Sunday, October 1, 2017

The Morning After - No Sandman Needed

Clemson's defense swarmed the Hokies all night.
(Photo courtesy Clemson Athletics)
Since Dabo Swinney took over Clemson, the Tigers are 5-0 against Virginia Tech - two games in Blacksburg, two in the ACC title game, and one in Clemson. Swinney's Tigers have scored 23, 38, 38, 42, and 31 points against Bud Foster's defenses. The Hokies have managed to score more than 17 points only once - last season's ACC Championship Game in which Clemson won 42-35. The other outcomes have been by two scores or more each, including Saturday night's 31-17 Tiger victory. When Dabo and VT meet, the beasts under the bed - as in the familiar "Enter Sandman" lyrics - are the Tigers waiting to put the Hokies to sleep.

1st Quarter
I admit it. I was foolish. I picked against Clemson again. My reasoning wasn't so much that I felt Clemson would play bad, but moreso that Virginia Tech would play up - College Gameday in town, night game at Lane Stadium, game circled since last year's ACC Championship Game, etc., etc.

I was wrong. I should've known. I should've listened. Dabo Swinney has built Clemson into a powerhouse. Clemson is no longer the program it was in the 90s and 00s. This program has won 10 games six straight seasons. It has played in back-to-back National Championship Games, winning the most recent one. It doesn't rebuild when its best playmakers move on. It reloads - for the most part with better players.

Kelly Bryant was once again tremendous in a hostile road environment. Clemson's defense was lights out. Until a garbage time touchdown, the Hokies had one touchdown drive. It lasted all of one play, two yards, thanks to a punt return to the two yard line. Virginia Tech couldn't sustain drives. The Hokies went three-and-out on four of their first five series. The one where they got a first down? They got one first down and punted. Dorian O'Daniel notched his second pick-six, this one to seal the deal. Austin Bryant also came up with a spectacular INT. It warranted Wide Receivers Coach Jeff Scott saying he needed to get Bryant a #WRU T-shirt. Bryant may also petition for a cornerback spot. He lined up on a fourth down out by the numbers and obliterated a wide receiver screen better than any defensive back ever has.

And that's what this team is. It's a team of freak athletes. Ones that play defensive end, but look like linebackers. Running backs with out of this world speed. And receivers with hands you swear have stick'em on them.

I spoke with a great friend of mine with whom I text throughout a lot of the Clemson games and I told him, this team is like a boa constrictor. They slowly wrap around the opponent and begin to squeeze. It's not flashy. There's not a lot happening like the quick strike rattle snake or the dancing cobra. Just a slow, methodical death grip. The more the opponents try to escape with trick plays and all the eye-candy moving shifts, the tighter the grip gets. Ask Louisville. Ask Auburn. And now ask Virginia Tech. The life of their team slowly slipped away. They saw it coming, but there was nothing they could do about it once face-to-face with the snak-, I mean, Tigers.

What a time to be a Tiger, y'all.

2nd Quarter
Let's back up to Friday night when Washington State knocked off USC on the Palouse. Luke Falk out-dueled Sam Darnold. It feels like this win effective eliminates USC from Playoff contention and we're only just now in October. On the other hand, we should be giving some serious thought to Washington State.

This is the second straight year that Mike Leach has Wazzu highly ranked. A loss in the Apple Cup to rival Washington ended hopes of a division title, but we could be well on our way to the Apple Cup winner deciding the Pac-12 North again. Washington looks like the better overall team, right now anyway. However, Washington State put the league on notice that it can take down anyone, including the Pac-12 favorite Trojans.

3rd Quarter
A couple of double-takes when looking at SEC games this weekend. First was Georgia destroying Tennessee in Neyland Stadium, 41-0. The Dawgs did it with a freshman QB, no less. Jake Fromm is playing like anything but a freshman. He's got Georgia all the way up to No. 5 in the rankings and many believe this team has a shot to dethrone Alabama. It certainly appears that UGA will represent the East, because Florida is meh and no one else looks competitive. As for Tennessee, I am shocked we haven't heard of Butch Jones' firing yet. It's inevitable, right? Sorry, but you don't lose on your home field 41-0 the week after chastising the media.

Then there was LSU. It's like the Bayou Bengals saw the Tennessee loss and wanted to one-up the Vols. Troy went into Tiger Stadium at night and tamed the Tigers. A 24-7 game ended 24-21 with Troy still on top, but aside from the late comeback, this one was all Trojans.

So let's recap the past few weeks. Mississippi State curb-stomps LSU 37-7, then gets embarrassed at Georgia 31-3 and at Auburn 49-10. LSU already has a terrible loss, nearly loses at home to Syracuse, then does lose to Troy. Ole Miss has back-to-back losses to Cal and Alabama, the latter by a score of 66-3 after having a bye week to prepare for the Tide. Vandy was the flavor of the week, until it played Alabama (and lost 59-0) and Florida (and lost 38-24). Texas A&M has a pair of seven-point wins over Arkansas and South Carolina, but the Aggies get to host Bama this weekend. The Gamecocks and all-world Jake Bentley scored 17 points to beat La Tech in the last minute 17-16, then scored 17 again and lost to A&M. In fact, they haven't scored more than 17 since Sept. 9.

This is the conference everyone thinks is the best top-to-bottom? Give me a break.

4th Quarter
The jury is still out on Oklahoma State, even though the Cowboys got a much-needed bounce-back win over Texas Tech, their ninth in a row in the series. OSU allowed the Red Raiders to score 14 straight to tie the game late, but got a Mason Rudolph TD with just over a minute to go to pull out the win. The Pokes get a bye week to regroup and refocus before hosting currently winless Baylor and then going on the road to Texas and West Virginia before Bedlam.

The Big 12 is a three-team race with Oklahoma and TCU at the top and OSU waiting in the wings if either of them stumble. OU plays both the Cowboys and Horned Frogs on back-to-back weekends to kickoff November, so we may not know much about the Big 12 race until then. Kansas State and West Virginia are also teams to watch, but both of them have out-of-conference losses holding them back for now.

Overtime
I'm going to use this space this week to blast the poll voters. First, your "votes" mean nothing. The only poll that matters is the one that comes out after the conference championship games. And that one isn't yours, it's the Playoff Committee's, who the folks diligently studying each contending team are doing a much better job ranking them than you are. Is that why you are so petty with your votes? Second, how can you rightfully look at Clemson's rΓ©sumΓ©, compare it to Alabama's, and think, hmm, clearly Alabama is the better team. Forty-four AP Poll voters out of 61 put Alabama on top. That is a change of +9 for Clemson, who only had eight first-place votes last week. This despite Clemson becoming the first team in college football history to beat three Top 15 teams before the calendar flipped to October. This despite Clemson going on the road and taking down the reigning Heisman winner and a hungry Hokie team by a combined 40 points. This despite Alabama's "best win" is over now unranked and 1-2 Florida State.

It's worse in the Coaches Poll, where Clemson gained just two additional first-place votes. Are y'all that scared of what Nick Saban might say at his press conference? Are you too prideful to drop almighty Alabama off their perch because, hey, another team not only looks as good or better, but has proven it on the field with their wins? Good for Bama beating Vanderbilt and Ole Miss like a drum. They should. Vandy was picked sixth in the East. A horrendous division, mind you. And Ole Miss was picked last in the West. So the Crimson Tide winning 59-0 and 66-3 isn't all that shocking, nor impressive.

You know what is? Clemson. Little ole Clemson who, "How are they gonna replace all those offensive stars?" is now 5-0 and owns a 92-44 point margin over THREE Top 15 teams.

Here's what I'll tell you. Keep us at No. 2. Seriously. Go ahead. Bow down to Bama. Praise Saban. Because all you're doing is giving Dabo more locker room material. You're feeding the "nobody believes in us" monster that YOU created. Vegas will probably tell you that Alabama is a 6-7 point favorite over Clemson if they were to play this week. And you'll listen like you always do. Thanks for giving us everything we need to go back to the Playoff again. And make it back to the title game where we will face Alabama again. And for the second time in three games, we'll prove we're better.

But you might believe that either.

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-BtW
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