By Ed McGranahan.

By Ed McGranahan

DURHAM, N.C. – As unimaginable as it seems, Clemson’s offense may be capable of more.

The school’s record for points and total yards in a game were set 31 years ago by a team principally noted for its defense during an era when defenses ruled.

The 56 points and 718 yards Saturday night at Duke are a product of a well-conceived scheme that’s becoming increasingly popular, so the numbers at Wallace Wade Stadium in No. 9 Clemson’s 56-20 victory over Duke will barely create a ripple. Tennessee and Troy each had more than 700 yards in the same game.

Clemson hit its marks on a night in which it had four turnovers, allowed a pair of sacks and lost its best running back, Andre Ellington, after the first play of the game. With games remaining against Maryland and N.C. State at home, both may be in jeopardy if Tajh Boyd ever delivers that elusive perfect game.

For a half he was close, if you can excuse the interception when he tried to hit Jaron Brown with a laser when a rainbow would suffice and a pick on the last play of the half when he went for the end zone rather than take a knee.

Boyd agreed there might sufficient be evidence that he’s playing the best football of his career. Over the last two games he has thrown for 10 touchdowns and more than 770 yards.

“I guess it’s arguable,” Boyd said, though he cautioned. “I feel like I’ve got so much more to learn, so much more to improve.”

In the first half alone, Boyd was the trigger on six touchdowns.

“I feel we’re starting to get better and better as the season goes along,” he said, “and it’s at the right time were starting to peak.”

The interceptions sullied an otherwise pristine performance. He broke Woodrow Dantzler’s school career record (68) for touchdown responsibility. Duke left itself vulnerable defensively to stop the run and pressure Boyd, frequently leaving Clemson’s premier receivers with man coverage.

DeAndre Hopkins caught touchdown passes of 5, 58 and 45 yards, giving him 13 for the season which broke Sammy Watkins’ year-old record, and 22 for his career, breaking Aaron Kelly’s record. Hopkins also surpassed 1,000 receiving yards for the season and moved to within a hair of Kelly’s career record.

“We knew we were going to get those matchups,” Boyd said. “We had to win those matchups.

“I feel we did that pretty fluently early on.”

Boyd plays with a swagger and a joy, so the three picks didn’t faze him, “as long as we win, it doesn’t matter.”

For him, and for Clemson these final three weeks of the regular season, it’s about tracking forward.

“We’re starting to play to our level of capability every week,” Boyd said, “playing to our standard and not worrying about the external factors, the weather, the crowd, the atmosphere.”

At No. 13 in the BCS ratings, Clemson came to Wallace Wade Stadium trying to gain traction should things begin to break in its favor.

“The thing this, with the type of situation we’re in, style points matter,” Boyd said. “We have to win out these last three games. If you’re supposed to be a certain type of team, you have to perform to that level. We feel like we’re that type of team.”

Here at venerable Wallace Wade Stadium, the stage for a Rose Bowl, the Grateful Dead, the Rolling Stones and Duke University football for 83 years, a pretty fair Clemson team gave 31,894 a show.

It may not have been their best.