On no-longer-undefeated Clemson...

Some quick thoughts on the night Clemson dropped out of the national championship race with a 31-17 road loss at Georgia Tech:

-- The biggest difference between that team that opened 8-0 and the one that was down 24-3 at halftime Saturday was efficiency. Consider that entering the Georgia Tech game, the Tigers had roughly half as many turnovers and penalties as their collective opponent.
So Saturday the Tigers commit four turnovers and five penalties, both exceeding the Yellow Jackets' totals.
Turnovers end possessions. Penalties derail possessions. It was particularly impressive that such a young team (nearly half the scholarship players are freshmen or redshirt freshmen), built around a sophomore quarterback, so minimized mistakes. Tajh Boyd entered Saturday with 24 touchdown passes to three interceptions.

-- Football as basketball: Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim used to describe defense in basketball as forcing the other team to play at your preferred tempo. I bring that up because Clemson-Georgia Tech was the definitive clash of tempos.
Someone finally slowed down the Tigers with Chad Morris as offensive coordinator. Clemson ran 65 offensive plays, and Morris' expectation is a minimum of 80 snaps per game. The Yellow Jackets under Paul Johnson want long, deliberate drives that consume massive game clock. Voila: Georgia Tech held the ball 18 minutes longer than Clemson.

-- I realize the internet is this weird place full of cynics and smart-alecks, but why were so many people out there vested in a Clemson loss?

My theory: People hate to admit they're wrong, and Clemson was breaking with its cliche role as chokers and under-achievers. So it threatened certain people's smugness.

I like these kids: They're fun, they're bright and they're humble. And they're young in a way as to suggest they'll be good together for next season and the season beyond that.
-- Rick Bonnell