Virginia Tech left Clemson with the kind of road win that turns on one bold decision and one clean execution.
Down three late on Oct. 24, the Hokies faced fourth-and-1 from the Tigers’ 5-yard line. James Franklin had a choice: send out John Love for a short field goal and a tie, or keep the offense on the field and chase the win. He went for it, and Ethan Grunkemeyer made the call look brilliant by finding Luke Reynolds wide open for the touchdown that finished Clemson 20-16.
Dabo Swinney wasn’t shocked by the gamble. He called it “gutsy” and said the game came down to “inches.”
Franklin said he believed the fourth-down snap gave Virginia Tech its best shot to finish the job.
"I just felt like the momentum, except for that last drive, was probably on their side," Franklin said. "You're on the road in a tough environment. It's fourth-and-1.
"Just felt like fourth-and-1 is as good of a situation that we were going to get, and then we called a play that we've had a lot of success with."
Clemson safety Corey Myrick said the decision made sense from the Tigers’ side too, given how close Virginia Tech was to the goal line.
"Not really, because we was kind of deep down in our territory," Myrick said. "We should have ... just stayed disciplined and be ready for anything."
The bold call wasn’t the only pressure-packed moment Franklin had to navigate. It would have looked a whole lot different if the Hokies had failed, but they didn’t. Virginia Tech then held Clemson on its final possession, with Mylachi Williams sacking Tigers quarterback Tait Reynolds on 4th-and-9 from the Clemson 49.
The touchdown itself also wasn’t a surprise to Swinney’s team. Virginia Tech used a strikingly similar concept earlier in the game, with 1:24 left in the second quarter. That time, the Hokies lined up at Clemson’s 6-yard line, sent Reynolds in motion left, had Grunkemeyer fake the handoff and hit Reynolds in the flat for a score.
Late in the fourth, the setup changed only a little. Another tight end went in motion, this time to the right, while Reynolds worked left and slipped to the back of the end zone. Clemson lost him again, and Virginia Tech hit the same payoff: a touchdown.
Swinney said the repeated breakdown with Reynolds was especially frustrating.
"That's the two biggest disappointments we had was that (Reynolds) had two touchdowns," Swinney said. "We had one complete bust ... but that one, we were just right there.
We just didn't have enough. We just kind of took our eyes off of him.
(Reynolds) got a little behind us."
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