Postgame Notes: No. 2 Clemson 38, Georgia Southern 7

Team Notes:

• Clemson amassed 595 total yards, including 286 passing and 309 rushing. It marked the second time this season that Clemson has reached 200 passing yards and 200 rushing yards in the same game and the 36th time the program has done so under Head Coach Dabo Swinney. Clemson is undefeated (36-0) in those contests.
• Running back Travis Etienne totaled a career-high 162 yards on 16 carries. The 100-yard rushing game was the second of Etienne’s career and his first since Sept. 23, 2017 vs. Boston College (113). His 162 yards are the most by a Clemson running back since Wayne Gallman ran for 187 yards against North Carolina (12/5/15).
• On a 40-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, Etienne eclipsed the 1,000 career rushing yards mark.
• With Etienne’s performance and the Tiger win, Clemson has now posted a 33-2 record when producing a 100-yard rusher since 2011.
• Clemson rushed for 309 yards and is now 47-1 when rushing for at least 200 yards under Swinney. The 309-yard game is the most rushing yards by a Clemson team since Sept. 23, 2017 when the Tigers rushed for 342 yards.
• With 100-yard performances from both Justyn Ross (receiving) and Travis Etienne (rushing), today’s game against Georgia Southern marks the first time a Clemson team has had two players eclipse the 100-yard passing/rushing plateau since Nov. 26, 2016 (Wayne Gallman - 112 yards rushing; Mike Williams - 100 yards receiving)
• On his second completion of the day — a five-yard completion to Tee Higgins — quarterback Kelly Bryant recorded his 300th career pass completion, becoming only the 10th player in school history to complete 300 career passes (Tajh Boyd, Charlie Whitehurst, Deshaun Watson, Cullen Harper, Woodrow Dantzler, Nealon Greene, Kyle Parker, Rodney Williams and Tommy Kendrick).
• With his sixth completion of the day, an 11-yard pass to Trevion Thompson, Bryant passed Tommy Kendrick (303 from 1969-71) for the ninth-most career completions in Clemson history.
• Etienne opened the scoring on a one-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. Etienne has now scored a rushing touchdown in three straight games for the fourth time in his career and scored a rushing touchdown in 13 of his 16 career games.
• This marks the second consecutive year that a member of the Tigers has opened a season with a rushing touchdown in each of the first three games of the season. Kelly Bryant accomplished the feat in the first three games of 2017.
• Etienne’s second-quarter touchdown was the culmination of a 13-play, 93-yard drive. It was Clemson’s third scoring drive of 90 yards or more already this season. Clemson had four scoring drives of 90 or more yards in 14 games in 2017.
• Running back Tavien Feaster scored his first rushing touchdown of the season on a one-yard run in the second quarter. The rushing touchdown was the 10th of his career, giving Clemson three active players with at least 10 career rushing touchdowns (Feaster, Etienne, Bryant).
• Wide receiver Justyn Ross scored the second receiving touchdown of his career on a 57-yard pass from quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
• Including a 64-yard touchdown pass to Tee Higgins last week, Lawrence has now thrown touchdown passes of 50 yards or more in back-to-back games. It is the first time a Clemson quarterback has done so since Kelly Bryant threw touchdown passes of 53 and 61 yards in back-to-back games against The Citadel and South Carolina, respectively in 2017.
• Ross finished the contest with a career-high 103 receiving yards on three receptions.
• With a catch on the game’s second play from scrimmage, wide receiver Hunter Renfrow extended his streak of consecutive games played with a reception to 31.
• During his sixth snap of the game, tackle Mitch Hyatt became only the fifth player in Clemson history to play 3,000 career snaps from scrimmage (Dalton Freeman, Landon Walker, Kyle Young and Glenn Rountree).
• Hyatt made his 45th career start, tying OG Jeb Flesch (45 from 1988-91) for the 10th-most career starts at any position in Clemson history.
• Clemson recorded five sacks and has now posted at least three sacks in three straight games for the first time since the Tigers recorded a combined 13 sacks across the Wake Forest (three), Syracuse (six) and Georgia Tech (four) games in 2017.
• Defensive end Austin Bryant recorded his first sack of the season to force a three-and-out in the first quarter. He added another in the fourth quarter to record his second career game with 2.0 or more sacks, joining a 4.0-sack performance against Auburn in 2017.
• Defensive end Xavier Thomas recorded his first career sack in the second quarter.
• Defensive end Clelin Ferrell recorded 2.0 sacks to push his season total to 5.0 and his career total to 20.5. He entered the week ranked third in career sacks among active FBS players.
• Ferrell has now recorded 2.0 sacks in back-to-back games, becoming the first Clemson player to have two or more sacks in consecutive games since Vic Beasley against Florida State and North Carolina in 2014.
• Ferrell became the first Clemson player to record a sack in each of the first three games of a season since Vic Beasley in 2014.
• In the fourth quarter, defensive lineman Nyles Pinckney forced and recovered a fumble, both career firsts.
• Clemson has now forced a takeaway in 11 consecutive contests, the program's longest streak since a 15-game stretch across the 2012-13 seasons.
• Linebacker Tre Lamar matched a career high with 11 total tackles.
• On a 37-yard field goal in the third quarter, kicker Greg Huegel passed Obed Ariri (288) for seventh-most career points in school history.
• The Tigers recorded 383 total yards on offense in the first half, the most by a Clemson team since Nov. 5, 2016 when the Tigers hung 396 yards on Syracuse in the first half of that game.
• Clemson led at halftime, 21-0. Dating back to last season, Clemson has shut out its opponents in the first half of six of its last eight games (21-0 vs. Georgia Southern, 27-0 vs. Furman, 21-0 vs. Miami, 20-0 vs. South Carolina, 38-0 vs. The Citadel, 17-0 vs. Florida State).
• Clemson has now won 55 of its last 57 games when leading at halftime.
• Clemson has not allowed a first-half touchdown at Memorial Stadium since Nov. 12, 2016 against Pittsburgh, a streak of 10 consecutive home games without allowing a touchdown in the first two quarters.
• Clemson held Georgia Southern without a touchdown in the first half and has held opponents without a first-half touchdown seven times in the last eight games.
• The game was the first all-time meeting between Clemson and Georgia Southern. It marked the second straight season in which Clemson had faced an opponent for the first time in history, as the Tigers earned a 56-3 win in their first-ever meeting with Kent State in 2017.
• The Tigers committed their first turnover of the season on an interception on the eighth play of the game. Clemson opened the season with 136 plays without a turnover.
• Clemson’s captains for the contest were linebacker J.D. Davis, linebacker Judah Davis, wide receiver Hunter Renfrow and tight end Cannon Smith.

WITH THE WIN:

• Clemson has now won 46 of its last 50 games, dating to 2014.
• Clemson has now opened 3-0 for four straight years and for the seventh time in the last eight years.
• Clemson extended its winning streak in non-conference regular season play to 18 games. Dating back to 2014, Clemson’s current 17-game winning streak in regular season non-conference games entering the game was already the longest such streak in program history.
• Clemson won its 10th consecutive game at Memorial Stadium, dating back to a 56-7 win against South Carolina on Nov. 25, 2016. The team’s current home winning streak is Clemson's third double-digit home winning streak in Dabo Swinney’s tenure as head coach (21 from 2013-16, 13 from 2011-12). Clemson has won 31 of its last 32 at home.
• Clemson extended its winning streak in Saturday games to 19, the longest of any Power Five school in the country. It is the second-longest Saturday winning streak in school history, trailing a 21-game Saturday streak across the 2014-16 campaigns.
• Clemson won its 16th consecutive game in the month of September, dating back to 2014.
• Dabo Swinney pushed his all-time record in non-conference play as a head coach to 39-13, including a 32-8 record against non-conference opponents in regular season play.
• Swinney improved to 9-6 as a head coach all-time in games against schools from the state of Georgia. He entered the game with a 6-5 mark against Georgia Tech, a 1-1 record against Georgia and a 1-0 mark against Georgia State.
• Clemson led 24-0 after three quarters and is now 76-2 since 2011 when leading after three quarters.
• Clemson recorded a 27-3 advantage in total first downs, and is now 76-2 record when recording more first downs than its opponent since 2011.
• Clemson has now won 58 straight games when holding teams under 23 points (dating back to 2010).