Oct. 17—CLEMSON — It's been quite some time since the Tigers had a sunny, relaxing afternoon of football.
In the first few weeks of 2026, it's been all night games, rain delays, stressful wins and blowout losses against ranked opponents. The last time Clemson truly had an "easy" game was nearly a year ago in a 45-10 win over Furman on Nov. 22, 2025.
Clemson finally got to kick back, put its feet up and roll almost effortlessly to a 37-0 win over Charleston Southern on Oct. 17 during the noon matchup at Memorial Stadium.
It marks the largest win and point total for Clemson (4-2, 2-1 ACC) since that win over Furman. In fact, the Tigers already had their most points of 2026 leading 34-0 at the end of the first half. Clemson outgained Charleston Southern 438-76 in the game and picked up 21 more first downs.
"I thought we dominated the game, and really from start to finish," Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. "And I thought we got better as the game went."
The Tigers' first drives on offense and defense were cause for some unease. Clemson sputtered out just past midfield to open the game and settled for a field goal. Charleston Southern (3-4, 0-2 OVC) moved past the 50-yard line with a handful of solid runs from Buccaneers running back Hakeem Watters, who finished with 46 yards on 13 carries. The Buccaneers settled for a field goal on fourth and short but missed, keeping Clemson ahead 3-0.
From there, Clemson scored three straight touchdowns on the ground with Gideon Davidson (one) and Chris Johnson Jr. (two). The Tigers' special teams unit added to the score by forcing a fumble on a Charleston Southern kickoff return after Johnson's second touchdown of his Clemson career. Safety Kylon Griffin returned the fumble to give Clemson a 31-0 lead.
"It was a really blessing. I've scored at every level of football. Little league, middle school, high school and now college," Griffin said. "We practice every day at scooping and scoring."
It was the second special teams touchdown for Clemson this season and the second turnover forced by the unit.
Kicker Nolan Hauser made a career-long field goal from 59 yards out to end the first half with Clemson up 34-0. His previous longest make was a 56-yard, game-winning field goal against SMU in the 2024 ACC Championship.
It was an underwhelming showing statistically from freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds, who finished 17 of 26 passing for 127 yards and no touchdowns. He exited the game just before the end of the third quarter. Reynolds did however, go without a turnover for the first time since taking over as the team's starter vs. North Carolina on Sept. 19.
Swinney said he thought it was the best game Reynolds played this year, despite the lack of production, because of his poise and decision making. He said Reynolds could have had better numbers had Clemson's receivers finished on some "great throws."
"The broadcaster asked me at halftime, 'Well, what do you got to do to get passing game going?' Well, we got to catch the ball. I mean, just start right there," he said.
Trent Pearman took over for Reynolds and went 8 for 13 with 80 yards and two interceptions. Clemson could only muster three points in the second half on Hauser's third field goal of the game. Freshman QB Brock Bradley was the final QB in the game as Clemson held out senior Christopher Vizzina again after he injured his left elbow vs. Georgia Southern on Sept. 12.
Swinney said Vizzina was available to play, but with such little time left in the game, Vizzina suggested the Tigers put Bradley on the field instead.
The Tigers' defense was the real star of the second half, holding the Buccaneers to six total yards after halftime and out of the end zone entirely. It's the first shutout win for Clemson since a 30-0 victory at South Carolina in 2021. Charleston Southern went 0 for 13 on third and fourth down attempts in the game.
"I think by far our best game as a team, and certainly our best team defense," Swinney said.
Next game
Clemson returns to ACC play when it hosts Virginia Tech on Oct. 24. The game will kick off at 7 or 7:30 p.m. on ESPN or ESPN2. Details will be announced after Saturday's slate of games.
Virginia Tech is 4-2 (1-2) entering Week 7 in its first season under former Penn State head coach James Franklin. The Hokies fell at Cal 25-20 on Oct. 10 and hosted Georgia Tech at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. Virginia Tech QB Ethan Grunkemeyer helped lead Penn State to a win over Clemson in the 2025 Pinstripe Bowl.
"We'll enjoy it tonight, and right back at it tomorrow. We got tough V-Tech team coming in here who's really having a good year," Swinney said. "Got a quarterback that beat us last year who's a really good player, so it'd be a big challenge for us to to kind of finish what we call the primetime phase of our journey."
Reach Jackson Castellano at jcastellano@postandcourier.com. Follow him on X @jaxacastellano. Want Clemson news delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to The Tiger Take.