Football

NO.12 CLEMSON LOSES ANOTHER GUT-WRENCHER IN WILD FINISH AT GEORGIA TECH

2025-09-15 15:00:09
0

By Trevor Groves

ATLANTA, GA - What a crazy game! The Tigers had another slow start, just like last week, falling behind 13-0 to Tech. They rallied, though, with a big 90-yard touchdown drive to tie the game at the end of the 4th quarter, but there was just enough time on the clock for Haynes King and Tech to get to the Tigers' 39-yard line and kick a fire-drill field goal to win the game as time expired. I was shocked that they decided to run the ball on 3rd down with no timeouts left because it meant that they would have to rush the field goal unit onto the field to attempt a 56-yarder before time ran out, but they were miraculously able to pull it off! The Jackets' kicker, who was 15-22 last season and is now 6-6 this season, had a previous career-long of 51 yards. Perhaps the adrenaline and chaos of the kick helped him because it took all of the pressure off; nobody expected him to make it, including himself, probably!

After losing to now No.3 in a last-play game and a now ranked team on the road on a crazy last-second field goal, the Tigers find themselves 1-2 with no more margin for error if they have any hope of making the playoff, let alone repeating as ACC champs. Tech has a very easy remaining schedule--they don't have to play Miami, SMU, FSU or Louisville--so they will probably make the ACC Championship. The Tigers don't play Miami either, but they do play SMU (home), FSU (home) and Louisville (away), so if they can win out, they will have a decent chance to make it to Charlotte if Miami loses once or twice. Remember, nobody expected the Canes to lose to GT or Cuse last season, but they did!

Even if the Tigers don't make the ACC Championship, they would certainly make the playoff if they win out with a 10-2 record, and I still believe they can do that. Obviously, they will have to play 4 full quarters on both offense and defense, which they have yet to do, from here on out if they are to accomplish that. The Tigers' toughest remaining games will be at Louisville on Friday night and at South Carolina, which has not been any more impressive than the Tigers thus far.

None of us expected the Tigers to be 1-2 to start the season, and nobody expected last year's runner-up, Notre Dame, to be 0-2 either. The Tigers could have scheduled 3 cupcakes to start the season like Penn State or Oregon, blown them all out, and they would be 3-0 and ranked No.3 right now with everyone feeling great. With no preseason games, perhaps Dabo and Graham Neff should consider that going forward. The way this schedule laid out, though, the Tigers happened to have perhaps their two toughest games in the first three weeks. There are a lot of games to be played, though, so step back from the ledge! The season ain't over yet...

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

GAME NOTES

After a one-year absence from each other’s schedules, Clemson and Georgia Tech faced one another for the 42nd of the last 43 years. By virtue of the ACC adopting a divisionless format with altered protected rivalries in 2024, last season marked the first year since 1982 that Clemson and Georgia Tech did not face one another.
Clemson opened conference play on the road for the 11th time in the last 14 years.
Clemson outgained Georgia Tech, 381-358. Clemson is now 158-13 under Dabo Swinney when the Tigers outgain their opponents.
The defeat was Clemson’s first loss on the last play of regulation since a 43-42 loss to Pitt during Clemson’s 2016 national championship campaign.
Clemson lost the turnover margin, 2-0. It snapped a 15-game streak in which Clemson had finished even or better in the turnover margin, its longest since a 17-game streak across the 1989-90 seasons.
Though Clemson did not record a takeaway, Clemson forced two turnovers on downs, ending two Georgia Tech drives in Clemson territory.
Quarterback Cade Klubnik completed 15-of-26 passes for 207 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also added a season-high 17 carries for 62 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Klubnik’s 62 rushing yards tied for the second-most in a game in his career.
Klubnik scored his first rushing touchdown of the season on a one-yard dive in the second quarter.
The rushing touchdown was the 14th of Klubnik’s career, pulling him within one of DJ Uiagalelei (15 from 2020-22) for seventh on Clemson's all-time leaderboard for career rushing touchdowns by a quarterback.
Klubnik has now rushed for at least one touchdown in all four of his seasons at Clemson. He joined Nealon Greene (1994-97), Charlie Whitehurst (2002-05), Tajh Boyd (2010-13) and Kelly Bryant (2015-18) as the only Clemson quarterbacks to rush for a touchdown in four different seasons since Clemson transitioned away from the single wing in 1953.
Klubnik’s rushing touchdown was the culmination of a 16-play drive, Clemson’s longest by number of plays since a 16-play touchdown drive against Louisville last season.
Clemson has now scored at least one rushing touchdown in a national-best 90 of its 99 games since the start of the 2018 season.
Wide receiver Bryant Wesco Jr. caught seven passes for a season-high 126 receiving yards with one touchdown.
Wesco has now recorded back-to-back 100-yard receiving games for the first time in his career. He became the first Clemson player with consecutive 100-yard receiving games since Cornell Powell against Notre Dame and Pitt in 2020.
Wesco (1,018 in 15 career games) joined Sammy Watkins (1,295), Artavis Scott (1,153) and Justyn Ross (1,000) as the fourth Clemson player ever to reach 1,000 receiving yards in the first 15 games of their careers.
Wesco now has three touchdown receptions over his last two games.
Wesco scored on a 73-yard touchdown pass from Klubnik in the third quarter.
The 73-yard reception by Wesco was Clemson’s longest play of the season and the second-longest of Wesco’s career, trailing only a 76-yard touchdown against Appalachian State a year earlier.
Wesco has now caught a touchdown pass in back-to-back games for the first time in his career.
Running back Adam Randall rushed 15 times for a team-high 80 yards with a touchdown.
Randall scored on a two-yard touchdown run with 3:26 remaining to help even the score at 21-21. It was his third rushing touchdown of the season and the third of his career.
The touchdown run by Randall punctuated a 13-play, 75-yard game-tying drive in the fourth quarter.
Randall became the first Clemson player to rush for a touchdown in three straight games since Phil Mafah against Wake Forest, Virginia and Louisville last season.
Randall converted a 3rd-and-22 with a 30-yard rush in the second quarter. It represented Clemson’s longest third-down conversion without the benefit of a penalty in Dabo Swinney’s tenure.
According to Stats Perform, Randall’s 30-yard run on 3rd-and-22 marked only the third time since 2008 that an ACC team has converted a third down of 22 or more yards by rush. The other teams to accomplish it were Virginia Tech (3rd-and-24 against West Virginia in 2021) and Florida State (3rd-and-22 vs. Michigan in 2016).
Wide receiver Tyler Brown rushed twice for a career-high 26 yards. His previous career high in rushing yards was 23 in 2023 at Syracuse.
Tight end Ian Schieffelin made his Clemson Football debut and drew a penalty for a first down. Though it was his football debut, it was his 135th intercollegiate competition representing Clemson including his 134 games as part of Clemson’s men’s basketball program from 2021-25.
Clemson did not allow a sack, its first such game this season. Clemson had previously won 42 consecutive games when not allowing a sack dating to the 2011 season.
Defensive end Will Heldt entered the game as Clemson’s leader in tackles for loss this season and added two more in the contest.
Heldt has multiple tackles for loss in two of his three career games with Clemson.
Cornerback Avieon Terrell forced a fumble in the third quarter, his second of the season and the fifth of his career.
With his fifth career forced fumble, Terrell became the first Clemson defensive back with five or more career forced fumbles since Byron Maxwell from 2007-10 (six).
Linebacker Sammy Brown recorded his first sack of the season in the third quarter. It was the sixth sack of his career.
Brown added an additional tackle for loss in the third quarter, dropping Jamal Haynes for a six-yard loss.
The defeat snapped Clemson’s nine-game winning streak against Georgia Tech, Clemson's longest in series history.
Swinney is now 12-6 all-time against Georgia Tech, including postseason play. Georgia Tech remains one of four schools against which Swinney has recorded at least a dozen career victories (Wake Forest, 16; Boston College, 14; NC State, 12).
Clemson is now 40-14 in one-possession games since the start of the 2011 season.
Clemson dropped to 76-3 since 2015 when outscoring opponents in the “Middle Eight,” defined as the final four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half. Clemson outscored Georgia Tech in this window by a 7-0 margin.
Clemson dropped to 146-6 when leading after three quarters since the start of the 2011 season.
Clemson opened ACC play against Georgia Tech for the 15th time all-time. Georgia Tech now ties Virginia (15) as Clemson’s most common opponent in ACC openers all-time.
Captains for the contest were defensive tackle DeMonte Capehart, quarterback Cade Klubnik, defensive end T.J. Parker and offensive lineman Walker Parks.

MORE CLEMSON FOOTBALL COVERAGE HERE

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