By Ed McGranahan.

ATLANTA — Rather than pick at what Clemson needs to do going forward, savor this one like you would a big Sunday dinner at mother’s.

Sit back, unbuckle the pants and reach for the floss.

There were mistakes, kernels and crumbs. Attribute them to first-game jitters, inexperience, communication, poor judgment. Nobody was immune, not even the coaches.

Yet somehow, Clemson found a way to beat Auburn and, in the process, discovered things that will fortify this team for the next two weeks while it shaves the rough edges in preparation for that trip to Tallahassee to play the one team it absolutely must beat for a shot to repeat as conference champion.

Everybody wanted to see how the offensive line would respond for the first time. Well, it played like the little girl with the big voice that starts out chirping a song, gathers her courage when nobody throws a tomato and finishes with a flourish.

Offenses with troubled lines don’t pound defenses for 528 yards. In fact, the same five guys that started probably would have finished had right tackle Giff Timothy, three weeks off surgery to repair a torn meniscus, limped off the field in the fourth quarter.

After Auburn kicked a fourth field goal for a 19-16 lead with 12:50 to play, the line wrestled the game to the ground. On successive scoring drives encompassing – a total of 21 plays for 154 yards — quarterback Tajh Boyd threw four passes. The bulk of the work came on runs by Andre Ellington, who finished with a career-high 231 yards, and a lighter, more agile Boyd.

Clemson seemed to be humming with the motor cranked. Center Dalton Freeman said he noticed the Auburn defense gasping by the second possession of the game. Clemson ran 91 plays, second in the Morris era to the 92 in last year’s game against Auburn.

“There were a few times they were just standing around,” said center Dalton Freeman. “Everybody thought that because we weren’t very experienced we weren’t very good.”

After missing an opportunity on third-and-goal at the 3 in the first quarter, Clemson converted 8 of 17 on third down and a fourth-and-one in Auburn territory.

“I am extremely proud of our offensive line tonight,” said offensive coordinator Chad Morris. “It’s a group that we have challenged and have been challenging from day one about playing physical. Felt like we were too soft at certain points during camp.

“It was their turn, time for them to step up and get some respect. If we’re going to win and win at the level we expect, we’re going to have to run the football.”

The doubters were wondering at halftime how a team that’s run 48 plays for 275 yards– no interceptions, no turnovers – and come away with one touchdown and two field goals? Three dropped passes, four sacks and six middling penalties for various infractions including illegal shift (twice) and too many players on the field have the same effect as too much hair in the bathroom drain. Clemson never had more than six penalties in any game all last season.

“We stopped ourselves too many times,” Morris said. “The only person that was stopping us was us.”

The drops were most disconcerting. Even Nuke Hopkins, who set a school record with 13 catches for 119 including a TD with an Auburn defender climbing his frame, dropped one. Morris vowed that he would nip any threat of an epidemic of dropsy.

So the questions offensively with Ball State and Furman as dress rehearsals before another big show with Florida State are how much more effective can Boyd be with Watkins? How many more yards can Ellington gain if a defense scheming to stop Watkins? How many more passes can Hopkins catch with Watkins on the field?

Remember, all this came without All-American receiver Sammy Watkins. Yet Boyd completed 24 of 34 for 208 yards and the touchdown to Hopkins. His one interception was slightly behind Sam Cooper and was stolen by Daren Bates.

“I feel like we accomplished tonight. Looking to the future, I think we can be great,” said left tackle Brandon Thomas.

“Everybody’s talking about we couldn’t this and that without Sammy,” he said. “That just lets us now that when we get him back …”

Wow?

“Exactly.”