All Clemson

Higgins Gives Bengals his All in Super Bowl Loss

Former Clemson wide receiver caught 4 passes for 100 yards, scored 2 TDs

Will Vandervort

Higgins Gives Bengals his All in Super Bowl Loss
Higgins Gives Bengals his All in Super Bowl Loss /

Super Bowl LVI did not turn out the way Tee Higgins and the Cincinnati Bengals had hoped.

For all but the final minute and 25 seconds of the second half, the Bengals had the lead on the Los Angeles Rams. However, that ended when quarterback Matthew Stafford found Cooper Kupp for a 1-yard touchdown pass with 1:25 to play in the Rams’ 23-20 victory Sunday night at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

It was a tough pill to swallow for the Bengals, who grabbed the lead, 17-13, on the first play of the second half after Higgins hauled in a 75-yard touchdown pass from Joe Burrow. The former Clemson wide receiver finished the game with four catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns.

“Joe pushed up in the pocket and felt the match coverage there and just put it up and let Tee go make a play,” Cincinnati head coach Zac Taylor said to the media after the game. “It wasn’t like it was a clean whim. Joe just gave a guy that he’s got a lot of faith in an opportunity and Tee rewarded him with a big play for a touchdown.”

The 75-yard touchdown did not come without some controversy, though. Some felt Higgins got away with offensive pass interference after replay showed his hand left hand racked across Jalen Ramsey’s facemask, causing Ramsey’s head to turn away from the ball.

The contact allowed Higgins to gain position to go get the football, while Ramsey fell to the ground, making it an easy path to the end zone for the remaining 35 yards.

After the game, referee Ron Tolbert explained the no-call.

“The crew did not see any contact that warranted pass interference,’’ Tolbert said, according to the New York Post. “It was a contested catch, and the crew didn’t see any contact that rose to the level of pass interference.”

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Tolbert explained why they felt there was not enough contact to warrant a foul being called.

“Our rule is that if there is a grab and twist and turn, there’s enough for a foul. If there’s just a rake across the facemask, where there’s not a twist and turn even if there’s a grab, there is no foul,” he said. “The officials did not see any contact that rose to the level of a foul for a 15-yard facemask.”

Higgins also scored on a well-executed trick play in the second quarter. He caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from running back Joe Mixon on a halfback pass. Cincinnati trailed 13-10 with 5:47 to play in the first half after the touchdown.

There was a pretty good argument that if the Bengals hung on to win the Super Bowl, Higgins could have been voted the game’s MVP. His 100 yards led all pass catchers and was the most yards by any player from scrimmage.

Higgins and Kupp both had two touchdown receptions in the game. Kupp led all receivers with eight catches, but he had 92 yards to go with his two touchdowns.

With his two touchdowns, Higgins became the first Clemson player to score multiple touchdowns in a Super Bowl. Prior to his 6-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter, only one former Tiger had scored a touchdown in a Super Bowl. That, of course, was defensive tackle William Perry in Super Bowl XX, who scored on a 1-yard run as part of a gimmick play for the Chicago Bears.

Higgins was not the only former Tiger to step up big in the Super Bowl for Cincinnati. Defensive tackle D.J. Reader played well, too. The 347-pound defensive tackle recorded a sack and also hit Stafford three other times.

The Bengals odds of winning next year's Super Bowl are currently +2100, according to Fanduel.

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Will Vandervort
WILL VANDERVORT

Vandervort brings nearly 25 years of experience as a sportswriter and editor to the All Clemson team. He has worked in the industry since 1997, covering all kinds of sports from the high school ranks to the professional level. The South Carolina native spent the first 12 years of his career in the newspaper industry before moving over to the online side of things in 2009. Vandervort is an award-winning sportswriter and editor and has been a published author three times. His latest book, “Hidden History of Clemson Football” was ranked by Book Authority as one the top 10 college football books for 2021.

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