Clemson wore purple jerseys for the first time since the 1992 Citrus Bowl and dominated Georgia Tech from the opening kickoff tonight in Atlanta. The 39-3 win was the largest margin of victory for Clemson over the Yellow Jackets since a 55-0 win in 1903. A strong defense and an efficient passing game that set up the run were keys to the game for Clemson.

Freshman Tech QB Reggie Ball was sacked 5 times for a loss of 38 yards. Ball completed 19 passes (out of 42 attempts) for 248 yards and threw one interception to Clemson LB John Leake. Jonathan Smith made 9 catches for 170 yards while Nate Curry caught 6 passes for 59 yards. Tech's leading rusher for the game was P.J. Daniels who had 16 carries for 34 yards. Tech rushed for 45 yards and had 293 yards of total offense.

Clemson QB Charlie Whitehurst came home to Atlanta and completed 23 passes out of 38 attempts for 298 yards with one interception. He was sacked 2 times for a loss of 5 yards. Clemson rotated heavily on its offensive line and several freshmen saw action tonight from the beginning of the game. Kevin Youngblood was Clemson's leading receiver with 5 catches for 101 yards. Airese Currie grabbed 6 catches for 78 yards while Derrick Hamilton caught 5 passes for 79 yards. Duane Coleman rushed for 86 yards on 13 attempts for the Tigers while Kyle Browning ran for 32 yards on 4 attempts. Clemson racked up 436 yards of total offense on the night.

Clemson scored first on a 23-yard field goal by Aaron Hunt at the 1:07 mark in the 1st Quarter. Whitehurst connected with Tony Elliott for a 9 yard touchdown pass with 12:59 left in the 2nd Quarter to put Clemson up 10-0. Whitehurst threw his second touchdown pass to Kevin Youngblood with 9:50 left in the half and Clemson went up 17-0.

Georgia Tech kicker Dan Burnett hit a 20 yard field goal with :41 left in the half to make it 17-3. Whitehurst took Clemson down the field on a 3-play, 55-yard drive capped off by a 33 yard touchdown catch by Airese Currie with :12 left in the half. Clemson kicker Aaron Hunt missed the extra point after an excessive celebration penalty and Clemson led 23-3 at the half.

Clemson sacked Reggie Ball in the endzone for a safety at the 7:10 mark in the 3rd Quarter to make it 25-3. Duane Coleman scored on a 25 yard run with just under nine minutes left in the game to extend the lead (after the extra point) to 29 (32-3.) Whitehurst rushed one yard for the final Clemson score with 3:57 left in the game. Hunt's extra point was the last score of the game, making it 39-3.

Clemson seems to have recovered from the effects of a season-opening 30-0 loss against Georgia that seemed to carry over to a lethargic win against Furman the next week and a victory against Middle Tennessee State last week that still left some questions unanswered.

John Leake, Leroy Hill, Eric Sampson and Travis Pugh all had excellent nights on the defensive side of the ball. Justin Miller started despite his hip pointer and broke up several passes. Clemson long snapper Geoff Rigsby had a tackle on punt coverage for the second straight week. John Lovett's preparation of the Clemson defense was excellent this week.

Clemson played a no-huddle offense for most of the game but huddled occasionally. The offense was spread out more like it was against MTSU - in contrast to the unsuccesful attempt to rush out of the I-formation against UGA. Clemson doesn't have the personnel on the line to shift to that style of offense this year and the play-calling has take advantage of their strengths more the past 2 games. Keeping the offensive line fresh throughout the game seemed to be a big factor tonight as well. Tech's defensive coordinator John Tenuta was throwing a lot of things at the young offensive linemen for Clemson tonight but they reacted well.

While some television executives might be thinking they made the right call, it was a travesty that this game was not televised somewhere tonight. For some unknown reason, Jefferson Pilot has delayed their ACC Schedule until October the past few years. CSS didn't have a game on tonight and Fox Sports Net showed a I-AA game (Congratulations to Wofford for the upset of Georgia Southern in that one.) Until this year, the largest margin of victory in recent years by either Clemson or Tech was 5 points last year with several games being decided by less than 3 points. Tommy Bowden's show tomorrow and the game replay on CSS later next week will probably have record high ratings.

Tech has to quickly turn around and travel to Raleigh this Thursday night for a game against N.C. State, who walloped Texas Tech 49-21 today. Clemson has next week off and travels to College Park to take on Maryland the week after that.

Georgia Tech may have just been emotionally spent following their tough loss to FSU last week. I was really concerned going into this game that Clemson would lose and it might not be pretty after Tech's performances against Auburn and FSU. Clemson will need the off week to fully prepare for Maryland which has made easy work of the Citadel and West Virginia the past two weeks after being upset by this year's giant-killer Northern Illinois and then losing to FSU resoundingly.

Other links:
Complete Box Score
Associated Press recap