Cade Klubnik threw for 221 yards with a passing and a rushing touchdown, leading Clemson to a bounceback 24-10 win over visiting Florida State Saturday evening.
A week after Clemson’s defense was tagged for 46 points, the Tigers (4-5, 3-4 ACC) largely stifled a Florida State offense that led the nation in yards per game (510.5) and ranked seventh in scoring offense (40.0 points per game) as they snapped their two-game losing streak.
Antonio Williams led Clemson with 62 yards receiving and a leaping touchdown catch that extended the team’s lead to 15-0 in the second quarter. Cornerback Avieon Terrell had a pair of sacks as the Tigers racked up six in the win.
Tommy Castellanos completed 23 of 43 passes for 250 yards, a touchdown and an interception, also leading the Seminoles with 31 rushing yards. Duce Robinson had a game-high 124 yards on nine catches for Florida State, which has lost four of its last five games.
The Seminoles (4-5, 1-5) had more yards than the Tigers (360-319) and had twice as many red-zone trips (4-2). But the Seminoles struggled to finish off scoring opportunities throughout Saturday’s loss.
After Clemson opened the scoring with Klubnik’s 4-yard touchdown run, the Seminoles marched into the red zone before Castellanos fumbled a handoff, which Jeremiah Alexander recovered at the Clemson 11.
Florida State squandered another potential scoring chance when a wide-open Randy Pittman dropped a fourth-and-2 pass that would have gone for a huge gain.
Two plays later, Clemson extended the lead on Klubnik’s flea-flicker touchdown pass to Williams to make it 15-0 with 12:01 left in the first half.
Clemson extended its lead to 18-0 with 2:31 left on Nolan Hauser’s 40-yard field goal. But the Seminoles prevented being shut out in a half for the first time this season with a 10-play, 75-yard drive capped off by a 7-yard touchdown catch by Lawayne McCoy with 33 seconds left.
Florida State had a chance to cut into that deficit when it got the ball out of halftime, but a 10-play, 53-yard drive came up empty on a missed 40-yard field goal by Jake Weinberg.
The Tigers padded their lead with a pair of field goals from Hauser, extending their lead to 24-7 with 14:18 left.
The Seminoles cut into the deficit with a 46-yard Weinberg field goal. Their promising fourth-quarter drive that could have cut the deficit to one score stalled out due to a pair of penalties, ending in a turnover on downs.
