CLEMSON FOOTBALL

Boyd and Watkins set records as Tigers rout Wake Forest 42-13
Photo by Jeremy Brevard / US PRESSWIRE

Boyd and Watkins set records as Tigers rout Wake Forest 42-13


by - Senior Writer -

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Sammy Watkins Sammy Watkins
So. Wide Receiver
#2 6-1, 205
Fort Myers, FL

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didn’t start Thursday’s nationally-televised contest at Wake Forest, but he finished the game in grand fashion.

Watkins and quarterback Tajh BoydTajh Boyd
RS Jr. Quarterback
#10 6-1, 225
Hampton, VA

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each set school records and the Clemson defense sacked Wake Forest quarterback Tanner Price five times as No. 14 Clemson Tigers (7-1, 4-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) routed the Demon Deacons 42-13 (4-4, 2-4) at BB&T Field.

Boyd threw for a school-record 428 yards with five touchdown passes to five different receivers, while Watkins added a school-record 202 yards receiving on nine catches. Boyd finished the game 27-of-38 and he teamed up with Watkins for three plays of 50 or more yards, including a 61-yarder for a score.

Boyd’s 37-yard pass to Martavis BryantMartavis Bryant
So. Wide Receiver
#1 6-5, 200
Calhoun Falls, SC

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midway through the fourth eclipsed the record of 420 yards set by former quarterback Charlie WhitehurstCharlie Whitehurst
Quarterback
#6 6-4, 225
Duluth, GA

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.

Watkins, who didn’t start the contest after being three minutes late to a meeting on Wednesday, entered the game after sitting out three plays and wound up with a career-high 177 yards receiving in the first half. He broke the school record for receiving yards – Nuk Hopkins set the record less than a month ago with 197 yards at Boston College – in the second half.

“Tajh was just lights out,” Clemson head coach Dabo SwinneyDabo Swinney
Head Coach
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said. “He got a little sloppy in the third quarter, but really just lights out. I think he set a school record for passing yards, and maybe everybody will quit asking me about Sammy Watkins now. He’s played four-and-a-half games now, and I think he set the school record for receiving yards tonight. He had a great game, and it was great to see him have some big plays.”

The Tigers started sluggishly on offense – punting on each of the first two possessions – and Wake drove down to the Clemson 39-yard line on its second possession. However, head coach Jim Grobe elected to punt instead of going for it on 4th-and-2, a turning point in the contest.

Boyd hit Watkins down the left sideline for a 57-yard gain, setting up a nine-yard pass from Boyd to tight end Brandon FordBrandon Ford
Gr. Tight End
#80 6-4, 240
Wando, SC

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. On the ensuing possession, Boyd hit Watkins again, this time out in the flat, and Watkins raced 61 yards for the touchdown.

Boyd said the Tigers wanted to atone for the slow start.

"We expect to execute in a manner that we score every time we get the ball," Boyd said. "So when you don't do it, sometimes it's kind of frustrating. Sometimes it's kind of disappointing. But all you can do is just keep working, keep pushing."

Boyd added a 12-yard scoring pass to Sam CooperSam Cooper
RS So. Tight End
#86 6-5, 250
Brentwood, TN

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, a 12-yard toss to Hopkins and a two-yard fade to Charone PeakeCharone Peake
So. Wide Receiver
#19 6-3, 200
Moore, SC

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as the Tigers built up a 35-0 lead. Wake added a touchdown with 12 seconds remaining in the half, and the Tigers led 35-7 at intermission.

The Clemson defense sacked Tanner Price four times in the half and Wake had minus-23 yards rushing in the first two quarters.

Wake added an 18-yard touchdown from Price to Tommy Bohanon in the third quarter, but the Tigers were able to effectively shut down the Deacons from that point on.

D.J. HowardD.J. Howard
RS So. Running Back
#22 5-11, 195
Lincoln, AL

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scored on a one-yard run midway through the fourth quarter for the final points of the evening as Clemson rolled up 534 yards of total offense.

Offensive coordinator Chad MorrisChad Morris
Offensive Coordinator / QBs
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said he knew that Watkins was close to having a breakout game.

"We knew that was coming," Morris said. "You see that spark, and it just gives everybody that much energy. Getting him going at the right time - this team's going to need him the most at this point in time in the season."

Swinney said the Deacons paid for trying to play Clemson’s receivers one-on-one.

“They gave us man coverage, and some one-on-one matchups, playing some quarters and some one safety defense,” Swinney said. “We just took advantage of it. Early in the game we threw a ball to Sammy and Tajh missed it and threw a ball a little too far outside. That play set up the first touchdown. We came back and ran the come-back off of that, and he [Watkins] just broke the tackle. That is what happens when you have one guy playing one guy and you don’t make the tackle. It’s a big play.”

Wake Forest head coach Jim Grobe said his team didn’t have an answer for Clemson’s team speed.

“I just don’t think we respected their foot speed enough in the first half,” Grobe said. “We did a better job in the second half, but we just dug ourselves such a big hole. Sometimes it was the corners and then other times it was the safeties, They got behind us a couple of times, and then it was just a foot race.”

The Tigers will return to action in nine days, traveling to play at Duke in a nationally-televised game that will kick off at 7 p.m.


Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score

----------------- -- -- -- -- -----

Clemson............. 7 28 0 7 - 42

Wake Forest......... 0 7 6 0 - 13

Scoring Summary:

1st 04:03 CU - FORD 9 yd pass from BOYD (CATANZARO kick)

8 plays, 80 yards, TOP 3:19, CU 7 - WF 0

2nd 14:49 CU - S. WATKINS 61 yd pass from BOYD (CATANZARO kick)

5 plays, 72 yards, TOP 1:00, CU 14 - WF 0

08:36 CU - COOPER 12 yd pass from BOYD (CATANZARO kick)

7 plays, 80 yards, TOP 1:51, CU 21 - WF 0

03:56 CU - HOPKINS 12 yd pass from BOYD (CATANZARO kick)

6 plays, 68 yards, TOP 1:41, CU 28 - WF 0

01:18 CU - PEAKE 2 yd pass from BOYD (CATANZARO kick)

4 plays, 19 yards, TOP 1:08, CU 35 - WF 0

00:12 WF - Bohanon, T 8 yd pass from Price, T (Hedlund, C kick)

6 plays, 75 yards, TOP 1:06, CU 35 - WF 7

3rd 07:45 WF - Bohanon, T 18 yd pass from Price, T (Hedlund, C kick failed)

4 plays, 69 yards, TOP 0:58, CU 35 - WF 13

4th 08:44 CU - HOWARD 1 yd run (LAKIP kick)

13 plays, 86 yards, TOP 5:02, CU 42 - WF 13

Kickoff time: 7:31 pm End of Game: 10:40 pm Total elapsed time: 3:09

Officials: Referee: Jerry Magallane; Umpire: Jim Hyson; Linesman: Tracy Lynch;

Line judge: Colin Formulak; Back judge: Pat Ryan; Field judge: Mike Cullin;

Side judge: Timon Oujiri; Scorer: Scott Wortman;

Temperature: 69 Wind: 4mph E Weather: Clear

Team Statistics

CU WF

FIRST DOWNS................... 26 19

Rushing..................... 10 5

Passing..................... 15 10

Penalty..................... 1 4

NET YARDS RUSHING............. 101 51

Rushing Attempts............ 45 28

Average Per Rush............ 2.2 1.8

Rushing Touchdowns.......... 1 0

Yards Gained Rushing........ 146 110

Yards Lost Rushing.......... 45 59

NET YARDS PASSING............. 433 239

Completions-Attempts-Int.... 29-40-0 28-45-0

Average Per Attempt......... 10.8 5.3

Average Per Completion...... 14.9 8.5

Passing Touchdowns.......... 5 2

TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS........... 534 290

Total offense plays......... 85 73

Average Gain Per Play....... 6.3 4.0

Fumbles: Number-Lost.......... 1-0 4-1

Penalties: Number-Yards....... 9-79 4-37

PUNTS-YARDS................... 6-213 10-419

Average Yards Per Punt...... 35.5 41.9

Net Yards Per Punt.......... 35.3 37.5

Inside 20................... 3 2

50+ Yards................... 0 2

Touchbacks.................. 0 2

Fair catch.................. 2 3

KICKOFFS-YARDS................ 7-452 3-191

Average Yards Per Kickoff... 64.6 63.7

Net Yards Per Kickoff....... 46.1 42.3

Touchbacks.................. 5 2

Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD. 3-4-0 1-1-0

Average Per Return.......... 1.3 1.0

Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD 1-14-0 2-29-0

Average Per Return.......... 14.0 14.5

Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD.. 0-0-0 0-0-0

Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD. 0-0-0 0-0-0

Miscellaneous Yards........... 0 0

Possession Time............... 31:02 28:58

1st Quarter................. 7:44 7:16

2nd Quarter................. 5:03 9:57

3rd Quarter................. 9:07 5:53

4th Quarter................. 9:08 5:52

Third-Down Conversions........ 10 of 17 6 of 18

Fourth-Down Conversions....... 0 of 0 0 of 1

Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 5-6 2-2

Touchdowns.................. 5-6 2-2

Field goals................. 0-6 0-2

Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 5-33 3-36

PAT Kicks..................... 6-6 1-2

Field Goals................... 0-1 0-0

Individual Statistics

Clemson

Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg

--------------------------------------------

ELLINGTON 15 64 3 61 0 12 4.1

BOYD 16 63 36 27 0 11 1.7

HOWARD 4 6 0 6 1 4 1.5

PEAKE 1 4 0 4 0 4 4.0

McDOWELL 5 5 1 4 0 3 0.8

S. WATKINS 1 4 0 4 0 4 4.0

TEAM 3 0 5 -5 0 0 -1.7

Totals... 45 146 45 101 1 12 2.2

Passing Cmp-Att-Int Yds TD Long Sack

--------------------------------------------

BOYD 27-38-0 428 5 61 3

STOUDT 2-2-0 5 0 9 0

Totals... 29-40-0 433 5 61 3

Receiving No. Yds TD Long

-----------------------------------

S. WATKINS 8 202 1 61

HOPKINS 6 64 1 25

BRYANT 3 82 0 37

JA. BROWN 3 40 0 29

FORD 2 17 1 9

ELLINGTON 2 5 0 5

COOPER 1 12 1 12

PORTER 1 9 0 9

HUMPHRIES 1 4 0 4

PEAKE 1 2 1 2

RODRIGUEZ 1 -4 0 0

Totals... 29 433 5 61

Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 TB

----------------------------------------------

PINION 2 65 32.5 36 2 0

BENTON 4 148 37.0 43 1 0

Totals... 6 213 35.5 43 3 0

Punts Kickoffs Intercept

All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg

---------------------------------------------

BRYANT 0 0 0 1 14 14 0 0 0

HUMPHRIES 3 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 0

Totals... 3 4 3 1 14 14 0 0 0

Field goal attempts

----------------------------------------

CATANZARO 3rd 08:43 48 yds - Missed

Kickoffs No. Yds TB OB Avg

---------------------------------------

PINION 3 195 3 0 65.0

BENTON 3 192 2 0 64.0

LAKIP 1 65 0 0 65.0

Wake Forest

Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg

--------------------------------------------

Harris, J 10 76 0 76 0 43 7.6

Campanaro, M 2 12 0 12 0 12 6.0

Martin, D 8 16 7 9 0 6 1.1

Price, T 8 6 52 -46 0 3 -5.8

Totals... 28 110 59 51 0 43 1.8

Passing Cmp-Att-Int Yds TD Long Sack

--------------------------------------------

Price, T 27-44-0 232 2 27 4

Martin, D 1-1-0 7 0 7 1

Totals... 28-45-0 239 2 27 5

Receiving No. Yds TD Long

-----------------------------------

Davis, T 7 84 0 25

Campanaro, M 6 52 0 27

Harris, J 5 19 0 7

Bohanon, T 3 29 2 18

Jackson, L 2 21 0 16

Martin, D 2 13 0 9

Bishop, S 1 8 0 8

Price, T 1 7 0 7

Ragland, S 1 6 0 6

Totals... 28 239 2 27

Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 TB

----------------------------------------------

Kinal, A 10 419 41.9 61 2 2

Totals... 10 419 41.9 61 2 2

Punts Kickoffs Intercept

All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg

---------------------------------------------

Harris, J 0 0 0 1 11 11 0 0 0

Jackson, L 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

Okoro, C 0 0 0 1 18 18 0 0 0

Totals... 1 1 1 2 29 18 0 0 0

Field goal attempts

----------------------------------------

Kickoffs No. Yds TB OB Avg

---------------------------------------

Newman, J 3 191 2 0 63.7

FUMBLES: Clemson-ELLINGTON 1-0. Wake Forest-Harris, J 1-1; Martin, D 1-0; Price, T 1-0;

Davis, T 1-0.

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