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| Dabo Swinney celebrates Clemson's first win at Georgia Tech since 2003. (Photo courtesy Clemson Football) |
2) Clemson's defense looks better than I can remember, even the past two years where over 15 players have been drafted to the NFL. The Tigers have played 240 minutes of football so far this season and have had arguably 8-10 "bad" defensive minutes - the last three at Auburn, the last five vs. Troy, and the one scoring drive against Georgia Tech. Clemson has allowed five touchdowns in four games and is giving up 11 points per game.
3) Brent Venables is the second greatest thing at Clemson. Maybe the first. But the first is Deshaun Watson.
3B) Ray-Ray McCloud is emerging as a star. McCloud has been the most consistent receiver outside of Mike Williams through four games for the Tigers. He had a career-high eight catches for 101 yards at GT. He is tied with Williams to lead Clemson with 21 receptions and is 51 yards behind him in total yards.
3C) It was great to see tight end Jordan Leggett get involved. Leggett had one catch coming into Thursday, but produced four receptions and a TD. He has been a missing piece to the Tiger offense and will be needed the rest of the season.
4) How 'bout the little ole ACC? Outside of the conference games - Clemson-GT, Pitt-UNC - the conference went undefeated (8-0) on the weekend. The surprising wins were Duke knocking off Notre Dame in South Bend 38-35, Virginia beating Central Michigan 49-35, Syracuse won at UConn 31-24 and Wake Forest remaining unbeaten with a 33-28 win at Indiana. All four schools were 3-point underdogs or bigger, with Duke a 20.5-point dog to the Irish, and three of the games were on the road (UVa was home). Combined with big wins by Louisville, FSU and Virginia Tech, this was a great weekend for a conference on the rise.
5) Speaking of Louisville, the Cards romped past Marshall 59-28 in a game that wasn't that close. However, for the first time this season Lamar Jackson looked a little less like Superman. He still finished with seven touchdowns (5 passing, 2 rushing), but was 24-of-44 passing and threw an ill-advised interception. The Thundering Herd kept him in check on the ground, allowing him just 62 yards. Louisville only led 7-0 after one quarter. It was one of those games where the Cardinals dominated, but didn't necessarily look perfect doing so. The guess here is they had one eye looking toward Clemson.
6) Some of the wildness began Friday with Utah scoring with 55 seconds left to beat USC 31-27 and continued into Saturday. ... Tennessee finally got the monkey of its back by beating Florida after trailing 21-0. ... North Carolina trailed Pitt by 13 with under 10 minutes to go, but scored twice including the game-winner with two seconds on the clock. ... Les Miles' poor clock management skills bit him and LSU again. The Tigers needed a TD with no timeouts left. They failed to get out of bounds, were penalized and had a 10-second runoff, then did not have enough time to get a snap off - even though the refs initially allowed it and LSU scored the would-be go-ahead touchdown. After review, the clock was triple-zeroes and Auburn won 18-13. ... In the nightcaps, Stanford scored with under 30 seconds to go to take a three-point lead over UCLA. Keep in mind, Stanford was a 3.5-point favorite. UCLA QB Josh Rosen was sacked on the last play of the game and fumbled. Stanford ran it back for a TD to make the final score 22-13. A humongous play for Vegas betting. ... Arizona and Washington traded blows late in the fourth quarter for some amazing #Pac12AfterDark action. Zona scored with 4:50 to go to tie it at 21; Washington re-took the lead 40 seconds later; Zona scored with 27 seconds to go to send it to overtime; And the Huskies eventually won in OT, 35-28.
A wild weekend indeed.
7) There were skeptics about West Virginia and Baylor. Both undefeated, but both unproven. Until Saturday. The Mountaineers knocked off BYU in another entertaining game, 35-32. Baylor took down Oklahoma State to earn its first conference win, 35-24. The Bears and Mountaineers remain unbeaten and atop the Big 12 standings. Baylor should have little trouble next week at Iowa State. West Virginia hosts Kansas State in a tricky game, as the Wildcats are still coached by Bill Snyder which means they are vastly underrated and prime for an upset.
8) Quick hitters: Texas A&M served noticed to the rest of the SEC West that it will contend. The Aggies knocked off Arkansas 45-24. A&M goes to South Carolina before a big two-game stretch at home against Tennessee Oct. 8, then a bye week before going to Alabama Oct. 22. ... Wisconsin also served notice that it will not be overlooked in the Big Ten. Everyone thought the Big Three in the Big Ten were Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State. The Badgers had none of that, demolishing the Spartans on their home field 30-6. With Iowa struggling, it looks like Wisconsin may be the best team in the West division. Nebraska may have something to say about that, though. And the Badgers head to the Big House this weekend.
9) Top 10 on tap: Next week will produce three top-10 matchups including No. 7 Stanford at No. 10 Washington (Friday), No. 8 Wisconsin at No. 4 Michigan, and No. 3 Louisville at No. 5 Clemson. Other big games include Oklahoma at TCU, North Carolina at No. 12 Florida State and No. 11 Tennessee at No. 25 Georgia. (Note: Rankings reflect current AP Poll)
10) All eyes, though, will be on Tiger Town next weekend. ESPN's College GameDay will be on hand to kickoff the morning live from Bowman Field. The game will be broadcast in primetime on ABC with Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Sam Ponder on the call. It was one year ago when Notre Dame visited Clemson on the exact same weekend (Oct. 3, 2015). Get up. Get ready. Get loud. Get CLEMSON LOUD. Beat Louisville.
-BtW
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