What Dabo Swinney, Cade Klubnik said about Clemson's 3rd-and-1 failure in OT vs Florida State
CLEMSON — Clemson football's 31-24 loss to Florida State on Saturday came down to the Tigers' mistakes, and one of the biggest was in overtime.
Florida State had scored on its possession in overtime to go ahead by a touchdown. On Clemson's turn, the Tigers had third-and-1 from the 16-yard-line. The Tigers ran an RPO, giving quarterback Cade Klubnik the option to hand off to running back Will Shipley or to pass. He opted to pass to Adam Randall instead of letting Shipley push for the one necessary yard. Randall caught the pass for no gain.
Klubnik's pass on fourth down was tipped and fell incomplete, giving Florida State (4-0, 2-0 ACC) its first win over the Tigers (2-2, 0-2) since 2014.
Coach Dabo Swinney said it was a matter of situational awareness for Klubnik, but he put the blame for the mistake primarily on himself and the coaching staff.
"We've got to be better as coaches there and help our quarterback," he said. "We expected him to hand the ball off right there. ... We can help (Klubnik) right there if we just make it a lock call and not even having (the pass) as an option. But situationally, we've just got to learn from it."
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Meanwhile, Klubnik took ownership for the decision.
"I should've handed the ball off," he said. "That's not on the coaches; that's my fault. You have the option to throw the screen and you have the option to run it. There were only two (defenders) over our three (receivers). Normally my base rule is, that's three over two. If we catch it and two guys block two guys, we should at least get the first down if not be able to score. Just got to know it's third-and-1 and don't worry about that. Screens can get iffy on third downs. Let's just hand it off and go get the first."
Christina Long covers the Clemson Tigers for the Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. You can follow her on Twitter @christinalong00 or email her at clong@greenvillenews.com.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: What Dabo Swinney, Cade Klubnik said about overtime play vs FSU
