Ten thoughts from the weekend

1. Super, super atmosphere Saturday night inside the Georgia Dome.

It definitely had a "main event" type of feel after Friday night's N.C. State-Tennessee clash. Lots of empty seats for that game, but very few for the Tigers-Tigers matchup.

Going in I speculated that Auburn's fans would have somewhere around a 60-40 advantage because some Clemson fans were queasy about going back to the city of so many disappointments over the last eight years. But it seemed very much like a 50-50 split to me, and kudos to the Clemson fans who packed their side of the dome.

More of these showcase games, please. I understand having seven home games most years is imperative for the Clemson community, but how many people out there would be opposed to similar games in Atlanta on a regular basis in the future? Probably not going to happen but it could.

2. How many times have you seen the name "Chandler Catanzaro" uttered or written over the last month?

The absence of him from Clemson's list of concerns is a testament to just how dependable this kid has become, and he showed it by making some pressure kicks Saturday night.

Remember when the Catman missed those big field goals in 2010 against Auburn, North Carolina, Florida State and maybe one or two others I can't remember off the top of my head?

Remember when Dabo Swinney said during the 2010 season (paraphrasing here): "Write it in bold letters -- Chandler Catanzaro is going to end up being a good kicker."

Catman was a big question mark going into last season, but he made some strong progress. He was fortunate the defense made a big stop against Wake Forest last year after he duffed a short kick, giving him an opportunity to kick the game-winner that he made to grant Clemson a trip to the ACC title game.

Been pretty cool to watch Catman's evolution over the last two years.

3. How big is the talent gap in the Atlantic Division between Clemson/Florida State and the rest?

Maybe N.C. State isn't terribly far behind. But goodness, Maryland is pretty close to shambles right now. They were fortunate to beat William & Mary. Wake Forest barely beat Liberty. And Boston College couldn't hang with Miami after going up 14-nil.

The talent-gap theory was advanced by Heather Dinich over the weekend, and while a week's worth of games is a small sample size you have to wonder if there's an evolving chasm between the football-first schools and the rest.

Maybe it's one of the reasons so many coaches envision an eventual separation between the schools that make a bunch of money and the schools that bring in very little.

With the NCAA appearing to be stepping away on some of the equalizers that have enabled some of the pip squeaks to remain competitive over the years, the next decade could bring us a more pronounced gap between the haves and have-nots.

4. Saturday's game attracted some heavy hitters from the media. Andy Staples of Sports Illustrated wrote this column from the game.

Clemson defensive tackles coach Dan Brooks posted the sign in his group's meeting room about three weeks ago. At first, his players were taken aback. Gradually, they understood why Brooks chose those two particular words.

WEAK LINK.

Brooks referred specifically to his position group, but the sign could have easily described the entire defense. Of course the Tigers can score. They proved that during their ACC title run last season, and they brought back their best offensive playmakers for 2012. But any mention of Clemson in the offseason required at least one snarky remark about West Virginia hanging 70 points on the Tigers in the Orange Bowl.

Saturday at the Georgia Dome, the link bent. It stretched to its limit. But with the game on the line, it didn't break. Clemson didn't play defense like LSU or Alabama, but it didn't play defense like Clemson (circa 2011), either. The Tigers gave up only one touchdown in a 26-19 win against Auburn, and they washed away the memory of their 70-point embarrassment with a performance upon which they can build.

5. Man, is it going to be fun watching Urban Meyer and Ohio State this year.

As we've noted, Meyer has added the up-tempo thing to his arsenal. And the results in Saturday's 56-10 trouncing of Miami of Ohio were hard not to like.

Meyer's offense ran 86 plays, one less than Chad Morris' offense ran in the Auburn win. They totaled 538 yards, 10 more than Clemson. They ran for 294 while Clemson totaled 320. Braxton Miller ran for 180 pre-sack yards while Tajh Boyd ran for 88.

6. Georgia was provided with a heaping dose of bulletin-board material when a Missouri player popped off about the Bulldogs playing "old-man football."

Said Mizzou DT Sheldon Richardson: “I watched the game. I turned it off, too. … It’s like watching Big Ten football. It’s old-man football.”

Not the smartest thing to say, of course. But there's a shred of legitimacy there because Georgia's offense seems perpetually stuck in some old ways.

The I-formation, play-action thing worked quite well for Mark Richt when he was at Florida State and the Seminoles were just overwhelmingly better than everyone else. But it hasn't worked all that great in recent years, and I have doubts that it'll flourish this year with the Doggies featuring so many question marks on the offensive line.

7. Florida State defensive end Brandon Jenkins goes down with a foot injury against Murray State.

I'd sit him against Savannah State, and consider sitting him against Wake Forest.

8. Boston College was outclassed by Miami, but color me slightly impressed that the Eagles actually looked pretty good on offense. I liked the aggression, pace and creativity under new offensive coordinator ... eh, forgot his name.

Chase Rettig threw the ball a career-high 51 times, completing a career-high 32 passes for a career-high 441 yards with two touchdowns.

That was as positive a sign as any. He figured out who his weapons were, with Alex Amidon catching 10 passes for 149 yards and Tahj Kimble grabbing a bunch more — 141 combined rushing and receiving yards — out of the backfield, using his speed to eat up yardage.

But for every bright spot, there was a dropped pass on a wide-open route, a botched snap in the red zone, a fumble that killed a drive, an interception that shifted momentum.

“There certainly were a lot of good things going on offensively,” Spaziani said. “We did a lot of good things, but we made some very crucial mistakes that need to be corrected. We had eight drops. That’s unacceptable. You’re just not going to beat real good teams making those mistakes. But the encouraging things were all the good things. It’s a lot of good stuff.”

9. Here's how Gene Chizik views his team's loss to Clemson, saying there were a lot of missed opportunities for those Tigers.

"We had our chances to win the game at different points in the game," said Chizik. "There will be a lot of great teaching moments because we were in positions and we have to take advantage and get it done. We didn't get it done. We're going to need a lot of improvement to win this week."

Whether it was Trovon Reed stepping out of bounds on a potential touchdown grab, or a missed tackle on what would have been a five-yard Andre Ellington run, resulting instead in a 68-yard gain on a drive that netted a touchdown, there were glaring mistakes that ultimately cost Auburn the game, and Chizik knows it.

"Those type of things are very glaring, we had our chances and had our moments," Chizik said. "As bad as we played at times, we still had opportunities to win the game."

Lot of missed opportunities for Clemson, too. Could've easily won by 14-17.

10. Looking forward to tonight's big game in Blacksburg. Lot of intriguing subplots there, including Bud Foster getting extra time to prepare for the flexbone.

Many of the Hokies still frequently call the staple of Georgia Tech’s offense “chop blocking,” which is technically illegal.

But ever since controversy arose over blocking technique after the Yellow Jackets beat Virginia Tech in 2009, defensive coordinator Bud Foster went to work on solving Johnson’s offense.

Five years into facing Johnson on a yearly basis, Foster has amassed a “library” of game tape on the flexbone, dating from Johnson’s successful five-year run at Navy.

Foster believes he has seen film of “just about” every Yellow Jackets game during the Johnson era.

He hasn’t completely solved the puzzle yet. Even when Virginia Tech bested Georgia Tech the past two seasons, Foster’s defense still allowed the Yellow Jackets to rush for nearly 600 yards.

“The toughest part is really focusing on beating the block first and then getting in on the play after,” linebacker Jeron Gouveia-Winslow said. “A lot of times, guys want to keep their eye on the ball, see where it’s going and they get cut because they’re not defending properly.”

LW