Clemson vs. North Carolina postgame notes

TEAM

• Clemson has won 15 ACC Championships, tied for first in ACC history with Florida State. It is Clemson’s first ACC title since 2011. The only Clemson player to appear in both games was Charone Peake.

• Clemson won its 16th straight game today, establishing a school record for consecutive victories.  The previous mark was from 1947-49.

• Clemson established a  school record for wins in a season with tonight’s victory.  The previous high was 12 wins in a 12-0 season in 1981, the year Clemson won its only National Championship.

• Clemson has a 13-0 record, just the third ACC team in history to win at least 13 games.  Florida State was 14-0 in 2013 and 13-1 in 2014.

• Clemson is now 2-1 in ACC Championship games with both wins coming in Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.

• Today was Clemson’s third win over a top 25 Associated Press team this year.  Earlier Clemson beat No. 6 Notre Dame and No. 17 Florida State. North Carolina was ranked eighth in both wire service polls and No.10 by the College Football Playoff. The Clemson record for wins over top 25 teams in a season is four, set in 2011, the last time Clemson won the ACC Championship.

• Today was the 45th win for Clemson in the last four years. This senior class is 45-7. Eric Mac Lain, first-team All-ACC guard and native of North Carolina, is the only member of the class to play in every game the last four years and is thus the winningest player in Clemson history.

• Today’s win also clinched the record for winning percentage for this Clemson senior class.  The worst this class can finish with is  45-8 record and that .849 winning percentage is ahead of the previous record of .844 set by the 1984 senior class that featured William Perry.  That class finished 37-6-2.

• Today was Clemson’s seventh win over a team with a winning record and third win over a team with at least 10 wins. This is the first year Clemson has beaten three teams with at least 10 wins.

• This is the first time Clemson has been the preseason pick to win the ACC Championship by the ACC Sports Media, and then gone on to win the title since 1991.

• This is the first time Clemson has had the ACC Coach of the Year, the ACC Player of the Year and won the ACC Championship all in the same year since 1981.

• Today was Clemson’s 702nd win in history.  It moved the Tigers ahead of Arkansas and Florida into a tie for 20th place with Washington on the all-time victories list.

• This was Clemson’s ninth win over an ACC team this year, most in school history.

• Clemson rushed and passed for over 200 yards on Saturday. The Tiger program is now 74-0-1 when accumulating 200 of each.

• Clemson scored 45 points Saturday, most all season allowed by the Tar Heels.

• Clemson posted its ninth straight game with at least 500 yards of total offense. The Tigers are now 94-0-1 when posting at least 500 yards.

• Clemson’s 97-yard scoring drive in the third quarter tied the longest in ACC Championship Game history.

INDIVIDUAL

• Today was Dabo Swinney’s 14th career win over a top 25 team, but his eighth over a top 10 team (by AP or USA Today entering the game).  Swinney is now 8-4 against top 10 teams in his Clemson head coaching career, including 2-0 this year.

• Today was Dabo Swinney’s 100th game as Clemson head coach.  He is now 74-26.  His 74 percent winning percentage is the exact same that Danny Ford had through 100 games in his Clemson career. Ford, the only Clemson coach to win a national championship, was 72-24-4 through 100 games.

• Deshaun Watson is now 17-1 as a starting quarterback.

• Watson set ACC Championship Game records with 420 yards of total offense and five total touchdowns.

• With the mark, Watson moved to second on Clemson’s single-season list for total offense. Tajh Boyd set the school record with 4,410 yards in 2012.

• Watson moved to third in Clemson history, behind only Tajh Boyd and Woodrow Dantzler, for career touchdown responsibility (60).

• Watson passed Cullen Harper for third place in Clemson’s record books with 44 career passing touchdowns, trailing only Tajh Boyd and Charlie Whitehurst.

• Watson again rushed for over 100 yards, his fourth such mark in the past five games.

• Watson’s 33-yard run in the second quarter was the longest in ACC Championship Game history by a quarterback.

• Watson rushed for a nine-yard touchdown, his 10th of the season. He has had eight games in 2015 with at least one rushing and one passing touchdown.

• Wayne Gallman caught Clemson’s first touchdown of the night; it was his second career receiving touchdown and his first in 2015.

• Gallman had 187 rushing yards, his eighth game with at least 100 this season. That sets a new Clemson record for a season.

• Gallman is just 13 yards shy of matching Raymond Priester’s single-season school record of 1,345 set in 1996.

• Artavis Scott became the fifth Tiger in history with at least 80 catches in a season, joining Rod Gardner, DeAndre Hopkins, Aaron Kelly and Sammy Watkins.

• Scott’s 35-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter was his first score since the Miami game on Oct. 24.

• Cordrea Tankersley had his fifth interception of the season to open the second half, most in a season by a Tiger since DeAndre McDaniel had eight in 2009.

• Shaq Lawson had two tackles for loss and a sack, increasing his total to 22.5 tackles for loss on the season. That moved him to ninth in Clemson’s single season records.