After the Clemson football team beat the Furman Paladins on Saturday, 45-10, there was a play late in the game that had fans debating the sportsmanship quality of it. While the Clemson football now become bowl eligible, there was a storyline with the victory over Furman that garnered the take of Paladins head coach Cley Hendrix.
With the Tigers up 38-10 late in the fourth quarter, quarterback Chris Henson would score a 10-yard rushing touchdown with nine seconds left in the game, showing that the team still had its foot on the gas. Some could look at that as being unnecessary when the game was all but over, but Hendrix downplayed any problem, more so finding displeasure in his players' unable to tackle Henson.
“Bad for us that we didn't tackle the guy,” Hendrix, according to Chapel Fowler. “I mean, obviously the guy's a little slippery, but are you kidding me? No, I mean, Dabo [Swinney], I got a lot of respect for him and the program; he could've kept the foot on the gas earlier in the game, too, so that's just football. We got to play better, I don't care who you got in there, you gotta go execute, and we didn't there, that's what I'm disappointed about.”
Furman HC Clay Hendrix says he had no issues with Clemson scoring a TD with 9 secs left to go up 45-10, when they could’ve run out the clock: “That’s football … and Dabo could’ve kept his foot on the gas a lot earlier.” His only frustration there: His guys didn’t make the tackle pic.twitter.com/dV1irRvWBU
— Chapel Fowler (@chapelfowler) November 23, 2025
Clemson football's Dabo Swinney on becoming bowl eligible
There's no denying that it has been a down year for the program, with even Clemson football head coach Dabo Swinney admitting he's “sucked” this season. However, he would speak of the importance of being bowl eligible after the brutal start to the season, losing three of the team's first four games of the season.
“It's a big deal,” Swinney said, via Yahoo Sports. “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.”
The Tigers' final game of the regular season comes next Saturday against South Carolina.
