Clemson vs. Florida State Game Notes 2023

GAME NOTES

• Clemson played its 17th overtime game in school history and its eighth under Dabo Swinney. It was Clemson’s first overtime game of the season and its first since a 51-45 double-overtime win against Wake Forest last season.
• It was only the second overtime game between the Tigers and Seminoles in series history, joining Florida State’s 23-17 victory in 2014.
• Clemson dropped to 8-9 all-time in overtime games.
• Clemson outgained Florida State, 429-311, and had a 25-16 advantage in first downs.
• Clemson surrendered only 22 rushing yards, the fewest produced by Florida State in any game since Clemson held the Seminoles to -21 rushing yards in a 59-10 Clemson win in 2018.
• Clemson dropped to 144-10 when outgaining opponents during Head Coach Dabo Swinney’s tenure. Clemson is also now 134-10 under Swinney when recording more first downs than its opponents.
• Quarterback Cade Klubnik completed 25-of-38 passes for 283 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. He also scored a one-yard rushing touchdown among his 13 rushing attempts.
• Klubnik scored on a one-yard plunge in the second quarter and has now rushed for a touchdown in back-to-back games for the second time in his career (vs. North Carolina and Tennessee in 2022).
• Clemson has now scored at least one rushing touchdown in a national-best 71 of its 73 games since the start of the 2018 season. 
• Klubnik completed 10 consecutive passes at one point during the game. According to Stats Perform, Klubnik became the first Clemson player to complete 10 straight passes against an AP Top 5 opponent since Tajh Boyd did so against No. 5 Georgia on Aug. 31, 2013.
• Klubnik’s 10 consecutive completions during the game tied his career-long streak set against North Carolina in the 2022 ACC Championship Game.
• Running back Will Shipley rushed 18 times for 67 yards with one touchdown and caught four passes for 38 yards and another touchdown.
• Shipley recorded his second receiving touchdown of the season — also the second of his career — on a 10-yard pass from Klubnik in the second quarter.
• Shipley added his first rushing touchdown of the season on a one-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
• The rushing touchdown moved Shipley (27) into the Top 10 in school history in career rushing touchdowns, matching Cliff Austin and Woodrow Dantzler (27 each) for 10th. He is now one touchdown shy of Terry Allen (28 from 1978-82) for ninth.
• With his second total touchdown of the game, Shipley moved into a tie with Sammy Watkins (29) for ninth on Clemson’s leaderboard for total career touchdowns.
• Shipley became the second Clemson running back to record a rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown in a single game this season, joining Jay Haynes, who accomplished the feat against Charleston Southern.
• Clemson has now had two different players each record a rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown in a single game in the same season for the first time since Travis Etienne (two such games) and Chez Mellusi (one) did so in 2020.
• Running back Phil Mafah recorded a 46-yard rush in the third quarter, three yards shy of his season long. He had a 49-yard rush in the season opener at Duke.
• Wide receiver Tyler Brown recorded team highs and single-game career highs in receiving yards (84) and receptions (five). 
• Tight end Jake Briningstool recorded a 33-yard gain on a pass from Klubnik in the second quarter, Briningstool’s longest reception since a 49-yarder against Miami (Fla.) last season. 
• Wide receiver Beaux Collins recorded four receptions for 29 receiving yards, surpassing 1,000 career receiving yards during the contest (1,006).
• Linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. recorded his first sack of the season on the final play of the first quarter on third down to end a Florida State drive.
• Defensive end Xavier Thomas recorded his second sack of the season in the fourth quarter, a third-down sack that forced a Florida State punt with the game tied 24-24.
• Punter Aidan Swanson recorded a then-season-long 60-yard punt in the first quarter, his longest since a 61-yarder against South Carolina in 2022.
• Swanson added a new-season-long 62-yard punt in the fourth quarter, his longest since a 67-yarder at Notre Dame in 2022.
• Swanson became the first Clemson player in Dabo Swinney’s head coaching tenure to record multiple 60-yard punts in a single game.
• Swanson joined Pittsburgh’s Daniel Sparks (2022), Wake Forest’s Dom Maggio (2019) and Miami’s Pat O’Donnell (2013) as the only ACC players since 2008 with multiple 60-yard punts in a single game, according to Stats Perform.
• Swanson’s 53.2-yard average was a single-game high for his career, surpassing his 52.5-yard average against Syracuse last season. It was the best average by a Clemson punter with a minimum of three punts since Will Spiers’ 53.6-yard average against Syracuse in 2020.
• Kicker Jonathan Weitz recorded his first career start. After spending 2019-22 with the team, he came out of retirement to rejoin the team this week.
• Weitz converted his first career field goal attempt, a 30-yarder, in the first quarter to open the scoring. It was the culmination of a 15-play, 79-yard scoring drive, Clemson’s longest drive of the season in terms of number of plays.
• On Weitz’ opening field goal attempt, Clemson officially scored in its 271st consecutive game to tie the 1981-2004 Washington Huskies for the 18th-longest streak of consecutive games without being shutout in FBS history.
• Clemson dropped to 141-6 (.959) since 2009 in games in which it holds a 10-point lead at any point of the game.
• Clemson now has a 145-6 record when totaling more first downs than its opponent since 2011.
• Clemson dropped to 35-9 in one-possession games since 2011, still the nation’s highest winning percentage in one-possession games (.795).
• Clemson did not produce a takeaway for the first time in 17 consecutive home games, ending the nation’s longest active streak at 16. 
• The defeat snapped Clemson’s seven-game winning streak against Florida State, the second-longest streak against the Seminoles in Florida State history (nine, Florida from 1968-76).
• Clemson dropped to 61-3 at Memorial Stadium in the College Football Playoff era (since 2014) and lost its first conference home game since 2016. Clemson had previously won 25 consecutive ACC games at Memorial Stadium.
• Head Coach Dabo Swinney is now 9-6 all-time against Florida State.
• Clemson played its 42nd game all-time against a team ranked in the Top 5 of the AP Poll.
• Swinney coached his 20th game against AP Top 5 opponents all-time. His 10 career wins against AP Top 5 teams are still the second-most of any active FBS coach (Nick Saban, 26).
• Clemson faced Florida State 56 years to the date of the birth of Clemson’s tradition of rubbing Howard’s Rock. The Rock from Death Valley, Calif. was first placed on a pedestal atop The Hill on Sept. 24, 1966, but Clemson did not begin rubbing the Rock until a 23-6 win against Wake Forest on Sept. 23, 1967.
• Clemson and Florida State met after having represented the conference in the ACC Championship Game 13 times in 14 years since 2009, Dabo Swinney’s first full season as the Tigers’ head coach. Clemson represented the Atlantic Division (or earned a divisionless berth in 2020) in the championship game nine times in those 14 years, with Florida State doing so in four and Wake Forest breaking the duo’s stranglehold on berths in 2021. The teams have combined for 11 of the last 12 ACC titles.
• Captains for the contest were linebacker Barrett Carter, defensive tackle Tyler Davis, running back Phil Mafah and offensive lineman Will Putnam.