The Morning After... An Instant Classic!

1) What a time to be a Tiger! And what a game last night between two heavyweights. Before the game, Dabo Swinney said the contest would come down to defense. He was right. In a back-and-forth affair that produced over 1,000 yards of offense between the teams, Clemson's defense came up with a critical stop to earn the win.

5-0

🐅 What a time to be a Tiger 🐾 pic.twitter.com/TDX41kQUFo

— Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) October 2, 2016

2) Offensively, Clemson was a mess. Clemson had five turnovers - three INTs, two fumbles. Yet, the Tigers still put up 507 yards and scored 42 points. That's called resolve. That's called overcoming adversity. That's called having the will to win. Dabo has instilled a winning culture at Clemson. For all the errant throws Watson made, for the lack of ball security inside the red zone, and for the predictable playcalling, Clemson got done what it needed to when it needed to.

Deon Cain provided an early spark for the Tigers with two long TD catches in the second quarter.
(Photo courtesy The State)

3) For three drives, Clemson's defense was dominant. They set the tone, as did the incredible fans who made Death Valley the best it's ever been. Lamar Jackson was rattled. The Cardinal offensive line looked confused. It was the perfect start. Except the offense didn't do its job and eventually Bobby Petrino, the offensive genius that he is, solved the Tiger D. All that said, it was Clemson's offense that put the defense in horrible situations. Momentum shifted when Watson was picked early in the second half. It gave Louisville life and the Cards went on a 26-0 run, partly because Jackson is a freak of nature and partly because the Clemson offense couldn't stay on the field. I don't like giving up 36 points and 568 yards, but I don't fully blame the defense for it. When they needed the stops, they came up with two huge ones. One forced a punt so Clemson could take the lead, one secured the win.

4) Statistically speaking: Clemson now owns the nation's current longest active home winning streak at 19 games ... The win was the first in program history at home between two top-5 teams ... Dabo Swinney is 10-5 against top-10 opponents. Only three of the 10 wins have been at home ... CU is 56-1 in its last 57 games when leading going into the fourth quarter (CU led 28-26 going into the 4th last night), is 76-0-1 when posting at least 200 yards passing and 200 yards rushing, and 87-1-1 when gaining over 500 yards of offense. The only loss came in last season's National Championship Game ... Deshaun Watson has thrown 22 interceptions in his career. Six of them have come against Louisville. Despite that, Watson is 3-0 against the Cards ... Underutilized tight end Jordan Leggett has now caught TD passes in two straight games after having just one catch through the first three games. Leggett's TD was the 13th of his career, setting a new Clemson record for TEs ... Deon Cain was a big factor with four catches for 98 yards and two long touchdowns ... Clemson is 19-1 since the start of the 2015 season.

5) The Oklahoma Sooners first of back-to-back trips to the DFW metroplex ended with a much-needed win. OU squeaked out a 52-46 victory over TCU in a game that saw three massive scoring runs. TCU jumped out to a 21-7 lead after one quarter; OU then went on a 42-3 run over the next two periods to take a 49-24 lead going into the fourth; TCU stormed back with 22 unanswered to make it a three-point game before the Sooners iced it late. Oklahoma stuffed the Horned Frogs run game, allowing just 65 yards, but the air attack by Kenny Hill and Co. torched the Sooners secondary to the tune of 449 yards and five TDs. Not a good look for a defense still yet to face Texas (next week), Texas Tech, Baylor and Oklahoma State.

Michigan's Jourdan Lewis somehow pulled this in
for a game-winning interception.
(Photo courtesy AP)

6) Saturday produced more instant classics. It began with Baylor needing a last minute field goal to knock off Iowa State 45-42. The switch was flipped after that. ... North Carolina led 21-0 at Florida State, saw the Noles fight back to take a 35-34 lead with 23 seconds to go thanks to a blocked UNC extra point. A pass interference penalty allowed the Heels to attempt a 54-yard field goal to win it. And they did, 37-35. ... Tennessee came back from 17 down to take a 28-24 lead over Georgia. The Dawgs scored with 10 seconds to go on a long pass down the sideline to go up 31-28. Two penalties, a solid kickoff return and a crazy Hail Mary the Vols hauled in gave UT the 34-31 win in Athens. ... Michigan and Wisconsin produced a classic Big Ten battle, with the Wolverines coming out on top 14-7 thanks to the interception you see pictured. ... Indiana stunned Michigan State 24-21 in overtime after some #CollegeKickers madness. Cal stopped Utah at the goalline not once, not twice, but SEVEN times at the end of the game to emerge 28-23 victory. ... Oh, and in case you missed Friday night, BYU knocked off Toledo 55-53 on a last-second field goal in a wild Friday affair that saw color commentator Mack Brown leave the booth to catch a flight out of Salt Lake City.

WHEW!

7) Welcome to playoff football in the regular season. The ACC Atlantic Division is now Clemson's to lose. The Tigers would have to lose twice for anyone to have a shot down the stretch. Clemson is 19-4 against its remaining division foes over the last five years with three of those losses coming to FSU. At the top of the Coastal Division sits undefeated Miami along with unbeaten in conference North Carolina and Virginia Tech - also Virginia, but the Hoos won't be in contention long. North Carolina passed one test, beating the Noles on the road. Now the Heels have back-to-back games against the Hokies (at home) and Canes (in Miami). The Canes host Florida State this coming weekend, UNC the next, then travel to Virginia Tech for a Thursday night showdown in Blacksburg. VT aforementioned travels to UNC this week, then goes to Syracuse before the Thursday affair with Miami. By morning October 21, we will either know the Coastal favorite or we'll shift what was supposed to be the third-party tiebreaker for the Atlantic over to the Coastal.

8) Now that the calendar has flipped to October, we can begin to discuss playoff contenders. As mentioned above, there are still plenty of games to play that will decide all of this for us. I will have another post on this later this week. For now, here are a few contenders for the CFB Playoff from each conference (mostly, this means they are undefeated and/or have a chance to strengthen their résumés).

*Teams listed by conference and in order of greatest chance to reach Playoff
AAC - Houston
ACC - Clemson, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina
Big 12 - Baylor, West Virginia
Big Ten - Ohio State, Michigan, Nebraska, Maryland
Pac-12 - Washington, Colorado
SEC - Alabama, Tennessee, Texas A&M

9) Quick hitters: Colorado keeps on winning and its lone loss at Michigan isn't all that horrible, considering it held a 24-7 lead and the Buffs QB was hurt. CU has a huge Pac-12 South matchup at USC Saturday. ...  Staying in the PAC-12, the Oregon Ducks are 2-3 and are seeing bowl eligibility becoming nearly impossible. Oregon lost 51-33 at Washington State and still has Stanford and Washington on the schedule. ... Tennessee has firm control on the SEC East, while Texas A&M is the top SEC West opponent for Alabama. However, the Tide has to go to Arkansas this weekend. Bama has struggled with the Hogs since Bret Bielema has been at the helm. ... LSU has new life, thanks to Coach O. Ed Orgeron and LSU put up over 600 yards of offense against Mizzou. Might be too late to climb back into the picture, but good for the Bayou Bengals.

10) Prototypical letdown game coming up for the Tigers. A short week. On the road. Against a team that gives Clemson fits. After a huge emotionally-charged win. No excuses. Beat Boston College.

-BtW