TALLAHASSEE — After relying on star quarterback Jameis Winston for most of an 18-game win streak, No. 1 Florida State showed Saturday night it can survive without him, too.
With the suspended Winston watching from the sideline, quarterback Sean Maguire and the Seminoles made up for early struggles with big plays late.
They rallied from their first deficit in almost a year to force overtime, where Karlos' Williams 12-yard touchdown run gave them a 23-17 victory over No. 22 Clemson at Doak Campbell Stadium.
"I can't put it into words," said Maguire, who finished 21-for-39 for 305 yards. "It's the greatest feeling of my life so far, that's for sure."
Even if Maguire looked like a first-time starter early in front of an energetic crowd of 82,316. The redshirt sophomore missed on his first two passes and was 6-of-17 for 106 yards in the first half.
One second-quarter sequence summed up his introduction. Deep in his own territory, he rolled left and forced a pass to the sideline. End Vic Beasley batted it, and cornerback Mackensie Alexander nearly picked it off.
On the next play, Maguire rolled left again and threw an incomplete pass — from 2 yards in front of the line of scrimmage. The penalty forced the Seminoles (3-0, 1-0 ACC) to punt from the back of their end zone.
Clemson capitalized with a six-play, 47-yard drive. When D.J. Howard powered in for a 1-yard touchdown, the Tigers led 10-3. It marked the first time FSU trailed in a regular-season game since September at Boston College — 10 hours, 55 minutes and 53 seconds of game time.
FSU's run game and leaky offensive line gave Maguire little help, coming up with only 13 yards on 27 attempts. The Noles ran for two yards in the first half, if you exclude Clemson's three sacks, including two from the All-America Beasley.
But Maguire and Seminoles recovered in the second half. Maguire was 6-of-7 for 53 yards on the first drive. His 15-yard pass to O'Leary set up Mario Penders' 1-yard touchdown run to tie it at 10.
"We just knew we had to get it done," Williams said.
FSU's defense did just enough to keep Clemson (1-2, 0-1) in check and extend FSU's school-record win streak to 19 games — the longest active streak in Division I-A.
The Tigers got only 10 points from their first five drives inside the FSU 35 — and four inside the 13. In the third quarter, Clemson had two chances inside the 1 but were doomed by a bad snap and Ammon Lakip's second missed field goal.
"Great teams find a way to win," Tigers coach Dabo Swinney said, "and they have won 19 in a row for a reason."
The rest of regulation was a back-and-forth rally. Clemson safety Jayron Kearse picked off Maguire to set up Deshaun Watson's 2-yard touchdown run that gave it a 17-10 lead.
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Explore all your optionsMaguire eventually responded with a 74-yard touchdown pass to Rashad Greene.
"We just had to man up and realize this was going to be a tough game, and we've got to suck it up and make it work," said Greene, who finished with nine catches for 135 yards. "Regardless of what was going on, we had to make it work."
Evan after Clemson picked Maguire off again, when safety Jadar Johnson returned Maguire's overthrown pass to the Seminoles' 26.
FSU's defense came up with one of its two biggest stops of the night. Tackle Eddie Goldman knocked the ball out of C.J. Davidson's hands for Nate Andrews to recover it inside the red zone, setting up overtime.
"I was just doing my job," Goldman said.
He wasn't done yet.
Goldman had a second-down sack on the second play of the extra session. Instead of attempting a 33-yard field goal, Swinney went for it on fourth and inches. Linebacker Reggie Northrup and end Chris Casher combined to stop Adam Choice's run.
Two plays later, Williams streaked left on a zone play for a 12-yard touchdown run that kept the Seminoles' national title hopes alive.
"We couldn't run it until we had to run it at the end," Fisher said.
And they did, all the way to a 19th consecutive win.
Contact Matt Baker at mbaker@tampabay.com. Follow @MBakerTBTimes.