CLEMSON — No unit on the Clemson football team has been as maligned as the Tigers defense.

After yielding 38.3 points and 433.7 yards over their last three home games, few had faith in a defense that was about to play the best offense in the country in Florida State.

However, with former defensive coordinator and now Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables in the house to watch his son Tyler play, the Tigers had their best defensive performance of the season in a 24-10 victory over the Seminoles.

Clemson held the ‘Noles to season lows in points, rushing yards and total yards, as they controlled the majority of the football game by coming up with big plays, while FSU failed to execute in those key moments.

“They just showed up with the right mentality,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “There are still some things we have to clean up. They put a lot of pressure on you, especially when you are in your three-deep concepts. They are running wheel routes with double posts (routes) and they are draining you, so there are some things on tape that we are going to have to clean up…

“Hey, we have not had many breaks this year, so we got a few, but we created some too.”

Clemson (4-5, 3-4 ACC) created more than a few.

The Tigers held Florida State to a season-low 360 total yards, including a season-low 110 rushing yards and a season-low 10 points. They also forced two turnovers, had six sacks—all in the second half—and finished the night with nine tackles for loss.

“It was good for everybody’s mental health for sure. I think we just left it all out there,” linebacker Wade Woodaz said.

The defense opened their game by getting off the field almost immediately. They then forced and recovered a fumble on the Seminoles’ second drive and followed that up with a three-and-out.

The Tigers held FSU (4-5, 1-5 ACC) to 203 total yards through three quarters, as a good part of its 360 total yards came after Clemson built a 24-7 lead. The Seminoles came into the night leading the country in total yards (510.5 ypg), while averaging an ACC best 40 points per game.

“We wanted to punch them in the mouth,” cornerback Avieon Terrell said. “They have very good players. We needed to punch them in the mouth and do our jobs.”

Like Swinney said, the Tigers caught a few breaks. Like tight end Randy Pittman’s drop on a fourth-and-one play in the second quarter when he was running wide open on a wheel route down the sideline. That gave Clemson the ball at the ‘Noles’ 39, setting up Cade Klubnik’s 34-yard TD pass to Antonio Williams for a 15-0 lead at the time.

FSU quarterback Tommy Castellanos was inconsistent all night throwing the ball, as he missed a couple of wide-open receivers that would have gone for big gains or even a touchdown or two.

But sometimes, a defense can make its own luck too, and that was the case, as Castellanos was harassed all night and was usually throwing the ball with pressure in his face, which led to overthrown passes or throws that were off the mark.

The senior completed just 23 of 43 passes for 250 yards, with most of those yards coming when the outcome was all but decided.

Clemson also held the Seminoles to 5-of-15 on third down—they led the ACC in third downs coming in—and 1-for-3 on fourth down. FSU was just 2-for-4 in the red zone.

“I am just proud of our guys,” Woodaz said. “We have been having dirt constantly thrown on our name, but we just raised up out of it. I am just proud of those guys.”