Ten thoughts from the weekend

1. The same people who are calling Clemson overrated right now are probably the same people who were calling Auburn overrated this time a year ago.

Not saying Clemson is as good as that Auburn team. Not saying Clemson is going to win the BCS title.

Point is, you see a team with a rather large flaw -- shaky defense, in both cases -- and the tendency is to be skeptical of that team as a legitimate natty contender.

Auburn ranked 53rd nationally in scoring defense last year, giving up 24.1 points. Auburn ranked 60th in total defense, giving up 368 yards per game. Those numbers are simply not synonymous with BCS titles -- at least, they weren't for years before Auburn went against the grain.

Auburn could stuff the run last year; it ranked ninth nationally in run defense with a 109-yard clip. But the reason for that was teams merely chose to pass against a weak secondary; opponents ran the ball just 32 times per game, ninth-fewest nationally.

This Clemson team does have some holes on defense; no doubt about that. The Tigers rank 51st nationally in scoring defense (25 ppg), 60th in total defense (378) and 76th in rushing defense (169.3 ypg).

Thus, I'm hesitant to call this team great just yet. But dismiss this pyrotechnic offense at your own peril.

The question is: Can anyone stop Chad Morris and Co.? It was the same question that applied to Auburn last year.

2. I hear the criticism that Clemson hasn't yet faced a great defense, and I don't totally disagree with it.

But I don't totally agree with it, either.

You can get into trouble placing too much emphasis on statistics, but right now Florida State ranks 12th nationally in total defense at 291 yards per game. Virginia Tech ranks 13th nationally at 294 yards.

Clemson went up and down the field against Florida State. Clemson had some problems against Virginia Tech, but there was never a feeling that the Tigers couldn't move the ball on the Hokies.

The jury is still out on the Seminoles' and Hokies' defenses. But I think both will get better as the year goes on.

North Carolina cannot be classified as great despite a great front seven. The secondary is such a self-impaling weakness that it almost offsets the strength up front.

The defenses at Auburn (76th in total defense), Boston College (99th) and Maryland (109th) are pretty bad.

3. Did you know Stanford has won 10 consecutive games by at least 25 points?

Yes, there have been some cream puffs in there. But that statistic is impressive regardless, and it includes that 44-12 knockout of Virginia Tech in last season's Orange Bowl.

The Cardinal piled up a school-record 446 rushing yards in Saturday's 65-21 smashing of Washington, a team that deemed capable of pulling off an upset.

Stanford goes to ascending Southern Cal this week, and it should be a good one.

4. Quick, name Stanford's head coach.

Gotta be honest, I had no idea his name was David Shaw until I read up a little on the Cardinal last night.

5. Have to say I'm a little surprised Clemson isn't a bigger favorite for Saturday's game at Georgia Tech.

Guessing the oddsmakers are reading a lot into Clemson's issues at linebacker -- issues that can theoretically be exploited by Paul Johnson's flexbone.

But gosh ... the Jackets are getting absolutely whipped up front, and it's hard to see them keeping up with Clemson if this continues.

Johnson was asked after Saturday's 24-7 loss at Miami if quarterback Tevin Washington was making the right reads. His reply was essentially: If it were only that simple.

"You've got five blocking four and the four are winning," he said.

Johnson's offense creates all kinds of problems for defenses that will never be totally solved. But if his offensive line is getting manhandled and isn't creating enough room to pick up yards via the dive play, his machine is going to choke and sputter.

The Yellow Jackets rank second nationally in plays of 20-plus yards with 51. They didn't get one of 20-plus in the loss at Miami. Their longest play from scrimmage was 17 yards.

6. In his last four games, Washington is 18-of-51 passing with four interceptions.

Yikes.

7. Three years ago, Johnson's first Georgia Tech team completely undressed Miami on national television by rolling up 472 rushing yards in a 41-23 annihilation in Atlanta. It was an absolute masterpiece.

Here are the results of the past three meetings with Miami:

2009: 95 yards rushing in 33-17 loss

2010: 308 yards rushing in 35-10 loss

2011: 134 yards rushing in 24-7 loss

8. Speaking of Virginia Tech's defense, it's worlds better than it was last year.

The Hokies allowed 155 yards a game on the ground in 2010 and surrendered monstrous totals in a number of games. This year, they're down to 84 yards rushing a game.

Bud Foster always seems to get it fixed, doesn't he?

9. Sounds like some Russell Wilson haters are coming out of the woodwork after Saturday's loss to Michigan State.

He made a few bad throws, but eh...

He wasn't the reason Wisconsin lost that game. He didn't call the play that had him run play-action into his own end zone (leading to a safety when he was called for intentional grounding after throwing the ball away).

When you allow a blocked field goal and a blocked punt for a touchdown on the road against a good team, that's probably the culprit.

10. What a Nutt job at Ole Miss.

You know a coach is getting desperate when he calls out a reporter for being wrong after a loss.

Neal McCready, who covers the Rebels for our sister Rivals site, had the audacity to predict a 49-10 Arkansas win over a bad Rebels team.

Nutt's team squandered a 17-point lead and lost the game, but he still chided McCready in the post-game press conference.

Someone give the coach a cookie. His team only lost by five.

LW