Grading the Tigers: NC State
Here are our position grades for the Tigers, in their 55-10 win over the NC State Wolfpack
Quarterbacks: A+
Trevor Lawrence continued his red-hot play, as he completed 20-27 passes for 276 yards, three touchdowns and, for the second straight game, had no interceptions.
Lawrence became the first Clemson quarterback to throw three touchdown passes in five consecutive games.
"Man, Trevor Lawrence was tremendous," head coach Dabo Swinney said. "Set a Clemson record of five straight games of three touchdown passes. Never been done."
Lawrence has now thrown a touchdown pass in 20 consecutive games, adding to the longest active streak in the country. (Note: UCF's McKenzie Milton had a 24-game streak prior to suffering an injury in November 2018 that will likely preclude him from playing in 2019).
During the contest, Lawrence passed Charlie Whitehurst (59) for fourth in school history in career total touchdown responsibility.
Running Backs: A+
For the fourth straight week, Travis Etienne looked like the back that started the season, as he amassed 112 yards and three touchdowns (two rushing, one receiving).
Etienne continued his record-breaking season, as he recorded his 15th career 100-yard rushing game to tie Raymond Priester for second on Clemson's all-time leaderboard for career 100-yard rushing games.
Etienne now sits two games shy of Wayne Gallman's school career record of 17 from 2014-16, posted his sixth 100-yard rushing game this season to take sole possession of fifth-most in a single season in school history.
Etienne’s eight-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter was the 50th rushing touchdown of his career, making him only the third player in ACC history to record 50 career rushing touchdowns (52 by James Conner and 50 by Lamar Jackson), has now scored multiple rushing touchdowns in three consecutive games for the first time this season and the first time since the Duke, South Carolina and Pitt games in 2018.
And has now recorded 752 rushing yards in the last five games, breaking Terrence Flagler’s school record for the most rushing yards in a five-game span in a single season (744 in 1986).
Wide Receivers: B-
Most of the receivers had great games, except for Tee Higgins.
Even though Higgins found the end zone one time, he could have found them at least two more times if it had not been for uncharacteristic drops.
In fact, Higgins was targeted seven times by Lawrence and only caught four of the passes thrown to him. However, this game was the anomaly and not the norm for Higgins, who entered the game having not dropped a ball all season.
Tight End: C
The tight ends get a passing grade because they were not a factor in either a positive or a negative way. The Tigers have, either by design because they don't have one they are comfortable throwing the ball to or because of lack of trust, all but removed the tight end from the playbook.
The tight ends were a complete non-factor in the passing game, as they were not targeted on any pass plays.
Offensive Line: B+
One sack and three quarterback hurries were all that the offensive line allowed.
One false start was the only penalty on the line, but overall the offensive line was 'awesome'.
"Our offensive line was awesome. They took it over up front. I think we did end up with one sack," Swinney said.
Defensive: A+
Clemson held NC State to 10 points has now held 13 consecutive opponents to 20 or fewer points for the first time since the 1958-59 seasons under Head Coach Frank Howard.
In addition, they held NC State to 290 yards and has now held 10 straight opponents below 300 yards of total offense and joined the 2011 Alabama Crimson Tide as the only teams since 2000 to hold opponents below 300 yards in each of the first 10 games of a season.
Clemson allowed only 166 passing yards and held an eighth straight opponent below 200 passing yards for the first time since a nine-game stretch in games 3-11 of the 2008 season. And allowed NC State to complete only 48.2 percent of passes and has now held five consecutive opponents to a completion percentage under 50.0 percent, Clemson's first such streak since October and November of 2014.
