Make no mistake, Clemson put a beating on Georgia Tech on Saturday. The kind of beating you never see in conference play. In fact, the 66 point margin of victory was the largest between two ACC teams since the conference was formed back in the 1950’s.
But, did the top-ranked Tigers run up the score against the Rambling Wreck? Watching one Georgia Tech fan after the other crying about Dabo Swinney intentionally running up the score was one of the most absurd things I have seen this season.
Let’s be honest here. Clemson took the starters out after the first series in the third quarter. After that the coaches completely emptied the bench. Everyone played but DJ and the Tigers actually used walk-on Hunter Helms and PUNTER Will Spiers at quarterback in that fourth quarter.
We won’t even get into the fact that Clemson was using fifth and sixth string running backs and had receivers on the field that don’t even measure 5-foot-10.
It is time for some of the Yellow Jackets fan base to face some facts. First, you can not run up the score in the first half in conference play. Impossible. At that point in the game it is mano-a-mano and sometimes your best guys just don’t match up against the opponents best guys.
Second, when a team has emptied its bench and has the punter playing quarterback and you still can’t stop them, that is a you problem. It is pretty simple really. Don’t want to get embarrassed, don’t let a walk on and a punter light up your defense. At some point you have to get a stop. This is still football isn’t it?
Tech fans, instead of whining about the final score, maybe you should redirect some of that energy inward and focus on why your team could not stop a punter playing quarterback. That seems like a more productive way to spend a weekend afternoon.
