BLACKSBURG, Va. — Cade Klubnik has had better days in his football career.

However, when his Clemson team needed him the most, the quarterback found a  way to dig deep and make plays, while leading No. 23 Clemson to a 24-14 victory Saturday at Lane Stadium.

“We came out and attacked them in the second half and it opened some things up,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “The first half was frustrating.”

The first half was frustrating for the Tigers’ offense. They started with a 15-play drive, but it ended with an interception after two penalties backed them up after moving the football to the Virginia Tech 26.

Clemson’s second drive ended on downs after Klubnik was sacked for a 10-yard loss on fourth-and-two from the Hokies’ 26.

After T.J. Parker (strip) and Tre Williams (recovery) got the offense the ball at the Hokies 36-yard line on the first play of the second quarter, the Tigers failed to capitalize on the turnover. This time Nolan Hauser’s 46-yard field goal attempt was blocked and returned 77 yards for a touchdown.

“Again, critical penalties, critical drops and critical opportunities, and then the blocked field goal, which went for a touchdown” Swinney said.

There were too many drops, four in the first half, including one by Antonio Williams and one by T.J. Moore that could have extended drives. The Tigers finished the game with six drops overall.

“We had the ball for almost twenty minutes in the first half and we just could not get out of our way,” Swinney said.

Klubnik finished the first half just 8 of 19 for 81 yards with an interception and was sacked three times, as Clemson trailed 7-0 at halftime.

“We knew we had been putting ten-play-plus-drives together, but we just did not finish them whenever we needed to and get into field goal range,” the Clemson quarterback said. “But we knew we could. We knew what we were doing. You just got to have confidence in the guys around you.”

Despite all the drops in the first half, Klubnik stayed with his guys and they rewarded him for that confidence, as Cole Turner, Moore and tight end Jake Briningstool hauled in touchdown catches.

Klubnik finished the second half 8 of 15 for 130 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions.

After having 152 total yards in the first half, the Tigers (7-2, 6-1 ACC) tallied 226 yards in the second half.

“We definitely just wanted to attack them a little bit more downfield,” Klubnik said. “They were starting to creep up a lot with their corners, nickels and safeties, so we wanted to get a little bit more shots downfield.”

Klubnik definitely did that a time or two in the second half. On the first drive of the second half, he hit Turner in the end zone for a 29-yard TD pass and then a few moments later found Moore wide open for what can be called the best play of the year so far.

On third-and-long, Virginia Tech (5-5, 3-3 ACC) sent Mansoor Delane off the left side on a corner blitz. Somehow Klubnik managed to keep his footing after being hit, then rolled to his right, with Delane chasing, and off his back foot threw a perfect pass to Moore, who was wide open at the 8-yard line. Moore then broke one tackle and ran into the end zone for a 41-yard TD with 7:34 to play in the third quarter.

Clemson extend its lead to 21-7 with 13:08 to play when Klubnik threw his third touchdown pass of the night. This time it was a 12-yard screen pass to Briningstool, who got a block from Bryant Wesco and then fought his way into the end zone.

“We made some plays and the momentum turned a little bit,” Swinney said. “We had a few breaks go our way in the second half. So, we were happy to see that, but I just give credit to the players for battling, fighting and not getting frustrated and kept playing because it was frustrating.

“We did not feel like they wee stopping us. It felt like we just could not get out of our own way.”

Luckily, for Clemson, it got out of its own way in the second half and rolled off 24-unanswered points to get an important victory on the road.