Division Champions
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CLEMSON -- It feels so strange to walk away from a 17-point, division-clinching win over Florida State feeling like you just escaped disaster.
Yet that was the prevailing emotion for the fans, and probably some on the team too, as they filed out of Death Valley after a 31-14 win over the Seminoles on Saturday night.
With 6:46 on the clock, everyone in the stadium -- including Florida State fans, undoubtedly -- was in a state of disbelief.
Clemson was in a position it had no business being in, given the 17-0 lead it took into halftime and given the sorry current state of the Seminoles.
Florida State, after a razzle-dazzle touchdown and a lost fumble by Kelly Bryant, was at the Tigers' 40-yard line down three points.
We repeat: The 3-5 Seminoles were at Clemson's 40-yard line with 6:46 left on the clock, not far from the go-ahead touchdown or game-tying field goal.
If Florida State goes down and scores, maybe the Tigers respond and pull the game out anyway.
But it is entirely reasonable to say a Florida State punch there could have been the knockout punch -- to the Tigers' spirits, their College Football Playoff hopes, their season.
Clemson needed someone to come to the rescue, and two people came to the rescue on that very first play: Seminoles quarterback James Blackman, who threw the ball right into the arms of Van Smith; and Smith, who caught it.
That was what it took to shift the emotions from one extreme to the other, back in favor of the team that has the national championship dreams.
Bryant recovered from his lost fumble, tossing a first-down pass to Hunter Renfrow after Smith took the interception return 38 yards to the Seminoles' 44.
And then the freshman from Louisiana, Travis Etienne, provided the relentless burst that was necessary to close the Seminoles out by running for 25 yards and then 4 and then 1 into the end zone to bring precious relief to everyone in orange.
After a quick turnover on downs, Adam Choice added a determined 10-yard touchdown run to make the score about what most folks were thinking going in.
Whew.
"We made it hard," said Dabo Swinney, who claimed his fifth Atlantic Division title and will face Miami on Dec. 2 in Charlotte.
Indeed, if you watched this one and didn't turn the TV off at halftime you know that final margin is deceptive. You know the offense will need to be more consistent and decisive if this team is going to approach the top-of-the-mountain success of last year's team. You know this defense, so dominant in the first half before wilting thereafter, needs to get healthy and it needs to get better at keeping receivers from running free down the field.
These are legitimate concerns. But this team nonetheless earned it in securing its third straight trip to the ACC title game and third consecutive victory over the Seminoles.
And, oh by the way: Next week against The Citadel, the Tigers will go for their seventh consecutive season of 10 wins or more.
"I don't think many people picked us to win the ACC this year, probably very few," Swinney said. "I'm glad our team didn't get that memo."
The 9-1 Tigers, right in the thick of the playoff chase, now get a chance to take a deep breath before next week and the regular-season finale in Columbia.
As they watch the film of this one, they'll no doubt wince at some of the things they see. The biggest groans, for sure, will come when watching the fumble by Tavien Feaster on second-and-goal from the 2 with 8:20 left in the second quarter. Brian Burns poked the ball away and the Seminoles recovered to deny the Tigers points.
The team will also cover its eyes on another fumble, this one on second-and-goal at the 1, by Bryant when Burns again rushed in to disrupt the backfield. Somehow linebacker Matthew Thomas failed to recover it with no one else around. The Tigers were able to get a field goal out of that possession after Tremayne Anchrum recovered it.
Clemson could have, should have, been up 28-0 but all this seemed on the verge of being academic at halftime with Clemson up 17-0 and Florida State having totaled 46 total yards and three first downs.
But stuff can change in a hurry, and those mistakes can come back to haunt you -- even against a Florida State team that's a shell of what it was when these games against Clemson were appointment television for college football fans across the country.
"At some point, if you keep giving a team like that the ball they're going to break through and they did," Swinney said.
The crazy shift in momentum, and the pulsating moments that came after Ryan Izzo's 60-yard touchdown catch from Blackman and then Bryant's fumble, obscured the game's broader theme -- and the part Swinney and his coaches were most proud of.
Clemson ran it well (227 yards). Florida State ran it almost none at all (21 yards). Cam Akers, that crazy-good freshman back, had 40 yards on 12 carries with a long of 12.
That, folks, is a pretty big deal.
Swinney: "When you peel it all back, when you can run the ball and the opposing team can't run the ball, usually good things happen."
Crazy things happened toward the end. Stressful things.
But the larger truth -- Clemson as a division champ and national contender -- remains the same.
"These kinds of games, you've got to earn them," said co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott. "It's never easy."
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