Clemson vs Florida State recap: 3 things we learned

Clemson notched another close victory over Florida State while giving their fanbase plenty of heart palpitations. Here are the three things we learned.

Clemson escaped Doak Campbell Stadium with a thrilling win, giving Dabo Swinney his first win in Tallahassee. They hardly made it easy on themselves, but they somehow overcame a four-touchdown performance by Dalvin Cook and three lead changes to get the win.

With the way the Tigers keep overcoming adversity and winning big games, this season has practically been the opposite of “Clemsoning.” Winning at Doak Campbell had to be a big monkey off of Dabo’s back, and this game could be what sparks them all the way to a national championship. While it’s still too early to call that, we still learned a lot from this latest Clemson win.

Clemson has the best pass rush in the country

Clemson rode their pass rush to victory in this game. They sacked Deondre Francois an astonishing six times, and took advantage of Florida State’s porous offensive line. The crucial moment came in the fourth quarter, when a pair of penalties took the Seminoles out of field goal range, then the Clemson pass rush got to Francois for a pair of sacks on third and fourth down to seal the victory.

It’s easy to tote Alabama as having a better pass rush because of Jonathan Allen, and because that team’s an unstoppable killing machine. But think about all the adversity Clemson has had to overcome this season. This group certainly delivers in pressure-packed situations, and once the College Football Playoff rolls around, there’s no question as to which team will be more battle-tested.

Cook is a legit Heisman contender

I know that Heisman contenders change every week, but Dalvin Cook’s been doing this every week. It was a slow first half for him, only putting up 33 yards and a touchdown on eight carries, but he absolutely exploded in the third quarter. He got 120 yards on six (!) carries, and scored two touchdowns, while adding another in the fourth.

Cook is a game-changer, and always seems to break off a big touchdown run in every one of Florida State’s games. The Heisman committee obviously rewards results over everything else, and they won’t care for a four-touchdown game that resulted in a loss, but he gave a beastly effort. Without Cook, the Seminoles would be lost.

Even in an average game, Deshaun Watson can be brilliant

DeShaun Watson had a brilliant first quarter, a not-so-great second and third, then looked flawless in the fourth. After leading the Tigers to two touchdowns on their first two drives, it looked like things were going to end very poorly for the Seminoles. But they made the adjustments necessary, got two crucial interceptions, and converted both of them into touchdowns.

Situations like that would normally break other quarterbacks, but Watson wasn’t going to be defined by those two interceptions. He got his team down to first-and-goal to start the fourth where Wayne Gallman punched it in, set up Greg Huegel for a 46-yard field goal, then connected with Jordan Leggett for the game-winning score. Deshaun Watson had ice in his veins, and even if he doesn’t win the Heisman, he is the reason why this team is still undefeated.

Next: Best college quarterback born in every state

This Clemson team is a lot like Florida State in 2014, where they couldn’t win comfortably to save their life. The way Jameis Winston kept overcoming adversity and powering his team to an undefeated regular season record is why so many scouts fell in love with him, and we’re seeing the exact same thing from Clemson and Deshaun Watson this year. But it remains to be seen whether they’ll face a similar fate in the Playoff as FSU did.