Clements was quite an athlete...
by Kbyrnes (2020-05-10 18:20:16)

In reply to: so very unique (link)  posted by olson

Post Reply Return to Cartier Field

...My only "trivia" factoid about him, picked up back when I was a student, is that Clements and Dwight Clay played on the same team in the Dapper Dan tournament in PA, and then both went to ND--one for football, the other for basketball.

Of course, each is remembered for a fateful and fortunate heave of the ball, 19 days apart (12/31/73 and 1/19/74).

It was 1972 at Air Force. ND had the ball inside it's own
by abqgant  (2020-05-10 22:45:20)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

15 yard line. I believe it was a first down and the Irish ran a play action pass where the QB (Clements) faked two hand offs. One to a back running sweep action and a 2nd to a wing back running an inside counter in the opposite direction.

Clements' masterful execution fooled virtually everyone in the stadium as he nonchalantly took 2-3 steps back before lofting a long pass down field which was complete for a huge gain.

Unfortunately the refs were fooled as well and had blown the whistle when the wing back was tackled. After much discussion they called the play back due to an "inadvertent whistle".

It was a perfectly executed play.