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| Jacoby Ford scores the game-winning touchdown for Clemson in their overtime win over Miami. |
In the history of some college football programs, they are games which at the time might not be that significant, but years later may become significant depending on the trajectory of a program.
For many fans of the Clemson Tigers, they point to the 2009 game with the Miami Hurricanes as the turning point in their program's fortunes.
Clemson entered the game unranked with a 3-3 record, with their three losses are being four points or less.
The Tigers were led by Dabo Swinney, who was in his first full season as the Clemson head coach, after replacing Tommy Bowden who resigned following a 3-3 start to the 2008 season and a tumultuous run in "Death Valley" where he went 72-45 but had never lead the Tigers to a 10-win season or to the ACC Championship Game.
Swinney went 4-3 to become the permanent head coach but it seemed like he was running into the same problems Bowden had with his 3-3 start to the 2009 season.
The Tigers traveled to Miami to take on the #8 ranked Hurricanes who come into the game with a 5-1 record under third-year head coach Randy Shannon.
Many expected the Canes to take care of Clemson, who had lost their last eight straight games to a ranked opponent and had not defeated a top 10 team on the road since 2001.
Clemson got the ball to start the game at their 25-yard-line and was able to drive to the Miami 23-yard-line in eight plays as quarterback Kyle Parker hit running back C.J. Spiller for 30 yards on the second play of the game and connected with Xavier Dye for 15 yards on a 3rd & 9 at the Miami 42-yard-line.
However, the Tigers could not points on the board as Richard Jackson's 41-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right to give Miami the ball at its own 24-yard-line.
The Canes drove to the Clemson 20-yard-line in eight plays as quarterback Jacory Harris hit two key completions to Leonard Hankerson totaling 34 yards, only to throw an interception to Clemson strong safety Deandre McDaniel, whose 27-yard return gave the Tigers the ball back at their 32-yard-line.
After the Miami defense forced Clemson to punt, the Canes took over at their 35-yard-line and were able to drive 33 yards in seven plays to set up a 49-yard field goal by Matt Bosher to put Miami on top 3-0 just 66 seconds into the second quarter.
The Tigers would begin its next possession at their 38-yard-line and would drive to the Miami 26-yard-line until Spiller lost the football when he was hit by Miami linebacker Colin McCarthy, which lead to a fumble that was recovered by Miami defensive end Andrew Smith at the Miami 28-yard-line.
The Clemson defense was able to force a three-and-out to get their offense the ball back at their 28-yard-line where the Tigers put together a 11-play, 72-yard drive which saw Parker complete six of eight passes for 69 yards on the drive, including the 15-yard touchdown strike to Michael Palmer to give the Tigers its first lead of the game at 7-3 with 5:21 left in the second quarter.
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| Clemson quarterback Kyle Parker 25 of 37 passes for 326 yards and threw three touchdowns. |
The Canes got the ball back at their 20-yard-line where it took them only seven plays to get to their own 43-yard-line when they faced a 3rd & 8 situation with 1:42 left before halftime.
That is when Harris found Hankerson again, this time for 26 yards and a 1st down at the Clemson 31-yard-line.
From there, running back Damien Berry would carry it twice with the last carry being a 23-yard touchdown run to give Miami a 10-7 lead with 57 seconds left before halftime.
It appeared Miami would go into the halftime break with the lead but on the ensuing kickoff, Spiller ran it back 90 yards for a touchdown to give the lead back to Clemson at 14-10 with 50 seconds left in the first half.
Miami would get one more chance to put more points on the board before halftime as they took over at their 35-yard-line and drove to the Clemson 37-yard-line until Harris was intercepted by Clemson defensive back Rashard Hall to end the first half with the Tigers on top 14-10.
The Canes would get the ball to start the second half and would drive 80 yards in nine plays, culminating with a five-yard touchdown pass from Harris to Hankerson that allowed for Miami to retake the lead at 17-14 with 10:52 left in the third quarter.
After both teams went three-and-out on their ensuing possessions, the Tigers would take over at their 27-yard-line when Spiller would strike again as he caught a pass from Parker and outran the Miami defense for a 56-yard touchdown to put Clemson back on top 21-17 with 5:49 left in the third quarter.
It looked like the game was turning in Clemson's favor when on the next play from scrimmage, Thearon Collier fumbled the ball after a three-yard catch was recovered by Tigers defensive back Marcus Gilchrist to give Clemson the ball at the Miami 26-yard-line and a chance to break the game open.
But two plays later, Parker was sacked by Miami defensive end Allen Bailey, leading to a fumble that was scooped up by fellow defensive end Marcus Robinson, who returned the fumble 57 yards for a touchdown to give Miami a 24-21 lead with 4:43 left in the third quarter.
Clemson would respond with a 10-play, 48-yard drive that ended with a 43-yard field goal from Jackson to tie the game at 24 with 44 seconds to go in the third quarter.
Miami got the ball back at the 20-yard-line and after getting out of a 2nd & 24 jam on their six-yard-line, the Canes had the ball at the Clemson 25-yard-line as running back Javarrius James's 44-yard run set Miami up in position to retake the lead.
Two runs by Griag Cooper for zero yards and a quarterback sack pushed the Canes back to the Clemson 34-yard-line where Bosher would come on to attempt a 51-yard field goal.
Bosher's kick was good and the Canes now had a 27-24 lead with 11:42 left in the fourth quarter.
The Miami defense would force the Tigers to punt to give the offense the ball back at their 15-yard-line, only for Harris to throw his third interception of the game, this time resulting in a pick-six as McDaniel made his second pick of the game and returned it 23 yards for the touchdown to give Clemson a 31-27 lead with 9:40 left in the fourth quarter.
Harris would quickly make up for his mistake on the first play of the Canes' next offensive possession when he threw a 65-yard touchdown pass to Travis Benjamin to give Miami a 34-31 lead just 20 seconds after McDaniel's pick-six.
The Tigers would begin its next possession at their 31-yard-line but quickly in scoring position when on 2nd & 4, Spiller busted loose for a 45-yard run to the Miami 15-yard-line.
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| Clemson running back C.J. Spiller totaled 310 all-purpose yards on 23 touches and scored two touchdowns. |
The Tigers seemed poised to retake the lead as they had 3rd & goal at the four-yard-line until Parker was intercepted in the end zone by Miami strong safety Randy Phillips, giving the football back to the Canes who would take over at their 20-yard-line with 5:37 left in regulation.
The Miami offense played it conservatively as James carried the ball three straight times, gaining eight yards, to force the Canes to punt the ball back to Clemson, who took over at their 40-yard-line with 3:29 left in regulation.
The drive began with a nine-yard pass from Parker to Dwayne Allen, which was followed by Spiller being stopped for no gain, to force a 3rd & 1 which the Tigers converted as Jamie Harper ran for six yards to the Miami 45-yard-line.
Three plays later, the Tigers would be faced with a do-or-die 4th & 1 at the Canes' 36-yard-line where Harper got the ball again as he ran for only two yards, but enough for the 1st down.
On the next play, Parker hit Terrance Ashe for 14 yards and a 1st down at the 20-yard-line which was followed by an eight-yard run by Harper as Clemson took a timeout with nine seconds left.
Swinney had enough time to take a shot at the end zone but instead sent the field goal unit to in to try and tie the game, which it did when Jackson's 30-yard field goal sailed through the uprights to tie the game at 34 with five seconds left.
Miami did nothing with the ensuing kickoff so the game went into overtime where Clemson won the coin toss and deferred, deciding to start on defense which is most often the case when it comes to overtime in college football.
It seemed like the Canes were going to put in the end zone as Graig Cooper ran the ball for 19 yards on the first play of overtime to give Miami a 1st & goal at the Clemson six-yard-line.
But the Clemson defense would hold Miami out of the end zone as they allowed only one yard on the next three plays, forcing the Hurricanes to settle for a 22-yard field goal by Bosher to give them a 37-34 lead.
That meant if Clemson scored a touchdown on their possession in overtime, the Tigers would win the game.
However, things looked bleak for a potential game-winning touchdown as the Tigers lost one yard on the first two plays of their overtime possession, forcing a 3rd & 11 from the 26-yard-line.
That is when Parker dropped back and fired a 26-yard touchdown pass to Jacoby Ford to give the Tigers a stunning 40-37 overtime win over the #8 ranked Hurricanes, the first Clemson win over a ranked opponent in three years.
Miami would go 4-1 to finish the regular season, earning a trip to the Champs Sports Bowl where they lost to the Wisconsin Badgers 20-14 to finish with a 9-4 record and #19 ranking in both the AP and coaches polls.
The following year, Miami would go 7-5 in the regular season, firing Shannon before their appearance in the Sun Bowl, which they lost to Notre Dame.
As for Clemson, the upset win over Miami was the second in a six-game winning streak that propelled the Tigers to the ACC Atlantic Division title and a trip to the ACC Championship Game for the first time in school history.
Although they would lose to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the ACC title game, the Tigers would finish off the season with a 21-13 win over Kentucky in the Music City Bowl to finish the season with a 9-5 record and #24 ranking in the final AP poll.
While the Tigers would finish 6-7 the following year, the 2011 season would begin a run of consecutive 10-win seasons which reached nine in 2019 as the Tigers have won six ACC championships, played in four national championship games, and won two national championships.
And some believed that the foundation was laid out that Saturday afternoon in Miami.
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