Final Thoughts from Winston-Salem

We are just about 24 hours removed from last night's win in Winston-Salem and  I just wanted to give a quick recap on the trip and my thoughts on the game. First I wanna start my saying I had a great time and I'm proud of the number of Clemson fans that were there. We rolled into town around 1:30pm and there were already a decent amount of Tiger fans out tailgating and getting ready for the game. I was also pleasantly surprised with the general parking/tailgating lot that was located right across the street from the stadium and was very convenient. Clemson nation was rolling deep last night and we easily outnumbered the Wake Forest fans and made our presence felt. Before the game there was a Clemson pre-game party at a spot down the street from the stadium called The Last Resort. It was nice meeting and socializing with the Clemson family. Road games are fun and although I've had haven't had much luck overall on the few that I've been on, last night ranks among one of the best trips. This was my first trip up to Winston-Salem and I never realized how close it was to Clemson. (Only about a 3 1/2 hour trip from Tigertown) One of the best parts of the day was getting to meet and chat with Clemson Tom before Tigerwalk and do a little trash talking to the Wake Forest players as they did their "Deacon Walk". Definitely a cool guy and of course I got to take a picture with him and the Championship belt. 

As for the game....oh boy. I was definitely nervous there for a while but never thought that we were not going to win. I anticipated a slow start and you knew that we were going to get Wake Forest's best shot. Back in the Tommy Bowden era, we probably would have lost last night..but thank God for change. We've now won 25 games straight against unranked competition. While Wake Forest hung around far longer than we liked, at the end of the day our defense (#1 ranked defense, by the way) continued to do what it does best and the offense did enough to get the job done. Shaq Lawson had a solid game bringing in 4 tackles for loss and on offense Artavis Scott had a breakout game with 8 receptions for 122 yards and 2 touchdowns while Wayne Gallman posted his second straight 100 yard performance while adding a score of his own. Glad to see someone answer the call and love that our running game is coming together here down the stretch. While it was good enough to win last night, we will have to play better next week against Georgia Tech though....a place we haven't won since 2003. Gotta eliminate the mistakes and come out of the gate swinging and focused. With Watson back in the mix it should be quite an exciting match-up next weekend in Atlanta. I almost bought tickets for the game then remembered my record in Atlanta/against Georgia Tech is 1-4. So I think I'll just stay at home and sit this one out. All in all, it was a great trip. The rain held off although it got pretty chilly and windy by the time kickoff rolled around. Winston-Salem definitely exceeded my expectations and all around was a much better trip than last year's trek up to Raleigh. (Never Again. Ever.) I'm already looking forward to making the trip in 2016 and might even look into traveling up for some Baseball and Basketball this upcoming season. Glad to mark another ACC football venue off my list as I've now been to North Carolina State, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and Florida State.