Virginia Tech Stuns Clemson 20-16 on Fourth-Down Touchdown in Death Valley

Fourth-and-1 at the Clemson 5, trailing by three, with less than two minutes to play in front of 80,510 people in Death Valley. James Franklin could have kicked the tying field goal and taken his chances in overtime. He thought about it, then sent his offense back out.

Ethan Grunkemeyer found tight end Luke Reynolds behind the Clemson defense, and the Hokies had their first win over the Tigers since 2007. Virginia Tech held on for a 20-16 victory over Clemson at Memorial Stadium on Saturday night, Oct. 24, finishing it with a defensive stand that ended on a fourth-down sack.

The win lifted Virginia Tech to 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the ACC, its second straight victory after a 34-24 win over Georgia Tech the week before. Clemson fell to 4-3 and 2-2 in conference play, its second straight league loss.

A slow start and a long march

For a while, it looked like Clemson's defense would own the night. The Tigers forced back-to-back three-and-outs to open the game, giving up just 12 yards on those two possessions.

Virginia Tech's third drive was better. The Hokies moved to the Clemson 7 before a third-down sack pushed them back to the 11, and John Love settled for a 37-yard field goal with 1:20 left in the first quarter. Clemson answered early in the second quarter, with freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds picking up 20 yards on a third-and-1 run to keep the drive alive, and Nolan Hauser tying it with a 34-yard field goal at 12:21.

Then things got strange. Will Heldt sacked Grunkemeyer on third-and-12, and Virginia Tech lined up to punt. Instead, the Hokies faked it, with Luke Reynolds throwing an 8-yard pass to Nathan Totten. It came up short, and Clemson took over on downs with 10:42 to play in the half. The Tigers could not do anything with the gift.

Virginia Tech made them pay for it. The Hokies put together the drive of the half, a 17-play, 87-yard march that took exactly seven minutes and included a fourth-and-1 quarterback sneak. Grunkemeyer finished it with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Luke Reynolds with 1:24 left in the second quarter, and the Hokies went into halftime up 10-3.

Clemson's third quarter surge

The third quarter belonged entirely to Clemson. The Tigers outgained Virginia Tech 146-13 in the period and scored 13 straight points.

Hauser started it with a 49-yard field goal at 10:44 to cap a nine-play drive. Clemson's next scoring drive was quicker and sharper. The Tigers went 65 yards in six plays and 2:30, and Tait Reynolds finished it by running 16 yards for a touchdown that gave Clemson its first lead, 13-10, with 6:14 left in the quarter. Hauser added a 36-yarder with three seconds left in the third, and Clemson led 16-10.

At that point, the Hokies' offense had nothing going. Love got them back within three, drilling a 47-yard field goal at 11:52 of the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 16-13.

The call

Virginia Tech got the ball back and went to work on the drive that decided the game. It was not pretty, but it was relentless: 11 plays, 69 yards and 4:45 off the clock. Clemson helped, too, with two pass interference penalties and a late hit out of bounds keeping the Hokies moving.

That set up fourth-and-1 at the Clemson 5. Franklin said he weighed the field goal and decided the situation was too good to pass up. "I just felt like fourth and 1 was as good of a situation as we were going to get," Franklin said. He liked the call, too. "So good scheme and throwing to a good player," he said.

Grunkemeyer found Luke Reynolds for 5 yards and the touchdown with 1:44 remaining. Virginia Tech led 20-16.

Dabo Swinney knew exactly what went wrong on the play. "We took our eyes off (Reynolds) and he got behind us," he said.

One more stand

Clemson still had time, and for a moment it looked like it had a path. Tait Reynolds hit Bryant Wesco Jr. on what looked like a long third-and-9 conversion that would have put the Tigers deep in Virginia Tech territory. The replay booth disagreed and ruled the pass incomplete.

That left fourth-and-9. Jaquez White had already sacked Reynolds on first down of the drive, and Mylachi Williams finished the job, dropping the Clemson freshman with 48 seconds left to end it.

Grunkemeyer's grit and two big catches

Grunkemeyer's line was modest: 20-of-32 for 156 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Clemson sacked him six times, and Franklin made a point of it afterward. "You can say what you want about Grunk, but you can't question his toughness," Franklin said.

Luke Reynolds was the difference in the passing game. The tight end caught seven passes for 44 yards and both touchdowns, and also threw the fake-punt pass. Que'Sean Brown led the Hokies with 69 receiving yards on five catches.

On defense, White led Virginia Tech with 11 tackles and a sack. Kaleb Spencer and Noah Chambers each had two tackles for loss, and the Hokies recorded four sacks as a team.

Clemson's numbers

Tait Reynolds did a lot for Clemson. The freshman completed 20 of 26 passes for 153 yards and led the team on the ground with 63 yards on 18 carries, including the touchdown. Gideon Davidson added 62 rushing yards, Tyler Brown caught eight passes for 62 yards, and Hauser was perfect on three field goals.

The Clemson defense was excellent for long stretches. The Tigers held Virginia Tech to 234 total yards and just 70 rushing yards on 37 carries, with six sacks and 10 tackles for loss. Safety Corey Myrick had nine tackles, and Heldt had two sacks.

The stats that matter

Clemson outgained Virginia Tech 288 to 234 and ran for 135 yards to the Hokies' 70. Neither team turned the ball over. So where did the game swing?

Some of it was situational. Virginia Tech went 2-of-3 on fourth down, and both conversions came on touchdown drives. Clemson converted just 3 of 14 third downs. The Tigers were also flagged seven times for 65 yards, and three of those calls helped fuel the winning drive. Virginia Tech held the ball for 32:24.

The complete numbers are in the official box score (opens in a new tab), and Clemson's game recap (opens in a new tab) walks through every scoring drive.

What it means and what's next

For Virginia Tech, this is the signature win of Franklin's first season in Blacksburg. The Hokies have won two straight and are 6-2, and they get almost no rest, playing at SMU on Friday.

For Clemson, the frustration was obvious. Swinney pointed at the officiating but did not hide behind it. "The refs were very active tonight. They got a lot of TV time tonight. But we don't control that," he said. He put the rest on his staff. "We didn't do enough as coaches to help them win the game," Swinney said, adding, "We had some critical missed opportunities on offense."

Next on the Tigers' schedule were two straight ACC road games, at Florida State on Oct. 31 and at Syracuse on Nov. 7, before a home game against Georgia Tech on Nov. 14.

The last word

Franklin had a field goal in his pocket and a tie in his hands. He wanted the win instead. "I just felt like fourth and 1 was as good of a situation as we were going to get," he said. A wait for a win over Clemson that dated back to 2007 ended on one play, and a tight end who also threw a pass that night caught it.

Sources: Clemson Athletics recap and official box score, Virginia Tech Athletics, The Associated Press and Field Level Media. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Virginia Tech Athletics.