Clemson Football: The Smoldering Ruin – Catching Up Edition

This week in “The Smoldering Ruin” I play catch up on the week that was Clemson football at Boston College.

It’s been a week.

A lot’s been going on behind the scenes at the Burnett estate. Between a trip to urgent care 5 minutes before close (everything is fine) and dealing with the absolute clown show of trying to update the family phones in the “post covid” world, it cut into a lot of the time that I usually spend on getting this 1st article of the week out. So, you as the reader will be getting some compressed articles this week as we turn the page to FSU.

Let this serve as the final look back at last Saturday evening.

This Clemson football team is truly an enigma. One minute they look like they are in a dogfight with an inferior opponent, only to nearly effortlessly pick apart the same team a quarter later. Or at least, that what it feels like.

The 1st half of the game was an absolute clunker. Tied at 3 for most of the half, the offense sputtered and spewed to a meager start only to do something that has become a recent trend: score late in the 1st half and springboard that momentum into the 2nd half.  By no means was the 2nd half perfect, but at times it seemed like we were watching a completely new team. The play calling and execution (especially in the red zone) were pretty impeccable. And, outside of one missed FG, Clemson was generally able to score once it crossed the other side of the 50-yard line.

The biggest takeaway from last week going forward is that along with just being a better team all around this season, they have a very workmen-like mentality.

Can’t stop an offense? We will just outscore them. Can’t seem to move the ball consistently? We can force a turnover or get pressure on the opposing offense until we can. In its own right, it is complimentary football and the most welcomed attribute of this team heading into the “3rd quarter” of the season.

Undefeated Clemson football faces a three-game stretch that may be the toughest of the season

The next 3 games are going to provide what looks to be the stiffest competition left on the schedule for the Tigers. With trips to Tallahassee and South Bend and a probable top 15-20 matchup with a reinvented Syracuse club at high noon, the next 3 weeks could be treacherous terrain for the Tigers.

But if Clemson truly has made the jump that they appear to and if the signs from this past weekend are any indicators of this team’s internal moxie, they should be able to navigate these 3 games back to the friendly seas of Death Valley for their final home stretch.

It’s really hard not to like this team. Each week they take criticism, both from outside of the program and within their own fanbase, and are able to turn in solid performances week after week despite having the sink thrown at them.

Let’s see if the Tigers can do it again on the road this week.