Football

NO.8 CLEMSON SURVIVES UPSET WEEK, RALLIES TO BEAT TROY 27-16

2025-09-07 23:49:10
0

By Trevor Groves

CLEMSON, SC - Well, that was not what I was expecting, but it was one of those weird weeks when wild upsets always seem to occur. Every season, when all of the highly ranked teams are favored by 20 or more points, we always get massive upsets. On Saturday, No.13 Florida lost at home in the Swamp to unranked USF, and unranked Mississippi State knocked off No.12 Arizona State. After a busted coverage gave Troy a 7-0 lead and the Tigers went three-and-out, the game was delayed for an hour and a half due to lightning in the area. When play resumed, the sloppiness and weird plays picked up right where they left off, and after trailing 16-0 thanks to a deflected pass at the goal line, caught by a Troy defensive tackle and run into the endzone, it looked as if the Tigers might be another victim of upset week.

However, the Tigers decided enough was enough. They put together a good drive to end the half to finally get on the scoreboard. Another weird bit of bad luck cost transfer WR Tristan Smith his first touchdown in orange--his knee touched the turf as he was catching the screen pass prior to running it into the endzone--but Hauser made a field goal to make it 16-3 at the half.

I don't know what Dabo said to the team in the locker room, but they came out playing inspired football. As I predicted during the delay, most of the fans did not return when play resumed. I don't blame them after what they witnessed on the first couple possessions with lousy weather and long wait on top of it. I estimate that there were about 25-30,000 fans in Death Valley after the delay, and they made as much noise as they could for the remainder of the game, including a lot of booing in the first half at the Tigers' lackluster performance on both sides of the ball. Troy had a quarterback making his second career start and first road start, and things could not have started better for them if they had scripted it. They score on a long TD pass on a busted coverage to open the game, get a 3-and-out on defense and then have to deal with less Clemson fans than a typical spring game for the Tigers. That's a great way to draw up an upset on upset week!

But the Tigers came out of halftime a different team on both sides of the ball, playing the complimentary football that we're used to seeing in Death Valley. After the LSU loss, I expected that for 4 quarters, which is why I predicted a 55-10 final score. After falling behind 16-0, the Tigers went on to outscore Troy 27-0 and 24-0 in the second half. In a small sample size, the Troy quarterback had yet to throw an interception in his career, and the Tigers picked him off 3 times. Hampton had one, Ricardo Jones another and former WR Ronan Hanafin posted his first career interception. He should have had two, in fact, but one went right through his hands. Dabo made the same joke I did and said that was why they moved him from receiver to defensive back. All joking aside, Hanafin has been a real bright spot to open the season. I wrote before the LSU game that he was one of the players I was excited about because Dabo spoke highly of him throughout camp, and he has delivered. When Khalil Barnes was knocked out of the LSU game, Hanafin stepped up and led the team in tackles that night with 12. With his athleticism, I wouldn't be surprised to see him post a pick-six sometime soon!

Another big new contributor on defense has been transfer DE Will Heldt. He had the Tigers' only sack against LSU and had one of the Tigers' four sacks against Troy. Parker, Capehart and Terrell had the others. The Tigers' special teams have been outstanding in the early going. Replacing Aidan Swanson at punter was a big question mark during camp, but Jack Smith has been a real asset so far. They sniffed out a fake field goal by Troy, and Aevion made a big tackle for the turnover on downs.

Many were concerned about Adam Randall and the Tigers' run game after the opener against LSU, but I think he put some of those to bed against Troy. He did have a fumble after converting on a 4th and 2, but remember that the conditions were wet, and I actually thought that his forearm was down before the ball came out. He bounced back from that with his first career 100-yard rush game and his second straight game with a touchdown. He also had 4 catches for 23 yards.

For the second straight game, Cade did not make an impact with his legs, but he had a pair of touchdown passes to Wesco, including an incredible throw to the endzone, dropping it right in the bucket. That was immediately after slightly overthrowing Cole Turner, who had his man beaten, in the endzone. Cade also nearly had a long completion to Moore in the first half, but the corner was able to knock the ball out of his hands at the last second. Redshirt freshman Christian Bettancur had another pair of catches after doing the same in his debut last week. Dabo clearly has a lot of trust in him both as a receiver and a blocker. They have a solid trio at tight end along with Sapp and Patt-Henry, and I still can't wait to see what we get from Ian!

Keep in mind that the Tigers were without 3 key starters: Antonio Williams, Khalil Barnes and OT Tristan Leigh. Yet despite one of the smallest crowds I've ever seen for an actual game, the Tigers pulled off the third-largest comeback in Death Valley history! They had a great first half against LSU and a great second half against Troy but still haven't put it together for 4 quarters. Let's hope they finally do next week in Atlanta to begin ACC play because if they don't, Georgia Tech is very capable winning that game! Williams, Barnes and Leigh are all day-to-day, so hopefully a couple, if not all of them, will be back in action for next week's noon game in the flats.

I'll have more in a bit. In the meantime, post-game interviews, highlights and notes are below!

WITH THE WIN...

Clemson improved to 3-0 all-time against Troy.
Though Clemson is now 3-0 in its all-time series with Troy, Clemson has had to overcome halftime deficits in two of the three victories. Clemson’s eventual ACC title team overcame a 16-13 halftime deficit for a 43-19 win in the teams’ first meeting in 2011, and Clemson’s eventual national championship team held off Troy by one score in a 30-24 win in 2016.
Clemson improved to 13-0 all-time against Sun Belt Conference teams.
Clemson improved to 31-1 against opponents from outside power conferences in Head Coach Dabo Swinney’s tenure.
Clemson improved to 170-75-3 all-time (and 53-9 since 2011) when facing a coach for the first time.
Clemson improved to 141-19 against AP-unranked teams under Dabo Swinney and is now 118-9 in those games since the start of the 2012 season.
Clemson improved to 45-10 in regular season non-conference games regardless of location since 2011.
Clemson is now 42-6 in non-conference home games under Dabo Swinney.
Clemson improved to 38-10 in games following a loss under Dabo Swinney, including season openers following a loss in the previous season finale.
Clemson improved to 71-6 at Death Valley in the College Football Playoff era. Clemson's home record is tied for the second-best in the country in that span.
Clemson ended a two-game home losing skid dating to last season. Clemson has not lost three consecutive home games since 2001.
Clemson improved to 104-16 in regular season play since the start of the 2015 season.
Swinney improved to 9-3 all-time against teams from his home state of Alabama. He is now 4-1 against Auburn, 2-2 against Alabama and 3-0 against Troy.
Clemson improved to 43-1 when intercepting multiple passes in a game since the start of the 2015 season.
Clemson improved to 146-5 when leading after three quarters since the start of the 2011 season.
Clemson now has an 88-6 record when winning the turnover margin since 2011.
Clemson is now 70-5 when having a 100-yard rusher since 2011.
Clemson improved to 138-10 when totaling more first downs than its opponent since 2011.
Clemson improved to 121-3 in its last 124 games when holding teams to fewer than 23 points, a span that dates to the middle of the 2010 season.

GAME NOTES

Clemson earned its 19th victory under Dabo Swinney in games in which the Tigers trailed at halftime. It was Clemson’s first come-from-behind victory after trailing at halftime since overcoming a seven-point halftime deficit in a 10-point win at Virginia Tech last November.
Clemson overcame a 16-point deficit in the victory. It was Clemson’s seventh victory in a game in which it trailed by 16 or more points in school history.
The 16-point comeback tied Clemson’s 2019 Fiesta Bowl win against Ohio State for the sixth-largest comeback in program annals. It was Clemson’s third-largest comeback win in Death Valley.
Clemson scored 27 unanswered points to end the game, including 24 second-half points.
Clemson scored on five straight possessions across the second, third and fourth quarters, a streak that ended when Clemson ran out the clock for the final 4:24 on its final possession.
The game included a one-hour-and-32-minute lightning delay in the first quarter.
The contest was Clemson’s fifth game at Death Valley on record to include a weather delay, joining:

Oct. 12, 1963 vs. Georgia: 20-minute halftime delay
Sept. 4, 1993 vs. UNLV: 17-minute fourth-quarter delay
Sept. 19, 2009 vs. Boston College: 55-minute third-quarter delay and a 48-minute fourth-quarter delay
Sept. 18, 2021 vs. Georgia Tech: One-hour-and-52-minute second-quarter delay (including an observed halftime)

Quarterback Cade Klubnik completed 18-of-24 passes for 196 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.
Klubnik improved to 20-10 as a starter. He became the 11th Clemson player to win 20 games as a starting quarterback since World War II, joining Trevor Lawrence (34-2), Deshaun Watson (32-3), Tajh Boyd (32-8), Rodney Williams (32-10-2), Charlie Whitehurst (25-15), Nealon Greene (24-16), Homer Jordan (22-6-1), DJ Uiagalelei (22-6), Mike Eppley (21-5-1) and Steve Fuller (21-11-3).
During the contest, Klubnik (7,606) became the fifth quarterback in Clemson history to reach 7,500 career passing yards, joining Tajh Boyd, Deshaun Watson, Trevor Lawrence and Charlie Whitehurst.
Running back Adam Randall rushed for a touchdown and recorded career highs with 21 rushing attempts for 112 yards.
The 100-yard rushing game was the first of Randall’s career.
Including 23 receiving yards and a 30-yard kickoff return, Randall finished the game with a career-high 165 all-purpose yards.
The performance by Randall represented Clemson’s first individual 100-yard rushing performance since Jay Haynes’ 118 yards against The Citadel last November.
Randall recorded his second rushing touchdown of the season on a one-yard run in the third quarter. He has now rushed for a touchdown in back-to-back games for the first time in his career.
Clemson has now scored at least one rushing touchdown in a national-best 89 of its 98 games since the start of the 2018 season.
Clemson has now rushed for a touchdown in 62 consecutive home games, the nation’s longest active streak. Ironically, Troy was the last team to hold Clemson without a rushing touchdown in Death Valley back in 2016.
Wide receiver Bryant Wesco Jr. recorded team highs with seven receptions for 118 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
The game was the second multi-touchdown game of Wesco’s career, joining his two-touchdown game against SMU in the 2024 ACC Championship Game.
Wesco recorded his first touchdown catch of the season on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Klubnik in the third quarter.
Wesco added his second touchdown of the game on a 34-yard touchdown pass from Klubnik in the fourth quarter.
With the performances by Randall and Wesco, Clemson produced both a 100-yard rusher and 100-yard receiver in a single game for the first time since Oct. 12, 2024 against Wake Forest (Phil Mafah, 108 rushing; and Jake Briningstool, 104 receiving).
Clemson won the turnover margin, 3-2.
Clemson has now finished even or better in the turnover margin in 15 straight games for the first time since a 17-game streak across the 1989-90 seasons. Dating to the 2023 season, Clemson has lost the turnover margin only once in its last 21 games.
All three of Clemson’s takeaways came on interceptions. It was Clemson’s first game with three or more interceptions since a three-interception performance against Stanford last October.
Clemson has now opened a season with multiple takeaways in each of its first two games for the first time since 2019.
Cornerback Ashton Hampton recorded his first interception of the season in the first quarter, picking off a pass deflected by defensive tackle Peter Woods.
The interception was the third of Hampton’s career and his first since last November at Virginia Tech.
Cornerback Ricardo Jones recorded his first interception of the season in the third quarter. It was his second interception of his career, joining his pick against App State in the second game of the 2024 season.
The interception by Jones led to Clemson’s 26-yard touchdown pass to Wesco on the first play of the Tigers’ ensuing possession.
Including his fumble recovery a week earlier, Jones has now recorded a takeaway in back-to-back games for the first time in his career.
Safety Ronan Hanafin recorded his first career interception in the third quarter.
Clemson recorded four sacks in the contest.
Defensive tackle DeMonte Capehart recorded his first sack of the season — the third of his career — in the first quarter.
Cornerback Avieon Terrell notched his second career sack when he snuffed out a fake field goal attempt in the fourth quarter.
Defensive end Will Heldt recorded a fourth-quarter sack. He has now recorded a sack in back-to-back games for the first time as a Tiger. At Purdue, he recorded at least a half a sack in back-to-back games twice, doing so in 2024 against Indiana State (2.0) and Notre Dame (0.5) as well as against Illinois (1.5) and Oregon (1.0).
Defensive end T.J. Parker recorded his first sack of the season in the fourth quarter. He pushed his career sack total to 17.5.
Punter Jack Smith recorded a career-long 51-yard punt in the first quarter.
Kicker Nolan Hauser scored Clemson’s first points of the game on a 25-yard field goal in the second quarter.
Hauser added a 30-yard field goal in the third quarter, giving him his fifth multi-field-goal game of his career.
On his 47th offensive snap of the game, offensive lineman Blake Miller became the seventh Clemson player on record to record 3,000 career snaps from scrimmage. He joined Mitch Hyatt (3,754), Will Putnam (3,564), Dalton Freeman (3,361), Landon Walker (3,131), Kyle Young (3,097) and Glenn Rountree (3,048).
Clemson faced Troy Head Coach Gerad Parker for the first time. Parker is one of four head coaches slated to face Clemson for the first time this season (Syracuse’s Fran Brown, North Carolina’s Bill Belichick and Boston College’s Bill O’Brien).
Captains for the contest were defensive end Cade Denhoff, long snapper Philip Florenzo, center Ryan Linthicum and running back Adam Randall.

MORE CLEMSON FOOTBALL COVERAGE HERE

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