3 Takeaways from Clemson Football’s blowout of No. 10 Wake Forest

1. Clemson football’s talent advantage was evident.

Wake Forest is the smallest university in the Power Five, with about 5,400 undergraduate students. The Deacons don’t have the recruiting resources their ACC rivals have.

Head coach Dave Clawson’s evaluation, recruiting, and development system is effective in Winston-Salem for that reason. Ironically, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney employed a similar method early at Clemson. As Clemson won, however, the recruiting got better.

The Tigers recruited on par with Alabama, Georgia, LSU, and Ohio State in the last three seasons. Clemson’s elite talent made this game dangerous for the Deacons. Wake Forest had played well all season; however, the Clemson football team that lost to North Carolina State is not the same team that played Wake Forest today.

Though Clemson did have a lot of players out today, the reserves are better because of recruiting, and they are playing better. Will Shipley and Kobe Pace are healthy and so are KJ Henry and Myles Murphy on the defensive line.

Today was a game where the superior talent showed and played well. A combination of returning players rounding into form and younger, elite recruits playing better, spelled disaster for Wake Forest.