RALEIGH, N.C. _ Clemson began the week on the outside of the College Football Playoff picture and looked like a team with something to prove on Saturday night.
N.C. State, after a pair of lopsided ACC losses, looked like a team trying to survive.
The fifth-ranked Tigers blasted the Wolfpack, 55-10, to win their fifth straight Atlantic Division title and 25th game in a row.
Clemson will be in the ACC title game in Charlotte on Dec. 7 but the Tigers have bigger fish to fry. The 2018 national champions already had help in the CFP race before kickoff. No. 3 Alabama and No. 4 Penn State both lost on Saturday. The Tigers weren't in any kind of mood to let the same thing happen to them.
The game was never in doubt. Clemson (10-0, 7-0 ACC) quarterback Trevor Lawrence threw for three touchdowns and ran for another as the Tigers raced out to a 28-0 lead in the first quarter and were up 42-0 at the half.
N.C. State (4-5, 1-4) was missing more injured players (and added more to their growing list), but it didn't help itself with about as bad of a start as it could have possibly drawn up. The Wolfpack fumbled twice in the first quarter, which led to two quick Clemson scores. The Tigers had more touchdowns in the first quarter (four) than N.C. State had first downs (1).
The Wolfpack, missing three expected starters on the offensive line, ran 13 plays in the first quarter for 14 yards. The Tigers, with running back Travis Etienne adding two touchdowns, ran 23 plays and scored 28 points in the first quarter.
It didn't get much better for the Wolfpack after the slow start. Linebacker Payton Wilson, one of the bright spots of the season, injured his left shoulder near the end of the first quarter. And then linebacker Drake Thomas was banged up near the end of the fourth quarter.
The Tigers tacked on a 1-yard touchdown run by left guard John Simpson, who was lined up at fullback, for good measure in the second quarter and a 33-yard TD catch by Justyn Ross.
N.C. State, which has lost its past three ACC games by an average of 31.3 points, broke up the shutout in the third quarter with a 53-yard touchdown run by freshman running back Bam Knight.
