The Clemson Tigers nearly fell to the Pittsburgh Panthers, but their star quarterback took the plunge and secured a 24-20 victory.

After being shut out for most of the second half, star quarterback Cade Klubnik broke off the 50-yard run with just over a minute remaining, ultimately winning the game. It was the second-longest rush of his career and the 18th touchdown on the ground.

Klubnik and receiver Antonio Williams made the biggest offensive contributions.

Williams had an impressive 13 rushes for 149 yards and two touchdowns. It was the biggest game of his career and without him the Tigers wouldn’t have beaten the Panthers.

Clemson’s quarterback felt the pressure in this game as they were dealing with a highly injured offensive line. Pittsburgh had five sacks and nine quarterback hurries.

The Tigers also faced a nightmare situation at linebacker after missing two of their top three starters for various reasons.

Star junior linebacker Wade Woodaz traveled with the team, but emerged from the locker room in street clothes and missed the game with an injury.

That gave freshman Sammy Brown a bigger role and huge opportunities, but he was ultimately thrown out due to a very obvious targeting call. At least it was in the first half, so he won’t be out next week if Woodaz still needs time to recover.

Panthers running back Desmond Reid was highlighted as someone who could generate big plays and hurt the defense, given their problems with smaller backs in the past. That’s exactly what he did.

Reid hurt Clemson both on the ground and through the air with X total yards on first Pittsburgh touchdown of the day.

The Panthers were without their starting quarterback, but that ultimately didn’t matter as backup Nate Yarnell tore up the Tigers’ defense anyway.

Yarnell was 34-54 for 350 yards and a touchdown, and had an efficient passing day against a normally stout Tigers secondary. He also had an interception on the final play of the game.

Barrett Carer had a great day on defense with a team-high 11 tackles, including two for loss and half a sack. He also had two other pressures and a pass breakup.

The defense came up late, stopping Pittsburgh on the final drive of the game and securing the win.