Game Notes: SMU 35, Clemson 24

GAME NOTES

• Quarterback Christopher Vizzina made his first career start, becoming the 49th different player to start a game at quarterback at Clemson since the Tigers transitioned away from the single wing in 1953.
• Clemson is now 28-20-1 since 1953 in games with a quarterback making his first career start at the position.
• Vizzina completed 29-of-42 passes for 317 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions for a pass efficiency rating of 156.0.
• Vizzina became the first Clemson quarterback to throw three or more touchdown passes in his starting debut since Deshaun Watson’s six-touchdown performance in his first career start against North Carolina in 2014.
• Vizzina’s 317 passing yards were the fifth-most by a Clemson quarterback making his starting debut since 1953. It was the fifth 300-yard performance by a Clemson quarterback making his first career start in that span.
• Vizzina became the 15th player in Clemson history to record at least one 300-yard passing performance at any point in a career.
• Wide receiver T.J. Moore caught five passes for career highs of 124 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
• The game was the first of Moore’s career with multiple touchdown receptions but Clemson’s fifth such game by a single player this season, joining two two-touchdown-catch games by Bryant Wesco Jr. and one each by Adam Randall and Christian Bentancur.
• Clemson’s five single-game player performances with multiple receiving touchdowns this season follow a 2024 season in which Clemson players produced seven such games. The 2024-25 seasons mark Clemson’s first time having players record five or more two-touchdown receiving games in back-to-back years since 2013-14 (seven in 2013, six in 2014).
• Vizzina threw his first career touchdown pass on a 32-yard completion to Moore in the second quarter.
• The duo of Vizzina and Moore connected on a 62-yard touchdown in the third quarter on a one-handed catch-and-run.
• The 62-yard pass to Moore was Clemson’s third-longest play of the season. Clemson’s three plays of 60 or more yards this season have come on passes by three different passers (75-yard pass from Antonio Williams to Moore at North Carolina; 73-yard pass from Cade Klubnik to Bryant Wesco Jr. at Georgia Tech; 62-yard pass from Vizzina to Moore vs. SMU).
• Wide receiver Tristan Smith recorded his first career touchdown reception as a Tiger on fourth-and-21 in the fourth quarter. It was his seventh career NCAA touchdown, joining his six touchdown receptions at Southeast Missouri State last season.
• Wide receiver Antonio Williams gained 54 yards on a team-high six receptions.
• Running back Adam Randall was held out of the end zone for the first time this season. His streak of six consecutive games to start the season with a touchdown ended tied with Bill Mathis (six in 1959) for the third-longest streak to open a season on record at Clemson.
• Linebackers Sammy Brown and Wade Woodaz split a sack on SMU’s opening possession. 
• After recording a full sack at Boston College, Brown has now contributed to a sack in back-to-back games for the first time in his career.
• The half-sack was Woodaz’s first of the season.
• Safety Ricardo Jones recorded his team-leading third interception of the season in the fourth quarter.
• The teams finished even in the turnover margin, 1-1. Clemson snapped its four-game streak of losing the turnover margin, its longest since a five-game streak in 2022.
• Punter Jack Smith punted a career-high seven times for an average of 41.9 yards. He had two punts downed inside the 20.
• Kicker Nolan Hauser converted a 28-yard field goal attempt in the third quarter.
• Hauser’s 28-yarder ended a 17-play Clemson scoring drive, the Tigers’ longest of the season and longest since an 18-play scoring drive against Georgia Tech in 2023.
• Quarterback Cade Klubnik did not play with an ankle injury, ending a streak of 34 consecutive starts. It was the longest streak of consecutive games started by a Clemson quarterback since Tajh Boyd’s school-record 40 consecutive starts across the 2011-13 seasons.
• The game marked Clemson’s first time not having its listed starting quarterback available since 2020 when Trevor Lawrence did not play at Notre Dame (COVID-19 protocols). Excluding illness, it was Clemson’s first game in which its starting quarterback was unavailable due to injury since the 2014 Russell Athletic Bowl when Cole Stoudt started in place of Deshaun Watson against Oklahoma.
• Clemson played a rematch of the prior year’s ACC Championship Game for the sixth time after Clemson’s 10 appearances, including occurrences against Georgia Tech (2009 title game/2010 season), Virginia Tech (2011/2012 & 2016/2017), Virginia (2019/2020) and North Carolina (2022/2023). Clemson is now 4-2 in regular season rematches from the previous year’s title game.
• Clemson is now 1-1 all-time against SMU.
• The game was the first regular season meeting — and first on-campus meeting — between Clemson and SMU.
• The game was SMU’s first at Memorial Stadium in Clemson. Clemson is now 48-16-1 against teams making their first all-time trip to Death Valley since Memorial Stadium opened in 1942.
• Clemson dropped to 106-19 in regular season play since the start of the 2015 season.
• Clemson played its lone home game in the month of October. The 2025 campaign is the second straight season that Clemson has had only one October home game.
• The game was played 17 years to the date after Dabo Swinney’s first game as head coach, a 21-17 home loss to Georgia Tech on Oct. 18, 2008
• Captains for the contest were offensive lineman Blake Miller, defensive end T.J. Parker, offensive lineman Walker Parks and defensive tackle Peter Woods.