NC State vs. Clemson: Score and Twitter Reaction

Clemson's long walk on the tightrope in 2016 continues to be successful, as the Tigers survived a tense home battle to beat North Carolina State 24-17 in overtime. 

Deshaun Watson connected with Artavis Scott for a touchdown on Clemson's first possession of overtime for the lead. 

NC State quarterback Ryan Finley tried to strike back on his team's first play after Clemson's score, but Marcus Edmond cut off the pass for the interception to seal the win and preserve the Tigers' undefeated record.

The ACC Digital Network provided highlights of the game's final play:

The third-ranked Tigers have not looked like one of the elite teams in the country through their first seven games. They still have that zero in the loss column, which is not irrelevant, but they look a lot like Florida State in 2014 before it got blitzed by Oregon in the Rose Bowl. 

The Wolfpack will be thinking about this loss for a long time, particularly kicker Kyle Bambard, who went 1-of-4 on the day and missed a 33-yard attempt as time expired in regulation that would have given his team the win. 

Per ESPN Stats & Info, it might be time for NC State to see about getting a new kicker based on Bambard's career results:

NC State running back Matthew Dayes ran for 106 yards on 22 carries, with 33 of those yards coming on the final drive in regulation that resulted in three first downs and had the Wolfpack set up for the kick that Bambard missed.  

Per ESPN Stats & Info, NC State came within an eyelash of erasing 49 years of bad history for the program:

Watson did have a solid passing day, going 39-of-52 for 378 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He used his legs to score on a four-yard run that helped give Clemson a 17-10 lead in the third quarter. 

But there were times when Watson was sloppy throwing the ball. He threw a horrible interception right into the hands of NC State cornerback Mike Stevens that was returned for a touchdown. 

Per NC State Football on Twitter, the pick-six was a historic moment in Watson's storied Clemson career:

Once regarded as a top draft prospect coming into the season, Watson's erratic performance through seven games is starting to elicit concerns:

The statistical drop for Watson this season compared to last year is stark. He entered Saturday completing just 60.7 percent of his attempts with a career-worst 7.63 yards per attempt.

Just as concerning for Clemson as Watson's performance this year is what the rest of the team is doing. The Tigers continue to torment themselves with big mistakes at key moments. 

On the drive following Watson's pick-six, Clemson went on a 78-yard march that took 14 plays and ended when NC State cornerback Dravious Wright stripped Tyshon Dye and recovered the ball at the 2-yard line to keep the score tied. 

Wright was part of a controversial play earlier when he forced Clemson running back Wayne Gallman to miss the rest of the game with a huge hit that caused a fumble and could have resulted in a targeting penalty. 

Per Joe Giglio of the News and Observer, Gallman appeared to be knocked out on the play. 

Another moment in which Clemson sabotaged itself came early in the fourth quarter. NC State was driving, looking to tie the score at 17. Finley missed on a 4th-and-6 pass attempt, but the Tigers were called for pass interference to give a clean set of downs. 

Four plays later, Dayes pushed the ball into the end zone, and the ensuing extra point tied the score with just over 11 minutes remaining. 

Dayes was a hero for NC State's offense in this game. The team struggled to consistently move the ball against Clemson's stout defense, with Finley completing just 50 percent of his attempts and throwing two interceptions with no touchdowns. 

The officials deserve their share of criticism as well, because they missed clear penalties against Clemson that wound up significantly hurting NC State, per SI College Football:

Ralph D. Russo of the Associated Press provided the best possible summation of this game:

While this was not Clemson's finest hour, credit NC State for continuing to put pressure on the Tigers in a hostile environment. The Wolfpack got help with turnovers and the big penalty, but they still had to convert those opportunities into scores.

In addition to escaping with a win over NC State, Clemson also has that big win over Louisville from two weeks ago on its resume and a game at Florida State in two weeks. But there is a lot of improvement head coach Dabo Swinney needs to see if this team is going to challenge for a national championship again. 

Postgame Reaction

Swinney sounded like a coach who believes his team should be better, but he was also happy to get the win. 

"Just a day at the office, man!" Swinney said, per ESPN.com's Matt Fortuna. 

One thing that Swinney was not thrilled to see from his team was four turnovers that helped keep NC State alive as the game wore on. 

"Lord have mercy," Swinney said, per Bonnie Bernstein of Campus Insiders. "We gotta learn how to hold on to the football."

NC State head coach Dave Doeren acknowledged his team's resilience. 

"We went toe to toe with them today and just needed to make one more play and we couldn't," Doeren said, per Mark Armstrong of ABC 11 in Raleigh.