No. 2 Clemson’s plays amid storm for 38-7 win vs Ga Southern
CLEMSON, S.C. — A week of worry at No. 2 Clemson over a powerhouse storm ended in victory in front of a supportive full house at Memorial Stadium.
The Tigers (3-0) got a career-best 162 yards rushing and two touchdowns from Travis Etienne to defeat Georgia Southern 38-7 on Saturday, capping an unusual week for Clemson — the only major college team in the Carolinas and Virginia that did not call off its game because of Florence.
Coach Dabo Swinney was grateful the weather held out and the fans showed up.
“I really didn’t know what to expect,” Swinney said. “We almost had a full house.” Elsewhere in South Carolina, the slow-moving tropical storm was displacing people and destroying property.
“There’s still a tremendous amount of devastation people are dealing with,” Swinney said. “But I told our guys, maybe we can somebody’s mind off things they’re going through today.”
Trevor Lawrence threw for 194 yards including a 57-yard score to fellow freshman Justyn Ross in its first-ever meeting with Georgia Southern (2-1) of the Sun Belt Conference.
Clemson officials did move the game up to noon instead of its planned 3:30 p.m. ET start in deference to Florence, which was at one point a Category 4 hurricane.
Co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott thought his players were locked in at practice this week and not worried about the approaching storm. “I didn’t really get a sense overall there were a lot of distractions,” he said. “Coach Swinney was pretty confident to them that we were going to get an opportunity to play.”
At kickoff, though, the crowd of 79,844 had sunny skies and mild breezes for tailgates like many football Saturdays. Conditions changed by halftime with bands of grey clouds over the stadium and the wind picking up. Florence’s drenching rains were forecast to hit the area later tonight and Sunday.
It was a long, fatiguing, “Will they or won’t they?” week, with people debating whether Clemson should even.
The Tigers start did not seem focused. Clemson had two of its three turnovers in the opening quarter on Kelly Bryant’s interception and Adam Choice’s fumble. Throw in Greg Huegel’s missed field goal — his first of two on the day — and the Tigers were tied 0-0 against an opponent they were favored to beat by five touchdowns after the opening quarter.