Tyler Brown's career day propels Clemson past Syracuse

Brown had eight receptions for 151 yards.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Sep 30 15:32:06 GMT-04:00 2023

SYRACUSE, NY – Clemson needed this one, and they got it.

Tyler Brown had a career day in just his fifth game and the Clemson defense forced three turnovers as Clemson defeated Syracuse 31-14 Saturday afternoon at the JMA Dome.

Clemson improves to 3-2 overall and 1-2 in ACC play, while Syracuse falls to 4-1 overall and 0-1 in the league. The Tigers avoided the first 0-3 start in league play since 1998, the last year of the Tommy West era.

With the win, head coach Dabo Swinney (100-21) earned his 100th career win in ACC regular season play. He joins Florida State's Bobby Bowden as the only head coaches in conference history to win 100 regular season conference games as ACC head coaches. Bowden won 117 regular season conference games with the Seminoles after Florida State joined the ACC in 1992. Swinney tied the Clemson head coaching record for career regular season conference wins, matching Frank Howard, who compiled a 100-48-5 conference record across both the Southern Conference and ACC. Howard was 66-30-2 in ACC play following the conference's formation in 1953.

Brown had nine catches for 153 yards, both career-highs, and Cade Klubnik was 23-of-37 for 263 yards and two touchdowns for the Tigers. Brown also had a 23-yard rush.

"The fun is in the winning, as we like to say. It's not easy to win ever. It's certainly not easy to win on the road, and certainly not up here," Swinney said. "I think they do an awesome job up here. It's one of the best environments in the league. It's certainly not easy to beat an undefeated team as well. This is a 4-0 team, a team that plays really, really hard and takes a lot of pride in what they do. Just super proud of our guys, and not just winning the game, but how they responded to a very tough week. A tough week, coming off an overtime loss and obviously a really critical game. You've got two choices: you can respond or you can not. These guys went back to work and had a great week of preparation. I thought it was just a great start to the game. I mean, everything that we needed to do to win the game, we did that. We most importantly won the turnover margin. It's just something we've not done."

Syracuse took the opening kickoff and picked up a first down, and on the second set of downs, quarterback Garrett Shrader ran loose into the secondary. Shrader tried a spin move back into the middle of the field and was popped by defensive end Justin Mascoll. The ball popped loose and was recovered by Payton Page, an initial targeting call was overturned, and Clemson took over at its own 45.

Eight plays later, the Tigers faced a 3rd-and-7 at the Syracuse 14 and Klubnik was immediately flushed from the pocket. He ran to his right, threw back across his body, and found Troy Stellato in the endzone for a touchdown and a quick 7-0 lead.

The teams traded punts, and another Syracuse mistake led to another Clemson score. The Orange took over at their own 23, and on the first play scrimmage, a backwards pass was fumbled by LeQuint Allen. Defensive end Xavier Thomas scooped up the loose ball and rumbled 20 yards to the three, and two plays later Will Shipley punched it in from two yards out for the 14-0 lead.

The Orange then picked on the Clemson secondary and linebacker Jeremiah Trotter, putting together a nine-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 28-yard touchdown pass from Shrader to Dan Villari. Late in the first quarter, the Tigers led 14-7.

Clemson fashioned a 14-play drive that took six minutes off the clock in the second quarter and faced a 4th-and-2 at the Syracuse 5-yard line. The Tigers called timeout and elected to go for it, but Klubnik was sacked for a seven-yard loss and a turnover on downs.

Late in the half, the Orange attempted a 57-yard field goal, but it was well short of the mark, and Clemson took over at its own 39 with just over three minutes to play. Four plays later, Klubnik hit Beaux Collins on a 47-yard strike for a 21-7 lead. Clemson had a chance to add more points at the end of the half, but Jonathan Weitz’ kick went wide left as time expired.

The Tigers came out of the half, and Klubnik promptly hit Brown on a 47-yarder down the seam, setting up a 38-yard field goal from Weitz that made it 24-7 early in the third quarter.

Clemson then made its first glaring mistake of the day early in the fourth quarter. Jake Briningstool caught a short pass and fumbled the ball away fighting for extra yardage. The Orange recovered and returned it to the Clemson 42. That turned into a six-yard touchdown pass from Shrader to Allen, who once again had single coverage by Trotter. With 12:23 to play, Clemson led 24-14.

Clemson made it to midfield before having to punt, and the Orange took over at their own 9-yard line with 7:31 to play. Three plays later, Trotter snatched a Shrader pass out of midair for an interception at the Syracuse 32. One play later, Mafah raced almost untouched into the endzone for a 32-yard touchdown and a 31-14 lead with just over six minutes to play.

On the ensuing possession, Syracuse turned it over on downs at midfield with 4:14 to play.

Clemson returns home to face Wake Forest next Saturday at 3:30 p.m.