Even the most veteran players can have those inexplicable plays.
Clemson senior quarterback Cade Klubnik had one of those instances in Friday night’s 20-19 road win over Louisville.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Tigers were trailing 20-13. Facing a 3rd and goal from the Louisville 1-yard line, Clemson ran its jumbo package out, hoping to produce the go-ahead score. Klubnik handed it off to defensive tackle Peter Woods, who fumbled the ball as he stretched out for the touchdown. Fortunately, Klubnik recovered it, giving his team one more shot at punching it in.
Once again, the Tigers lined up in the jumbo package, and once again, Klubnik tried handing it off to Woods, who was lined up as the lead blocker for running back Adam Randall. The only problem was that the ball was supposed to go to Randall, and Woods never even looked for the handoff. What resulted was a second consecutive fumble, only this time, Louisville recovered it.
“Yeah, he just had a brain fart,” head coach Dabo Swinney said about the play. “Peter was the lead blocker there. For whatever reason, he had a mental error.”
In typical Klubnik fashion, the senior shouldered all of the blame for the miscue.
“Just a miscommunication,” the quarterback said.
The Cardinals took over on their own 2-yard line, with a chance to go up two scores, but the Clemson defense would get a critical stop, quickly forcing a three-and-out.
Five plays after taking over on their own 44, Clemson once again found itself facing a 4th and goal from the 1-yard line. This time, Klubnik got it right, and Randall powered in for what would ultimately be the game-winning score.
Despite being the victim of multiple drops, Klubnik still finished the night 14-of-23 for 187 yards, including going 4-of-6 in the final quarter. It wasn’t one of his better statistical games, but it was far from his worst.
After Louisville allowed 350 passing yards in an overtime loss to Cal a week ago, the Tigers came in thinking there would be plays to be made in the passing game, but Klubnik and his pass catchers just never got into much of a rhythm.
“They just had a couple of things where they played a little bit more two-high than what we anticipated going into it,” Swinney said.
“We didn’t throw and catch as well as we needed to. We had some untimely drops that could have helped us get into rhythm. When you’re 1-of-13, or whatever we were on third down, it’s hard to have the kind of sync you need to have.”
The win moves the Tigers one step closer to bowl eligibility. Clemson needs one more win to clinch a spot in the postseason and will look to get it in their final home game of the season against Furman on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 4:30, and the game will be televised on The CW.
Photo by Bart Boatwright