CLEMSON, S.C. -- Dabo Swinney rolled forward out of his crouch, exhaled deeply and slapped the ground. The Clemson coach knew how fortunate the No. 3 Tigers were to escape with their latest victory.
"There's something to be said for finding a way to win," Swinney said. "And there's something to be said for knowing how to win."
A little luck doesn't hurt, either.
The Tigers (7-0, 4-0 ACC) needed all of it to squeak past North Carolina State 24-17 in overtime Saturday.
The Wolfpack (4-2, 1-1) were a 33-yard field goal away at the end of regulation from quashing Clemson's perfect start. Instead, Kyle Bambard pushed the kick right and sent most of the 82,104 at Death Valley into hysterics.
"I kind of looked up and I saw it started to sail, then I closed my eyes because I couldn't believe it was actually happening," Clemson defensive end Christian Wilkins said. "I waited for the crowd to cheer. They messed up because they gave us another chance."
Given new life, Clemson responded like defending ACC champions. The Tigers converted a fourth and 1 to keep their overtime drive going, then Deshaun Watson connected with Artavis Scott on a go-ahead 10-yard touchdown pass. Marcus Edmond intercepted Wolfpack quarterback Ryan Finley's deep thrown into the end zone to keep the Tigers undefeated and on track for the league title game and the College Football Playoff.
It wasn't the prettiest effort for Clemson, which gave up 397 yards and turned it over four times -- including Watson's first-ever interception returned for a touchdown -- to the Wolfpack. But it made it two consecutive heart-stopping home victories for the Tigers, who trailed 36-28 to Louisville before rallying with two touchdowns in the final eight minutes to take that showdown victory.
"It's about faith and belief," said Watson, who finished 39 of 52 for 378 yards and 2 touchdowns. "It's what we had to do to get the 'W.' "
Bambard was 1 for 4 on field-goal attempts.
"At the same time, we could've stopped them one more time," North Carolina State cornerback Mike Stevens said. "It's on the whole team. I'm not pointing fingers."
Stevens started the second-half drama with a 28-yard interception return touchdown after Clemson came out of the half with a 10-3 lead. The Wolfpack tied things at 17-17 on Matt Dayes' 2-yard scoring run with 11:29 to go.
Dayes ended with 106 yards, his fifth 100-yard rushing game in six outings.
In other games involving ACC teams, Mitch Trubisky threw two touchdown passes, and Malik Carney forced a turnover with 1:31 left to thwart Miami's last chance at a rally and visiting North Carolina knocked off the 16th-ranked Hurricanes 20-13. Ryan Switzer and Austin Proehl had scoring catches for the Tar Heels (5-2, 3-1). Bug Howard had 10 catches for 156 yards for North Carolina, which rebounded in a big way from last weekend's blowout loss against Virginia Tech. Trubisky completed 33 of 46 passes for 299 yards. Mark Walton rushed for 82 yards and Joe Yearby ran for 74 more and a touchdown for Miami (4-2, 1-2), which lost its second consecutive game after last week's 20-19 loss to Florida State. ... Eric Dungey accounted for 417 yards and two touchdowns and host Syracuse (3-4, 1-2) beat No. 17 Virginia Tech (4-2, 2-1) 31-17. Fans stormed the field and carried off Dungey in celebration after he passed for 311 yards and ran for 106. ... James Conner ran for 90 yards and two touchdowns and Pittsburgh (5-2, 2-1) shut Virginia (2-4, 1-1) down in the second half in a 45-31 victory in Charlottesville, Va. The Panthers got a 93-yard kickoff return touchdown from Quadree Henderson and a 59-yard interception return touchdown from Jordan Whitehead, the latter to allow the Panthers to take a 35-28 lead into halftime. ... Travis Rudolph had a career-high 13 receptions for 238 yards as No. 14 Florida State (5-2, 2-2) overcame three turnovers to defeat Wake Forest (5-2, 2-2) 17-6 in Tallahassee, Fla. Rudolph's performance -- which is the fourth-best receiving game in Florida State history -- offset an ugly game as both teams combined for seven turnovers. ... Justin Thomas was the difference in the matchup of Spread-option offenses, running for two touchdowns and passing for another, and Georgia Tech (4-3) beat Georgia Southern (3-3) 35-24 in Atlanta.
Sports on 10/16/2016