Clemson had a chance to take the lead against Alabama last night right before the first half ended. With the game tied at 14-14 Clemson was driving down the field and was poised to score, but a clock gaffe cost them some potential points. Zac Brooks caught a pass from Deshaun Watson that was good for a first down. However, the clock kept ticking and then stopped for only a second before starting back up.
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https://twitter.com/SBNationCFB/status/686752537177944064
This forced Clemson to use a timeout it shouldn't have needed to because Watson should have gotten up to the line of scrimmage with about 13 seconds on the clock and spiked it. That would have given the Tigers another shot at a play downfield or a run to get closer for a Greg Huegel kick. Then they could have used the timeout to make sure to have the last play of the half.
It seems the Pac-12 refs didn't catch the clock error and didn't do anything to correct it either. This isn't the first time that the west coast officials have had a problem making correct calls —- like this blown field goal call too. It most certainly won't be the last either. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney was pissed about the mismanagement on the officials' part as he told ESPN heading into the locker room.
And apparently Dabo let the refs have it some more before he gave his halftime speech to the troops.
In hallway on way to locker room, Dabo Swinney screamed repeatedly at officials “you made us use a time out” on late first half scenario
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) January 12, 2016
Huegel's kick was blocked, but he could have had a much closer kick at the very least and would have been able to get more air under the ball to avoid such an incident. Or the Tigers may have even scored a touchdown. Either way, there was some serious momentum left out on the field.
