Clemson Opponents Review: Week 6

(13) Georgia Bulldogs (4-1, 2-1 SEC)

Defeated Vanderbilt 44-17. Todd Gurley not only ran for 163 yards and two touchdowns, but he threw a 50 yard pass. Why? Because this was Vanderbilt. Georgia still doesn't have a great passing game with Hutson Mason, but they don't need him to do much when Gurley has days like this. On the other side, congratulations to Vanderbilt for inheriting the "Worst SEC Team" title from Kentucky.

South Carolina State Bulldogs (4-2, 2-0 MEAC)

Muddled North Carolina A&T 13-0. Oh, this must have been a defensive struggle, you say. Nope! Each team had three turnovers and the only struggling in this game was the A&T offense against the Mini-Bulldog defense. Oh, and their defense against the SC State rushing game, which racked up 197 yards. Okay, A&T struggled at everything in general, because they're not the best. But it was a conference win!

Wake Forest Demon Deacons (2-4, 0-2 ACC) at (1) Florida State Seminoles (5-0, 3-0 ACC)

Wake got deforested, 43-3. I could throw all sorts of numbers at you, but I'd rather just say that Wake got 126 total yards of offense. Hey, they managed positive rushing yards, though! I'm genuinely surprised. Meanwhile, the Seminoles did basically whatever they wanted whenever they wanted on offense and defense and probably everywhere else - and their two turnovers didn't matter, because the Wake Forest offense is the saddest thing on Earth. In a week full of chaos fire, this game was the chalkiest chalk outside of Kansas.

North Carolina Tar Heels (2-3, 0-2 ACC)

Got Virginia Tech'd 34-17. When VT scores on you twice in the first three minutes, you're in trouble. When they sack your QB five times, oh boy. And then they force three turnovers. Oddly, the offensive numbers aren't that lopsided for either team. Both teams had lots of penalties, too. Virginia Tech was just better at causing turmoil in the backfield and holding onto the ball. By a lot - they had over 41 minutes of possession.

Louisville Cardinals (5-1, 3-1 ACC) at Syracuse Orange (2-3, 0-1 ACC)

Somebody won 28-6, and I imagine it was the team that forced two safeties and had two interceptions. Syracuse's offense consisted of one field goal in the first quarter and another in the third, and utter despair the rest of the time. They had more passing yards than the Cardinals, but were limited to 59 rushing yards. Wake Forest scoffs at their effort. Oh, and the Orange couldn't stop the run either. We all know what a winning formula that makes. In other news, Reggie Bonnafon was Louisville's choice at QB - for this game. I probably could have started and gotten points. Brandon Radcliff was the real star of this show, if you can call it that, with 110 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

Boston College Eagles (3-2, 0-1 ACC)

Probably spending their bye week wondering when Colorado State became good at football, or at least passable.

(22) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (5-0, 2-0 ACC)

Pretended to be Georgia, 28-17 over Miami. Slowly, steadily, they wore down the Hurricanes with 318 rushing yards, scoring one touchdown per quarter in an inexorable death march to victory. Miami coughed it up twice, and despite 352 yards of offense, they basically never stood a chance. Why? The bees held the ball almost as long as VT did against North Carolina. And by the way, GT is 11th in the nation in rushing. If you're not worried about their upcoming game against Clemson by now, I'd consider it.

Georgia State Panthers (1-4, 0-2 Sun Belt)

Heartbroken against Louisiana-Lafayette, 34-31. These games are the best, if only for their mind-boggling random stats. ULL had 115 penalty yards, for instance. And there were no turnovers for either team! No, this was just an offensive slugfest that ULL finally won by stopping the Panthers on a 4th and 6. Yes, a defensive stop after 886 yards of offense. Better late than never, I suppose.

South Carolina Gamecocks (3-3, 2-3 SEC)

Lost 45-38 to Kentucky... what? As much as I want to make the rest of this paragraph "HAHAHAHA," the editors said I couldn't. Oh well. Nothing about this makes sense at first; the Gamecocks had more yards, held the ball longer, had fewer penalties. Oh, but they had three turnovers. And one of those in particular doomed them: a deflected pass interception returned by Alvin Dupree for a touchdown. This was the icing on a comeback cake that started baking with 12 minutes in the game, and it is a delicious cake indeed. Okay, now can I laugh?