SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Dabo Swinney warned his players and the media alike that coming to the Carrier Dome to play the Orange was not going to be an easy trip. Maybe they should have listened.
Syracuse gashed the Tigers defense for 242 rushing yards and found itself down seven points twice in the fourth quarter. But in the end quarterback Deshaun Watson and kicker Greg Huegel proved to be the difference as top-ranked Clemson survived for a 37-27 victory on Saturday.
“Congratulations to Syracuse, I thought they played their tails off,” Swinney said afterwards. “That is just the nature of where we are right now. I told Coach Shafer after the game he should be proud of his team. I thought they fought their tails off.
“We certainly made some critical mistakes and we can’t make some of the mistakes we’ve made and not expect them to take advantage of it.”
Clemson (10-0, 7-0 ACC) turned the football over three times on Saturday, the only one turned into points. But that one, a fumble by backup quarterback Kelly Bryant on a Wildcat Play, turned into a 28-yard Ervin Phillip touchdown.
That got the Orange (3-7, 1-5 ACC) believing they could win, and made it a game most people thought the Tigers should dominate.
“It’s not a beauty pageant, this is football and all you need is one more point than the opponent,” Swinney said. “Everyone has good players and good coaches. We did not play Clemson football tonight. But at the end of the day, we played well enough to win.”
It was good that Clemson had Watson. The sophomore threw for 360 yards and two touchdowns, while running for another score. He finished the day with 461 total yards after rushing for a team-high 101 yards.
He completed a career-high 34 passes on a career-high 47 attempts.
“I knew they had guys that wanted this win and wanted to prove themselves,” Watson said. “We had to work for it and fight hard.”
Clemson finished the game with 566 yards – the sixth straight game in which it totaled more than 500 yards of offense.
“That’s a Clemson record, never been done before,” Swinney said.
Huegel had ice running through his veins as he made field goals of 38, 31 and 42 yards. The 42-yard field goal came with 6:58 to play in the game and with the play clock running down. That gave Clemson its 37-27 victory, and ultimately sealed the win for the Tigers.
“Normally we go out there in plenty of time,” Huegel said. “I just had to trust the guys, trust the snap, the holder. I didn’t have to worry about it.”
Clemson is 10-0 for the first time since 1981 and the 10 wins mark the fifth straight season the Tigers have won at least 10 games – that’s a Clemson record. It is just the 15th program in college football history to do such.