CLEMSON -- The video montage to start the fourth quarter at Death Valley is about hard work, sacrifice and grit.
They don't put championship rings on smooth hands, the strength coach says.
That's all well, good and important.
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But they also don't give rings to teams that simply cannot execute smoothly at critical times.
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The detail things continued to doom Clemson on Saturday afternoon in a 31-24 overtime defeat to Florida State, which beat the Tigers for the first time in nine years.
Jonathan Weitz, the guy Dabo Swinney called off the beach in Charleston to give Clemson a dependable leg on short kicks, couldn't make a 29-yard try.
And Cade Klubnik and the offense, for all the progress shown on this sun-splashed Saturday that featured Death Valley at its rock-and-rolling best, couldn't avoid the self-impaling plays.
The list of them is excruciating. And too long.
How does the offense fail to get to the line and spike the ball with seven seconds in regulation, to give the Tigers a chance?
How does the ball, about six inches from the chains on third down in overtime, not go to the guy who had just plowed for 9 yards (that would be Will Shipley)?
How does Phil Mafah, late in the third quarter, leave the backfield without spotting a blitzer that everyone in the stadium could see coming a mile away?
How does the defense, late in the first half with a chance to get off the field and give the offense a chance to improve on a 17-7 lead, rush just three guys to allow FSU to scoot right down the field and make it a 17-14 game just before halftime?
We could go on, but the aforementioned flaws were surely enough to sink Clemson on a day that for so long felt like a statement game for the Tigers.
They came in an underdog to the Top 5 Seminoles. They came in determined to atone for all the skepticism from the outside that came from a three-touchdown loss at Duke in the opener.
They had it all within their grasp.
But there were just too many moments that made you gasp with disbelief.
The head coach was surely one of those gasping -- and cursing -- as he had to burn his timeouts thanks to procedural gaffes on both sides of the ball.
After the defense came up with a stop late in regulation, FSU connected on a dagger score to open overtime when Jordan Travis threw a perfect pass to a leaping Keon Coleman over Jeadyn Lukus.
It was the Seminoles' first lead of the game. They finished with 311 total yards, just 22 on the ground, and converted 4 of 13 third downs.
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The Tigers totaled 429 yards, had 146 on the ground and totaled 25 first downs to FSU's 16.
The Tigers had 79 plays to FSU's 57.
But none of that matters if you can't take care of the details.
Clemson is now 0-2 in the ACC.
After winning 40 straight games at Death Valley, Clemson has now lost its last two at home against Power 5 competition.
Since starting 8-0 last season, the Tigers have now lost five times in their last nine games against power 5 opponents.
We could go on, but you probably don't want to read the details.
And until Clemson can master the little things, it's going to be hard to envision championship rings going on their hands.
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