Beauty in the Struggle: No. 4 Clemson Clinches Third-Straight Division Title

For the last nine years, the ACC Atlantic division has run through either Florida State or Clemson.

A lot of people thought Florida State would limp into Death Valley and not put up much of a fight because the game against Clemson wasn’t for a chance to play in the ACC championship this year.

The Seminoles had nothing to lose, while the Tigers had everything to lose.

Down 17-14 in the fourth quarter, Florida State players danced on the sideline and had all of the momentum to spoil Clemson’s season. The Seminoles had the ball on Clemson’s 40-yard line with 6:46 remaining. 

It was up to Clemson’s defense to bail out a stagnant offense that was plagued by turnovers and the inability to move the ball consistently. 

On the next play, Van Smith picked off James Blackman for Smith’s first interception of the season to save Clemson’s season and the Tigers ran away with the division from there.

Clemson struggled but clinched its third consecutive Atlantic division title after defeating Florida State for the third-straight year 31-14. 

Dabo Swinney said all week that the Seminoles weren’t the team their 3-5 record made them out to be. Their defense bottled up Clemson’s offense for most of the night and made life difficult for Kelly Bryant to get into a rhythm.

It was another slow, grind-it-out game offensively for the Tigers, mainly through the air. Bryant completed 20 passes to 12 different receivers for only 151 yards.

Clemson had to get it done on the ground, and its committee of backs led by Travis Etienne outgained Florida State 227 yards to 20. Etienne finished the game as Clemson’s leading rusher with 14 carries, 97 yards, and two touchdowns.

In the first half, Clemson’s defense took control of the game and didn’t give Florida State anything. 

ESPN showed footage of quarterback Deondre Francois smiling and dancing before the game in sweatpants. Maybe he was happy that he didn’t have to go against a Clemson defense that almost cut him in half a year ago.

James Blackman took Francois’ place and took the same beating from Clemson’s front seven.

The Tigers sacked Blackman five times, four of them coming in the first half. Clemson forced more sacks (4) than Florida State had first downs (3) in the first half. 

J.D. Davis started the game replacing an injured Kendall Joseph and had seven tackles, four of them solo, to lead the defense.

The Seminoles only had 46 yards of total offense, and a 17-0 Clemson halftime lead could have been much worse if not for two miscue fumbles inside the 10-yard line. 

Clemson and Florida State both had their fair share of missed opportunities throughout the game. 

The biggest one came with under two minutes to go in the second quarter. Clemson fumbled the ball on second-and-goal, and three Seminole players had a chance to fall on the ball or pick it up with a lot of grass in front of them.

As if the defense knew it had to score points for Florida State to have a chance, all three players looked to pick the ball up instead of fall on it and were unable to recover. Clemson then kicked a field goal, and those three points proved to be huge as the game progressed.

Again, Clemson’s offense couldn’t deliver the knockout blow, and Florida State was able to hang around.

A targeting call on Florida State’s Emmett Rice in the third quarter fired up the Seminoles’ hard-hitting defense and brought the team back to life. 

Florida State took two of its next three drives down the field for touchdowns highlighted by a 60-yard trick play to free the tight end down the sideline for a score.

But Clemson had been there before. And again, its maturity showed. 

A Bryant fumble gave Florida State excellent field position with a chance to take the lead, but he didn’t get down on himself. Co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott said that Clemson’s mindset has always been about what is next.

“The best thing we do is respond,” Scott said.

One message was said on the sideline as Clemson took the field after Smith’s interception seized back momentum.

“We’re about to find out who we are,” Scott said over his headset.

The offense came back out after a turnover and scored a touchdown on their next two possessions to put the game away.

A powerful 25-yard Etienne set up his second touchdown to give Clemson a 10-point lead, and then Adam Choice gashed a Seminole defense that had given up by that point.

“It was on us to put the game away,” Etienne said.

The Tigers had every chance to fold and give the game to a reeling Florida State team, but they didn’t

“Even with all the adversity and all the things we left out there, to really finish with two touchdown drives I think says a lot about our guys’ mentality and the way you respond to adversity,” Scott said.

Scott did find out what his team really is: a team of first-responders who have the right mentality, even when things aren’t looking good.

Clemson's play this season, especially on offense, can look ugly at times and make you want to look away. 

But there’s beauty in the struggle.

Even with the offensive ups and downs this season, Clemson is 9-1 and headed back to the ACC Championship yet again after many doubted the Tigers could win the division back in August.

Swinney won’t complain about how pretty or ugly a game is as long as the win is secured.

Tonight, the only thing he cared about was the beauty of the Atlantic division trophy that sat next to him during his post-game press conference for the sixth time in nine years.

Another team goal checked off for the Tigers.