Overall, I'm obviously not happy with the result. But speaking from a completely subjective standpoint, I'm actually feeling neutral about this game.
Again, not looking at stats, I went into this game expecting very little. I was excited to see the new offense under Chip Long, after hearing rumblings of what was going on in the offseason. I wrote off the defense, given that we kept Thacker, and if he wasn't calling the shots, it would be CGC.
Lo and behold, the offense looked awesome at times, and decent at other times - against a Clemson defense that will be top 4 in the country (even if their entire team doesn't wind up that way). Was thrilled to see it when the O started firing on all cylinders somewhere in the second half.
And the defense - holy crap. For the first time in years, they looked moderately competent. Some will point to Clemson's offense being lackluster, but keep in mind, we haven't been very wonderful on D over the past 3 years. Given the (lack of) coaching changes, I wasn't expecting the D to look as hungry as they did, and was pleasantly surprised.
Special teams - well, we made a field goal. And the first one was a 50 yarder, which Butker would be hard-pressed to make under those conditions. Overall, still crummy due to blocked punts, but it was nice to think our kicker might be somewhat reliable - and the rest can be fixed.
Overall, I'm disappointed in the O-line play; in CGC's clock & timeout management; in the O penalties; in the team not being able to sustain drives in 3rd Q onward; and in the punting game. But next to that, I'm pretty relieved that this team at least seems like it can be built on. That's more than I've seen for the past 3 years, and I'm thankful for that. Most of the team played with heart, until the D got gassed.
Guess that speaks to how low my expectations have been, but so be it. I'd rather have some hope than resign myself to feeling the way I felt after last season's final 2 games for an entire season. Looking forward to taking some frustrations out on Western Carolina next week.