September 17, 2011 Week 3 · Regular Season Belt changed hands

Clemson takes the belt, 38–24, at home over Auburn.

Home · New Holder

Clemson 38

Away · Defending Holder

AuburnAP No. 21 24

AP poll, week 3: Auburn No. 21 at Clemson unranked · No. 1 that week: West Virginia. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Clemson took the belt here, ending Auburn’s run of 287 days and 3 defenses (reign #277) and starting reign #278. It lasted 42 days and 5 defenses, until Georgia Tech took it on October 29, 2011.

For Clemson this was its 10th shot at the belt; it had held the belt twice before — and it took it back here.

It was the 3rd of 4 belt games between the two; going in, Auburn led the belt series 2–0; all-time it is 2–2. Every meeting →

AI-Written

Recap

Auburn came out firing in the first quarter, with Michael Dyer scoring on a 52-yard rush and Barrett Trotter connecting with Emory Blake for a 36-yard touchdown to build a 14-0 lead. Clemson responded methodically in the second quarter, as Tajh Boyd orchestrated a dominant passing attack featuring multiple touchdown passes to DeAndre Hopkins, Dwayne Allen, and Andre Ellington to take a 21-14 halftime lead. The Tigers put the game away in the third quarter with two more Sammy Watkins touchdowns, including a spectacular 65-yard scoring play, while Auburn could only manage a field goal, leaving the final margin at 38-24. Clemson's superior efficiency on third downs (14-18 vs Auburn's 5-13) and time of possession advantage (22:10 to 14:10) proved decisive in capturing the belt.

Auburn's two quick touchdown drives in Q1 (Dyer 52-yard TD and Blake 36-yard TD reception) established early momentum
Clemson's second-quarter turnaround with four touchdown passes to take a 21-14 lead before halftime
Sammy Watkins' 65-yard touchdown reception in Q3 that extended Clemson's lead and broke Auburn's comeback hopes
Clemson's dominant third-down conversion rate (14-18) controlling the clock and limiting Auburn's possessions

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

ClemsonAuburn

Total yards624435

Rushing yards238237

Passing yards386199

First downs3219

3rd down conv.14/185/13

Turnovers11

Penalties–yards6–505–40

Time of possession22:1014:10

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q1 10:36	Auburn	+52 yd	Michael Dyer rush for 52 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q1 10:36	Auburn	+0 yd	Cody Parkey extra point GOOD.
Q1 7:54	Auburn	+36 yd	Barrett Trotter pass complete to Emory Blake for 36 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q1 7:54	Auburn	+0 yd	Cody Parkey extra point GOOD.
Q2 14:56	Clemson	+4 yd	Tajh Boyd pass complete to DeAndre Hopkins for 4 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q1 0:32	Clemson	+23 yd	Tajh Boyd pass complete to DeAndre Hopkins for 23 yards to the Aub 4 for a 1ST down.
Q2 14:56	Clemson	+0 yd	Chandler Catanzaro extra point GOOD.
Q2 11:15	Auburn	+20 yd	Barrett Trotter pass complete to Travante Stallworth for 20 yards to the Clem 27 for a 1ST down.
Q2 8:54	Auburn	+1 yd	Michael Dyer rush for 1 yard for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 8:54	Auburn	+0 yd	Cody Parkey extra point GOOD.
Q2 5:06	Clemson	+6 yd	Tajh Boyd pass complete to Dwayne Allen for 6 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 5:06	Clemson	+0 yd	Chandler Catanzaro extra point GOOD.
Q2 8:43	Clemson	+25 yd	Sammy Watkins rush for 25 yards to the Clem 44 for a 1ST down.
Q2 1:11	Clemson	+2 yd	Andre Ellington rush for 2 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 1:33	Clemson	+23 yd	Tajh Boyd pass complete to Dwayne Allen for 23 yards to the Aub 2 for a 1ST down.
Q2 1:11	Clemson	+0 yd	Chandler Catanzaro extra point GOOD.
Q2 1:11	Clemson	+21 yd	Spencer Benton kickoff for 70 yards returned by Tre Mason for 21 yards to the Aub 21.
Q3 13:45	Clemson	+65 yd	Tajh Boyd pass complete to Sammy Watkins for 65 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q3 13:45	Clemson	+0 yd	Chandler Catanzaro extra point GOOD.
Q3 5:00	Auburn	+38 yd	Cody Parkey 38 yard field goal GOOD.
Q3 7:46	Auburn	+45 yd	Michael Dyer rush for 45 yards to the Clem 37 for a 1ST down.
Q3 0:16	Clemson	+19 yd	Tajh Boyd pass complete to Sammy Watkins for 19 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q3 4:13	Clemson	+24 yd	Tajh Boyd pass complete to Charone Peake for 24 yards to the Clem 45 for a 1ST down.
Q3 0:16	Clemson	+0 yd	Chandler Catanzaro extra point GOOD.
Q3 0:16	Clemson	+22 yd	Spencer Benton kickoff for 64 yards returned by Tre Mason for 22 yards to the Aub 28.
Q4 13:45	Clemson	+37 yd	D.J. Howard rush for 37 yards to the Aub 23 for a 1ST down.
Q4 11:48	Clemson	+38 yd	Chandler Catanzaro 38 yard field goal GOOD.
Q4 11:31	Auburn	+41 yd	Barrett Trotter pass complete to DeAngelo Benton for 41 yards to the Clem 39 for a 1ST down.
Q4 9:34	Auburn	+0 yd	Barrett Trotter pass intercepted by Coty Sensabaugh at the Clem 5, returned for no gain to the Clem 5.

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Clemson

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Tajh Boyd	30/42	386	9.2	4	0	92.7

Auburn

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Barrett Trotter	12/25	198	7.9	1	1	57.6

Rushing

Clemson

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
D.J. Howard	9	86	9.6	0	37
Andre Ellington	14	46	3.3	1	9
Sammy Watkins	7	44	6.3	0	25
Mike Bellamy	11	36	3.3	0	12
Tajh Boyd	7	30	4.3	0	9

Auburn

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Michael Dyer	16	151	9.4	2	52
Onterio McCalebb	10	34	3.4	0	18
Tre Mason	4	15	3.8	0	14
Barrett Trotter	4	14	3.5	0	8
Trovon Reed	2	12	6.0	0	10
Quan Bray	1	8	8.0	0	8
Kiehl Frazier	1	3	3.0	0	3

Receiving

Clemson

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Sammy Watkins	10	155	15.5	2	65
DeAndre Hopkins	7	83	11.9	1	23
Dwayne Allen	7	80	11.4	1	23
Charone Peake	2	41	20.5	0	24
Jaron Brown	2	22	11.0	0	16
Mike Bellamy	1	4	4.0	0	4
Andre Ellington	1	1	1.0	0	1

Auburn

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Travante Stallworth	5	71	14.2	0	20
DeAngelo Benton	1	41	41.0	0	41
Emory Blake	1	36	36.0	1	36
Trovon Reed	3	31	10.3	0	16
Onterio McCalebb	1	17	17.0	0	17
Quindarius Carr	1	2	2.0	0	2

Show more stats (5 more categories)

Interceptions

Clemson

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Coty Sensabaugh	1	0	0

Auburn

No recorded stats in this category.

Kick Returns

Clemson

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Andre Ellington	1	16	16.0	16	0

Auburn

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Tre Mason	4	63	15.8	22	0

Kicking

Clemson

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Chandler Catanzaro	1/1	100.0	38	5/5	8

Auburn

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Cody Parkey	1/1	100.0	38	3/3	6

Punt Returns

Clemson

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
DeAndre Hopkins	4	0	0.0	0	0

Auburn

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Trovon Reed	3	6	2.0	4	0

Punting

Clemson

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Dawson Zimmerman	3	138	46.0	0	0	56

Auburn

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Steven Clark	6	248	41.3	0	0	51

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 312600228) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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