Sport: First Last, but Maybe Not Always

Clemson stops Nebraska and holds off the N.C.A.A.

Unbeaten and untied, Clemson still has not had a perfect season exactly. The Tigers' record was 12-0. They won the Orange Bowl over Nebraska 22-15 New Year's night, and the wire services anointed them champions of all college football. But a National Collegiate Athletic Association probe of Clemson recruiting methods is in progress, so nobody knows whether to cheer just yet.

Except, of course, for the shouts of triumph coming from the ordinarily quiet community of Clemson in South Carolina, where people paint their faces with orange cat's feet. The Tigers' bowl performance gave...