CLEMSON — Last week, Dabo Swinney said he wanted to see his defense come out and force the issue when it came to winning the turnover battle against Florida Atlantic.

Let’s just say the Clemson defense got the message in its 48-14 victory Saturday night at Memorial Stadium.

On the game’s fourth play from scrimmage, cornerback Nate Wiggins jumped the route and easily picked off Casey Thompson’s pass. The junior then raced 46 yards for a touchdown.

The tone was set.

From there, the defense forced three more FAU turnovers, including interceptions by Khalil Barnes and Wade Woodaz, which led to two more touchdowns.

In all, Clemson (2-1) outscored the Owls 21-0 in points off turnovers and for the first time this season, and just the second time in 10 games, it won the turnover battle.

The Tigers had just one turnover, a muffed punt by freshman Tyler Brown, in the third quarter.

“I am just real proud of those guys on defense,” Klubnik said. “They gave us energy and gave us the confidence to go in there and play free.”

Clemson’s offense did play free. Klubnik threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Brown on its first offensive possession of the night. After Barnes’ interception, Klubnik threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Jake Briningstool.

In the third quarter, Woodaz’s long return setup Klubnik’s 2-yard touchdown pass to Brown.

“We came out and played our game, and obviously controlled the turnover margin as best we can,” Klubnik said. “I thought we did a heck of a job with that. We did not have any turnovers on offense and we forced four on defense.”

Saturday was proof. When the Tigers take care of the football, they are hard to beat.

Since 2011, Clemson is 72-4 when it wins the turnover battle.

“When we were are even, we are pretty hard to beat,” Swinney said. “When we win (the turnover battle), we are really hard to beat. So, hopefully, that is a good sign of what is to come for us.”

It does not hurt that the Tigers seem to be turning things around with No. 3 Florida State coming to down next week.

“It is just the confidence we have in each other. We had to make a decision right after (the Duke game),” Klubnik said. “Are we going to fall where people think we should be or rise where we know where we can go.

“We had a decision to make. We got after it and we are taking it one week at a time.”

Prior to Saturday night’s game, Clemson lost the turnover battle in eight of its last nine games, dating back to last season.

“It is just one of those that you just have to sort of play through,” Swinney. “We have had some funky stuff. Really, a bad exchange, a poor decision, a collision and the ball is out,” Swinney said. “We have had some weird stuff happen. A tip ball off of a guy’s hand and goes right into somebody else’s hand. It was good to see us get those tips tonight. How about that?!

“We needed to get a turn there.”

As for keeping it going against No. 3 Florida State next week and into the future, Swinney said they just have to keep working at it.

“We coach it all the time and we work on it every week,” he said. “But it was good to see us do a nice job tonight and not put the ball in jeopardy like we have.”

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