Clemson holds off FSU to win a classic football game over Semimoles

The Seminoles turned two Clemson turnovers into 14 points, and they twice held the Tigers to field goals after entering the red zone. FSU did well recognizing when they were not going to get home on Watson and making themselves big when he took his off-hand away from the ball to throw a pass.

One of the plays of the game in Clemson’s 37-34 win over Florida State was tight end Jordan Leggett leaping for a 34-yard touchdown grab. Cook posted his fifth straight 100-yard rushing game and became the seventh running back in history to eclipse 1,000 yards for three straight seasons.

“We still have lapses and falls, that’s nothing but on us”, FSU offensive lineman Roderick Johnson said on his unit’s struggles.

Full body of work matters, and Clemson’s looks to be slightly better than Michigan’s and Washington’s. One play after jumping a route on the Tigers’ signal-caller, Seminole star Dalvin Cook took a handoff to the right and raced 43 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.

And all three faced off against each other in October. He had 404 yards previous year in a 23-13 victory.

(15) Auburn 40, Mississippi 29: Kamryn Pettway ran for a career-high 236 yards and a touchdown, Sean White threw for 247 yards and the Tigers (6-2, 4-1 SEC) beat the Rebels (3-5, 1-4) in Oxford, Mississippi. Now that the dust has cleared, they’ve announced the schedule and the Syracuse Orange will face off against the Clemson Tigers at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.

As for those 2014 Seminoles comparisons, over half of that team’s wins came by seven points or less, including a six-point, overtime win against Swinney’s Tigers.

Put mildly Butch Jones’ men have been woeful starting games this season and now trail behind the Gators by two games in the SEC East after swallowing three defeats on the bounce. Leggett finished with five catches for 122 yards and a touchdown. But more penalties and some untimely sacks snuffed out the Seminoles’ rally.

This was an average to below average performance from this unit, which gave up eight plays of 20 yards or more. “Give them credit for that”. QB Deondre Francois was harassed and hit all night, but he kept getting back up and doing it again.

He completed 8 of 13 passes for 137 yards and a touchdown in the final period, solidifying his reputation as a late-game miracle worker. And allowing 6.3 YPP to this Tiger offense is something this FSU defense can live with, even if the final result is hard for “Nole fans to accept right now”.

This facet of the game continues to be a bright spot for Clemson.

Alabama, Michigan, Clemson, and Washington are at the top of The Associated Press Top 25 college football poll and the Big 12 was left without a top-10 team after a weekend during which four unbeaten teams lost.