Ten thoughts from the weekend

1. Watching a replay of Saturday's win over Auburn reinforced just how well Death Valley goes over on TV when it's rocking for a big game.

The technology -- high definition, and that camera ESPN has hovering over the field -- accentuates all the things that make game day such a cool deal here. All that orange in the stands, the all-orange uniforms, all those young players showing out ... it was a great advertisement for Clemson.

You have to think this kind of thing helps with recruiting, because Clemson looks like a cool place to be when the atmosphere is at its best and they're winning. It sells itself, as the coaches always say.

2. Was a little taken aback by Dabo Swinney's attempt to channell Howard Dean, but I didn't think it was that big a deal.

Wasn't it just a few years ago that fans were all up in arms because Tommy Bowden never seemed to show much passion for Clemson? Well Tommy's successor certainly isn't deficient in that department, as evidenced by both his halftime and postgame interviews with ESPN. He was pretty darn fired up at the half as well.

He wanted to stick it to his old rival, and he wanted to do it convincingly. Pardon the guy if he's a little excited.

One small criticism, though: Just a week earlier, Swinney was glad-handing and smiling before the game and giving Tribble Reese a stage to embarrass the program.

Clench your jaw every single week. Be stern and no-nonsense for every game, not just the big ones. It sends a better message to the players.

3. Oh, that ACC expansion thing ...

We'd told you several times over the last few weeks that our sources were indicating the ACC was eying some Big East schools. But it's tough for me to get excited about Syracuse. And if the reports are true that Rutgers is in the mix ... ugh.

Assuming the ACC is not going to stand pat at 14, the next move is going to say a lot about its intended identity. You grab Notre Dame, and it's a home run.

Though to be fair, it seems it's taken Notre Dame as long as Syracuse to do anything of note in football.

4. Urban Meyer probably is not reading this, but if he were I'd have a message for him:

Dude ... please don't go back into coaching anytime soon. You are darn good at football analysis, and a few other guys who get better assignments than you -- cough, CRAIG JAMES AND JESSE PALMER! cough, cough -- are vastly inferior.

Meyer came off as a bit of a jerk when he was the coach at Florida, but he seemed like a pretty good dude on Saturday's broadcast. He knew his place, didn't yap and cackle about silly stuff, and he actually was informative about X's and O's.

Oh, and I didn't hear him say "pin their ears back" one time.

5. Thought it was really cool when a ton of Auburn fans congregated at Death Valley to welcome the team when it arrived Saturday morning. They were there early, and they were loud.

It just seemed big-time. I get as irritated as you when I hear the "SEC speed" infatuation and such, but SEC football is really cool in a lot of ways. This was one of them.

6. Congrats to Illinois defensive coordinator Vic Koenning, who found a way to bottle up 6-foot-8 Arizona State quarterback Brock Osweiler in Saturday's 17-14 win.

Koenning was known as a zone guy when he was here, but he brought the heat early and often in this one. The Illini sacked Osweiler six times and picked him off twice.

"I kept telling (defensive coordinator Vic Koenning), 'Don't worry about it, they aren't going to beat us running the football,' " Ron Zook said. "The pressure was great; they kept coming."

7. If I'm Cortez Davis, I take advantage of the fact that I wear the same jersey as Sammy Watkins.

Davis has the long dreads, so he has that going for him too. If I'm him, I wear the jersey ever single day around campus and say: "Yep, I'm Sammy. That's me."

8. Georgia Tech rushed for 604 yards in Saturday's trouncing of Kansas. Six ... hundred ... and four ... yards.

I don't care if who the opponent is; that's impressive.

The Yellow Jackets have 58 plays of 10 yards or more this season, ranking fifth nationally. They have nine plays of 60 yards more more, ranking first in that statistic.

You can rag on that offense because it doesn't throw the ball often, but don't say it's not a big-play offense. It has been the three-plus years Paul Johnson has been there.

9. Clemson made a bunch of big plays Saturday, so it's easy for some of them to get lost.

But one that was monstrous was Xavier Brewer's pass breakup inside the 5-yard line in the third quarter.

Remember: This was right after Mike Bellamy's fumble. Auburn reaches the end zone there, and it's a tie game. Instead, Brewer makes a great play on the third-down throw intended for Emory Blake and Auburn kicks a field goal.

10. The best analogy I can think of for this whole realignment-geddon thing is The Godfather.

Mike Slive and Jim Delany are the families that want to get into the drug game.

John Swofford is the family that wants to stay above-board and stick with alcohol.

Assuming Swofford doesn't have a Texas or Notre Dame card up his sleeve, of course.



LW