Clemson got the kind of Saturday afternoon it badly needed.
After a stretch marked by night games, weather delays and uneven play, the Tigers finally delivered a clean, low-drama showing, rolling past FCS Charleston Southern 37-0 at Memorial Stadium. It was not a flawless performance, but it was exactly the sort of no-nonsense win Clemson wanted coming out of its open week.
The Tigers controlled the game from the start and never gave Charleston Southern a foothold. Clemson opened by scoring on its first five possessions and buried the Buccaneers with 24 second-quarter points to take a 34-0 lead into halftime.
Running backs Gideon Davidson and Chris Johnson Jr. did plenty of the damage on the ground, combining for three rushing touchdowns. Davidson had one of them, while Johnson scored twice. Freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds kept things steady, avoiding trouble with the exception of a red-zone fumble that he also recovered himself.
Charleston Southern never found any rhythm against Clemson’s defense. The Buccaneers went scoreless across 12 drives, and their own mistakes helped make the shutout even easier. They missed a 50-yard field goal on their opening series, then later squandered another chance when the holder bobbled the snap on what would have been a 35-yard kick and got dragged down for a 13-yard loss instead.
Clemson also got a major lift from its special teams. Safety Kylon Griffin scooped up a Charleston Southern kick return for a touchdown in the second quarter, and kicker Nolan Hauser closed the first half by drilling a 59-yard field goal, the second longest in Clemson history.
The scoring slowed after halftime. The third quarter came and went without points, and when backup quarterback Trent Pearman entered for Reynolds, he helped move Clemson into range for Hauser’s third 40-plus-yard field goal of the day, stretching the lead to 37-0.
The final stretch got messy. Clemson’s next three possessions ended with Pearman interceptions and a turnover on downs after freshman fourth-string quarterback Brock Bradley got involved. Even so, the Tigers still posted a season-high 37 points.
At 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the ACC, Clemson has now gone 4-for-4 in the games it was favored to win and 0-for-2 in the ones where it was the underdog, including losses at No. 11 LSU and against No. 4 Miami.
Now the real league grind starts. Clemson will play five straight ACC games beginning next Saturday against Virginia Tech in Death Valley, a stretch that will say far more about the 2026 team’s ceiling than a game in which the Tigers were favored by 42 points.
Still, after what happened against Georgia Southern earlier this season, this was the kind of reset Clemson could use.
The Tigers also improved to 41-0 against FCS opponents since 1978 and have now beaten FCS teams by at least 23 points in 15 straight games. Charleston Southern dropped to 3-4.
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Clemson Players Think This Shutout Could Mean More Than One Win
A 37-0 win over Charleston Southern gave Clemson its first shutout of the season, and for a team still trying to sharpen its identity, the manner of victory mattered as much as the margin. At Memorial Stadium, the Tigers handled business the way a favorite should, then spent the postgame talking less about the opponent and more about what the performance said about where they are headed.
Several Clemson players met with the media afterward to break down their own outings, note personal milestones and look ahead to what the group can build from here. A shutout against an overmatched opponent does not answer every question, but it can reinforce the kind of discipline and cohesion this team wants to carry forward, and the next stretch will show whether it was just a clean Saturday or something more meaningful. [Read more 🡒]
Clemson Finally Got The Reset Win Fans Have Been Waiting For
After a rough stretch, Clemson finally got the kind of clean reset game it had been looking for, rolling past Charleston Southern 37-0 at Memorial Stadium in a noon kickoff. The Tigers were sharp from the start, putting up 34 first-half points and delivering their biggest win and highest point total of the season in the process.
The tone was set early with three rushing touchdowns and a special teams score off a forced fumble recovery, the sort of all-around effort a team wants when it needs to settle things down. Backup quarterback Trent Pearman handled the second half, and kicker Nolan Hauser added another bright spot with a career-long 59-yard field goal, giving Clemson plenty to build on as the schedule turns back to stiffer competition. [Read more 🡒]