Crazyball!

Possibly we have had wilder games than Clemson beating Miami 40-37 in overtime. Just don't waste any energy trying to look one up online. There certainly hasn't been one since the Internet was born.

And the end -- the finish was so ridiculously simple after all that had gone on before.

Jacoby Ford simply caught a pass from Kyle Parker and ran 11 yards into the end zone for a touchdown. The end.

Until that moment, from the end of the curiously scoreless first quarter onward, it was chaos unchained, high skill confronted with eye-popping incompetence, a funny/sad/uplifting/downcasting kaleidoscope of just about everything that can happen in football.

Everything except one team buttoning down the other.

UM coach Randy Shannon called UM ``sloppy.'' He could have included Clemson. Besides, ``sloppy'' was about as much of an understatement as ``interesting'' would have been for Saturday night at Land Shark Stadium.

Miami went in as a 4-point favorite but wound up three points behind, with a million tears to grease the mixture of shock and loss.

Still, no Hurricane should be crying this morning. No more entertaining game has been played here in this decade, or many others for that matter. And if these exact two teams played 10 more times, I would bet that the last team to possess the ball would win. These gangs can move it, folks.

Both were spectacular on offense, deficient on defense and a treat to watch.

Miami's Jacory Harris called it his ``toughest loss'' in his two seasons. He shouldn't be beating himself up. Three interceptions aren't much for a mess like this, and he came out with 256 yards. People were hanging all over that hatrack frame most of the day.

Together, the teams passed for 582 yards, more or less evenly split.

UM outrushed Clemson 177 yards to 84, but Ford's 11-yard sashay across the goal line in OT crowned the night and the Tigers.

Is this really the way football was meant to be played?

I'll take it.

Clemson's Tigers are clearly a collection of schizoids. They are 4-3 after playing from heavenly to hellishly from one week to the other most of the season.

Miami's Hurricanes stand 5-2, far, far better than the most optimistic prognosticators had foreseen for them for this point. At 2-2 inside the Atlantic Coast Conference, they still have a long, long shot of a chance to make the championship meeting on Dec. 5.

But back to the circus.

Here are a few high spots -- or low ones.

C.J. Spiller ran 90 yards for Clemson at the end of the second quarter, his 18th career touchdown run of 50 yards or more.

Spiller went 56 more yards to score on a pass from Kyle Parker.

And you've hardly heard his name mentioned in Heisman Trophy conversations yet. Disgraceful.

But you will, you will.

Marcus Robinson covered 54 yards to score on a fumble recovery/return for Miami. The defensive end looked like a 260-pound Olympian on a dash.

UM's Travis Benjamin took a pass 69 yards, which may have been one of the least-surprising episodes of the day.

I still don't know why the officials weren't offered oxygen.

They might have been laughing so hard they couldn't stand still long enough to suck any in.

Or crying so hard.

For anyone absolutely dying to know, here's how the whole shooting match, and I do mean shooting match, went for the Hurricanes:

They led 3-0, trailed 7-3, led 10-7, trailed 14-10, led 17-14, trailed 21-17, led 24-21, were tied at 24-24, led 27-24, trailed 31-27, led 34-31, were tied at 34-34, led 37-34 and lost 40-37.

Is that a ballgame or is that a ballgame?

Listen, I like defensive classics, too. But give me a choice of 9-6 or 40-37 and I'll take the latter every time.

Guarantee you this. It was the best comedy on TV anywhere Saturday night.

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