Clemson earned its 19th victory under Dabo Swinney in games in which the Tigers trailed at halftime. It was Clemson’s first come-from-behind victory after trailing at halftime since overcoming a seven-point halftime deficit in a 10-point win at Virginia Tech last November.
The 16-point comeback tied Clemson’s 2019 Fiesta Bowl win against Ohio State for the sixth-largest comeback in program annals. It was Clemson’s third-largest comeback win in Death Valley.
Clemson scored 27 unanswered points to end the game, including 24 second-half points.
Clemson scored on five straight possessions across the second, third and fourth quarters, a streak that ended when Clemson ran out the clock for the final 4:24 on its final possession.
The game included a one-hour-and-32-minute lightning delay in the first quarter.
The contest was Clemson’s fifth game at Death Valley on record to include a weather delay, joining:
- Oct. 12, 1963 vs. Georgia: 20-minute halftime delay
- Sept. 4, 1993 vs. UNLV: 17-minute fourth-quarter delay
- Sept. 19, 2009 vs. Boston College: 55-minute third-quarter delay and a 48-minute fourth-quarter delay
- Sept. 18, 2021 vs. Georgia Tech: One-hour-and-52-minute second-quarter delay (including an observed halftime)
Quarterback Cade Klubnik completed 18-of-24 passes for 196 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.
Klubnik improved to 20-10 as a starter. He became the 11th Clemson player to win 20 games as a starting quarterback since World War II, joining Trevor Lawrence (34-2), Deshaun Watson (32-3), Tajh Boyd (32-8), Rodney Williams (32-10-2), Charlie Whitehurst (25-15), Nealon Greene (24-16), Homer Jordan (22-6-1), DJ Uiagalelei (22-6), Mike Eppley (21-5-1) and Steve Fuller (21-11-3).
During the contest, Klubnik (7,606) became the fifth quarterback in Clemson history to reach 7,500 career passing yards, joining Tajh Boyd, Deshaun Watson, Trevor Lawrence and Charlie Whitehurst.
Running back Adam Randall rushed for a touchdown and recorded career highs with 21 rushing attempts for 112 yards.
The 100-yard rushing game was the first of Randall’s career.
Including 23 receiving yards and a 30-yard kickoff return, Randall finished the game with a career-high 165 all-purpose yards.
The performance by Randall represented Clemson’s first individual 100-yard rushing performance since Jay Haynes’ 118 yards against The Citadel last November.
Randall recorded his second rushing touchdown of the season on a one-yard run in the third quarter. He has now rushed for a touchdown in back-to-back games for the first time in his career.
Clemson has now scored at least one rushing touchdown in a national-best 89 of its 98 games since the start of the 2018 season.
Clemson has now rushed for a touchdown in 62 consecutive home games, the nation’s longest active streak. Ironically, Troy was the last team to hold Clemson without a rushing touchdown in Death Valley back in 2016.
Wide receiver Bryant Wesco Jr. recorded team highs with seven receptions for 118 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
The game was the second multi-touchdown game of Wesco’s career, joining his two-touchdown game against SMU in the 2024 ACC Championship Game.
Wesco recorded his first touchdown catch of the season on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Klubnik in the third quarter.
Wesco added his second touchdown of the game on a 34-yard touchdown pass from Klubnik in the fourth quarter.
With the performances by Randall and Wesco, Clemson produced both a 100-yard rusher and 100-yard receiver in a single game for the first time since Oct. 12, 2024 against Wake Forest (Phil Mafah, 108 rushing; and Jake Briningstool, 104 receiving).
Clemson won the turnover margin, 3-2.
Clemson has now finished even or better in the turnover margin in 15 straight games for the first time since a 17-game streak across the 1989-90 seasons. Dating to the 2023 season, Clemson has lost the turnover margin only once in its last 21 games.
All three of Clemson’s takeaways came on interceptions. It was Clemson’s first game with three or more interceptions since a three-interception performance against Stanford last October.
Clemson has now opened a season with multiple takeaways in each of its first two games for the first time since 2019.
Cornerback Ashton Hampton recorded his first interception of the season in the first quarter, picking off a pass deflected by defensive tackle Peter Woods.
The interception was the third of Hampton’s career and his first since last November at Virginia Tech.
Cornerback Ricardo Jones recorded his first interception of the season in the third quarter. It was his second interception of his career, joining his pick against App State in the second game of the 2024 season.
The interception by Jones led to Clemson’s 26-yard touchdown pass to Wesco on the first play of the Tigers’ ensuing possession.
Including his fumble recovery a week earlier, Jones has now recorded a takeaway in back-to-back games for the first time in his career.
Safety Ronan Hanafin recorded his first career interception in the third quarter.
Clemson recorded four sacks in the contest.
Defensive tackle DeMonte Capehart recorded his first sack of the season — the third of his career — in the first quarter.
Cornerback Avieon Terrell notched his second career sack when he snuffed out a fake field goal attempt in the fourth quarter.
Defensive end Will Heldt recorded a fourth-quarter sack. He has now recorded a sack in back-to-back games for the first time as a Tiger. At Purdue, he recorded at least a half a sack in back-to-back games twice, doing so in 2024 against Indiana State (2.0) and Notre Dame (0.5) as well as against Illinois (1.5) and Oregon (1.0).
Defensive end T.J. Parker recorded his first sack of the season in the fourth quarter. He pushed his career sack total to 17.5.
Punter Jack Smith recorded a career-long 51-yard punt in the first quarter.
Kicker Nolan Hauser scored Clemson’s first points of the game on a 25-yard field goal in the second quarter.
Hauser added a 30-yard field goal in the third quarter, giving him his fifth multi-field-goal game of his career.
On his 47th offensive snap of the game, offensive lineman Blake Miller became the seventh Clemson player on record to record 3,000 career snaps from scrimmage. He joined Mitch Hyatt (3,754), Will Putnam (3,564), Dalton Freeman (3,361), Landon Walker (3,131), Kyle Young (3,097) and Glenn Rountree (3,048).
Clemson faced Troy Head Coach Gerad Parker for the first time. Parker is one of four head coaches slated to face Clemson for the first time this season (Syracuse’s Fran Brown, North Carolina’s Bill Belichick and Boston College’s Bill O’Brien).
Captains for the contest were defensive end Cade Denhoff, long snapper Philip Florenzo, center Ryan Linthicum and running back Adam Randall.
