RALEIGH, N.C. — For a moment — one crucial, game-changing moment — it looked like old times for Clemson.
Here were the Tigers, clinging to a three-point lead in a game that had seen momentum swing from one side to the other and back again repeatedly, desperate to put some distance between them and NC State. They needed five yards. It was fourth down. There’s a game plan for that, of course. His name is Hunter Renfrow.
The hero of the Tigers’ national championship a year ago was the difference again Saturday, hauling in a short throw from Kelly Bryant and dragging a defender past the sticks and on down the sideline, setting up a Clemson touchdown that put the defending champs back in the driver’s seat for a third straight consecutive title.