For the second straight week, a called fake punt didn’t go as Clemson had hoped.

After punter Aidan Swanson was unable to run for a first down in the win over Georgia Tech on Nov. 11, the Tigers tried a different type of fake punt early in Saturday’s 31-20 victory over North Carolina at Death Valley.

On Senior Day, Clemson (7-4, 4-4 ACC) got the ball to fifth-year senior defensive tackle Tyler Davis on a direct snap and gave him the chance to convert a fake punt on fourth-and-1 in a scoreless game with around six minutes left in the first quarter. Unfortunately for Davis and the Tigers, it didn’t go as planned as he was stopped for a 6-yard loss and also fumbled the ball.

Following the game, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney explained the thought process behind calling the fake punt.

“We went into the game, if we had fourth and a long 1, maybe a 1 and a half, in between, or 2, we were gonna call it,” Swinney said. “And I gotta look at it on tape. They didn’t replay it, so I never got a chance to see it. I’m not sure if they ran a guy through the A gap and we didn’t cut him off or what, but we thought we had it.

“So, Senior Day, we dialed up one for Tyler Davis and it didn’t work. But we went into the game, if we got in that situation, we were gonna hundred percent call it. I think it was a long 1, and so we were like, ‘Well, OK, here we go.’ So, didn’t work.”

Similar to the way things unfolded in the Georgia Tech game, the unsuccessful fake punt vs. North Carolina gave the Tar Heels good field position and led to them scoring a touchdown for a 7-0 first quarter lead.

Clemson answered with a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter, including Cade Klubnik’s 3-yard touchdown run with three seconds remaining before halftime that put the Tigers ahead 14-7 heading to the break.

It was a risky decision by Klubnik to run the ball in that situation, with Clemson out of timeouts in the waning moments of the half. The sophomore quarterback barely got the ball across the plane of the goal line, but had he not been able to score, it would’ve cost his team a field goal opportunity as the clock would’ve expired and the game would’ve stayed tied going into halftime.

While it worked out for Clemson, Swinney says the only play worse than that in the game was the fake punt.

“That’s the worst play that turned out good ever,” Swinney said of Klubnik’s rushing touchdown. “Man, I mean, holy cow. We had timeout. We talked about it, like, ‘You cannot run this ball, we gotta throw the ball, we gotta get the points here,’ and he made it by… I don’t even know if you could put a piece of paper between how close it was.

“But hey, we caught a break. He made a play, and that field goal was huge, right. A three point-game was huge. We needed the one, and obviously the touchdown was big. It’s good to be able to coach that with success. The only worse play was the fake punt. That was the only worse play of the game.”

To honor Clemson’s special senior class Dear Old Clemson is selling footballs signed by 7 of Clemson’s Avengers for only $100.  These limited edition footballs are signed by Thomas, Orhorhoro, Davis, Mascoll, Henry, Murphy and Williams.  Get one while supplies last.