Clemson is 'Straight Destroying People'
After Week 5 of the season, when the Clemson Tigers escaped a trip to Chapel Hill with a 21-20 win over the North Carolina Tar Heels, many around the nation had written the Tigers off.
In fact, some analysts were making comparisons to the 2014 Florida State team, who played a somewhat weak schedule, got into the playoffs only to be crushed in the semifinal game against Oregon.
But since that game, the Tigers have flipped the script, turning the naysayers into believers.
"They are not going to be perfect every time," ESPN analyst Tom Luginbill said. "And again we became so conditioned after seeing it look so easy a year ago. That you are going to go out there and put your uniform on and everything is going to be easy. It doesn't work that way. I for one believe that the North Carolina game, which by the way was followed by a bye week.
"From that point on was when everything changed. It was a great message for Dabo Swinney to have for his football team of look what can happen. To me it is good for that to happen sometimes to a football team."
What happened to the Tigers is they have been getting better each and every game since that game at North Carolina.
In fact, they are playing some of the best football of any team in the nation.
"In their 21 game ACC win streak they have outscored their ACC brethren 921 to 245," ACC Radio host Mark Packer said. "Let me say that slowly again because you are going to think I made a mistake and I didn't. In their 21 game ACC win streak they have outscored their opponents in the conference 921 to 245. If you do some quick math the average score would have been 43.8 to 11.6. They are winning by an average of 32 per game in this stretch.
"And that is basically resting dudes in the third and fourth quarter all the time. It is an amazing streak that they are on. They are playing at a great, unbelievable level."
Packer's point was echoed by ACC Network co-host of The Huddle, and former Tiger offensive lineman Eric Mac Lain.
"What is wrong with Trevor Lawrence? I just said guys this is what they do. A little slow start," Mac Lain said. "They will pick it up and now they are just winning by I think an average of 44 points ever since October started and on an absolute tear. So you are seeing the product of them figuring it out. Trevor Lawrence kind of took one hand off the wheel as Dabo likes to say, driving with one hand. Now he has both of them on there.
"They are straight destroying people. The defense is on an absolute another level. What they are able to do, especially against Wake Forest who was averaging 500 yards per game. They hold them to 100."
However, it is not only the "homer" on the ACC Network or ACC radio that are beating the drum for the Tigers. In fact, one of the biggest names in college football television believes that this year's Tiger team is better than the one that finished last season undefeated and holding a national championship trophy.
"And the reality is they're (Clemson) actually better," Kirk Herbstreit said on his weekly podcast with fellow analyst David Pollack. "Believe it or not, they're a better team right now than they were a year ago, where they finished 15-0. It is scary. Now, they don't have Christian Wilkins and Ferrell in that defensive line and Dexter Lawrence. But they're doing it differently. Their strength now is the back seven, the linebackers, the safeties and the corners. An abundance of leadership on that side of the ball."
It is not only on the defensive side of the ball that the Tigers are better, they are also better on the offensive side.
"Offensively, they're better at quarterback with Lawrence," Herbstreit said. "They're better on the offensive line. They're better at receiver. They're better in the backfield. I mean, they're a dangerous team and I don't think people are really going to pay attention to them until we get to the Playoff and they end up playing whoever they get to play in that first round because nobody's going to care when they play South Carolina on the road in Columbia, nobody's going to care when they go to Charlotte and play in the ACC championship.
"It's going to take them to, like I said, go all the way into the end of the Playoff until people are going to realize, potentially, "Wow, Trevor Lawrence, Clemson. They're good.'"
