Reese’s Piece: The Tigers roll and NC State awaits.

The Clemson football team made a huge statement with their 58-0 win over the Miami Hurricanes and are now 7-0. It was the first ACC shutout since their 41-0 win over N.C. State last year. Ironically, the Tigers travel to Raleigh today to face the Wolfpack. Clemson is riding high, ranked #3, and State would love to exact some revenge on the thumping from 2014.

Here are my notes from the Tigers dominating performance at Miami:

What a defense. It’s so evident that the Clemson defensive players take pride in doing their jobs and that they want to be the #1 defense in the country for 2015. Miami is not a bad offensive team but the Tigers made them look like an awful team. They only managed 146 total yards with a paltry 93 yards passing and only 53 rushing yards on 29 attempts. Miami quarterbacks were sacked four times and picked off three times.

What a rush. Former Clemson offensive coordinator, Chad Morris always said that his offense wasn’t just a passing offense but an offense that looked to be successful running first. The offense has definitely improved their rushing offense with a healthy Deshaun Watson, the hard running style of Wayne Gallman, and a surprisingly good offensive line. All three of them helped lead the team to a season high rushing total of 416 yards. Gallman and Watson rushed for 118 and 98, respectively.

A glimpse of the future. With such a lopsided score, Dabo Swinney was able to get some playing experience for some of his young players. And the two guys who stood out were safety Van Smith and QB Kelly Bryant. Bryant is battling Nick Scheussler for the backup job and Smith is not even listed on the Tigers depth chart. Bryant completed his only pass and had touchdowns runs of 59 and 10 yards. He showed great vision, speed, and decision making on those scores. Smith was spectacular. He played aggressively against the run and just when the Miami offense thought they would catch him looking in the backfield. He dropped back deeper than the deepest receiver and raced 33 yards with an interception to set up the final scoring drive. Smith finished with a team leading six solo tackles in less than a quarter of action.

Oct 24, 2015; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Miami Hurricanes players and Clemson Tigers players meet in the Clemson Tigers end zone before their game at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Player of the game. Coach Swinney gets the nod from me. Not only did he prepare his team well for such a big road game against a Miami team that was undefeated at home. But he gave his team an unusual on field halftime speech and before the game he decided to sit freshman WR Deon Cain. Cain, a Florida native, has improved dramatically in the last two weeks and he is second in the ACC with 20.2 yards per catch. So why didn’t he play on Saturday? Dabo only gave this brief explanation, “I sat him. Sometimes guys need an attitude adjustment.”

I’m sure his halftime speech was brought on by attitudes too. Both teams were chirping at each other before the game and it continued throughout the first half. The speech was to reel in some of the trash talking and to get his team to focus on being Clemson. Coach Swinney wants good players and he always wants them to be good men. Even with a big game ahead and a 42-0 halftime lead, nothing or no one comes before having class. And in his dictionary, “Clemson” equals “class.”

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Next up. N.C. State(5-2, 1-2 in the ACC). Today’s game will be a showdown between two of the premier defenses in the country. The #4 Clemson defense will be in Raleigh to see the #3 Wolfpack defense. Both defenses are led by a pair of talented defensive ends. The Tigers have Shaq Lawson and Kevin Dodd and State has SC native, Mike Rose(Fountain Inn) and freshman Darian Roseboro. Both teams enter the contest with a total of 19 sacks and individually, Rose has 6.5, Lawson 5.5, Dodd 4.5, and Roseboro 4. It should be fun watching these players try to get to the quarterbacks.

State is ranked 1st and 2nd respectively in rushing defense and passing yards allowed while the Tigers are 13th and 9th in both categories. The defense that plays the best will lead its team to victory.

On the offensive side of the ball, State has QB Jacoby Brissette and RB Matt Dayes. Brissette is the leader and Dayes leads the ACC in rushing TDs(12) and is second in yards. The Tigers must stop the run and make Brissette uncomfortable because he is very capable of carrying the team on his back. Last year, they held him to 4/18 for 35 yards and 14 yards on 16 carries. I don’t expect to see the same stats today but anything close to those numbers should give them another ACC road win.

Oct 24, 2015; Winston-Salem, NC, USA; North Carolina State Wolfpack quarterback Jacoby Brissett (12) scrambles out of the pocket during the fourth quarter against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at BB&T Field. North Carolina State defeated Wake Forest 35-17. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

Other notes:

1. For the second consecutive week, Clemson will face a hot quarterback. Miami QB Brad Kaaya had one interception and Brissette has only thrown one in 182 passing attempts. Before being knocked out of the game, Kaaya threw his second, so let’s see what happens with Brissette today.
2. The leading receiver for State is 5’11 236 pound, TE/FB Jaylen Samuels. Samuels has 34 catches and 4TDs and the second leading receiver is Dayes with 22. Odd stats to say the least, especially, when receiver Jumichael Ramos is third with only 18 catches after seven games. The Tiger safeties and linebackers better keep their eyes on Samuels and Dayes because they are key players in State’s offensive game plan.
3. State receivers Nyheim Hines and Bra’Lon Cherry are both excellent return men. Cherry averages 16.4 yards per punt return and he has a TD. Hines is a freshman who has track speed and he is first in the conference in kickoff returns with a 27.4 average. Clemson has played well recently on special teams but this unit still needs a lot of work.
4. State’s highly ranked defense gives up 251.1 yards a game but let’s look more closely at that number and their schedule. In games versus Troy, Eastern Kentucky, South Alabama, and Old Dominion, they gave up an average of 205.8. But in the games against Louisville, Va. Tech, and Wake Forest, they surrendered 311.8. I’m interested to see how good they really are and how they match up with the Tigers offense.

Sammy Watkins. The former Clemson Tiger and current Buffalo Bill had an excellent rookie season in 2014 but 2015 has been a frustrating campaign for Watkins so far. He has been injured, publicly demanded the ball, and ranted on twitter earlier this week. Sammy has since apologized for what he said and he can only hope that his fans will forgive him. How could such a previously humble and well liked guy get to this point? Only he knows but I decided to get some insight from Tye Hill, who is a former Clemson great and was a high NFL draft pick like Sammy.

"Honestly, as a player it’s frustrating being injured and coming off a solid rookie season and being a high draft pick like myself. Having people on the outside trying to critique your situation, you just have to try to ignore it and understand that the fans don’t understand. They think you live the glamorous life because you have means. You’re not going to win that battle-it just makes it tougher. The best thing to do is use all of that negative talk as motivation to get healthy to come back and ball out!!! Which I’m confident he(Sammy) will do."