Legend [17786]
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On This Date: 2019 (3)Clemson- 62 (23)Virginia- 17
Dec 7, 2022, 12:30 PM
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12/07/2019
Charlotte, NC
Trevor Lawrence, No. 3 Clemson Dominate No. 23 Virginia to Win 2019 ACC Title
PAUL KASABIAN
DECEMBER 7, 2019
No. 3 Clemson will roll into the College Football Playoff field after defeating No. 23 Virginia 62-17 in the ACC Championship Game on Saturday.
Clemson scored 24 unanswered points in the first half to turn a 7-7 tie into a 31-7 halftime lead. Tee Higgins caught two of his three touchdowns before halftime, and Travis Etienne and Justyn Ross each scored once.
The 31 first-half points set a new ACC Championship Game record:
UVA opened the second half with an eight-yard touchdown pass from Bryce Perkins to Terrell Jana, but Clemson immediately responded with Higgins' third score and never looked back en route to the 45-point win.
The Tigers outgained the Cavaliers 619-387, with Higgins catching nine passes for 182 yards. He also found himself in great company following the third TD, per ESPN Stats & Info.
Etienne enjoyed an efficient night with 14 carries for 114 yards and a touchdown.
Hasise Dubois paced the UVA offense with 10 receptions and 130 yards.
The Tigers have won 28 straight games dating to Week 1 of the 2018 season. The defending national champions will head to the CFP for the fifth straight year following the win at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Clemson is also the ACC champion for the fifth straight season and a conference-record 19th time overall.
UVA will enter bowl season with a 9-4 record. The Cavaliers had won four straight.
Notable Performances
UVA QB Bryce Perkins: 27-of-43, 266 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT; 17 carries, 58 yards
UVA WR Hasise Dubois: 10 catches, 130 yards, 1 TD
UVA WR Terrell Jana: 6 catches, 62 yards, 1 TD
Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence: 16-of-22, 302 passing yards, 4 TD
Clemson RB Travis Etienne: 14 carries, 114 yards, 1 TD
Clemson WR Tee Higgins: 9 catches, 182 yards, 3 TD
Etienne could not be stopped en route to another 100-yard day.
The Lawrence-Higgins connection felt like an easy pitch-and-catch. It helps when a wideout can literally go horizontal and make tiptoe sideline catches all at once:
The defense wasn't invincible with the Perkins-Dubois connection doing damage, but Clemson largely held the UVA attack at bay otherwise.
When it was over, Clemson crushed the 29-point spread set by Caesars Sportsbook.
The Tigers have won 13 games this year despite losing three defensive linemen (Christian Wilkins, Clelin Ferrell, Dexter Lawrence) who were picked in the top 17 of this year's NFL draft. And they've done so in dominant fashion outside one blip on the radar in North Carolina.
Clemson's strength of schedule may be weak, but every game hasn't been a carbon copy of the UNC contest. Rather, the matchups mostly resemble the ACC title game, where the Clemson ground and aerial attacks leave no doubt about the result by the end of the third quarter.
The Tigers are headed to the College Football Playoff, where their next opponent is guaranteed to be the best they face all year. We'll find out on the field whether Clemson is on par with the rest of the country's best.
But the safer bet is believing in Clemson despite its opponents. Many of the players who were on the 2018 team that steamrolled its way to a 15-0 mark and an emphatic national title win over Alabama are still around.
"All I can tell you is that we're 10-1 against the SEC in our last 11," Swinney said last Saturday. "We've won 115 games this decade. So had Ohio State. So had Alabama. We've played both of them [and won the last time they played Alabama and the last time they played Ohio State]. Our program is what people don't focus on. Virginia...they would be 9-3 in any league."
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