Clemson returned to Death Valley today, heavily favored to beat the Furman Paladins on Military Appreciation Day (and Senior Day). From all of us at STS, a big thank you to our veterans and active duty service members. We owe our ability to live in freedom and enjoy things like Clemson football to you, and we are eternally grateful to you and your families for the sacrifices you have made and continue to make. As expected, the Tigers had no trouble dispensing with the Paladins. The final score was
45-10. Perhaps the most impressive thing I saw today was the play of freshman QB Chris Denson in the 2nd half.
Clemson came out firing with Cole Turner catching a 27-yard pass and T.J. Moore catching a 15-yarder. But they inexplicably started moving backwards and had to settle for a 45-yard Nolan Hauser FG to take take the lead 3-0 with 12:27 left in the opening quarter. The Tiger defense followed that with a 3 & out. Antonio Williams returned the punt 30 yards to the Paladin 41.
The next Clemson drive ended in a 22-yard Cade Klubnik pass to Williams for a TD. The drive was kept alive by a 12-yard catch by Olsen Patt-Henry on 4th & 7. With 8:34 left in the quarter, Clemson was up 10-0. The Tiger defense continued to dominate the Paladin offense and got another 3 & out. After the punt, the Tigers got the ball at the Tiger 20.
On their third possession, the Tiger offense had a good mix of runs by Gideon Davidson and passes to Moore and Turner. The drive ended in a 21-yard Tyler Brown run for a TD on a reverse. Clemson had the lead 17-0 with just under 5 minutes left in the 1st quarter. Furman responded with a good drive down to the Tiger 35 but had to try a 52-yard FG and it went left of the uprights.
The Tiger offense was completely ineffective with 3 incompletions and an intentional grounding call on the last of those. The punt put Furman at their 39. The Clemson defense continued to dominate when they were on the field and forced the Paladin offense to a 4th & 2 at their 46.
It took the Tiger offense 2 plays to reach the end zone on a 35-yard pass to Williams. After the extra point, the score was 24-0 less than a minute into the 2nd quarter. The Paladins got a good start on their next drive but it ended when T.J. Parker got a strip sack and Tiger LB Will Heldt recovered it at the Furman 39.
Klubnik started the Tiger drive but was pulled after one play and Christopher Vizzina came it at QB. Furman was able to stuff the Tigers on 4th & 1 at the Furman 14. The Paladins had a couple of good runs but their drive ended in a Sammy Brown interception that was returned to the Furman 22.
It didn’t take the Tigers long to get into the end zone. Christian Bentancur caught a 6-yard pass from Vizzina with 6:48 left to make the score 31-0. The Tiger defense continued their streak of domination, giving up nothing to the Paladin offense, and the punt put the Tiger offense at their 40.
The Tigers then had some nice runs by Davidson and David Eziomume but the drive ended with a missed 36-yard FG attempt by Hauser that went wide right. With about 2 minutes left in the half, the Paladins drove into Clemson territory, but the drive ended at 4th & 7 with a 49-yard FG to make the score 31-3.
The second half was fairly uneventful as the Tigers went deep into their bench most of the way. Furman scored a TD late in the 3rd quarter on a 19-yard pass to make it 31-10. Freshman QB Chris Denson came in midway through the 4th quarter and had some very nice runs, including a 50-yarder, and finished a scoring drive with a 4-yard throw to freshman TE Logan Brooking with 7:45 left to make it 38-10. He continued to make some impressive plays with his legs, as well as some solid throws, throughout the rest of the game. He had another TD on a nice run with under a minute left. It’s hard to get too excited because of the level of competition, but was this a preview of the future at QB for Clemson? That young man really made the most of his opportunity.
No surprises today as the Tigers manhandled the Paladins to take the 45-10 win. With that win, the Tigers reached bowl eligibility, a streak that goes back nearly 3 decades. Next week the Tigers travel to Columbia to take on the chickens. Let the trash talk begin in the comments below. Thanks for stopping by and well see you next week to close out the regular season.
