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Rex Brown

Clemson's Cullen Harper (10) is sacked by Eric Hagg of Nebraska during the second half of the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl on Thursday in Jacksonville, Fla.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Looking back, Clemson quarterback Cullen Harper wishes he had that second-and-goal play from the Nebraska 10-yard line late in the fourth quarter to do all over again.

Sitting on the doorstep of certain victory in Thursday’s Konica Minolta Gator Bowl, the fifth-year senior made perhaps the worst play in his two years as the Tigers’ starter.

Nebraska defensive back Eric Hogg came blitzing off the right side to force Harper out of the pocket, and eventually dragged him down for a 16-yard loss.

“He should not have taken the sack,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said following the Tigers’ 26-21 loss to the Cornhuskers. “We should not have had a sack.”

Harper initially pump faked the ball to get Hogg, who had knocked down the previous play from the left side, in the air to buy some time. But Hogg was only fooled for a second as he recovered to grab Harper by the foot.

“It was a house blitz. It was one-on-one. Probably everybody in the stands saw it coming,” Swinney said. “You just catch, cock and throw. Get rid of it. It was disappointing we took the sack. We should not have taken it.”

The Clemson quarterback did everything he could to get out of Hogg’s grasp and avoid the costly sack, but the defensive back eventually won the fight and pulled him down.

“You do what you can when you are out there,” Harper said. “Obviously, I would have liked to have gotten rid of the ball. I thought I could get out of it.”

It looked like Harper was going to at least make up for it on the next play when he delivered a well-thrown ball to the Nebraska end zone where, for a brief second, it looked as if running back C.J. Spiller was going to make a diving catch. But Nebraska free safety Matt O’Hanlon knocked the ball out of Spiller’s hands as he was going to the ground.

“The defender did a good job coming over me,” Spiller said.

Harper’s fourth down pass to Jacoby Ford on a double-move in hopes to isolate him on the safety was thrown behind the speedy wide receiver, who caught five passes for 112 yards and a score, and Nebraska took over on downs with 1:32 to play.

“It just wasn’t a great throw,” Swinney said. “I could not tell if they got pressure on him because I was watching the route, but it just wasn’t a great throw. The play before was a great throw. We had a chance to make the play, but we just did not make it.”

The Tigers’ (7-6) inability not to make the play was a microcosm of Clemson’s lack of offense the entire afternoon. Clemson managed just 210 yards against a Nebraska defense that dominated the line of scrimmage.

“They dominated us,” Swinney said. “I was very disappointed. They were disruptive. We knew they had a very good defensive front. They created a lot of problems for us.”

Even when the Tigers reached the Nebraska 10-yard line following a 17-yard pass to Aaron Kelly, it seemed as if Nebraska drew up all the right plays when its defense needed to the most.

“Driving down (the field) we felt real good,” Ford said. “We thought we would go in there and score and go up on top, but things changed after we got sacked.

“After that we just didn’t execute very well.”

And Harper wishes he had the opportunity to do it all over again.