It took a little while for things to get going, but the Clemson Tigers kept rolling along Saturday night in Death Valley.
Clemson (3-1) overcome a slow start and scored 23 consecutive points in the second half to take down the Stanford Cardinal, 40-14, in the first meeting between the two teams as fellow ACC members.
Cade Klubnik threw for four touchdowns on 15-of-31 passes for 255 yards and added a 34-yard rushing touchdown for the game’s first score.
For Dabo Swinney, Saturday’s win marked a pair of personal milestones for the Tigers’ only head coach since 2009. With the victory, the 173rd in Swinney’s tenure, he tied the late Bobby Bowden for the most head coaching victories at an ACC program.
It was also win No. 100 at home for Swinney, the first coach in Clemson history to accomplish that feat. The Tigers haven’t lost a night game in Death Valley since 2013.
“It’s kind of surreal,” Swinney said at his postgame press conference Saturday night when asked by a reporter of tying Bowden’s record. “I’ve got a picture in my office from when I had one win — one. But it’s a picture of me and Bobby Bowden. We lost the first game to Georgia Tech, but we won at Boston College and then you’ve got to go down to Tallahassee and play the Noles and Bobby Bowden.
“He was one of the first people to call me as an interim (coach). He became a mentor of mine, a friend of mine. He impacted me greatly.”
RELATED: Clemson Football Photo Gallery: Tigers take down Stanford in ACC clash
Clemson will head to Tallahassee next Saturday in Week 6 for their annual showdown with Florida State. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on ESPN.
In the meantime, here’s everything Swinney said after Saturday’s win over Stanford to get to 2-0 in ACC play.
Follow us @Clemson_Wire on X and on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Clemson Tigers news, notes and opinions.