RALEIGH — Perhaps Woodrow Dantzler should have worn tights and a bright orange cape Saturday afternoon at Carter-Finley Stadium.
The action-hero Clemson quarterback was Superman in pads, amassing a school-record 517 yards total offense and lending a hand in each of his team’s six touchdowns in a defenseless 45-37 win over N.C. State.
“He was absolutely remarkable today,” State coach Chuck Amato said. “I can’t imagine there being a better player in America right now. He really put on a show.”
Dantzler made more plays than Shakespeare, passing for four touchdowns and running for two others. He rushed the ball 23 times for 184 yards and completed 23 of 27 aerials for another 333. Do the math and you’ve got the fifth-best individual-game performance in ACC history.
“Stop him? We couldn’t even get our hands on him,” defensive end George Anderson reported. “We spent the whole game chasing him around. He’d make plays by scrambling and then suddenly finding somebody wide open. Whatever we did, he made us pay.”
Even winning coach Tommy Bowden found himself gushing over Dantzler’s Houdini-like performance.
“(Dantzler) is just a phenomenal athlete,” he said after the 16th-ranked Tigers (4-1, 2-1 ACC) beat State (3-2, 1-2 ACC) for the fifth time in the past seven years. “If you give him enough at-bats, he’ll eventually hit the home run.”
Dantzler was going-going-gone in a penalty-filled game that saw more flags than the U.N. and quickly became a statistician’s picnic. The teams combined for 11 touchdowns, nearly a thousand yards total offense and 32 infractions.
“Numbers, numbers, numbers,” State quarterback Philip Rivers lamented. “So many numbers. The bottom line is we didn’t put enough points on the board. You can look at all the yards and all the touchdowns. We still didn’t win the game.”
Don’t blame Rivers. The still-improving sophomore threw for 310 yards and four touchdowns, including a pair to wideout Jerricho Cotchery that helped the Pack build a 14-7 first-quarter lead.
“The game was in our hands early,” said Anderson. “We just didn’t make the plays to close it out. That’s what hurts.”
Instead, State played hospital-gown defense — it didn’t cover anything. And Dantzler exposed the Wolfpack with his waterbug mobility, gunning two TD passes in the second quarter and two more in the third. His longest completion was a career-best 79-yard play to Airese Currie early in the fourth quarter.
On the ground Dantzler was equally impressive. He scored on a 55-yard touchdown run just 1:24 into the game and added an 8-yard score on a quarterback draw that put Clemson up 35-17 late in the third period.
“He’s not only the best quarterback in the ACC,” said State linebacker Brian Jamison. “He’s the best running back as well. At least so far. There isn’t anything bad you can say about him.”
Not on this day, anyway. State nearly recovered, closing the scoring when Rivers lofted an 11-yard touchdown pass to Willie Wright and a two-point conversion pass to Ray Robinson with 2:57 to play. But an ensuing onsides kick was recovered by Clemson’s Eric Meekins near midfield and Dantzler took care of the rest.
“We’ve just got to take it and move on,” said Rivers. “You can’t sulk over this. They’re a team that’ll do a lot things down the road. They’re tough. But we’ve still got a lot of good football left in us.”
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NOTES: Clemson set a couple of records:Its 20 penalties tied an ACC single-game record, and the 180 yards penalized broke the ACC mark. … N.C. State visits Georgia Tech next Saturday while Clemson hosts North Carolina. ... Cotchery finished with three touchdown receptions, the first of his career. Teammate Bryan Peterson made six catches for a career-high 120 yards.
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Contact David Shaw at sports@salisburypost.com
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