It’s survival of the fittest at its finest for Dabo Swinney and No. 3 Clemson.
The Tigers survived in a 37-34 victory at Florida State (5-3, 2-3 ACC) on Saturday and heads into November as one of four remaining unbeaten Power 5 teams. Deshaun Watson led the go-ahead touchdown drive in the fourth quarter with a 34-yard TD pass to Jordan Leggett with 2:06 remaining. Watson finished with 378 passing yards, 52 rushing yards, two TDs and two interceptions.
“That’s what championships are made of,” Swinney said on the ABC telecast afterward. “First of all, you’ve gotta keep playing. It’s four quarters. … Hey, what a game. Do you expect anything less out of Florida State and Clemson?”
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Clemson (8-0, 5-0) survived all right. It’s the Tigers’ fifth one-score victory of the season and won their 22nd consecutive regular-season game, the longest streak in the FBS. They survived so much more.
The Tigers survived Tallahassee on the road for the first time since 2006. That’s nine straight road victories for a school record, and the lone road game on the schedule is a trip to Wake Forest. Clemson gets Syracuse, Pittsburgh and South Carolina at home. They are a safe bet to make it 26 regular-season games in a row.
The Tigers survived an all-out attack from Florida State running back Dalvin Cook, who had 19 carries for 169 yards and four TDs. Cook had TD runs of 43 and 70 yards in the third quarter, and it looked like he was making the Heisman statement. Yet it was Watson who guided three scoring drives for 17 fourth-quarter points to carry Clemson to the victory.
The Tigers survived that Louisville discussion for another week, or at least that’s what we think. The Cardinals rallied to beat Virginia, but Clemson still has control of the ACC and would have to lose two games for Louisville to get to the conference championship game. There are no funky tiebreakers. This isn’t a TCU-Baylor-in-2014-type deal because Clemson would get the chance to play in a conference championship game. They’ll have an extra data point.
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The Tigers survived a trip to the one-loss line like West Virginia, Baylor and Nebraska, which joined Louisville, Ohio State, Florida and Texas A&M among Power 5 schools in that group. If Clemson lost, imagine how much trouble the College Football Playoff committee would have had figuring out who deserved to be No. 4 behind Alabama, Michigan and Washington. That could be a conversation down the line, but it’s on hold for now.
The Tigers survived another one-score game, like they did against Auburn, Troy, Louisville and N.C. State. They continue to resemble Florida State in 2014, which won seven one-score games en route to the ACC championship and a berth in the College Football Playoff. That finally caught up to the Seminoles in a 59-20 loss to Oregon, but this is a different team.
It’s about getting in the College Football Playoff, and Clemson played well in that situation last year. The Tigers have won on the road at Auburn, Georgia Tech and now Florida State. Now, they’ll enter November unbeaten again.
“Find a way to win,” Swinney said on the telecast. “That’s what it’s all about.”
Or find a way to survive. Clemson keeps doing that.
