Clemson Football: How Week 6 in college football impacted the Tigers

Clemson Football squeaked by the Wake Forest Demon Deacons Saturday 17-12 in an underwhelming performance by the offense. The defense, on the other hand, had a wonderful day, and is the reason the Tigers are now 4-2.

It wasn’t what most people expected, but it did help establish a theme for the weekend: expect the unexpected.

If you missed the outcome of Miami and Georgia Tech, you missed the most bizarre thing of the 2023 season. Mario Cristobal refuses to use the victory formation, and it cost his unbeaten Hurricanes the game last night.

All Miami had to do was kneel and the game was over. Instead, they ran the ball and fumbled. Tech then burned them in the final 30 seconds and won the game. Cristobal deserves all of the heat that he is receiving right now.

That’s one future Clemson opponent that was unbeaten and bit the dust this weekend. Could there have been a second? Well, no, North Carolina pummeled Syracuse 40-7. So they are still tied for the lead in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Make that a three-way tie: North Carolina, Florida State, and Louisville. The Cardinals had an out-of-conference game with Notre Dame. This was where the feel-good story ended for the Cards, right?

Wrong. Louisville handed Notre Dame their second loss of the season 33-20. Sam Hartman threw three interceptions. The Cardinals are serious contenders for the ACC Championship Game.

The other surprise was in Raleigh, where the Marshall Thundering Herd almost pulled off the upset against NC State 48-41. MJ Morris also threw three interceptions, but fortunately also threw four touchdown passes.

Otherwise, the ACC did go the way it was expected. Florida State pulled away from Virginia Tech. Boston College barely beat Navy and Virginia got their first win of the season against William & Mary.

Clemson Football wasn’t the only program to have a bad day in college football

Nationally, there were some big upsets. By ranking, Oklahoma wasn’t that far behind Texas, but not many people gave the Sooners much of a chance. The Sooners proved many people wrong with a win against the Longhorns in Dallas 34-30.

Washington State fell from their unbeaten status against UCLA 25-17. It looked like Missouri would take down LSU and stay undefeated, but the Tigers fought back and won 49-39. Fresno State also got their first loss against Wyoming.

A few others got scares. Maryland pushed out to a lead against Ohio State before the Buckeyes made the comeback and pulled away. USC needed three overtimes to put away Arizona.

Perhaps the best takeaway from Week 6 for Clemson is that they weren’t the only ones who found themselves in a battle they didn’t expect on Saturday.