By: Nate Murphy (@bigmurph23)
Path to the Crown Runs Through…Clemson??
Okay, so it is just the first week of conference play. Yes, two other teams are 1-0 and still control their destiny on the way to a conference title at this point. But Clemson is a team that had some question marks coming in.
In Season 21, they finished with a 2-6 record; last season, they were able to bump that up to three wins and sneak into the playoffs. The question was whether they could ride that momentum into Season 23. The short answer is YES! Four weeks into the season, and they have already matched last season’s win total and are halfway to their conference win total from a season ago.
For the second straight season, Clemson took down favored North Carolina and now finds themselves in the top three of the ACC. Albeit early in the conference race, the Tigers have proven they have a legitimate chance at an automatic berth at the very least. They do have some tough tasks left on that schedule. But I have a feeling conference title hopes are alive and well in Death Valley.
Getting Offensive
Quick, what is one thing that the CFSL is known for? If you said CFSL after dark on Twitch, you wouldn’t have been wrong, really. But the answer we were looking for here is offense. All across the league, you see high-powered offensive outputs. And Week 4 in the ACC was no exception.
Take a look at Miami and Virginia Tech. The two programs put up a combined 109 points and 1,255 yards of total offense. Miami was a bit more balanced, with 210 of their yards coming on the ground and just 394 in the air. I said “just” 394, that is because 615 of Virginia Tech’s 651 yards of offense was from the passing game. Neither offense could be stopped, leading both the Hokies and the Hurricanes to conference-opening victories. Though expect tasks to get a little tougher in Week 5, with VT taking on Clemson and Miami hosting the Tar Heels.
On the Defensive
Sure, the CFSL is known for its high-powered offense and lightbulb-blowing scoring. But they say defense wins championships. So, is it surprising that even in an offensive league, you can scroll the defensive stats and see the teams that will challenge for a title (conference or national) at or near the top? No…well, it shouldn’t be anyway.
Go to the team defense page on the website. Sort each category individually so the best teams are at the top of the list. You will find at least one ACC team in the top five of every category except for one. That category is first downs allowed per game. And even then, they aren’t far off the top five. The first two ACC teams land at seven and eight on that list. In fact, defense has been so good in the ACC across the board that they lead two of the categories and are no worse than third best in the rest of them (outside of 1st/g). Defense is going to win the ACC title at the very least, and who knows…maybe even the Natty!
ACC Results Week 4
Miami defeats Notre Dame 62-17
Clemson defeats North Carolina 30-27
Virginia Tech defeats Florida State 47- 23
ACC Week 5 Schedule
Monday, June 2
North Carolina at Miami (8:30 CST Twitch)
Tuesday, June 3
Virginia Tech at Clemson (6:30 CST Twitch)
Thursday, June 5
Florida State at Notre Dame (8:30 CST YouTube)
Potential ACC Game of the Week
How do you pick a game of the week in the ACC this week? Look across the board and tell me which one is most intriguing to you? Because I honestly can’t decide on my own. Even the Thursday night game in South Bend is important and could potentially be a game that goes down to the wire. Not to mention, one of those two teams gets their first win of the season and keeps themselves in the hunt for an ACC playoff spot.
North Carolina against Miami on Monday night is more than worthy of that prime time billing. I expect this to be a one-score game when it is all said and done. But in my opinion, the biggest match-up is Tuesday night in Clemson, South Carolina. If the Tigers are going to prove that they are contenders, this is the week they need to come up with a win. Not because the Hokies are a better team than the UNC squad they beat last week.
But because you HAVE to be able to string wins against top-tier teams together to have a shot at winning a conference crown. If they can handle the Virginia Tech attack led by senior quarterback Saint Major and a loaded wide receiver corps and get to 2-0 in conference play, well then, we can say that Clemson is ready to push and challenge at the top of the ACC at the end of the season.
