There are not many better days at Death Valley than Military Appreciation Day. Two F-35A’s started the festivities with an electric fly-over. The Tigers (9-2) would add some fireworks themselves in the 51-14 victory over the Citadel Bulldogs (5-7).
The Tigers adorned their all-purple uniforms. Another favorite part of the season for many fans. Coach Swinney said about the day, “Just a really great day senior-wise and military appreciation.”
The day was full of tributes and appreciation for all of America’s Armed Forces for those fans in attendance. Just a great vibe the entire day.
It just so happens that this particular Military Appreciation Day was also senior day as the Clemson Tigers faced off with the Citadel.
Clemson won the opening toss and deferred to the second half. The Citadel opened the game with a 24 yard pass, in what looked like zone coverage. A facemask penalty had the Bulldogs driving as it was obvious the gameplan from Bulldog coach Maurice Drayton to sustain long drives and keep the Clemson offense off the field. The defense stepped up and forced a field goal attempt in which kicker Ben Barnes missed.
From that moment on, the day belonged to the Tigers.
Clemson had a very quick 5-play, 78 yard drive capped off by a beautifully thrown ball by quarterback Cade Klubnik to Antonio Williams into the sun, that Williams made a great catch on.
Cade Klubnik finished the day with 12-16, 198 yards passing and 3 touchdowns. The Tigers scored on every drive that Klubnik was involved in.
The ensuing drive we got a “Big Man Touchdown” when defensive tackle (and senior honoree) Peyton Page went up and ripped the ball out of the air. He proceeded to rumble 57 yards for a pick-6 and a 14-0 score. Running back Jay Haynes said this about the big man touchdown, “that was awesome. He had pretty good ball skills. He held it high and tight.”
Page was asked how many more yards he could have taken the pick six without being too tired to finish, he responded with a very quick, “two” to much laughter. “I caught the ball, and I thought someone was behind me, and when I looked back again, because I didn’t want to fumble.” Page continued, “then I looked forward and noticed I had 60 more yards to go and then I just started pushing forward.”
The Tigers did struggle to an extent with the Citadel misdirection, option-first offense for the first few drives. The Citadel was able to move the ball on both of their first quarter drives. A first quarter that only saw the Clemson offense on the field once.
As few drives as the Tigers had, they scored on all of the early ones, including a Jay Haynes 70-yard touchdown. Haynes said, “I saw the hole open up, it’s one on one with me and the safety and after that it was just green grass.”
Cade Klubnik was extremely excited after the play, motioning towards the sideline immensely. Coach Swinney added, “we’ve seen him break those kind of runs in practice. He’s just a special player. People haven’t seen it because we’ve been riding Mafah.”
Even the defense, gashed at times by the mis-direction run, came up with highlight reel plays to keep the Bulldogs off the scoreboard. Page’s pick-6, and then Avieon Terrell’s chase down a long Citadel run to strip the ball and stop a promising Bulldog drive. “What a play,” when talking about Terrell’s fumble and recovery, “I wasn’t surprised though, he plays with so much heart, I wasn’t surprised at all.”
Dabo Swinney added, “those two plays by Peyton Page and Avieon Terrell were special.”
Barrett Carter said about the defense, “we have a lot to correct…we did a lot of ugly stuff tonight. Happy we got the win. We have to come in tomorrow and fix what we messed up on today.” He continued, “our eyes just weren’t in the right places for the majority of the game. We have to fix that.”
The Citadel ran for a season high on the ground with 288 yards. A worrisome stat headed into the state championship in a week.
The Tigers followed up both Bulldog first half turnovers into touchdowns as the Tigers led 35-0 at the break.
The Tigers received the second half kick, and with the starters still on the field immediately went down the field for a touchdown strike from Klubnik to Williams for a 42-0 lead, and thus, the end of their day.
Heck, Barrett Carter added a rushing touchdown and followed it up with a dance inspired by the video game Fortnite.
But not was all rainbows and unicorns in a lopsided victory for the Tigers.
The day was marred by some lapses on the defensive end, and two blocked kicks (one long FG and one extra point). But overall, the Tigers did what they had to do going into South Carolina week.
The Tigers will be back in action at home next weekend against the South Carolina Gamecocks at noon.
