CLEMSON SENIORS SAY FAREWELL TO DEATH VALLEY WITH 45-10 WIN OVER FURMAN
- 2025-11-24 13:25:10
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WITH THE WIN...
Clemson earned its sixth win of the season to clinch bowl eligibility. Clemson entered 2025 with the fourth-longest active streak of consecutive seasons with a bowl appearance (20 from 2005-24 with another selection pending). Clemson remains tied for the third-longest active streak of consecutive seasons being bowl eligible (now 27, dating to 1999).
Clemson earned a sixth win for the 27th consecutive year, dating to 1999. Clemson, Ohio State, Georgia and Oklahoma are the only schools to have won at least six games every year in that span.
Clemson improved to 45-10-4 against Furman all-time. Clemson’s 45 all-time wins against Furman are its fourth-most against a single opponent in Clemson history (73 vs. South Carolina, 72 vs. Wake Forest and 61 vs. NC State).
Clemson won its 33rd consecutive contest against Furman and extended its unbeaten streak (including ties) against the Paladins to 34 consecutive games. The last tie between the two teams occurred in 1937, and the most recent Furman victory in the series came during the 1936 campaign. Clemson’s current 33-game winning streak against Furman is its longest winning streak — both active and all-time — against any opponent.
Clemson won its 23rd consecutive home game against Furman to add to its longest single-opponent home winning streak in school history. The streak dates to 1938 and predates the opening of Memorial Stadium in 1942.
Clemson improved to 220-66-13 all-time against foes from the state of South Carolina. Clemson has a winning record against all 12 Palmetto State opponents it has faced all-time.
Clemson improved to 40-0 against FCS teams since the NCAA split Division I in 1978.
Clemson improved to 43-6 in non-conference home games under Dabo Swinney. Clemson is now 33-3 in its last 36 non-conference games at Death Valley.
Clemson improved to 73-9 at Death Valley in the College Football Playoff era.
Clemson has now won at least three home games in 49 straight seasons. The last time Clemson won fewer than three games at home in a season was in 1976 when Head Coach Red Parker's 3-6-2 squad went 2-2-1 at home.
Clemson improved to 109-20 in regular season play since the start of the 2015 season.
Clemson improved to 145-23 against AP-unranked teams under Dabo Swinney and 122-13 in those games since the start of the 2012 season.
Head Coach Dabo Swinney (186-52) pulled within one win of Joe Paterno and Urban Meyer for the fourth-most victories within the first 20 seasons of a head coaching career. Swinney trails only Tom Osborne (195), Nick Saban (191), Bob Stoops (191), Paterno (187) and Meyer (187) despite Swinney being in only his 18th season (and 17th full season). Note: Stoops and Meyer are not credited on the NCAA's official list of most wins through 20 seasons since they did not coach 20 years.
Swinney (186) surpassed the career win total of College Football Hall of Famer Johnny Majors (185-137-10).
Clemson is now 93-9 when scoring first since the start of the 2015 season.
Clemson is now 160-12 under Dabo Swinney when leading at halftime, including a 143-8 mark since the start of the 2011 season.
Clemson is now 150-7 when leading after three quarters since the start of the 2011 season.
Clemson is now 142-12 when totaling more first downs than its opponent since 2011.
Clemson now has a 90-6 record when winning the turnover margin since 2011.
Clemson is now 126-3 in its last 129 games when holding teams to fewer than 23 points, a span that dates to the middle of the 2010 season.
Clemson improved to 88-4 when rushing for 200+ yards under Dabo Swinney.
Clemson is now 68-2 when both passing and rushing for 200+ yards under Dabo Swinney. Overall, Clemson is 118-2-1 in program history when reaching those marks.
Clemson is now 72-6 when having a 100-yard rusher since 2011.
GAME NOTES
Clemson recorded 456 total yards, including 237 passing yards and 219 rushing yards. It was Clemson’s second game this season reaching 200 yards in both categories, joining its performance at Boston College in October.
The game was Clemson’s 70th game with 200 rushing yards and 200 passing yards under Dabo Swinney. Clemson becomes the sixth program in the country with 70 such games since Swinney became Clemson’s head coach in October 2008 (Oregon, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Baylor and Alabama).
Clemson’s 219 rushing yards came on 31 carries, a 7.1-yard average. Clemson’s 7.1-yard average was its best since a 10.8-yard average against The Citadel in November 2024.
Clemson’s 45 points matched their season high set against Duke. Clemson is now 135-1 all-time when scoring 45 points in a game.
Clemson held Furman to 271 total yards on 70 plays, an average of 3.87 yards per play. It was Clemson’s second time this season holding an opponent to fewer than 4.0 yards per play (3.62 at Boston College).
Clemson has now held three consecutive opponents below 20 points for the first time this season.
Clemson recorded nine tackles for loss, tying its season high set two weeks earlier against Florida State.
Clemson won the turnover margin, 2-0, and added two turnovers on downs. Clemson is now 3-1 this season when winning the turnover margin.
Clemson did not commit a turnover, its second such game this season.
Clemson has now gone five consecutive games without throwing an interception for the first time since the final five games of the 2018 season.
Clemson has now thrown 177 consecutive pass attempts without an interception. Clemson's most recent interception came on its third-to-last pass attempt at Boston College on Oct. 11 on a throw by Christopher Vizzina.
Clemson completed a pass to 17 different receivers, tying its most in a game in Swinney’s tenure (17 at Georgia Tech in 2020).
Clemson scored on each of its first three possessions, its third such game this season (at North Carolina and at Boston College).
Unofficially, Clemson played 105 players in the contest. If that number is confirmed upon film review, it would be tied for Clemson’s fourth-most players in a game in Swinney’s tenure (117 vs. Charleston Southern in 2023, 111 vs. Charlotte in 2019, 106 vs. Appalachian State in 2024, 105 vs. The Citadel in 2024 and vs. Wofford in 2019).
Quarterback Cade Klubnik completed 9-of-15 passes for 159 yards and two touchdowns in fewer than 18 minutes of play.
Klubnik (25) became the sixth Clemson quarterback since World War II to win 25 career games as a starting quarterback, joining Trevor Lawrence (34), Deshaun Watson (32), Tajh Boyd (32), Rodney Williams (32) and Charlie Whitehurst (25).
Klubnik (25-13) tied Charlie Whitehurst (25-15) for the fifth-most wins by a Clemson starting quarterback since World War II.
Klubnik did not throw an interception and has now thrown 115 consecutive pass attempts without an interception. His last interception came on his fourth-to-last pass attempt at Boston College on Oct. 11.
Wide receiver Antonio Williams caught two passes for a team-high 57 yards with a career-high-tying two touchdown receptions.
With his 20th and 21st career touchdown catches, Williams (21) passed Aaron Kelly, Deon Cain and Justyn Ross (20 each) to tie Mike Williams (21) for fourth in Clemson history in career touchdown receptions.
Williams scored on a 22-yard touchdown pass from Klubnik in the first quarter.
On that first touchdown, Williams became the eighth player in Clemson history to record 20 career touchdown receptions.
On that touchdown, Williams (201) also became the fifth player in Clemson history to catch 200 career passes. He joined Artavis Scott (245 from 2014-16), Sammy Watkins (240 from 2011-13), Aaron Kelly (232 from 2005-08) and DeAndre Hopkins (206 from 2010-12).
Williams added a 35-yard touchdown catch from Klubnik in the second quarter.
The game was Williams’ fifth of his career with multiple touchdown receptions and his first since November 2024 against The Citadel.
Williams became the fifth different Clemson player to record multiple touchdown receptions in a game this season (two games by Bryant Wesco Jr., one each by Christian Bentancur, Adam Randall and T.J. Moore). Entering the week, Florida Atlantic was the only program in the country with five different players credited with a multi-touchdown-catch game this season.
During the contest, Williams (2,270) moved past Jerry Butler (2,223 from 1975-78) for 12th on Clemson's all-time leaderboard for career receiving yards.
Williams also recorded a career-long 30-yard punt return in the first quarter, surpassing his previous career long of 25 against Appalachian State in 2024.
Quarterback Chris Denson entered the game in the second half and rushed six times for a team-high 106 yards with a touchdown and completed 4-of-4 passes for 22 yards and another touchdown through the air.
Denson’s 106 rushing yards represented the first 100-yard rushing game by a Clemson quarterback since Trevor Lawrence’s 107 yards against Ohio State in the 2019 Fiesta Bowl.
Denson’s six carries tied for the fifth-fewest needed to record a 100-yard rushing performance in school history.
Denson’s 17.7-yards-per-carry average was the highest by a Clemson quarterback in a game with at least five attempts since Bobby Gage’s 30.3-yard average against Presbyterian in 1947 (182 yards on six carries).
Denson recorded a career-long 50-yard rush in the fourth quarter, Clemson’s longest run of the season.
Later on that drive, Denson threw his first career touchdown on a four-yard pass to tight end Logan Brooking.
The touchdown came on Brooking’s first career reception.
Denson added the first rushing touchdown of his career on a 10-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
Wide receiver Tyler Brown recorded his first career rushing touchdown on a 21-yard reverse in the first quarter. It was his fifth career touchdown overall, including his four receiving touchdowns in 2023.
Clemson has scored at least one rushing touchdown in a national-best 95 of its 107 games since the start of the 2018 season.
Clemson has now rushed for multiple touchdowns in consecutive games for the first time since November 2024 against The Citadel and South Carolina.
Tight end Christian Bentancur recorded his third touchdown reception of the season on a six-yard pass from Christopher Vizzina in the second quarter.
Vizzina entered the game in the second quarter and completed 9-of-15 passes for 52 yards including the touchdown to Bentancur.
Running back Gideon Davidson recorded a career-long 28-yard run in the first quarter. He finished the contest with a career-high 52 rushing yards on seven carries.
Linebacker Sammy Brown tallied four tackles (2.0 for loss), a sack and an interception.
Brown recorded a second-quarter sack to force a Furman turnover on downs.
Brown (5.0) matched his single-season career high in sacks set in his freshman season in 2024 (5.0).
Brown has now recorded a sack in three consecutive games for the first time in his career.
Brown became the first Clemson linebacker with a full sack in three consecutive games since Barrett Carter against Stanford, Florida State and Wake Forest in 2024.
Brown recorded his first career interception in the second quarter.
Brown became the first Clemson player to record a sack and an interception in the same game since Jeremiah Trotter Jr. in a national-player-of-the-week performance against Notre Dame in November 2023.
Defensive end Will Heldt created the game’s first takeaway in the second quarter, forcing a fumble on his sixth sack of the season.
On the play, Heldt (6.0) set a new single-season career high in sacks, surpassing his 5.0 at Purdue in 2024.
The forced fumble was the first of Heldt’s career.
The fumble was recovered by defensive end T.J. Parker, his second fumble recovery of the season and the fifth of his career.
Placekicker Nolan Hauser opened the scoring with a 45-yard field goal on the game’s opening drive.
On Hauser’s 45-yard first-quarter field goal, the Swinney family held its 200th consecutive field goal attempt. Between Will (2017-21), Drew (2018-22) and Clay (2022-25), members of the Swinney family have held every Clemson placekick since the start of the 2017 season, including all 539 PAT attempts and all 201 field goal attempts in that span.
Hauser pushed his second field goal attempt — a 36-yarder — wide right, ending a streak of 11 consecutive made field goals. His 11-attempt streak without a miss tied Aaron Hunt (11 in 2003) for the seventh-longest streak in Clemson history.
Placekicker Quinn Castner went 3-for-3 on PATs to score in a game for the second time in his career, joining a 2023 game against Charleston Southern in which he kicked an extra point.
Punter Jack Smith averaged a career-high 48.5 yards on two punts.
Wide receiver Juju Preston made his collegiate debut and recorded a 10-yard punt return in the second quarter.
Offensive lineman Blake Miller started his 52nd consecutive game to extend his school record for consecutive starts by a non-specialist. Miller has started all 52 games played by Clemson since his arrival as a true freshman in 2022.
Miller (52) tied kicker Chandler Catanzaro (52 from 2010-13) and defensive tackle Tyler Davis (52 from 2019-23) for the fourth-most career starts in Clemson history.
Safety Tyler Venables played in his 61st career game to tie defensive end Xavier Thomas (61 from 2018-23) for the eighth-most games played in Clemson history.
Clemson faced the opponent against whom the team played its first game in program history. Guided by Head Coach Walter Riggs, Clemson earned a 14-6 road victory against the Furman Purple Hurricane in the Tigers’ gridiron debut on Oct. 31, 1896.
Furman punter Ian Williams recorded a 74-yard punt in the third quarter. It was the longest punt by a Clemson opponent since a 75-yard punt by NC State’s Trenton Gill in 2019.
Clemson had three flag bearers for Military Appreciation Day: defensive end T.J. Parker, safety Ronan Hanafin and former Clemson fullback (and reserve Marine) Alex Pearson.
Captains for the contest were Clemson’s entire senior class. Representing the team at the coin toss were offensive lineman Tristan Leigh, center Ryan Linthicum, safety Tyler Venables and linebacker Wade Woodaz.
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