Cade Klubnik shined on Saturday while helping lead Clemson to a 42-21 victory over Georgia Tech at Death Valley.

The Tigers’ starting quarterback completed 23-of-34 passes for 205 yards and a career-high tying four touchdown passes. He also did some good things running the football, including his 17-yard scramble on third-and-18 that set up a fourth-down conversion on one of Clemson’s touchdown drives.

“I thought Cade was awesome,” Swinney said. “He just missed a couple of plays. But he made some big plays with his legs and man, he made some great reads and some great throws, and it was fun to see him continue to just grow right before our eyes.”

Klubnik, who has now thrown for 2,261 yards and 18 touchdowns with seven interceptions across 10 games this season, played mistake-free football against Georgia Tech for the most part.

Really the only blemish on his otherwise outstanding performance was an interception on a pass intended for tight end Jake Briningstool, with Clemson leading 28-7 in the third quarter.

Georgia Tech’s Jaylon King picked off the pass, but the Tigers got the ball right back with an interception of their own on the Yellow Jackets’ ensuing possession.

“He took care of the ball,” Swinney said of Klubnik. “I know we had the one pick … and he just really didn’t make the right throw. It was a good read, and Brinny (Briningstool) might have been a little flat. He probably should have been a little higher on his angle. But there was still an area I thought he could’ve thrown the ball in the grass a little bit more or put it high and outside where the big 6-5 guy could go get it. So, he was a little flat and a little behind, and that kid made a great play.”

Saturday marked Klubnik’s third performance of the season and of his career with at least three passing touchdowns. He had four passing touchdowns against Charleston Southern on Sept. 9 and three against Florida Atlantic on Sept. 16.

The sophomore had a 67.6 percent completion percentage against the Yellow Jackets — the second-best of his career against an ACC opponent (minimum five attempts), trailing only his 83.3 percent performance as ACC Championship Game MVP against North Carolina last December.

Swinney believes Klubnik “did a good job playing one play at a time” and “never really got too high or too low” over the course of the contest.

“I just thought he took care of the ball, did a nice job, made good decisions, had good poise and just never really got too high or too low. I just think he’s growing in that area,” Swinney said. “So, it was a really good game for him, and it was what was needed today. … Players made plays, and I thought Cade put the ball in position where his guys could make plays, and then those guys made plays.”

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