Instant Analysis: No. 3 Clemson's play continues to escalate as November rolls on

CLEMSON -- Some time during the offseason, Dabo Swinney ran into Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson.

Swinney thought it was a little strange when Clawson then thanked him for the 63-3 beating his team endured during Clemson’s 2018 championship run, saying it only made his team better.

If Clawson thanked Swinney that day, this year’s 52-3 trouncing of the Demon Deacons must have been Swinney saying, you’re welcome.

At least that’s what it felt like when No. 3 Clemson came roaring out of the gate with two quick scores and an eventual smothering of Wake Forest (7-3). In the last two years, Clemson has outscored the Demon Deacons 115-6.

And to think, if it weren’t for Wake Forest laying an egg at Virginia Tech last week, this matchup would have been one between two ranked teams for the Atlantic division.

Instead, it was a bloodbath. Instead, it was the same old song and dance for a Clemson team whose dominance seems to have become routine.

This quote from Swinney after the game was telling: “We’re playing consistent. We’re doing the things that you got to do to win a championship… I haven’t had a team that has played this consistent.”

The Tigers racked up 516 total yards of offense while only surrendering 105 yards to the Deacons. And it’s not like Wake Forest is a bad team, or offense, by any means. Wake Forest entered the game averaging 487.3 total yards per game, including an ACC-best 314.1 passing yards per game.

Clemson Sports Talk

Trevor Lawrence hands off to Lyn-J Dixon.

Clemson held an 11th straight opponent below 300 yards of total offense to become the first team since the turn of the century to open a season holding opponents below 300 yards in each of the first 11 games. It was also the 14th game in a row the Tigers have held an opponent to 20 points or less.

Brent Venables and his crew held Jamie Newman to six completions on 14 attempts and just 41 yards, plus two interceptions to add on top of that. Former Wake Forest quarterback Tyler Cameron received two times as many roses during this season of The Bachelor than Wake Forest had first downs against Clemson (5).

The focus all week was on Clawson’s usage of the delayed mesh point, but the discipline on Clemson’s front lines made those reads look slower than the traffic on Highway 123 at halftime.

Clemson’s offense picked up right where it left off a week ago with two quick scores after two explosive plays, a 53-yard Amari Rodgers punt return and a Tanner Muse interception. Both drives were four plays or less as the Tigers jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead.

The Tigers didn’t look back after two more quick, back-to-back, scores before halftime to move ahead 31-3. Clemson has now scored 45 points in six consecutive games for the first time in school history. The streak matches the 2013 Florida State Seminoles for the longest in ACC history.

They stole the show…

If this was, in fact, Tee Higgins’ last game inside Death Valley, man, he went out on a high note.

The junior receiver caught four passes for 64 yards and tied a career-high with three touchdown receptions. His first two were from 14 yards out, and his third and final touchdown was the aforementioned 30-yarder that put Wake Forest to bed.

The same could be said for Travis Etienne. If he decided to end his Clemson career after this season, the running back showed over 80,000 in attendance that they better soak in watching him play.

He finished with 16 carries for 121 yards, an average of 7.6 yards per attempt, and two scores. Since that 67-yard performance against North Carolina, Etienne has responded with six consecutive games with over 100 yards rushing and nine touchdowns.

Trevor Lawrence had an almost identical line to the one he had last week against North Carolina State. Against the Wolfpack, he completed 20 of 27 passes for 276 yards and three touchdowns.

This week? Lawrence finished with 272 yards passing on a 21-27 clip and a career-high four touchdowns. Another sign that the golden boy has been as steady as ever.

“He’s playing like the best player in the country,” Swinney said of his quarterback. “I don’t know if he was playing like the best player in the country early, but he was still the best player in the country.”

We wrote this week about Tanner Muse’s pregame ritual of having to find his parents in the stands before the game or else he won’t play well. On Senior Day, an emotional Muse found his parents, Shannon and Kevin, at the bottom of The Hill and went on to have a heck of a day.

Muse had an interception in the first quarter, the seventh of his career,  and a key third-down sack when the game was still in check.

The game was over when…

The Tigers got off to a rapid start in the first five minutes with two quick scores intermediate by a Tanner Muse interception.

But Wake Forest’s defense dug in its heels and Clemson’s offense stalled throughout most of the rest of the first half. Well, until the final two minutes of the second quarter.

Clemson’s offense woke up and sparked a two-minute drill touchdown drive, which was made possible by a third-and-5 Trevor Lawrence completion to Diondre Overton for 23 yards. The 6-play drive ended with a 14-yard Tee Higgins touchdown to give Clemson a 24-3 lead.

On the third play of Wake Forest’s ensuing possession, Jamie Newman was picked off by cornerback AJ Terrell. A 37-yard return on the interception set up the Tigers on Wake Forest’s 30 yard-line with 20 seconds left to work with before halftime.

On the first play of the drive, it was Higgins again who supplied the knockout blow. Lawrence found Higgins for a 30-yard laser beam over two Wake Forest defenders to put Clemson up 31-3. In the blink of an eye, or 29 seconds, in this case, the Tigers went from strolling along to putting the Demon Deacons out of their misery.

The beginning of the first half escalated quickly, but the very end of the first half escalated even more. And Clemson looks like its play is continuing to escalate as we creep deeper into November.

Matchup of the game…

We can talk about Clemson’s defense all day long, but something we have not touched on enough is when Clemson wins the turnover margin, good things happen.

Against Wake Forest, the Tigers forced two interceptions, which resulted in 14 points for Clemson.

The Tigers are now plus-10 in the turnover margin this season, which is top-10 in the country. The margin is by far the best under Swinney during his tenure so far.