CLEMSON — Before Clemson football scored 24 unanswered points in the second half against Virginia Tech on Saturday, it was shutout the first two quarters.

It was the first time since Week 1 against No. 10 Georgia that the No. 16 Tigers (7-2, 6-1 ACC) went scoreless in the first half. They overcame their lack of production in the second half to defeat Virginia Tech (5-5, 3-3) 24-14 at Lane Stadium, but their poor start was a grim sign for a College Football Playoff hopeful and an offense that averaged 39.4 points entering Saturday.

"The first half was frustrating," Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. "We had it for almost 20 minutes in the first half, and we just could not get out of our own way. Critical penalties, critical drops (and) critical missed opportunities."

Clemson had scoring opportunities on its first three drives but came away with none. On its first possession, it ran a game-high 15 plays, where quarterback Cade Klubnik converted three straight third downs to cross midfield. Yet, two consecutive penalties followed to negate their progress and set up a third-and-16, where Klubnik forced an ill-advised pass to tight end Jake Briningstool that turned into an interception after a deflection.

On the following drive, the Tigers made it to Virginia Tech's 26-yard line and decided to go for it on a fourth-and-2. They would usually elect to use their jumbo package, which included defensive linemen Peter Woods and DeMonte Capehart coming in to block, but both were out Saturday. After a timeout, they ran a play-action pass, and Klubnik was sacked as he rolled right.

"We knew that we had been putting drives together," Klubnik said. "We had been putting 10-plus play drives together and just didn't really finish them whenever we needed to in field-goal range."

Clemson regained momentum after strip sacking Virginia Tech quarterback Kyron Drones to start the second quarter, but the Hokies took it back after they blocked Tigers freshman kicker Nolan Hauser's 46-yard field goal attempt and returned it for a 77-yard touchdown. It marked the sixth blocked kick (five field goals, one point-after attempt) Clemson has had this season, which leads FBS.

"That's the worst kick he's had all year," Swinney said. "Just a low kick. Protection was good."

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The Tigers' last three drives of the half amassed 59 yards and ended in punts, including one three-and-out. Klubnik was 8-for-19 for 81 yards with an interception in the first two quarters and was sacked a season-high three times in the first two quarters as Clemson's offensive line battled injuries. Its offense recorded two penalties and two dropped passes too, and it ran 16 more plays than the Hokies but trailed 7-0 at halftime.

Despite Saturday's poor start, Swinney was encouraged by his offense's performance, knowing the unit can move the ball and just needing to clean up mistakes to return to early scoring eruption.

"I don't want to take anything away from them, but we didn't feel they were stopping us," Swinney said. "We felt like we could not get out of our own way."

Clemson responded in the second half to score three touchdowns and hold Virginia Tech's offense scoreless until its final drive of the game. The Tigers' ugly win kept its College Football Playoff hopes alive after No. 12 Miami lost to Georgia Tech on the road.

Clemson sits atop the ACC standings, but it needs to win next Saturday (noon ET, ESPN) against Pitt, Miami to lose one of its final two games or SMU to lose two ACC games to have a clear path to the ACC championship game — with the winner receiving an automatic bid to the CFP and a first-round bye.

Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at dcarter@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Clemson football: Why Tigers struggled in first half vs Virginia Tech