September 30, 2017 Week 5 · Regular Season Belt defended

Clemson defends the belt, 31–17, on the road at Virginia Tech.

Home · Challenger

Virginia TechAP No. 12 17

Away · Defending Holder

ClemsonAP No. 2 31

AP poll, week 5: Clemson No. 2 at Virginia Tech No. 12 · No. 1 that week: Georgia. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Clemson came in 264 days into reign #298, which began with a win over Alabama, with 4 defenses already behind it; this was its 5th defense. Clemson went on to defend it 1 more time before Syracuse took it on October 13, 2017, 277 days after the reign began.

For Virginia Tech this was its 16th shot at the belt; it had held the belt once before.

It was the 4th of 4 belt games between the two; going in, Clemson led the belt series 3–0; all-time Clemson leads 4–0. Every meeting →

AI-Written

Recap

Clemson's defense dominated Virginia Tech throughout the game, forcing three turnovers while the Tigers' offense moved methodically down the field. After Alex Spence's early field goal, Kelly Bryant connected with Tavien Feaster for a 60-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter to establish control. Clemson extended its lead to 17-3 by halftime with another Bryant-to-Deon Cain drive capped by C.J. Fuller's 1-yard touchdown run, while Virginia Tech managed only a 43-yard field goal. The second half saw Clemson add another touchdown on a short Feaster run, but Virginia Tech's Josh Jackson rallied the Hokies with two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter. However, two critical Jackson interceptions—one returned for a touchdown by Dorian O'Daniel—sealed Clemson's 31-17 victory and its retention of the belt.

Kelly Bryant's 60-yard TD pass to Tavien Feaster in Q1 established early Clemson control and set the tone for dominance
Dorian O'Daniel's interception return for a touchdown in Q4 ended any Virginia Tech momentum and clinched the belt retention
Three Virginia Tech turnovers compared to zero for Clemson proved decisive in the defensive battle

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

Virginia TechClemson

Total yards342332

Rushing yards90146

Passing yards252186

First downs1714

3rd down conv.4/156/16

Turnovers30

Penalties–yards4–314–20

Time of possession29:1630:44

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 12:32	Clemson	+27 yd	Kelly Bryant pass complete to Ray-Ray McCloud for 27 yds to the VTech 22 for a 1ST down
Q1 9:54	Clemson	+23 yd	Alex Spence 23 yd FG GOOD
Q1 9:54	Clemson	+22 yd	Alex Spence kickoff for 65 yds , Henri Murphy return for 22 yds to the VTech 22
Q1 6:48	Clemson	+60 yd	Kelly Bryant pass complete to Tavien Feaster for 60 yds for a TD, (Alex Spence KICK)
Q2 7:47	Clemson	+41 yd	Alex Spence 41 yd FG MISSED
Q2 3:10	Virginia Tech	+43 yd	Joey Slye 43 yd FG GOOD
Q2 2:17	Clemson	+35 yd	Kelly Bryant pass complete to Deon Cain for 35 yds to the VTech 35 for a 1ST down
Q2 1:20	Clemson	+20 yd	Kelly Bryant pass complete to Deon Cain for 20 yds to the VTech 1 for a 1ST down
Q2 1:19	Clemson	+1 yd	C.J. Fuller run for 1 yd for a TD, (Alex Spence KICK)
Q2 0:25	Virginia Tech	+21 yd	Josh Jackson pass complete to Cam Phillips for 21 yds to the Clem 41 for a 1ST down
Q2 1:19	Clemson	+21 yd	Alex Spence kickoff for 63 yds , Henri Murphy return for 21 yds to the VTech 23
Q2 0:02	Virginia Tech	+45 yd	Joey Slye 45 yd FG MISSED
Q3 12:55	Virginia Tech	+1 yd	Travon McMillian run for 1 yd to the Clem 49 Travon McMillian fumbled, forced by Dexter Lawrence, recovered by Clem Dorian O'Daniel
Q3 7:12	Clemson	+1 yd	Tavien Feaster run for 1 yd for a TD, (Alex Spence KICK)
Q3 9:28	Clemson	+24 yd	Kelly Bryant run for 24 yds to the VTech 6 for a 1ST down
Q3 3:41	Virginia Tech	+35 yd	Josh Jackson pass complete to C.J. Carroll for 35 yds to the Clem 44 for a 1ST down
Q3 2:31	Virginia Tech	+20 yd	Josh Jackson pass complete to Henri Murphy for 20 yds to the Clem 18 for a 1ST down
Q4 14:04	Clemson	+43 yd	Will Spiers punt for 33 yds , Greg Stroman returns for 43 yds to the Clem 2
Q4 14:00	Virginia Tech	+2 yd	Sean Savoy run for 2 yds for a TD, (Joey Slye KICK)
Q4 11:08	Virginia Tech	-22 yd	Josh Jackson pass intercepted for a TD Dorian O'Daniel return for 22 yds for a TD, (Alex Spence KICK)
Q4 7:31	Virginia Tech	+0 yd	Josh Jackson pass intercepted Austin Bryant return for no gain to the Clem 40
Q4 1:32	Virginia Tech	+30 yd	Josh Jackson pass complete to Sean Savoy for 30 yds for a TD, (Joey Slye KICK)

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

Virginia Tech

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Josh Jackson	29/44	251	5.7	1	2	28.3
Oscar Bradburn	1/1	1	1.0	0	0	0.0

Clemson

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Kelly Bryant	12/21	186	8.9	1	0	78.1

Rushing

Virginia Tech

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Coleman Fox	5	39	7.8	0	15
Travon McMillian	6	29	4.8	0	19
Josh Jackson	9	13	1.4	0	6
Deshawn McClease	3	9	3.0	0	5
Sean Savoy	2	8	4.0	1	6
C.J. Carroll	3	-8	-2.7	0	1

Clemson

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Kelly Bryant	19	94	4.9	0	24
Tavien Feaster	9	29	3.2	1	8
Travis Etienne	8	19	2.4	0	15
C.J. Fuller	4	10	2.5	1	5
Ray-Ray McCloud	1	2	2.0	0	2
Team	1	-1	-1.0	0	0
Amari Rodgers	1	-7	-7.0	0	0

Receiving

Virginia Tech

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Cam Phillips	7	74	10.6	0	21
C.J. Carroll	3	45	15.0	0	35
Henri Murphy	3	43	14.3	0	20
Sean Savoy	4	35	8.8	1	30
Eric Kumah	3	17	5.7	0	9
Deshawn McClease	2	14	7.0	0	17
Coleman Fox	4	13	3.3	0	13
Travon McMillian	2	7	3.5	0	7
Dalton Keene	2	4	2.0	0	3

Clemson

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Tavien Feaster	2	63	31.5	1	60
Deon Cain	2	55	27.5	0	35
Ray-Ray McCloud	3	35	11.7	0	27
Hunter Renfrow	2	19	9.5	0	16
Milan Richard	3	14	4.7	0	7

Show more stats (7 more categories)

Defense

Virginia Tech

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Terrell Edmunds	11	3	0	0	0	0
Reggie Floyd	10	6	0	0	0	0
Andrew Motuapuaka	9	5	0	0	0	0
Tremaine Edmunds	9	2	0	0	0	0
Trevon Hill	6	4	1	1.5	0	1
Tim Settle	6	1	1	1.5	0	0
Mook Reynolds	5	2	0	1	0	0
Ricky Walker	4	1	0	0	0	0
Brandon Facyson	3	2	0	0	0	0
Adonis Alexander	2	2	1	1	0	0
Vinny Mihota	2	1	0	0	0	0
Deon Newsome	1	0	0	0	1	0
Emmanuel Belmar	1	0	0	0	0	0
Anthony Shegog	0	0	0	0	1	0
Greg Stroman	0	0	0	0	1	0

Clemson

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR	TD
J.D. Davis	11	4	0	0	0	0	0
Dorian O'Daniel	10	6	1	1	0	0	1
Kendall Joseph	10	1	0	1	1	1	0
Tanner Muse	8	3	0	0	0	0	0
Mark Fields	6	4	0	1	0	0	0
Isaiah Simmons	5	4	1	1	1	1	0
Austin Bryant	5	4	0	2.5	0	0	0
Tre Lamar	5	0	0	0	0	0	0
Van Smith	4	1	0	0	0	0	0
Albert Huggins	3	0	0	0.5	0	1	0
Dexter Lawrence	2	2	0	0	0	0	0
Ryan Carter	2	1	0	0	2	0	0
Clelin Ferrell	2	1	0	0	0	2	0
K'Von Wallace	2	1	0	0	0	0	0
Nolan Turner	2	1	0	0	0	0	0
Christian Wilkins	2	0	0	0	0	1	0
Xavier Kelly	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Nyles Pinckney	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Chad Smith	1	1	0	1	0	0	0
Chris Register	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Judah Davis	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sterling Johnson	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
James Skalski	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
A.J. Terrell	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Justin Foster	1	0	0	0	0	0	0

Fumbles

Virginia Tech

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Travon McMillian	1	1	0

Clemson

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Dorian O'Daniel	0	0	1

Interceptions

Virginia Tech

No recorded stats in this category.

Clemson

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Dorian O'Daniel	1	22	1
Austin Bryant	1	0	0

Kick Returns

Virginia Tech

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Henri Murphy	4	83	20.8	24	0

Clemson

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
C.J. Fuller	1	2	2.0	2	0

Kicking

Virginia Tech

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Joey Slye	1/2	50.0	43	2/2	5

Clemson

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Alex Spence	1/2	50.0	23	4/4	7

Punt Returns

Virginia Tech

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Greg Stroman	4	55	13.8	43	0

Clemson

No recorded stats in this category.

Punting

Virginia Tech

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Oscar Bradburn	5	215	43.0	0	0	51

Clemson

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Will Spiers	7	265	37.9	0	0	53

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 400937481) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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