Florida St. vs. Clemson Notes

Clemson Team Notes

• Clemson is 9-0 for just the third time in history. The Tigers finished 11-0 in 1948 and 12-0 in 1981.

• This marked the eighth time Clemson has clinched an ACC title or a division title at Memorial Stadium, but the third time Clemson has done it under head coach Dabo Swinney. All have come in odd numbered seasons (2009, 2011, 2015).

• Clemson has won 12 consecutive games, its longest winning streak since the 1980-81 seasons when Clemson won 13 in a row. It is the fourth longest winning streak in school history. The record is 15 set between 1947-49.

• Clemson has won 18 of its last 19 games for the first time since the 1938-40 era.

• Today was Dabo Swinney’s 13th career win over a top-25 team, tying him for second on the Clemson career coaching list with Tommy Bowden. Danny Ford holds the record with 20.

• This was the 41st win for this Clemson senior class, now second on the all-time list. This class is 41-7 and the 2014 senior class was 42-11. This 2015 senior class has the highest winning percentage as well at 85.4.

• Clemson won its 15th straight home game. Clemson entered the day with the school record (14).

• Clemson is 6-0 in the ACC for the first time since 2000. Clemson has not had a perfect record against ACC teams since 1983, when Clemson was 7-0. No Clemson team has ever won eight conference games in a season.

• The home team has now won 12 of the last 14 games in the Clemson vs. Florida State series.

• This was Clemson’s 12th win in the last five years over a team ranked among the top-20 winningest programs in the history of college football. Clemson is now 12-4 against those programs since 2011. The list of Clemson victims in the top-20 winningest programs since 2011 includes Notre Dame (1st), Ohio State (4th), Oklahoma (5th), Florida State (11th), Louisiana State (13th), Georgia (14th), Miami (Fla.) (15th), Auburn (17th) and Virginia Tech (20th).

• With three regular-season games and the ACC Championship game now on the schedule, that ACC title game on December 5 will be Swinney’s 100th game as Clemson head coach.

• With today’s win, this Clemson senior class tied the school record for conference wins. This group is 26-4 vs. ACC foes in regular-season play, tied with the 2014 class that was 26-6. This class has two ACC games left.

• Clemson produced two 100-yard rushers (Watson 107, Gallman 103) for the first time since Andre Ellington (124) and Tajh Boyd (103) both rushed for over 100 yards versus NC State at Clemson on Nov. 17, 2012 (Clemson 62-48).

• Clemson totaled 512 yards of offense, marking the fourth-consecutive game the Tigers have had at least 500 yards of offense, and the fifth time on the season.

Clemson Individual Notes

• Dabo Swinney is 3-0 this year and 4-0 over the last 10 games against the top-10 winningest active coaches in college football. He has wins over Bob Stoops of Oklahoma, Bobby Petrino of Louisville, Brian Kelly of Notre Dame and now Jimbo Fisher of Florida State since last year’s Russell Athletic Bowl. Steve Spurrier was on the list when this season began. Had he not retired at midseason this year, it would be 5-0 over the last 11 games.

• Swinney’s 70-26 record and 72.9 winning percentage is fourth best in ACC history. Jimbo Fisher, the coach he defeated today, is 65-13, and his 83.3 winning percentage is still first.

• Today was Dabo Swinney’s 70th win as Clemson head coach. He is just three wins away from moving into third place on Clemson’s winningest coaches list. Frank Howard had 165, Danny Ford had 96, Tommy Bowden had 72 and Dabo Swinney has 70.

• Deshaun Watson is 13-1 as a starting quarterback.

• Deshaun Watson set a career high in completions (28) and passing attempts (42), as well as a career high with 107 rushing yards.

• Watson’s 107 rushing yards marked the first time a Tiger quarterback had 100+ rushing yards since Tajh Boyd rushed for 127 yards versus Ohio State in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 3, 2014 (Clemson 40-35).

• Watson has 35 passing touchdowns in his career, tied for fifth with Nealon Greene (1994-97) among Clemson’s career leaders.

• Wayne Gallman surpassed the 100-yard rushing mark for the third-straight game and sixth time this season, finishing with 103 yards.

• Ben Boulware forced his second fumble of the season with 2:15 remaining in the game, stripping the ball into the hands of B.J. Goodson, who also had a fourth-quarter recovered fumble in Clemson’s win over Notre Dame.

• Jordan Leggett had a career-high six receptions for a career-high 101 yards.

• Adrian Baker recorded his first career interception in the first quarter, picking off a Sean Maguire pass at the Clemson five yard line.

• Deon Cain scored his second career touchdown on a 38-yard pass from Deshaun Watson with 10:01 remaining in the third quarter. Cain’s two career touchdowns have come in back-to-back games.

• B.J. Goodson finished with a team-high 3.5 tackles for loss, also a career high. Goodson is coming off of a 3.0 tackle for loss game at NC State. Goodson also set a career high with two sacks.