CLEMSON — Dabo Swinney said he just let his guys play when he went for two fourth downs in the fourth quarter of last Saturday’s win against Appalachian State.

With the Tigers already ahead 66-20 with less than 10 minutes to play in the fourth quarter, Swinney kept his offense on the field when faced with a fourth-down-and-six from the App State 42-yard line. Clemson failed to convert on fourth down, as backup quarterback Christopher Vizzina ran up the middle for no gain.

Clemson, ranked No. 22 in this week’s Associated Press poll, went for fourth down again on its next drive. This time, the Tigers had a fourth-down-and-three situation from the Mountaineers’ 45.

Third-string quarterback Trent Pearman’s pass to Chase Byrd was incomplete and App State took over on downs.

“We just let guys make plays, man. We let Trent Pearman make plays,” Swinney said when asked about those plays Monday. “We took all our guys out in the first half. We just tried to let them play. We were on the other side of the fifties and we wanted to let them young linemen play, let the young quarterbacks play and all that stuff.”

Swinney explained that he and App State head coach Shawn Clark are good friends and that he had no problem with the Tigers going on fourth downs in those situations.

Clark was asked about those two plays after the Tigers’ win.

“It’s his program,” the App State coach said. “I have respect for coach Swinney. It’s his program and he’s going to do what’s best for his program.”

Clemson (1-1) scored a touchdown on each of its first eight possessions of the first half, while building a 56-13 halftime lead.

Quarterback Cade Klubnik led the way, completing 24 of 26 passes for 378 yards and five touchdowns. He also ran for two touchdowns.

Despite playing just one half, Klubnik finished with a passer efficiency of 277.9, breaking Tajh Boyd’s school record for a single game with at least 20 attempts (261.9 vs. Syracuse in 2013).

He also had the best QBR of any college quarterback in the last 25 years. He became the first Clemson quarterback to account for seven combined passing and rushing touchdowns since Tajh Boyd’s ACC-record eight touchdown performance against NC State in 2012.

In all, the Tigers gained 712 yards, the sixth-best passing performance in school history.