Clemson Football: 3 takeaways from domination of Wake Forest

1. Clemson has explosiveness on the ground

Last week, we saw Travis Etienne prove that Clemson has an explosive back for the first time since the graduation of Andre Ellington with 200-plus yards and three scores against Syracuse.

This week, Etienne got ten attempts on the ground and two of those 10 attempts resulted in a 70-yard touchdown rush and a 59-yard touchdown rush. He ended the game with 167 yards for an average of 16.7 yards per carry and improving his season average to 9.5 yards per carry which ranks top-ten in all of college football this season.

Another intriguing development from the Clemson ground game was the explosiveness of Lyn-J Dixon and Adam Choice. Both Lyn-J and Choice got ten carries of their own and while Choice had a career high in rushing yards with 128 yards on the ground with a score. Lyn-J was already drawing comparisons to Etienne going into the game given his aggressive running style but his 163 yards on ten carries just showed how similar the two players are. Lyn-J’s final touchdown capped of Hunter Renfrow’s only drive as the quarterback.

If Clemson can get Trevor Lawrence going at maximum capacity by the end of the season, there should be no reason that they lose a single game going into the CFP with such dominant balance on offense.

Clemson has a bye week before the No. 23 North Carolina State Wolfpack come to town in what could potentially be the College GameDay game of the week.

The last time the Wolfpack came to town, NC State kicker Kyle Bambard sent a game-winning field goal off the right upright causing the game to go into overtime. Deshaun Watson would hit Artavis Scott with a 10-yard touchdown pass to go up 24-17 and Marcus Edmonds sealed the game with an interception. Can the Wolfpack go into Clemson and steal a win?