of the drive after Pittsburgh took a 20-17 advantage with 1:36 remaining on the clock. Klubnik connected with Antonio Williams for an 18-yard gain before a seven-yard completion to Jake Briningstool. Then he made the spectacular game-winning play on what he said after the game was a call for a quarterback draw with the receivers running stick routes.
“He’s just a relentless competitor,” coach Dabo Swinney said. “He’s got a big heart on him. It was pretty special.”
Pitt still had an eternity and a timeout left in their pocket to get a touchdown, but their last drive grinded to a halt with a fourth-down Nate Yarnell interception near the goal line as time expired.
Yarnell, who is a senior, started the game for Eli Holstein, who was sidelined with a concussion and played well under the circumstances, although he barely had any time to get comfortable and throw in the pocket because he was sacked eight times by Clemson’s defense. Yarnell completed 34-of-54 passes for 350 yards, a touchdown and a pick. Before Klubnik’s run, it seemed like he had done just enough for the Panthers to pull off the improbable upset.
“He made some great throws,” Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said of Yarnell. “I don’t like the eight sacks. Is that on him? Is that on the O-line?”
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Panthers got its go-ahead field goal after stifling Clemson on a fourth-down run. The Pitt defense dominated in the trenches against Clemson’s run game, until Klubnik broke the game open. Even with the 50-yard run, Klubnik finished the game with 10 rushes for 41 yards (after accounting for sack yardage taken). Running back Phil Mafah had a tough day at the office with only 17 yards on 17 carries. He only needed 19 yards to have 1,000 on the season.
“We never flinched,” Klubnick said. “You know (time is running out but) we knew what we could do. We just had to go do it.”
The Tigers are now 7-1 in ACC play and 8-2 overall with two non-conference games left on their schedule. However, they need a loss from the No. 9 Miami Hurricanes or No. 14 SMU if they want to play for the ACC title or some help from the Louisville Cardinals and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
The conference is likely going to come down to the common opponent tiebreaker and Louisville has a pair of conference losses on their record to Georgia Tech’s three. Assuming the Cardinals stay ahead of the Yellow Jackets in the standings, Clemson would be on the wrong side of a head-to-head tiebreaker against Miami or a three-way tiebreaker against both Miami and SMU because both the Hurricanes and Mustangs defeated the Cardinals and Clemson did not.
To avoid that fate and make the ACC title game, Clemson needs several things to go in their favor; to end up in a two-way tie for first-place, finish in a solo second or have Georgia Tech pass Louisville in the conference standings to change the common opponent tiebreaker with Miami.
Asked if the Tigers deserve to be in the conversation for the College Football Playoff, Swinney pointed to his team’s 4-0 mark in true road games, its lengthy resume of playoff success in the CFP era and its resiliency.
“I think we’ve got a team that’s really kind of just finding their way right now,” he said.
There’s still a lot to play for in the ACC over the final two weeks of the season. And all Clemson can do at this point is take care of their own business and watch the results from everyone else.
Clemson host the Citadel Bulldogs next Saturday.
Pittsburgh is on the road to take on the No. 22 Louisville Cardinals next Saturday.
