BLACKSBURG, Va. – Cade Klubnik threw three touchdown passes to help No. 19 Clemson beat Virginia Tech 24-14 on Saturday.
The Tigers (7-2, 6-1) used Klubnik’s arm and a terrific performance by their defense, which held Virginia Tech to a season-low 228 yards, to bounce back from a home loss to Louisville and remain in the ACC title race. Clemson also beat Virginia Tech for the seventh straight time.
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“I’m proud of our guys,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “That’s how you respond coming off an incredibly disappointing performance last week. To see our guys respond like that, with unbelievable mental toughness and a will to win, they had a determined spirit. The biggest thing I saw today was heart, and that’s what I asked them to put on display.”
Kyron Drones paced Virginia Tech (5-5, 3-3) with 115 yards passing, but he was replaced in the fourth quarter after the Hokies fell behind 21-7.
The Tigers trailed 7-0 at halftime, but they scored touchdowns on three of their first four second-half possessions.
Klubnik finished the first drive of the half with a 29-yard touchdown pass to Cole Turner. On the Tigers’ next possession, Klubnik broke away from Virginia Tech’s Mansoor Delane and threw a 41-yard pass to T.J. Moore. Early in the fourth, he threw a 12-yard TD pass to tight end Jake Briningstool.
“We had to go do what we do and execute at a high rate,” Klubnik said. “We kind of shot ourselves in the foot in the first half. We were putting great drives together. We just had to go finish them. We responded. We felt great in the locker room at halftime. We knew we were marching on them. We just had to go have a good second half — and we did.”
Klubnik was 16 of 34 for 211 yards. He added 30 yards rushing. Phil Mafah had 128 yards rushing for the Tigers, who finished with 378 yards.
The Hokies scored their lone offensive touchdown on a 14-yard pass from Collin Schlee to Ayden Greene with 1:43 remaining. They finished with 40 yards rushing after they were averaging 201.4 yards on the ground coming into the day.
“There are some things we did well out there, but too many mistakes,” Virginia Tech coach Brent Pry said. “Untimely penalties, dropped balls, busted calls defensively, turnovers. ... You can’t beat a good team making the mistakes we made this evening.”
The takeaway
Clemson: The Tigers bounced back in a big way after allowing Louisville to rush for 215 yards.
Virginia Tech: The Hokies have been one of the nation’s most disappointing teams. They returned 19 starters from a team that won its bowl game last December, but still aren’t bowl-eligible with two games remaining in the regular season.
Dominant defense
In the Tigers’ loss to Louisville, Clemson’s defense allowed 7.8 yards per carry. But the Hokies managed just 1.9 yards per carry and turned the ball over three times. They went 2 for 14 in third-down situations.
“The story to me was our defense,” Swinney said. “We gave up 8 yards a carry last week. It was awful. To see our guys show up this week against a top-25 rushing offense in the country ... hats off to our defense. They played tremendous.”
Beat-up quarterbacks
Drones, who missed the Hokies’ overtime loss at Syracuse with an undisclosed injury, was 9 for 20 with an interception. According to Pry, Drones wasn’t 100%, though he practiced throughout the week.
Schlee replaced Drones in the fourth quarter, and he was 7 of 17 for 73 yards with an interception.
“Neither one of those quarterbacks is healthy right now,” Pry said, pointing out that the Hokies’ second bye week was coming at a good time.
Up next
Clemson: At Pittsburgh next Saturday.
Virginia Tech: At Duke on Nov. 23.