By Will Vandervort.
By Will Vandervort
CLEMSON — There was no defense in Clemson’s victory over NC State Saturday, just a lot of offense.
The good news for the ninth-ranked Tigers their defense was just a little bit better than NC State’s in a 62-48 victory in front of 76,000 in Death Valley. But it wasn’t by much. The two teams combined for 110 points and 1,351 yards as they set school and ACC records all over the place.
“We had a couple of games at Tulsa where we were really explosive, but I don’t know if we were ever like this,” Clemson offensive coordinator Chad Morris said.
In the end, Tajh Boyd’s 529 total yards and eight touchdowns lifted Clemson to its seventh straight victory. Of the 529 yards, Boyd finished with 103 on the ground, while running for three scores, too. As a team, the Tigers amassed 754 total yards, two shy of the all-time record.
The win was also the Tigers 10th of the season, allowing them to reach 10 wins during the regular season for the first time since 1981. They also became just the fourth team to win 10 or more games in the regular season in Clemson history.
The other three years were in 1948, 1978 and 1981. Clemson also won seven ACC games for the first time since 1983, in claiming a share of the ACC’s Atlantic Division.
“I was excited about the 100-yard rushing game, and I’m excited about getting ten wins,” Boyd said. “Anytime you can win ten games in the regular season that says a lot. It’s the most ACC wins by a team (since 1983).”
Boyd’s 529 total yards were a Clemson record for a single game, breaking Woodrow Dantzler’s mark for total yards, which he set against NC State in 2001. Clemson also set records in points in a season and touchdowns, while Boyd’s eight combined touchdowns were an ACC record for one game.
“That was fun. It was real fun,” Boyd said. “Anytime you get to set individual records, they are great. But, at the same time, things like that, they are eventually going to get broken. I mean I broke a lot of my own records today.
Boyd broke his own record for touchdown responsibility in a game and in a season. He now has accounted for 41 touchdowns, while his 33 touchdown passes tied his Clemson record for touchdown passes in a season.
His 41 total touchdowns broke his own ACC record as well. As a team Clemson set records for both points and touchdowns in a season thanks to the 62 they put up on Saturday.
“Those situations come and go, but when you start to get these team accomplishments and those team victories, you get way more excited about that,” Boyd said.
The 110 points and 1,351 yards were the most combined by two teams in Clemson history, while Mike Glennon’s 493 passing yards were the most thrown by an opposing quarterback in the 71 year history of Death Valley.
“What an incredible game,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “We made it harder than it had to be, and we gave them a couple of sparks. It’s a good thing, though, because we have not faced a lot of adversity as of late.”
Clemson overcame its largest deficit at home, and its largest since its loss to Florida State on Sept. 22 to take a 41-24 lead at the end of the first half.
At one point, Clemson scored 42 unanswered points.
“As an offense, we never panicked,” tight end Brandon Ford said after grabbing five catches for 101 yards, including a 69-yard touchdown. “There was a whole lot of football left to be played and we just came together as a group and rallied.”
The Tigers (10-1, 7-1 ACC) rallied behind three straight Boyd touchdown pass—a seven-yard touchdown to Ford, a 27-yard score to Sammy Watkins and a 62-yard bomb to DeAndre Hopkins. Boyd then ran in for nine yards just before the half for a 41-24 lead.
Boyd started the second half with a 40-yard strike to Martavis Bryant and then followed that up with a second nine-yard touchdown run. When it was all said and done, Clemson went from trailing 24-13 with 14:17 to play before the half, to a 55-24 advantage with 4:13 left in the third quarter.
“We missed some opportunities early, turnovers were huge, but offensively for us to respond with so many records led to a great win,” Swinney said. “There were just a lot of things going on in the game.”