Cade Klubnik pulled it on the zone-read and ran left, parallel to the line of scrimmage.
Then he saw a hard-charging Corey Flagg and started running backward.
With about six inches needed for a touchdown, less than a yard needed to stay alive and somehow manufacture a 2-point conversion to send the game into a third overtime, backward was not the way to go.
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From needing inches, to the game ending with Flagg ripping Klubnik down at the 9-yard line and an exasperated Dabo Swinney shaking his head at his quarterback's decision-making.
That about sums up the season to date.
A season that began with this offense inventing ways to not score points near the goal line in Durham.
A season that now sees those ways patented in orange with Clemson 4-3 after a 28-20 defeat to Miami.
The Hurricanes entered this game reeling after back-to-back losses, returning to their home field two weeks after Mario Cristobal and his staff gave away a game in a way that would've been a fireable offense if it weren't his second year at his alma mater.
And on top of that, they had to start a first-year freshman at quarterback because Tyler Van Dyke was too banged up to go.
There was a time when Clemson would devour this type of situation, battering a helpless reserve while putting up a bunch of points and laughing all the way home.
This is not one of those times.
Clemson has suffered five regular-season losses in its last 10 games against FBS competition dating to a smacking at Notre Dame last November.
From 2015 to 2020, the Tigers won 77 of 80 against the FBS in the regular season.
When Jake Briningstool went up high to grab a 19-yard touchdown pass with 2:01 left in the third quarter, it put Clemson up 17-7 and it felt like the stressful moments were over.
But anyone who's watched this program lately knows that few things come easily.
A week off after having to sweat out an onside kick at home against Wake Forest was not enough for this team to figure out how to put the Hurricanes away.
Miami changed the game by holding the ball for nine minutes on a 15-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that trimmed it to 17-14.
And then Clemson's offense was out of sorts and couldn't seem to figure out what it wanted to do.
The Tigers had a total of five yards on their next two possessions, allowing Miami to tie the game on a field goal with 1:51 left.
Cristobal might've even given Clemson a break late in regulation by burning the clock instead of trying to move the ball to get into range of a game-winning kick by Andres Borregales.
Maybe his strategy was liking the odds of Clemson's offense finding a way to malfunction in overtime.
Good strategy, it turns out.
The Tigers had to settle for a field goal in the first overtime after Klubnik took a sack that lost 10 yards.
Miami sent it to a second overtime with a field goal of its own, and then the Hurricanes slammed it with the run for both the touchdown and the mandated two-point conversion to go up eight.
Miami ran it for 211 yards on 38 carries, including an 80-yarder in the first quarter that put the Hurricanes up 7-0 after Will Shipley fumbled into the end zone.
Clemson rushed for 31 yards on 34 attempts, its lowest output on the ground since a 2-yard night against Georgia in the 2021 opener.
With sack yards taken out, the Tigers rushed for 70. But that's still a pitiful total, as Clemson averaged 2.4 yards on non-sack rushes with Shipley totaling 44 yards on 15 carries (2.9 yards per rush) and Phil Mafah accounting for 14 yards on five carries.
Klubnik threw for 314 yards on an 18-of-34 clip with two beautiful touchdown strikes to Briningstool, but he threw a pick and lost a fumble inside Miami's 30-yard line in the first quarter.
Clemson had three turnovers to Miami's one. The Tigers have 13 turnovers this season, 10 on lost fumbles and three on interceptions.
Briningstool had a breakout game, totaling 126 yards and the two touchdowns on five catches. He entered the game with 125 receiving yards and one touchdown on 18 catches.
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Antonio Williams had two catches for 47 yards after sitting out three games with an ankle injury, but his status is in question after he suffered another injury during the game.
Tyler Brown had five catches for 53 yards, including a 21-yarder in the second overtime that put the ball at Miami's 2.
Shipley ran for no gain on first down.
On second down, Klubnik rolled left and threw for Brown but the ball was almost intercepted.
On third-and-goal from the 2, Shipley bulled it inside the 1.
Cristobal called timeout, and Clemson's offensive braintrust opted for the zone-read.
Klubnik kept, ran sideways, then backward.
From inside the 1-yard line to the 9-yard line.
An 8-yard loss in a season that's thus far known almost solely for losing.
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