Game Notes From Clemson's 39-10 ACC Championship Win

No. 9 Clemson defeated No. 23 UNC 39-10 to win the ACC Championship on Saturday and rack up many accomplishments.

Jason Priester/All Clemson

No. 9 Clemson beat No. 23 North Carolina 39-10 on Saturday at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte on Saturday to win the ACC Championship. 

Here's a look at what the Tigers accomplished as a team and as individuals:

WITH THE WIN…

Clemson became the first program to win 21 ACC titles. Since helping form the conference in 1953, Clemson leads the ACC with 21 titles all-time, including 20 outright.

Clemson earned its 27th conference championship all-time, including four SIAA championships and two Southern Conference championships prior to the formation of the ACC. Clemson’s 27 conference titles across all conferences are the most of any current or former ACC member.

Clemson moved past Colorado (26) for sole possession of the 11th-most conference titles among current FBS programs.

Clemson has now won a postseason game (conference championship, bowl game and/or national championship game) in 12 consecutive seasons. Clemson’s current 12-year streak is the longest active streak in the country and passes 1985-95 Florida State for the longest streak on record back to 1980, according to Stats Perform.

Clemson became the first program in an active Power Five conference to win seven outright conference titles in an eight-year span since Alabama won eight SEC titles in nine seasons from 1971-79.

Clemson improved to 8-1 all-time in ACC Championship Games.

Clemson improved to 2-0 all-time in ACC Championship Games against North Carolina, including a 45-37 victory in the 2015 ACC Championship Game. Clemson has faced Virginia Tech and North Carolina twice each in conference title games and faced Georgia Tech, Miami, Pitt, Virginia and Notre Dame once each.

Clemson produced its 11th 11-win season in program history, joining the 1948, 1978, 1981, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 seasons. It is Clemson's eighth season of 11-plus wins under Head Coach Dabo Swinney.

Head Coach

Dabo Swinney

won his eighth conference championship to tie Frank Howard for the most in Clemson history. Howard won two Southern Conference titles (1940,48) and six ACC titles (1956,58,59,65,66,67) in his 30-year run with the Tigers.

Swinney

(eight) joined Bobby Bowden (12, including 10 outright) as the only coaches in conference history to win eight career ACC titles.

Swinney

improved to 19-8 all-time in postseason play, including both conference championship games and bowl games. The win improved him to 8-2 in 10 postseason contests since 2018.

Swinney

improved to 35-3 all-time against teams from the state of North Carolina.

Swinney

improved to 18-4 in games played inside North Carolina state limits.

Clemson improved to 39-19-1 all-time against North Carolina.

Clemson earned a fifth consecutive victory against North Carolina, starting with a 59-38 victory in 2011. It is Clemson’s fifth winning streak of at least five games in series history (seven from 1986-92 and six from 1958-63).

Clemson won its 16th consecutive December game, dating to Clemson’s 2011 ACC Championship Game victory against Virginia Tech. Clemson (16-0) is one of three schools to be undefeated in December since 2011 with a minimum of five games played, a list that also includes Alabama (13-0) and Penn State (7-0).

Clemson improved to 27-13 all-time in December games, including postseason play.

Clemson won a 12th consecutive game against conference opponents, dating to last season, taking sole possession of Clemson's fourth-longest streak against conference opponents since the formation of the ACC in 1953.

Clemson finished 37-9 against opponents historically from the ACC Coastal Division, including postseason play, under Head Coach Dabo Swinney in the ACC's divisional era, which concluded with this game. That figure includes games against traditional Coastal opponents in a divisionless season in 2020. The win made Clemson 22-2 in its final 24 games against Coastal Division teams since 2015.

Clemson (100-12 since 2015) became the second program in the nation to win 100 games since the start of the 2015 season (Alabama).

Clemson improved to 4-0 against AP Top 25 opponents (at kickoff) this season.

Clemson (four) tied for its second-most wins against AP-ranked teams in a single season (four in 2011, 2015 and 2018) and pulled one shy of the school record (five in 2016 and 2017). (Note: Clemson's 2017 team also had a win against a South Carolina squad that was ranked No. 24 in the College Football Playoff poll but was unranked by the Associated Press.)

Clemson has now won at least four games against AP Top 25 teams in a single season for the sixth time in school history, joining the 2011 (four), 2015 (four), 2016 (five), 2017 (five) and 2018 (five) seasons.

Clemson improved to 8-2 all-time at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. Clemson's 8-2 mark in the facility now includes a 7-0 record in ACC Championship Games.

Clemson improved to 27-5 in night games since the start of the 2018 season. The Tigers are now 46-8 at night since 2015.

Clemson improved to 48-10 in games away from home, including neutral-site contests, since 2015.

Clemson improved to 33-16 under Dabo Swinney in games when both teams are ranked in the AP Top 25. The win made Clemson 27-6 since 2015 in games between ranked teams.

Clemson's 2021 and 2022 recruiting classes won their first ACC title. Every Clemson signing class in Head Coach Dabo Swinney's tenure (recruiting classes of 2009-22) has earned at least one conference title in their four years at Clemson. The championship was the third ACC title for Clemson's 2019 class and the second for its 2020 class.

Swinney

(161) passed Oklahoma's Bob Stoops (160) for sole possession of the second-most victories in the first 15 seasons of a head coaching career in FBS history.

Clemson improved to 31-7 in games following a loss under Swinney, including season openers following a loss in the previous season finale. Clemson has not lost back-to-back games in the same season since November 2011.

Clemson played its 153rd consecutive game since losing back-to-back games in a single season. Clemson's 153-game streak dating to 2011 is the nation's longest active streak.

Clemson improved to 32-6 under Swinney in games in which the Tigers enter ranked lower in the AP Poll than they did in its previous contest.

Clemson is now 127-3 since 2011 when leading after three quarters.

Clemson has won 106 of its last 107 games when holding teams under 23 points (dates to 2010).

GAME NOT

ES

Among Clemson’s victories in each of its last eight ACC Championship Game berths, Clemson has won each of its last five ACC Championship Game appearances by at least 24 points.

Quarterback

Cade Klubnik

entered the game on Clemson’s third possession and completed 20-of-24 passes for 279 yards and a passing touchdown and added seven carries for 30 yards and a rushing touchdown.

Klubnik

engineered a nine-play, 71-yard touchdown drive on his first series of the game. He accounted for 58 yards of total offense on the drive, including completing 5-of-5 passes for 50 yards and rushing once for eight yards.

Klubnik

ended his first possession with a one-yard touchdown pass to tight end

Davis Allen

, Klubnik’s second career touchdown pass and his first since Clemson’s season opener at Georgia Tech.

Klubnik

recorded a 19-yard reception on a pass from running back

Phil Mafah

in the first quarter, the longest reception by a Clemson quarterback since DeChane Cameron’s 37-yard reception against Virginia in 1991. Mafah’s pass was the longest by a Clemson running back since Travis Etienne’s 23-yard pass to Justyn Ross against Florida State in 2019.

Klubnik

recorded his first career rushing touchdown on a one-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

Klubnik

opened the game 10-for-10 for 149 yards prior to his first incompletion late in the second quarter.

With his 12th touchdown reception,

Allen

tied John McMakin (12 from 1969-71), Dwayne Allen (12 from 2009-11) and Brandon Ford (12 from 2009-12) for the second-most career touchdown receptions by a tight end in Clemson history.

Allen

set a new single-season career high in touchdown receptions with his fifth touchdown reception of the season.

Clemson’s tight ends have now combined for 10 touchdown receptions this season, tied for the unit’s most under Dabo Swinney (10 in 2011 and 2012).

Mafah

scored his career-high fourth rushing touchdown of the season on a four-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.

Wide receiver

Cole Turner

recorded his



second career reception on a 68-yard pass from

Klubnik

. The long gain setup

Klubnik’s

one-yard touchdown run on the ensuing play.

The 68-yard reception by

Turner

was Clemson’s longest play of the season from scrimmage, surpassing 59-yard passes against Florida State and South Carolina.

Turner

recorded 101 yards on three receptions, becoming the first Clemson player to record 100 receiving yards in a game since Beaux Collins against Wake Forest last season.

Wide receiver

Brannon Spector

caught a career-long 43-yard reception in the third quarter.

Running back

Will Shipley

scored his 15th rushing touchdown of the season on a two-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. He has now produced only the seventh individual season in Clemson history with at least 15 rushing touchdowns. He is now one touchdown shy of tying Travis Zachery (16 in 1999) for sixth-most rushing touchdowns in a season in Clemson history and three shy of a three-way tie for third.

Shipley

rushed for a touchdown in a sixth straight game to tie Woodrow Dantzler (six straight games in 2000) and Travis Etienne (six straight games from 2018-19) for the 10th-longest streak of consecutive games with a rushing touchdown in school history. It pulled Shipley’s current streak one game shy of his career-long streak of seven, set across the 2021-22 seasons.

Three different Clemson players rushed for a touchdown. Clemson rushed for a touchdown in a 25th consecutive game. Clemson has scored at least one rushing touchdown in a national-best 67 of its 68 games since the start of the 2018 season.

Clemson has also rushed for multiple touchdowns in four consecutive games for the first time since a 28-game streak across the 2018-20 seasons.

Defensively,

Clemson

recorded the game’s first takeaway, as defensive tackle

Ruke Orhorhoro

fell on a missed quarterback exchange for his second career fumble recovery.

The fumble recovery was

Orhorhoro’s

first since Sept. 25, 2021 at NC State.

Linebacker

Jeremiah Trotter Jr.

recorded a career-high 3.0 sacks and nearly doubled his career-high season sack total to 6.5.

Trotter’s

third sack set an ACC Championship Game record, surpassing the 2.0 sacks produced by Florida State’s Lawrence Timmons, Florida State’s Jeremiah Attaochu (2012) and Clemson’s Dexter Lawrence (2016).

Trotter

became the first Clemson player to post at least 2.0 sacks in back-to-back games since Clelin Ferrell in 2018 against Texas A&M and Georgia Southern.

Trotter

also became the first Clemson player to record 3.0 sacks in a game since Ferrell against Syracuse in 2017 (3.5).

Trotter

has now recorded a sack in three consecutive games for the first time in his career.

On Clemson’s fourth sack of the game,

Trotter’s

third of the evening, Clemson (40) reached 40 sacks for the ninth consecutive year. Clemson is the only program in the country to record at least 40 sacks in every year since the inception of the College Football Playoff in 2014.

Clemson has now recorded at least four sacks in four consecutive games for the first time since last season against Florida State, Louisville, UConn and Wake Forest.

Linebacker

Barrett Carter

and defensive tackle

Tyler Davis

split a sack in the second quarter.

Cornerback

Nate Wiggins

recorded two pass breakups and an interception, which he returned for a touchdown.

Wiggins

recorded his first career interception in the third quarter and returned his pick of Drake Maye 98 yards for a touchdown.

Wiggins’

98-yard interception return was the longest play in ACC Championship Game history. It was the second-longest interception in Clemson history, trailing Don Kelley’s 102-yard return vs. Duke in 1970.

Wiggins'

return for touchdown tied for the seventh-longest play in Clemson history and the longest for the Tigers since Derrick Hamilton's 100-yard kickoff return against UNC in 2003.

Clemson, which scored its first defensive touchdown of the season last week, scored another defensive touchdown to give the Tigers multiple defensive touchdowns in 13 straight seasons. The last time Clemson had fewer than two defensive touchdowns in a season was 2009, Dabo Swinney’s first full season as head coach, when the Tigers supplemented a single defensive touchdown with six special teams touchdowns.

Clemson scored a defensive touchdown in consecutive games for the first time since a three-game streak in 1990 against NC State (Dexter Davis fumble return), Wake Forest (Arlington Nunn interception return) and North Carolina (Davis interception return).

Clemson recorded multiple takeaways in four consecutive games for the first time since the middle of the 2020 season.

Wiggins

recorded the first blocked field goal of his career in the second quarter.

Wiggins’

field goal block was Clemson’s fifth overall blocked punt or placekick this season, Clemson’s most in a season since 2016 (five). It was the Tigers’ third field goal block of the season and its first since Oct. 8 at Boston College.

Cornerback Jeadyn Lukus recorded Clemson’s third takeaway of the game with his first career interception in the fourth quarter.

B.T. Potter

made his 53rd career start at placekicker to take sole possession of the Clemson record at the position shared currently with Chandler Catanzaro (52 from 2010-13).

Potter

appeared in his 68th career game to pull within one game of Clemson's program record for career games played (69, shared by James Skalski, Will Spiers and Will Swinney). Potter's 68 career games are the most of any active player at any level of NCAA football.

Potter

scored in a 53rd consecutive game to tie the Clemson record set by Chandler Catanzaro from 2010-13. Potter has scored in every game since earning the starting placekicking job prior to the 2019 season after serving as the team's kickoff specialist in 2018.

Potter

recorded a career-long-tying 52-yard field goal on the final play of the first half. It was his fourth career field goal of 52 yards, matching 52-yarders against LSU (2019) and Wake Forest (2020 and 2022).

Potter’s

52-yarder added to his Clemson records for career field goals of 40 yards or more (33) and 50 yards or more (nine).

On the 52-yarder, with his fourth point of the game,

Potter

(103) became the first player in ACC history to score 100 points in four different seasons.

Potter’s

52-yarder was also an ACC Championship Game record for longest field goal, surpassing a 51-yarder by Notre Dame’s Jonathan Doerer against Clemson in 2020.

Holder

Drew Swinney

scored his first career points on a successful two-point conversion attempt in the third quarter. It was Clemson’s third successful two-point conversion of the season, its most since 2016.

After producing 15 giveaways over the last five games, Clemson produced its first giveaway-free game since an Oct. 15 game at Florida State.

Clemson won the turnover margin, 3-0, to end a five-game streak of losing the turnover margin, Clemson's longest under Dabo Swinney. Clemson now has a 71-4 record when winning the turnover margin since 2011.

Clemson finished plus-three in the turnover margin for the first time since Sept. 17 vs. Louisiana Tech.

Clemson did not allow a sack and is undefeated since 2011 in games in which it does not allow a sack.

Clemson made its ninth all-time ACC Championship Game appearance, adding to the Tigers’ ACC record (2009, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020).

Clemson represented the Atlantic Division in the ACC Championship Game for the eighth time and did so in the final year of the ACC’s divisional format. That total does not include Clemson’s appearance in 2020 in which the conference’s top two regular season teams faced off in the conference title game.

Clemson and North Carolina met with both teams ranked in the AP Top 25 for the fifth time in series history. Clemson is 5-0 in those contests, including previous wins in 1959, 1981, 1982 and 2015.

Clemson played its seventh night game of 2022, the fourth-most in a season in Clemson history.

Captains for the contest were tight end

Davis Allen

, defensive end

K.J. Henry

, wide receiver

Joseph Ngata

and safety

Jalyn Phillips

.