There was no miracle finish for Auburn. Not this time.
No. 21 Auburn's luck ended Saturday along with its 17-game winning streak as Tajh Boyd threw for 386 yards and four touchdowns in Clemson's 38-24 victory over the defending 2010 BCS National Champions.
Clemson dominated the game with more than 600 yards of offense.
Auburn--who scored the winning touchdown with 30 seconds left in the final quarter against Utah State and stopped Mississippi State an inch short of the goal line on the final play last week--melted away against Clemson.
Although Auburn had eight comeback wins last season, a comeback or anything close was not the case Saturday.
Auburn had several chances for a victory, leading 14-0 and 21-7 in the first half, but Clemson scored the next three touchdowns for a 28-21 lead. Auburn closed the gap to 28-24 on a field goal with five minutes remaining in the third quarter.
"This is kind of a great learning experience for our guys," said Auburn coach Gene Chizik. "It's a tough away venue. We went up 14-0 and 21-7. We didn't play well. That's the bottom line. They outplayed us and out executed us. They did a great job converting, and we did a poor job stopping them. The third downs haunted us."
Auburn couldn't stop Tajh Boyd, who threw four touchdown passes. Sammy Watkins set a Clemson single-season freshman-receiving record in the third quarter when he caught his ninth pass--a touchdown--that gave him 146 yards.
Auburn running back Michael Dyer had another big day. He went for more than 150 yards after rushing for 150 yards against Mississippi State the week before. But Dyer could not help Auburn's defensive play.
Clemson converted 10 straight third-down conversions during one troublesome stretch leaving Auburn defenders on the ground.
Clemson players jumped around in celebration when the clock struck zero and fans swarmed the field.
Clemson had lost 14 straight games to Auburn since a 34-0 win in 1951. That was also the last time Clemson posted as many yards of offense (524) against a Southeastern Conference opponent, even though Clemson plays South Carolina, an SEC member since 1992, every year.
Boyd's touchdown passes included throws of 65 and 19 yards to freshman receiver Sammy Watkins. Watkins finished with 10 catches for 155 yards, both setting Clemson records for a freshman.
Trotter was continually harassed by Clemson's defense, particularly in the second half when he completed only four passes. He finished 12 of 25 for 198 yards in his first road start.
Auburn expected to see a mirror image of its offense out of Clemson: its new coordinator Chad Morris is good friends and a student of Auburn offensive leader Gus Malzahn.
But it was Malzahn's well-honed attack early on that threatened to give the Atlantic Coast Conference another black eye in nonconference play.
Dyer scored on a 52-yard touchdown run on Auburn's second series and Emory Blake caught a 36-yard scoring pass from Barrett Trotter a series later for a 14-0 lead.
It was Blake's sixth straight game with scoring catch, something Auburn hasn't seen since Byron Franklin in 1980.
Dyer's second rushing touchdown of the game put Auburn ahead 21-7 midway through the second quarter.
But Auburn's defensive cracks showed up for Clemson to plow through.
Boyd was 3-of-3 on third-down throws the next time Clemson had the ball, including a 6-yard touchdown pass to Dwayne Allen in the back of the end zone to end an 81-yard scoring drive.
Clemson traveled 75 yards the next time they had possession, the big play coming on Allen's 23-yard catch to the Auburn two. Andre Ellington finished things off with a touchdown run to tie the game.
Clemson improved to 3-0. Auburn, 2-1, will try to rebound against Florida Atlantic next Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium at 6 p.m.
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