The 3rd ranked, 2-0 Clemson Tigers with coach Danny Ford hosted the 10th ranked, 1-1 Florida State Seminoles of coach Bobby Bowden. The Seminoles who had been top-ranked in pre-season, were loaded with talent including All-American CB Deion Sanders as well as QB Chip Ferguson, WR Terry Anthony, & OT Pat Tomberlin. An opening loss to 8th ranked Miami stunned the Seminoles & they didn’t plan to fall to another ranked team. Sanders returned a punt for a touchdown & a trick-play that goes down in college football history helped the Seminoles claim The Belt for the first time with a 24-21 victory over the Tigers. Clemson took a 1st quarter lead with their own trick play as WR Chip Davis threw an option pass to WR Gary Cooper for a 61-yard touchdown giving the Tigers a 7-0 lead. Florida State tied the game in the 2nd quarter with a conventional 40-yard touchdown pass from Ferguson to RB Dexter Carter but the Tigers took a 14-7 halftime lead when QB Rodney Williams scored on a 7-yard touchdown run. After Sanders returned a punt 76-yards for a touchdown & RB Dayne Williams scored on a 1-yard touchdown run Florida State appeared to have control of the game 21-14, if the defense could hold. Clemson’s RB Tracy Johnson scored for the Tigers to tie the game at 21-21 with just 2:32 left in the game. Clemson readied for a final shot at scoring as Florida State prepared to punt from their own 21-yard line with just 1:33 to play. It appeared disaster had struck the Seminoles as the ball was apparently snapped over Florida State’s P Tom Corlew’s head but Bowden had called a play that came to be known in football lore as the “puntrooksie”. Williams, the blocking back, had intercepted the long snap & handed it between the legs of S LeRoy Butler who ran around the left end while 2 other Seminoles faked to the right. Clemson realized what was happening & All-American CB Donnell Woolford finally knocked Butler out of bounds 78 yards later at the Clemson 1-yard line. As brilliant as the gamble was, it still had not changed the score. After getting stopped at the goal line on 3 straight plays, the Seminoles called a timeout with 0:35 to play & the clock stopped. Problem was that Florida State had no timeouts left but the clock was stopped anyway. Florida State scored a touchdown on the next snap but the score was called back after the confused officiating crew determined Florida State should not have been given the timeout. Strangely, no penalty was assessed but the Seminoles had to try again for the score. This time, Bowden opted to try a field goal even though his kickers had been 0 for 3 on field goal attempts in the game. Florida State’s PK Richie Andrews’ 19-yard field goal kick was good & the Seminoles had an improbable 24-21 win. Ferguson finished with 241 yards passing with his touchdown while Williams threw for 96 yards in the loss. The Tigers finished the season 10-2; ACC Champions, ranked 9th nationally while the Seminoles finished 11-1 & ranked 3rd nationally. Clemson would play for The Belt again in 1999.
Pickin' Splinters
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