The 2017 football season has been closed for one month now so everyone has had enough time to reflect on what kind of year it was for the Clemson Tigers.
As defending national champions, the Tigers represented themselves well in trying to defend their crown. They won their third straight ACC Championship on their way to a 12-2 season, while advancing to the College Football Playoff for the third straight year.
All in all, it was another great season for Clemson football. In total, Clemson scored 62 touchdowns this past season – 57 on offense, 4 on defense and 1 by special teams. Below are the top 5 touchdowns from the 2017 football season.
Hunter Renfrow’s 61-yard catch-and-run against the Gamecocks
With Clemson already on top 20-0, Renfrow took a simple screen pass from Kelly Bryant on the first play of the second half, spun off of one player to break a tackle, made two more miss, broke another tackle before cutting the ball back inside and racing across the field where he eluded seven would-be-tacklers on his way to the end zone. The touchdown gave Clemson a 27-0 lead and broke the spirits of the Gamecocks and their fans in Columbia.
Ray-Ray McCloud’s 77-yard punt return at NC State
In what turned out to be the biggest game of the ACC season for Clemson, the Tigers found themselves trailing the Wolfpack 7-0 early, when McCloud received a first-quarter punt from his own 23-yard line. After catching the ball, the junior took a quick step back to elude the first defender, then he raced up the middle and to the outside before cutting the ball back inside to make another defender miss and then broke four tackles as he cut the back to the other side of the field where he was escorted into the end zone by Deon Cain and Isaiah Simmons.
O’Daniel’s 22-yard interception return at Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech had just gained some momentum and got the ball back early in the fourth quarter when Dorian O’Daniel made the play of the game which sucked the air out of Lane Stadium and secured another win on the road for the Tigers. Virginia Tech’s Josh Jackson threw a screen pass into the flats to wide receiver Henri Murphy. The ball bounced off Murphy’s hands, rolled over the top of his helmet and off his back where O’Daniel swiped the ball and rumbled untouched into the end zone from 22 yards, giving Clemson a 31-10 lead with 11:08 to play in the game.
O’Daniel’s 44-yard pick-six at Louisville
Before O’Daniel’s big play at Virginia Tech, the linebacker made a huge play at Louisville, which blew open the game for the Tigers in a 47-21 victory. With Louisville facing second-and-13 from its own 34-yard line, quarterback Lamar Jackson never saw O’Daniel drop back into coverage as he tried to throw a pass to wide receiver Corey Reed, who he thought was open at the 45-yard line. O’Daniel intercepted the ball, spun away from Reed’s attempted tackle and then used his blocks and out ran the rest of the Louisville offense to the end zone for his first pick-six of the season. The 44-yard interception return gave Clemson a 26-7 lead with 8:57 remaining in the third quarter.
Tavien Feaster’s 89-yard touchdown at NC State
It was not so much what Tavien Feaster did as much as what his offensive line did on his way to an 89-yard touchdown in the Tigers’ 38-31 victory over NC State as Clemson gained control of the ACC’s Atlantic Division race. With five seconds left in the third quarter and the Tigers up 24-21 with the ball at the Clemson 11, Feaster took the handoff from Bryant and ran toward the right side of the line where he was led to the hole by left guard Taylor Hearn who was pulling to the right. Mitch Hyatt, Justin Falcinelli and Tyrone Crowder created a seal on the left side of the line, while Sean Pollard pancaked his guy on the right side and running back C.J. Fuller, acting as a fullback, took out one of the linebackers, giving Hearn a clean shot at the other linebacker, clearing a wide open lane for Feaster who used his world class track speed to go 89 yards untouched for the touchdown.
–videos courtesy of the ACC Digital Network