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CLEMSON -- The final 30 minutes of 2018 ended with a 28-point lead and Clemson fans on top of the world.

The first 30 minutes of 2019 ended with a 28-point lead and Clemson fans wondering what in the world was up.

Thursday night might have presented some lessons to folks who spent all offseason basking in the glow of 15-0 and a tail-kicking of Alabama.

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Not every game against inferior opposition is going to be won 192-0, not even when your conference is debuting its Another Clemson Clobbering Network.

Not every throw by Trevor Lawrence is going to be a work of art, even in the wake of last year's College Football Playoff masterpiece.

What did Dabo Swinney say a few weeks ago? Something about this bunch being nowhere near a great team yet?

Well, the primetime opener against Georgia Tech backed up those words in certain respects -- and in other respects, reminded of the "yet."

The top-ranked Tigers got the job done on the scoreboard, administering a 52-14 whipping of a Yellow Jackets program in major transition under Geoff Collins.They even covered the monstrous 37-point spread.

They also put up some gaudy numbers -- 411 rushing yards and 8.4 yards per carry, and a 205-yard, three touchdown night from Travis Etienne on just 12 carries.

Trevor Lawrence was Trevor Lawrence on a few throws, but human on some others. He completed 13 of 23 passes for 168 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions, and it could've easily been four picks.

"He's not perfect," Swinney said. "But the only real adversity he had was that one pick."

Swinney entered the season wanting Lawrence to use his legs more, but he probably wasn't talking about using them to prevent a pick-6.

Lawrence did make a touchdown-saving tackle of corner Tre Swilling at the 2 after Swilling baited him into an interception and took it 41 yards.

It ended up being a huge tackle, as the defense followed by producing four plays and nothing with a tipped-ball pick on fourth down by Denzel Johnson.

Nonetheless, the Golden Boy looked a little rusty and that was most certainly a surprise.

On this night Clemson didn't need a stupendous passing performance or anything close to it. The Tigers' reloading defense missed plenty of tackles but came up with big stops with Georgia Tech in their territory, and the offensive line settled down after a penalty-marred first half and mashed the Jackets with its starters and backups. The Tigers also allowed zero sacks.

With a much bigger test coming next week against Texas A&M, followed by a trip to Syracuse a week later, Clemson has plenty to clean up.

The Tigers won their 16th consecutive game overall and their 35th in their last 37 games against ACC competition.

Clemson committed three turnovers, including a fumble by Etienne in the first quarter in Tigers territory. But Georgia Tech totaled four, most notably a fumbled punt early after it forced a three-and-out on Clemson's first possession.

The Tigers took it 16 yards in for the touchdown, capitalizing with a 6-yard touchdown run by Lawrence.

After a first-down holding call on Clemson's fourth possession pushed the offense back to its 10, Etienne took care of that by taking a sprint draw 90 yards to the end zone.

Jackson Carman, a first-year starter at left tackle, provided a pulverizing block for Etienne and somehow stayed on his feet.

In the second quarter, Jamious Griffin never secured the ball on a handoff from Tobias Oliver and Xavier Kelly recovered the fumble at Tech's 14-yard line.

Etienne ran untouched through a big hole on the left side for a 14-yard touchdown to make it 21-0.

The defense stuffed the Jackets on downs the next drive, and then did it again after Lawrence threw the interception.

Lawrence and Tee Higgins did make it look familiarly easy when Lawrence found his junior receiver for a 62-yard touchdown. Redshirt freshman corner Zamari Walton really had no chance against Higgins even while appearing to interfere with him; Higgins merely snared the ball, turned and headed for the end zone.

Chase Brice threw for 53 yards on a 5-of-7 clip, hitting Frank Ladson for a 21-yard touchdown strike on a perfect throw.

Lyn-J Dixon had 64 rushing yards on eight carries. Chez Mellusi had 36 yards on six carries, and Mikey Dukes ran for 29 yards on seven totes.

Georgia Tech's revamped offense had 294 yards, 157 on the ground.

"We're going to be a work in progress for a little while," Swinney said. "That's just the way it is."

Tigerillustrated.com will have much more from Clemson's season opener later today.

Game-week DEALS on officially-licensed CLEMSON apparel at the Tiger Fan Shop HERE!