Clemson Football: “Bless Your Heart” Week 1: Georgia Tech

Can you smell it? The freshly cut grass on a late summer afternoon. It means 2 things: 1. Endless high school matchups between teams who have no business playing each other in 105-degree weather, and (more specifically) 2.  Clemson football and college football are back.

Every week this season I will give you a look back at the week that was and, starting today, a look ahead to the next opponent in a little segment called “Bless Your Heart”.

Bless your heart, Georgia Tech.

It’s sad enough that you are the academic nerd brother of a national champion in your own state AND city but good grief, whoever made the call to move your game on Labor Day to the dome is…. probably not actually smart enough to get into GT.

My-oh-my how this team has fallen on hard times. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t happy about it though. As a lifelong Clemson fan, grad, and now (distinguished) alumnus, how many times did I have to endure watching this stinkin’ team pull something out of thin air to win a game they had no business winning. We’re not too far removed (a little under a decade) from me considering Tech to be one of the luckiest programs out there.

That’s not just Clemson sour grapes either. Think about the sheer luck they’ve had against teams like FSU, Miami, Virginia Tech, and even Georgia! But alas, when you rely on luck (and an archaic wing T offense) time catches up with you.

Georgia Tech is located in heart of Atlanta and probably has a fraction of students actually from Atlanta, much less from Georgia or even the Southeast. This makes their Head Coach’s campaign to use Waffle House as a symbolic brand for their football one of the funniest and most tragic oxymorons in sports. I mean, how many of the students there even grew up with the Waffle House weather index?

Geoff Collins is Shane Beamer with a tighter budget and less drooling media to cater to his whims. It’s even harder to spin positives for his team when he hasn’t reached a….. well…really anything since he’s been on The Flats. This team doesn’t inspire much confidence either.

Sure, they have some weapons. Jeff Sims has shown promise in the past and is a dangerous enough athlete that you need to take account of him every play. Malachi Carter is someone who can burn as a deep WR threat. They even have a couple of guys that have been nabbed out of the transfer portal who could provide a boost like former Louisville RB Hassan Hall and former Alabama OT Pierce Quick.

But let’s take a look at this…. depth chart?

Am I allowed to say “woof”? Because woof. For one, it’s not a good sign when the depth chart sent out to the world is on a crumpled piece of paper, but also there seems to be a lot of youth in key areas, especially at the offensive line.

Clemson football fans have some not so fond memories of Georgia Tech games of years gone by, so they enjoy every minute of the current state of the rivalry

I’ll always be a little uneasy playing Tech. You can only experience last second one-handed catches, inexplicable muffed punts, and phantom holding calls before there is a scar that gets a little bit inflamed every time Clemson shows up in that god forsaken city. But for every one of those “Calvin Johnson becomes Calvin Johnson” games, there seems to be a flip side in the last 7 years.

The casual college football fan might look at box scores to games that have a score line of “52-14” or “73-7” and scoff while they flip the page. I tend to appreciate those games the most- it’s like a nice quiet breeze while watching one team mercilessly beat another. Let’s get back to that. Especially after last season.

My take? Clemson isn’t perfect on offense but looks noticeably better and the defense is still good. Tigers cover, and everyone goes home happy (well except for like the 2 dozen tech fans). 

Go Tigers!