Clemson Wears Down California 24-10 on the Ground
California's only touchdown came from its defense. Kamar Mothudi scooped up a fumble and took it 35 yards for a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, and everything California did on offense after that came to a field goal.
Clemson answered with a 30-yard Nolan Hauser field goal, and then Gideon Davidson plunged in from a yard out to make it 10-7 late in the second quarter. Chase Meyer's 30-yard field goal tied it at 10 early in the second half. Then Bryant Wesco Jr. returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown with 3:57 left in the third, which made it 17-10 and was the last time California scored. Davidson closed it with a 75-yard run with 2:58 to play for the 24-10 final.
The yardage split tells the same story. Clemson ran 47 times for 259 yards and threw for just 108, finishing with 367 total yards, and Davidson had 22 carries for 159 of them. California managed 231 yards (86 on the ground, 145 through the air) and threw two interceptions. Clemson was not clean either, with one interception and one lost fumble.
Clemson moves to 3-1 and California falls to 2-2. Take away the fumble return and the punt return (7 points each) and it is 17-3, which is still not close. For fantasy owners, Davidson's 29.1 points were the only real score of the night, since the next-best player in the box score was Adam Mohammed at 11.1.
The whole game was scored without a single touchdown pass, which is a sentence you do not get to write about many 24-10 games.