It was a full circle moment.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney always felt connected to the late, great Tigers coach Frank Howard.
Both are Alabama natives and Swinney was introduced to Howard as a youth when the longtime coach came to a birthday party for Swinney’s mom.
Now, Swinney’s joined Howard as Clemson’s leader in career victories with 165 after a 17-12 win over Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Saturday.
“I don’t think that’s a coincidence,” Swinney said Saturday of his history with Howard.
“Hopefully, I’m here a long time and we win many more games,” Swinney continued. “But Frank Howard is Clemson.”
So far, the 53-year-old Swinney has made a strong run to overtake that legacy.
Cade Klubnik and Will Shipley ran for scores and Clemson’s defense got back to their elite selves and held Wake Forest in check throughout.
It was far from a pretty performance on a picture-perfect day. Still, Clemson (4-2, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) won its 15th straight over Wake Forest (3-2, 0-2) and posted a second-straight league win after its 0-2 ACC start knocked the defending conference champs out of contention to repeat.
Swinney, in his 15th full season at the helm and turning 54 in November, tied the mark of Howard, who won 165 games in 30 seasons from 1940-69. Clemson’s current coach gets his first chance to surpass Howard’s record when the Tigers travel to Miami to face the No. 17 Hurricanes on October 21.
“We celebrate wins, but when it’s something like (Swinney’s milestone), that just makes it sweeter,” said Shipley, who finished with 97 yards on 19 carries. “So many great things I could say about coach Swinney. He’s a huge reason why I’m where I’m at today. ”
Clemson’s defense showed up strong with a goal line stand in the first half after Wake Forest recovered a fumble at the Tigers’ 9. The Demon Deacons had just 239 yards of total offense.
“Defensively, it was awesome, freakin’ awesome,” Swinney gushed.
Shipley’s 1-yard touchdown run with 5:49 remaining in the fourth quarter gave the Tigers breathing room. However, Clemson will have to show much more juice on the offensive side of the football if they hope to escape South Florida with a win in two weeks.
Clemson had some self-inflicted wounds, losing two fumbles, missed a field goal, and finished with 338 yards, its fewest of the season. The 17 points were the least in a win since beating the Syracuse Orange 17-14 in 2021.
The offense’s most effective series came in the second quarter, a 75-yard scoring sequence where Klubnik completed eight of nine passes for 73 yards. He capped it off with a nifty fake in the back field that sprung him for a 7-yard touchdown run and a 7-3 lead.
Place kicker Jonathan Weitz, called back from his online grad studies in Charleston last month to bolster the kicking game, added a 26-yard chip shot field goal before Shipley’s clinching score.
Wake Forest rallied on Demond Claiborne’s 3-yard scoring run with 1:34 to go. But the Demon Deacons failed on the two-point conversion. Clemson recovered an onsides kick and ran out the clock.
Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said his defense played well enough to win. The offense needed to be more effective in order to come out on top.
“It’d be nice to be really good on both sides of the ball in the same year,” said Clawson, in his 10th season at the school.
Clemson came into this one as an almost three-touchdown favorite yet could barely get out of its own way on offense for much of the day.
Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons had their opportunities with two fumble recoveries inside Clemson territory. But quarterback Mitch Griffis misfired on third and fourth downs from Clemson’s 2. They reached the Clemson 20 after picking up a muffed punt and managed just a 39-yard field goal by Matthew Dennis. “We were just inches away,” Griffis said, shaking his head.
Clemson: The Tigers will not put this offensive showing on display. Klubnik appeared to improve a great deal in the past two weeks against Florida State and Syracuse, respectively, before struggling mightily in this one. He completed 18 of 28 throws for a modest 131 yards.
Clemson leading tackler Jeremiah Trotter Jr. was called for roughing the passer late in the game when it appeared the defense had once more held Wake Forest. The crowd began booing after the replay was shown and Trotter soaked in the sounds. “The refs said it was roughing the passer, I’ve got to keep playing, move on,” he said. “Either way, I let the fans have their own opinion on that.”
Wake Forest heads to Virginia Tech on Saturday.
Clemson has a bye week before going to No. 17 Miami on October 21.
