FSU Seminoles

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Chris Thompson's hand still stung from the high fives he'd earned after rumbling through tackles for a 22-yard touchdown run when he noticed the flag. A hold on tight end Nick O'Leary negated the run, pushing Florida State's offense in the wrong direction yet again.

In the end, none of it mattered. The 11 flags on Florida State on Saturday were simply the twists and turns needed to add some drama to a 49-37 win over Clemson.

But for a team that finished 116th in the nation in penalties a year ago, the myriad of flags was particularly troubling.

"That's the disappointing thing," Jimbo Fisher said. "That's ridiculous. We can't play undisciplined like that. In a big game, this will eventually haunt us."

For much of the first quarter, it seemed like those flags would be Florida State's undoing against Clemson.

The Seminoles drove to the Clemson 33 late in the first quarter, but a false start on O'Leary stalled the drive, and Dustin Hopkins missed a field-goal try.

On the final drive of the second quarter, it was a repeat performance. Florida State had a third-and-1 at the Clemson 13, and left tackle Cameron Erving was whistled for a false start. EJ Manuel's next pass fell incomplete, and Hopkins again missed the field goal.

The offense found its groove in the second half, erasing the damage done, but the Seminoles still finished with one more penalty Saturday than they'd accumulated in the first three games combined.

It's not ideal, guard Josue Matias admits, but there was a silver lining.

After Thompson's big run was called back, Florida State responded quickly, with Manuel hitting Rodney Smith for a touchdown on the next play.

"It didn't really bother us, because we knew we could always do it again," Matias said. "Our job is to block, and we executed."

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The play was wide open for the second time.

In the first half, Sammy Watkins had overthrown the receiver. In the second half, he didn't miss. Clemson's second crack at the trick play went 52 yards for a touchdown and put the Tigers up 28-14.

Jimbo Fisher needed to stop the bleeding, and the Florida State defense was hemorrhaging yards. So he pulled them together on the sideline and offered a reminder. He told them they'd fallen short of the hype, but that was OK. It's how they responded that mattered.

"I saw the look, and you start to get a little disgust, and you feel frustrated," Fisher said. "They've been told how great they are for a year-and-a-half. Nobody can play that way all the time. I told them to forget all that. Just go back, regroup, and we'll win this."

For the first three weeks of the season, everything came easily for Florida State's top-ranked defense. On Saturday, Tajh Boyd and Clemson spent the first 35 minutes of the game shining a spotlight on every chink in the armor.

But Fisher promised redemption if the unit could find its footing in the second half, and that's exactly what happened.

Watkins' touchdown pass meant Clemson had tallied 426 yards of offense on its first 44 plays. The Tigers mustered just 106 more on their next 33 plays.

"We knew it was not going to be easy," defensive end Bjoern Werner said. "But we have a goal at the end of the season, and we know there are going to be tough games like that. But that's a game you're going to remember for a while."

The touchdown pass from Watkins was emblematic of how Clemson attacked Florida State's vaunted defense. It didn't chip away on the ground or look for yardage over the middle. The Tigers dug deep into the playbook, pulling out trick plays and long throws.

It wasn't a surprise, and yet it was utterly overwhelming.

"We knew that was going to come," tackle Timmy Jernigan said. "Teams aren't going to play us straight up."

As the game wore on, however, Clemson ran out of tricks, and the physicality of Florida State's defensive front took control.

The defensive line took control of the line of scrimmage, and Boyd found less and less time to throw before he was flushed from the pocket. When under duress Saturday, Boyd completed just two of 10 passes for 55 yards and threw his lone interception.

"We just had to start getting more penetration, especially in the middle," Jernigan said. "We had to put the center and the guard in his lap and make him think fast."

The key wasn't a change in scheme, Jernigan said. It was simply a matter of outworking the Clemson offensive line for four quarters.

It was a game that could've gotten out of hand, he admits. But rather than back down as Clemson pulled ahead, the defense turned up the heat.

"I know when I'm tired, when I see the guy in front of me breathing harder, it's time to get them now," Jernigan said. "It's time to go. Once we see that, we're coming."

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida State's ship sat listing and taking on water with just under 12 minutes left in the third quarter.

Clemson's offense looked unstoppable. And at that point, the Tigers had proven to be such, leading 28-14.

Big play after big play from the likes of Sammy Watkins and Andre Ellington delivered one haymaker after another. Yet the Seminoles remained composed.

At the end, it was Florida State, not Clemson, that seemed unstoppable en route to 667 yards of total offense and a 49-37 win.

"And that's how I've known we've grown as a team, because we kept fighting, kept fighting, kept fighting," said sophomore defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan. "Coach [Jimbo] Fisher and Coach [Mark] Stoops, they kept repeating, 'When they score, don't flinch. Don't flinch.' "

There was no fire-and-brimstone speech from the coaches at halftime. No, it was a time for the players in the home locker room to regain their composure and organize their thoughts.

They didn't need to be yelled at. They understood what was at stake.

"We don't do a lot of pep talking, try to get the team too hyped or anything like that," wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin said. "We knew we had to come out in the second half and make plays.

"In the second half, we came out and looked at the scoreboard like it was 0-0. It was a new ball game."

If the scoreboard had been reset after the halftime break, the final score would have read 35-16.

That's not how things have gone for Florida State over the last few years. But maybe that's why Jernigan and company say this year, this team, is different.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Tajh Boyd needed just five plays to solve Florida State's vaunted defense, hitting DeAndre Hopkins with a 60-yard touchdown pass on third down in what set the precedent for a high-scoring first half, with Clemson holding a 21-14 halftime lead.

The two teams combined for 564 yards of offense in the first half, with EJ Manuel carving up the Clemson defense as easily as Boyd moved the Tigers' offense, but two missed field goals and a fumbled punt doomed Florida State through the first 30 minutes.

Stat of the half: 8.1 That's Florida State's average gain per rush in the first half, and it's the Seminoles' best hope for a turnaround in the second half. Manuel and Chris Thompson have done their share of damage on the ground, and Clemson hasn't had an answer. Both of the Seminoles' touchdowns came on the ground, too -- a 13-yard run by Lonnie Pryor and a 5-yard run by James Wilder Jr.

Player of the half: Boyd. The Clemson quarterback was 12-of-17 passing for 189 yards and two touchdowns, including the 60-yard bomb to Hopkins on the Tigers' opening drive that quieted a raucous crowd. Boyd has hit six different receivers in the first half. Manuel nearly matched him -- 15 of 20 for 181 yards -- but two FSU drives stalled thanks to penalties, forcing field-goal tries.

What's working for FSU: Manuel's legs. There's been plenty of room underneath for the FSU offense, and when the big plays haven't developed down field, Manuel has made his mark on the ground, picking up 53 yards on six carries.

What's not working for FSU: Clemson has done its share of damage, which was to be expected. But the self-inflicted wounds are the difference right now for FSU. Dustin Hopkins' two missed field goals, four penalties and, most importantly, Rashad Greene's fumbled punt return have squandered scoring chances and bolstered an already potent Tigers' attack.

Noteworthy: FSU defensive end Cornellius Carradine has two sacks in the first half. ... Clemson's Sammy Watkins has five touches but just 35 yards through the first half. He ha been matched against Nick Waisome and Ronald Darby throughout. ... The 21 first-half points by Clemson snaps a streak of 11 consecutive games in which the FSU defense had held opponents to 19 or fewer points.

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