Klubnik's 3 TD passes, DT Page's pick-6 lead No. 17 Clemson to 51-14 win over The Citadel

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) Defensive tackle Payton Page shook his head when asked how far his freshman self, the one who weighed over 400 pounds when he came to Clemson, might have run on an interception.

“About two yards,” he said, “he wouldn't have made it far at all.” The slimmer, 315-pound Page, now a senior, took it 57 yards for a touchdown Saturday as the 17th-ranked Tigers routed the Citadel 51-14.

Page lunged leftward to catch the ball, saw the open field and began the steady churn to the end zone.

“I looked forward and seen I had like 60 more yards to go,” said Page, who was honored in pregame on Senior Day.

“I feel like all the work I put in shows,” said Page, who's started all 11 games this season. “I felt I read that screen pretty good and I made that play.”

The pick-6 was the first touchdown by a Clemson defensive lineman since 2019 when Logan Rudolph returned a fumble 39 yards for a TD in a win over Boston College.

“When you get a chance to see one of those plays, you better enjoy it,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said.

It was part of a 35-0 first half for Clemson (9-2), which held on to feint hopes of reaching the Atlantic Coast Conference title game and the College Football Playoff.

Quarterback Cade Klubnik threw for 198 yards and three TDs while reserve running back Jay Haynes scored twice on the ground as the Tigers moved to 39-0 all-time against FCS opponents.

Clemson, which finished ACC play at 7-1 with last week's 24-20 win at Pittsburgh, needs No. 11 Miami to lose at Syracuse next week to play for a league crown for the eighth time in 10 seasons.

Clemson cranked it up early in this one, looking a lot like the offense that averaged better than 48 points during a six-game win streak earlier this season instead of the one that had not surpassed 24 points in any of its past three contests.

Page wasn't the only defender to score. Clemson's All-American senior linebacker Barrett Carter, playing his next-to-last home game, had a 4-yard TD run to end the scoring.

“I told coach Swinney a while ago when I decided to come back, I needed an offensive touchdown," said Carter, who played tailback in high school. “It was so surreal.”

And Page was a part of Carter's score, too, as he led the way in blocking out of the backfield. “I blocked pretty good on that one, too.”

The Citadel (5-7), of the FCS Southern Conference, went on to its 19th straight loss to Clemson since 1932.

Haynes got the bulk of the work after starter Phil Mafah achieved his 1,000-yard rushing season with three first-quarter runs. Haynes had scoring runs of 70 and 9 yards.

The Citadel: The Bulldogs are the leaders among FCS teams in victories over FBS opponents with nine since the college football split into Division I and Division I-AA in 1978. They couldn't stay competitive, but did roll up a season-high 288 yards rushing and scored a touchdown against Clemson for the first time in the past four games in the series.

Clemson: The Tigers reached nine wins in a season for the 14th straight time. Only Alabama, which entered the season with 16 straight nine-win seasons, had a longer current streak.

Officials asked Citadel coach Maurice Drayton after halftime if he wanted to shorten the second half to 10-minute quarters with the Bulldogs trailing 35-0. “Why,” Drayton asked. “We're here to compete.” The Bulldogs actually outscored the Tigers 7-6 in the fourth quarter. Drayton said that will be something for his team to build on in the offseason.

Klubnik has 29 touchdown throws this season and 50 in his career, joining Tajh Boyd (107 total), Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence (90 each) as Clemson passers to reach that many during their time with the Tigers.

The Citadel's season is complete.

Clemson closes the regular season with its rivalry game with South Carolina on Saturday.

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