South Roundup : Clemson Winds Up With a 21-21 Tie and a Gator Bowl Bid

David Treadwell kicked a 31-yard field goal with 2:50 left as No. 19 Clemson rallied to tie South Carolina, 21-21, Saturday at Clemson, S.C.

After the game, the Tigers (7-2-2) accepted an invitation to the Gator Bowl Dec. 27 against Stanford.

Although disappointed with the tie, Coach Danny Ford said the Tigers would accept the invitation.

“It’s not normally the kind of dressing room we’d like to have to accept the bowl game, of course, after a tie, but we want to have the opportunity to come back . . . and to improve our football team,” Ford said.

The tie was the second in two weeks for the Tigers, who rallied last week to tie Maryland, 17-17, to clinch the Atlantic Coast Conference title.

The Gamecocks finished the season 3-6-2.

N. Carolina 42, Duke 35--Mark Maye passed for 319 yards and 2 touchdowns for the Tar Heels in a regular-season finale at Durham, N.C.

With North Carolina trailing, 35-34, Maye teamed with Eric Lewis on a 51-yard scoring play with 2:24 left. Maye then passed to Eric Streater for the two-point conversion.

Eric Starr, substituting for injured tailback Derrick Fenner, gained 184 yards in 17 carries and raced 57 yards for a touchdown.

Fenner hurt his knee early in the first quarter and missed the rest of the game.

The Tar Heels, who will play Arizona in the Aloha Bowl Dec. 27, are 7-3-1 and 5-2 in the ACC. Duke finished 4-7 and 2-5.

Mississippi 24, Mississippi St. 3--At Jackson, Miss., Mark Young connected with J.R. Ambrose on a 40-yard pass play for a touchdown, and freshman Reed Hines ran 35 yards for another score as the Rebels beat their Southeastern Conference rival for the fourth straight time and accepted a bid to face Texas Tech in the Independence Bowl Dec. 20 at Shreveport, La.

The Rebels finished 7-3-1 overall and 4-2 in the SEC. Mississippi State, losing its final four games, wound up 6-5 and 2-4.

State quarterback Don Smith had 161 yards total offense, including 109 in 21 rushing attempts to finish with a career total of 7,097--second best in SEC history behind Florida’s John Reeves, who had 7,213.

Tennessee 28, Kentucky 9--Joey Clinkscales caught touchdown passes of 17 and 12 yards from Jeff Francis as the Volunteers won an SEC game at Knoxville, Tenn., and accepted a Liberty Bowl bid to play Minnesota Dec. 29 at Memphis, Tenn.

The Vols are 5-5 overall and 2-3 in the SEC, with a game remaining against Vanderbilt. Kentucky ended its season 5-5-1 and 2-4.

Kentucky’s Bill Ransdell was sacked 8 times but completed 15 of 29 passes for 181 yards in his final college game.

N. Carolina St. 31, W. Carolina 18--Erik Kramer passed for 256 yards and 2 touchdowns at Raleigh, N.C., to lead the Peach Bowl-bound Wolfpack past the Catamounts.

N.C. State, which will play Virginia Tech on Dec. 31, completed the season with an 8-2-1 record, while Western Carolina fell to 5-5.

Kramer completed 15 of 25 attempts, teaming with Haywood Jeffires for a 27-yard touchdown and finding Danny Peebles on a 12-yard scoring pass.

Willie Perkins passed for 284 yards, hitting 31 of 50 attempts for Western Carolina.

Wake Forest 24, Georgia Tech 21--Jamie Harris, filling in for suspended quarterback Mike Elkins, threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Greg Scales, and Darryl McGill ran 10 yards for another score as the Demon Deacons fought back from a 14-10 halftime deficit in an ACC game at Winston-Salem, N.C.

Wake Forest, playing without eight suspended players, won for the first time against the Yellow Jackets in nine meetings to finish 5-6 overall and 2-5 in the ACC.

Georgia Tech, 5-4-1 overall and 3-3 in the ACC, concludes its season at Georgia next Saturday.

William & Mary 21, Richmond 14--At Richmond, Va., Michael Clemons scored on a 22-yard draw play with 58 seconds left as the Indians kept their Division I-AA playoff hopes alive.

William & Mary (9-2), ranked No. 9 in Division I-AA, is hoping to receive one of seven at-large bids today for the division playoffs.

Richmond, losing its fourth straight game, finished 4-7.