CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson routed Pitt, 52-17, Saturday evening at Death Valley, playing like a team upset it had to wait two weeks to get over its previous loss at Notre Dame.
The No. 3 Tigers (8-1, 7-1 ACC) scored a school-record 31 points in the first quarter on their way to a 28th-consecutive home win. Clemson has not lost at Death Valley since 2016 against Pitt.
Clemson's fourth-year seniors completed a perfect 27-0 home mark, becoming the first senior class to ever go undefeated at Death Valley.
The Tigers play next week at Virginia Tech in what's scheduled to be Clemson's final regular-season game. It's unclear if the postponed game vs. FSU will be made up Dec. 12.
Saturday's game marked the final home performance for several of Clemson's stars, including Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne, Cornell Powell and Amari Rodgers.
The group went out in style as Lawrence passed for 403 yards and two touchdowns, Etienne had 78 total yards and two scores, Powell caught six passes for 176 yards and a touchdown and Rodgers had 10 catches for 93 yards, catching 10 of his 11 targets.
The 150-plus yard game was Powell's second in a row as he joined Sammy Watkins and DeAndre Hopkins as the only Clemson receivers ever to put up back-to-back 150-yard games.
Defensively, the Tigers were down several starters, but it didn't show. Clemson limited Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett to 22-of-39 passing for 209 yards and picked him off four times. Mario Goodrich had a pair of interceptions, while Andrew Booth and Malcolm Greene also picked off Pickett.
