No. 1 Tigers swarm Yellow Jackets, 73-7

When Lannden Zanders vacated space chasing a crossing route, Georgia Tech wide receiver Jalen Camp was left in one-on-one coverage with Mario Goodrich. Camp won the footrace across the middle of the field, catching a well-placed deep ball from quarterback Jeff Sims — a 59-yard strike that tied the battle of ACC foes at 7-7.

That’s about all anyone rooting for the Yellow Jackets could really celebrate on Saturday.

“It’s a quarters coverage, so he [Goodrich] doesn't have help on that particular play,” said defensive coordinator Brent Venables. “He’s got to stay inside.”

A mistake from the Tigers defensively led to the score, but they wouldn’t make many more on that side of the ball.

Following the Yellow Jacket touchdown, the socially-distanced crowd of 11,000 at Bobby Dodd Stadium watched in awe and anger as Clemson’s explosive offense took over, lighting up the scoreboard like the Atlanta skyline.

The Tigers’ (5-0, 4-0 ACC) offense marched right back onto the field, and Trevor Lawrence answered that question just as quickly as it was asked. Launching an 83-yard touchdown strike to Amari Rodgers on the very next play from scrimmage, Lawrence put the Tigers back up 14-7 and they never looked back.

By halftime, Clemson had hung over half a hundred on Georgia Tech (2-3, 2-2 ACC) while refusing to let the Yellow Jackets find the end zone again.

Lawrence ventured into the “404” and threw for 404 yards and five touchdowns on a 24-32 passing clip, while Rodgers came down with six receptions for 162 yards and two house calls as Clemson laid an absolute beatdown on the Yellow Jackets. At the end of an immaculate afternoon for the Tigers, the score had mounted to 73-7. The win goes down as the largest margin of victory in school history over an ACC opponent.

“That’s what’s so fun about offensive football,” said Lawrence. “You can just tell when a team is playing together, communicating, everybody’s on the same page.”

Saturday’s victory was also the Tigers’ sixth straight win over the Yellow Jackets, and their third straight on the road.

“To win down here three in a row, that’s a great accomplishment,” said head coach Dabo Swinney after the victory. “It’s something we’re really proud of. Just love the mindset of our team. The mindset, the focus, the maturity. Coming off a win like we had last week, to get back to work… I just like the leadership and the readiness of our team this week.”

A HOMECOMING TO REMEMBER

Lawrence needed just 33 pass attempts to account for 404 yards and five touchdowns on Saturday (both career highs). All five of Lawrence’s touchdown passes came in the first half.

“After I came out [of the game in the third quarter], you kind of see stuff on the scoreboard or whatever,” admitted Lawrence. “But just trying to play and do everything I can to give us the best chance, and really just be efficient on offense, that’s the biggest thing. Because stats don’t always tell the whole story.”

Saturday’s game was an exception.

Lawrence — who was making his first return trip to Bobby Dodd Stadium since his coming-out party in 2018 — lit up the stat sheet with numbers that would equal a fantastic outing under any circumstance. Given the fact that he played just over 30 minutes, it could very well go down as one of the star quarterback’s best performances in his college career.

“It’s the highest level of football I’ve seen out of him,” said offensive coordinator Tony Elliott. “But it’s what he expects and what everybody in the building expects out of him.”

Lawrence last played at Georgia Tech early in 2018, the game in which he officially took the reins as starting quarterback from Kelly Bryant. In Saturday’s homecoming for the ages, Lawrence dominated the Tech defense throughout the entire first half while ESPN announcers raved about the quarterback’s NFL readiness.  But despite Lawrence’s video game-like numbers, Elliott is arguably most impressed with Trevor’s ability to drown out the noise about the future.

“He’s doing an amazing job of blocking out any kind of external noise about the future,” said Elliott. “I think the biggest thing is he’s really being present in the moment. I think that’s contributing to him playing his best football.”

Pool Photo-USA TODAY Sports

Lawrence had a career performance on Saturday against the Yellow Jackets.

RECORDS FOR RODGERS

Amari Rodgers had his best game as a Clemson Tiger on Saturday afternoon.

Rodgers reeled in six catches for 162 yards and two touchdowns, tying his career-high for both receptions and scores while eclipsing his previous record of 121 receiving yards in a game.

Rodgers’ first touchdown reception of 83 yards — the one that started the wrecking ball rolling for Clemson’s offense — might have never happened, however, were it not for Rodgers’ foresight in recognizing the play would be open.

“After our last drive, I came to the sideline and told Coach [Tyler] Grisham,” said Rodgers. “I just put it in his ear, ‘It’s going to be open, I think it’s going to be a touchdown.’ We ran it the first play and it hit.”

And after that play hit, so did everything else for the Tigers. Eight of Clemson’s first 10 drives resulted in points on the board, seven of those being touchdown drives.

Rodgers leads all Tiger receivers with 429 yards receiving and five touchdowns on the year.

Courtesy of ACC Media Portal

Amari Rodgers set a new personal record on Saturday, accumlating 162 yards receiving.

STREAKS BROKEN

Early in the first quarter with Clemson driving, Travis Etienne took the handoff and rushed for eight yards up the seam. But as Yellow Jacket defenders swarmed him and attempted to bring Etienne down, the Heisman-candidate running back had the ball stripped from his hands. Georgia Tech recovered the fumble deep in their own territory, stifling the Tigers' immediate momentum.

It was Etienne’s first fumble since Sept. 28, 2019, when he coughed one up in Chapel Hill during a nail-biting win over North Carolina.

Likewise, Trevor Lawrence — on the heels of breaking former N.C. State quarterback Russell Wilson’s ACC record for consecutive completions without an interception — threw his first pick in 366 attempts after overshooting Cornell Powell on a deep route with 1:45 remaining in the first quarter. Lawrence wound up a mere 14 passes short of toppling Wilson’s mark.

“I really don’t care [about the record] too much,” Lawrence said following the game. “I think I played well today, and that’s the biggest thing.”

Courtesy of ACC Media Portal

Travis Etienne lost his first fumble in over a year on the Tigers’ first drive vs. Georgia Tech.

NOTES

-Clemson’s 73 points is the most the Tigers have put up in an away game since 1915, when Clemson defeated Furman 94-0. It’s the second time Clemson has piled up over 70 points in Trevor Lawrence’s career, the first being a 77-16 dismantling of Louisville in 2018 at home.

-D.J. Uiagalelei may not have received any snaps at quarterback, but plenty of other Tigers did, including Taisun Phommachanh, Hunter Helms, and Will Spiers. Not a misprint: deep into the fourth quarter, Dabo Swinney sent Will Spiers into the game at QB, and the punter came away with two completions for 13 yards.

-17 different receivers caught a pass for the Tigers on Saturday, the most in a game this season. In total, the Tigers racked up exactly 500 receiving yards on the afternoon.

-Clemson’s 35 points in the second quarter is the most the Tigers have ever scored in a single period during an away game, and tied for the most in school history for any quarter.

-Travis Etienne had a rather quiet day, accumulating just 44 yards on 11 carries. However, toward the end of the first half, Etienne broke outside for a 5-yard touchdown run, bringing his total on the season to five.

-For the first time, both of head coach Dabo Swinney’s sons, Will and Drew, recorded a reception in the same game.

-The Tigers held Jeff Sims to one of the worst games of his young career, as the freshman quarterback accounted for just 81 yards passing and -23 yards on the ground.

-Defensive tackle Nyles Pinckney rushed for a 1-yard score near the end of the first half, and followed it up with a celebration dance. “I told him to act like he’d been there before,” said Dabo Swinney. “He reminded me that he had not been there before.”

Courtesy of ACC Media Portal

Nyles Pinckney dances following his 1-yard touchdown rush.

FINAL WORD

Tiger fans witnessed one of all-time great Clemson performances on Saturday afternoon. In a stadium that has produced numerous instant classics between the two teams, Saturday’s contest was nothing but an orange and white dismantling from the opening kickoff to the final snap.

Just five games into the season, Clemson seems to be firing on all cylinders. The question marks from two weeks ago against Virginia are but fading memories now, as the Tigers have shown themselves to be the unquestionable top-team in college football.

“Great, great win,” said Dabo Swinney. “Happy to be 5-0, and looking forward to being back in the Valley next week.”