Tiger balm: Tough-luck Clemson mauls NC State

VIDEO PLAYLIST

• On the Prowl: Clemson Battles N.C. State

WERE YOU THERE?

Did you attend this game? If so, start chronicling your sports memories today with ESPN's Sports Passport. Enter the games you attend, upload your photos and share your memories! I was there »

Team Stat Comparison
1st Downs	23	16
Total Yards	489	267
Passing	246	175
Rushing	243	92
Penalties	9-80	8-42
3rd Down Conversions	8-15	4-15
4th Down Conversions	1-2	0-3
Turnovers	1	2
Possession	33:46	26:14

Individual Leaders

Clemson Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Whitehur... 22/31 246 2 1	North Carolina State Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Davis 15/31 133 0 1 Stone 4/5 42 0 0
Clemson Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Davis 12 143 2 30 Merriwea... 12 47 0 30 Stuckey 2 22 0 21	North Carolina State Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Blackman 10 46 1 20 Baker 12 42 0 14 Stone 2 7 0 12
Clemson Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Stuckey 8 103 0 39 Kelly 5 81 0 35 Hunter 2 26 0 17 Williamson 2 17 1 9	North Carolina State Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Barrett 4 78 0 29 Clark 3 40 0 20 Williams 3 12 0 5 Dunlap 2 19 0 11

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER				CLEM	NCST
	TD	0:39	CURTIS BAHAM 6 YD PASS FROM CHARLIE WHITEHURST (JAD DEAN KICK) Drive info: 8 plays, 83 yards.	7	0
SECOND QUARTER				CLEM	NCST
	TD	11:26	BOBBY WILLIAMSON 8 YD PASS FROM CHARLIE WHITEHURST (JAD DEAN KICK) Drive info: 8 plays, 72 yards.	14	0
	TD	8:08	JAMES DAVIS 12 YD RUN (JAD DEAN KICK) Drive info: 7 plays, 62 yards.	21	0
	TD	4:31	DARRELL BLACKMAN 20 YD RUN (JOHN DERANEY KICK) Drive info: 8 plays, 80 yards.	21	7
	TD	2:50	JAMES DAVIS 6 YD RUN (JAD DEAN KICK) Drive info: 5 plays, 80 yards.	28	7
	FG	0:29	JOHN DERANEY 25 YD FG Drive info: 7 plays, 12 yards.	28	10
THIRD QUARTER				CLEM	NCST
	FG	2:23	JAD DEAN 30 YD FG Drive info: 11 plays, 56 yards.	31	10

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- No last-second excitement, no worries about the outcome. For the first time this season, Clemson got it right.

James Davis ran for a career-high 143 yards and two touchdowns before leaving with a broken wrist, Charlie Whitehurst threw for two more scores and the Tigers beat North Carolina State 31-10 on Thursday night for their first win in more than a month.

"It was nice to win one going way," center Dustin Fry said. "If you look at my fingernails, there are no more left, and it's from all those close games we've been losing."

The loss was the Wolfpack's sixth in a row at home to a Division I-A opponent -- all in the Atlantic Coast Conference -- and led to many early departures from another sellout crowd at Carter-Finley Stadium. To qualify for a bowl, N.C. State (2-3, 1-3) must win four of its final six games, a stretch that includes trips to No. 4 Florida State and No. 14 Boston College.

None of that matters to the Tigers (3-3, 2-3). After beating Maryland on Sept. 10, they lost their next three games by a total of 13 points, with two going into overtime.

"We've played a tough schedule, and when you play against people like that, you get lots of games that go down to the wire," Tigers coach Tommy Bowden said. "Sure, I wish we could have won a few more, but I like the way things are shaping up."

Clemson shook off any lasting bad memories with a balanced offensive performance, piling up 489 yards while burning the Wolfpack with a variety of deceptive plays.

"We've kept them off-balance with our formations," Whitehurst said. "We threw when they were expecting us to run, and we ran with they thought we'd throw. It was a great game plan on our coaches' part."

Whitehurst finished 22-for-31 for 246 yards, and Davis ran for their best total in exactly four years, when Woody Dantzler had 184 yards in a loss to N.C. State. Davis said he was told he has a small fracture, and he plans to return by the end of the month, when the Tigers play at Georgia Tech.

"I wanted to have a 200-yard game, but we got the win, and that's the most important thing," Davis said.

About the only Clemson did wrong was commit penalties. Coming into the game, it ranked second in the country with less than four infractions a game, but that discipline disappeared against the Wolfpack.

The Tigers were flagged nine times for 80 yards, including a pair of personal fouls in the second quarter that helped N.C. State score its only touchdown. Gaines Adams roughed punter John Deraney to keep the drive alive, and linebacker Nick Watkins hit quarterback Jay Davis late to move the ball to Clemson's 20.

Darrell Blackman did the rest from there, shrugging off three tackles before sprinting to the end zone to cut the Tigers' lead to 21-7. The run was part of a dazzling game for the sophomore, who finished with 219 yards, including 161 on three kickoff returns.

"I've never seen so many long runs on kickoffs," N.C. State coach Chuck Amato said. "Darrell Blackman is an awfully good athlete."

Still, it wasn't enough. The Wolfpack made their own share of mistakes, particularly while falling behind in the first half. Blackman muffed a punt and later fumbled after catching a screen, Toney Baker coughed up the ball twice and N.C. State jumped offsides six times.

And now Amato might have a quarterback controversy. Davis was benched for a while in the fourth quarter and replaced by Marcus Stone. On Stone's first play, he threw a 29-yard pass to Lamart Barrett to get the Wolfpack in scoring position.

But a fourth-down pass to Tramain Hall in the end zone fell incomplete, ending what essentially was the final chance for N.C. State.

"They are a really fast team, and they gave us a lot of different looks," Jay Davis said. "They move and shift around a lot, and that gave me a hard time picking up a read on their defense."

Davis was 15-for-31 for 133 yards and an interception, and Stone finished 4-for-5 for 42 yards.

"Jay's been so good. He really has," Amato said. "But he didn't have his best game. I felt we had to make a change."