Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said that he could recall falling to the Florida State Seminoles. However, it has been a one-sided rivalry in favor of the Tigers since 2015.
Tigers quarterback DJ Uiagalelei passed for 203 yards and three scores and No. 4 Clemson forced a game changing turnover to stop Florida State in their tracks, 34-28, on Saturday night.
Clemson moved to 7-0 on the season, 5-0 in Atlantic Coast Conference play and scored on six straight series and eclipsed the 30-point threshold for a seventh straight contest to open the season.
Running back Will Shipley had 20 rushes for 121 yards and six receptions for 48 additional yards, to lead the Tigers to their seventh straight victory over the Seminoles. He ran with power and sprinkled in some finesse.
“I have a great appreciation for winning, especially against this group,” Swinney said. “I’ve been down here when there’s not been a lot of hope on our sideline.”
As stated earlier, that has not always been the case of late, as Clemson has won every matchup with Florida State since 2015, which coincided with the Tigers run of appearances in the College Football Playoff from 2015-2020. The meetings have been nailbiters over the last few years, including Saturday’s game that seemed like Clemson had a strangle hold on, but the Seminoles did not give up, coming back in the fourth quarter.
Florida State went mano a mano with Clemson for the first 20 minutes, but defensive end Myles Murphy’s sack quarterback of Jordan Travis forced a fumble and the Tigers were put in position with a short field. A trio of plays later, Uiagalelei’s 5-yard scamper into the end zone gave Clemson a double-digit lead, 24-14.
Uiagalelei then had a 31-yard touchdown pass to tight end Davis Allen, and place kicker B.T. Potter added a 34-yard field goal to push Clemson’s lead out to 20, 34-14, which seemed insurmountable with just over seven minutes remaining in the third quarter.
But Travis engineered the Seminoles on back-to-back touchdown drives in the final stanza, the second was a 94-yard methodical march down the field that ended in a 25-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Kentron Poitier, with 2:17 left and sliced the Tigers advantage to 34-28. But Clemson recovered the onside kick and were able to put the game on ice.
“I thought our defense played great there in the second half until they lost their minds,” Swinney said.
Uiagalelei did not have his most impressive statistical day, but he was efficient, completing 15 of 23 pass attempts for 203 yards and three touchdowns, one each to freshman Antonio Williams, Jake Brinningstool and Allen.
“I feel like we do a lot of stuff better each and every day on offense,” Uiagalelei said. “Still have a lot of room to grow to be able to get where we want to be. … We were efficient tonight. Not as many plays as you usually have. But we were real efficient with the football.”
Travis completed 24 of 42 pass attempts for 254 yards with two touchdowns.
Running back Lawrence Toafili rushed for 68 yards and Florida State (4-3, 2-3) running game was on point, collecting 196 yards on the ground. Toafili also had six catches for 45 yards, but the Seminoles are now on a three-game losing streak.
“I thought our guys continued to battle,” Florida State coach Mike Norvell said. “We had missed opportunities throughout. But they fought until the end. And I fully believed, as we were playing, that we would find a way to get back in, to be able to put ourselves in a position. And our guys did that but unfortunately we didn’t make enough plays to be able to finish the job.”
Shipley bolstered a career-high 238 yards from scrimmage, which also included a 69-yard kickoff return that set up a Clemson touchdown.
Florida State played without its top defensive player, tackle Fabien Lovett, who missed a fifth straight game. The Seminoles’ top running back, Treshaun Ward, also did not play.
Bryan Bresee made his return for Clemson after being sidelined with a kidney infection.
The Tigers were efficient on third downs, converting on 9 of 16 opportunities. They were 3 of 3 on red-zone trips (two touchdowns and a field goal), extending their perfect start to the year by scoring on 35 of 35 trips inside an opponent’s 20-yard line.
The Seminoles were forced to be aggressive and went just 1 for 4 on fourth-down conversions, including a run on a fake punt that fell short.
Clemson hosts No. 18 Syracuse next Saturday.
Florida State hosts Georgia Tech on Oct. 29.
