Reese’s Piece: Clemson freshmen, the band trolls and quick looks at No. 1 and No. 2

The freshmen have bright futures, the Clemson band can troll with the best of them, and a quick look at the Crimson Tide and the Buckeyes.

Clemson football fans have to be excited about the future of the football program. The 56-3 win over Kent State was impressive in itself, but the youthful talent on display was even more impressive. Travis Etienne Jr., a freshman from Louisiana experienced his first Death Valley GameDay atmosphere on Saturday and scored his first touchdown. He told Tigernet, “I never been to a Clemson game on an official visit, so really the experience of just running down the hill, the pregame atmosphere-it was crazy. I loved it. It was everything that I thought it would be and more.”

Offensive coordinator Tony Elliott could tell that his true freshman running back was a bit nervous after his first carries. In his post game interview, Elliott said, “I had to get him on the phone and said Travis just calm down. He said yeah coach, I got to get the jitters out.” Etienne finished with a game high 81 yards on 8 carries.

Once again, coach Jeff Scott has a good looking group of wide receivers, and they are led by junior Deon Cain. On Saturday, ten different Clemson receivers caught a pass including Tennessee freshmen Tee Higgins and Amari Rodgers. Higgins told Tigernet, “Before the game, we were talking. Man, we made it. It’s time to play.”

The freshmen had combined stats of five catches and 37 yards, and Rodgers had seven yards on a punt return.

Clemson scored again. Although, the score was stagnant at 28-3 while the teams prepared for the second half. The Clemson band grabbed some headlines, when they formed the 31-0 score of the Tigers 2016 Fiesta Bowl win over Ohio State.

And as expected, the Buckeyes fan base wasn’t amused and one fan wanted head coach Urban Meyer to see the orchestration.

This isn’t the first time that a former Clemson football opponent and fans felt disrespected or trolled by the Tigers. The tombstone tradition has garnered some attention before and some teams have even vowed revenge. Remember Oklahoma? They were defeated by the Tigers in the 2015 Orange Bowl after previously being upset over the 40-6 thumping commemorative tombstone. From OUSPORTSEXTRA, All Big-12 Oklahoma senior center Ty Darlington on the Russell Athletic Bowl tombstone and the tradition.

"Apparently they do it for everybody and not just for us. If I told you I wasn’t fired up after seeing the picture …,“I’m happy it’s out there. I won’t be trying to calm anyone down because of that, for sure."

Now that stone has a 37-17 friend.

The Buckeyes were upset about the 2014 Orange Bowl 40-35 tombstone too.

Here’s a few words from the article CLEMSON CELEBRATES 2014 ORANGE BOWL WIN OVER BUCKEYES WITH COMMEMORATIVE HEADSTONE on Eleven Warriors, the largest free Ohio State Buckeyes sports outlet on the internet.

"It’s good to know Clemson thinks the 2013 Buckeyes were a special team. Now wait for the zombie uprising, assholes."

To put it nicely, now that stone has a 31-0 friend.

Alabama’s defense wanted another shot at Deshaun Watson and the Clemson offense. The total offense figure of 550 yards was stuck in their minds despite a 45-40 victory in the 2016 title game, so the rematch gave them a shot at redemption. After gaining 511 yards and a National Championship, Clemson got their own redemption and planted another tombstone in “The Graveyard.”

As for the Buckeyes’ fans that are upset over the actions of the Clemson band, “When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging” by Will Rogers and, “If you find yourself in two, stop digging because there is plenty of room at Clemson for a third.”(Me) The tombstones are really just a tradition, but the 31-0 band rendition-now that was trolling.

The new AP poll has Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson in the top 3. With the loss to the Crimson Tide and the loss of starting quarterback Deondre Francois to a season ending injury, Florida State dropped from No. 3 to No. 10.

Alabama looks like Alabama. They were able to run enough and the defense looked strong as it stymied Florida State’s offense. However, it was the special teams that actually won the game for the Crimson Tide. A blocked kick, blocked punt and forcing a fumble on a kickoff gave the Alabama offense good field position which lead to scores. After game one, it appears that Jalen Hurts still needs to improve as a passer(96 yards with 53 coming on one play) but of course, that was a perceived weakness last season, and Bama was still able to win the SEC and play for a national championship.

After a slow start Ohio State beat Indiana 49-21, but I’m still not convinced that they are the second best team in the nation. Yes, they won a conference road game, so it’s a good win. And veteran quarterback J.T. Barrett passed for 304 yards, had three touchdowns and resembled the 2014 version of himself. But let’s see what he does against some pressure and a better defense, because he had all the time in the world to pass against the Hoosier’s defense. Maybe, Oklahoma’s defense can get to him.

Clemson and Ohio State have tough games this week against No. 13 Auburn and No. 5 Oklahoma, respectively, while Alabama faces Fresno State.

College Football is back. It’s the most wonderful time of the year.