TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Clemson’s defense held Florida State to 13 points, 22 yards rushing and 250 total yards. However, they feel their performance was not good enough in the 15th-ranked Tigers’ 29-13 victory Saturday at Doak Campbell Stadium.
“I think we did okay. We could have done better,” cornerback Avieon Terrell said.
Terrell had a first-quarter interception—the only turnover in the game—that set up a Cade Klubnik to T.J. Moore touchdown that gave the Tigers a 17-0 lead at the time.
“He threw it right to me, so it was the easiest,” Terrell said. “They tried to do a double move. I have to look back and see what route he ran, but (Brock Glenn) threw it right to me.”
The Seminoles (1-5, 1-4 ACC) did not have much of an answer for the Clemson defense, but the Tigers did not like how they finished the game. FSU went 3-for-3 on fourth-down plays during a fourth-quarter touchdown drive that pulled them within 10 points, 23-13, with 9:36 to play.
“I’m not too happy with how we played,” linebacker Wade Woodaz said. “We won the game, obviously, and I am happy about that, but we did not finish in the red zone, which is one of our big goals coming into the game.
“So, we have to clean that up and clean some stuff up on the backend. It was a strong night, but there is room to improve.”
Clemson (4-1, 3-0 ACC) held the Seminoles to 22 rushing yards on 23 carries – 1.0 yards per carry. That number is even more impressive considering the Tigers had just two sacks.
“That was a big thing we set out to do, especially coming from last week,” Woodaz said. “Last week, we did not do well against the run. This week, we shut them down. This is two years in a row we held them in the run game.”
Clemson finished the night with six tackles behind the line of scrimmage and a ton of quarterback pressures.
“I feel we were swarming all night,” Woodaz said. “I feel like our D-Line was living in the backfield. I feel like we were definitely speeding them up.”
Glenn finished the night 23-for-41 for 228 yards. He did throw two touchdown passes, one which Woodaz had a chance to intercept but just missed.”
“We have to be disciplined and just get back to work,” he said. “We can’t dwell on it for long. I just think there were so many opportunities to get our hands on passes, especially me. I can make an impact there. I am not too happy about that, but we got the win.”
The Tigers did get the win, on a day when so many teams ranked ahead of them lost.