What We Learned From Clemson's Road Win at Virginia Tech

There's nothing boring about 2020 Clemson football.

While the season started out with ho-hum victories and a team that didn't have a ton of storylines surrounding it early, that's changed as the year has come to a close and the stakes have risen.

Injuries, COVID-19 challenges, the first ACC loss since 2017, broken records and being in the College Football Playoff hunt, the eventful regular season came to a close Saturday night in a 45-10 victory at Virginia Tech that had just about all that involved.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney called it a playoff game, and the Tigers wore orange britches on their way to clinching a spot in the conference title game on Dec. 19. But before moving on to the rematch with No. 2 Notre Dame, let's first see what all was learned in Blacksburg, where Clemson turned a close game in the first half into a second-half cruise-fest:

There was nothing wrong with the offense Saturday

Don't get bent out of shape about an offense that looked lackluster at times Saturday. No, quarterback Trevor Lawrence wasn't at his best passing (55 percent) and Travis Etienne recorded his sixth consecutive game with under 100 yards rushing, but it's not an indicator of issues. In fact, there was a huge positive to glean from the offensive line's performance.

Still, there were plenty of folks bemoaning an offense that didn't explode for 50 points against a VT defense that's one of the worst in the ACC. Give the Hokies some credit for that. While every team wants to keep Clemson's offense off the field, Tech did an excellent job of limiting the Tigers to four first-half possessions. The defense couldn't get the Hokies off the field with regularity until the third quarter, and it made for a 7-point game in the first half. But the Tigers didn't need 400 yards passing or multiple 60-yard bombs. They needed to get out of there with a win. Despite running a season-low 52 plays, they had their highest average of yards per play (8.3) this season.

QB run game is back

One of the things Clemson did really well was wearing down VT's defensive front until the run game could get going and produce 238 yards. One of the other reasons for that were the legs of Lawrence, who rushed for 41 yards (5.9 per carry) and two touchdowns.

His ability to keep defenses honest and have to account for him after a few successful runs means the run-pass option works more, running backs get more lanes and play-action becomes more effective. As good as freshman QB D.J. Uiagalelei was in his two starts while Lawrence was out, his bum shoulder didn't allow Clemson to exploit that QB run game. Now that Lawrence is back, it's a great tool to have on tape for Notre Dame in the rematch.

"When we have the ability to run at quarterback, it just opens a lot of things up," Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott said.

Lyn-J Dixon is back

It's not been hard to pile on Lyn-J Dixon this season. He simply hasn't been nearly as effective as past seasons. Sure, he had to sit behind Etienne for another year instead of being "the guy," and it looked like it might have affected him. Dixon, a junior, was averaging under 4 yards per carry heading into the weekend.

However, his 37 yards on three carries, a week after rushing for 46 yards on Pitt, has hi rounding into form as the season winds down. That's huge for this offense as the run game hasn't been able to take off in recent weeks and Etienne continues to face too many stacked boxes. Dixon showed off with a great spin move that helped get him into the end zone, so maybe these signs of life mean he'll be productive in the postseason.

Venables continues to amaze

Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables, like analyst Kirk Herbstreit said during Saturday's broadcast, is a great guy to be around off the field. He's actually quiet and reserved, but he's anything but those things when the competition starts. So one can only imagine how much he lit into his side of the ball for their first-half performance when the Tigers gave up 214 total yards and came inches away from allowing a Hail Mary touchdown score at the end of the half.

However, whatever he said in the locker room and whatever adjustments were made, it worked in the second half as Clemson held VT to 11 yards in the third quarter and scoreless the rest of the game. The Tigers also recovered three fumbles and ran one back for a score. Venables proves week after week just how good he is, and it never gets old watching work on the sidelines.

Youth movement is paying off

When Jake Venables went out with a broken arm and James Skalski went from uniform to street clothes in the second half on a chilly night, it looked like the Tigers were going to be in huge trouble at linebacker. After all, VT was moving the ball with the run game and the depth chart was being tested.

Well, it answered the bell. LaVonta Bentley recorded 1.5 sacks. Keith McGuire had 2 tackles for a loss and a forced fumble. Kane Patterson got a ball carrier down behind the line of scrimmage. Trenton Simpson was all over the field and finished with four tackles. This seems to happen every year: Swinney demands building depth early in the season and it pays off somewhere down the line. It didn't at Notre Dame, but it did Saturday.