CLEMSON — Saturday night in Death Valley had a familiar feel to it.

It was a feeling I have had many times in this building. You knew, just from watching the game, one team was better than the other and it was not even close.

This is a feeling most of us grew accustomed to when watching a football game here. However, Saturday night was different.

It was different because Clemson was not the better team. It was clear right from the start that the Miami Hurricanes were, and that was a rough pill to swallow for sure.

The Hurricanes (5-0, 3-0 ACC) had the better quarterback, wide receivers and running backs. They were much better at the lines of scrimmage, and they were better at safety.

Miami looked like the Clemson teams of old, as the Hurricanes rolled to a 41-13 victory.

Now, it was not as easy as the score would indicate.

The Tigers (3-2, 2-1) made them work. Clemson had its moments, but in the end, Miami had the better team.

Quarterback Darian Mensah reminded me of Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence. He can make every NFL throw. He was very poised under pressure and stood tall and delivered clutch throw after clutch throw no matter how much Clemson threw at him.

Malachi Toney reminds me of Sammy Watkins. He always seems to be open and is always a broken tackle away from taking it to the house. Mark Fletcher, Jr., reminds me of Wayne Gallman – he is always pushing the pile and seems to always get those tough yards when his team needs them the most.

Miami’s defensive line may not be the Power Rangers, but they are still good. They had six sacks in Saturday’s win and nine tackles for loss. The safeties are legit, as Bryce Fitzgerald and Zechariah Poyser are the real deal, along with nickel back Omar Thorton, who was flying around everywhere.

This Miami team looked like the old Clemson teams. They were playing with their opponents just long enough to give them hope before finally, like a cat playing with its pray, ended it with sudden stroke.

As Dabo Swinney said in his postgame press conference, the Tigers played tough and they were physical. However, Miami also played tough and physical, and the end, were clearly the better team.