Clemson coach Dabo Swinney’s red-hot radio take after criticism from “Tyler of Spartanburg ” apparently fired up the Tigers.
“We all had a chip on our shoulder,” tailback Phil Mafah said.
Phil Mafah ran for a career high 186 yards and two scores in relief of the injured Will Shipley and the Clemson Tigers held off No. 15 Notre Dame, 31-23, to halt an unusual two-game losing streak Saturday.
“If Clemson’s a stock, you better buy all you freaking can,” Swinney said. “Buy right now.”
The win capped a crazy week at Clemson, which began when Tyler, last name unknown, called into Swinney’s weekly show to criticize the Tigers’ long-time, national championship coach. Tyler demanded him to account for why the program that proclaims “Best is the Standard” had four losses and was out of title contention by October.
Swinney let loose with a strong, even hostile, defense of himself, the program and this season. Then watched his Tigers put on their most complete performance of the season.
“It’s tough because there’s no one that loves us more than (Swinney) does,” said Mafah, who rushed for the most yards in a game for Clemson this season. “I personally take it personal, I know a lot of guys do too, so we had to bring our all today.”
The Tigers (5-4) came in with more losses in a season than it had in 13 years and still stinging from the radio criticism of “Tyler from Spartanburg,” who called out Dabo Swinney and drew a strong, even hostile rebuke from the coach that apparently fired up and motivated the whole team.
“It’s been a tough year, and we haven’t had a lot go our way,” Swinney said. “But these guys have continued to battle.”
Mafah ran for touchdowns of 41 and 1 yard, the last putting Clemson ahead 31-16 in the third quarter. Notre Dame trimmed the lead to eight on Sam Hartman’s 26-yard scramble score.
That is when Clemson’s special teams and defense closed things out. Four times after that, the Tigers downed punts inside the Notre Dame 15, including a sweet quick kick by quarterback Cade Klubnik, and the Irish (7-3, No. 15 CFP) could never did their way out of the hole.
Notre Dame had a last-ditch effort when Mafah fumbled with 1:47 to go on its own 22. After a first down, Hartman threw four incomplete passes to give the ball back to the Tigers with 58 seconds left.
Clemson ran out the clock and set off a celebration for Death Valley fans that had little to cheer about this season.
Clemson’s Swinney had hoped it would not take so long to take over as the school’s all-time wins leader at 166. He had tied the late Frank Howard with 165 victories a month ago after a 17-12 win over Wake Forest on October 7, then had a bye week and losses at Miami and at North Carolina State in between.
“I wish we’d done it about four games ago,” Swinney joked.
Swinney finally moved past the late Howard in all-time Clemson wins with 166 after missing his first two chances to move in front. The loss continued the nightmarish Clemson experience of Notre Dame’s Hartman, who’s teams were 0-4 vs. the Tigers while at Wake Forest.
Klubnik had a modest day, throwing for only 109 yards and a 9-yard touchdown to Tyler Brown and linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. stepped in front of a Hartman pass for a 28-yard pick six that put the Tigers ahead 24-6 in the second quarter.
Hartman finished 12 of 25 for 146 and two interceptions. It was the first time an unranked Clemson had beaten a ranked team since 2021 and a 48-27 win over No. 13 Wake Forest who was led by, you guessed it, Hartman.
Hartman took all the blame.
“If you want to put anything on anyone, put it on me,” he said. “I played very poor today. I didn’t play well enough to be a winning quarterback.”
Clemson came in reeling from two straight road losses to Miami and North Carolina State and were without several starters, including the all-ACC tailback Shipley who was in concussion protocol after a hit last week at North Carolina State.
Notre Dame: The Fighting Irish struggled to take advantage of early chances. They settled for a trio of first-half field goals after solid drives that had them down by 15, 24-9 at the half. Then they were stuck deep in their own territory in the fourth.
Clemson: Can this Tiger team go to the ACC title game? The summertime favorites to win an eighth league title in nine years finally played up to that lofty standard with strong offensive line play and a swarming defense.
Notre Dame has a bye next week before facing Wake Forest Demon Deacons on November 18.
Clemson continues a three-game homestand against Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets next Saturday.
