CLEMSON — With Clemson leading Duke by seven points, and under five minutes to play, the Blue Devils faced a critical third down-and-seven from their own nine-yard line.

The Tigers (3-5, 2-4 ACC) were supposed to be playing Tampa 2, where the middle linebackers are supposed to drop back and cover the middle of the field, while the two safeties defend the play high. However, neither Sammy Brown nor Wade Woodaz dropped back in coverage.

In doing so, they allowed tight end Jeremiah Hasley to run right down the middle of the field wide open where Darian Mensah hit him for a 56-yard catch-and-run to the Clemson 35. Duke went on to score the game-winning touchdown with 40 seconds to play to beat the Tigers at Memorial Stadium for the first time in 45 years.

The blown coverage by the Clemson linebackers was just one of several by a Clemson defense that allowed Mensah to throw for 361 yards and 4 TDs.

“That is the easiest call we got,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said about the coverage on the Hasley play. “That is Day 1, that’s Tampa 2. The backers, they just run to the middle on drop back. You get to the middle. It is zone coverage and you carry the middle.

“That should have been a real easy play, but we just did not get it done. Again, it was not a play action or anything. We did not get our assignment done.”

Clemson also missed assignments on three of Mensah’s TD throws — a 77-yard pass to Cooper Barkate, a 20-yard toss to Andrel Anthony and a 43 yard bomb to Que’Sean Brown. The last TD pass came with 11 seconds to play in the first half.

The Tigers hope they can get these mistakes corrected by the time they play Florida State on Saturday (7 p.m., ACCN) at Memorial Stadium.