NC State smoked by Clemson (again), 80-54

I don’t know what there is to say about it at this point; it clearly makes no sense, and yet here we are, again at the business end of an absolute demolition by a Clemson team that tends to look pretty human most of the time.

Clemson now has beaten NC State three times, each by no less than 14 points; if Clemson could play NC State every game, then Clemson would have absolutely nothing to worry about heading into this weekend.

Sports are so strange. There is zero explanation for why State could not even keep itself within shouting distance over the last 80 minutes these teams have played against each other. It’s among the more bizarre results I can remember—like one team goes into superhero mode while the other simultaneously becomes a pumpkin. Becoming a pumpkin’s a bad idea, on account of the pumpkin’s lack of appendages. Can’t get any lift on a jumper.

And it started out so well tonight! Like it was going to be different. Which it was, right up until it wasn’t. It’s been a great season but these games have been baffling. What is there to say about being favored twice and being crushed twice by 20+ by that same apparent underdog? Don’t know. It’s not for me or you or anyone other than the universe to understand.

We can say for sure these things happened, and while the long run of the minutes your team plays tends to pin your team right on that donkey’s ass of expectation, there’s always these other parts where you’re spun around 50 times and shoved into a fence.