With the Win: Clemson 17, Wake Forest 12

Head Coach Dabo Swinney earned his 165th career win to tie College Football Hall of Famer Frank Howard as the winningest head coach in Clemson history (165 from 1940-69). Howard’s 165th and final career victory came on Nov. 1, 1969 against Maryland. Swinney’s first career victory came exactly 39 years later at Boston College on Nov. 1, 2008.

Swinney also matched the career win total of one of Howard's famous foes, College Football Hall of Famer Bobby Dodd, who won 165 career games at Georgia Tech. 

Swinney (101-21) earned his 101st career regular-season conference win to pass Howard (100) for sole possession of the school record for career regular season conference victories. Howard went 100-48-5 in conference play across the Southern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference.

Swinney improved to 15-0 as a head coach against Wake Forest. Wake Forest is one of four ACC schools against whom Swinney is undefeated as head coach, a list that also includes Louisville (8-0), Virginia (5-0) and Virginia Tech (6-0). 

Swinney improved to 10-0 against Wake Forest Head Coach Dave Clawson. Clawson became the first coach to be defeated by Swinney 10 times.

Clawson joined Walter Johnson (16), Bill Dooley (15), George Welsh (13), Lonnie McMillan (12) and Jim Grobe (10) as the only coaches to be defeated by Clemson 10 times.

Swinney improved to 36-4 all-time against teams from the state of North Carolina.

Clemson improved to 71-17-1 all-time against Wake Forest. Wake Forest is now within one defeat of Clemson’s most-defeated opponent, South Carolina, which Clemson has beaten 72 times.

Clemson won its 15th consecutive game against Wake Forest, dating back to 2009, to tie the longest winning streak in series history (15 from 1977-91). Clemson’s current 15-game winning streak against Wake Forest is the Tigers’ longest active winning streak against an FBS foe.

Clemson has now produced its sixth winning streak of 15 or games against a single opponent in school history. It ties 15-game streaks against Wake Forest (1977-91) and Presbyterian (1944-present) for the fourth-longest single-opponent winning streak in school history.

Clemson earned a 12th straight home victory in its series with Wake Forest, dating to 2000. Clemson’s last home loss to Wake Forest came in 1998. Clemson’s 12-game winning streak against Wake Forest at Death Valley is one of seven double-digit home winning streaks against a single opponent in school history and its second such streak against Wake Forest (16 straight home wins in the series from 1963-91).

Clemson improved to 69-7 against ACC opponents (including postseason play) since the start of the 2015 season. 

Clemson improved to 62-3 at Memorial Stadium in the College Football Playoff era (since 2014). 

Clemson improved to 37-2 at home against ACC opponents in the CFP era. Clemson is now 48-3 against the ACC in its last 51 conference home games at Death Valley, a figure that dates to Clemson's first conference home game of 2011.

In rebounding from a previous home loss, Clemson still has not lost consecutive contests at Memorial Stadium since 2008 in Tommy Bowden's final home game as head coach and Dabo Swinney's first home game as interim head coach.

Clemson improved to 90-10 in regular season play since the start of the 2015 season. Eight of Clemson’s 10 regular season losses in that span have been decided by a final margin of 10 or fewer points.

Clemson led 7-3 at halftime and has now won 110 of its last 115 games when leading at halftime.

Clemson is now 131-3 since 2011 when leading after three quarters.

Clemson improved to 42-27 when losing the turnover margin under Dabo Swinney.

Clemson now has a 126-6 record when totaling more first downs than its opponent since 2011.

Clemson is now 78-3 when rushing for 200+ yards under Dabo Swinney.

Clemson has now won 39 consecutive games when not allowing a sack since 2011.

Clemson has won 110 of its last 111 games when holding teams under 23 points (dates to 2010).

Clemson is now 36-9 in one-possession games since 2011, the highest winning percentage in the country in one-score games in that span (.800).