Cade Klubnik was not happy with his slow start, despite another 300-yard game and three more touchdown passes.
Early on, Clemson’s quarterback looked out of sorts with an awful interception that Virginia turned into a touchdown and a 10-3 lead, the first time the 10th-ranked Tigers had trailed at home in four games this season.
Soon enough, though, Clemson and Klubnik were off and running for a 48-31 victory over the Cavaliers on Saturday.
“Sometimes, you just don’t have as good of a game as you do others, and that’s okay,” said Klubnik, who finished 23 of 35 passing for 308 yards. “That’s why you get to have peace after the game knowing we put up 500 and something yards and however many points.”
Tight end Olsen Patt-Henry had two TD catches and Phil Mafah ran for two short scores as the Tigers (6-1) improved to 5-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, won for the 11th time in 12 games and defeated the Cavaliers (4-3, 2-2 ACC) for a seventh straight time.
The only downside for the Tigers is that the victory came at the expense of former Clemson receiver and Dabo Swinney’s longtime offensive assistant in Cavaliers coach Tony Elliott, who returned to Death Valley for the first time since taking the Virginia job three seasons ago.
When it ended, Swinney and Elliott shared a long hug before heading to the locker room.
“It was great to see a ton of people” from his former life at Clemson, he said. “As I told the guys last night, my job is stay focused and focus on being the best version of myself to help this football team. Unfortunately, I’ve got to do a better job to have them execute at a high level.”
Elliott’s team accomplished something no other team had done in three previous home games this season — holding a lead on the Tigers after Klubnik’s third interception of the season.
That’s when the Tigers got rolling, scoring 35 straight points to put things away. Mafah tied things with a 1-yard run, then put Clemson in front for good from three yards out.
Patt-Henry had an 11-yard scoring catch on Clemson’s first drive of the second half, then was wide open for a 40-yard TD run down the left sideline as the Tigers went for it on fourth-and-1 two drives later for a 38-10 lead.
“That was just us believing in each other and we’re all going to ride behind (Klubnik) no matter what,” Patt-Henry said. “It comes with the hours of hard work, all the preparation in just being able to trust each other.”
Klubnik has a career-best 20 touchdown passes this season, surpassing the 19 he threw last year in his first year as a starter.
Clemson receiver Antonio Williams completed a pass for a second straight week. He had a 28-yard TD throw to Jake Briningstool in a 49-14 win at Wake Forest on Oct. 12. This time, Williams’ completion to Troy Stellato for 34 yards finished at the Virginia 3 and set up Mafah’s second score.
It was the first time a non-quarterback at Clemson completed passes in back-to-back games. Virginia’s Elliott did it as a Tigers receiver in 2002 in games against Florida State and Virginia.
Swinney called Elliott about an hour or so after the game to let him know. “You can’t make that up,” Swinney said.
Williams’ added a 36-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
Elliott had plenty of insight into Swinney through his 11 seasons on staff and looked as if he found ways to frustrate his former program with three fourth-quarter TDs. But Elliott still has work ahead in landing the five stars he used to coach at Clemson.
Clemson: It was not the sharpest game for the Tigers, but they did more than enough to dominate another ACC opponent. Clemson finished with 500 or more yards for a fifth time this season.
It wasn’t a good Saturday for the coaches Swinney entrusted for so long to lead his offense and defense. Along with Elliott’s 48-31 loss to the Tigers, Clemson’s defensive leader for 10 seasons from 2012-21 now Oklahoma coach, Brent Venables, lost at home to Clemson’s state rival South Carolina 35-9.
