Clemson finds way to prevail this time
Two years after rout by WVU, Tigers topple Ohio State
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — For the second time in three years, Clemson fell apart at the Orange Bowl. Only this time, the Tigers found a way to recover.
And thanks to Tajh Boyd, Sammy Watkins and plenty of others, the end result was Clemson’s biggest win in a generation.
Boyd threw for 378 yards and five touchdowns, Watkins had a record-setting game with 16 catches for 227 yards, and No. 12 Clemson rallied to beat No. 7 Ohio State, 40-35, Friday night at Sun Life Stadium for the school’s first Orange Bowl win in 32 years.
“We are Orange Bowl champs again,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “Hey, listen: Two years ago we got our butts kicked on this field. And it has been a journey to get back. We’re 22-4 since that night. And we are the first team from the state of South Carolina to ever win a BCS game.”
Boyd’s 5-yard pass to Stanton Seckinger with 6:16 remaining put the Tigers (11-2) ahead to stay in a game when they allowed 20 unanswered points in wasting an early 11-point lead. Watkins caught two scoring passes, plus became Clemson’s career receptions leader and set an Orange Bowl record for yardage.
Martavis Bryant caught two more touchdown passes for the Tigers, who posted consecutive 11-win seasons for the first time in school history.
“It takes teams to win,” Swinney said. “And listen, we made enough mistakes to probably lose the game tonight. But we kept picking each other up. Our defense was awesome.”
Braxton Miller threw for 234 yards and Carlos Hyde ran for 113 more for Ohio State (12-2), which led, 29-20, in the second half but wound up losing its second game in a row — after having won each of its previous 24 under coach Urban Meyer, whose record in Bowl Championship Series games fell to 4-1. Corey Brown had 116 yards receiving for the Buckeyes.
Miller was intercepted twice in the final 3:12, dooming the Buckeyes. Boyd threw an interception to give Ohio State the ball back, but Miller was picked again — Stephone Anthony made the play for the Tigers — and Clemson ran out the clock.
“It’s going to sting for a while, probably a long while because we didn’t finish,” Meyer said. “It was right there.”
The Buckeyes had a 29-20 lead in the third after Hyde picked up 31 yards on fourth-and-inches, then went airborne to break the plane of the goal line on the next play.
“I felt like the offense was starting to get clicking at that point,” Hyde said. “I thought we could make it happen.”
Then the mistakes started coming in bunches for Ohio State. A fumbled punt return and an interception led to touchdown grabs by Watkins and Bryant, putting the Tigers up entering the fourth.