‘Five more minutes’: Clemson QB Cade Klubnik turns second chance into College Football Playoff berth

Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik spent an hour crying in his car after a 17-14 loss to in-state rival South Carolina brought the 2024 regular season to a jarring end.

At the time, that seemed like the final nail in the coffin of Clemson’s postseason hopes. With a 9-3 record, the Tigers were a lock to make a decent bowl but nothing more.

Eventually, Klubnik drove home. Though his housemates were still up watching football, he went straight to his room. On a whim, he decided to tune into the end of Miami’s game against Syracuse.

He turned on the TV to see the Orange bleeding the clock for a 42-38 win — a victory that dropped Miami to 6-2 in conference play and sent Clemson to the ACC Championship Game against SMU.

“It was definitely a weird Sunday and Monday because you’re grieving from the Saturday loss, but you’ve got to transition and go be excited,” Klubnik said after the ACC Championship Game. “Because I kind of said out there, it’s like, you’re playing outside with some of your friends and your mom tells you you’ve got to come inside and she tells you you’ve got five more minutes.

“We got five more minutes to go play some football, and that was tonight, and it was really exciting.”

Clemson made the absolute most of its “five more minutes,” though the Tigers made victory look rather difficult at times. SMU tied the game at 31-31 when quarterback Kevin Jennings hit wide receiver Roderick Daniels Jr. for a 4-yard touchdown with 16 seconds left, erasing a 17-point fourth-quarter Clemson lead in the process.

Then Tigers wide receiver Adam Randall, who was in the game for an injured Jay Haynes, took the ensuing kickoff 41 yards and put the ball at Clemson’s 45-yard line. A quick 17-yard completion from Klubnik to Antonio Williams…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/five-more-minutes-clemson-qb-cade-klubnik-turns-second-chance-into-college-football-playoff-berth/

Author : Will Backus

Publish date : 2024-12-10 18:04:00

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