In Clemson’s 43-24 victory over Georgia Tech on Saturday, the fifth-ranked Tigers played a style of football reminiscent of the old days when Clemson physically beat up its opponents inside Memorial Stadium, truly giving it the moniker “Death Valley.”

With the rain coming down all afternoon, the Tigers (5-0, 2-0 ACC) physically whipped the Yellow Jackets in the trenches. Clemson held Tech to 1.7 yards per carry, while on the other side of the ball, the Tigers running game averaged 4.9 yards per carry.

Clemson’s defense recorded 11 tackles for loss, and held Georgia Tech’s star quarterback to three yards rushing.

Swinney said it was one of the more dominating performances he has seen in the trenches since he has been at Clemson. Tech’s 71 rushing yards is the lowest for a Paul Johnson coached team at Georgia Tech.

“I just can’t overstate that enough,” Swinney said during his Sunday teleconference with the media. “I mean71 yards rushing and they are a triple-option team. It is just amazing the way our guys played and handled the line of scrimmage.

“They leveraged the football. There was just nowhere to go. Our speed showed up. They just could not run at us and they could not get around us. I think they just tried about everything, but when they can’t block you it is hard to be effective.”

The Yellow Jackets (2-4, 0-3 ACC) were just 1-for-12 on third down, while Clemson was 10-for-16. The Tigers totaled 201 yards on the ground, while running back Wayne Gallman rushed for 115 yards and scored two touchdowns.

“That was the story of the day, we just won in the trenches,” Swinney said.

That’s been the story of the season so far. For the most part Clemson has won the battle in the trenches in every game. They held Wofford to 123 yards on the ground while rushing for 222. Against App State, the Mountaineers could not run the ball until the third and fourth string players got on the field in a blowout, while Clemson punched Notre Dame in the face to the tune of 212 rushing yards. The Irish were held to a season-low 111.

The Tigers also outrushed Louisville, 222 to 19.

“That just speaks to the core of what we want to be,” Swinney said. “We want to be a great defense and we always want to be able to run the football effectively. That’s something that was a huge emphasis for us coming into this year. We wanted to be better. We felt we would be better. We felt like it would create a lot of explosive plays.”

It did on Saturday. Swinney said the Tigers had 10 plays of 16 or more yards against Georgia Tech. The biggest was Gallman’s 66-yard touchdown on third-and-one on the third play of the game.

“It allows you to dictate to the opponent as opposed to vice versa when you can effectively run the football,” Swinney said. “When you are averaging five yards per carry, you are dictating to them. Again, that’s one of the key reasons we had so many explosives plays.

“It was really the first game where we could go win some one-on-one coverage and it was good to see a lot of different guys make some big plays.”

Injury notes. Cornerback Ryan Carter injured his hamstring and will be listed as questionable for next Saturday’s game against Boston College. Swinney said he will be in a yellow jersey (no contact) on Monday. He will be evaluated later in the week.

Defensive end Austin Bryant (knee) and center Ryan Norton (knee) will likely not play again this coming week against BC, but Swinney said they both should return to practice this week.

Brooks is No. 2. Swinney said running back Zac Brooks will be the Tigers No. 2 guy now. After missing most of camp with injuries, it took the redshirt junior a while to get caught up, but now he is making plays for the Tigers.

Brooks had a 35-yard touchdown run against Georgia Tech and finished the game with 41 yards on three carries.