Oct 24, 2020

FINAL: Clemson 47, Syracuse 21

No. 1 Tigers Defeat Syracuse 47-21 Behind Four Forced Turnovers

Anotha’ W in The Valley 🐅🐾 pic.twitter.com/oY9P3oeubC
— Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) October 24, 2020

CLEMSON, S.C. — Top-ranked Clemson improved to 6-0 on Saturday with a 47-21 victory over Syracuse. The win marked the 35th consecutive regular season game that the Tigers came out on top, which is the longest such streak in ACC history.

The Tigers’ defense forced a momentum-swinging strip-sack in the third quarter that was returned for a touchdown by Andrew Booth Jr. Clemson also had three interceptions, one each by Nolan Turner, Mike Jones Jr. and Jalyn Phillips. The Tigers allowed only 11 first downs to their 27.

Travis Etienne scored three rushing touchdowns on 16 carries and totaled 86 yards on the ground. Trevor Lawrence was 27-43 passing for 289 yards and two touchdowns en route to Clemson’s sixth straight game scoring 37 or more points. This is the first time in school history the Tigers have accomplished that feat to open a season.

Clemson got on the board just 83 seconds into the game when Lawrence found Cornell Powell for a 25-yard touchdown. Following a B.T. Potter field goal, Etienne added a 25-yard touchdown run to give the Tigers a 17-0 lead after the first quarter.

The Orange would respond with a touchdown early in the second quarter, but Lawrence later hit Davis Allen for a 17-yard score, which marked Allen’s third touchdown of the season. Syracuse returned a Lawrence interception 39 yards for a touchdown and the Tigers responded with another Potter field goal to give them a 27-14 lead as the first half expired.

The Orange made it a one possession game when quarterback Rex Culpepper hit wide receiver Nykeim Johnson on an 83-yard bomb to open the second half scoring.

Syracuse had possession with the potential to take the lead with a touchdown, but Bryan Bresee forced a fumble that Booth scooped up and returned 21 yards for his first career touchdown, increasing the Tiger lead to 34-21 as the third quarter came to a close.

Etienne’s second touchdown run of the game, this time for nine yards, gave the Tigers a 40-21 advantage that sealed the Orange’s fate. The score placed Etienne in the top-10 in FBS history for rushing touchdowns in a career (64).

Etienne recorded his third rushing touchdown of the game, capitalizing on a Mike Jones Jr. interception return that set the Tigers’ offense up on the Syracuse three yard line. The Clemson defense held firm as defensive back Jalyn Phillips recorded his first career interception and the Tigers closed out the 47-21 victory.

The Tigers will be back in action on Saturday, Oct. 31, when they take on Boston College at Death Valley. Kickoff for that Halloween day matchup is slated for noon ET.

Defense steps up and makes the big play!
Jones gets to the QB, Bresee forces the fumble and Booth scoops and scores!
Watch live on ACCN or here: https://t.co/lu6NuCdXJ2 #ALLIN 🐅 🐾 pic.twitter.com/NwZDtcbeex
— Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) October 24, 2020

GAME NOTES

Clemson has now won each of its first six games of a season by 18 points or more for the first time in school history.
Clemson has now opened a season with six consecutive games of 37 points or more for the first time in school history.
Clemson scored 40 points in a fifth-straight game, the second-longest streak in school history behind a six-game streak last season.
Clemson recorded four takeaways, Clemson’s 17th game with four or more takeaways under Head Coach Dabo Swinney. It was Clemson’s most takeaways in a game since a four-takeaway game against NC State last November.
Clemson won the turnover margin, 4-1. Clemson finished a season-best +3 in the margin, its first performance with a +3 turnover margin since last year’s ACC Championship Game against Virginia.
Clemson’s three interceptions represented its second three-interception game of the season, joining its win against Miami two weeks ago.
Clemson passed for 308 passing yards and has now produced back-to-back 300-yard passing performances for the first time this season and for the first time since a four-game streak against NC State, Wake Forest, South Carolina and Virginia last season.
Running back Travis Etienne rushed 16 times for 86 yards with three rushing touchdowns. He also added three catches for 20 yards.
Etienne’s three rushing touchdowns matched his career high, set previously five times including most recently against Boston College in October 2019. It was his ninth career game with three or more total touchdowns and his first since last year’s Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State.
Etienne now has seven career rushing touchdowns against Syracuse, his most against any opponent.
Etienne scored a touchdown of any kind in a 41st different game of his career, matching the FBS record held by San Diego State’s Donnel Pumphrey from 2013-16. (*NOTE: Entering the 2020 season, the NCAA FBS Record Book listed Florida’s Tim Tebow (38 games from 2006-09) and Louisiana Tech’s Kenneth Dixon (38 from 2012-15) as the record-holders for most career games scoring a touchdown. Etienne was believed to have broken that record by scoring in a 39th career game against Miami. However, after additional research by ESPN, the NCAA acknowledged an error in its record book and updated it to reflect Pumphrey scoring a touchdown in 41 games from 2013-16.).
During the game, Etienne (4,583) became the 12th player in school history to record 4,500 career yards of total offense. Every player ahead of him in school annals recorded at least 3,300 passing yards to help reach that figure; Etienne has 23 career passing yards.
On a 25-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, Etienne passed Woodrow Dantzler (68) for sole possession of fourth on Clemson’s all-time leaderboard for career touchdown responsibility. Etienne is fourth on that list despite not having a passing touchdown to his credit in a category that credits both touchdowns scored and touchdowns thrown.
During the game, Etienne (64) entered the Top 10 in FBS history in career rushing touchdowns according to official NCAA records. Etienne passes Donnel Pumphrey (62) and Ron Dayne (63) and is now tied with Anthony Thompson and Cedric Benson (64 each) for seventh-most in FBS history.
With his second touchdown of the game, Etienne became only the seventh FBS player since 1956 to record 70 career touchdowns.
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence completed 27-of-43 passes for 289 yards with two touchdown passes. His 43 pass attempts were a career high, surpassing his 41 against Miami earlier this season.
Lawrence improved to 31-1 as a starter to pull within one win of the school record for wins as a starting quarterback. Rodney Williams, Tajh Boyd and Deshaun Watson are all tied for the school record with 32 wins each.
WIth his second touchdown pass of the game, Lawrence (97) passed Marquise Williams (96) for fifth on the ACC’s all-time career leaderboard for touchdown responsibility.
Lawrence recorded an eight-yard reception on a pass from Amari Rodgers. It was his third career reception, but his first that didn’t come from himself on a batted pass.
The pass completion by Rodgers was the first pass completion by a Clemson receiver since Hunter Renfrow against Wake Forest in 2018. However, Renfrow was playing quarterback on that play in his role as the team’s emergency quarterback. The last pass completion by a receiver in his normal position was Deon Cain against Wake Forest in 2015.
Lawrence opened the scoring on a 25-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Cornell Powell on the game’s opening drive.
Powell has now scored a touchdown in consecutive games for the first time in his career.
Tight end Davis Allen caught his third touchdown pass of the season on a 17-yard pass from Lawrence in the second quarter.
Allen became the first Clemson tight end with a touchdown catch in three consecutive games since Jordan Leggett against Georgia Tech, Louisville and Boston College in 2016.
Allen’s touchdown was the sixth’s by a Clemson tight end through six games this season. In the previous three seasons, Clemson tight ends combined for four total touchdowns in 44 games across the 2017-19 seasons.
Receiver Amari Rodgers recorded a career-high eight receptions for 91 yards. He now has four straight games with at least six receptions and has caught at least five passes in five of Clemson’s six games this season.
Defensive back Nolan Turner recorded the game’s first takeaway on an interception on Syracuse’s second possession. It was his single-season career-high third of 2020.
Turner became the first Clemson player with an interception in back-to-back games since both he and Isaiah Simmons picked off passes against Virginia and Ohio State last season.
Cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. scored his first career touchdown on a 21-yard fumble return in the third quarter.
The fumble returned by Booth was forced by defensive tackle Bryan Bresee on a half-sack split with linebacker Mike Jones Jr.
It was Clemson’s second fumble return for touchdown this season, joining James Skalski’s scoop and score against The Citadel. Clemson has now recorded multiple fumble return touchdowns in a single season for the first time since 2013.
With Clemson’s fumble return touchdown and Syracuse’s interception return touchdown, the game was Clemson’s first in which both teams recorded a defensive touchdown since 2014 when Clemson’s Jadar Johnson and South Carolina State’s Dominique Mitchell each scored via fumble return.
Jones added his first career interception in the fourth quarter, returning it 40 yards to the Syracuse three-yard line.
Defensive back Jalyn Phillips recorded his first career interception in the fourth quarter.
Running back Lyn-J Dixon opened the game with a 49-yard kickoff return, three yards shy of his season-long and career-long 52-yarder against Virginia.
Punter Will Spiers, who was celebrating his 23rd birthday, averaged 53.6 yards on five punts, including four of 50 yards or more. It was his third straight game with a punting average of 50.0 yards or more, a career-long streak.
Spiers recorded a career-long-tying 64-yard punt in the first quarter. It matched 64-yard punts against Louisville in 2017 and against Charlotte in 2019.
Spiers’ second punt of the game was blocked, Clemson’s first punt block surrendered since 2010 when South Florida blocked a Clemson punt in that year’s Meineke Car Care Bowl. Clemson went 615 punts between blocks surrendered across 2010-20.
Spiers converted a fourth-and-3 on a fake punt with a six-yard rush in the second quarter. It was his third career first down to which he’s contributed but his first via rush. Spiers threw for a first down on a fake punt in 2017 and threw for one last week in his role as an emergency quarterback.
Syracuse scored on a 39-yard interception return for touchdown in the second quarter. It ended a streak of 15 full games in which Clemson had not allowed a single point off of turnovers. The streak covered more than a calendar year, dating to Sept. 28, 2019. In that 15-game streak, Clemson surrendered zero points off 11 total giveaways before Saturday.
Clemson played its 20th game all-time while ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll, the 15th-most since the poll’s inception in 1936. It was Dabo Swinney’s 19th game coached at No. 1, tying him with Jim Tressel for 17th all-time.
Clemson has been ranked in the AP Top 25 in every contest against Syracuse all-time, including a Top 3 ranking in seven of its eight most recent matchups with the Orange since 2013.
Captains for the contest were tight end J.C. Chalk, defensive end K.J. Henry, wide receiver Cornell Powell and safety Elijah Turner.

WITH THE WIN...

Clemson has now opened a season 6-0 for the 16th time in school history, joining the 1900, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1948, 1981, 1987, 2000, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 seasons. Clemson’s six-year streak of 6-0 starts is the longest active streak in the country.
Clemson improved to 18-2 all-time when ranked No. 1 by the Associated Press. Clemson has never lost a regular season game as the nation’s top-ranked team.
Clemson won its 26th consecutive home game to extend its school record for the longest home winning streak in school history. Of the 119 players on Clemson’s 2020 roster, 110 have never experienced a home loss in their Clemson careers. Nine fifth-year seniors on Clemson’s 2020 roster were on the 2016 team that recovered from a home loss to Pitt by winning the national championship that season.
Clemson (26 straight home wins) took sole possession of the school record for longest home unbeaten streak. The previous record had been set when Cleemson unbeaten in 25 straight games at Memorial Stadium from 1980-84, posting 23 wins and two ties under Danny Ford in that span.
Though 2020 is technically being played sans divisions, Clemson defeated a traditional ACC Atlantic Division opponent for the 16th straight time and for the 36th time in its last 37 opportunities.
Clemson won its 27th consecutive game against an ACC opponent, including postseason play. The 27-game winning streak against conference opponents pulls Clemson within one game of the 2012-15 Florida State Seminoles (28) for the second-longest streak in ACC history.
Clemson has now won 35 consecutive regular season games, the longest such streak in ACC annals, tying the 2008-10 Boise State Broncos (35) for the longest such streak in ESPN Stats & Info data back to 2005.
Clemson won its 38th consecutive non-bowl game, passing the 1992-96 Nebraska Cornhuskers for sole possession of the third-longest streak in the AP Poll era. Clemson’s 38 consecutive wins in non-bowl games includes 35 regular season games and three conference championship games.
Clemson improved to 25-1 in October games in the College Football Playoff era (since 2014).
Clemson pushed its winning streak in Saturday games to 49 to extend the longest Saturday winning streak in FBS history.
Clemson has now won 78 of its last 83 games overall dating to 2014.
Clemson has won 48 of its last 50 games against ACC teams.
Clemson has now won 84 of its last 86 games when leading at halftime, including each of its last 47 such games.
Clemson improved to 106-2 since 2011 when leading after three quarters.
Clemson is now 56-1 when scoring first since 2015.
Clemson now has a 104-2 record when totaling more first downs than its opponent since 2011.
Clemson is now 62-3 when winning the turnover margin since 2011.
Clemson is now 45-1 at home since 2014, the best winning percentage in the country.
Clemson has now won 86 straight games when holding teams under 23 points (dates to 2010).
Clemson improved to 7-2 all-time against Syracuse.
Clemson remained undefeated at home against Syracuse. The win improved Clemson to 4-0 against Syracuse at Memorial Stadium.