Oct 02, 2017

ACC & Big 12 Week 5 Recap: Clemson Impresses Yet Again on the Road and Remembering Joe Tiller

Standings and Results

ACC

Big 12

AP Top 10

1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Oklahoma
4. Penn State
5. Georgia
6. Washington
7. Michigan
8. TCU
9. Wisconsin
10. Ohio State

Remembering Joe Tiller

Shortly before the early slate of games kicked off on Saturday, it was reported that longtime Purdue Boilermakers head coach and all-around good guy Joe Tiller had passed away at his home in Wyoming.

Tiller had taken over a struggling Purdue program that had just one winning season in its past 12 seasons when he was hired in 1997. During his 12-year tenure at the helm in West Lafayette, he took the Boilermakers to 10 bowl games, including their second-ever Rose Bowl appearance in 2000. Purdue put out a touching tribute to their former head coach over the weekend, which you can check out below.

We here at the Camping World Bowl were lucky enough to have one of Joe Tiller’s Purdue teams play in our bowl game. Back in 2006 he coached the Boilermakers to a then-Champs Sports Bowl berth against Maryland. The Terrapins would go on to win the game 24-7, but Tiller lived up to his ‘Genuine Joe’ moniker and was a great representative for Purdue.

Weeknight Football

Both our ACC and Big 12 conference partners gave us a little taste of the action this week before Saturday came around.

On Thursday night, Texas traveled to Ames to face Iowa State in the conference opener for both teams. The Longhorns took a 14-0 lead into the half and held on for a 17-7 victory to move back to .500 on the season and join four others at the top of the conference standings. Full highlights of the game courtesy of our friends at the Big 12 Conference can be found here.

While the game wasn’t the prettiest for Iowa State, the Cyclones did break out some pretty fresh helmets for the primetime battle at home. They weren’t the only ones to try out some new uniforms this week either.

The following evening Miami crashed Duke’s Friday evening with a 31-6 win in Durham, a game that was slightly less dramatic than the teams’ last meeting at Duke.

While Miami earned their same result from this game, the defending Camping World Bowl champs made sure to secure the victory a little earlier than on the game’s final play. After jumping out to a 14-3 lead after the first quarter, it appeared Miami was letting the unbeaten Blue Devils hang around. The ‘Canes defense stood strong, however, and two touchdowns in the final quarter sealed up the victory for the Hurricanes, who moved up to No. 13 in the AP Poll following the win.

Oh, and Miami’s “Turnover Chain” is still a thing.

Another Tigers Road Rout

For the third time in four weeks and second time on the road, Clemson squared off against a Top 15 team and came out victorious.

Two weeks after knocking off Louisville under the lights in Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, the Tigers headed north to face Virginia Tech in a rematch of last year’s ACC Championship at Camping World Stadium — a game that saw the Tigers hold on for a 42-35 victory to clinch their spot in the College Football Playoff.

Heading into the game, Clemson had won four straight meetings against the Hokies, with Virginia Tech’s last win in the series coming on the road in 2007, capping off a five-game winning streak over the Tigers — the longest in the 35-game series that dates back to 1900.

Leading up to the opening kickoff, Lane Stadium and Blacksburg were rocking. After one of the louder College GameDay atmospheres of the season got things kicked off in the morning, the Hokies’ entrance onto the field for the game made sure everyone was ready to go for the day’s main event.

The fired up team and crowd was not able to overcome the Tigers as they kept the Hokies out of the end zone through three quarters, taking a 24-3 lead into the fourth before closing out the game for a 31-17 victory.

Late Thriller in Lubbock

With half of the conference on a bye this week and Texas and Iowa State squaring off on Thursday, the Big 12 only had two games on Saturday. Despite the shortage of games, there was no shortage of action, as the Oklahoma State Cowboys and Texas Tech Red Raiders put on a show, with Oklahoma State surviving Texas Tech’s fourth-quarter rally to secure a 41-34 victory.

After Mason Rudolph and FBS receiving yards-leader James Washington connected on a touchdown pass, Damarcus Fields picked off a Rudolph pass deep in Red Raiders territory and took it 95 yards to the house to tie the game at 7-7. The interception probably had some fans looking like Raider Red and studio analyst and former coach Dave Wannstedt, who came to town for an afternoon with Florida Citrus Sports earlier this summer.

After two fourth-quarter touchdowns from 2002 Camping World Bowl MVP Kliff Kingsbury’s Red Raiders tied the game at 34-34, Rudolph led the Cowboys down the field looking to retake the lead and secure the victory. He was aided by wide receiver Marcell Ateman, who went up and stole a pass away from a Texas Tech defensive back on third down to keep the drive alive in Red Raiders territory.

Rudolph eventually ran it in from 15 yards out to give the Cowboys the lead with a little over one minute to play. The Red Raiders quickly moved the ball to midfield on the ensuing drive, but four straight incompletions allowed the Cowboys to hold on for the victory.

Team Selection Committee Recap

The Florida Citrus Sports Team Selection Committee was off this week but will reconvene next Monday and will then meet every Monday throughout the remainder of the season. Last week members of the committee met for its second meeting of the 2017-18 season to discuss where we stand after four weeks of memorable college football action and nearly two dozen campus visits. READ MORE >>>

Play of the Week

There were a few big plays in ACC and Big 12 games this week. We found two nice catches and will let you decide your favorite:

1) Marcell Ateman not only kept the game-winning drive alive for Oklahoma State as mentioned above, he did so in stylish fashion by skying over the defender to bring home the Mason Rudolph pass on third down.

2) Ray-Ray McCloud went up and made a fine catch for the first down against Virginia Tech on the road helping Clemson remain unbeaten on the season.

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