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Game Notes: Clemson 24, Cal 10

Game Notes: Clemson 24, Cal 10Game Notes: Clemson 24, Cal 10
David Platt

WITH THE WIN…

  • Clemson evened its all-time series with Cal at 1-1. Prior to the game, Cal had been one of only three current ACC teams with a winning record against Clemson all-time.
  • Clemson earned its first regular-season victory in the state of California in school history and evened its overall record in the state at 2-2.
  • Clemson improved to 35-24-5 all-time in Friday games and improved to 28-18-5 in Friday regular season games all-time.
  • Clemson improved to 4-1 in Friday regular season games under Dabo Swinney, including wins at Boston College in 2016, at Syracuse in 2021 and at Louisville in 2025.
  • Including a Friday win at Louisville last season, Clemson has now won a Friday game in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1938-39. In those seasons, Clemson defeated Wake Forest on Friday, Oct. 28, 1938, and George Washington on Friday, Nov. 3, 1939.
  • Clemson improved to 10-9 all-time in its first meetings with programs as ACC opponents.
  • Clemson evened its road record this season at 1-1.
  • Clemson improved to 61-19 in games away from home since 2015, including a 45-11 record in true road games in that span.
  • Clemson is now 10-2 in its last 12 regular season road games.
  • Clemson won its ACC road opener for the 44th time since the conference's inception in 1953. Clemson is now 44-29-1 in its first road game of ACC play all-time.
  • Clemson pushed its road winning streak in conference play to four games.
  • Clemson improved to 85-14 against ACC opponents since the start of the 2015 season.
  • Clemson improved to 113-21 in regular season play since the start of the 2015 season. 
  • Head Coach Dabo Swinney (190-54) joined Tom Osborne (195), Nick Saban (191) and Bob Stoops (191) as the only FBS coaches ever to win 190 games in the first 20 seasons of a head coaching career. Swinney accomplished the feat in his 19th season (and only his 18th full season). Note: Stoops is not included on the NCAA’s official list of most wins through 20 seasons because he did not coach for 20 years.
  • Swinney (116) pulled within one victory of Bobby Bowden’s conference record for career head coaching wins in ACC regular season play (117). Swinney already holds the conference record for overall wins as an ACC head coach.
  • Clemson led 10-7 at halftime. Clemson is now 163-12 under Dabo Swinney when leading at halftime, including a 146-8 mark since the start of the 2011 season.
  • Clemson led 17-10 after three quarters and is now 153-7 when leading after three quarters since the start of the 2011 season. Clemson is 169-10 in total in those games in Swinney’s tenure. 
  • Clemson improved to 6-0 under Dabo Swinney in games in which Clemson has returned a punt for a touchdown and 9-2 under his leadership when the Tigers score a special teams touchdown of any kind.
  • Clemson is now 145-12 when totaling more first downs than its opponent since 2011.
  • Clemson is now 89-4 when rushing for 200+ yards under Dabo Swinney. That includes a 39-1 mark when reaching 250 rushing yards.
  • Clemson is now 46-1 when intercepting multiple passes in a game since the start of the 2015 season.
  • Clemson is now 75-6 in games in which it has had a 100-yard rusher since 2011.
  • Clemson is now 130-4 in its last 134 games when holding teams to fewer than 23 points, a span that dates to the middle of the 2010 season. 

GAME NOTES

  • The announced kickoff time of 10:30 p.m. ET (officially 10:35 p.m. ET) was the program’s latest kickoff according to its home time zone since Nov. 28, 1982 when the Tigers defeated Wake Forest at National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. The 1 p.m. local kickoff time for that game equated to 11 p.m. ET.
  • Clemson rushed for a season-high 255 yards, its first 200-yard rushing game of the season.
  • Clemson has now rushed for 150 yards in three consecutive games for the first time since an eight-game streak in 2024.
  • Clemson did not allow Cal to score an offensive touchdown. It was Clemson’s first time holding an opposing offense without a touchdown since 2022 at Boston College. 
  • Cal entered the week ranked 13th in the nation in passing yards per game (321.7). Clemson held Cal to 145 passing yards, including a career-low 119 yards for Cal quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele.
  • Clemson has now held back-to-back opponents to fewer than 150 passing yards for the first time since a three-game streak in 2023 against NC State, Notre Dame and Georgia Tech.
  • Clemson has now held back-to-back ACC opponents under 150 passing yards for the first time since 2020 against Miami (Fla.) and Georgia Tech.
  • Running back Gideon Davidson recorded career highs in rushing attempts (22), rushing yards (159) and rushing touchdowns (two).
  • Davidson became the first Clemson player to rush for 100 yards in consecutive games since 2024, when Phil Mafah reached the century mark against both Louisville and Virginia Tech.
  • Davidson posted the first 150-yard rushing game by a Clemson player since Phil Mafah’s 171-yard effort vs. Louisville on Nov. 2, 2024.
  • Davidson scored on a one-yard plunge in the second quarter, giving him a touchdown in back-to-back games for the first time in his career.
  • With the score, Clemson rushed for a touchdown in a 100th different game since the start of the 2018 season. Clemson has rushed for at least one touchdown in 100 of its 113 games in that span.
  • Davidson helped ice the game with a career-long 75-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
  • The 75-yard run by Davidson was Clemson’s longest since Phil Mafah’s 83-yard touchdown run vs. Appalachian State in September 2024.
  • The 75-yard run by Davidson capped a 98-yard scoring drive. It was the seventh drive of 98 or more yards in Clemson history and the first since a 99-yard drive against Ohio State in the 2019 Fiesta Bowl.
  • Quarterback Tait Reynolds completed 13-of-21 passes for 108 yards and added 28 yards.
  • Reynolds joined Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence as the only Clemson true freshman starting quarterbacks to go 2-0 in their first two career starts since the NCAA instituted permanent freshman eligibility in 1972.
  • Clemson is now 22-15 in games started by true freshman quarterbacks since the NCAA instituted permanent freshman eligibility in 1972.
  • Wide receiver T.J. Moore extended his streak of consecutive games with a reception to 31 games, tying Jake Briningstool (31 from 2022-24) for the ninth-longest streak in Clemson history.
  • Wide receiver Tyler Brown recorded a 27-yard rush in the first quarter. Including a 34-yard rush a week earlier against North Carolina, Brown became the first Clemson receiver with a rush of 25 or more yards in back-to-back games since Jacoby Ford in the first two games of the 2007 season.
  • Running back Jarvis Green rushed seven times for 31 yards, both career highs.
  • Cornerback Elliot Washington II recorded two interceptions.
  • Washington also became the first Clemson player with multiple interceptions in a game since Ricardo Jones in the 2025 regular season finale at South Carolina.
  • Washington has now recorded an interception in back-to-back games for the first time in his career. 
  • Washington became the first Clemson player with an interception in consecutive games since Ricardo Jones in the final two games of the 2025 regular season.
  • Washington recorded his second interception of the season on Cal’s first drive. He added his second interception of the game late in the fourth quarter.
  • Washington pushed his career interception total to five. The 2026 season marks the first season of his career with multiple interceptions.
  • Defensive end London Merritt recorded his first sack as a member of the Tigers on a third-down stop in the second quarter. 
  • The sack was the second of Merritt’s career and his first since Oct. 4, 2025, against TCU as a member of the Colorado Buffaloes. 
  • Linebacker Jeremiah Alexander and defensive tackle Champ Thompson split a sack in the fourth quarter.
  • Cornerback Ashton Hampton tied his season and career high with three pass breakups.
  • Bryant Wesco Jr. recorded a 65-yard punt return touchdown in the third quarter.
  • The punt return touchdown by Wesco was Clemson’s first since Amari Rodgers’ 58-yarder at Boston College on Nov. 10, 2018, a span covering 2,876 days.
  • On a 30-yard field goal to open the second quarter, placekicker Nolan Hauser (238) passed David Treadwell (233) for ninth in career kick scoring and 13th in overall career scoring in Clemson history. 
  • With the field goal, Clemson scored in its 311th consecutive game to tie the 1998-2022 Oklahoma Sooners for the 10th-longest streak in FBS history without being shut out.
  • Hauser missed a 48-yard attempt in the fourth quarter, ending a streak of 12 consecutive field goals made from 40 yards or more dating to September 2025. According to STATS Perform, the streak finished tied for the second-longest by an ACC kicker in the last 30 years (Miami's Michael Badgley had 14 across the 2015-16 seasons).
  • Hauser had opened the season by converting his first 10 field goal attempts, the second-most by a Clemson kicker to start a season since Chandler Catanzaro made his first 12 attempts in 2012.
  • Clemson played a conference game on the West Coast for the first time in program history.
  • Clemson played its fourth all-time contest in the Golden State, joining road games at Pacific in 1951 and USC in 1966 and Clemson’s victory over Alabama in Santa Clara to secure the national championship for the 2018 season.
  • Clemson and Cal met for the second time in series history, following their New Year’s Day 1992 meeting, when Clemson closed its 1991 season with a Citrus Bowl appearance against the Golden Bears.
  • Cal became the 19th different program faced by Clemson in ACC play all-time, joining the conference’s 15 other current members plus former members Maryland, South Carolina and Notre Dame.
  • Clemson played its first of two Friday games in a single season for the first time since 1947. Clemson played Friday road games that season against Boston College and Georgia.
  • Clemson’s captains for the contest were wide receiver Tyler Brown, safety Ronan Hanafin, center Collin Sadler and cornerback Elliot Washington II.