October 7, 2017 Week 6 · Regular Season Belt defended

Clemson defends the belt, 28–14, at home over Wake Forest.

Home · Defending Holder

ClemsonAP No. 2 28

Away · Challenger

Wake Forest 14

AP poll, week 6: Wake Forest unranked at Clemson No. 2 · No. 1 that week: Georgia. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Clemson came in 271 days into reign #298, which began with a win over Alabama, with 5 defenses already behind it; this was its 6th defense. It was the last defense: Syracuse took the belt in the very next belt game, on October 13, 2017.

For Wake Forest this was its 3rd shot at the belt; it had never held the belt. It still hasn’t: 3 attempts in all, every one of them a loss or a tie.

This is the only time Clemson and Wake Forest have met with the belt on the line.

AI-Written

Recap

Clemson dominated the early going against Wake Forest, with Kelly Bryant striking quickly through the air to Deon Cain for a touchdown just 12:59 into the first quarter, followed by Adam Choice punching in a short TD run to make it 14-0. Wake Forest mounted a brief threat late in the first quarter when Kendall Hinton connected with Greg Dortch for 43 yards and drew a face mask penalty to reach the Clemson 13, but Mike Weaver's 34-yard field goal attempt sailed wide. Clemson extended their lead in the second half with Travis Etienne's one-yard TD run in the third quarter, then Hunter Johnson added another score in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach at 28-0. Wake Forest scored twice late in the fourth quarter through Scotty Washington and Cam Serigne to provide some respectability to the final margin, but the Tigers' early efficiency and defensive control throughout secured the belt.

Kelly Bryant to Deon Cain 28-yard TD (Q1 12:59) - Clemson struck immediately and set the tone for the game
Adam Choice 4-yard TD run (Q1 6:18) - Extended Clemson's lead to 14-0 before Wake Forest could establish rhythm
Kelly Bryant interception by Amari Henderson (Q3 12:38) - Stopped a potential Clemson scoring drive and kept Wake Forest's comeback hopes alive
Travis Etienne 1-yard TD run (Q3 7:31) - Pushed Clemson's lead to 21-0 and effectively ended the contest

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

ClemsonWake Forest

Total yards453336

Rushing yards190133

Passing yards263203

First downs2516

3rd down conv.9/194/16

Turnovers20

Penalties–yards9–794–25

Time of possession35:0524:55

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 12:59	Clemson	+28 yd	Kelly Bryant pass complete to Deon Cain for 28 yds for a TD, (Alex Spence KICK)
Q1 12:59	Clemson	+21 yd	Alex Spence kickoff for 65 yds , Greg Dortch return for 21 yds to the WFrst 21
Q1 6:18	Clemson	+4 yd	Adam Choice run for 4 yds for a TD, (Alex Spence KICK)
Q1 7:48	Clemson	+20 yd	Travis Etienne run for 20 yds to the WFrst 27 for a 1ST down
Q1 5:52	Wake Forest	+57 yd	Kendall Hinton pass complete to Greg Dortch for 43 yds to the CLEMSON 27 for a 1ST down CLEMSON Penalty, Face Mask (14 yards) (Christian Wilkins) to the Clem 13 for a 1ST down
Q1 6:18	Clemson	+27 yd	Alex Spence kickoff for 62 yds , Greg Dortch return for 27 yds to the WFrst 30
Q1 4:37	Wake Forest	+34 yd	Mike Weaver 34 yd FG MISSED
Q1 3:56	Clemson	+20 yd	Kelly Bryant pass complete to Tee Higgins for 20 yds to the Clem 41 for a 1ST down
Q1 0:23	Clemson	+43 yd	Alex Spence 43 yd FG MISSED
Q2 4:17	Wake Forest	+20 yd	Dom Maggio punt for 48 yds , Ray-Ray McCloud returns for 20 yds to the 50 yardline CLEMSON Penalty, Offensive Holding (10 Yards) to the Clem 40
Q3 13:43	Wake Forest	+23 yd	Dom Maggio punt for 46 yds , Ray-Ray McCloud returns for 23 yds to the Clem 48
Q3 14:48	Wake Forest	+0 yd	Kendall Hinton run for no gain to the WFrst 25 Kendall Hinton fumbled, forced by Austin Bryant, recovered by WFrst Matt Colburn
Q3 12:38	Clemson	+0 yd	Kelly Bryant pass intercepted Amari Henderson return for no gain to the WFrst 36
Q3 12:26	Wake Forest	+38 yd	Kendall Hinton pass complete to Chuck Wade for 38 yds to the Clem 26 for a 1ST down
Q3 11:09	Wake Forest	+50 yd	Mike Weaver 50 yd FG MISSED
Q3 8:43	Clemson	+29 yd	Kelly Bryant pass complete to Hunter Renfrow for 29 yds to the WFrst 10 for a 1ST down
Q3 7:31	Clemson	+1 yd	Travis Etienne run for 1 yd for a TD, (Alex Spence KICK)
Q4 11:48	Clemson	+13 yd	Hunter Johnson pass complete to Cannon Smith for 13 yds for a TD, (Alex Spence KICK)
Q4 8:32	Wake Forest	+16 yd	Kendall Hinton pass complete to Scotty Washington for 16 yds for a TD, (Mike Weaver KICK)
Q4 8:58	Wake Forest	+37 yd	Kendall Hinton run for 37 yds to the Clem 16 for a 1ST down
Q4 2:28	Wake Forest	+11 yd	Kendall Hinton pass complete to Cam Serigne for 11 yds for a TD, (Mike Weaver KICK)
Q4 6:24	Wake Forest	+26 yd	Kendall Hinton pass complete to Jack Freudenthal for 26 yds to the Clem 34 for a 1ST down

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
Kelly Bryant	21/29	200	6.9	1	1	57.9
Hunter Johnson	5/5	42	8.4	1	0	98.1
Zerrick Cooper	2/6	16	2.7	0	0	10.2
Will Spiers	1/1	5	5.0	0	0	100.0

Wake Forest

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Kendall Hinton	14/30	203	6.8	2	0	24.8

Rushing

Clemson

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Travis Etienne	15	67	4.5	1	20
Tavien Feaster	11	54	4.9	0	15
Kelly Bryant	12	39	3.3	0	14
Adam Choice	7	26	3.7	1	6
C.J. Fuller	2	6	3.0	0	5
Team	1	-2	-2.0	0	0

Wake Forest

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	LONG
Kendall Hinton	24	92	3.8	37
Arkeem Byrd	5	21	4.2	14
Matt Colburn	6	20	3.3	14

Receiving

Clemson

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Hunter Renfrow	6	61	10.2	0	29
Tee Higgins	3	39	13.0	0	20
Deon Cain	4	38	9.5	1	28
Ray-Ray McCloud	5	38	7.6	0	9
Diondre Overton	2	26	13.0	0	19
Cornell Powell	2	15	7.5	0	10
Cannon Smith	1	13	13.0	1	13
Amari Rodgers	2	11	5.5	0	6
Tavien Feaster	1	9	9.0	0	9
Adam Choice	2	8	4.0	0	5
T.J. Chase	1	5	5.0	0	5

Wake Forest

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Greg Dortch	5	78	15.6	0	43
Chuck Wade	1	38	38.0	0	38
Jack Freudenthal	1	26	26.0	0	26
Scotty Washington	2	25	12.5	1	16
Cam Serigne	3	20	6.7	1	11
Arkeem Byrd	1	9	9.0	0	9
Tabari Hines	1	7	7.0	0	7

Show more stats (7 more categories)

Defense

Clemson

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Tanner Muse	8	5	0	1	1	1
Austin Bryant	7	5	0	2	0	0
Tre Lamar	7	3	0	0.5	0	0
Kendall Joseph	6	2	0	0	0	1
Christian Wilkins	5	4	0	0	0	1
K'Von Wallace	4	4	0	0	0	0
Dorian O'Daniel	3	2	0	0	0	1
Isaiah Simmons	3	2	0	0	1	0
Ryan Carter	2	2	0	0	0	0
Kelly Bryant	2	2	0	0	0	0
J.D. Davis	2	1	0	0	0	0
Trayvon Mullen	2	1	0	0	0	0
Chris Register	2	0	0	0	1	1
Van Smith	2	0	0	0	0	0
Dexter Lawrence	2	0	0	0.5	0	0
Clelin Ferrell	1	1	1	1	0	0
Xavier Kelly	1	1	1	1	0	0
Nyles Pinckney	1	1	1	1	0	0
Albert Huggins	1	1	0	1	0	0
Sterling Johnson	1	1	0	0	0	0
Chad Smith	1	1	0	0	0	0
Austin Spence	1	1	0	0	0	0
Hall Morton	1	1	0	0	0	0
James Skalski	1	1	0	0	0	0
T.J. Chase	1	0	0	0	0	0
Nolan Turner	1	0	0	0	0	0
Mark Fields	0	0	0	0	1	0
Amir Trapp	0	0	0	0	1	0
A.J. Terrell	0	0	0	0	2	0

Wake Forest

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Cameron Glenn	11	7	0	0	0	0
Jessie Bates III	10	6	0	0.5	0	0
Amari Henderson	9	8	0	0.5	0	0
Grant Dawson	9	4	0	1	0	0
Essang Bassey	5	4	0	0	1	0
Wendell Dunn	5	3	1	1	0	0
Jaboree Williams	5	3	0	2	0	0
Justin Strnad	5	3	0	0	0	0
Demetrius Kemp	4	1	0	0	0	0
Ja'Cquez Williams	3	2	0	0	0	1
Elontae Bateman	3	1	0	0	0	0
Duke Ejiofor	3	0	0	0	0	0
Zeek Rodney	2	2	0	0	0	0
Luke Masterson	2	2	0	0	0	0
Dayton Diemel	2	2	0	0	0	0
Willie Yarbary	2	1	0	0	0	0
Chris Calhoun	2	0	0	0	0	0
Nate Mays	1	1	0	0	0	0
Chuck Wade	1	1	0	0	0	0
Carlos Basham Jr.	1	1	0	0	1	1
Coby Davis	1	1	0	0	0	0
Ja'Sir Taylor	1	1	0	0	0	0
Deon Young	1	0	0	0	0	0
Cade Carney	1	0	0	0	0	0
Sulaiman Kamara	1	0	0	0	0	0

Fumbles

Clemson

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Kelly Bryant	1	1	0

Wake Forest

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Carlos Basham Jr.	0	0	1
Kendall Hinton	1	0	0

Interceptions

Clemson

No recorded stats in this category.

Wake Forest

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Amari Henderson	1	0	0

Kick Returns

Clemson

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Tee Higgins	1	3	3.0	3	0

Wake Forest

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Greg Dortch	3	65	21.7	27	0

Kicking

Clemson

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Alex Spence	0/1	0.0	0	4/4	4

Wake Forest

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Mike Weaver	0/2	0.0	0	2/2	2

Punt Returns

Clemson

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Ray-Ray McCloud	4	58	14.5	23	0

Wake Forest

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Greg Dortch	3	15	5.0	11	0

Punting

Clemson

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Will Spiers	4	166	41.5	0	0	51
Carson King	1	37	37.0	0	0	37

Wake Forest

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Dom Maggio	7	317	45.3	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 400937489) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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