By Will Vandervort.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Clemson got inside the red zone four times Saturday night and four times they came away with no points. The end result – top-ranked Florida State beat the 22nd-ranked Tigers 23-17 in overtime.
FSU running back Carlos Williams rumbled 12 yards around the left side to end the game and broke the Tigers hearts.
The game should have never come down to Williams run. Clemson outplayed, outhustled and outcoached the Seminoles all night, but when it mattered most the Tigers did not execute and it cost them what could have been a momentous victory.
“All I can say is I’m hurting with you and I’m sorry (to Clemson fans),” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “We’ll fix some of these mistakes and win a bunch of games. I thought we’d be 2-1 or 3-0 after three games. “We’re a battled tested team.
“We need to support these players. Sometimes you just don’t win.”
With the score tied at 17, Clemson had the game won when safety Jadar Johnson intercepted quarterback Sean Maguire at midfield and returned it 24 yards to the FSU 26-yard line with 2:14 to play in the game.
All the Tigers had to do was hang on to the ball and the game was theirs, but defensive tackle Eddie Goldman stripped running back C.J. Davidson of the ball and safety Nate Andrews recovered it at his own 14 with 1:36 to play.
The Seminoles were content to play overtime from there and it paid off.
Clemson got the ball first in overtime, but quarterback Deshaun Watson, who came in on the first series and did not leave the game the rest of the night, was sacked on second down at the 30 and on third down Adam Choice grabbed a screen pass and rumbled 14 yards to the 16.
On fourth-and-one, Swinney elected to go for it instead of kicking it primarily due to the fact kicker Ammon Lakip had missed two earlier field goals of 23 and 40 yards.
On Fourth down, Choice was stopped for no gain by Chris Casher and Reggie Northrup to turn the ball over on downs. Williams then ran 13 yards on the Seminoles first play of overtime and finally rumbled 12 yards around the left side for the winning touchdown.
“I didn’t want to give it to the kicker,” Swinney said. “Give FSU credit they got the stop and we didn’t get it done.”
The Tigers (1-2, 0-1 ACC) took a 17-10 lead with 11:44 to play when Watson ran off the right side for a two yard touchdown. Wide receiver Mike Williams set up the score a play earlier by making a great 37-yard sliding catch at the two-yard line.
The drive covered 64 yards in four plays after Jayron Kearse intercepted a Sean Maguire pass at the Clemson 36.
It was good recovery for the Tigers, who earlier had driven to the Florida State one-yard line, but a bad snap from center Ryan Norton sailed over Watson’s head to the 24-yard line. Two plays later Ammon Lakip was wide on right on a 40-yard attempt and Clemson got no points.
It appeared the Tigers took a seven-point lead earlier on the same drive when tight end Stanton Seckinger caught a back shoulder fade from Watson near the goal line and stretched it in for the apparent touchdown. But his knee went down at the one and replay overturned the call.
Though they were dominated by Clemson’s defense all night, the Seminoles caught a break on second-and-24 from their own 26. Clemson freshman corner Mackensie Alexander, who played brilliantly, slipped while trying to cover wide receiver Rashad Greene and Maguire hit in stride for a 74-yard touchdown pass that tied the game with 6:04 remaining.
Clemson dominated both sides of the line of scrimmage in the opening half as the Tigers went into the locker room with a 10-3 halftime lead.
Clemson held the Seminoles’ offense, which was without Jameis Winston due to a suspension, to 84 total yards, including minus-22 rushing yards in the opening 30 minutes. Florida State had just four first downs and Maguire was sacked three times and harassed countless more times.
While the defense owned the line of scrimmage on that side of the ball, the Clemson offense played well in the first 30 minutes as well. The Tigers ran the ball for 72 yards and had 249 total yards overall.
Watson came in an orchestrated two scoring drives in the second quarter. One ended on a 30-yard field goal by Ammon Lakip that tied the game and the other ended with a one-yard D.J. Howard touchdown.
On both scoring drives, the true freshman completed third down throws to keep the drives alive, including two long ones to Germone Hopper and then a third-and-seven pass to tight end Jordan Leggett who took the ball down to the one-yard line. Howard scored on the next play.
But the story of the game was the Tigers inability to score when it got in the red zone. Cole Stoudt, who started the game, had a chance to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead in the first quarter but he threw low to a wide open Leggett near the goal line. Lakip missed a 23-yard field goal on the next play.
Then there was the bad snap by Norton from the goal line in the third quarter which led to another Lakip miss. And finally there was Davidson’s 14 at the FSU 14 with 1:36 to play.
The mistakes overshadow a great performance by Watson, who came in on the fourth drive of the game and never relinquished the offense back to Stoudt.
The freshman completed 19 of 28 passes for 266 yards against the defending national champions, while rushing for 30 yards on 12 carries, including his two-yard touchdown. He threw no interceptions and in three games thus far he has no turnovers.
Clemson will return home next week to play North Carolina in Death Valley. It will be the first of three straight home games for the Tigers. The game will be televised by ESPNU and will kick off at 7 p.m.
“We need to bring the valley to life and show this team we appreciate this effort,” Swinney said. “Understand they don’t cancel the season on September 21, 2014. We don’t control our destiny now, but we’re still in the car.”