By Heath Bradley.

By Heath Bradley

When No. 10 Clemson takes on the fourth-ranked Florida State Seminoles Saturday night in Doak Campbell stadium, the Tigers will hope to continue a recent trend versus the Seminoles.

Since Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney arrived at Clemson in 2003, then in his first season as the wide receivers coach, Clemson has had a statement victory versus the Seminoles every third season.

The streak started when the Tigers defeated the No. 3 FSU in Death Valley, 26-10, in front of 79,826 fans. It gave Clemson its first defeat over Bobby Bowden, who had previously been 6-0 in Clemson Memorial Stadium. The loss took place on the elder Bowden’s birthday, the only loss of his career on his date of birth. The victory over the third ranked team in the nation that night is still the highest ranked opponent the Tigers have ever beaten.

Three seasons later in 2006, Clemson traveled to Tallahassee to take on the No. 9 Seminoles in front of 83,510 fans in Doak Campbell Stadium. The Tigers did not have their best kicking performance in school history, but found away to come away with a 27-20 victory. Clemson’s defense stood tall, holding the Seminoles to 204 yards of total offense, including 2.5 sacks from the late Gaines Adams.

The Tigers were able to steal victory away from FSU with a James Davis touchdown with only eight seconds remaining. The victory gave Clemson its first set of back-to-back victories over the Seminoles in school history.

The 2009 matchup, the first with Swinney as the head coach of the Tigers in Death Valley, appeared early on to be a one-sided affair in the direction of FSU. C.J. Spiller felt otherwise, trailing 17-7 Spiller and his Clemson teammates started an offensive onslaught, outscoring the Seminoles 33-3 the rest of the game. Spiller totaled 165 yards rushing, and 67 receiving, to go along with 80 return yards to set the Clemson single-game all-purpose record with 312 yards. The Clemson defense forced Christian Ponder into four interceptions and the Tigers left Death Valley with a 40-24 victory en route to the 2009 Atlantic Division championship.

The marquee matchup on Saturday night in Tallahassee will give Clemson another opportunity for a statement victory over the Seminoles. The Tigers will look to continue their streak of a statement victory over potentially the best FSU team they have faced to date. The Seminoles posses potentially the nation’s top defense to go along with a high-powered offensive attack. Florida State has allowed three total points three weeks into the 2012 season, while averaging 58.7 points per game on offense.

Clemson will look for its best offensive and defense performances of the season to defeat No. 4 FSU Saturday night. A victory will give the Tigers their biggest road victory in history; the Tigers best road victory to this date is from 1981, when the Tigers defeated the No. 8 Tar Heels in Chapel Hill, on the way to the national Championship. The 2009 Tigers also knocked off a No. 8 team, when they beat Miami 30-27 in overtime.