Dino Babers explains late hit on Cade Klubnik

Dino Babers had some fascinating words to say regarding a game-changing late hit call that Syracuse was called for on Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik last weekend.

With the Orange in control over the Tigers, Klubnik came in to try to give his team a spark. However, Syracuse stopped the young quarterback and forced a punt — or so they thought, until a personal foul gave Clemson an automatic first down on what would’ve been a fourth and long.

Speaking to the media, Babers explained that he believes the Orange shouldn’t have been called for a personal foul.

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“What that young man (Klubnik) did was he hit the sideline and he was running up the sideline acquiring yardage,” Babers said. “We have had that happen to us before. Last year with Jordan Travis when we played the Florida State game. We went towards that young man at Florida State and we did not try to tackle him and he cut back in and grabbed another 25-30 yards. They kicked a field goal and we lost a game down there that we felt we were in control and had a great chance of winning. So that’s how things go.”

“Since that has happened we use a new technique what we call escorting the quarterback out of bounds. What Eli (Fuentes) was doing was escorting that young man out of bounds. If you go back and watch the tape, he did not lower his head. If you go back and watch the tape, he did not bend his knees in what we call a loaded position to deliver a blow. If you go back and watch the tape he did not push that young man out of bounds. What he was doing was escorting that young man out of bounds.”

In addition to explaining the technique that Babers believes make it a legal play, he also likened it to a play later in the game involving Syracuse quarterback Garrett Shrader, and the Orange didn’t get the benefit of a call.

“If you also watch the tape, he also got pushed from behind which made him, because he was not in a striking position, get out of balance and there was a flag was thrown against us. I am not sitting here saying that flag was wrong. The quarterback got hit, they threw the flag,” stated Babers. “That happens but we’re not going to allow him to cut back inside of us and do the same thing that happened to us last year. I understand that flag being thrown there.

“What I don’t understand is the situation that happened later where our quarterback got into the similar situation where nobody pushed their defender in the back. Their defender pushed our quarterback in the back and we did not get a call. This is not me crying about calls. I turned them in. I have not gotten a response back from the league (ACC). I would like to just know what we can do to do those things better so we don’t make those mistakes in the future. Those are the things that we saw on tape.” 

It’s a game of inches, and Syracuse was ever so close to maintaining their perfect season against Syracuse. Alas, it stings for Dino Babers more seeing Clemson be the beneficiary of calls that the Orange didn’t get, but the attention is all on Notre Dame now for the Syracuse leader.