Slipping away

With a shifty juke move to his right, Clemson's star freshman returner and wide receiver Sammy Watkins was in space and sprinting down the right side of Byrd Stadium midway through the fourth quarter Saturday night.

With each quickly passing yard, Watkins deflated a Terrapins football team set on accomplishing the seemingly impossible — knocking off a top-10 squad with a patchwork defense and a quarterback making his first career start.

Despite an 18-point third-quarter lead, the Terps fell to the speedy No. 7 Tigers, 56-45. Ultimately, it was Clemson coach Dabo Swinney enjoying a Gatorade bath as Tigers fans raucously cheered him on, celebrating a road win against a team many didn't think would come close.

In a game that featured more than 1,000 yards of offense, Watkins sealed the win with his 89-yard kickoff return touchdown just moments after the Terps (2-4, 1-2 ACC) had scored to take back the lead in the fourth quarter.

The Tigers (7-0, 4-0 ACC) would score again off a 44-yard run by running back Andre Ellington, but the damage had been done. The Terps' defense, anxiously awaiting its chance to seal the upset, never got the shot.

"You just get sick and tired of coming close but not getting the win," safety Eric Franklin said after the Terps' fourth loss, a mark that matches their total from 2010. "It's tough after a loss like that — second week in a row we've come close."

Coach Randy Edsall elected to start redshirt sophomore quarterback C.J. Brown — who was sharing time under center just before the 7 p.m. kickoff with quarterback Danny O'Brien — for the first time in his career. Brown could hardly have scripted a better start as he used his legs to quickly build a lead.

Brown finished with 162 rushing yards — a program record for a quarterback — and threw three touchdowns while rushing for another. But after Clemson started keying on Brown's scrambling ability, the offense stalled in the second half, leading to a 39-10 Tigers run to end the game.

"It just stinks we came up short," Brown said. "Top-10 team in the country, coming into our house, at Byrd with a great atmosphere. It's just unfortunate we couldn't hang on."

After Clemson opened the game with a 95-yard drive that ended with an 18-yard field goal, the Terps scored 14 unanswered points off turnovers. After Watkins muffed a punt, leading to a 9-yard touchdown run from running back Davin Meggett, Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd threw an interception to cornerback Cameron Chism, who took the pick 46 yards to the end zone.

By that time, Brown had confidence leading an offense that had been largely ineffective this season. The sophomore scored on a 21-yard scramble with 8:38 remaining in the second quarter to put the Terps up 28-10.

After Clemson scored again before the half, Brown led another touchdown drive to open the third quarter. He found tight end Matt Furstenburg (five catches, 104 yards) for a 22-yard touchdown to give the Terps an 18-point lead with 13:06 remaining in the third quarter.

"We had them on the ropes," defensive tackle Joe Vellano said.

After an inconsistent first half, though, Boyd and Watkins heated up. The sophomore quarterback tossed three touchdowns, including two to Watkins, in a seven-minute span to quickly close the gap.

The Terps tried several different coverage options and rotated defensive assignments to contain Watkins, but none could stop the true freshman from setting a program record with 345 all-purpose yards.

"We just have to go out there and finish the game," Edsall said. "I thought we had a great effort, but effort doesn't always win you games."

Without injured linebackers Darin Drakeford, Demetrius Hartsfield and Kenny Tate, Edsall went with an all-freshman linebacking corps and a total of five freshmen on the starting defense.

Despite those changes, the Terps still came within a few plays of upsetting yet another ranked team this season.

Clemson's skilled players, as several Terps attested to afterward, just had too much speed. Along with Boyd's and Watkins' performances, Clemson received a huge boost from Ellington, who finished with 212 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns.