CLEMSON — It has been a long time since a Clemson team has been as scrutinized as much as the 2025 team, and it came with good reason.

The Tigers had lost four homes games this year, the most since 1975. They had not defeated a Power 4 opponent since October 19, 2024, and their 3-5 start to the season was the program’s worse since 1998.

However, none of that mattered at Memorial Stadium on Saturday night. From the beginning, Clemson took it to rival Florida State, as the Tigers earned a 24-10 victory.

Complimentary Football

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney has been waiting all year for his Tigers to play complimentary football. They did that against the Seminoles.

The Tigers (4-5, 3-4 ACC) got 319 yards from the offense, while the defense held the ACC’s most explosive and best offense to 360 yards. The kicking game also got involved, as kicker Nolan Hauser made field goals of 40, 23 and 43 yards.

Clay Swinney even got on the scorecard after executing a fake extra point following the Tigers’ first TD.

Setting the stage

Florida State won the toss and deferred the ball to the second half. The Seminoles’ plan was to kick to Clemson and immediately get the ball back.

There was something do it, Clemson had scored just twice all season on its opening possession and it was notorious for slow start this season.

But not tonight. Led by an emotional and packed Memorial Stadium, the Tigers marched 75 yards in 13 plays and took 6:35 off the clock. Quarterback Cade Klubnik capped the drive with a 4-yard TD run with 8:25 to play.

Klubnik finished the night 20-for-27 for 221 yards through the air, including a 34-yard TD pass to Antonio Williams on a flea-flicker with 12:01 left to play in the second quarter. That gave the Tigers a 15-0 lead at the time.

The Clemson offense controlled the ball for 34:22 of the game clock, and it was 2-for-2 on fourth down.

Defense Bent but did not Break

Clemson’s defense was maligned all week, especially after giving up more than 430 yards and 34-plus points in each of their last three home games.

But with former defensive coordinator and now Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables returning to watch his son Tyler during his team’s off week, the defense got enough stops to limit the FSU offense just enough.

Florida State (4-5, 1-5 ACC) was just 1-for-4 in the red zone. Quarterback Tommy Castellanos completed just 23-of-43 passes and was harassed all night, as the defense finished with six sacks, which all came in the second half.

The Clemson defense also forced two turnovers, nine tackles for loss and held the Seminoles to 5-for-15 on third down and 1-for-3 on fourth down. Quite an improvement after allowing Duke to go 5-for-5 on fourth down a week ago.

FSU came into the game leading the nation at 510.5 yards per game. The Seminoles led the ACC in scoring (40.0) and rushing yards (241.3), but the Tigers held them to 10 points and a season-low 110 rushing yards and 360 total yards

Injuries

Clemson defensive tackle Vic Burley and offensive lineman Collin Sadler were listed as probable for Saturday’s game. Burley did play and was credited with a tackle, while Sadler did not play.

Up next

Clemson will hit the road on Friday night and will play Louisville at 7:30 p.m., in Louisville.