By Will Vandervort.

By Will Vandervort

CLEMSON — When he caught the football ball around his own 45-yard line and broke through the arms of a would-be-tackler, Clemson tight end Brandon Ford saw nothing but green grass.

NC State was in man coverage so when Ford broke the tackle he was off to the races, and he was determined to get the ball into the end zone. At first though, it looked like it was going to be an easy run to the end zone of the Tigers’ starting tight end.

But as he approached the end zone, Ford appeared to being running out of gas.

“Honestly, I kind of thought he was,” Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd said following the Tigers’ 62-48 victory Saturday. “I thought it was going to be easy, and then he got down to the ten and he started to slow down and then to the five and I was like, ‘No he isn’t going to make it.’ Then he got to the one and dove for it, and he reached for it so I was like, ‘Okay, cool.’ I did my Tyler Bray with my leg kicked back.”

Ford said he wasn’t running out of gas, he just didn’t realize the defender was closing in on him so fast.

“I didn’t think anybody was still chasing me because every time I looked, it looked like I was pulling away,” the senior said. “When I slowed down at the 20-yard line, I looked and I saw that guy so I knew I was going to have dive for it because he had a pretty good angle.”

The 69-yard touchdown came at a good time for Clemson. The Wolfpack (6-5, 3-4 ACC) had pulled within 17 points at 55-38 and had forced the Tigers to a third down-and-four situation from their own 31.

But Boyd hit Ford over the middle for the first down, and then the 6-foot-4, 240-pound senior did the rest by himself as he dove the final three yards while outstretching the football over the goal line for the touchdown.

“I was determined to score. I got this far, there is no need to let them call it on the one-yard line. I just made sure I got in,” Ford said.

Ford finished the day with 101 receiving yards on five catches. His 69-yard touchdown catch-and-run, coupled with a seven-yard scoring pass he caught in the second quarter allowed the senior to tie his good-friend and former teammate Dwayne Allen with the single-season touchdown record by a tight end.

“I’ll call him tonight or sometime tomorrow to let him know that I’m going to break his record,” Ford said with a smile. “I talk to him every Sunday so he’ll probably have some words for me, but that is just Dwayne and me.

“I’ll give him a call tomorrow.”

Ford’s record-tying touchdown was in style too because Allen never had a touchdown of that magnitude in his career.

“I think the most he had was 55 yards,” Ford said. “I was fortunate that I had the opportunity to catch a longer pass than he did, and I actually had to run further. Regardless, it just goes to show how versatile we are in this offense.

“It’s a good opportunity for us to make plays when Coach calls our number.”