The Notes: Clemson 30, FSU 20
Clemson trailed by three with fewer than eight minutes to play. The game was Clemson’s first comeback win in a game it trailed in the fourth quarter since last season against Boston College, when Clemson won by six after trailing by two early in the fourth quarter.
Clemson held Florida State to a season-low 65 rushing yards. Florida State entered the game averaging 230.0 rushing yards per game, 13th-most in the country and second-most in the ACC.
Clemson’s 377 yards included 188 rushing yards and 189 passing yards. The one-yard differential between rushing and passing yards represents the closest Clemson has been to exact run-pass yardage balance since 2009, when Clemson threw for 242 yards and rushed for 241 yards — another one-yard differential — in another win against Florida State.
Clemson’s 188 rushing yards were its third-most of the season. Clemson has now exceeded 150 rushing yards in back-to-back games for the first time since games against Virginia Tech and Notre Dame last December.
Clemson has rushed for a touchdown in seven straight games and has rushed for multiple scores in back-to-back games for the second time this season (vs. South Carolina State and Georgia Tech).
Clemson scored 30 points in the contest, its second performance of 30 or more points this season and its most against an FBS opponent.
Quarterback DJ Uiagalelei completed 19-of-31 passes for 189 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Running back Will Shipley rushed for 128 rushing yards on 25 carries, both career highs, with a career-high-tying two rushing touchdowns.
Shipley’s 100-yard performance was Clemson’s second of the season, joining Kobe Pace’s 125-yard game against Boston College.
Shipley recorded the first 100-yard rushing performance by a Clemson true freshman since Nov. 3, 2018, when Lyn-J Dixon had 116 yards on four carries against Louisville.
Clemson improved to 54-2 when having a 100-yard rusher since 2011.
Shipley’s 128 rushing yards were the most by a Clemson player since Travis Etienne’s 149 against Miami (Fla) last October.
Shipley’s 25 carries were the most by a Clemson player since Etienne’s 28 carries against South Carolina in 2018. Shipley was not tackled for a loss on any of his 25 carries, gaining positive yardage on 22 carries and getting back to the line of scrimmage on the other three carries.
Shipley pushed his rushing touchdown total on the season to seven, passing Chuck McSwain (six in 1979) for fifth-most by a Clemson true freshman in school history.
Shipley recorded his third game with multiple rushing touchdowns, joining Etienne (four in 2017), C.J. Spiller (three in 2006) and James Davis (three in 2005) as the only Clemson true freshmen to record at least three games with multiple rushing touchdowns in a season since 2000.
Clemson opened the scoring on a season-long 47-yard field goal from B.T. Potter.
Clemson has scored first in each of its last seven games. The lone game this season in which Clemson did not score first was the season opener against Georgia.
Clemson improved to 63-4 when scoring first since 2015.
Running back Phil Mafah recorded a career-long 63-yard run in the second quarter. It was Clemson’s longest play of the season, surpassing a 59-yard rush by Kobe Pace against Boston College. It was the longest Clemson rush since Travis Etienne’s 72-yard touchdown run against Miami on Oct. 10, 2020.
Mafah finished the game with a career-high 69 yards, surpassing his 58 against Boston College.
Tight end Davis Allen recorded his first touchdown of the season on an 11-yard pass from Uiagalelei in the second quarter.
The receiving touchdown was the fifth of Allen’s career and his first since Nov. 7, 2020 at Notre Dame.
On the PAT following Allen’s touchdown, Potter (167 career PATs) passed Aaron Hunt (164 from 2000-03) for third in Clemson history in career PATs.
Shipley, who returned last week from a leg injury suffered in late September at NC State, scored on a two-yard run with 3:41 remaining in the second quarter. It was his first touchdown since that contest at NC State.
With that touchdown by Shipley and the victory, Clemson is now 54-2 since 2015 when outscoring opponents in the “Middle Eight,” defined as the final four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half.
Shipley scored his second touchdown of the game on a 21-yard touchdown run with 2:53 remaining to give Clemson the lead.
Wide receiver Justyn Ross gained a season-high 85 yards on a team-high six receptions. His 85 yards were his most since the 2019 ACC Championship Game, when he recorded 94 yards against Virginia.
With the six receptions, Ross (151) passed Perry Tuttle (150) for 11th on Clemson's leaderboard for career receptions.
Ross (2,291) also passed Jerry Butler (2,223) for 11th on Clemson’s leaderboard for career receiving yards.
Ross extended his streak of consecutive games with a reception to 35. He is one game shy of tying Jerry Butler (36 consecutive games from 1975-78) for the third-longest streak of consecutive games with a catch in school history.
Tight end Jake Briningstool recorded his first career reception on an 11-yard pass from Uiagalelei in the second quarter.
Safety Andrew Mukuba recorded Clemson’s first takeaway of the game in the fourth quarter, recovering a fumble by Florida State’s Treshaun Ward. It was the first fumble recovery of Mukuba’s career.
Clemson recorded a takeaway for a ninth consecutive game, dating to last season, for the first time since in 2019.
Clemson won the game despite finishing minus-one in the turnover margin. It was Clemson’s 36th victory in a game in which it lost the turnover margin under Dabo Swinney.
Linebacker Barrett Carter scored a three-yard fumble return touchdown on the game’s final play. It was Clemson’s first defensive touchdown of the season and its first since an interception return touchdown on Dec. 5, 2020 at Virginia Tech.
Florida State scored a fumble return touchdown earlier in the contest, making the game Clemson’s first in which both teams scored a defensive touchdown since 2014 against South Carolina State (Jadar Johnson 60-yard interception return touchdown for Clemson; Dominique Mitchell 35-yard fumble return for SC State).
Clemson recorded a season-high six sacks, its most since last year’s ACC Championship Game against Notre Dame. Entering the game, Clemson’s season high in sacks was four, set in home games against Georgia Tech and Boston College.
Defensive end Myles Murphy recorded a career-high 2.5 sacks, surpassing his 2.0 sacks in his first career game at Wake Forest in 2020.
Linebacker Trenton Simpson added a sack and has now recorded a sack in back-to-back games for the first time in his career.
Defensive end Xavier Thomas recorded a sack to give him a single-season career-high 4.5 sacks on the year.
Linebacker Baylon Spector, defensive tackle Ruke Orhorhoro and defensive tackle Etinosa Reuben all added a half-sack each. For Reuben, the half-sack was the first of his career.
Defensive end Xavier Thomas forced a fumble on a third-quarter sack, his career-hgh second forced fumble of the season and the fourth forced fumble of his career.
Clemson recorded a fourth-down stop on fourth-and-1 on Florida State’s first drive of the second half. Clemson had entered the game tied for 105th in the FBS in fourth-down defense, as opponents were 6-for-9 on the year.
Murphy recorded a blocked PAT on Florida State’s first attempt in the first quarter. It was Clemson’s first blocked kick of the season and the first of Murphy’s career.
The blocked PAT by Murphy was Clemson’s first blocked placekick since Bryan Bresee blocked a field goal attempt at Wake Forest in the 2020 season opener. It was the first blocked PAT since Christian Wilkins blocked a Louisville PAT on Nov. 3, 2018.
Punter Will Spiers started his 64th game to add to his school record for career starts. Wide receiver/holder Will Swinney's career total as Clemson's primary holder parallels Spiers' run as starting punter.
Spiers, Swinney and linebacker James Skalski each playing in their 64th career games to extend their school record for most career games played.
Clemson’s final PAT of the game was the 500th placekicking point for which Swinney has held in his career.
Punt returner Will Brown recorded a career-long 17-yard punt return in the second quarter.
Captains for the contest were defensive tackle Tyler Davis, defensive end K.J. Henry, offensive lineman Will Putnam and wide receiver Will Swinney.