Dabo Swinney on Cade Klubnik vs. NC State: 'Our quarterback's blossoming right before our eyes'

Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik put on a show in Week 2 against Appalachian State, leading the Tigers to a 66-20 victory. The junior picked up where he left off coming out of the bye week, helping Clemson jump out to a 28-0 first-quarter lead against NC State.

Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney joined ABC during Saturday’s game and shared what he saw from Klubnik and the Clemson offense in the first quarter.

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“Explosive. Explosive and consistent,” Dabo Swinney said. “They’re just taking what’s there. Our quarterback’s blossoming right before our eyes.

Cade Klubnik was 7-8 passing for 77 yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter. That performance came after he was 24 of 26 passing for 378 yards and five touchdowns in Week 2 against Appalachian State. He also ran for two touchdowns against the Mountaineers.

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Clemson is the first FBS team with at least a 28-point lead after the first quarter in back-to-back games in the last 20 years, per the ABC broadcast.

“This is two games in a row where we’ve come out of the gate in the first half and really played with a lot of precision,” Dabo Swinney said. “A long way to go. You can’t play to a scoreboard, just gotta play to a standard. And that’s what we’re trying to do.”

In addition to Cade Klubnik and the offense rolling, the defense also played well, pitching a shutout and forcing two turnovers in the first quarter. Still, Dabo Swinney saw potential areas for improvement.

“We’ve gotta be a little better on first down. I think that’s the main thing,” Swinney said. “Created a couple of turnovers. You know, the first drive they put us backed up on the 10. We got the stop but they flipped the field. Offense did a great job of going and scoring. But the main thing is we’ve gotta be a little better on first down, and then we’ve gotta cover the wheel route. So that’s been a little bit of an issue.”

Clemson is working to show that it is for real after getting off to a tough start to the season.

The Tigers were pounded 34-3 by Georgia in the season opener, struggling to get anything going on offense. Since then it appears as though the Tigers have found some confidence.

Clemson jumped all over Appalachian State in Week 2 and after a bye week did the same to an NC State team that entered the game 2-1.