"And with that, we close out the first quarter here at Sun Life Stadium with a score that already tells us tonight is not going to be easy for either team," the ESPN commentator said as the scoreboard appeared on screen showing 14 to 9 in favor of the Tigers after the safety Ohio State scored in the final seconds of the quarter. "Tajh Boyd opens the game with a 48-yard touchdown run on Clemson's first possession and then connects with Martavis Bryant on a 75-yard pass for a second touchdown, but Ohio State responded with a 13-play drive that ended in a Carlos Hyde score, and that safety in the final seconds with Boyd trapped in the end zone gives two additional points to the Buckeyes."
"And what catches my attention most about this first quarter is Braxton Miller's mobility," the analyst beside him said. "Clemson comes in with the best offense in the ACC, but the Buckeyes have limited them quite a bit outside of those two big plays from Tajh, while Miller on the other side moves outside the pocket in a way the Tigers' defense hasn't been able to contain yet."
"The scoreboard says Clemson is ahead, but if you ask me how the game has felt, I'd say Ohio State has played the better football over the last ten minutes," the first concluded.
Social media didn't wait.
@CFBNation: That safety was a GIFT from Clemson. Boyd trapped in the end zone. You can't do that in an Orange Bowl. #OrangeBowl2014
@TigerNation_oficial: 14-9, we're still ahead, stay calm, this is just getting started 🐾 #GoClemson
@BuckeyeNation: Miller looks DIFFERENT tonight. The Tigers can't contain him and that's going to cost them dearly #GoBucks
@CollegeFootballTalk: Where is Sterling? Tajh had two good series, but the offense has stalled on the last two possessions. #OrangeBowl
@ESPNCollegeFootball: 14-9 Clemson at the end of the first quarter. This Orange Bowl is going to be everything we expected. #OrangeBowl2014
@SportsTalkAmerica: If Dabo doesn't put Sterling in over the next two quarters, he's going to have to explain why he brought him all the way here. #CFB #OrangeBowl
The second quarter kicked off with Ohio State taking control of the game, as Jeff Heuerman caught a pass from Braxton Miller in which the Buckeyes' tight end found himself completely wide open after Clemson's secondary coverage failed to communicate the switch properly. He had no trouble turning it into six points following a run of nearly sixty yards, putting the score at 15-14 in front of the Ohio State section that stood up in unison at Sun Life.
"And there's that mobility we were talking about," the commentator said as the replay showed Miller evading two defenders before the throw. "Miller with infinite time in the pocket and Heuerman wide open. Clemson simply cannot afford these types of mistakes against an offense of this caliber."
On Twitter, internet users didn't wait a single second to comment on it.
@BuckeyeNation: HEUERMAN 57 YARDS. There's the Miller we know. This offense has no ceiling #GoBucks
@TigerNation_oficial: WHAT WAS THE SECONDARY DOING? That can't happen #Clemson
Three minutes later, Braxton Miller found room between the tackles and walked into the end zone, bringing the score to 22-20 with twelve seconds left before halftime, with Clemson's defense outmaneuvered for the second time in the quarter.
The cameras showed the scoreboard and then Dabo entering the locker room with a serious expression.
In the Sterling house in Katy, Elena alongside Caitlyn and Rudy watched the game from the couch, with Max sleeping on the rug, unable to understand why the tension level in the living room had been higher than usual for two hours. Every time someone raised their voice, he lifted his head, only to lower it again upon verifying there was no real emergency requiring his attention.
Elena held her phone in hand, looking at the score on the app. "Twenty-two to twenty," she muttered.
"They still have time," Rudy said from his armchair.
"Of course they have time," Elena said, though her tone didn't sound as convinced as her words.
"When is Wyatt going in?" Caitlyn asked without taking her eyes off the screen.
"When Dabo decides," Rudy responded with a calm that, in this specific context, Elena found simultaneously reassuring and irritating.
"He should go in now," Elena said.
"Swinney knows what he's doing."
"Yeah, but Wyatt knows what he's doing too."
Rudy didn't respond to that because in moments like these he knew when a conversation had no useful place to go, choosing instead to settle into the chair and take a sip of the coffee Caitlyn had brought him twenty minutes ago—which was already cold, but which nobody was going to mention because getting up to warm the coffee meant missing two minutes of the game, and that was not a viable option tonight.
Max stood up from the rug, turned in a circle twice, and lay back down in the same spot with a sigh.
"Typical," Caitlyn said, looking at him for a second before turning back to the TV.
At that moment, ESPN's camera found Wyatt on the sideline putting on his helmet, and Elena sat up on the couch. "He's going in," she said.
"I see him," Rudy responded.
A few miles away, at the police station where Ed was working his night shift, the television in the break room had the game on, with six of his coworkers huddled in front of it holding coffee cups and offering opinions on Clemson's secondary defense that nobody had asked for, but which everyone shared with equal enthusiasm.
"Your son was the one who scored that in the first quarter, right?" one asked, pointing at the screen where a replay of the pass to Martavis Bryant was playing.
"No, that was Tajh Boyd, the starter," Ed said without taking his eyes off the screen. "Wyatt is still on the bench."
"But he plays, right?"
"He plays."
"And when does he go in?"
"When the coach decides," Ed responded with the exact words he used to answer everything.
What Ed didn't say was that he had watched that same Georgia Tech game four times since December, because every time someone at the station searched for it on YouTube, he ended up sitting down to watch it again. The last time, he had watched it alone in the break room at two in the morning on a Thursday with cold coffee, while Max slept at home and Elena was asleep, watching the 46-yard pass to Laquon on the first play of the game about six times in a row.
He had no practical reason for doing it, other than the fact that it was his son, and that was his pass, period.
One of his coworkers, who had found that same video on YouTube last week, had spent the following hour showing it to everyone coming onto the shift, saying, "Look at the pass the Cap's son makes," with the same energy of someone announcing a new discovery they believe the entire world should know about.
Ed had let him do it without saying a word.
Back to the Game
Clemson's second time possessing the ball in the second quarter ended in a missed field goal attempt, and Dabo called Wyatt over from the bench before the special teams unit returned to the field.
"Wyatt," Dabo said with the tablet in hand, "next possession, you're in."
Wyatt nodded, helmet in hand.
"Ohio State's defense is going to expect the deep pass after what Tajh did in the first quarter," Dabo continued. "I want you to start short, establish the rhythm, and when you see the corners closing in, attack deep. Got it?"
"Got it, Coach."
"And Wyatt," Dabo said before he turned around, "play your game."
Clemson's defense forced an Ohio State punt on the following possession, and Wyatt grabbed his helmet, putting it on and adjusting the strap while ESPN's cameras immediately sought him out.
"And there we see Wyatt Sterling preparing to enter the field," the commentator said. "The freshman who has been one of the biggest stories of Clemson's season is going to take his first snaps in a bowl game, and he's doing so with his team trailing on the scoreboard."
The cameras followed him as he walked to the edge of the field and crossed the white line, stepping into the huddle with his teammates.
"Alright," Wyatt said in the circle. "Pistol formation, Sammy on an out route to the right, Laquon crossing through the middle, McDowell in the backfield for the checkdown."
The first three plays were what Dabo had asked for, with Wyatt distributing the ball on short passes that moved the chains while studying how Ohio State's defense adjusted: an eight-yard pass to Davidson, an eleven-yard pass to Laquon, a six-yard run of his own, until on the fourth play he saw what he was looking for.
The Buckeyes' safety moved to the left side following Sammy, leaving the right side wide open.
Wyatt took the snap, dropped back three steps, and launched a nineteen-yard pass to Laquon, who caught it in the middle of the field and gained another seven yards before the tackle.
First and ten from Ohio State's thirty-four-yard line.
Two plays later, Wyatt ran it himself, taking advantage of a gap between the tackle and the right guard, advancing fourteen yards before two defenders pushed him out of bounds.
First and ten from the twenty-yard line.
A six-yard pass to the tight end, followed by an eight-yard pass to Sammy at the six-yard line.
First and goal.
Wyatt set up in the huddle. "Listen up, pistol formation. I'm going to run right as a decoy and throw the pass to Seckinger on the post crossing from the left."
The snap came clean. Wyatt faked the run just enough to draw two defenders toward the movement before turning and throwing toward Seckinger, who was crossing the end zone completely wide open.
Touchdown, Clemson.
The stands where the orange fanbase was concentrated erupted, and in the break room at the Katy police station, someone accidentally spilled their coffee. Ed smiled as he looked at the screen before turning toward his coworkers, who were already looking at him.
Wyatt was still on the field when he looked up toward the sideline and saw Dabo watching him. In that moment, without thinking too much about it, he raised two fingers, pointing toward the field.
Dabo looked at him.
Wyatt raised them again with the same calm with which he would call a timeout in the fourth quarter.
It took the coach exactly three seconds to nod once.
Clemson's offense lined up for the two-point conversion, and the Sun Life stands, which had begun to lower their volume, surged back up as the orange fans realized what was about to happen while the commentator spoke.
"And Clemson is going for the two-point conversion! Wyatt Sterling calls a bold play here in the Orange Bowl," the commentator said. "We didn't see that coming, but Dabo Swinney trusts the freshman and gives him the green light."
"And if it works," the analyst said, "this completely changes the dynamic of the game."
In the break room at the Katy station, someone asked, "What is that kid doing?" and another answered, "Calling for two points." The first said, "Seriously?" and nobody responded because everyone was watching the screen—except Ed, who was also watching the screen, but in a way different from the others: the way of someone who doesn't need anyone to explain what he's seeing because he has known it by heart since his son was six years old throwing in the backyard.
The snap was clean. Wyatt dropped back one step and once again found Seckinger crossing the end zone from the opposite angle, completely wide open. The pass hit him right in the chest, and he held onto it while stepping inside the line.
Two points.
Clemson 28, Ohio State 22.
@TigerNation_oficial: WYATT STERLING CALLED FOR THE TWO POINTS AND GOT THEM. THAT FRESHMAN IS DIFFERENT 🔥🔥 #OrangeBowl #Clemson
@CFBNation: Sterling just did what no freshman would do in the Orange Bowl. Calling a 2-point conversion while trailing in the second quarter. That's character. #CFB
In the break room at the police station, someone said something probably inappropriate for a workplace, and nobody cared. One of Ed's coworkers slapped him on the shoulder, which Ed permitted for exactly the three seconds he considered reasonable before returning his attention to the screen.
Wyatt was already heading toward the sideline with his helmet on and his usual expression.
At home, Elena had her hand over her mouth, Caitlyn had shining eyes, and Rudy was looking at the screen with that expression Wyatt would have recognized had he been able to see him—the exact same one he had on the couch on Christmas Day when he told him geography was a logistics problem.
Max lifted his head from the rug, looked at the humans in the room who were clearly having some sort of important experience, and rested it back on his front paws with the specific pragmatism of someone who has seen enough football games to know the best thing to do in moments like these is to stay out of the way.
Author thought
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