Georgia Tech: 31
Clemson: 55

Coming off of a BYE following the win over Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech looked to capture its first win in Death Valley since 2008, a season that marked both Paul Johnson’s and Dabo Swinney’s first years as head coaches for their respective schools. But despite the increase time to prepare, the Yellow Jacket defense had no answer for Taj Boyd and the Clemson offense.

Tech kept it close in the early going, holding the Tigers to two first quarter field goals by Chandler Catanzaro to stay within six. But Clemson began to pull away at the start of the second quarter when Boyd found Sammy Watkins for a 41-yard touchdown strike to extend the lead to 13-0.

The Jackets were unable to answer on the drive that followed, and Clemson took advantage with another quick scoring drive. Boyd again found the end zone on a 4-yard pass to Mike Williams after hooking up with Martavis Bryant one play earlier for 47 yards. The Tiger lead pushed to twenty on Catanzaro’s point after, and the Jackets’ hopes appeared lost.

David Sims finally put Tech on the board on the drive that followed, but Clemson answered less than a minute later when Boyd again connected downfield with Bryant, this time for 76 yards to push the lead back to twenty at 27-7.

The Jackets cut it to 27-17 early in the third quarter, but it was all Clemson from that point on. The Tigers outscored the Jackets 28-14 over the remaining twenty seven minutes to complete a 55-31 victory.

Clemson dismantled The Citadel a week later before falling at South Carolina 31-17 in the regular season finale. A 10-2 finish earned the Tigers a berth in the Orange Bowl, where they edged out #7 Ohio State 40-35 for an 11-2 overall record and a #8 finish in the final BCS standings.

Statistics:

First downs:
GT – 22
CLEM – 26

Rushing yards:
GT – 248
CLEM – 168

Passing (Comp-Att-Yds):
GT – 15-26-192
CLEM – 23-30-383

Interceptions thrown:
GT – 1
CLEM – 1

Fumbles (Total-Lost):
GT – 4-1
CLEM – 2-0

Penalties (Total-Yds):
GT – 6-55
CLEM – 7-65

References:
Game summary: http://www.ramblinwreck.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/2013-2014/gtcu13.html

Videos:

– Game highlights