FINAL: Clemson 41, Virginia 23

Clemson Defeats Virginia, 41-23, as Etienne Dominates in Passing Game

🚨 MUST-SEE!!! 🚨

Andrew Booth with an unbelievable one-handed interception!

(Watch live on ACCN or here: https://t.co/lu6NuCdXJ2) pic.twitter.com/sTzU756SYj

— Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) October 4, 2020

Box Score

CLEMSON, S.C. — In Clemson’s first clash with Virginia (1-1, 1-1 ACC) at Death Valley since 2009, the Tigers came out on top with a 41-23 victory to improve to 3-0 and 2-0 in ACC play. The win extended Clemson’s winning streak on Saturdays to 46, passing the 1953-57 Oklahoma Sooners for the longest such streak in FBS history. 

Trevor Lawrence was 25-for-38 passing for 329 yards and three touchdowns, including two to Amari Rodgers. Travis Etienne totaled 187 yards from scrimmage, including 73 on the ground and a career-high and Clemson running back record 114 through the air.

Clemson’s defense picked off Virginia quarterback Brennan Armstrong twice. Nolan Turner recorded the Tigers’ first interception of the season in the second quarter, and on the first drive of the second half, Andrew Booth Jr. made a spectacular one-handed interception, the first of his career, in the corner of the end zone. The defense also had three sacks, and has now had multiple sacks in 25 of its last 26 games.

Lyn-J Dixon returned the opening kickoff of the game for a career-long 52 yards, and the Tigers cashed in on the favorable field position with a 47-yard B.T. Potter field goal. Etienne added to the lead with a 16-yard touchdown rush, his second rushing touchdown of the season. With the score, the standout senior tied Florida’s Tim Tebow and Louisiana Tech’s Kenneth Dixon for the FBS record for most career games with a touchdown (38).

Lawrence delivered his first of two second quarter touchdown passes to Rodgers with a 27-yard strike in the back of the end zone. The second touchdown connection, this time for nine yards, gave the Tigers a 24-3 lead. The Cavaliers would score a touchdown of their own to cut the Clemson lead to 24-10 going into halftime.

The Tigers opened the second half scoring off the Booth interception with a 42-yard Potter field goal. The Cavaliers answered with a touchdown before Etienne recorded his second score of the game, this time a four-yard reception, to give Clemson a 34-17 lead.

Chez Mellusi added a fourth quarter two-yard rushing touchdown, his first of the season and first since the 2019 ACC Championship against the Cavaliers, to extend the Tiger lead to 41-17. Virginia added another touchdown before the final whistle blew, but they failed to convert the two-point conversion.

Clemson will once again play in prime time next week when the Tigers host the Miami Hurricanes in a battle of potential Top 10 opponents. Kickoff for that game is slated for 7:30 p.m. ET.

Three and oh.#ALLIN 🐅🐾 pic.twitter.com/3n4Fh7NQXs

— Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) October 4, 2020

Game Notes

• Clemson did not turn the ball over and produced an 11th consecutive game without turning the ball over multiple times. Clemson’s 11-game streak with one giveaway or fewer is the program’s longest in Head Coach Dabo Swinney’s tenure.
• Clemson recorded three sacks and has now recorded multiple sacks in 25 of its last 26 games, including each of its last nine.
• Quarterback Trevor Lawrence completed 25-of-38 passes for 329 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. 
• The 300-yard passing game was Lawrence’s second of the season and the ninth of his career. His ninth 300-yard passing game moved him past Charlie Whitehurst for sole possession of the third-most in Clemson history.
• The game was Lawrence’s 16th of his career with three or more passing touchdowns, tying Deshaun Watson for the second-most such games in school history. 
• Lawrence entered the game tied with Jacory Harris (70) for sixth on the ACC’s all-time career passing touchdowns leaderboard and moved into sole possession of sixth with a second-quarter touchdown pass to Amari Rodgers. Russell Wilson is fifth with 76 passing touchdowns at NC State.
• Including his 329 passing yards in the game, Lawrence (7,793) became only the fourth quarterback in Clemson history with 7,500 career passing yards.
• Running back Travis Etienne rushed 14 times for 73 yards with one rushing touchdown, and he also set a Clemson receiving yardage record for a running back with 114 receiving yards on five receptions with a receiving touchdown. 
• Etienne’s receiving performance broke C.J. Spiller’s Clemson running back record of 108 receiving yards, set against Duke in 2008. Etienne recorded the fourth 100-yard receiving game by a running back in Clemson history, as all three previous instances were recorded by Spiller.
• Etienne scored his second rushing touchdown of the season, the 58th of his career, on a 16-yard first-quarter run.
• By scoring a touchdown in the 38th different game in his career on that run, Etienne tied the FBS record for most career games with a touchdown (by any means), held jointly by Florida’s Tim Tebow (38 games from 2006-09) and Louisiana Tech’s Kenneth Dixon (38 from 2012-15).
• During the game, Etienne (390) passed placekicker Greg Huegel (379 from 2015-18) for second on Clemson’s career scoring leaderboard. 
• Etienne surpassed his single-game career high in receiving yardage of 98, set in the 2019 Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State. 
• Etienne’s first three completions went for 21, 16 and 46 yards on 3rd-and-16, 3rd-and-9, and 3rd-and-16, respectively.
• Etienne recorded his first receiving touchdown of the season — the seventh of his career — on a four-yard pass from Lawrence in the third quarter. 
• The receiving touchdown was the 65th total touchdown of Etienne’s career, moving him into a tie with DeMarco Murray for the 13th-most in the FBS since 1956.
• With 187 all-purpose yards in the game, Etienne (5,581) became the second player in Clemson history and the seventh player in ACC history to record 5,500 career all-purpose yards.
• During the game, Etienne (5,581) passed Dalvin Cook (5,399), Duke Johnson (5,526), Ted Brown (5,565) and Jamison Crowder (5,575) to move into fourth on the ACC’s leaderboard for career all-purpose yardage.
• Wide receiver Amari Rodgers caught a career-high-tying six passes for 72 yards with two touchdowns.
• The game was the third multi-touchdown game of Rodgers’ career, joining two-touchdown receiving performances at Florida State in 2018 and at Syracuse in 2019.
• Rodgers scored his second touchdown of the season — the 10th of his career — on a 27-yard pass from Lawrence in the second quarter. He added another touchdown later in the quarter on a nine-yard pass from Lawrence.
• Rodgers has now recorded a touchdown reception in consecutive games for the third time in his career (vs. Florida State and Louisville in 2018; vs. Boston College and Wofford in 2019).
• Running back Chez Mellusi scored his fourth career rushing touchdown on a two-yard fourth-quarter run. It was his first touchdown since scoring against Virginia in the 2019 ACC Championship Game.
• Wide receiver Brannon Spector posted career highs with four receptions for 32 yards.
• Safety Nolan Turner recorded Clemson’s first interception of the season in the second quarter, picking off Virginia quarterback Brennan Armstrong.
• The interception was the fourth of Turner’s career but his first in regular season play. Turner previously had an interception in the 2018 Cotton Bowl vs. Notre Dame, 2019 ACC Championship Game vs. Virginia and the 2019 Fiesta Bowl vs. Ohio State.
• Cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. recorded his first career interception on a highlight-reel one-handed interception on the opening drive of the second half.
• Linebacker Baylon Spector recorded a career-high 13 tackles. His previous high was six, set against Ohio State in last year’s Fiesta Bowl. 
• Defensive lineman Bryan Bresee recorded the first full sack of his career in the second quarter. He had previously split a sack in the team’s season opener at Wake Forest.
• Placekicker B.T. Potter opened the scoring on a 47-yard field goal on Clemson’s opening drive. He later added a 42-yard field goal in the third quarter and has now converted his last six field goal attempts, dating to last year’s National Championship Game.
• With his fourth PAT of the game, Potter passed Obed Ariri (99 from 1977-80) for fifth on Clemson’s leaderboard for career PATs and became the fifth player in school history to convert 100 career PATs.
• Running back Lyn-J Dixon returned the opening kickoff a career-long 52 yards on his first kickoff return of the season.
• Clemson played its 17th game all-time while ranked No. 1 in the AP poll, tying Pitt and Tennessee for 15th-most since the poll’s inception in 1936. It was Dabo Swinney’s 16th game coached at No. 1, moving him into sole possession of 20th among coaches in the AP Poll era (since 1936) and pulling him within one game of Ara Parseghian (17) for 19th.
• The game was Clemson’s first of four scheduled home games in the month of October. If played as scheduled, it would represent the seventh time Clemson has played four home games in a single month, joining the 1920, 1987, 1989, 1993, 2008 and 2011 campaigns. In all six of the previous instances, Clemson posted a winning record in those contests.
• Punter Will Spiers made his 47th career start to break Cole Chason’s school record for career starts by a punter (46 ffregulatrom 2003-06).
• Linebacker James Skalski appeared in his 50th career game. Chad Smith (58 from 2016-19) holds Clemson’s career record for games played by a linebacker.
• Captains for the contest were running back Travis Etienne, punter Will Spiers, offensive lineman Cade Stewart and defensive tackle Jordan Williams.

With the Win...

• Clemson pushed its winning streak in Saturday games to 46 to extend the longest Saturday winning streak in school history and take sole possession of the longest streak in FBS history. Clemson’s current run of 46 consecutive Saturday victories now surpasses the 1953-57 Oklahoma Sooners for the longest streak in FBS history. 
• Clemson became the first program to win 300 ACC regular season games, according to official conference records. The ACC credits Clemson with a 300-143-6 record all-time in ACC regular season play.
• Clemson improved to 40-8-1 against Virginia all-time. Virginia becomes the fifth opponent against whom Clemson has collected 40 all-time wins (South Carolina, Wake Forest, NC State and Furman).
• Clemson won a fifth consecutive game against Virginia for the first time since opening its all-time series against the Cavaliers with a 29-game winning streak across the 1955-89 seasons. That previous 29-game winning streak is tied for the sixth-longest winning streak in FBS history for one team over another.
• Though 2020 is technically a divisionless season, Clemson improved to 29-8 against opponents historically from the ACC Coastal Division, including postseason play, under Head Coach Dabo Swinney. Clemson has now won 15 of its last 16 games against traditional Coastal Division opponents since 2015. Clemson has won its last 11 such games, dating back to the 2016 ACC Championship Game.
• Clemson won its 24th consecutive game against an ACC opponent, including postseason play. The 24-game winning streak against conference opponents ties the 1998-2001 Florida State Seminoles for the third-longest streak in conference history.
• Clemson won its 24th consecutive home game to extend its school record for the longest home winning streak in school history. Of the 120 players on Clemson’s 2020 roster, 111 have never experienced a home loss in their Clemson careers. Nine fifth-year seniors on Clemson’s 2020 roster were on the 2016 team that recovered from a home loss to Pitt by winning the national championship that season.
• Clemson won its 32nd consecutive regular season game, adding to the longest such streak in ACC annals. Clemson’s last regular season loss came in October 2017 at Syracuse.
• Clemson improved to 23-1 in October games in the College Football Playoff era (since 2014). 
• Clemson improved to 15-2 all-time when ranked No. 1 by the Associated Press. Clemson has never lost a regular season game as the nation’s top-ranked team.
• Head Coach Dabo Swinney secured his 133rd career win as a head coach, pulling him within one victory of Virginia’s George Welsh (134) for the second-most career wins by an ACC head coach. At the time of his retirement following the 2000 season, Welsh was the winningest head coach in ACC history prior to being passed by Bobby Bowden.