TigerIllustrated.com - Closing the deal

November 8, 2009

Larry Williams
TigerIllustrated.com Senior Writer

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CLEMSON, S.C. -- Dabo Swinney wearily covered his eyes as he recalled the staggering number of mistakes his team made against Florida State on Saturday night.

"Lord have mercy," he said. "I've got a lot of coaching to do."

Clemson missed three extra points. It missed two more chip-shot field goals. Its offense gagged away opportunities near the end zone, and its defense was frequently carved up.

And you know what? None of that mattered as the Tigers celebrated a 40-24 victory that moved them a step closer to their first trip to the ACC title game - and, perhaps, C.J. Spiller a step closer to the Heisman Trophy.

Had Clemson wilted under the weight of the high stakes and the litany of mistakes, the routine would've fallen right in line with previous meltdowns that have kept this program from challenging for its first conference title since 1991.

But in the first full year under Swinney, this year's Tigers took another big step away from their past by digging deep and producing 19 fourth-quarter points to pull away.

"A more immature team, or a less mentally-tough team maybe would have gone in another direction," said first-year offensive coordinator Billy Napier.

With 2:44 left in the third quarter, everything seemed to be coming apart for a Clemson team that entered with a three-game winning streak.

Florida State had methodically moved 73 yards to take a 24-21 lead, converting four third downs to leave the Tigers' defense bickering and bewildered on the sideline.

The offense seemed shattered after moving to the Seminoles' 9-yard line and failing to score after a dropped pass by Jacoby Ford and a touchdown-negating penalty.

And kicker Richard Jackson seemed ready to dig himself a hole to disappear into after missing a 26-yard field goal.

This is where previous Clemson teams might've folded up and let yet another promising opportunity slip through their grasp.

This was where this Clemson team decided to ball up that script and compose a new one.

On the sideline, Swinney tried to keep his team believing it could win.

"As bad as we'd played, it was a three-point game," he said.

The Tigers were a team transformed in the fourth quarter, bottling up Florida State's offense and pounding the Seminoles with their running game.

Rashard Hall's interception of a Christian Ponder deep ball set up a 9-yard touchdown run by Andre Ellington to put the Tigers ahead 27-24, and a 2-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Parker to Durrell Barry allowed the fans to exhale and explode with 4:06 on the clock.

Clemson finished with 483 yards of offense and rushed for 241 yards. Ponder hurt the Tigers through the air but finished with four interceptions after tossing three in his first eight games.

Ponder did not return after safety DeAndre McDaniel lowered his shoulder and delivered a crushing blow on a late interception return.

Clemson, which beat Florida State for the fifth time in seven seasons, improved to 6-3 and 4-2 in the ACC with conference games remaining at N.C. State and at home against Virginia.

Boston College only has two conference losses, but the Tigers own the head-to-head tiebreaker advantage over the Eagles by virtue of their win over them earlier this season.

"The best thing about this win is we've kind of made it a two-horse race now coming around the backstretch, and we've got a little lead," said Swinney, whose team was 2-3 overall and 1-2 in the ACC after an Oct. 3 loss at Maryland.

"But they don't throw the roses on them in the Kentucky Derby coming around the back stretch. You've got to cross the line. You've got to finish.

"We've got a little lead right now, but we haven't finished yet."

Florida State dropped to 4-5 and 2-4, seeing its division hopes take a fatal blow.

"I definitely think we took a big step today," Ford said. "It just feels good to get over the hump, because it's something that we haven't been able to do the last few years. This is a team that just really wants it and wants to go out there and get the job done."

Spiller got the job done on national television, amassing 312 all-purpose yards to make a resounding statement for his Heisman candidacy. This came two weeks after he totaled a career-high 310 all-purpose yards in a 40-37 overtime triumph at Miami.

And on this night, Spiller did a lot of his work while hobbled with a sore toe and exhaustion - and, perhaps, some other bumps and bruises as well.

Spiller rushed for 165 yards, including a 5-yard touchdown run that capped the scoring with 3:29 left. He had 67 receiving yards, 58 of them coming on a wheel-route touchdown strike from Parker that gave the Tigers their first lead, 21-17, early in the third quarter.

"The happiest I was was when he was off the field; I knew he couldn't get the ball," said Seminoles coach Bobby Bowden, who turns 80 on Sunday. "We talked all week about the wheel route, and he runs it one time and it was about 90 miles per hour for a touchdown. That is why I say he is mighty hard to handle."

Swinney spent a considerable portion of his postgame press conference railing on media who don't consider Spiller a legitimate Heisman candidate.

Might be hard for Swinney to find any skeptics after Saturday.

"The guy is unbelievable," he said. "He's a human highlight reel. I don't know what else he could possibly do."

Clemson fans have been exasperated while watching other Atlantic Division teams parade to the ACC title game during its four-year existence.

Wake Forest in 2006. Boston College in 2007 and 2008.

It didn't look good for the Tigers when Florida State took a 17-6 lead in the first quarter.

And it certainly didn't look good in the second quarter after the Tigers came up empty on a possession that was inches short of the Seminoles' goal line. A false-start penalty on Antoine McClain moved Clemson five yards back, then Parker lost a fumble.

The sour feelings became even more pronounced when Jackson missed a 38-yard field goal just before halftime, ruining an opportunity created when an interception by Byron Maxwell set the offense up at Florida State's 24-yard line.

More mind-boggling miscues followed after halftime, gaffes that left Swinney shaking his head afterward.

But none of them mattered as the Tigers continued to shake off their haunting history.

"You can feel it," said Parker, who threw an interception for a touchdown in the first quarter. "When you have a night game here and you have a lot on the line, we get behind and it's kind of like some people expect us to give in. But that's not the personality of this team."

Said Swinney: "This is Clemson. When you're at Clemson, you expect to win. And that's what we're trying to get back to."

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