Road domination: Clemson sails by Wake Forest with ease in ACC road clash

Clemson football won’t stop beating Wake Forest.

Or anyone else, for that matter.

On the road for a second straight week, the Tigers held serve in a 49-14 win over the Demon Deacons and left Winston-Salem with a fifth straight win and fourth straight ACC win after an embarrassing season-opening loss to Georgia in Atlanta.

Quarterback Cade Klubnik had another gem in his resurgent junior season with 339 yards and three touchdowns; running back Phil Mafah had 108 yards and two scores and the Tigers defense shored up after some early mishaps to usher in a comfortable 35-point win.

There were throws Klubnik would’ve liked back, including a few behind his receivers. And some poor missed tackles from the defense against Wake Forest’s twitchy skill position players. And some bad snaps from center Ryan Linthicum.

All in all, though, it was a relatively stress-free afternoon for coach Dabo Swinney’s program (5-1, 4-0 ACC), which has been having a lot of those recently thanks to a lot of consistency and points on offense, plus some timely forced turnovers.

One year after losing three of four ACC road games to eliminate itself from the league title race, Clemson is now a clean 2-0 in those contests this season. The Tigers also got a blowout win over a Wake Forest team they only beat by six points in here 2022 (51-45 in double overtime), and five points in Clemson last year (17-12).

Swinney is now 16-0 all-time against Wake Forest (2-4, 1-2 ACC) and 11-0 against Demon Deacons coach Dave Clawson. And his offense is producing at levels unseen since the Tigers’ last College Football Playoff appearance after the 2020 season.

After trailing 7-0 in the first quarter, Clemson rattled off 28 points in the second quarter and ended up outscoring Wake Forest 49-7 the rest of the way in a venue that started as a Wake Forest sellout and designated “black out” for the crowd ... but ended with a lot more orange in the audience.

Game recap

As Clemson’s offense stalled early, Demon Deacons quarterback Hank Bachmeier started this game off with a bang by throwing a beautiful ball to receiver Horatio Fields for a 38-yard touchdown pass down the left sideline.

Just like that, the Tigers were on the ropes.

Clemson entered this game having outscored opponents 90-0 in the first half of games this season, with five consecutive first-quarter shutouts on defense to start a season for the first time since 1990.

But as Wake Forest got early pressure on Klubnik and Fields made a highlight play, the Tigers snapped that streak – and trailed 7-0 after one when they’ve been leading, on average, by 22.5 points in that same spot the past four games.

Klubnik, Kylon Griffin and Khalil Barnes made that an afterthought.

Clemson’s junior quarterback connected with receiver Antonio Williams for 22-yard touchdown on third and 5 to tie the game in the second quarter (7-7), and Tigers defensive backs Griffin and Barnes recorded interceptions on Wake’s next two possessions to set up two more TDs.

Demon Deacons QB Bachmeier, a veteran transfer by way of Boise State and Louisiana Tech, had only thrown two interceptions in five previous games but sent one right to Griffin and threw a second when Barnes dove to secure a tipped pass.

As Clemson’s starting defense struggled a bit against Wake’s famous “slow mesh” offense, those two turnovers were critical to game flow – and led directly to back-to-back short Phil Mafah rushing touchdowns and a 21-7 Tigers lead.

On the second, which gave Clemson a crucial two-score lead, the Tigers went for it on fourth and 2 from Wake Forest’s 2-yard line and Mafah scored with defensive tackles Peter Woods and DeMonte Capehart clearing the way in a jumbo package.

Wake Forest, which won a scrappy game at NC State last week, wasn’t fazed and put together an excellent drive (featuring a 38-yard catch and run from receiver Deuce Alexander) to narrow its deficit to 21-14 with 3:18 remaining in the second quarter.

In another inflection point, though, Klubnik was on the money, delivering strike after strike and threading the needle for a short slant route touchdown pass to receiver Troy Stellato (28-14) to keep Clemson’s lead at two touchdowns.

Clemson got a stop and used its timeouts to get the ball back right before halftime, already up 14 points, but couldn’t get anything on a Hail Mary play. (Swinney opted against trotting out true freshman kicker Nolan Hauser for a 64-yard field goal.)

The Tigers added two more touchdowns in the third quarter: A Klubnik 9-yard touchdown pass to receiver Adam Randall (35-14) and a trick play touchdown pass from wide receiver Williams to tight end Jake Briningstool (42-14).

Running back Keith Adams Jr. scored in the fourth quarter, too, to get Clemson over 500 yards of total offense for the fourth time this season (its most in a season since doing it five times in 2020).

Meanwhile, coordinator Wes Goodwin’s defense tightened up dramatically and allowed zero points and 38 yards in the second half after 14 points and 195 yards in the first half, respectively.

Now, it’s on to Virginia for a Clemson team that passed its first two road tests and, along with Miami, keeps looking like one of the best teams in the ACC.

Next Clemson football game

Who: No. 10 Clemson vs. Virginia

When: Noon Saturday, Oct. 19

Where: Memorial Stadium in Clemson

TV: ACC Network