15 best college football moments of 2016

5. Pittsburgh’s wild final minute against Clemson

No. 2 Clemson looked to have all but sealed a victory against Pittsburgh in Death Valley on November 13 before a sudden turn of events in the final minute.

Neither team was able to offer much in the way of defense in a back-and-forth contest that was within one score throughout. Clemson opened up a narrow 28-27 halftime lead despite Pittsburgh quarterback Nathan Peterman tossing four touchdown passes.

After Clemson extended the lead to 42-34 at the end of the third quarter, things would settle down a bit. James Conner scored the only touchdown of the fourth quarter with 5:17 to go, although the Panthers were still down 42-40 following a failed two-point conversion.

The Tigers drove to the Pittsburgh 35 yard line and would have been able to run out the clock with a conversion on third and one. Wayne Gallman was stuffed for no gain on two consecutive plays, giving the Panthers decent field position with 58 seconds and one timeout to work with.

Dabo Swinney’s decision to go for it and not punt backfired, as Peterman completed back-to-back passes to Scott Orndoff to put the Panthers on the 30. Chris Blewitt hit a game-winning field goal with six seconds left to stun the Clemson crowd and end the Tigers’ undefeated run.

Upsets later in the day would make sure Clemson remained in playoff position for the rest of the season, but the unexpected defensive stand helped the Panthers pull off one of the upsets of the year.