College football Week 3 overreactions: Alabama will have more close games. Clemson grinding out wins.
It’s easy to get too high or too low after each week’s results in college football. Such is the nature of the sport that breads emotional responses based on what happens positively or negatively every Saturday.
That’s why we’re here. A step back from the action can provide perspective that rightfully will temper some of the misplaced enthusiasm from positive performances and lift up those feeling down in the dumps after negative results.
Week 3 had plenty of examples on both sides of the coin. Here are the five biggest overreactions from the action:
That was the best shot to stop Alabama
How is this possible given that Florida looked better than Alabama in the second half and only a missed two-point conversion kept the Gators from tying the game with three minutes left?
Not to minimize the effort by Florida, but there’s going to be tougher competition ahead for Alabama. There’s Mississippi, Texas AM and a potential matchup with Georgia in the SEC title game. The Rebels have the ability to score with the Tide and have shown an improved defense. The Aggies and Bulldogs boast stingy defenses and the spottiness of the Alabama run defense will be inviting to their offenses. The narrow win the Swamp won’t be the only close game for Alabama this season.
Clemson is not the best team in the ACC
Yes, the Tigers have some major issues to sort out on offense. And they don’t look like they’ll be fixed soon as a potential tricky matchup at North Carolina State looms. However, this is a team that will improve throughout the year, though the growing pains are evident after just 14 points against Georgia Tech at home. The first task for offensive coordinator Tony Ellliott is to get D.J. Uiagalelei playing with more confidence and connectedness with his receivers.
We’ve become accustomed to Dabo Swinney’s teams blowing people away. The group is going to have to grind out wins with an improved defense that quietly has only allowed 21 points and seven of those came on an interception return for a touchdown. The good news is that the rest of the ACC continues to flop. The bad news is that there aren’t any quality teams outside of a possible matchup against North Carolina in the ACC title game that would help Clemson’s schedule strength when the debate about playoff spots takes place.
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