Clemson Edges LSU 25-24 On Last-Second Field Goal In Chik-fil-A Bowl

ATLANTA -- Les Miles took the less-traveled road.

Again.

Miles' late-game decision to call three straight passing plays for Louisiana State helped leave enough time for Clemson to stage a game-winning drive.

Chandler Catanzaro kicked a 37-yard field goal as time expired to give No. 14 Clemson a wild 25-24 win over No. 9 LSU in the Chick-fil-A Bowl on Monday night.

Leading 24-22, LSU got the ball at its 39 with 2:43 remaining and threw three straight passes. Only one was complete in the three-and-out series that took only about 1 minute off the clock.

"We had to throw the football," Miles said.

"We were not running the football. They were in a position where they out-numbered us in the run."

Jeremy Hill had 12 carries for 124 yards with two touchdowns, but he did not have a carry in the fourth quarter.

"They made it tough for us by stacking eight or nine guys in the box," said Hill of Clemson's defense. "When you see that lineup you know it will be tough to get yards."

LSU's three passes allowed Clemson coach Dabo Swinney to save his timeouts.

"I had three timeouts," Swinney said. "If he runs it three times, I can call timeout, timeout, timeout.

"I think (Miles) was trying to win the game. I think he felt confident in the plays. I know he knew he needed to get a first down, because if he gets a first down I have to start burning timeouts."

Trailing 24-22, Clemson (11-2) took possession on its 20 with 1:39 remaining. Tajh Boyd completed a pass for 26 yards to DeAndre Hopkins on a fourth-and-16 play during the decisive 10-play drive.

Catanzaro's kick set off a wild celebration on the field and in the stands. Some players collapsed on the field in apparent disbelief while most of Clemson's orange jerseys met in a midfield circle.

Boyd completed 36 of 50 passes for 346 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He set career highs for attempts and completions while winning the game MVP award.

"Tajh Boyd was phenomenal," Miles said. "I did not expect the heroic, if you will, efforts that he had."

Clemson ran 100 plays – 50 passes and 50 runs. LSU's defense was drained at the end as several players struggled with cramping.

"It's a hard thing on the defense to play 100 plays," said defensive end Sam Montgomery. "I feel our defense has to do so much more to get it right."

Boyd said having 1:39 to stage the final drive "is like having 10, 15 minutes for us."

"When I saw that clock and that we had three timeouts I said `Let's get it.'"

Clemson reached 11 wins for only the fourth time in school history and the first time since the 12-0 1981 team.

"You can't win 12 until you win 11," Swinney said. "You can't win a national championship until you learn how to win games like this.

"This was a landmark win."

LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger was sacked six times as he completed 14 of 23 passes for 120 yards with an interception.

"It's a tough thing to figure our pass protection was as poor as it was," Miles said. "That's the piece that needs fixing and frankly we've got some young players here we'll address and improve and make some strides going forward."

Hopkins, who had 13 catches for 191 yards and two touchdowns, also had receptions for 7 and 13 yards in the final drive. LSU safety Greg Reid was flagged for pass interference while defending Hopkins.

LSU scored 10 points off Clemson's two lost fumbles, including one by Sammy Watkins on the second play of the game that set up Hill's first touchdown.

Hopkins scored on an 11-yard reception in the second quarter and a 12-yard grab in the fourth. LSU's Bennie Logan blocked Catanzaro's extra point attempt following Hopkins' first touchdown.

Clemson had a chance to tie it after Hopkins' second TD, but Boyd's pass for the 2-point conversion was incomplete.

Michael Ford had a 43-yard kickoff return for LSU to open the second half. On first down, Hill broke through the line for a 57-yard touchdown run. His 12th rushing touchdown broke Dalton Hilliard's LSU record for a freshman set in 1982.

Clemson lost Watkins to a right ankle injury on his early fumble. X-rays were negative.

Clemson already was without backup receiver Martavis Bryant, who was suspended for the game for failing to meet academic requirements.

Clemson's second costly fumble came midway through the third quarter. Running back Andre Ellington ran for 8 yards but lost the ball when hit by Montgomery. Reid recovered the fumble at the Clemson 29, setting up Drew Alleman's 20-yard field goal.

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Some Drivers Intentionally Run Over Turtles, Clemson Student Finds During Experiment (VIDEO)

A Clemson University student was surprised by his findings this week after attempting to research the best way to ensure the safety of turtles trying to cross busy roadways.

Nathan Weaver, a 22-year-old senior in the School of Agricultural, Forest and Environmental Sciences, was trying to figure our how to help the turtles in their risky endeavor, but instead ended up discovering the extent to which some drivers go out of their way to flatten the hapless reptiles, according to the Associated Press.

"It was a bit surprising. I've heard of people and from friends who knew people that ran over turtles. But to see it out here like this was a bit shocking," Weaver told the AP.

For his initial experiment, Weaver placed rubber turtles in the middle of a busy street near the Clemson campus in South Carolina and watched as seven out of 267 cars purposely crushed the fake turtles in the space of an hour.

Read more about the experiment here.

Weaver's observations are not necessarily new, however. In July, NASA employee Mark Rober documented his own, similar experiment measuring the rate motorists tried to run over rubber turtles, snakes and tarantulas planted on the roadway.

Of the 1,000 cars Rober watched go by, six percent of drivers went out of their way to try to hit the rubber animals, which were stationed safely on the shoulder, Gizmodo reports.

Calling the six percent "cold blooded rubber animal killers," Rober documented the results of his somewhat scientific study in a tongue-in-cheek YouTube video.

But turtle deaths are, in reality, far from funny. As Groton Patch notes, research shows that American aquatic turtles have an uncommonly high percentage of males to females, due to the high number of females killed trying to cross roads. Furthermore, because the reptiles take a long time to reach sexual maturity -- and many die as babies -- turtle populations are especially hard-hit by the killing off of mature, healthy adults.

In fact, this May the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife helped put up turtle crossing signs to try to protect the state's endangered reptiles as the females embark on overland treks to arrive at their preferred nesting areas, the Bangor Daily News reported.

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