Clemson bounced back in a big way on Saturday at Syracuse.

The Tigers notched their first conference win of the 2023 season while making a statement with a dominant 31-14 victory over the previously undefeated Orange in JMA Wireless Dome.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney believes his team “weathered the storm this week” in the wake of the heartbreaking overtime loss to No. 5 Florida State at Death Valley last week, a second September loss that put an end to the Tigers’ playoff dreams.

Following Saturday’s game, Swinney discussed what the win over Syracuse says about his team.

“I mean, we (were) just trying to win this game, honestly. It’s a long season,” Swinney said. “What I think it (the win) says more than anything is when you come off not just losing, but how we lost the couple games and the type of disappointment that comes with that – especially when you’re Clemson and the amount of criticism and noise and things that these kids have to deal with – man, I’m just really proud of how they responded.”

Clemson (3-2, 1-2 ACC) won its sixth in a row in the series and improved to 10-2 all-time against the Orange (4-1, 0-1).

Sophomore quarterback Cade Klubnik threw a pair of touchdown passes while leading Clemson to 389 yards of offense. Defensively, the Tigers recorded a season-high five sacks and held Syracuse’s offense — which entered the week in the top 10 nationally in points per game and yards per game — to two touchdowns and 286 yards of offense.

Clemson intercepted Syracuse quarterback Garrett Shrader once and recovered two fumbles by the Orange, scoring 21 points off those three turnovers. The Tigers led 24-7 entering the fourth quarter, and after Syracuse scored a touchdown to cut its deficit to 10, Clemson closed the game out with a diving interception by Jeremiah Trotter Jr. followed by Phil Mafah’s 32-yard touchdown run on the ensuing play.

“I think it just shows their heart and their character, just who these guys are that wear these Paws and that wear the jersey,” said Swinney, who joined Bobby Bowden (117) as the only coaches in history to win at least 100 games in ACC regular season competition. “Bad things happen. We want everything to go our way all the time, but sometimes in life it doesn’t. (It’s about) how you respond to it, and I’m really, really proud of this team, I’m proud of this staff.

“It was a tough week for sure, and then you’ve got to go on the road to a tough place like this and play an undefeated team that you know is going to fight you with everything they’ve got. And to see our guys, you saw the same type of effort that you saw last week in an overtime loss. I’m really proud of that. I’m proud of these guys.”

Clemson has one more game ahead of its midseason open date. The Tigers return home this Saturday to face Wake Forest (3-1, 0-1 ACC), which is coming off its open date.

Kickoff of the game against the Demon Deacons at Memorial Stadium is set for 3:30 p.m. on ACC Network.

“It was awesome this week, but we’ve got a long way to go. We’ve got another tough game this week with Wake,” Swinney said. “So, we’ve just got to find a way to win another game. If we can do that, it puts us at 4-2 going into the break and try to get some guys (healthy).”

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