CLEMSON, S.C. — The day will come when Tajh Boyd, perhaps after a distinguished pro career, returns to Memorial Stadium on offical business — celebrating his induction into the Clemson Ring of Honor.
And during that ceremony, Boyd might even hearken back to a chilly November night in 2013, when the Tigers star became the ACC's all-time leader in touchdown passes ... and Clemson's all-time quarterbacking leader in conference victories.
Not bad for a kid who registered fewer touchdown passes (four) than times sacked (five) as a freshman, way back in 2010.
Boyd might also have fond recollections of No. 8 Clemson's 55-31 victory over Georgia Tech on Thursday, a decisive win that simultaneously boosted the Tigers' BCS resume and put a serious dent into the Yellow Jackets' chances of capturing the ACC Coastal Division crown.
"At the end of the day, it's about points," said Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney. "This is the most points we've scored against Georgia Tech (in 10 years) ... It was great to see our guys rise up and produce. It's also a great to win the turnover margin (2-1) — I'm so proud of our guys."
With the victory, Boyd capped the ACC portion of his career, going 21-3 as the Tigers' three-year starter. Heading into Thursday, Boyd and Rodney Williams (1985-88) shared the school mark for most in-conference victories by a QB starter (20).
Regarding the touchdown record, Boyd needed only one half against Georgia Tech to eclipse Philip Rivers' 10-year-old mark of 95 TD passes (North Carolina State from 2000-03).
Boyd officially clinched the record midway through the second quarter (No. 96), connecting with junior Martavis Bryant on a 76-yard touchdown catch/run and thrilling the orange-clad crowd of 75,324.
"I always tell (Tajh) that if he just throws (the ball) up, I'll get it," said Bryant. "He's not going to overthrow me — and not many people can."
Prior to that, the Tigers QB hooked up with Sammy Watkins and Mike Williams for touchdowns, with the former pulling off one of the most acrobatic scoring catches of the season.
"What did the (Tigers) throw ... one deep ball that wasn't a catch?" posed Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson, rhetorically, during the post-game media scrum.
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It's an annual rite of late April or early May. Whenever spring practices conclude for a college program, fans and media alike will invariably pore over the upcoming schedule and assign "wins" or "losses" to the 12-game slate — as a trivial guessing exercise to pass the time.
But rarely do we expect things to shake out verbatim, game by game, later in the fall.
Looking at the 2013 docket, a vast majority of pundits would have correctly pegged Georgia Tech at 6-4 through 10 games — with decisive wins over Elon, Duke, Syracuse, Virginia, respectable victories over North Carolina, Pittsburgh and expected losses to Virginia Tech, Miami, BYU and Clemson.
That isn't to say the Yellow Jackets were outclassed on this night; they simply couldn't keep up with a Tigers team that controlled the pace and pressure — on both sides of the ball — from the opening kickoff.
"The bottom line ... we got our tails beat today," lamented Johnson. "They beat us in all phases of the game, and we got off to a terrible start offensively in the first half.
"We started the game kicking the ball out of bounds, and (Clemson goes) down and gets three points — just like that. The first quarter went downhill from there."
On offense, Boyd passed for 340 yards and accounted for five total touchdowns (one rushing). That success led to Bryant (five catches, 176 yards, one TD) and Watkins (five catches, 104 yards, two TDs) both cracking the century mark, yardage-wise.
Those numbers include a brief exit from the game, when Boyd incurred a bruised sternum before returning to action.
"It's one of those things where it sounded a lot worse than it actually is," recalled Boyd, matter-of-factly. "Going down to the ground, it was cracking and all. But I feel fine. I had some X-rays and everything is all good."
Watkins, as a notable sidebar, broke the Clemson record for most 100-yard games by a receiver (seven), toppling the one-year-old mark of former teammate DeAndre Hopkins (now with the NFL's Houston Texans).
On defense, the final box score says that Georgia Tech rushed for 248 yards and posted 30-plus points against Clemson for the fourth time in five years. But before the result became academic, the Tigers had effectively stymied the Jackets' option attack early on, on their way to building a 20-0 lead.
Consequently, Jackets QB Vad Lee was held to just 22 yards rushing — his second-lowest tally of the year.
With Lee held in check, Tech running back Robert Godhigh enjoyed a breakout night, amassing 229 total yards (126 rushing) and two scores on just 17 touches.
"(Robert) was one the reasons we were in the game (for some time)," said Johnson, marveling in the senior Godhigh's "great" performance.
At 5-3 in the ACC, Georgia Tech has likely squandered its chance to earn the Coastal title and secure a berth in the ACC championship (against Florida State).
In a perfect world, Georgia Tech needs Virginia Tech (4-2) to drop its final two conference games (Maryland, Virginia) ... and even then, the Jackets would also require Duke — yes, Duke! — to fall one more time before the league slate ends on Nov. 30.
On the positive side, Georgia Tech could end up playing closer to home come bowl time (Charlotte? Nashville? Orlando?), instead of trekking to El Paso, Texas on New Year's Eve (like last year).
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Every season brings about new challenges and fresh obstacles, of course. But with Thursday's victory, it's now fair to ask a rhetorical question — perhaps out of morbid curiosity:
Would Clemson fans be thrilled about an Orange Bowl clash with Oregon?
After all, only 22 months have passed since West Virginia hung 70 points on Clemson in the 2012 Orange Bowl — the Tigers' only BCS bowl appearance.
On that January night, QB Geno Smith (407 yards passing, six TDs) and wide receiver Tavon Austin (169 total yards, four TDs) helped the Mountaineers offense rack up 595 yards — and it could have been more if WVU hadn't eased off the gas pedal in the fourth quarter.
Fast forward to the present, as 8-1 Oregon has notched 55 or more points six times and would be a reasonable bet for 40 in a bowl game — even with Clemson holding opponents to less than 15 points six times in 2013.
On the flip side, as the ACC's de facto Orange Bowl rep — presuming that No. 2 Florida State reaches the BCS title game in Pasadena — Clemson could conceivably draw UCF in Miami.
At 4-0 in the American Athletic Conference, the Golden Knights (7-1 overall) have the inside track to claiming the new league's automatic BCS berth; and with a top-10 upset of Louisville and respectable, close-shave loss to South Carolina, UCF — on paper — would be a worthy adversary in the Orange Bowl.
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Of Clemson's seven touchdown drives on Thursday, the Tigers exhausted only 35 total plays to hit paydirt seven times — for an average of five plays per possession.
Within that scope, the Boyd-led Tigers averaged 60 yards per touchdown drive ... against a Yellow Jackets defense that had surrendered a rock-solid average of 19 points in their first nine outings.
Hmm, maybe this high-flying and experienced version of Clemson football can handle the up-tempo, relentless ways of Oregon after all.
