By Will Vandervort.
By Will Vandervort
CLEMSON — From the beginning, it looked like Andre Ellington was going to have one of those Ellington types of nights. On the first play in No. 9 Clemson’s 56-20 victory over Duke, the Tigers’ top rusher took a handoff and bounced it outside where he found space.
Twenty six yards later, he ran out of bounds and gave the Tigers a first down at midfield. But Ellington never came into the game. Instead, he watched the rest of it from the sideline after tweaking a hamstring on the run.
In years past, losing Ellington’s elusiveness and skilled ability to pick up blitzing linebackers and defensive backs in the passing game would have cost Clemson in such a game. But the Tigers (8-1, 5-1 ACC) never missed a beat while rolling up 718 yards, including 339 on the ground.
“I thought they did a good job with it,” Clemson offensive coordinator Chad Morris said.
They of course are reserve running backs Roderick McDowell and D.J. Howard. Filling in for the injured Ellington, the two stepped up and combined for 148 yards on 26 carries. McDowell rushed for 83, while Howard had 65 yards and scored on a one-yard run in the third quarter.
“We feel like D.J. and Hot Rod did a great job stepping up,” Morris said. “Zac Brooks did a really good job, too. I was glad to see that and see those guys step in and really do a good job in the pass protection, which was a big concern.”
Brooks finished the night with 67 yards on 12 carries; while quarterback Tajh Boyd rushed for a career-high 72 yards, including a 21-yard scamper just before halftime that gave the Tigers a 42-17 lead at the time.
“I’m going to tell you what, the credit goes to the offensive line,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “They were outstanding. They came to play.
“They protected our quarterbacks and really just gave us an opportunity to be successful and to have balance.”
Road warriors. Before the season began, Swinney said if the Clemson program wanted to become an elite one from a national standpoint, it had to start going on the road and winning on a consistent basis. With Saturday’s win, the Tigers closed out the road part of their schedule with its third straight road victory, bringing their record away from Death Valley this year to 4-1.
It marked the first time since 1997 Clemson has won four road games in a season. That Clemson team was also 4-1 away from Memorial Stadium.
“I’m really proud of our guys for that,” Swinney said. “When you win games on the road, you have a chance to be a real good team. It’s not easy to win on the road in this league or any league for that matter. I’m proud of them.”
It’s not easy to win at Duke either. This was the Blue Devils first loss at Wallace Wade Stadium this year.
Approaching a record. Wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins went over 1,000 receiving yards Saturday. His 128 yards in the first half, gives him 2,652 for his career. He moved ahead of Perry Tuttle (2,534) and needs just 30 receiving yards against Maryland to go ahead of his uncle, Terry Smith, who had 2,681.
Hopkins only needs 82 receiving yards against Maryland to break Aaron Kelly’s career record of 2,733.
Another record. Clemson’s 56 points were the most by the Tigers in Wallace Wade Stadium. The previous high was 52 in a 52-22 win in 2000.
More numbers. This was just the second game in Clemson history the Tigers had at least 300 yards rushing and 300 yards passing in the same game. The only other time it happened was against Central Michigan in 2007.
New mark. This was Clemson’s sixth 500-yard offensive game of the season, a school record for a season.