Many of the nearly 60,000 fans who filled Carter-Finley Stadium on Saturday didn’t stick around to see the end of Clemson’s 43-23 throttling of host NC State. As for the portion of the game they did see, they spent most of that loudly razzing the parade of mistakes that befuddled the home team. It was NC State’s early morning tailgate scene that ratcheted up the volume of the crowd’s mocking calls, and the robust post-game atmosphere that drew them back outside once the game was out of hand.

Pre- and post-game tailgating is certainly a staple of college football, and the Wolfpack faithful got plenty of both on Saturday. And in between, they got a look at one of the best in the biz when it comes to the weekend’s main event.

Running back CJ Spiller turned in another record-setting performance when he tallied a passing, rushing and receiving touchdown, the first-ever Clemson player to notch that particular three-fer. Coming on the heels of a monster 232-all-purpose yard, two touchdown effort against Florida State, Spiller is staking his claim on the 2009 Heisman Trophy.

For nearly four years now, Spiller has treated fans in the ACC to these types of all-around performances. Saturday’s game, though, brought his genius to another level. In arguably Clemson’s most important game of the year, Spiller led a dominating performance. He showed that he could waltz into a hostile venue and do literally anything he wanted, winning the game with this legs, hands and arm.

He turned the ESPN Gridiron Tour game into a personal showcase, taking advantage of an amped up crowd and several Wolfpack miscues to prove that he belongs on the national stage. We were happy to be here to witness it.

The story of the week is about setting a goal and doing everything you can to achieve it. Take a look at the Clemson Tigers. Since Day 1 of preseason practice, Coach Dabo Swinney’s squad has had one thought on their mind – winning an ACC championship.
Saturday’s game was a major step in achieving that goal. The Tigers are now 5-2 in the ACC’s Atlantic Division, 7-3 overall. Its loan remaining conference game is this weekend against division bottom-feeder Virginia, which has lost four straight in stumbling to a 2-4 conference record.

Clemson running back CJ Spiller said after his team’s win over NC State that the Tigers are exactly where they want to be, and he couldn’t be more right. They are essentially a win away from meeting Georgia Tech in the conference championship game and two wins away from their first ACC title since 1991. Everybody who follows the conference is well aware that the Yellow Jackets handed Clemson a three-point loss way-back on Sept. 10.

The Tigers’ second conference loss came three weeks later, a shocking 24-21 clunker at Maryland. At that point in the season, Clemson was 2-3 (1-2) and in danger of falling off the map very, very early in the season. Five weeks later, though, Swinney, Spiller and the Tigers haven’t suffered any more setbacks and are sitting pretty atop the ACC’s Atlantic Division. Exactly where they wanted to be.

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