Clemson Dominates FSU, 45-14

Defense Leads The Way in 45-14 Win Over Florida State 

Box Score

CLEMSON, S.C. – Behind four takeaways from the Tiger Defense, the No. 2/2 Clemson Tigers defeated the Florida State Seminoles 45-14 at Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon. With the win, Clemson (6-0, 4-0 ACC) became just the 15th FBS program to reach 750 all-time wins, and the first Atlantic Coast Conference team to reach the mark. Florida State (3-3, 2-2 ACC) was held to 253 yards of total offense. 

Lawrence threw for a touchdown in a 16th consecutive game, completing 17-25 passes for 170 yards and three touchdowns. Lawrence also rushed for his fifth touchdown of the season in the first quarter to put the Tigers up 14-0. Justyn Ross added two touchdown receptions in the second quarter, finishing with 61 receiving yards on five catches. 

Clemson outgained the Seminoles 367-63 in total yards in the first half, with 174 of the Tigers first half yards coming on the ground. Travis Etienne surpassed 3,000 rushing yards in his Clemson career on the afternoon, finishing with 127 rushing yards and a three-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter. Amari Rodgers added a 29-yard touchdown on a double-reverse to open the scoring in the second half. 

The Tiger defense was phenomenal, intercepting the Seminoles three times, including Derion Kendrick with his first career interception, which he returned 38 yards for a pick-six. Isaiah Simmons le the way for the defense with eight total tackles, a sack and a forced fumble.   The Tigers will be back in action next Saturday, Oct. 19 as the Tigers head to Louisville, Ky. for an ACC road game against the Louisville Cardinals. Kickoff time is set for noon on ABC.  

FIRST HALF 📷

SECOND HALF 📷

Game Notes

• • Clemson won its 750th game in program history, becoming the 15th FBS program to accomplish the feat and the first member of the Atlantic Coast Conference to do so.
  • Clemson possessed the ball for 39:37, surpassing its 38:56 possession time against North Carolina on Dec. 5, 2015 for the longest in the Swinney era.
  • Clemson tied a season high with four takeaways, matching the mark set against Georgia Tech in the season opener.
  • Quarterback Trevor Lawrence completed 17-of-25 passes for 170 yards with three passing touchdowns and rushed six times for 40 yards with one rushing touchdown prior to exiting the game with a 42-point lead in the middle of the third quarter.
  • On his final passing touchdown of the game, Lawrence tied Woodrow Dantzler (41 from 1998-2001) for fifth on the program’s all-time leaderboard for career touchdown passes.
  • Running back Travis Etienne recorded 127 rushing yards on 17 carries, a 23-yard pass completion and a three-yard receiving touchdown.
  • With 127 rushing yards on the day, Etienne (3,013) broke 3,000 career rushing yards, becoming the seventh player in school history to record 3,000 career rushing yards.
  • Etienne recorded his first career pass completion on a 23-yard pass to Justyn Ross in the first quarter. Etienne became the first Clemson running back to complete a pass since C.J. Spiller on Nov. 14, 2009, at NC State
  • Lawrence has now rushed for a touchdown in five of Clemson’s first six games. He is the first Clemson quarterback to rush for a touchdown in five of the first six games of a season since Woody Dantzler in 2000
  • Ross recorded his second touchdown reception of the season in the second quarter, tying his single-game career high. He recorded two touchdown catches against Notre Dame in the 2018 Cotton Bowl, a game in which both of his scoring receptions also came in the second quarter
  • Wide receiver Amari Rodgers recorded his first career rushing touchdown on a 29-yard run in the third quarter.
  • Rodgers joined Adam Humphries, Jacoby Ford, C.J. Spiller and Chansi Stuckey as the only Clemson players since 2000 to score via rush, reception and punt return in their careers.
  • On his second reception of the game, a four-yard pass from Lawrence, wide receiver Tee Higgins reached 100 career catches. On that same play, Lawrence became the eighth Clemson player to complete 350 career pass completions all-time.
  • Safety Tanner Muse recorded his career-high third interception of the season in the first quarter, picking off Florida State Alex Hornibrook, who had opened his Seminole tenure with 62 consecutive pass attempts without an interception prior to Muse’s interception. 
  • Clemson has now recorded an interception in nine of its last 10 games, dating to last season. 
  • Linebacker Chad Smith recorded his first career interception in the second quarter, giving Clemson its first multi-interception game since the season opener against Georgia Tech.
  • Linebacker Isaiah Simmons added to his single-season career high in sacks in the second quarter, forcing a fumble on his fourth sack of the season.
  • Simmons added a fumble recovery in the third quarter, recovering a fumble forced by safety Denzel Johnson.
  • Cornerback Derion Kendrick recorded his first career interception and returned it 38 yards for a Clemson touchdown. It was Clemson’s second pick-six of the season, joining safety K’Von Wallace’s 66-yard interception return against Charlotte.
  • Clemson has now recorded multiple interception returns for touchdowns every year since 2013, the longest such streak in the FBS.

The Most Exciting 25 Seconds… Game 6 #ALLIN pic.twitter.com/ePRsdfPc1V

— Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) October 12, 2019

With the Win...

• Clemson won its 21st consecutive game, dating to the start of the 2018 season, to extend the longest winning streak in school history and second-longest winning streak in ACC history.
• Clemson won a 15th consecutive ACC regular season game for the second time in school history (20 from 1981-84). Including postseason play, Clemson has now won 17 consecutive games against ACC competition.
• Head Coach Dabo Swinney won his 122nd career game as a head coach, passing the career total of College Football Hall of Famer and Clemson legend Danny Ford, who won 121 career games (96 at Clemson and 25 at Arkansas).
• Clemson, who entered the game second in the AP Poll after being ranked No. 1 last game, won its 14th consecutive game when ranked lower in the AP Poll than in its previous contest. Clemson is now 22-4 under Swinney when playing a game at a lower AP ranking than in its previous contest, including season openers in which Clemson opened lower than it finished the prior season.
• Clemson has now won five consecutive games against Florida State for the first time in series history. Clemson was already the first school to defeat Florida State in ACC play in four consecutive years and pushed that mark to five. (Note: Miami previously accomplished defeated Florida State in six straight games from 2000-04, including a bowl game, but only the final game of that streak came during Miami’s ACC membership.)
• Clemson earned its 13th all-time victory against Florida State.
• Clemson improved to 8-1 in its last nine home games against Florida State and evened its all-time home record against the Seminoles at 8-8.
• Swinney pushed his all-time record against Florida State to 7-5. 
• Clemson won its 10th straight game against ACC Atlantic Division opponents and has now won 30 of its last 31 games against divisional foes.
• Clemson pushed its winning streak in Saturday games to 35 to extend the longest Saturday winning streak in school history. Clemson’s current 34-game run of consecutive Saturday victories is the longest active streak in the country.
• Clemson has now won 64 of its last 68 games overall dating to 2014, including 38 of its last 40 games against ACC teams.
• Clemson now has a 50-3 record when winning the turnover margin since 2011.
• Clemson improved to 59-1 when rushing for 200+ yards under Dabo Swinney.
• Clemson is now 45-0 when both passing and rushing for 200+ yards under Dabo Swinney.
• Clemson is now 42-2 when having a 100-yard rusher since 2011.
• Clemson did not allow a 100-yard rusher in the contest and has not allowed a 100-yard rusher in 27 straight games, the longest active streak in the FBS.

PREGAME 📷