Published: Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009 / Updated: Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009 12:32 AM

Tigers top No. 8 Hurricanes in overtime road thriller

MIAMI -- Jacoby Ford called the final play, promising Clemson's coaches it would work.

Did it ever.

Kyle Parker threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Ford in overtime, giving Clemson a wild, wacky 40-37 win over No. 8 Miami on Saturday night — the biggest win during Dabo Swinney's tenure as coach, the Tigers' first victory in their last nine tries over ranked teams, and their first road win over a top-10 foe in more than eight years.

“It was a play that we had never run before,” Clemson offensive coordinator Billy Napier said.

It was a play Miami won't want to see again.

“We knew this game was going to come down to who made more plays,” Ford said. “And we did.”

C.J. Spiller had a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown — the sixth of his career — and a long catch for another score, on his way to a school-record 310 all-purpose yards for the Tigers (4-3, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference). DeAndre McDaniel had a 23-yard interception for another touchdown and Richard Jackson hit a 30-yard field goal with 5 seconds left in regulation to tie the game.

Clemson trailed seven times in the game, erasing every one, with Ford's TD catch the lasting blow.

“I have a birthday next month and I think I'm going to turn 50 instead of 40,” Swinney said. “We had to put on Superman capes. We made plenty of mistakes that could have lost us the game, but they played with poise and confidence. We just kept battling.”

How stunning was this from a Miami standpoint? Since the start of the 1985 season, Miami is now 113-2 when scoring 37 or more points.

The ACC is now out of Miami's control: Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Virginia all have one loss in the Coastal, meaning the Hurricanes will need help to reach the conference title game.

“Not making any excuses,” Miami coach Randy Shannon said. “We just played sloppy.”

Jacory Harris threw for two touchdowns for Miami (5-2, 2-2), but also threw three interceptions.

The Hurricanes could have had fourth-and-goal from the Clemson 3 in overtime after Matt Bosher's third field goal of the game. But Miami kept the three points on the board.

And Parker — who picked apart the middle of the field all day — found Ford, a South Florida native, for the winning score. Parker finished 25 of 37 for 326 yards.

“I should have made the play on that myself,” said Miami safety Randy Phillips, who was near Ford but in a supporting role on the final play. “I should have taken it into my own hands.”

It was the third meeting of these teams since Miami joined the ACC; all three went to OT, and all three have been won by the road team.

After the way regulation was nothing but wild back-and-forth — nine lead changes in the final three quarters — it couldn't have been too surprising that this one needed more than 60 minutes before getting settled.

Spiller had a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown just before halftime, then a 56-yard TD catch midway through the third quarter. Both came on Miami breakdowns; the Hurricanes didn't want Alex Uribe to kick it deep to Spiller on the return for a score, and the TD catch came when he was covered by linebacker Sean Spence, who battled an injured left knee all day.

The kickoff was particularly upsetting to Shannon. Uribe didn't kick in the second half, getting replaced by Bosher.

“Blown assignments,” Shannon said. “We had something called and we went on the field and it was totally different. … Guys didn't get it done.”

Both defenses offered major scoring swings, too. Allen Bailey sacked Parker, knocking the ball loose and setting up Marcus Robinson's 53-yard rumble for a score that gave Miami a 24-21 lead in the third quarter. And in the fourth, McDaniel's interception runback put Clemson up 31-27.