College Football Scores: Clemson Rout of UNC Shows Tigers Are BCS Material

North Carolina played Clemson extremely close for most of the first half. A late first half turnover kept the Tar Heels from potentially being tied after one half against No. 7 Clemson.

As it is, a seven-point deficit didn't look all that bad.

But within just more than five minutes of second half play, that seven-point lead turned into a 21-point lead. All of a sudden, a tight game turned into a blowout.

A 100-yard kickoff return for a score from North Carolina's T.J. Thorpe on Chandler Catanzaro's kickoff was offset by a 43-yard touchdown pass from Tajh Boyd to Sammy Watkins.

North Carolina is not a bad team. Sure, Clemson was heavily favored in this game, but this was not an easy blowout.

Still, here we stand in the third quarter. The Tar Heels have played the Tigers very well. They have moved the ball well and have even done a decent job (at times) of containing Boyd and the Clemson offense.

But late in the third quarter, 28 points separate Clemson and North Carolina. The Tigers haven't even looked especially impressive at times. Still, they have 52 points. We still have more than one quarter to play.

Granted, seven of those points came courtesy of the Clemson defense. Still, against a team like North Carolina, 45 is a good total for the game. Again, the game is not over, or even all that close.

So, while Carolina supporters would suggest that there is still time for them to get back into this game, I am looking at it a different way. There is also plenty of time for this one to get worse.

Clemson will need a little bit of help to get into the National Championship Game. Still, I fear that because the ACC doesn't have the football reputation of the Big 12 or SEC, we might still be overlooking the Tigers a bit.

Make no mistake about it, this team is very capable of winning a national championship. On any given day, they can beat anyone, and it won't be a tremendous upset.

Their offense moves the ball at will, and their defense is capable of big things. When you combine those two strengths, this team is a viable threat to win it all.

This is not the same Clemson team that has had issues finishing their seasons in the past.