CLEMSON — For the first time in over a year, Clemson defeated a Power-4 opponent at home.
The Tigers held a high-powered Florida State rushing attack for much of the night as Clemson knocked off the Seminoles 24-10. Dabo Swinney’s team has now won nine of the last 10 in the series. The head coach is now 11-6 all-time against the Noles.
The Tigers move to 4-5 on the season and will need to win two of their final three games to qualify for a bowl game. Up next is a Friday night matchup at Louisville.
Electric Atmosphere
Clemson-Florida State always delivers in Death Valley, at least from an environment standpoint, and especially at night. Sitting in that stadium, you’d have never known this was a matchup between two teams with losing records.
The Clemson faithful were into it from beginning to end. Not sure if it was technically a sell-out, but the place was pretty much full, which was good to see after seeing so many empty seats last week against Duke.
“Tiger Walk was amazing,” Swinney said during the postgame. “But that’s who Clemson is. That’s Clemson people. They love the Tigers, and they hang in there. I am just thankful our player got to experience that, especially one more night game for our seniors.”
Sigh of Relief
Clemson absolutely needed that win. For many reasons. One of the biggest being to snap the six-game home losing skid against Power-4 competition.
Had the Tigers lost, there wouldn’t have been another opportunity to snap that streak this season. The next chance would not have come until September of next season. Can you imagine an entire summer of having to hear about Clemson not beating a Power-4 team at home in almost two full years?
Defense Making Progress
While there were still some coverage busts, there certainly weren’t as many as there were last week in the loss to Duke. Even better, FSU wasn’t able to capitalize on those busts due to either Tommy Castellanos being off target or his receivers just flat out dropping his passes when he was. Hey, sometimes you need a break or two, and after the way this season has played out, the Tigers were certainly due for some.
At the same time, there was a lot of good. The defense got stops, forcing four punts, recording two takeaways, while adding two fourth-down stops.
After entering the game ranked No. 1 in the nation in total offense (510.5 yards per game), Clemson held the Noles to a season-low 360 yards of offense, only the second time this season, and first since the season-opener against Alabama, that they have been held below 400 yards. The Tigers also limited a pretty good rushing attack to just 110 yards on the ground.
Clemson had a season-high six sacks, the most for the team since recording eight at Pitt last year. The Tigers also won the turnover battle for the first time since the Troy game. With the way this season has gone, you want to see some progress, and we saw some against the Seminoles.
Another Strong Game for Antonio
Antonio Williams just continues to produce. He had a team-high six catches, giving him 192 in his career, which moves him past Clemson legend Hunter Renfrow (186) for sole possession of the fifth-most career receptions in program history. That’s some pretty elite company. His 34-yard touchdown catch in traffic was a thing of beauty.
Can Clemson Finish Strong?
Maybe this win will springboard this team to a strong finish. After Louisville on Friday night, Clemson will play one more home game against Furman before finishing the regular season at South Carolina. If the Tigers can win out, the program goes into the offseason with a little momentum, no matter what happens in a bowl game in which there is likely to be a ton of opt-outs.
That doesn’t change the fact that this has been a wildly disappointing season, but 7-5 or 6-6 sounds a whole lot better than 4-7 with no postseason game at all. It also doesn’t mean some significant changes aren’t in order, but no matter what, nobody wants to finish the season with a losing record.
Photo by Bart Boatwright