By Will Vandervort.

By Will Vandervort

CLEMSON — He was not trying to sound like former Arizona Cardinals head coach Dennis Green, but Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd sure did sound like him when he said Ball State “did exactly what we thought they were going to do.”

It definitely looked like Boyd knew what they were doing. The Clemson quarterback came out with the guns blazing as he threw for 229 yards and three touchdowns in leading No. 12 Clemson to a 52-27 victory Saturday in Death Valley.

His numbers were all put up before the 5:36 mark of the first half.

“The coaches put us in the best situation possible and do a great job of game planning,” Boyd said.

Ball State came out in a Quarters defense (playing two safeties high) and dared Boyd and his receivers to beat them with underneath throws. So that’s what they did.

On a 12-play, 72-yard drive to open the game, Boyd completed five of six passes for 50 yards, including passes of 12, nine and 14 yards to Charone Peake, Adam Humphries and tight end Brandon Ford. Running back Andre Ellington capped the drive with a four-yard score.

“That’s what you ask for,” Clemson offensive coordinator Chad Morris said. “You want a great running game to open up your passing game, and you want your passing game to open up your running game.”

On the Tigers’ next offensive possession, Boyd again picked apart Ball State’s zone defense, hitting passes of 11 and 27 yards to Peake and DeAndre Hopkins before Ellington  again scored, this time from two yards out to make the score 13-0 with 6:36 remaining in the first quarter.

Clemson finished the afternoon with 526 yards, two shy of what it put against Auburn at the Georgia Dome last week.

“We were coming off an emotional game last week, and they did a great job setting the tone early with some great drives,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said.

The Tigers (1-0) also did a great job closing Ball State out when they had the chance. After recovering a botched onside kick by the Cardinals, Boyd did not waste time in capitalizing on the good field position. On third down-and-11 from the Ball State 34, he hit Hopkins in stride around the 20-yardline and the 6-foot-2 wide receiver did the rest in out running the secondary for a 28-10 lead.

After an interception by linebacker Stephone Anthony at the Ball State 33, Clemson was in the end zone again. This time Boyd found Hopkins from 15 yards out and with 5:36 remaining in the half, the Tigers were in front 35-10.

“We wanted to emphasize throughout the game what kind of team we were,” Boyd said. “There are a lot of skeptics out there and some were critical on how we might perform today, and I feel like the guys came out and did a great job.

“Coach (Dabo Swinney) challenged us throughout the week. He wanted to see how we would respond after a win over Auburn. I think we responded as well as we could.”

Clemson scored on seven of its eight possessions in the first half with running back Roderick McDowell—a 27-yard run—and kicker Spencer Benton—an ACC record 61-yard field goal—upped the Tigers’ lead to 45-10 by halftime.

“That’s what you ask for,” Clemson offensive coordinator Chad Morris said. “That is playing championship caliber football. You have to be able to capitalize from the turnovers you get.”