Tigers cruise to fourth consecutive ACC title
Travis Etienne ran for 156 yards and two touchdowns, Trevor Lawrence threw two short scoring passes to Tee Higgins and No. 2 Clemson beat Pitt 42-10 on Saturday night Charlotte, North Carolina, to become the first team to win four straight Atlantic Coast Conference championship games.
The Tigers (13-0) ran for 301 yards and four touchdowns and averaged 9 yards per carry on a dreary, rain-soaked night in which Lawrence was limited to 118 yards passing.
Pitt fell to 7-6 to end the season.
Clemson forced three turnovers, including two in the first half that gave the offense the ball inside the Pitt 10 and led to 14 points. The Tigers limited Panthers quarterback Kenny Pickett to 8 yards passing and had nine tackles for a loss.
Etienne, the ACC player of the year, took a handoff on the first play from scrimmage, ran to the right, cutback and raced 75 yards for his 20th touchdown of the season — the quickest TD in the conference championship Clemson’s Travis Etienne breaks free for a 75-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage during Saturday’s Atlantic Coast Conference championship against Pittsburgh. history. He added a second scoring run a few minutes later after Isaiah Simmons stripped Pickett of the ball and Christian Wilkins return it to the Pitt 3.
Etienne had 78 yards on his first two carries, equaling Clemson’s rushing total from last year’s ACC title
game win over Miami.
NO. 24 FRESNO STATE 19, NO. 19 BOISE STATE 16, OT: SOUTH CAROLINA 28, AKRON
3: Deebo Samuel caught two touchdown passes and recovered a bad snap on a punt in the end zone for another score as South Carolina (7-5) beat Akron (4-8) in Columbia, South Carolina. Kato Nelson was 19 for 39 for 178 yards, and Kwad Smith caught six passes for 69 yards for the Zips. STANFORD 23, CALIFORNIA 13: UAB 27, MTSU 25: MOUNT UNION 38, MUHLENBERG 10: The top-seeded Purple Raiders (13-0) took advantage of four turnovers by the Mules (11-2) to roll in a Division III playoff quarterfinal in Alliance. Mount Union had three interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown by Louis Berry, and forced a fumble. Running back Josh Petruccelli gained a career-high 219 yards and had three touchdowns on 35 carries as the Raiders gradually pulled away in the second half in rainy conditions. Mount Union, the defending champion in Division III, will play Johns Hopkins in a semifinal next Saturday at a site to be determined.