Phil Coale / AP

Nebraska wide receiver Nate Swift, left, catches a third-quarter touchdown pass against Clemson cornerback Crezdon Butler.

Swinney was hoping his team would maintain its late-season momentum. The Tigers won four of their last five games after a 3-3 start that prompted longtime coach Tommy Bowden to resign.

Clemson kept this one close by forcing field goals. After Henery’s fourth, the Tigers had a final chance to go ahead. They advanced to the Nebraska 10 with 1:54 remaining, but Eric Hagg batted down a pass on first down and sacked Cullen Harper for a 16-yard loss on the next play.

“You’ve got to get rid of it,” Swinney said. “Just don’t take a sack.”

Harper nearly hooked up with C.J. Spiller on third down, but Matt O’Hanlon knocked the ball out of Spiller’s hands in the end zone.

“I thought I had it,” Spiller said. “He just came over the top and knocked it out. I make that play in my sleep. We’ve run that play so many times. I just let the team down with that one.”

Harper misfired on the final play, and the Huskers ran out the clock from there.

The Tigers scored all three of their touchdowns off turnovers. But also had too many of their own. Harper threw two interceptions and was sacked five times, and Spiller and James Davis ran for just 43 yards combined.

“We made too many mistakes, and against a good team like Nebraska, you can’t make mistakes,” Clemson receiver Jacoby Ford said.

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