Transcript

0:00
Speaker 1: 11 months ago, Darian Mensah walked out of Death Valley
0:03
Speaker 1: with a one-point win and a Duke jersey on. Saturday night,
0:07
Speaker 1: he walked back in wearing white. It was a different helmet.
0:11
Speaker 1: It was a different team. There were different expectations. And
0:15
Speaker 1: here's the thing nobody wanted to say out loud this week,
0:18
Speaker 1: at least not in Clemson. The Tigers were, most of
0:22
Speaker 1: this week, 17-point underdogs at home in Death Valley. Now,
0:27
Speaker 1: the line moved quite a bit, and I think I
0:29
Speaker 1: can tell you why here in a few minutes before kickoff.
0:32
Speaker 1: It was down to 14 in some spots. I believe
0:36
Speaker 1: the spread through the week was the biggest spread of
0:39
Speaker 1: the entire Dabo Sweeney era. If you put that into
0:44
Speaker 1: context for just a moment, it's a program that's won
0:46
Speaker 1: two national titles in a three-year window. It's a building
0:51
Speaker 1: that's supposed to be the great equalizer. And Vegas looked
0:54
Speaker 1: at it and said, not tonight. Not this time. So
0:58
Speaker 1: the question going into Saturday wasn't really whether Miami was better.
1:02
Speaker 1: Everybody knew Miami was better. When we had Brian on
1:05
Speaker 1: this week, he told you he thought Miami was going
1:07
Speaker 1: to win this game comfortably. The question was whether or
1:10
Speaker 1: not Clemson could make this feel close. Whether that crowd,
1:15
Speaker 1: the rain in the forecast, that freshman quarterback could drag
1:19
Speaker 1: the number four team in the country into a fist
1:22
Speaker 1: fight in the fourth quarter. For about a quarter and
1:25
Speaker 1: a half, it Kind of felt that way. And then
1:29
Speaker 1: it didn't. This is TJ Pittenger. It's ACC Football Addiction.
1:34
Speaker 1: Hopefully you're subscribed. We are presented by PrizePix. We're all
1:37
Speaker 1: new users who play a $ 5 lineup and win. Get
1:39
Speaker 1: $ 150 in lineups instantly if they use code HMA. Miami
1:45
Speaker 1: came in 4-0. I don't care what anybody says, but
1:49
Speaker 1: I don't think they've really been tested. The Wake Forest
1:52
Speaker 1: game is maybe one exception. They might be the second
1:54
Speaker 1: best team in the ACC. Mensah was completing almost 89%
1:59
Speaker 1: of his passes. He had 14 touchdowns, no picks, 12
2:03
Speaker 1: incompletions on the entire season. Just 12. Clemson came in
2:08
Speaker 1: at 3-1. They got embarrassed at LSU in the opener.
2:13
Speaker 1: And then they quietly rattled off three straight wins. Georgia Southern, UNC,
2:18
Speaker 1: and then last Friday at Cal. The defense had been
2:21
Speaker 1: pretty legit since that LSU game. 12 points a game
2:25
Speaker 1: across those Three wins. So you had the best offense
2:30
Speaker 1: in the country walking into a building with a defense
2:32
Speaker 1: that seemingly had found itself. The opening kickoff actually went
2:37
Speaker 1: Clemson's way. Chris Johnson Jr. brings it back 42 yards.
2:41
Speaker 1: Great field position. The crowd is going. I've been there
2:45
Speaker 1: for a night game. If you were there, I don't
2:47
Speaker 1: know if it was your first experience, if you've been
2:48
Speaker 1: there often, but I'd love to hear what your experience
2:51
Speaker 1: was like because I think Clemson, South Carolina is one
2:53
Speaker 1: of the coolest places to watch a game. specifically the
2:56
Speaker 1: Miami fans. I know a lot of you Clemson fans
2:58
Speaker 1: have been there several times. The crowd's going, and it's
3:02
Speaker 1: a three and out. Punt, and on Miami's second snap
3:06
Speaker 1: of the night, only second because of the penalty that
3:08
Speaker 1: negated the first one, Mensah flipped the ball out to Barquet,
3:12
Speaker 1: and he made two guys miss, and it's 61 yards
3:15
Speaker 1: down the field for a touchdown. It's seven to nothing.
3:18
Speaker 1: We're not even, what, two minutes into the game at
3:22
Speaker 1: that point. That is, unfortunately for Clemson, what Miami does
3:26
Speaker 1: to you. You spend all week getting your crowd and
3:29
Speaker 1: your fan base and your team ready, and they take
3:31
Speaker 1: your crowd out of it before your fans have even
3:33
Speaker 1: fully sat down. But there is one moment that I
3:37
Speaker 1: want you to remember because it shows you how thin
3:40
Speaker 1: the margins are. There is one play where this game
3:43
Speaker 1: could have gone sideways. Miami's very next drive. Clemson gets home.
3:51
Speaker 1: And London Merritt gets a hand on the ball. He
3:54
Speaker 1: pops it loose and Clemson picks it up and scores
3:58
Speaker 1: the other way. You've got a touchdown for Clemson and
4:00
Speaker 1: Death Valley absolutely loses its mind. And then it goes
4:04
Speaker 1: to review and the ruling comes back. It's an incomplete pass.
4:09
Speaker 1: It's not a fumble. It's not a touchdown. Instead of 7-7,
4:13
Speaker 1: with that place absolutely shaking, Miami keeps the ball. Minta
4:18
Speaker 1: gets sacked on the next third down, but Jake Weinberg,
4:20
Speaker 1: former Seminole, drills a 50-yarder. It is 10-0. I'll tell you,
4:27
Speaker 1: it was the right call. I think that his arm
4:31
Speaker 1: was moving forward. But the margins are this thin. Because
4:35
Speaker 1: if it comes loose just a fraction of a second earlier,
4:40
Speaker 1: you've got a 10-point swing there. and a tie game
4:43
Speaker 1: on the road in Death Valley. And Miami salted this away.
4:47
Speaker 1: I'll get to it in a moment. But it was
4:49
Speaker 1: this close to being a little bit more uncomfortable for
4:52
Speaker 1: maybe another quarter or so. And for an underdog trying
4:56
Speaker 1: to hang around on the Clemson side, those are the
4:59
Speaker 1: moments you have to cash in. And Clemson got right
5:02
Speaker 1: to the edge of it. And unfortunately for them, it
5:05
Speaker 1: got taken back. Again, the right call. But it's this thin.
5:10
Speaker 1: Clemson did answer. Tate Reynolds, true freshman, first time seeing
5:14
Speaker 1: anything like this Miami front. Drives them into Miami territory
5:17
Speaker 1: and they kick a field goal of their own. It's
5:20
Speaker 1: 10-3 as the first quarter is ending. And then Mensah
5:24
Speaker 1: does something we hadn't really seen from him. He runs
5:28
Speaker 1: the ball. A 34-yard touchdown. break loose, fumble it right
5:33
Speaker 1: at the goal line, fall on it yourself in the
5:36
Speaker 1: end zone touchdown. It's 17 to three. And at that
5:40
Speaker 1: moment you felt like it was probably too much. It
5:45
Speaker 1: was kind of ugly with the fumble, but it was effective.
5:49
Speaker 1: Touchdowns count the same, whether they're pretty or ugly. And
5:53
Speaker 1: at halftime, you're looking at a 17 to six score.
5:55
Speaker 1: And honestly, I thought that was a big win for
5:57
Speaker 1: Clemson getting to the half at 17 to six. After
6:00
Speaker 1: that Mensa run, after the touchdown had come off the board,
6:04
Speaker 1: you're margins away again from Clemson being in this game.
6:09
Speaker 1: Somebody else falls on that ball on the end zone,
6:11
Speaker 1: takes seven away from Miami. The incomplete pass is rule
6:17
Speaker 1: to fumble, or it starts coming loose just a fraction
6:20
Speaker 1: of a second before. You might be talking about Clemson
6:23
Speaker 1: up in this half. The defense, though, stiffened up. After
6:28
Speaker 1: that mental run, I thought the Clemson defense stiffened up
6:30
Speaker 1: pretty good. I know Miami's dealing with injuries, but I
6:32
Speaker 1: thought Clemson laid it all out there on the line.
6:35
Speaker 1: I don't know that our fans want to hear silver
6:38
Speaker 1: linings on a four-touchdown loss, but I'll tell you, forcing
6:42
Speaker 1: multiple stops, getting a turnover on downs, doing that against
6:46
Speaker 1: the number one country in the offense is real. Reynolds
6:49
Speaker 1: put up nice yardage at times, but he also was
6:52
Speaker 1: sacked five times, and it felt like every time they'd
6:54
Speaker 1: get close, they just couldn't finish it off. And I
6:58
Speaker 1: had to look at the stats here, but for a
7:02
Speaker 1: long portion of this game, Clemson had no rushing yards.
7:06
Speaker 1: They could not get anything going on the ground. Now,
7:09
Speaker 1: they had yards, but the net yardage, when you talk
7:14
Speaker 1: about the losses and you talk about the sacks, they
7:18
Speaker 1: netted zero yards for a large portion of this game.
7:23
Speaker 1: You can't survive a game like that. You can't survive
7:25
Speaker 1: a half like that. And that's what Clemson needed tonight
7:29
Speaker 1: was a rushing attack, and they just didn't have it.
7:32
Speaker 1: The second half was very much a story of Miami
7:35
Speaker 1: leaning on Clemson until something finally gave. Late in the
7:38
Speaker 1: third quarter, Miami puts together a nice, long, methodical drive.
7:42
Speaker 1: No tricks, just body blows by Mark Fletcher Jr. After
7:46
Speaker 1: he sat out last week, he finished it off with
7:48
Speaker 1: a two-yard touchdown to make it 24-6. Miami gets inside
7:52
Speaker 1: the 10 again early in the fourth. They've got to
7:54
Speaker 1: settle for a field goal. They make it 26-6. Again,
7:58
Speaker 1: Clemson did not quit. Davidson punched it in from two
8:02
Speaker 1: yards out, about 12 minutes to go to make it 27-13.
8:05
Speaker 1: For about 30 seconds, you could feel the crowd trying
8:09
Speaker 1: to will itself back into this game, will its team
8:13
Speaker 1: back into this game. But it didn't last long. Mark
8:17
Speaker 1: Fletcher scored about six minutes later. 34-13, and to put
8:22
Speaker 1: a bow on it, freshman J.J. Dunnigan jumps a Reynolds throw,
8:25
Speaker 1: and he takes it back for six. The final score, 41-13.
8:29
Speaker 1: Miami moves to 5-0. They're 3-0 in the ACC, and
8:32
Speaker 1: now they're sitting alone in first place in the conference.
8:35
Speaker 1: I've got three takeaways. They're going to feature both teams
8:38
Speaker 1: because I do cover both of you pretty extensively, and
8:40
Speaker 1: then we'll get out of here. Before I do the
8:43
Speaker 1: three takeaways... Our takeaways are brought to you by our
8:46
Speaker 1: own selves, by our audio channels. Listen, whether you're depressed
8:50
Speaker 1: as a Clemson fan or super excited as a Miami fan,
8:53
Speaker 1: do me a favor, go subscribe on audio. ACC Football Addiction,
8:56
Speaker 1: type that into wherever you get podcasts and you hit
8:59
Speaker 1: the subscribe button, you'll be subscribed. Or the links are
9:01
Speaker 1: in the description as well. All right, three takeaways. Number one,
9:05
Speaker 1: Miami won by 28 on Darian Minta's worst night in
9:08
Speaker 1: a Miami uniform. To me, that's the whole story. Now,
9:12
Speaker 1: I'm not telling you that Mensah was bad by any means,
9:15
Speaker 1: but he wasn't like he has been. And the reason
9:18
Speaker 1: why is he faced real competition in a real stadium.
9:21
Speaker 1: Let's be real about his stat line for a minute.
9:24
Speaker 1: 18 of 27, 227 yards. There were multiple times that
9:27
Speaker 1: he laid balls into Tony while he was getting absolutely crunched.
9:31
Speaker 1: This was a different defense than he's seen. He got
9:34
Speaker 1: a touchdown through the air. He got one on the ground.
9:37
Speaker 1: For most quarterbacks in America, I think you take that,
9:40
Speaker 1: you're going home, and you're happy about it. For Mensah,
9:43
Speaker 1: it's still the worst game he's played this season. He
9:46
Speaker 1: came into this game with 12 incompletions on the year.
9:49
Speaker 1: He threw nine on Saturday. He got sacked. He got hit.
9:53
Speaker 1: He put a couple balls in danger in the red
9:55
Speaker 1: zone that could have been picked off. Clemson's front is
9:58
Speaker 1: even banged up, but they may him uncomfortable in a
10:01
Speaker 1: way that nobody has this season. And he still extended
10:04
Speaker 1: his streak to 23 games with a touchdown pass dating
10:07
Speaker 1: back to his Duke days and Miami still scored 41.
10:10
Speaker 1: And that's the point. Some of you thought I was
10:13
Speaker 1: going to go negative on this. No, I'm not. Because
10:17
Speaker 1: the version of Miami that only wins when Darian is perfect,
10:21
Speaker 1: that team is not going to win in January. That's
10:24
Speaker 1: the team that gets exposed the first time somebody puts
10:27
Speaker 1: pressure on him in a playoff game. What we saw
10:29
Speaker 1: Saturday was the other version of me. When the passing
10:33
Speaker 1: game is not perfect, Miami found answers on the ground.
10:36
Speaker 1: Fletcher had 16 carries for 77 yards. He had two touchdowns.
10:40
Speaker 1: Mallory got his work in. Mensah took off when it
10:43
Speaker 1: was there. Miami ran for 192 yards and three scores
10:46
Speaker 1: as a team. Barquet made the big play early. The
10:49
Speaker 1: run game closed things out late. I thought the offense,
10:52
Speaker 1: not its best night, was more complete. I thought the
10:57
Speaker 1: roster helped carry the quarterback who was not perfect tonight.
11:01
Speaker 1: And that's what makes Miami dangerous. Yeah, everybody knows you're
11:04
Speaker 1: going to win if he throws two incompletions during an evening.
11:08
Speaker 1: Everybody knows you're going to win if he goes 19
11:09
Speaker 1: or 20. No crap. But when he's not perfect... When
11:14
Speaker 1: he is under pressure, you can still walk into an
11:17
Speaker 1: opposing stadium of a team that's on a three-game winning streak.
11:20
Speaker 1: I don't care what they've looked like against LSU. A
11:23
Speaker 1: team like Clemson, he can be 66%, not 88% like
11:27
Speaker 1: he's been all year, and you can still win by
11:29
Speaker 1: four touchdowns. I think that's a good sign. Mario Cristobal
11:33
Speaker 1: has been building toward this for years. The whole identity
11:37
Speaker 1: of his program has always been win at the line
11:40
Speaker 1: of scrimmage, and the rest will take care of itself.
11:42
Speaker 1: Saturday night, the passing game, I don't even want to
11:45
Speaker 1: call it an off night, but it just wasn't a
11:47
Speaker 1: typical night, and Miami still won by four touchdowns on
11:50
Speaker 1: the road against a team that was 2-0 in conference.
11:54
Speaker 1: That's not just a hot start anymore. I think this
11:57
Speaker 1: is now the standard. Takeaway number two, the defensive line
12:01
Speaker 1: is the identity of this team, and the secondary is
12:05
Speaker 1: needing to catch up. I want to talk about both
12:08
Speaker 1: of these together because to me they are connected. Miami
12:11
Speaker 1: walked into Death Valley without some of its top corners.
12:14
Speaker 1: You guys know the names that are out, but guys
12:17
Speaker 1: that have... not played because of injury guys that are
12:20
Speaker 1: out for the year. You guys have one of the
12:22
Speaker 1: most banged up teams right now in the beginning of October,
12:25
Speaker 1: and that's got to get better through the year, or
12:27
Speaker 1: you're not going to achieve the goals you want to achieve. Now,
12:29
Speaker 1: some of those guys out for the year, and we
12:31
Speaker 1: know that, but Ethan O'Connor been carrying a huge load
12:35
Speaker 1: with all that it's going on. He did go down
12:37
Speaker 1: during the game. Thank God came back, but Miami literally
12:40
Speaker 1: at times, I think had safeties playing corner and you
12:43
Speaker 1: could see it. Reynolds threw for 295 yards and, That's
12:48
Speaker 1: a true freshman with a career night. Now, I know
12:52
Speaker 1: they were down. I know they threw the ball 44 times,
12:55
Speaker 1: but completion's 29 of them. I thought he found the
13:00
Speaker 1: soft spots in the zone. He attacked the guys who
13:02
Speaker 1: were playing out of position. A lot of credit goes
13:05
Speaker 1: to that kid. I think he had a lot to
13:06
Speaker 1: build on from tonight. So how did Miami hold that
13:11
Speaker 1: offense to 13 points? They did it up front. The
13:15
Speaker 1: Clemson run game finished with a total loss. of 55
13:19
Speaker 1: yards for the whole night. Gideon Davidson isn't a good back.
13:24
Speaker 1: Chris Johnson Jr. has talent, and they had nowhere to go.
13:29
Speaker 1: Damon Wilson, Ahmaud Moten, Justin Scott, those guys lived in
13:32
Speaker 1: the backfield. Moten even punched the ball out of Reynolds' hands,
13:36
Speaker 1: and Miami turned it into points. Marquise Lightfoot had a
13:39
Speaker 1: sack before he left at one point in this game.
13:42
Speaker 1: You guys can't avoid the injury bug this year. I
13:48
Speaker 1: think there were there five sacks in the first half alone.
13:52
Speaker 1: And to me, that's what made the depleted secondary somewhat
13:56
Speaker 1: survivable because the quarterback had most of the night, two
14:00
Speaker 1: seconds to get rid of the ball. And again, credit
14:03
Speaker 1: to Tate. I thought he was a warrior. I thought
14:05
Speaker 1: he was tough. He knew the hits were coming. You
14:07
Speaker 1: guys sacked him six times and he didn't run for cover.
14:12
Speaker 1: Every sack, every hurry, every throw that came out of
14:16
Speaker 1: just a beat early, that's the line covering for the
14:19
Speaker 1: injuries in the backside of this. And the young guys
14:23
Speaker 1: in the back also made plays. J.J. Donegan, freshman from Manhattan, Kansas,
14:27
Speaker 1: a guy who's been thrown into the fire because of
14:29
Speaker 1: all these injuries, gets the pick six to close the game.
14:32
Speaker 1: To me, that is the ultimate reward for what Miami's
14:36
Speaker 1: gone through in the secondary. I think that's a good
14:39
Speaker 1: sign for January, not just October. Because if you can
14:42
Speaker 1: get healthy in that secondary, that goes from a weakness
14:46
Speaker 1: right now to a strength. And the young guys they've
14:49
Speaker 1: been forced to play will have real snaps, real experience,
14:52
Speaker 1: real confidence at the part of this season that's going
14:54
Speaker 1: to matter the most. The scariest version of this Miami
14:58
Speaker 1: defense has not played yet. Takeaway number three, the scoreboard
15:03
Speaker 1: said blowout. The injury report says something else. Here's what
15:09
Speaker 1: I continue to go back to. I'll talk with D
15:11
Speaker 1: Money about it tomorrow on State of the State. The
15:13
Speaker 1: team is hurt right now. Matthew McCoy, game captain, went
15:18
Speaker 1: down late in the first half and was down for
15:19
Speaker 1: a long time, favoring his upper body. He did come
15:22
Speaker 1: back in the second half, which is a huge relief,
15:24
Speaker 1: but didn't exactly look like himself. Right guard Max Buchanan
15:28
Speaker 1: left in the first half, too. That's two starters on
15:30
Speaker 1: the right side of the line. Lightfoot left. O'Connor went down.
15:34
Speaker 1: And again, on top of that, is a group that
15:36
Speaker 1: already had Lucas and Frederique and Antoine and Joshua Moore
15:40
Speaker 1: and Jamar Brown and other guys out that are done
15:44
Speaker 1: for the year. You can win at Clemson with that roster.
15:47
Speaker 1: Miami just proved it. But the question is, can you
15:49
Speaker 1: win a playoff game? Can you win three or four
15:52
Speaker 1: of them in a row? The good news for Miami
15:55
Speaker 1: is timing. You've got a bye week and you don't
15:59
Speaker 1: play again until October 17th. And unfortunately for me, we
16:03
Speaker 1: all know what that game is. But That is two
16:05
Speaker 1: full weeks to get guys healthy, to get the offensive linemen,
16:09
Speaker 1: to get Lightfoot, to get the secondary, hopefully, some of
16:12
Speaker 1: those corners back. Because what's waiting on the other side
16:15
Speaker 1: of that bye doesn't appear to be a cupcake. Florida
16:19
Speaker 1: State looked a lot better these last couple of weeks.
16:21
Speaker 1: The first half against Bama, they took SMU to the wire,
16:24
Speaker 1: blew out Virginia today. I'm certainly not telling you I
16:27
Speaker 1: think Florida State's going to go down to Miami and
16:29
Speaker 1: win the game. But they just look more complete offensively
16:33
Speaker 1: right now. I don't think their defense is very good,
16:35
Speaker 1: but in a shootout, who knows? Florida State comes to
16:40
Speaker 1: hard rock on the 17th, then Pitt, then a trip
16:42
Speaker 1: to North Carolina who played Notre Dame really closely, and
16:45
Speaker 1: then that trip to Notre Dame on November 7th. Miami's
16:49
Speaker 1: in the driver's seat right now in the ACC. They've
16:51
Speaker 1: got sole possession of first place, and when you look
16:54
Speaker 1: at the conference schedule from here, FSU, Pitt, North Carolina, Duke,
16:57
Speaker 1: Virginia Tech, BC, there's no Clemson-level road trip left. I
17:02
Speaker 1: believe five of those six games are at home. The
17:06
Speaker 1: path to Charlotte is right there. But I'd argue the
17:09
Speaker 1: conference isn't even the main thing anymore. This team was
17:12
Speaker 1: in the national championship game last January, and they lost it.
17:16
Speaker 1: Every single week this season is about getting back there
17:19
Speaker 1: with a better seed, a healthier roster, and a quarterback
17:23
Speaker 1: who's battle-tested. Saturday checked one of those boxes for me.
17:28
Speaker 1: Mensah got hit. He was uncomfortable at times. He had
17:32
Speaker 1: his worst statistical night of the year in one of
17:34
Speaker 1: the loudest buildings he'll play in all season, and he
17:37
Speaker 1: still won by 28. The other two boxes, that's what
17:40
Speaker 1: the next few weeks are for. I want to talk
17:42
Speaker 1: about Clemson for a minute because I watched this team,
17:45
Speaker 1: and I do want to be fair to them. The
17:47
Speaker 1: effort was there. I certainly don't think Clemson laid down.
17:52
Speaker 1: The defense forced stops. They forced a turnover on downs.
17:55
Speaker 1: They had a scoop and score that came off the
17:57
Speaker 1: board based on review. They got after Mensah more than
18:00
Speaker 1: anyone has all year. They were still forcing Miami to
18:05
Speaker 1: go grind out drives when it was 27-6, and they
18:09
Speaker 1: went and scored. I didn't think it was a team
18:11
Speaker 1: that quit at all. And Tate Reynolds, like I said,
18:13
Speaker 1: I liked a lot of what I saw for him.
18:16
Speaker 1: I think that the scoreboard says blowout here, and it
18:19
Speaker 1: was 41-13. This was not a competitive game in the
18:22
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. But I think you look at the rest
18:25
Speaker 1: of the schedule and you say, okay, we might have
18:27
Speaker 1: something we can work with here. I think you saw
18:30
Speaker 1: a true freshman that probably took too many hits and
18:33
Speaker 1: still threw for a career-high 295 yards. He kept getting up.
18:37
Speaker 1: He kept firing. He threw a pick. It was late
18:40
Speaker 1: in a game that Clemson had to chase, but he
18:42
Speaker 1: was pretty good with the ball tonight. I think it's
18:44
Speaker 1: a quarterback you can build around. But here's the honest truth,
18:48
Speaker 1: and I think Clemson fans already know it. These two
18:50
Speaker 1: teams are not on the same level right now. Effort
18:53
Speaker 1: was never the issue. The gap was talent and depth,
18:57
Speaker 1: and the gap is that Miami– can show up without
19:00
Speaker 1: its top corners, they can lose a couple of offensive linemen,
19:03
Speaker 1: they can lose their best pass rusher, and they can
19:05
Speaker 1: still go win the game by four touchdowns. Clemson can't
19:08
Speaker 1: do that right now. The margins are too thin on
19:11
Speaker 1: that sideline. And I think the offensive line is the
19:14
Speaker 1: biggest piece of it. You can't ask a freshman quarterback
19:17
Speaker 1: to stand back there and get sacked five times in
19:19
Speaker 1: a half, six times in a game. You can't run
19:22
Speaker 1: the ball for zero net yards in a half and
19:24
Speaker 1: expect to beat a top five team. The run game
19:27
Speaker 1: is what's going to protect a young quarterback, and Clemson, unfortunately,
19:30
Speaker 1: against Miami didn't have one. Now, for Clemson, Tennessee didn't
19:35
Speaker 1: have one last week against Texas, and they came out
19:37
Speaker 1: against Auburn tonight and had three rushing touchdowns from Bishop.
19:40
Speaker 1: So you can turn it around. You've got Charleston Southern
19:43
Speaker 1: up next. You've got Virginia Tech, who pit ran all over.
19:45
Speaker 1: You've got FSU who I think you can run over Syracuse,
19:48
Speaker 1: Georgia Tech, Duke, South Carolina. I think you can beat
19:51
Speaker 1: all these teams. You have to avoid the self-inflicted stuff.
19:55
Speaker 1: 10 penalties for 91 yards against a team that this good,
19:58
Speaker 1: you can't give away that many free yards. What's next
20:02
Speaker 1: for Clemson? I just mentioned some of the teams. This
20:04
Speaker 1: loss doesn't end anything. Clemson's 3-2. They're 2-1 in the ACC.
20:09
Speaker 1: One conference loss in October doesn't knock you out of
20:12
Speaker 1: the race to Charlotte. This season needs to be about
20:15
Speaker 1: getting back to Charlotte and seeing this team again. The
20:19
Speaker 1: top two teams are wide open and will make the
20:22
Speaker 1: title game. Miami looks like they've got a stranglehold on
20:25
Speaker 1: one of those spots. Long way to go. Clemson's opportunities
20:30
Speaker 1: are there. Charleston Southern next week. Virginia Tech at home
20:34
Speaker 1: in James Franklin's First year, a trip to Tallahassee on Halloween,
20:38
Speaker 1: Syracuse on the road, Georgia Tech at home, then the
20:41
Speaker 1: team that beat you last year. You're going to go
20:44
Speaker 1: to Duke and then South Carolina to close it out.
20:47
Speaker 1: There's not a Miami-level team on that list. Every single
20:51
Speaker 1: one of those games is winnable. It doesn't mean you
20:54
Speaker 1: win them all, but this is a team that if
20:56
Speaker 1: it cleans up the penalties, establishes a run game against
21:01
Speaker 1: fronts that are not going to be this good, And
21:03
Speaker 1: if they can protect Reynolds, they absolutely could be playing
21:06
Speaker 1: for something in late November. I think the buy is
21:09
Speaker 1: helpful here too for Clemson. They just played a Friday
21:12
Speaker 1: night game on the West Coast and then they turned
21:14
Speaker 1: around to face the number four team in the country.
21:17
Speaker 1: They need these two weeks just as much as Miami does.
21:20
Speaker 1: And then to get Charleston Southern right after that, it's
21:23
Speaker 1: almost like three off weeks in a row. What Clemson
21:26
Speaker 1: can't be anymore is the program that expects to be
21:29
Speaker 1: in Miami's tier just because of the name on their
21:32
Speaker 1: jerseys and the logo on the side of their helmet.
21:34
Speaker 1: They're not there right now. This is a rebuilding year,
21:38
Speaker 1: but it's a rebuilding year where you can win nine
21:39
Speaker 1: or 10 games with a freshman quarterback. And the way
21:43
Speaker 1: you get back is by what we saw in the
21:46
Speaker 1: first half on Saturday, you got to play hard. You
21:49
Speaker 1: need the margins to go your way. You need to
21:51
Speaker 1: take the big hits and you need to get better
21:53
Speaker 1: from it. 11 months ago, Mensa left death Valley with
21:57
Speaker 1: a one point win and Clemson walked away thinking, Man,
22:00
Speaker 1: we let that slip out of our hands. Saturday was different.
22:03
Speaker 1: Nobody let anything get away here. Clemson played hard. They
22:06
Speaker 1: made plays. They did a lot of things you'd ask
22:08
Speaker 1: an underdog to do, and Miami still won by 28. Ultimately,
22:12
Speaker 1: I don't really think this was a terrible night for Clemson,
22:14
Speaker 1: though the scoreboard got kind of out of hand there late.
22:18
Speaker 1: I think it's just a picture of where Miami is
22:20
Speaker 1: right now. I'd love to know your thoughts down in
22:22
Speaker 1: the comments from both sides of the Clemson-Miami game. Appreciate
22:25
Speaker 1: our friends over at PrizePix. Again, all new users there.
22:27
Speaker 1: Play $ 5, get $ 150 in lineups instantly if you win
22:31
Speaker 1: using code HMA. A lot to build on for both
22:34
Speaker 1: these teams. We'll continue to talk about it here on
22:36
Speaker 1: ACC Football Addiction.