RALEIGH, N.C. — It wasn’t pretty. In fact, some will say No. 3 Clemson’ 56-41 victory over NC State on Saturday was quite ugly.

“Back-to-back road wins is not easy,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said afterwards.

The Tigers, who are 8-0 for the first time since 2011, defeated Miami 58-0 in Miami Gardens, Fla., last week in a win where they played perhaps their best game of the season. They didn’t play their best against the Wolfpack at Carter-Finely Stadium in Raleigh, N.C., but they still found a way to win the game, and still do it by 15 points.

“It is not always going to be beautiful like last week, as I told the team. Sometimes you have to put lipstick on a pig and you have to roll with it. That’s your date for the night. That’s kind of the story for the night,” Swinney said with a chuckle. “We made enough mistakes to lose the game, but we made plenty of plays to win it.”

Thanks to quarterback Deshaun Watson, Clemson made several big plays. The sophomore, who as the late Stuart Scott would say, “Was as cool as the other side of the pillow.”

Watson completed 23 of 30 passes for 383 yards and five touchdowns, while also rushing for 54 yards and another touchdown. All six of his scores came from at least 24 yards out.

He got things started with a 24-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. Then he later threw a 57-yard scoring pass to Hunter Renfrow. In the second quarter he found Charone Peake streaking down the near sideline for a 42-yard touchdown and in the third quarter connected with freshman wide receiver Deon Cain for a 40-yard score and running back Zac Brooks for a 35-yard touchdown pass.

In the fourth quarter he hit freshman wide receiver Ray Ray McCloud for a 36-yard touchdown pass. The Tigers finished the afternoon with 623 total yards, the fourth straight game they amassed more than 500 yards in a game, which was just the second time that has occurred in school history.

“This was the third-ranked defense in the country and we come in and put up six-hundred and twenty something yards,” Swinney said. “We had seven different guys score touchdowns, and three of them were freshmen wideouts.

“Deshaun Watson showed why I think he is the best quarterback in the country, 23 of 30. Incredibly efficient, threw five touchdown passes and made some plays with his legs. It was just an unbelievable performance.”

It wasn’t all Watson, however. Running back Wayne Gallman ran for 172 yards and a touchdown on a career-high 31 carries. He averaged 5.5 yards per carry.

Those were definitely the pretty things that happened on Saturday. The ugly stuff mostly came on defense.

NC State running back Matt Dayes and Jaylen Samuels combined for 137 rushing yards, but most of those yards came on two plays – a 41-yard run by Dayes in the first quarter and a 66-yard run by Samuels in the third quarter.

Though the Tigers sacked Jacoby Brissett four times, they failed to get him down at least six other times as Brissett used his 240-pound frame to fight off defenders and extend plays. He finished the afternoon 24 of 41 for 254 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for a score.

Clemson also gave up a 100-yard kick return to Nyheim Hines, the second time that has happened this year, plus the Wolfpack blocked two extra points.

“If you are going to have a great year, you have to win all kinds of different ways. All kinds of ways,” Swinney said. “So far this year we have done it about all. We stopped a two point-conversion on the last play. We played in a hurricane. We overcome unbelievable momentum swings in a ballgame, and I’m proud of our guys.”