Milton leads Tennessee past Clemson in Orange Bowl to cap best season in over two decades
There was a point this season when the Tennessee Volunteers looked like a legitimate candidate to make the College Football Playoffs. Those dreamed were dashed with a late-season loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks, but Tennessee on Friday ended its best season in more than two decades on a high note.
Behind a few big plays from quarterback Joe Milton III and a bend-but-don’t break performance from its defense, No. 6 Tennessee defeated the No. 7 Clemson Tigers 31-14 in the Capital One Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium.
Milton all but sealed the game with his 46-yard touchdown pass to senior Ramel Keyton with 8:34 left in regulation after Clemson rallied to get within one score less than 90 seconds earlier.
And with that, Tennessee (11-2) secured its first 11-win season and first top-10 finish to a season since 2001, when the Phillip Fulmer-led Volunteers also went 11-2 and No. 4 in the Associated Press poll.
“The future is freaky bright for Tennessee football,” Volunteers coach Josh Heupel said.
Milton, who earned Orange Bowl MVP honors, took his coach’s sentiments one step further.
“The Vols,” Milton said, “are back on top.”
Tennessee’s run to relevance this season began with eight consecutive wins to start the season, highlighted by a 52-49, last-second win over the Alabama Crimson Tide on Oct. 15.
The lone blemishes were a 27-13 loss to top-ranked Georgia on Nov. 5 and a 63-38 beatdown by South Carolina on Nov. 19.
“The best is yet to come,” Heupel said.
And Milton will likely play a key role in ensuring the chance for the best to come. Friday was just his second start of the season for Tennessee after one-time Heisman Trophy hopeful Hendon Hooker tore the ACL in his left knee in the Volunteers’ penultimate regular-season game against South Carolina.
He threw for 251 yards on 19-of-28 passing and had three touchdown passes — 16 yards to redshirt junior Bru McCoy in the first quarter, 14 yards to freshman Squirrel White late in the third quarter and the clincher to Keyton in the fourth quarter. He also had a 50-yard throw to White in the second quarter that set up a Jabari Small two-yard touchdown run.
“It was a statement game for me,” Milton said.
But it was Tennessee’s defense that came up with the big plays when needed.
The Volunteers defense gave up 484 yards but held Clemson out of the end zone for the first three quarters and tallied seven tackles for loss, four sacks, seven pass breakups and two interceptions — including one in the end zone with just over a minute left in the game.
It took until Clemson’s ninth attempt inside the Tennessee 35-yard line (and its 87th overall play) to score a touchdown, with quarterback Cade Klubnik scampering in from 4 yards out to cap a 12-play, 71-yard drive and cut the Tigers’ deficit to 21-14 with 10:01 left to play. Klubnik completed 30 of 54 passes for 320 yards and had two fourth-quarter interceptions.
Six plays, 75 yards and 1:27 later, Tennessee was back up by 14 points on Milton’s deep touchdown pass to Keyton. The Volunteers tacked on a 32-yard field goal with 3:07 left to play.
The outcome of Clemson’s first eight drives that made it inside Tennessee’s 35-yard line:
▪ A fake field goal attempt that resulted in a turnover on downs.
▪ Three missed field goals from 55, 49 and 42 yards.
▪ Two made field goals from 31 and 40 yards.
▪ The clock running out at the end of the first half after getting to the 11 yard line.
▪ A turnover on downs in the third quarter when a run on fourth and 2 came up short.
Clemson (11-3), meanwhile, posted its second consecutive three-loss season after having no more than two losses in a season for six consecutive seasons prior to this — and reaching the College Football Playoff in all six of those seasons with national championships in 2016 and 2018.
This story was originally published December 30, 2022 at 11:53 PM.
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