Cade Klubnik went 23-of-34 passing for 205 yards and threw touchdowns to four different pass-catchers as Clemson rolled to a 42-21 Atlantic Coast Conference home win over Georgia Tech, Saturday in Clemson, South Carolina.
The Tigers (6-4, 3-4 ACC) gave up a Georgia Tech touchdown in the first quarter after a fake-punt attempt deep in their own territory. After the four-yard Haynes King rush capped the Yellow Jackets’ 25-yard drive, it was all Clemson.
Klubnik threw his first scoring strike to Beaux Collins from five yards out at the end of an 18-play, 75-yard drive that consumed nearly 10 minutes of game time.
Clemson’s next two touchdown drives before halftime combined to take fewer plays and less time: eight and 3:12, ending in a three-yard Klubnik pass to Tyler Brown; and nine in 4:10, though covering 92 yards.
Will Shipley’s 32-yard scoring run sent the Tigers into halftime up 21-7. Shipley carried 11 times for 77 yards, supplementing Phil Mafah’s game-high 96 yards on 17 carries.
The Tigers poured on another 21 points in the second half before Georgia Tech scored again.
The Yellow Jackets (5-5, 4-3) scored on King’s 32-yard touchdown pass to Dontae Smith and a four-yard toss to Dylan Leonard, both in the fourth quarter.
The scoring throws on a 13-of-31, 129-yard day came after King threw four interceptions. The last of those capped Clemson’s 42 unanswered-point deluge, with Shelton Lewis returning a pick of King 46 yards for a Tigers touchdown.
Khalil Barnes, Avieon Terrell and Kylon Griffin all intercepted passes for the Tigers.
Clemson’s other second-half scores came on a five-yard Klubnik touchdown pass to Jake Briningstool, and a 13-yard connection from Klubnik to Josh Sapp.
Sapp caught two passes for 17 yards. Briningstool had four receptions for 27 yards, Brown caught seven passes for 41 yards and Collins led the Tigers with 65 yards on five catches.
Jamal Haynes ran for a game-high 104 yards on 15 carries in the loss.
–Field Level Media