CHARLOTTE — For the first time all season, Clemson’s defense did not have its stuff. But everything was okay. Trevor Lawrence, Tee Higgins and the rest of the Clemson offense had their back.
The third-ranked Tigers scored an ACC Championship Game record 62 points, while racking up a championship game record 619 total yards in a 62-17 victory over No. 23 Virginia Saturday at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
“The offense was fantastic,” defensive coordinator Brent Venables said after Clemson wrapped up its fifth consecutive ACC Championship.
It was not a fantastic night for the defense, though it was not bad either. However, Clemson was off just a little from its normal standard. The Tigers allowed 387 total yards, while the Cavaliers were 10 of 18 on third down.
Clemson (13-0) came into the ACC Championship Game with a defense that led the nation in scoring defense and had not allowed an opponent all season to reach the 300-yard mark. But the Cavaliers had 167 total yards in the first quarter.
“They broke contain a few times,” head coach Dabo Swinney said. “First of all, we didn’t make some of the plays that were there. They made some plays, but there was a few plays there that we normally make that we didn’t make, missed a few tackles, and then we didn’t set the edge a couple times, and he’s just going to hurt you. He’s just that good.”
He is of course is Virginia quarterback Bryce Perkins, who tallied 314 of his team’s 387 yards of offense. The senior completed 27 of 43 passes for 266 yards and two touchdowns. He also led his team with 58 rushing yards.
But as good as the ACC’s second-team quarterback was on Saturday, it was the first-team quarterback that stole the show along with his collection of wide receivers, who the Cavs had no answer for.
Lawrence was once again fantastic, throwing for 302 yards and an ACC record 4 touchdowns in leading the Tigers.
“We just ran our offense and took what was there,” Swinney said. “We had some soft edges for a while. We had some underneath throws that we took that we were able to get a lot of yards after the catch. And then we went up top, so our play action game was really good. But everything kind of came off of our run game. Travis was just — he’s just hard to tackle, and our guys did a great job.”
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