Dabo Swinney was unaware he was close to history leading up to Clemson Football’s match-up with Stanford. After the Tigers’ 40-14 drubbing of The Cardinal, another career mark was set in stone.
Clemson excited once again, using big plays on offense and timely defensive stops to stymie Stanford in front of a raucous Death Valley crowd who gathered to cheer the Tigers in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
With the win, Swinney claimed his 173rd victory as a head coach in the ACC, placing him in rarified air with Bobby Bowden atop the conference win list. A win at Florida State next week and Swinney would stand atop the mountain by himself.
During the game itself, Stanford made life difficult for Clemson in the first half. Cade Klubnik got the Tigers on the board with a scintillating touchdown run on the Tigers’ first drive, and a 20-yard Nolan Hauser field goal on their next foray down the field put Clemson up 10-0, but that score would remain until late in the half as The Cardinal locked in on defense and limited Clemson offensively.
Meanwhile, the Tigers’ defense was bend but don’t break. Dabo Swinney said after the game that he expected better effort, especially up front, as The Cardinal found lots of success running the ball with quarterback Ashton Daniels and running back Micah Ford. Ford finished with a game high 122 yards on the ground. But it was the aforementioned timely defense that helped Clemson maintain control.
Two red zone interceptions, by Avieon Terrell and Jaedyn Lukas, kept Stanford off the scoreboard in the first half and turned away two promising drives. A late touchdown pass to Jake Briningstool from Klubnik in the waning moments of the second quarter would give the Tigers a 17-0 lead. Stanford scored quickly to bring the margin to 10 at the half, but The Cardinal would get no closer.
The Tigers would score 23 unanswered points in the second half, with more explosive plays, to take control for good. Klubnik was not as sharp as the previous two games, but was under duress all night. He still finished 15-31 for 255 yards and four passing touchdowns and connected with Bryant Wesco and Olsen Patt-Henry for touchdowns in the second half.
Stanford Cardinal vs. Clemson Tigers | Full Game Highlights | ESPN College Football (youtube.com)
Wesco himself made some history, too. The freshman receiver became only the second Clemson player in program history with two 100-yard receiving games within his first four games played joining Sammy Watkins as the only other Clemson wideout to do so. Wesco finished with just two receptions, but for 104 yards.
It was a good-but-not-great effort from Clemson, as Dabo Swinney pointed out in his postgame press conference, but it was more than enough for the Tigers to move to 3-1 and 2-0 in ACC play. Still, there were things to correct.
For the first time this season, the offensive line looked vulnerable at times against The Cardinal. Phil Mafah led Clemson ball carriers in yards with only 58 and the Tigers rushed for just 150 as a team. Klubnik was sacked several times, too.
Defensively, the presence of Peter Woods, who was ruled out just before the game, was sorely missed as Stanford consistently found running room on the edge. Still, the defense stood up when it needed to which in the end is what mattered. As the saying goes, you can win ugly, but you can’t lose pretty.
All things considered, the Tigers head into this week’s match-up against Florida State in good shape. Clemson won their last tilt in Tallahassee in a thrilling nail-biter, but the Seminoles have struggled mightily this season and have limped to a 1-4 start and are well out of contention in the ACC. That does not give Clemson license to take FSU lightly, nor will they.
There is much to be said about having momentum, and right now the Tigers have a lot of it. After the disappointing season opener against Georgia, Clemson has made like a regatta on Lake Hartwell and boat raced everyone. If the Tigers can keep up the same intensity this week, that trend should continue, and Dabo Swinney should be standing alone on top of the ACC coaching Pantheon.
