CLEMSON – It wasn’t all pretty but in the end, No. 10 Clemson knocked off Virginia 48-31 on Saturday inside of Memorial Stadium.
The Tigers’ offense scored touchdowns on all three of its possessions in the third quarter and Wes Goodwin’s defense tightened the clamps after the break as Clemson would turn a one touchdown lead into a convincing victory.
– The Tigers racked up 526 yards of offense, with 345 of those coming through the air. Clemson’s offense averaged 7.3 yards per play. The offense had nine passing plays of 15 yards or more.
-Cade Klubnik just keeps getting it done. It was certainly not his most complete performance of the season, but the junior quarterback still managed to complete 23-of-35 for 308 yards with three touchdowns. He did throw his first interception since the Stanford game and missed on a couple of throws, but overall another solid performance.
– Through the third quarter, before the Tigers started the mass substitutions on defense, Virginia managed just 173 yards of total offense and 3.6 yards per play. Wes Goodwin’s unit held Anthony Colnadrea to -7 rushing yards. A pretty impressive number.
– With each passing week, Jay Haynes solidifies himself as the backup to Phil Mafah. The redshirt freshman averaged almost five yards a carry in the win. His speed and twitchiness makes him a good change of pact back behind Mafah’s physical, bruising style of running.
– The Clemson defense made life difficult for Colandrea with the Tigers registering four sacks on the afternoon. Wade Woodaz, T.J. Parker, Avieion Terrell and Sammy Brown all recorded one, giving Clemson a total of 17 on the season.
Although, once you get past the two-deep, there is still a lot of things to be cleaned up, particularly on the backend. We saw a couple of those young defensive backs get burned in the fourth quarter. 109 of Virginia’s 278-passing yards came on two plays against those backups, and both went for touchdowns.
– How about the continued development of Olsen Patt-Henry. The redshirt freshman had two catches on the afternoon, with both going for touchdowns. However, his blocking just might be where he has shown the most improvement.
Turning Point
After getting the ball to start the second half, Klubnik would lead the Tigers on an 11-play, 90-yard touchdown drive that chewed up almost six minutes off the clock. Phil Mafah’s third rushing touchdown of the game finished off the drive, putting Clemson up two scores.
Virginia would go three and out on its next possession, with the Tigers marching 68-yards on eight plays as Antonio Williams scored on a 36-yard touchdown run to put Clemson up 31-10.
Telling Stat
Clemson’s defense held the Cavs to just 68 rushing yards and 2.7 yards per attempt.
A limited number of signed replica road signs from Cade Klubnik are available! Visit Clemson Variety & Frame or purchase online!
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