CLEMSON — Though it was down 16 points to visiting Troy late in the second quarter on Saturday, there was no panic in No. 8 Clemson’s thoughts.

“We know who we are, and we believe that,” quarterback Cade Klubnik said.

The Tigers’ confidence in themselves paid off in the second half, as they rallied to take down the Trojans, 27-16, at Memorial Stadium.

“Some stuff went the wrong way in the first half, and we really could not get into a rhythm,” Klubnik said. “There was a lot of game left. We figured we have to go play two great quarters. We got the ball to start the second half, so let’s go dominate this drive and that just kind of lit a fire in everybody.”

Trailing 16-3 at halftime, Clemson (1-1) opened the second half with an eight-play, 75-yard scoring drive, which running back Adam Randall capped with a 1-yard touchdown run. Safety Ricardo Jones took an interception off Ashton Hampton’s rump on Troy’s first play of the second half, setting up a 26-yard Klubnik to Bryant Wesco touchdown.

“That was a well-designed play, the one to Wesco,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “It was a very well-designed play. The staff did a good job putting that together. It was the right time to call it.”

Wesco’s first of two touchdowns gave the Tigers a 17-16 lead with 10:07 to play in the third quarter, and they never looked back.

The defense shut Troy out the rest of the way and held the Trojans to 95 yards, while the offense amassed 202 total yards, with 103 coming on the ground. Klubnik was 7 of 8 throwing the football for 99 yards, including a second TD pass to Wesco, this time it was a perfect over-the-shoulder throw down the middle of the field that covered 34 yards and sealed the victory.

Like Klubnik said, there was no big second-half speech or anything like that lit a fire under the Tigers, other than a belief in themselves that they know they are a better team than what they showed in the first half.

“We knew how we were playing,” defensive end Will Heldt said. “The message was to ‘keep playing our game and ramp up the intensity.’ It came to fruition in the second half. We played our game and got it done.”