What Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney had to say after Furman win

The Clemson Tigers are officially bowl eligible after a 45-10 win over Furman on Military Appreciation Day in Week 13 of the 2025 college football season at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

Cade Klubnik threw for two touchdowns to Antonio Williams in the first half, and Tyler Brown had a 21-yard touchdown run on a reverse as part of an explosive first half that saw the Tigers (6-5) go up 31-3 at halftime en route to winning their final home game of 2025. Klubnik was 9 of 16 for 159 yards in his final Death Valley start before leaving to a loud ovation in the second quarter.

Freshman quarterback Chris Denson had a promising day with 106 rushing yards on six carries, boosted by a 50-yard run=. Denson completed all four of his passes for 22 yards, including a 4-yard touchdown toss to fellow freshman Logan Brooking midway through the fourth quarter.

The Tigers, who finished the day with 456 yards of total offense, capped the scoring with a 10-yard Denson touchdown run with nine seconds remaining in the game. Gideon Davidson ran for 52 yards, and Williams led all receivers with 57 yards on his two long touchdown catches. T.J. Moore added three catches for 49 yards.

Clemson will face the South Carolina Gamecocks (4-7) at Williams-Brice Stadium next Saturday in the annual Palmetto Bowl. Kickoff for Clemson-South Carolina is noon ET. The game will be televised on SEC Network.

After Saturday's game, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney met with the media to discuss his team's 45-10 victory.

Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney reflects on Tigers' win over Furman to become bowl eligible

"Fun day in The Valley. Proud of our team. Always a special day with Military Appreciation (Day) and all that and then Senior Day, especially when you get a chance to play. I think we got every senior in there. It's always fun to be able to finish your season at home being able to play everyone. That was a blessing that it worked out that way."

Dabo Swinney sends message to Clemson fans after win over Furman

"Just happy for our fans to finish up the season (with) a couple of wins in a row. We've won three in a row. We're playing our best football down the stretch, which is good to see. It's fun to watch and fun to see the growth. I appreciate our fans.

"This is my 23rd home season coming to an end today, so 23 years of battling out there in The Valley and a lot of games. I'm just grateful for all of it: the big wins, painful moments. I'm grateful for all of it. It really is such a special place to do something that you love to do: play, coach, whatever it is.

"I'll never forget my first game here in '03 against Georgia walking from the McFadden Building over here and having no idea what to expect. Man, it just never gets old. I'm just thankful. It goes fast. Hard for me to kind of wrap my mind around that.

"So, once again the Valley will be closed for a while. Then we'll get back out there some time this spring. I just appreciate our fans because they've shown up all year for us and have given us an amazing environment."

Dabo Swinney thanks Clemson seniors during rough 2025 season

"I'm thankful for our seniors. The purpose of our program -- graduation, equipping yourself as a man, having a great experience of winning a championship -- they've done all that. They've done it all. They've achieved every goal on our board at some point or another. They didn't do them all at once time because if they do that, we win the national championship. But they've hit every goal at one point.

"I'm just proud of them, but most of all the thing I'm proud of with this senior group is how they've led this year. They've done a lot of stuff in their careers. How they've led this year, I would say it's easy to be 'All In' when everything's great. But who are you when it don't go great? Who are you when you think you're doing everything right, and you're not getting the results? Who are you then?

"These guys have been amazing, resilient. They have stayed together. In fact, they've gotten stronger and they've truly fought for each other and fought for this place. I'm just thankful for them. They've been an amazing example, an inspiration to me, and they've been an inspiration to their teammates. I'm forever grateful for how they've led this year."

Who stood out most to Dabo Swinney in win over Furman?

"Balanced day, 200 (passing), 200 (rushing). Cade, I think he's the sixth quarterback to have 25 wins... We had 17 different receivers, I think six different tight ends maybe, and a couple of tight ends with touchdowns. Antonio Williams, I mean, how about that guy? A couple of touchdowns on Senior Day. I think he was close to 100 (yards) all-purpose. Had a big punt return. He tied Mike Williams for career touchdowns, fourth all time. (Gideon Davidson) and (David Eziomume) had big averages per carry. Tyler Brown had a big touchdown run on the reverse. Good to see that, so a lot of good things."

Dabo Swinney discusses QB Chris Denson after big game vs Furman

"We had a pretty good plan going in on how we wanted to manage the quarterbacks, so to be able to work it out the way that we wanted to and really get Denson some significant time was awesome. That's what he does in practice. That's what we've seen. He showed up really raw, but he's developed. He's had a great spring and summer, and there's been a lot of growth. It's growth you don't see, but it's really going to pay dividends.

"I'm really proud of him. Having 17.7 yards per carry, I think they told me that's the most since 1947 by a quarterback. Six carries for 106 yards and the first quarterback to have over 100 yards rushing since Trevor Lawrence in 2019. He was 4-for-4 and had a nice deep touchdown pass on an RPO to Logan Brooking. That was awesome and again, we got a chance to get everybody some playing time. But I'm really excited for him. He and Logan, two redshirts that were able to get out there and play a little bit."

Dabo Swinney raves about Clemson sophomore linebacker Sammy Brown

Brown had four tackles (two for loss), one sack, and an interception return for 19 yards.

"I thought Sammy Brown was just awesome. He is just blossoming into what we all felt like he could become throughout his career. Had a really good freshman year, and he's kind of just built on that this year and more to come. Really proud of him. Defensively, especially in that first half, I just thought we did an awesome job."

Dabo Swinney discusses Clemson becoming bowl eligible after brutal start

"It's a big deal. Tim Bourret told me that in 130 years, there's been 30 teams at Clemson that started 1-3. I think we're only the fourth team to rally back and get to the postseason. That's not what we were shooting for coming into the season, but you've got to respond to where you are. To see them respond that way and do something like that is awesome. Now we've just got to see if we can keep building momentum."

You can watch Swinney's full press conference after Saturday's win over Furman below.

Contact us @Clemson_Wire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Clemson Tigers news and notes, plus opinions.

This article originally appeared on Clemson Wire: Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney speaks out after win over Furman