2011 Game Recaps
OVERVIEW
Clemson
35
September 24, 2011 Memorial Stadium • Clemson, SC
Senior Rennie Moore had a sack on #11 Florida State’s final offensive play and #21 Clemson ran out the clock to preserve a thrilling 35-30 victory. It was the highest-ranked team Clemson defeated at home since it beat #3 Florida State in 2003. With the game hanging in the balance and the Seminoles facing a fourth-and-nine from their own 38, Moore plowed through the line and sacked Clint Trickett, sending the nearly 81,000 fans in Death Valley into a frenzy. Clemson improved to 4-0 for the first time since the 2007 season thanks in large part to a big-play offense that racked up 443 total yards against one of the nation’s best defenses. Meanwhile, the Tiger defense held the Seminoles to 29 rushing yards and made the necessary stops to win the game when it had to the most. The Tigers had one another’s backs all afternoon. After Florida State took its only lead on a Dustin Hopkins 32-yard field goal on its first drive, the Clemson offense responded with a 24-yard Tajh Boyd to Sammy Watkins touchdown and a 7-3 lead on its first series. After Florida State scored a touchdown to cut Clemson’s lead to four points, the Tigers again responded, as Boyd found tight end Dwayne Allen open for a 12-yard touchdown and a 21-10 lead with 11:31 remaining in the first half. Clemson stood tall following a fluke touchdown that allowed the Seminoles to pull within four points (21-17) in the third quarter. Boyd, who finished the afternoon 22-35 for 344 yards and three touchdowns while earning ACC Offensive Back-of-the-Week honors, did make those plays. First, he led the Tigers on an 11-play, 70-yard drive that ended with an Andre Ellington one-yard touchdown. Following another Seminole score, a 30-yard Trickett to Rashad Greene pass, Boyd hit Watkins in stride for a 62-yard touchdown that gave the Tigers a 35-23 lead with 13:06 left in the game. That touchdown pass followed a key third-down conversion in which Boyd connected with Allen on a 12-yard strike on thirdand-10 from the Clemson 20 to keep the drive alive.
GAME STATS Florida State Clemson
10 14
0 7
7 7
13 7
30 35
FSU Hopkins 32 FG, 1st, 10:23, 9-67 CU Watkins 24 pass from Boyd (Catanzaro kick), 1st, 7:47, 7-80 CU Boyd 1 run (Catanzaro kick), 1st, 1:54, 8-77 FSU R. Smith 57 pass from Trickett (Hopkins kick), 1st, 0:14, 5-71 CU Allen 12 pass from Boyd (Catanzaro kick), 2nd, 11:31, 9-79 FSU Werner 25 fumble return (Hopkins kick), 3rd, 13:40 CU Ellington 1 run (Catanzaro kick), 3rd, 3:03, 11-70 FSU Greene 30 pass from Trickett (Trickett pass failed), 4th, 14:55, 7-80 CU Watkins 62 pass from Boyd (Catanzaro kick), 4th, 13:06, 6-80 FSU Shaw 9 pass from Trickett (Hopkins kick), 4th, 7:21, 4-78 Attendance - 80,994 Weather - Sunny, 83˚ Team Statistics First Downs Rushing Passing Passing Yards Total Offense Yards/Play Turnovers Penalties Punting Third-Down Conversions Sacks Time of Possession
FSU 19 15-29 24-38-1 336 53-365 6.9 1 11-124 5-42.8 3-10 2-14 22:53
CU 26 50-99 22-35-0 344 85-443 5.2 1 5-50 3-36.3 9-17 2-18 37:07
Rushing (Car-Yards-TD) FSU C. Thompson 11-36, Trickett 4-(-7) CU Ellington 23-71-1, Boyd 16-19-1, Watkins 3-13, McDowell 2-6, Bellamy 2-(-1), TEAM 4-(-9)
Receiving (Rec-Yards-TD) FSU Greene 8-98-1, Green 7-77, R. Smith 4-118-1, O’Leary 3-23, Shaw 2-20-1 CU Watkins 7-141-2, Hopkins 5-78, Allen 4-67-1, Ellington 2-7, Bryant 1-33, Ja. Brown 1-13, Humphries 1-6, B. Thomas 1-(-1)
23
Virginia Tech
3
October 1, 2011 Lane Stadium • Blacksburg, VA
The Clemson Tigers sent a message to the ACC and the rest of the college football world in Blacksburg, VA. That message...this is not the same ole’ Tigers. Using a stifling defense and getting its customary big play or two from its revamped offense, #13 Clemson stunned #10 Virginia Tech by a score of 23-3 in front of 66,233 fans at Lane Stadium. And what the 2011 Tigers accomplished had never been done in the history of the ACC. Thanks to their 20-point victory over Virginia Tech, the Tigers became the first ACC team to beat threestraight AP-ranked opponents in consecutive games during one season. The Tigers changed Clemson by beating a ranked Virginia Tech team on its field while playing the same style Virginia Tech Head Coach Frank Beamer made famous...playing tough, physical, and simply outmuscling their opponent. The Hokies were held to 258 total yards, including only 133 on the ground. Though the Tigers rushed for only 119 yards, 61 came in the fourth quarter when they took control of the game and ran time off the clock. Clemson used the running game to finish off the Hokies when freshman Mike Bellamy took a handoff and raced 31 yards for the game’s final score. Allen, who had four catches for a game-high 75 yards, added to that special night in the third quarter when, on the Tigers’ first drive, he caught a 32-yard touchdown pass from Virginia-native Tajh Boyd, giving Clemson a 17-3 lead at the time. It was a big play in the sense that it sucked all the momentum out of Lane Stadium and put the pressure on a Virginia Tech offense that failed to show any consistency against the Tiger defense. Clemson finished the game with 20 unanswered points after the Hokies tied the score 3-3 on Cody Journell’s 24-yard field goal with 4:35 to play in the first half. Along with Branch’s record-tying performance, Jonathan Willard added eight tackles and was named ACC Linebacker-of-the-Week. After that, Boyd led Clemson on a nine-play, 48-yard scoring drive, capped by a one-yard Andre Ellington touchdown scamper. After the defense made a stop on Virginia Tech’s first possession of the second half, Allen caught his 32-yard touchdown pass from Boyd. And with that, the message was sent to every other team in the ACC.
GAME STATS Clemson Virginia Tech
3 0
7 3
7 0
6 0
23 3
CU Catanzaro 31 FG, 1st, 2:12, 11-45 VAT Journell 24 FG, 2nd, 4:35, 7-24 CU Ellington 1 run (Catanzaro kick), 2nd, 1:49, 9-48 CU Allen 32 pass from Boyd (Catanzaro kick), 3rd, 10:42, 3-66 CU Bellamy 31 run (TEAM kick failed), 4th, 6:12, 8-88 Attendance - 66,233 Weather - Light rain, windy, 43˚ Team Statistics First Downs Rushing Passing Passing Yards Total Offense Yards/Play Turnovers Penalties Punting Third-Down Conversions Sacks Time of Possession
CU 18 35-119 13-32-1 204 67-323 4.8 1 5-61 8-41.4 7-17 4-31 25:09
VAT 17 40-133 15-27-1 125 67-258 3.9 2 6-60 8-29.4 4-16 1-9 34:51
Rushing (Car-Yards-TD) CU Bellamy 6-47-1, Ellington 16-40-1, Boyd 10-28, Watkins 3-4 VAT D. Wilson 20-123, Thomas 12-8, Gregory 1-2, Oglesby 6-1, TEAM 1-(-1) Passing (Cm-Att-Yards-I-TD) CU Boyd 13-32-204-1-1 VAT Thomas 15-27-125-1-0 Receiving (Rec-Yards-TD) CU Allen 4-75-1, Ja. Brown 3-56, Watkins 3-38, Ellington 2-20, Hopkins 1-15 VAT Coale 5-41, Coles 4-44, Boykin 3-10, D. Wilson 2-21, Oglesby 1-9
2012 Clemson Football
Boston College
14
Clemson
36
University Traditions Players Review Opponents
October 8, 2011 Memorial Stadium • Clemson, SC
records
Even though #8 Clemson earned a 36-14 victory over Boston College in front of a Homecoming crowd, the atmosphere around Death Valley appeared as if the Tigers had lost. That came with good reason, because Clemson lost its starting quarterback, at least for most of the second half. Tajh Boyd went down with a hip injury on Clemson’s first drive of the third quarter. Boyd, who passed for 283 yards, added 37 yards on the ground and was responsible for two touchdowns before leaving with an injury. He was taken to the locker room, where Xrays revealed there was no serious damage. Boyd later went to the hospital for an MRI for confirmation, and it too came back negative. Cole Stoudt led the Tigers on two more scoring drives after Boston College cut the lead to 26-14 on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Chase Rettig to Bobby Swigert with 5:09 left in the third quarter. Stoudt led a 13-play, 50-yard drive that ended with a 47-yard Chandler Catanzaro field goal that bounced off and over the crossbar with 39 seconds remaining in the third quarter. It was Catanzaro’s fifth field goal of the game. The sophomore was named ACC Specialist-of-the-Week for his efforts. On the scoring drive, Stoudt completed a nine-yard pass on third down to fellow first-year freshman Sammy Watkins and an eight-yard pass to Adam Humphries, another freshman, to set up Catanzaro’s field goal. Watkins, who was named ACC Rookie-of-theWeek, had seven catches for a game-high 152 yards. The rest of the Tigers followed his lead after that. The defense shut down the Eagles from there, limiting them to 258 total yards, while running back Andre Ellington put the game away with a 35yard touchdown run on fourth-and-one. Ellington’s score gave Clemson its 36-14 lead with 11:24 to play in the game. Boyd had already thrown a three-yard touchdown pass to Jaron Brown and ran 14 yards for another score in giving the Tigers a 17-0 lead in the first quarter.
GAME STATS Boston College Clemson
0 17
7 6
7 6
0 7
14 36
CU Ja. Brown 3 pass from Boyd (Catanzaro kick), 1st, 10:22, 8-80 CU Catanzaro 38 FG, 1st, 4:59, 13-63 CU Boyd 14 run (Catanzaro kick), 1st, 4:03, 2-16 CU Catanzaro 42 FG, 2nd, 6:58, 6-29 BOC Finch 20 run (Freese kick), 2nd, 1:55, 10-80 CU Catanzaro 18 FG, 2nd, 0:02, 10-65 CU Catanzaro 20 FG, 3rd, 11:35, 9-77 BOC Swigert 24 pass from Rettig (Freese kick), 3rd, 5:09, 4-47 CU Catanzaro 47 FG, 3rd, 0:39, 13-50 CU Ellington 35 run (Catanzaro kick), 4th, 11:24, 6-58 Attendance - 76,315 Weather - Sunny, 77˚ Team Statistics First Downs Rushing Passing Passing Yards Total Offense Yards/Play Turnovers Penalties Punting Third-Down Conversions Sacks Time of Possession
BOC 14 35-126 14-22-1 132 57-258 4.5 2 7-50 5-39.6 5-12 2-22 32:06
CU 25 41-180 22-37-0 320 78-500 6.4 0 2-20 3-48.7 5-14 3-15 27:54
Rushing (Car-Yards-TD) BOC Finch 19-81-1, Kimble 11-57, Rettig 5-(-12) CU Ellington 22-117-1, Boyd 6-37-1, Bellamy 4-24, Howard 2-13, McDowell 1-5, Humphries 1-4, TEAM 1-(-1), Watkins 1-(-2), Stoudt 2-(-4), Peake 1-(-13) Passing (Cm-Att-Yards-I-TD) BOC Rettig 13-20-129-1-1, Shinskie 1-2-3-0-0 CU Boyd 16-26-283-0-1, Stoudt 6-10-37-0-0, Ellington 0-1-0-0-0 Receiving (Rec-Yards-TD) BOC Swigert 7-93-1, Larmond 3-32, Kimble 2-5, Elliott 1-3, Finch 1-(-1) CU Watkins 7-152, Allen 4-49, Hopkins 2-47, Ja. Brown 2-32-1, Ford 2-14, Humphries 2-13, Craig 1-8, Ellington 1-6, McDowell 1-(-1)
ClemsonTigers.com
Passing (Cm-Att-Yards-I-TD) FSU Trickett 24-38-336-1-3 CU Boyd 22-35-344-0-3
Clemson
Game 6
30
Game 5
Game 4
Coaches
Florida State
119