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NOTE: CollegeFootballPoll.com's Dave Congrove is a nominating member for the Outland Trophy, presented by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. The Outland Trophy is considered to be the Heisman equivalent for those who strive to be the nation’s best interior lineman on offense or defense. Semifinalists for the 2019 Outland Trophy will be announced on Wed., Nov. 20 and the three finalists will be revealed on Tues., Nov. 26.
Our weekly Outland Trophy sojourn takes us to Auburn for the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry between the Tigers and the Georgia Bulldogs, and then on to Clemson where another group of Tigers will face Wake Forest in an ACC clash.
Wake Forest (7-2) at Clemson (10-0), 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday on ABC: Clemson seeks a school-record 22nd consecutive home win having already clinched their fifth consecutive ACC Coastal Division championship, a first in conference history. Clemson can become only the second program in ACC history to finish back-to-back years with an 8-0 record in regular-season conference play.
It’s Senior Day with a special group of players that includes our featured offensive linemen, right tackle Tremayne Anchrum and left guard John Simpson, seniors who presently have a 51-3 overall record the past four seasons. Together they are part of only five senior classes in FBS history to post at least 51 career wins in four years, behind only the 2018 Clemson and Alabama seniors (55 each) and 2017 Alabama seniors (53).
Simpson (#74, Sr., North Charleston, S.C.) won the ACC’s Offensive Lineman of the Week award this week after grading out at 90 per-cent with four knockdowns in the 55-10 win over N.C. State. He also scored the first touchdown of his football career at any level on a one-yard touchdown run, becoming the first Clemson offensive lineman to score a touchdown since Brandon Thomas in 2011. The ACC honor was Simpson’s third of the season, joining back-to-back selections following September games against Texas A&M and Syracuse.
Anchrum (#73, Sr., Powder Springs, Ga.) is leading protection that is producing legendary offensive numbers. Simpson and Anchrum have helped the Tigers exceed both 200 rushing yards and 200 passing yards in five consecutive games for the first time on record. The Clemson record-keepers are busy this season as it enters the week as one of only two teams in the country to rank in the Top 5 in both total offense (second, 545.8 per game) and total defense (fourth, 251.5), and needs 542 total yards to post the eighth 6,000-yard season in school history. Clemson needs 47 more points to produce the sixth 500-point season in team history.
Dating back to last season, Clemson’s offense has allowed only 12 total sacks in its last 18 games. Paired with its strong defensive front (10 NFL draft picks since 2014), during its current 26-game win streak Clemson holds an 86-24 edge over opponents in sacks – the plus-62-sack margin since 2018 is 17 sacks greater, or 38 percent, than the next program at plus-45.
Simpson and Anchrum’s senior class is 26-1 at home, 32-2 overall against the ACC (including the ACC Championship Game) and has spent its entire tenure in the Associated Press Top 10 with an active streak of 34 consecutive weeks in the Top 5.
On the other sideline is Justin Herron, Wake Forest’s left tackle who will tie the mark for most career starts by an offensive lineman on Saturday. Herron (#75, Gr., Silver Springs, Md.) was a three-year starter before suffering an ACL injury in the 2018 season-opener. He’s a grad student now with 47 career starts following last year’s redshirt season.
Herron too is at the front of one of the nation’s best offenses. Clemson and Wake Forest are 1-2 in the ACC in both scoring offense and total offense. The Demon Deacons’ passing attack is 11th nationally (Clemson is No. 2). And there’s senior pride on his side of the line Saturday as well. Wake Forest’s current senior class has assured itself of being the first senior class since 1948 to have achieved four consecutive winning seasons, and the school record for the most wins in a four-year period is 33 by the 2009 seniors. This year’s class is currently third with 29 wins (29-19) and looking to move up.
Georgia (8-1) at Auburn (7-2), 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday on CBS: For our own purposes, this game gives us another chance to prop up our two Out-land Trophy Players of the Month for October on each side of the ball – Georgia left tackle Andrew Thomas (#71, Jr., Lithonia, Ga.) and Auburn de-fensive tackle Derrick Brown (#5, Sr., Sugar Hill, Ga.). But there’s plenty more to go on with five Watch List members expected to play in this game.
Right tackle Isaiah Wilson (#79, So., Brooklyn, N.Y.) and left guard Solomon Kindley (#66, Jr., Jacksonville, Fla.) have both missed games due to injury this season but are back at full strength in their starting slots. The Georgia line has created plenty of protection for quarterback Jake Fromm, to the point that the Bulldogs are second nationally, allowing up only five sacks this season; three of those came in the overtime loss to South Carolina. Against Florida, the nation’s sack leader at the time two weeks ago, Georgia didn’t yield a sack. Georgia is fourth in the SEC at 216.1 rushing yards per game as well, another tribute to the line play.
On the Auburn side, Prince Tega Wanogho (#76, Sr., Delta State, Nigeria, first name pronounced TAY-ga wah-NO-go) holds down the offensive line at left tackle. Auburn is tied for 18th nationally with 23 rushing touchdowns, just two shy of its total from the entire 2018 season. Tega Wanogho and the line have Auburn averaging 219.3 rushing yards per game, 20th in the nation.
Auburn loves to break off big plays – it’s tied for 15th nationally with 27 plays of at least 30 yards, three more than it had in all of last season. It has 11 rushes of 30-plus yards. And the Tigers are red-hot in the red zone, where their 16 touchdowns in SEC play leads the conference as does their 72.73 conversion percentage (20 of 22 trips).