Hurricanes’ defense keeps team in the game, then clinches it in double overtime

Two yards from a touchdown and a chance to force a third overtime, Will Shipley slammed into the Miami Hurricanes’ brick wall of a defensive line — again.

Leonard Taylor III grabbed the running back by his legs. Jared Harrison-Hunte and Wesley Bissainthe grabbed him from either side. Corey Flagg Jr. jumped on top of the mass of bodies, held up his right hand in a fist and leaped off his feet when he saw the referees signal for a fourth down. Miami just needed to stop the Clemson Tigers from gaining 1 yard on the final play Saturday and it would pull off a stunning 28-20 win at Hard Rock Stadium.

“We were confident,” defensive lineman Rueben Bain Jr. said.

James Williams certainly was.

“We knew they couldn’t run the ball up the middle on us,” the safety said.

He was right. On the final play, Cade Klubnik faked a handoff to Shipley and sprinted to his left, only no Hurricane was fooled. Flagg followed the Clemson quarterback step for step and finally dragged him down for an 8-yard loss. Miami’s bench emptied onto the field to celebrate its biggest conference win in years.

The Tigers had four chances to gain 2 yards at the end of the second overtime and couldn’t. The Hurricanes (5-2, 1-2 Atlantic Coast) only let them gain 1. Bain and Harrison-Hunte stuffed Shipley on first down, cornerback Te’Cory Couch nearly grabbed an interception on second, Taylor and Harrison-Hunte teamed up for another stop on third, and Flagg finally won the game on the fourth down.

Miami held Clemson (4-3, 2-3) to 345 yards and only 31 on the ground. The Hurricanes forced three turnovers — including one in the first quarter at the goal line, when Williams stripped Shipley right before the tailback crossed the goal line — and sacked Klubnik five times, with 10 total tackles for loss amounting to negative-54 yards for the Tigers. Clemson had just 5 yards in the fourth quarter and 22 in the two overtimes and didn’t score a touchdown in the final 17-plus minutes, letting Miami rally from a 17-7 second-half deficit.

The Tigers, long the bullies of the ACC, got bullied by the Hurricanes in Miami Gardens.

“About a year ago, physically they really whooped us,” Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said. “It shows how much the gap has closed with one full class and a couple of transfers, and some player development.”

The most pronounced difference was the presence of a 19-year-old terror coming off the edge.

When the Hurricanes played Clemson last year, Bain was still trying to figure out where he was going to go to college, wrapping up his senior year of high school and piling up multiple sacks in virtually every game he played at Miami Central.

Now, Bain is settled in Coral Gables, enjoying his freshman year of college and still putting up multiple sacks in big games.

The freshman helped set the tone for the defense in the first half with a strip sack of Klubnik in the first half and he kept coming at the sophomore. In the first overtime, Bain sacked Klubnik again for a 10-yard loss on first-and-10 to eventually force the Tigers to settle for a field goal. In the second, he was instrumental in the game-winning goal-line stand.

Bain finished with eight tackles, two sacks, two tackles for loss, two quarterback hits and a forced fumble.

“I feel like I’m on top of the world,” Bain said. “First thing I did after all the meetings and stuff, I ran to my parents. I feel like I can only do that at home. ... I hope guys that’s up are seeing that. They can do the same thing.”

Added Williams: “That’s what we’re trying to get the recruits to see — that kid right there. You come in as a freshman, you can play. You’ve just got to put the work in and put the team on your back, which is what he did.”

The Hurricanes needed every one of Bain’s plays and everything the defense gave them for more than 60 minutes. Freshman Emory Williams, making his first career start with fellow quarterback Tyler Van Dyke injured, had only 31 passing yards in the first half, but got to settle in and made clutch throws in the fourth quarter because the defense kept Miami within striking distance.

It turned into the type of game the Hurricanes were looking for. Cristobal likened it to a 15-round boxing match, with Miami truly believing it could, for the first time in maybe a decade, win the battle of physicality with the Tigers and the Hurricanes won the late rounds.

“I’m ready to go again,” Williams said. “I’m ready to go five more times.”

This story was originally published October 22, 2023 at 2:58 AM.