CLEMSON, S.C. — Jordan Travis threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Keon Coleman to start overtime and No. 4 Florida State completed a second-half comeback to defeat Clemson 31-24 on Saturday and snap a seven-game losing streak against the Tigers.
Travis also threw for another TD and ran for a score for the Seminoles (4-0, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), who had not beaten Clemson (2-2, 0-2) since an overtime victory in 2014.
FSU linebacker Kalen DeLoach forced a fumble by Cade Klubnik and scooped it up for a 56-yard TD return to tie things at 24 with 31 seconds left in the third quarter.
Clemson had a chance to take a late lead, but Jonathan Weitz, a graduate student who left the team before the season only to return after the Tigers had issues in the kicking game, but his 29-yard try with under two minutes left was wide left.
Instead, the game went to OT and Travis, who was 21 of 37 for 289 yards, lofted a pass that Coleman caught in stride and hushed the raucous Death Valley crowd on the first extra possession.
Clemson couldn’t get a first down on its possession when Klubnik’s fourth-and-2 pass sailed wide of the target and Florida State’s players ran to celebrate on the field where they hadn’t won since 2013.
Clemson had lost only twice in 10 years at Death Valley since the Seminoles and quarterback Jameis Winston’s memorable 51-14 beatdown of the Tigers in 2013.
And Florida State struggled to find space much of the first half and had only 21 yards with less than 8 minutes left before the half. That’s when Travis and his talented corps of playmakers found their groove.
Travis directed a pair of 75-yard touchdown drives in the final 5 minutes, the first ending when Coleman was left alone a step inside the goal line for a 7-yard scoring catch.
After Clemson answered quickly with a TD drive of its own, Travis went 4-of-4 for 67 yards and finished with a 2-yard touchdown run to get within 17-14.
Clemson started No. 9 in the preseason rankings, slid down and eventually out of the poll after a 28-7 loss in Week 1 to unranked Duke. Three weeks of hearing their season was over obviously rankled the defending ACC champions and the Tigers had their most effective offensive showing this season.
Weitz, who had been Clemson’s backup kicker for four seasons got a call from coach Dabo Swinney at his home in Charleston, asking him to rejoin the team. Weitz was working on a graduate degree online.
He got the Tigers’ scoring started with a 30-yard field goal. He had made just three extra points in his four seasons with the team before pursuing a job in finance.
THE TAKEAWAY
Florida State: The Seminoles overcame perhaps their biggest ACC hurdle to supplant Clemson as the league heavyweight. If Florida State can continue to show the grit it displayed in raucous Death Valley, it will be a strong bet to be playing for its first ACC crown since 2014.
Clemson: The Tigers needed a win to get themselves back in the ACC and College Football Playoff chase. Instead, they’ve got two losses in September for the second time in three seasons and will need conference chaos for any chance to play for a league title.
UP NEXT
Florida State has a week off, then starts a three-game homestand with Virginia Tech on Oct. 7.
The 2024 World Series ended with the Los Angeles Dodgers winning the championship in a stunning comeback in Game 5, with Walker Buehler the unlikely pitcher to close out the 7-6 win over the New York Yankees. First baseman Freddie Freeman was handed the World Series MVP award for his record-tying 12-RBI performance.
But that doesn’t tell the full story of everyone who played a starring role this October — a postseason that featured a record six grand slams, among other wildness. So, to honor the best of the entire postseason, we’ve created our first MLB All-October Team.
From wild-card-round sensations to World Series heroes, here are the players our ESPN MLB expert panel voted as the best of the best at every position along with some award hardware for the brightest stars of October.
Why he’s here: To be honest, it wasn’t a great playoffs for catchers — they hit just .184/.254/.310. Higashioka is the one catcher who did hit, belting three home runs and driving in five runs in the seven games the Padres played.
Honorable mention: Will Smith, Los Angeles Dodgers
1B: Freddie Freeman, Los Angeles Dodgers
Why he’s here: Freeman didn’t have an extra-base hit and drove in just one run in the first two rounds of the playoffs as he tried to play through the severely sprained ankle he suffered at the end of the regular season. He didn’t even play in two games of the NLCS and required hours of physical therapy before each game just to get on the field. But the five days off before the World Series clearly helped, and he homered in the first four games, including his dramatic walk-off grand slam in Game 1 that will go down as not only the signature World Series moment of 2024 — but a World Series moment for the ages.
Why he’s here: Torres had a solid October as he heads into free agency, although he had little competition here. Indeed, second basemen collectively hit just .219 with three home runs the entire playoffs — two of those from Torres — and drove in 24 runs, with Torres driving in eight himself. He had three multihit games and scored five runs in five games in the ALCS, while also taking walks to help set the table for Juan Soto.
Why he’s here: Max Muncy set a record when he reached base 17 times in the NLCS, including a single-postseason-record 12 times in a row, but he went hitless in the World Series. Vientos, meanwhile, had a stellar first trip to the postseason, hitting .327/.362/.636 with five home runs and 14 RBIs in 13 games. That followed a breakout regular season in which he posted an .837 OPS with 27 home runs in just 111 games. He looks like he’ll be a fixture in the middle of the Mets’ lineup for years to come.
Why he’s here: Edman was an under-the-radar pickup at the trade deadline, in part because he was still injured and hadn’t yet played for the St. Louis Cardinals. Most of Edman’s starts came at shortstop, especially after Miguel Rojas was injured in the NLDS, but his bat got him here. Edman was the NLCS MVP after hitting .407 with a record-tying 11 RBIs in the series. He had started at cleanup just twice in his career but was slotted there twice against the Mets, driving in seven runs in those two games. Then he went 2-for-4 in each of the first two games of the World Series, including a home run in Game 2, and finished the Fall Classic hitting .294/.400/.588 with six runs.
Why they’re here: Betts entered this postseason in a 3-for-38 postseason slump going back to the end of the 2021 NLCS — and it initially looked like it would be more of the same when he went 0-for-6 the first two games of the NLDS, including a robbed home run courtesy of Jurickson Profar. Everything turned in Game 3 when Profar almost robbed him of another home run — but didn’t. After that, Betts was in the middle of most of the Dodgers’ big rallies, hitting .321/.394/.625 with four home runs and 16 RBIs over the Dodgers’ final 14 playoff games.
Soto’s at-bats spoke for themselves: He never seemed to have a bad one. His big at-bat was the three-run home run in the 10th inning of Game 5 of the ALCS to send the Yankees to the World Series. Getting intentionally walked twice while batting in front of Aaron Judge speaks to Judge’s struggles, yes — but also to how locked in Soto was all postseason. He finished the postseason slashing .327/.469/.633 with 4 home runs, 9 RBIs and 14 walks in 14 games.
Hernandez actually began October on the bench, but we’ve seen him perform big in the postseason before, and he stepped up when Miguel Rojas was injured in the NLDS. Hernandez homered in the Dodgers’ 2-0 victory to close out the Padres in the NLDS, had a big two-run home run against the Mets in Game 3 of the NLCS and got the series-turning five-run rally against the Yankees in Game 5 started with a leadoff single in the fifth as well as the series-winning rally in the eighth with another leadoff base hit. Overall, he hit .294/.357/.451 with 11 runs and six RBIs.
Why he’s here: The Yankees were often a two-man show in the postseason, just like they were in the regular season — except it was Soto and Stanton, not Soto and Judge. Stanton blasted seven home runs throughout the playoffs, including in the final three games of the ALCS (earning MVP honors) and in Games 1 and 5 of the World Series. He finished the playoffs hitting .273/.339/.709, and those seven homers are the most in a single postseason in Yankees history.
Why they’re here: Certainly, it seems as if the status of the starting pitcher in the postseason continues to decline — although, that doesn’t mean they’re not important. There were certainly some stellar individual outings along the way: Corbin Burnes allowed one run in eight innings (but lost 1-0) for the Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Phillies ace Zack Wheeler allowed one hit in seven scoreless innings (but that would be his only start) and the Padres’ Michael King fanned 12 to beat the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS. Skubal had two scoreless starts against the Houston Astros in the wild-card series and Cleveland Guardians in the ALDS, confirming his status as one of the best in the game — or maybe the best, as his soon-to-be AL Cy Young Award will attest.
Cole was really the one consistent starter throughout the postseason, making five starts with a 2.17 ERA. Unfortunately, that ERA doesn’t register the five unearned runs from the final game of the World Series when the Yankees’ defense turned into a comedy of errors — including Cole himself opening up the floodgates by failing to cover first base to get what would have been the inning-ending out.
Why they’re here: It also wasn’t the best of postseasons for closers — not even great ones. The Guardians’ Emmanuel Clase allowed five earned runs all regular season — and then eight in the playoffs. Milwaukee Brewers closer Devin Williams blew that wild-card game against the Mets. All-Star Jeff Hoffman lost two games for the Phillies. Weaver, however, was the one consistent late-game performer and was great while often pitching more than one inning. He posted a 1.76 ERA across 15⅓ innings. Who knows how the World Series ends if Yankees manager Aaron Boone keeps Weaver in the game in the 10th inning of Game 1. (Weaver had thrown just 19 pitches.)
Treinen, meanwhile, capped his comeback season — he had missed almost all of 2022 and then all of 2023 — with a 2.19 ERA across 12⅓ innings, winning two games and saving three others. In the World Series clincher, he recorded seven outs and got out of a two-on, no-out jam in the eighth inning to preserve the Dodgers’ 7-6 lead before handing the ball to Buehler to close out the ninth.
College Football Senior Writer for ESPN. Insider for College Gameday.
SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings has been medically cleared for the top-20 clash with Pittsburgh this weekend and will start for the Mustangs on Saturday night, coach Rhett Lashlee told ESPN.
Jennings has been described as being among a “bunch of beat-up guys” by Lashlee and was listed as questionable heading into the game. His injury has not been disclosed. He required medical clearance to play Saturday night, sources had told ESPN earlier in the week. That clearance came late this week, Lashlee said.
Jennings is 5-0 as a starter this season for No. 20 SMU, which hosts a key matchup against No. 18 Pitt. Jennings is 6-1 in his career as a starter and has emerged as the engineer of one of the ACC’s most dangerous offenses.
He has thrown for 1,594 yards with 10 touchdowns and five interceptions this season. He completed 21 of 27 passes in a road win at Louisville and threw for 322 yards in a win at Stanford. Jennings has also run for 321 yards and three touchdowns.
Both quarterbacks in Saturday’s game had some ambiguity around their status. Pitt’s Eli Holstein was also cleared late in the week, coach Pat Narduzzi announced on his radio show Wednesday.
Both teams are undefeated in ACC play, as Pitt enters 7-0 overall (3-0 ACC) for the first time since 1982. SMU is 7-1 overall (4-0 ACC), with its only loss coming early in the year to undefeated BYU.
Jennings took a hit that Lashlee has called “a real shot” during SMU’s game at Duke on Saturday night. He threw three interceptions in the 28-27 SMU win.
In ACC play, SMU’s offense ranks No. 3 in scoring with 36.0 points per game. The Mustangs also rank third with 477.3 yards per league game.
Jake Trotter covers college football for ESPN. He joined ESPN in 2011. Before that, he worked at The Oklahoman, Austin American-Statesman and Middletown (Ohio) Journal newspapers. You can follow him @Jake_Trotter.
Jack Daniels had never witnessed a catch like it.
The South Florida high school coach of 35 years was playing Chaminade-Madonna — and future Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith — in the playoffs.
“They were already up on us pretty good, and they had the running back throw the ball,” Daniels recalled. “And [Smith] went up — I think he was about 5 feet over the goalpost over a kid that was a Power 4 corner [Kevin Levy, who is now at Rutgers]. … it was just incredible.”
The Cardinal Newman coach has faced dozens of future NFL wide receivers over the years, including Pro Football Hall of Famer Devin Hester and Super Bowl champion Anquan Boldin.
Yet to Daniels, Smith stands alone.
“He is head and shoulders, by far, the best I’ve ever seen,” said Daniels, comparing Smith’s high school prowess to that of Baltimore Ravens MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson, who hailed from Boynton Beach Community High School.
“There’s been nothing like him.”
Archbishop Carroll coach Jorge Zagales, who also lost to Chaminade in the playoffs, recalls only one opposing player over his three decades on the sidelines who could dominate like Smith.
“I coached against Sean Taylor. … and Jeremiah is right there, if not the same as Sean Taylor,” Zagales said of the former Pro Bowl safety from Gulliver Prep, who died at 24. “Sean Taylor probably would’ve been a Hall of Famer. I feel that’s the way Jeremiah is headed.”
Clearwater Central Catholic coach Chris Harvey grew up in West Virginia watching Randy Moss play for DuPont High School. As a coach, Harvey hadn’t come across anyone like Moss — until he met Smith in the Florida state championship game.
“You saw what [Moss] did to professional DBs, so imagine what he did to DBs in West Virginia in high school,” Harvey said. “I love my home state. But we’re not West Virginia in Florida. We’ve got dudes — and Jeremiah Smith made us look like the West Virginia high school DBs.”
All of that might sound hyperbolic.
Except seven games into his freshman season at Ohio State, Smith — still just 18 years old — is already one of college football’s best wide receivers, alongside Alabama freshman phenom Ryan Williams and Colorado Heisman Trophy contender Travis Hunter.
“His physical skills (6-foot-3, 215 pounds) are kind of incomparable for someone at that age, but it’s his maturity level that has set him apart. There’s a lot of guys that could get caught up in that hype. You don’t see that out of him,” said Ohio State offensive coordinator and former NFL head coach Chip Kelly, who noted that Smith carries on like a “10-year NFL veteran.”
“How he approaches meetings, how he approaches practices,” Kelly said, “it’s rare.”
Despite playing on an Ohio State offense loaded with future pros, including running backs Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson, and preseason All-American wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, Smith leads the Buckeyes with 623 receiving yards on 35 receptions.
Last week, Smith tied Cris Carter’s Ohio State freshman record set in 1984 with his eighth touchdown catch, blowing by the Nebraska defense for a 60-yard score.
Saturday in a Big Ten showdown against third-ranked Penn State, Smith needs only seven receptions and 26 receiving yards to break Carter’s other freshman program records, though he’s still well behind Michael Crabtree’s national freshman receiving records at Texas Tech in 2007 (134 catches for 1,962 yards and 22 touchdowns).
Smith has reached the end zone in every game this season, highlighted by his dazzling one-handed touchdown grabs against Michigan State and Iowa.
TWO UNBELIEVEABLE ONE-HANDED CATCHES BY JEREMIAH SMITH 🤯
To those who faced Smith in high school, those spectacular catches are nothing new.
In their state championship game, Harvey assumed Chaminade quarterback CJ Bailey was throwing the ball away.
“Then from nowhere comes this arm,” Harvey said. “And [Smith] pulls it back in for a touchdown, like Stretch Armstrong. It was definitely one of the best catches I’ve ever seen. But the thing about it is, he does that so often, he doesn’t even get excited about it.”
Harvey and Clearwater Catholic lost the past two state championship games to Chaminade by a combined score of 104-14. Smith caught 11 passes for 170 yards in the second title matchup on the way to a 56-0 victory for Chaminade’s third state championship in a row.
Afterward, South Florida University coach Alex Golesh, who was in attendance, consoled Harvey, telling him, “That’s just what happens when you’re playing a generational talent.”
“And that’s what he is,” Harvey said. “And outside of Randy Moss, I’ve never seen a person have the ability to take over a game at that position the way he did.”
Smith didn’t reach that level by accident.
North Carolina running back Davion Gause, who grew up with Smith and played with him at Chaminade, recalled Smith being cut from their youth football team 11 years ago.
“He still came to the park every day and watched us practice, playing catch with his dad the whole time,” Gause said. “When he came back the next year, he was a different player.”
Bailey, who played on a different youth team, remembered Smith dominating in the championship game that following year.
“He was killing us,” said Bailey, now NC State’s starting quarterback.
Bailey, Gause and Smith later joined forces at Chaminade, forming one of the country’s top high school teams. Chaminade coach Dameon Jones said he’d hadn’t had a player more committed who worked harder in practice than Smith.
“His mindset, the way it is to be so young, is crazy,” said Jones, who coached Miami Dolphins quarterback Tyler Huntley and Cincinnati Bengals running back Zack Moss. “I’ve just never seen it before. … He’s the total package.”
As a junior, Smith was hampered by a hip flexor injury. Jones pleaded with Smith to take off a couple of practices to allow the hip to heal.
“He got pissed at me,” Jones said. “He told me, ‘I’m not missing practice. I’m not missing reps.'”
Smith brought that work ethic to Columbus. This summer, he became Ohio State’s first freshman to be named an “Iron Buckeye,” given to the top performers in offseason workouts.
“Jeremiah is already a freak in the weight room,” said Egbuka, who also earned the honor.
The one-handed catches, however, have been what have set Smith apart this season.
After Odell Beckham Jr. made his famous one-handed touchdown snag for the New York Giants in 2014, Gause remembered Smith toiling endlessly attempting to re-create it.
Later at Chaminade, Smith and teammate Joshisa Trader, who’s now a receiver at Miami, worked on their one-handed catches with the jug machines daily. Jones would get irritated when players would try to catch with one hand in games. But after watching how rigorously Smith practiced them, Jones had to relent.
“The stuff y’all are seeing right now in college with them one-handed catches,” Bailey said, “I’ve seen way, way crazier things from him.”
One of those one-handed catches came during a victory over Miami Central on ESPN.
“[He] would just kill other defenses,” said Pitt defensive end Zachary Crothers, who also played for Chaminade. “You could tell defenses were scared. They did not want to be out there.”
Bailey knew Smith would be special during their first 7-on-7 tournament together; Smith initially had played at Monsignor Edward Pace before transferring to Chaminade as a sophomore. The Lions were down a score, and time was running out.
“We got a played called,” Bailey said. “This is a clutch moment. But JJ [Jeremiah] walks up to the [offensive coordinator] and says, ‘I want a fade.’ Coach says, ‘All right, let him run a fade.'”
Bailey lofted the ball to Smith, who brought the pass down over the defender for a touchdown. Chaminade then went for two to win the game.
“And we never lost a 7-on-7 tournament,” Bailey said. “With him, I’ve seen it all.”
Despite becoming the No. 1-ranked high school receiver in the country, Smith only asked Jones for the ball one time.
An opposing defensive back from American Heritage kept talking trash to Smith during one of Chaminade’s few tightly contested games.
“So we threw [Smith] a bomb, and he caught a touchdown over him,” Jones said. “The one thing about JJ, he’s quiet, he’s humble. But he’s also got that dog mentality inside of him.”
This spring, the Arizona Cardinals selected Harrison with the fourth overall pick, making him the highest-drafted receiver in Ohio State history. But Smith-Njigba says he believes Smith could ultimately go higher than any of them — though he won’t be eligible until the 2027 draft.
“He could play one year of college and be ready for the league,” Smith-Njigba said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a receiver that young like him.”