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Clemson Tigers show they’re real deal, further heat up Al Golden’s seat

By Michael Collins

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The No. 6 Clemson Tigers remove more and more doubt on a weekly basis that they are the team to beat in the ACC, and with a 58-0 blowout win over Miami, they made Hurricanes head coach Al Golden’s life more difficult.

Clemson is doing exactly what a championship caliber team needs to do, they get more confident with every victory and fix the little problems that happen each week. They faced what was not necessarily a “U” Miami team this week (but still a talented squad) and completely dominated them from start to finish.

If there was a way to score, the Tigers found a way to do it against the Hurricanes; a Deshaun Watson passing and rushing TD, rushing TDs from two running backs (Wayne Gallman, Zac Brooks), two rushing TDs from backup quarterback Kelly Bryant, a rushing TD by wide receiver Artavis Scott, a Greg Huegel field goal and an interception return for a TD by Cordrea Tankersley.

That’s known as spreading the ball around.

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Dabo Swinney pulled his starting quarterback early on in the third quarter after the lead looked insurmountable, and Watson had racked up 143 passing yards, 98 rushing yards and two total touchdowns. Clemson finished the game with 567 total yards, 416 of them coming on the ground.

The only black mark for the Tigers today….a missed extra point when the score was run up to 51-0.

It was as ugly as it could possibly be for the Hurricanes, who suffered the worst shutout defeat in school history, breaking the 52-0 record set when Clemson lost to then-Howard College (now Samford University) in 1927.

Dubious records like that are the type of thing that can get a head coach fired, and if Al Golden wasn’t already feeling the heat, it’s a sure thing he will be now. It wouldn’t be surprising for a report to come within the next few days that Golden is meeting with his superiors to “discuss his future”.

Want to know how bad things were for the Canes in this game? Starting quarterback Brad Kaaya (who had to leave the game with a concussion) was sacked when Clemson dropped nine men into coverage and only rushed two.

Sacked…by a two-man rush.

The Hurricanes were one of the national leaders in turnover margin prior to this game, with a plus 13 margin. Today they turned the ball over three times on interceptions, and had a lost fumble overturned by replay. When you face a team as good as Clemson, you can’t give them extra chances with the ball.

There has been an ugly sentiment among the Miami fan base for some time to oust Golden, and with the tweets sent out by some pretty influential Miami alumni, it would seem that feeling is quite widespread.

It would seem the question now becomes not if Al Golden will be fired, but when.

RELATED: 10 Replacements for Al Golden at Miami

Miami keeps showing signs that they are turning the corner and strengthening as a program, and then games like this happen and completely set things off track again. This once proud program needs upgrades not only in coaching, but in facilities and stadium if they want to compete on the recruiting trail.

The 4-3 Hurricanes will now travel to play No. 23 Duke, while the undefeated Clemson Tigers travel to another part of North Carolina to take on NC State before their big showdown with No. 9 Florida State on Nov. 7 in Death Valley.

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