CLEMSON — When Cade Klubnik’s second quarter pass was knocked into the air and picked off by Troy’s T.J. Thompson and returned four yards for a touchdown, things seemed bleak for No. 8 Clemson.
“I know the offense has our back, so we got their back,” safety Ricardo Jones said.
Thompson’s interception gave the Trojans a stunning 16-point lead with 6:58 to play in the first half, but like Jones said, the Clemson defense had the offense’s back.
Or their backside, that is.
The Tigers added a 25-yard Nolan Hauser field goal before halftime and then got a 1-yard TD run from running back Adam Randall to start the second half. Now trailing by six points, Jones’ hustle and Ashton Hampton’s “backside” changed the course of the game in a matter of seconds.
Backed up near his goal line, Troy quarterback Goose Crowder tried to hit wide receiver Tray Taylor 20 yards downfield on the Trojans’ first play of the third quarter. However, Hampton did not bite on a double move and found himself between Taylor and the football for what seemed like a sure interception.
But Taylor knocked the ball up in the air and could not locate where the ball was going. Jones, like the way he has been taught in practice, hustled to the football where he found it bouncing perfectly off Hampton’s buttocks for an interception.
On the very next play from scrimmage, Klubnik found Bryant Wesco wide open for an easy 26-yard TD pass, giving Clemson the lead for good, as the Tigers rallied to beat Troy 27-16 Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
“Coach [Tom] Allen, ever since he got here, just preaches effort, man, just run towards the ball,” Jones said. “So, when that ball went into the air, I am running to it, and I see that (Hampton) kind of made a play on it.
“Like you said, it bounced off his behind, and being a football player, I just picked the ball up for the interception.”
The play sparked the Clemson defense and the remaining fans at Memorial Stadium, who waited out a long lightning delay and rainstorm. Ronan Hanafin intercepted Crowder on Troy’s next series, setting up a 30-yard Hauser field goal with 5:54 to go in the third quarter.
“I think (my) pick, it gave everybody like, ‘Alright, calm down. We are good. We got momentum. Let’s go ball and play Clemson football.’ That’s what we did for the last two quarters,” Jones said.
The Clemson defense held Troy to 95 total yards in the second half and no points. The Trojans tallied 206 yards in the first half.
“Coming out after halftime we were determined to play Clemson defense and keep points off the scoreboard and that is what we did,” Jones said.
In the fourth quarter, with 9:41 to play, the offense complimented the performance of its defense when Klubnik found Wesco again for a perfect over-the-shoulder-catch and a 34-yard TD pass. The strike to the end zone sealed the Tigers’ victory.
“That is complimentary football,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “That is what you saw in the second half. You saw complimentary football. They did not score another point, even though we had some frustrating moments on third-and-long, but they did not score another point.
“The special teams performed really well, and the offense was on fire in the second half. When we play complimentary football, we can be a tough team to beat.”
