Swinney's gamble nearly costs Clemson a victory

Clemson escaped Auburn with a narrow 19-13 victory Saturday in spite of a very questionable decision by head coach Dabo Swinney.

With Clemson ahead 19-13 and 40 seconds left to play, Swinney and company were facing a fourth-and-4 from the Auburn 17-yard line. Common sense says the best decision is to kick a 34-yard field goal to go up by two scores. A two-score advantage with less than a minute to go essentially ends the game.

Swinney, though, opted to go for it on fourth down, and running back Wayne Gallman was stuffed for a two-yard gain, handing Auburn a shot to win the game. Gus Malzahn's crew nearly took advantage, and Clemson was fortunate to avoid the upset.

The risk seemed unnecessary. Even with a potent Clemson offense, a 34-yard field goal feels like a higher-percentage option than trying to pick up four yards on fourth down. Auburn's defense was doing a decent job of limiting Clemson's attack for much of the game and even though kicker Greg Huegel missed an extra point earlier, he's typically fairly reliable.

Huegel made 27-of-32 kicks last season and had a long of 47 yards. Not only that, but just a quarter earlier, Huegel connected from 40 yards, so distance shouldn't have been an issue. If you can't count on your kicker to make a 34-yarder it's probably time to find a new kicker.

The second issue is the play call. Gallman is an excellent back, but it would make more sense for Swinney to put the ball in Deshaun Watson's hands in that critical situation. It made no sense not to put the game in the Heisman favorite and potential 2017 first overall pick's hands in some sort of run-pass option.

Watson can beat you with both his legs and his arms, so allowing him options to make a play would've really put the Auburn defense in a more difficult spot.

Swinney was fortunate this decision didn't come back to haunt his squad, but next time he may not be so lucky.