ACC CHAMPIONSHIP
CLEMSON 62, VIRGINIA 17
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Trevor Lawrence believes No. 3 Clemson is better than it was a year ago. He and the Tigers will get the chance to prove it in the College Football Playoffs.
Lawrence threw four touchdown passes, three to Tee Higgins, and the defending national champions dismantled No. 23 Virginia 62-17 for its fifth straight ACC title Saturday night.
The Tigers (13-0) won their 28th straight game.
“I’m proud of the way we handled it,” Lawrence said. “We came out with a fire.”
And while Lawrence acknowledged the difficulty of comparing last year’s group to this one, “the way we’re playing, I think we are better,” he said.
It would be hard to bet against the Tigers, who easily put away the Cavaliers (9-4) with their dazzling set of playmakers.
Lawrence and Higgins, the game’s MVP, headed that list.
“We just want to have an opportunity to compete for the whole thing,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “I think we’ve done enough to get somewhere in that top four, wherever they put us.”
Virginia showed off a game plan that caused the Tigers a few early headaches. But Clemson’s talent quickly took control on the way to an game record for points and yards (619).
Lawrence set an ACC title-game record with his four touchdown throws and had 302 yards passing, his second best total this season, and completed 16 of 22 passes before coming out in the third quarter.
Higgins finished with 182 yards receiving yards and the three TDs, both bests in ACC Championship game play. Travis Etienne had 114 yards, his eighth game over 100 yards this season.
Virginia and Perkins appeared to have a game plan to compete with the Tigers, even without leading receiver Joe Reed out due to injury. He threw a 20-yard scoring pass to Hasise Dubois to tie it 7-7. Perkins, the ACC’s leader in total offense, had 324 of the Cavaliers’ 387 yards, a season high allowed by Clemson.
Virginia’s defense sacked Lawrence twice in the opening half — Clemson had allowed only 11 sacks in the regular season.
Higgins had scoring catches of 19 and 7 yards, Justyn Ross went 59 yards for another touchdown, the second longest in ACC cChampionship game history, and Etienne broke free for a 26-yard TD run as Clemson opened a 31-7 lead by halftime.