Cade Klubnik passed for a career-high 378 yards and five touchdowns as No. 25 Clemson turned up their offense, which had been lacking the previous week against top-ranked Georgia, and defeated Appalachian State 66-20 on Saturday night.
“It’s electric,” Klubnik said. “It’s what we’ve been doing all fall camp and we got to do it now. It’s really fun, kind of let that ball fly. We’ve got a lot of guys who can do it.”
The Tigers (1-1) quickly got on the board with Klubnik’s 76-yard pass to Bryant Wesco Jr. less than two minutes into the game. Wesco’s 52-yard catch put the ball at the 1-yard line, and Klubnik scored on a rushing play.
Clemson kept up their strong performance in the first half, scoring touchdowns on all eight of their first-half drives, leading 56-13 at the break.
“I’ve seen a lot of guys come through here,” coach Dabo Swinney said. “We never, ever, ever had a half like that.”
This was a much-needed bounce-back for the Tigers, who had been limited to 188 yards in their loss to Georgia.
Clemson exceeded that total in the first quarter alone, with Wesco catching two passes for 131 yards and Phil Mafah running for an 83-yard touchdown, the longest for Clemson since Travis Etienne’s 90-yard run in 2019.
“We never flinched the whole week,” Klubnik said about responding to the Georgia game. “We came back hungry. We’ve learned a lot last year and learned how to respond.”
Appalachian State (1-1) usually keeps Power Four teams on their toes, having split their last six games against such teams.
The Mountaineers, who were favorites to win the Sun Belt Conference this season and possibly earn a Group of Five spot in the College Football Playoff, could not contain Clemson and fell to 0-6 all-time against the Tigers.
