Clemson locks up playoff berth with win over North Carolina

But the win didn’t come without suspense.

North Carolina scored with 1:13 left on Williams pass to wide receiver Ryan Switzer on a 17-yard play.

But videos and screen shots of that first onside kick appeared to show that no one on UNC was offside on the play – not even close, really.

Carolina’s onside kick attempt wasn’t a great one, but Clemson running back Zac Brooks muffed it and the Heels recovered.

Saturday’s call didn’t end the game like it did for Duke, but North Carolina would have gotten the ball back at midfield with 1:08 to play, trailing 45-37. A half-dozen Iowa defenders tried to stop Scott, but he wouldn’t be denied. “It was just time to change that”.

The 82-yard march wiped out Iowa’s 13-9 lead, which it got on an 85-yard pass from C.J. Beathard to Tevaun Smith. The Tigers have been the top seed in the Playoff top 25 since the initial rankings; Alabama, which defeated Florida to win the Southeastern Conference, has been a solid No. 2.

The Tigers played a sloppy first half, committing seven penalties and having a fake-punt run stopped, but they still led by five and dominated the second half on offense. The Mallard Creek High graduate missed high, low and completed 11-of-33 passes for 224 yards with three scores.

Greg Huegel hit a 27-yard field goal to put the Tigers up 45-31 with 2:14 left. “They played one heck of a game tonight, and it was fun to go against good competition”. Watson threw for 289 yards & three touchdowns & ran for 131 yards & another two scores.

Hood scored on a 2-yard run midway through the fourth quarter to pulled the Tar Heels within 42-30.

That created the first deficit for Clemson in more than 206 minutes of game time.

Williams finished the half 3-of-12 for 50 yards and two touchdowns.

Temple (10-3) had a chance to get within a touchdown early in the fourth quarter, but Jeremy Winchester knocked down a pass in the end zone and the Owls settled for a field goal that made it 24-13. Clemson later converted a 4th and 4 at the UNC 38 to keep the drive moving. The total points were the most in ACC championship game history.

UNC took advantage of that miscue by getting a 3-yard touchdown pass from Williams to Ryan Switzer, putting the Tar Heels ahead 16-14-their final lead of the game.

But UNC fans, not to mention fans of exciting finishes, certainly would have liked to have seen how that all would have played out.

HOUSTON – For the second-straight year Alcorn State lifted the Southwestern Athletic Conference Football Championship Trophy at NRG Stadium after beating Grambling State 49-21 on Saturday. Championship teams find different ways to win. Wayne Gallman (1,145 yards, nine rushing TDs) returned to gain 102 yards on 19 carries in the 37-32 victory over SC last week after missing the contest against Wake Forest with an ankle injury.

On the Carolina side, Marquise Williams, who had a poor outing in the season-opening loss to SC in Charlotte, wasn’t much better in his return to Bank of America Stadium. That’s the way it looked anyway during a 97-yard scoring drive when Clemson restored some order in the third quarter.

UNC reached the Clemson 41 to start the third quarter, but Williams was picked off by Cordrea Tankersley inside the 5.

Baylor was in line to be the Big 12’s representative in the Sugar Bowl, with the expectation that league champ Oklahoma (11-1) will get into the College Football Playoff.