TEBOW!! even I am on board

Why do a lot of people want to get mad that NFL fans are rooting for Tim Tebow? He went to the Univ. of Florida, so everything in me wants to dislike him. When he was in college, I figured he was your typical look at me pray while I get drunk and get it on with Gator hotties every weekend. It turns out, from all indications, he is a genuinely really good guy and lives out his faith. So, we decide to root for him instead of Sam Hurd (former Chicago Bear recently charged with major drug dealing). We root for him over a league filled with rapists, murderers, DUIers and women beaters. We root for him over the Patriots, a franchise famous for illegally filming other team’s practices. We root for him because he gets a lot of it done with sheer will versus a perfect throwing motion. We root for him because his teammates seem to play harder for him than that Kyle Orton guy. So, hate him if you want. I used to, but I just wanted to give you the reasons why most of us are pulling for him and why I converted. Good guys don’t have to finish last…but can they beat the Patriots?? Would anyone be surprised if this season ended with Tebow winning the Super Bowl, then ripping off his helmet after the game and then ascending to heaven? I kid, I kid.
Tangent 1: Wish I would have posted this earlier, because I had a pretty strong feeling the Packers would lose today for two reasons:
1. As soon as every pundit claims you have no chance of losing at all usually teams come out flat. Not to mention the Chiefs listened all week to people telling them they were bums.
2. The Packers spent all week answering questions about will they rest players when, not if, they clinch home field throughout on Sunday. Rodgers even replied, “No, we haven’t talked about that. We will find out soon though.” What he should have said is, “That is not even a concern for us. All we are thinking about is the Chiefs.” I know it is just words, but it reveals a mindset.

Fact or Fiction??

I have a great book to recommend. Written by Stephen Coonts, The Disciple is an extremely exciting novel about espionage in Iran and the craziness of the Iranian leadership. I'll try not to ruin the book, but basically Ahmadinejad gets a bug up has butt to fire nukes at Israel. Pretty exciting stuff.

So it got me thinking about what is going on in Iran and the facts are crazier than fiction. Here is a link of the real world stuff going on in Iran:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15741989
To give you a quick synopsis: three Iranian scientists have been assassinated in the last year, someone dropped a major computer virus on the Iranian nuclear sites and a few weeks ago a blast at their biggest missile site killed 17.

Then we have the fact that the Iranians picked up twelve spies just before Thanksgiving and now they downed one of our spy drones. And we wonder why the people from this country hate us? Granted, other than the spy drone all of that could have been the highly effective (way more than the CIA) Israeli intelligence force the Mossad. So I guess the question is, we wonder why Iranians hate the “American devils and the evil Zionists?”

So, anyway here is one of my points. Until our drone got shot down, how was this so lightly reported? I'm done with American media. I'm not watching the propaganda and garbage and pointless arguing that is CNN, Fox News, CBS, etc. Finding all this stuff would have been nearly impossible on CNN, but the BBC website was easy. Anyway, enough complaining.

My other point is holy crap! We have now spent over ten years in the Middle East and it looks like America is a fart from spending another ten in Iran. This sucks. We can't afford another war financially and militarily and emotionally. Too many of our youth continue to get maimed and killed over there. So maybe all this covert stuff is better than going to war, but who knows? I just wanted show you that there are more interesting things to follow than Kim Kardashians butt. And that book is pretty interesting as well.

We are the champions

Wow! Not even close. That was the best three and a half hours of being a Clemson fan. I loved when Greg Buckner dunked to beat mighty UNC in the ACC championship. I loved when Tyler Colvin hit a walk-off grand slam to send the Tigers to Omaha. I loved Clemson finally beating FSU in ’06 to end their terrible dominance over the Tigers. I loved the Catch II and pulling victory from defeat from the hated Gamecocks. But, nothing is close to the second half on Dec. 3rd, 2011.

I’ve always said, why can’t just one time everything come together for Clemson? Why can’t we have that one game where the O, D and special teams play well? One time you catch some breaks and just dominate an opponent in a huge game. Well, I got my wish in the biggest game this program has had in thirty years. What a time to rise up! In retrospect, we can all admit we were (hopefully were) a choke program. We didn’t want to admit we were snake bitten, but every time we had a chance for greatness, Clemson football fell on its face. Proof of this is in my reaction on Sammy’s huge TD catch to put the Tigers up 14 Saturday night. I didn’t cheer because I was too busy searching the field for the penalty flag. Too many times the huge play that would have made the difference have been foiled by a flag. Then Andre goes off the left side. I was sure it would get called back or reviewed. I didn’t cheer and then it finally hit me, this team may actually win a championship! A friend asked me, “What is wrong?” I replied, “It is just surreal!” She then said, “Who says surreal while wasted at a football game?” I guess this guy does.

It was surreal because I have been a Clemson fan since about 1986. I really became a huge fan in 1996 when I fell in love with the toughness of the Rick Barnes basketball teams and especially loved the clutch play of Greg Buckner. Greg was a 6’3 small forward always finding a way to out-tough and outsmart much bigger front line players. Anyway, his whole four years were fun, but still painful. They went to four tourneys and even a sweet sixteen, but every loss was brutal and usually due to poor FT shooting. His senior year they lost to Duke three times by a combined eight points.

Then when I started my freshman year at Clemson I went from huge fan to bleeding orange. Now the pain went to watching a football program always on the cusp of turning the corner. Charlie Whitehurst’s senior year is a glaring example. Four losses all year by a combined 14 points including two overtime defeats at home!!! How brutal!! So, forgive me if I was waiting for the other shoe to drop Saturday. Thankfully our players are too young and cocky to remember or care about these demons. That’s why I kept telling a buddy of mine who refers to CU not as Clemson Univ. but as Choke Univ. that it wasn’t the Univ. that was choking but Tommy Bowden, and to an extent, Oliver Purnell. Jack Leggett’s baseball teams are usually very clutch. And now, Dabo’s teams are starting to step up in big spots.

So, my point is, there is a reason why this was so shocking. It hasn’t happened for 30 years. Granted from ’92 to ’02 no one was stopping the train that was FSU football. But for the last eight years we watched the Noles plummet, and who stepped into that power vacuum? The unstoppable forces known as Maryland football, Wake football, Georgia Tech and BC football all added ACC or divisional crowns. Infuriating and embarrassing when you consider the recruiting classes, the facilities, the passion of the fan base, and the tradition of those programs. I always said during the Bowden era that I don’t expect to win the ACC every year. But, I do expect to win the Atlantic division every other year and win the ACC every four years. Maybe those are lofty goals, but unless FSU gets back on track, then is asking Clemson to beat out Wake, Maryland, NC St., FSU and BC every other year too much to ask? I sure as hell hope not. Right now, Dabo has reached my goals. I know that is all he is worried about; he has a sign in his office- Shaun’s goals: Div. every two, ACC crown every four. ACC Crown! How good is that to say?! Enjoy Tiger fans. They won’t come every year, but hopefully we won’t have to wait another 30.

JUCO KIDS!!! and Tiger stuff

So, we were the GA JUCO game of the week. It was a phenomenal game. Click on the link below and at least watch go to the parts in the game listed under the description. They include a play with a back screen to their center who catches a lob and then throws a lob to the PF who just got a back screen. Double alley!! Are you kidding me? And that is only the second best play. Because some white kid takes off from nearly the FT line and dunks all over our PG!! Thankfully we won, so I can talk about these things nostalgically.

http://www.ihigh.com/georgiajucoreport/broadcast_191908.html?silverlight=1

As I told my buddy, "These JUCO kids are going to put me in an early grave!" With five minutes to go we led 58 to 54. We obviously are guarding pretty well, so if we just score another six points down the stretch we probably hold on. Other than a FT with 0.7 left, we go on to score only two more points and have as many turnovers as Romney and Gingrich have combined flip-flops. The last minute went like this.
US - Turnover
Them - Phenomenal white kid dunk and foul
US - No box out and they get O reb
Them - drive and foul - miss one of two
Us - Missed front end of one and one
Them - missed shot, off reb, missed shot
Us - Reb and turnover
Them - missed three in corner

Yes, they had three shots to take the lead and we had eight billion chances to seal the win. It was gut-wrenching.

As for Clemson........
Still not real thrilled about Saturday, but at least a little better than I felt on Sunday. Kids are resilient. They may bounce back. I feel like Va Tech will definitely score on the Tigers. Their QB is better and Wilson is a great RB. Clemson's defense has made average RBs look great so I don't even know a word for how good they can make Wilson. Will the offense move the ball like weeks 1-7 or weeks 8-12.
My heart says Clemson 31 Tech 27
My gut says Tech 27 Clemson 17

so I will split the difference and say Tech 27 Clemson 24

How about ol' Dabo spewing off out the mouth after a comment from Spurrier (which apparently wasn't even him, but was the USuC radio announcer). The initial comment was, "We ain't LSU or Alabama but we ain't Clemson either."
Dabo went off:

“He’s right. They aren’t Clemson. No three-game winning streak is going to change that,” he said. “It’s not the first they have won three in a row and it will not be the last time. It might be 50 more years but it will probably happen again. But I have gone out of my way to be complimentary to them and complimentary to coach Spurrier. I got a lot of respect for coach Spurrier, but I am going to defend my program . I’m going to defend my players and my coaches. I am going to defend Clemson University because I believe in it. I think he is exactly right - they are not Clemson and never will be. You are looking at the best era in the history of South Carolina football right now. They just had their second 10-win season. They won a championship in 1969 and the 2010 SEC East. And this rivalry – there is a lot of rivalries out there but this is more of a domination and that’s a fact. My kids’ grandkids won’t live long enough to see this really become a rivalry.”

“I have respect for their program, but South Carolina is not Clemson,” he said. “There are a lot of differences. This is a place that has won a national title, 17 conference championships and two division titles. Heck, we have won more bowl games than they have even been to. I think our program has 100 plus more wins than South Carolina. That is reality. This is the best era in 115 years of South Carolina football is right now and they have done a great job.”

“Coach Spurrier has been there for seven years, but after five years I think he had 35 wins and got a new contract and all that kind of stuff. After five years at Clemson, if I have only got 35 wins there is going to be a new coach here and you know what there should be because there is a different standard. He is exactly right – they ain’t Alabama, they ain’t LSU and they certainly are not Clemson. That is why Carolina is in Chapel Hill, USC is in California and the university in this state always has been and always will be Clemson. It’s right here in Clemson, SC. You can print that. Tweet that.”

Is Dabo really going to rail on USC having an awful tradition? You just helped them have the best three seasons in their history by taking it in the butt the last three years. That makes it even more embarrassing that a program that couldn’t find success with a gps system is now kicking your butt. It WAS a domination. Maybe it will stay that way in the future, but it sure doesn’t look like it.

Embarrassing and humiliating

So I was at the NC St. game. That was embarrassing. The only thing that kept you from going into a maniacal rage was the rationalization that the Tigers were looking forward to the next two huge games versus SC and Va Tech. I hate rationalizing and should quit doing it. There is never an excuse to play that bad against a very average to below average opponent. Dabo says you only play 12 Saturdays a year and to not be ready for one is unacceptable. Well he is right and that is why it was an embarrassment in Raleigh.

The South Carolina game was humiliating. It was humiliating because one team played absolutely gutless. Outside of Jaron Brown's block I didn't see one physical play from Clemson all night. After starting the year with very few penalties and very few dropped passes, all the Tigers can do is hold, line up wrong and catch a ball like it is made of some icey butter mixture. Anyone who watches us play knows this so I am not breaking any ground here.

Here is my question?
What is worse: playing that bad against your rival or knowing even if you played better they are just better than you are? SCar has outrecruited, outdeveloped and outweightroomed the Tigers and the gap is widening, not closing. I hate to break it to all the Tiger fans, but all this crap about Clemson being young is bunch of flaming propaganda. They have a ton of freshmen coming up the ranks, but the starting 11 on offense are 4 seniors, 3 juniors, 2 sophs and Sammy. Not to mention those four seniors are on that O-line that got pushed around the last four weeks. Why the hell hasn't Clemson recruited good O-lineman since the Reagan administration?

The eleven defensive starters are 5 seniors, 4 juniors, 1 soph and Breeland (the lone young bright spot on the ENTIRE DEFENSE). Again, 3 seniors and a junior up front. The defense only has three true freshmen in their whole two-deep and the offense only has them at the skill positions. It is an excuse and a crock of crap that this team is inexperienced. The program is young, but the guys that are expected to line up and play have been at Clemson a long time, especially the ones you are expecting to get it done in the trenches. Every year there is an excuse. Yes, I thought we were a few years away, but they proved through the first eight weeks there is plenty of talent in Clemson if they would show up and hit people in the mouth.

All over the map

Brilliant fed. govt. story of the week. The commission in charge of finding fraud and waste in Medicare and Medicaid has been found to have enormous amounts of fraud and waste. They have been falsly reporting stuff to cover hospitals they like and other devious stuff. So, now there will be a commission to check the commission. I kid about the last part, but it is pretty bad at the federal level.

Tangent 2 (Piggy backing off tangent 1)
I would like all the Democrats and/or independents reading this to think about this possibility. I probably won’t change your idea that you think the government should provide services that I think are better provided by a free and independent people. And I sure won’t tell you the Republicans are any better, because they are both awful options. But, regardless of your ideology, can we all at least agree the federal government is inept and borderline criminal in its usage of our tax dollars? Yes, the federal government is the only one who can fund a standing army and regulate trade and some other things. But, do they really need to be running billion dollar health care programs or No Child Left Behind in every school or funding mortgages for people who have no business trying to finance a house. Do they need to give aid to every country under the sun, which usually just props up corrupt governments instead of the money actually getting to the people who need it?

I guess what I am saying is, if you want to be a democrat, be one at the state level. Be one where at least the government program isn’t so enormous it has no chance of oversight. Be one where at least big business would have to lobby 50 different legislatures instead of one to get policies which further rip off the middle class. All this scandal about lobbying and buying votes is sad, but the real problem is that one house of legislature has the power to control so much of our lives. Almost every founding father feared this tyranny. They feared trading 1 tyrant a thousand miles away for many tyrants a few miles away (Yes I stole that line from Mel Gibson in The Patriot). The more you can spread out the power, the better for everyone. I think it is arrogance and pride that always comes before the fall (in this case the fall of the great idea that is America). I think the people in Washington don’t think people at the state level are smart enough to run their states. That, and they are just power hungry, and as long as their power goes unchecked they will continue to grab for more.

Tangent 3
Oh yeah, and Clemson has a big game this weekend:
Clemson 27 NC ST 24 Cold weather, injuries to Sammy and left tackle and a complete looking ahead to next week will keep this game close. But what do I know? I’ve only been right half the time.

Tangent 4
Did any of you see the end of the Boise State game? I used to think Bob Knight was a little off when he said you shouldn’t worry so much about what it takes to win, but more about avoiding the things that get you beat. I didn’t think you should focus on playing not to lose. But that isn’t what he is saying. You still play aggressive; you just focus on fixing the little things that will get you beat: turnovers, not rebounding and lack of focus. Same goes for football. Each team did so many things to get themselves beat down the stretch. Boise is up seven with two and a half minutes to play.

Boise huge mistake 1: Boise’s tailback fumbles. Inexcusable.

Boise huge mistake 2: Boise corner gets beat for a long touchdown on a double move.

Boise huge mistake 3: After TCU decides to go for two and the win (love the decision), the corner has every opportunity to easily knock the ball down. Instead he goes to cradle an interception and it goes right through his hands. He either wasn’t smart enough to understand time and score OR too selfish to care. Either way…HUGE MISTAKE.

TCU huge mistake 1: TCU kicker kicks the kickoff out of bounds. TCU QB with Mohawk and logo branded into his scalp is shown on the sideline mouthing the words, “You f&*%ing idiot!” I can’t make this stuff up.

TCU huge mistake 2: Corner gets beat deep and has to grab player for penalty. Penalty was better than getting beat, but still a free 15 yards with the clock stopped when all you have to do is keep people in front of you and in bounds.

Referee huge mistake 1: on 4th down, the TCU corner has his hands on the back of a receiver but is neither pushing nor holding AND the ball is ten yards over receiver’s head so…… obviously a pass interference. An awful call or as I like to call it, a Ron Cherry. So Boise is still alive.

Boise huge mistake 4: Playing for field goal with 30 seconds left on the 20 and one timeout and a Heisman candidate quarterback. I am not saying this in retrospect. At the time I thought it was stupid to leave it up to the kicker, because like my buddy so eloquently says, “COLLEGE KICKERS SUCK!”

Boise huge mistake 5: Not having a better kicker on the roster. Plus, only having three attempts all year. How does that happen? You would almost want to intentionally stall drives as a coach to get him more reps.
And the kicker pushes it right and Boise’s title hopes go up in flames because of a kicker in back to back years. They deserved to lose though since that penalty was such a Ron Cherry.

Just a wild finish. So exciting. Clemson just needs six or seven more crazy games like that and to win out and they could be playing LSU for the national title. It is like a one in a thousand shot including the ridiculous idea of Iowa St. beating Oklahoma State, but we will know a lot.

The game Clemson always finds a way to lose....no longer?

That is a game Clemson always loses. They lose it because they:
A. Always lose a game they need to win the ACC (the atlantic dvision was already clinched before the ’09 win over Virginia)
B. Always lose a game when “things” start happening. Punt return…turnovers….bad defense
C. Always play tighter and tighter as things flow downhill
D. Always plays down to their opponent when heavily favored in a game they need

Clemson won this game because the biggest change in the Dabo era is a team that
doesn’t always find a way to lose. In fact they often find a way to win. Entering this season, Clemson only had nine comebacks from being down 14 or more. This year they have three. This is partly due to Dabo’s team not panicking, and partly due to Clemson having a bad defense and the best offense in the history of their program. In the Bowden era, it seemed like any game that got to 14 points ended as a huge blowout. The only exception I can think of is the ’99 Ga. Tech game when Joe Hamilton led the Jackets to 14-0 and 21-7 before Clemson came roaring back. Now, I have no illusions that Dabo is the new Saban or Les Miles, but it appears the program is much more resilient.

Clemson had so much more talent than Wake that they were able to overcome a game in which the Tigers gave up a punt return, three turnovers, and a quarterback who threw six passes directly into the hands of a Wake Forest defender. They also overcame injuries to their starting left tackle and the near immortal Sammy Watkins. They caught some breaks. Wake missed a field goal right after Clemson missed on 4th and inches. (I think that was the right call by Dabo. You expect to get a 4th and inches with a big QB and veteran O line. Even if it is on your own 30. Plus a quick score by Wake after that wouldn't be as devastating as a long drive would have been.) That field goal always goes in. But it didn’t. Then the Cat Man misses a chipey. We all knew that wasn’t going in. Somehow he gets a chance to redeem himself. And does. I’ve watched Clemson too long now. Over a decade. Did not expect that one to go in. Maybe in a few years we will start to expect things like this, but right now it is still a fun new experience.

Again, not sure how I feel about Steele. Love that he went to press coverage and more people in the box in the 2nd half, but still plenty of issues. On Wakes long TD run, the defense had only 2 defensive linemen and nobody else on the weak side of the formation. I like the aggression, but I don’t get why five of your front seven need to be on one side of the formation. Anyway, hard to blame the defense too much when Wake had a short field the whole day and one TD was special teams. This defense gives up a lot of long drives and you think, okay…be a bend, no break defense. But then they rarely hold the other team to a field goal. So they are a bend and break defense.

Anyway, hard to complain about 9-1. Getting a win in Raleigh means the best season in 20 years. Getting three more wins down the stretch means the best season since ’81.

College coaching debut

Due to our head coach having family things to attend to, I was given the task of coaching our team. It was a great opportunity. I had some head coaching experience, but that was at the JV high school level. At that level, all I did was have two set plays and make sure the guys played hard and gave great effort on defense. That was good enough to go 30-1 over two years. I bring up that record just to bring attention to a very funny story. In my first year I was 14 or 15 and 0 and with only 19 games in the season and no post season. Of course, the goal was to finish undefeated. Every game I had worn my Clemson ring and every game had ended with a victory. The morning of this 15th or 16th game I could not find my ring. It had disappeared. I had to give up the search so I wasn’t late for school. I called my sister to continue the search and she could not find it.

We wound up losing our first game of the year. In an unrelated topic it was the only game I have ever coached with a female ref. Anyway, the ring was found the next day in my underwear drawer. Wore it for our last five or six wins and all the way through the next undefeated season. To review, coaching with the ring 30-0, without 0-1.

I, of course, wore the ring this weekend and sadly to say the ring is no longer undefeated. The ring actually took one on the chin the first night. Happily, this year’s team has taken my personality, due of course to recruiting and our focus in practice. Meaning we play very hard, we are fairly tough, and we get after people on defense. So we held a college basketball team to 63 points in a 40 minute game. Pathetically we still lost by 17. That is right. 46 points in a college basketball game. 17% from 3 and 55% from the FT line will usually mean defeat. At one point they went on an 8 to 0 run and since I hate using timeouts and want my team to play through tough times, especially early in the year, I had not called a timeout. Then another turnover happened and I was contemplating a timeout when I see a ref staring at me braced to call one. I’ve never seen a ref more sure a coach was about to call timeout. It was funny and sad at the same time. With that kind of peer pressure, I had to call one.

Maybe we played poorly because I had our team dressed in black since we were the first team listed on the schedule. The host coach says, “You are on the home bench.” I say, Huh?” Apparently on the sheet it said the home team was listed first. I say, “Who puts the home team first?” I’ve never heard of the home team first. Thankfully we didn’t leave the whites at the hotel room and changed real quick. I doubt this change in plans affected the team, but you always think about these things as a coach. If it did affect our team, they are way too mentally weak.
So we move on to the 2nd night. Walk into the gym and the team that beat us by 17 is now losing by 15. And the team beating them by 15 got beat by the team we are about to play by 40. If you do all that transitive math, we look like 72 point underdogs. Thankfully, our opponent does that same math in their heads and is completely not ready to play, because if they were, they are one of the best junior college teams in the southeast. In a game never separated by more than six points ends with a 65 to 63 loss. At one point I was warned by the refs and we then got three straight calls.

It was fun, but winning games at the college level is a good bit tougher than JV. Duh!! In JV, we just wore the other team down with our press and eventually shot layups off of turnovers. In college you have to make some jump shots. Which we did not do the first night and did do the second night. As usual most games come down to who hits shots.

Tangent 1
Oh yeah, there is a Clemson game this weekend. No need for a whole lot of analysis. Clemson has more speed and talent. They are at home and 16 point favorites. None of this matters if they turn the ball over or their defense continues to play undisciplined. That said, I think the Tigers spent the last two weeks pissed off and focused on improving and getting healthy. A healthy Andre Ellington means a better rusher, a hopefully non-fumbler, and much better blitz pick up. Not that I am ever close to right but here goes.
Clemson 41 Wake 23

Big game?? Hope not

So Mickey Plyler had a blog about how this doesn’t feel like a big game. I couldn’t agree more. It doesn’t have that feel at all. There are many reasons. The disappointment of not being a national title contender anymore, as much of a pipe dream as that was. The opponent is not at all sexy. The opponent is average to good. The point spread is 16.

Here is why I can’t get fired up for this game any more than your average ACC game. Keep in mind I still get pretty fired up when we play Duke. Because if Clemson is to the point where we all hope it is and expect it to be, then you should destroy Wake on your home field. You shouldn’t let a lesser opponent hang around because your defense is undisciplined or your offense turns it over at will. Those things can happen, but they shouldn’t. Forgive me for not getting excited about a game Clemson should win by two or three touchdowns.

Of course a loss is still devastating and I will be watching every second, but that does not make this a “big game.” The things it can bring are big, but that doesn’t make this a big game. It doesn’t mean Clemson has to let a lesser opponent hang around just because Wake has a lot to play for. Screw Wake and what they have to play for. The better team should dominate. That said, it will be a painful game. If Clemson wins big you expected it, but if Wake hangs around every fan and sadly every player will get tighter and tighter. This team has been a second half team, but the first half of this game is huge.

Tangent 1
So now that the debate has been moved from anything that matters (such as a $15 trillion and growing debt) to a Clinton and Clarence Thomasesque charade. I don’t even really care much what happened, mainly because the truth will never be clear.

Here is the problem I have and no one seems to talk about it instead of the mindless he said, she said crap. The first day Cain claims to know nothing about this woman. Then the next day he remembers there was a “settlement/severance” and he can’t talk about it. Now, he is in full denial mode. So on the first day he was either lying or isn’t smart enough to remember being accused 15 years ago. So he is not smart or a liar or probably both.

More importantly this is the typical trick of Washington and the national media. Anything to not talk about the real changes that need to be made. Too many people remain rich in our crazy screwed up system, so anytime the story can be about something other than government waste and ineptitude they jump on it.

Tangent 2
What is up with pedophiles? How does a grown man have a sickness that involves him wanting to get with little boys? If genetic research does anything, I hope the pedophile gene is the first gene they can find and eliminate it or is it due to abuse and cyclical? Either way, it is gross.

Finally a high profile pedophile case not involving a catholic priest. Jerry Sandusky is almost as revered at State College as Joe Pa. He is the reason they dominated for much of Joe Pa’s reign. He is the reason Penn St. became Linebacker U. Joe Pa was probably stuck in a situation where he knew something was up, but also wanted to help a friend. So, he probably didn’t do as much as he should have and that is tragic for all those young boys. Should he be fired? Probably. He has done the right thing for like 60 years. Is one mistake over that long a career enough to be unceremoniously canned? I would have to say yes. Something this repulsive cannot be ignored. Joe Pa was in a position to put a stop to it. Maybe he was not aware to what degree things were happening, but I doubt it. We may never know. So sad to see a legend go out like this. Even sadder that innocent young boys are molested.

Another argument for legalizing drugs. Let’s clear out our prisons of all non-violent drug users and put pedophiles away forever. They have like a 3% rehabilitation rate, so I say lock them all up for life. Instead of now where a pot smoker can get a longer sentence than Sandusky will get. I'm not saying I am for drugs I just think the War on Drugs isn't doing anything to stop their use and is creating the dangerous and lucrative underground drug world. As Ron Paul put it and I am paraphrasing here: The federal government is obviously losing the war on drugs when they can't keep drugs out of federal prisons where there are armed guards everywhere.
That is pretty funny.

Finish strong

To me the beauty of college football is in the regular season. When your team is undefeated you still have that small glimmer of hope. Many teams have started the year unranked and won the national title including the 1981 Clemson Tigers. College basketball, NBA and baseball don’t play games that matter all that much until the playoffs. Even in the NFL where games are crucial for seeding and home field are not do or die. Only one team has had an undefeated regular season since the 76 dolphins. Plus, going 14-2 usually will win you the conference and 12-4 will almost always win your division and put you in good shape for the playoffs. Or you could even go 9-7 like last year’s Packers and still win the Super Bowl.
Not in college football. You have to win every game to win it all (except the rare year a one loss team gets a shot). Every regular season game for an unbeaten team is a play-off game. So that makes the GA Tech game hurt even more. Twice now in 11 years the hated Jackets have put the kibash on an 8-0 year.
Eleven years ago it started a 1-4 finish. Hopefully the Tigers can right the ship and beat Wake. Then win in Charlotte to give the Tigers 10 wins for the first time in a long time. Here is hoping.

Tangent 1
I was just doing some internet surfing and stumbled on a story about the wonderful Iraq embassy. For a country we plan on not remaining in as an occupation force this is quite an embassy/fortress. 104 acres and its own water supply and electrical grid. Not to mention it is smack dab in the middle of Baghdad’s downtown. An eyesore and a point of contention for the Iraquis who actually want to rule themselves. It only coast 600 million dollars we can’t afford. Anyway, very interesting.

Tangent 2
Love that Kardishian couldn’t even make it three months in her marriage. I’m starting month seven and the real nightmare of marriage doesn’t start till month four. Just kidding.

ATLANTA!! WORST!!

Not in mourning due to Clemson defeat, but just got busy due to basketball. First game is tonight. I am on the bus traveling through rural GA. Just passed Ogeechee Tech. Never heard of it. Thought I had heard of every college in GA. Anyway, the game Saturday was awful. I said before I love our offense being great, but it is frustrating having a below average defense. I don’t think Clemson has had a defense this average for the last five years. I don’t feel like looking it up, but it has been a little while since the defense was this mediocre. I wouldn’t fire Steele, but I would hire an “advisor” for the week of the Ga. Tech game and tell him to get some much needed rest that week. Last year they did a pretty good job of stopping the option, but the other three times he has faced it, Steele has led a defense that looked lost for most of the game. I am not a football coach, but it is rare you see 4 dbs in the game against an option attack. After the game, Steele spoke most about the big plays they gave up. I think that is the wrong approach against the option. You have to put 9 in the box and every now and then they will break through for a 30 or 40 yard gain. What kills you is giving up 4, 5, 3, 6, 5, 4. You can’t just sit back and play bend, no break. Because unlike a passing attack that can get a little stalled in the red zone or is due to turn it over if you make them throw the ball enough because of the lack of room to operate, an option attack doesn’t need space. It is just as effective on the 5 as it is at midfield. Anyway, Steele is partly to blame, but no scheme works when seven of your 11 defenders are laying on the turf after every play. Holy cut blocks! Every time they ran toss I could have been at tail back and gained at least five yards.

Not to make excuses, but I think that might have been an old fashioned shootout if Ellington plays. Probably would have had two less fumbles and his picking up of the blitz is much better than the freshies. As talented as this freshman class is it is always hard to play freshman. They always struggle with fumbles and make so many mistakes only coaches notice. Even the immaculate Sammy Watkins ran the wrong route that cost us a late TD. As a coach I will tell you sometimes the only good thing about Freshman is that they are Sophomores the next year. But, to win a lot of games in football you need to be deep.

As bad as the Tigers looked, they never did quit. The offense got it rolling, but was just derailed by a few drops and turnovers. The defense gave Clemson a chance with that interception, but did not give much resistance on the last drive.
And now onto the punt decision. Let me preface this with it would not have meant we won. In retrospect it actually worked out because the Jackets were dumb enough to put the ball in the air. All that said, it was a terrible decision. Yes 4th and 10 is a long way, but this is a vertical passing attack. I would put our chances of converting a 4th and 10 at 25 to 30%. That is a high enough percent to go for it at midfield with less than ten minutes to go in a game where you have NOT stopped the other team.

On a lighter note… Atlanta sucks for college football. No tailgating and fearing for your life most of the time. One young man ran by us and screamed, “OH YEAH!! I GOT A MOTHERF#$ING PLATE!!” We don’t know what that means but pretty bizarre. Later when negotiating with scalpers who wanted 100, I said how about 70. He turned with a lit cigarette in his gold filled mouth and said, “70 what…Dollars??” And then we walked away and stumbled later into 20 dollar tix. Had I known it was going to be that bad of game I wouldn’t have paid a dime. I like that the stadium is so old and historic, but it is a nightmare to get into from most gates and the worst part is there was no RELISH OR ONIONS for my hot dog. You pay 4 dollars for a hot dog, you expect to be graced with all the condiments a hot dog deserves. But the main reason I hate Atlanta is because Clemson has a 6 game losing streak there.
4 Tech games, Bama opener blow out and the Peach Bowl loss to Auburn.

Maybe next year the Tigers can end that streak by beating Auburn next year in the opener. More importantly the Tigers need to rest up and beat the crap out of Wake.

Tigers v. Jackets preview

Today is exactly eleven years after Tampa native Gary Godsey threw a TD pass that landed 30 feet in front of me. It landed in the waiting hands of a Jacket WR with 8 seconds left and he barely got one foot down to give them the victory. Clemson was 8-0 then and has not been 8-0 until this year.

Someone commented, “Will Boyd look like crap early like Va. Tech and Maryland?” So I thought, but that is the only two road games. Surely he has looked good early in other road games. Then my friend stated, “Clemson has only played two road games and quit calling me Shirley.” This is a concern. This very young team is still not battle tested on the road. Granted at Georgia Tech is not a rough environment (at least not on the field, because the rest of Atlanta is one giant cesspool) and will probably be half full of Clemson fans, but it isn’t the friendly confines of Death Valley.

Both teams average over 40 points a game. Over anyone? I think I saw it was in the 60s. Wow. Still tempting when it is that high. Sounded to me from the little I watched of Ga Tech vs. Miami that Miami said screw reading and reacting, we are going to just fire our LBs and blow up the line. You would think that would force more stops while also giving up big plays, but it didn’t. It just forced more stops. I don’t think the Tigers will do this. I think we will see the same tentative, do I hit the QB or the RB stuttering from our Def. Ends and LBs. When in doubt hit the hell out of the QB. An option guy should get hit 20-25 times a game. That will wear on him and then he will start pitching every time. Hopefully I am wrong and Clemson will crush him, a lot. Actually I think I will count how many times he gets hit. If it is over 20 Clemson will win.

No clue on this one. I always hate the Ga Tech game. I feel like we have had more talent than them for the last two decades, but they usually play smarter and more disciplined.

Clemson 38 Tech 31

Tangent #1
The NCAA now will give $2000 to full scholarship athletes to pay for incidentals. These incidentals include laundry, going out to movies and the ever essential for the growing athlete: pot, beer and strippers. As I said before the really poor players already get a $5,500 govt. check from your hard earned tax dollars. That’s right. The Pell grant doesn’t care if you already have a full scholarship, they will still cut you a $5,500 check as long as your parents make less than 40 Gs! So now those kids will have $7,500 in walking around money. They will be one of the richest people on most college campuses. I know I never had $7,500 to spend.

Who actually benefits will be the ones from middle to low income households who do not qualify for the Pell grant. But these kids are getting a free education and for 18 years their parents had to pay to feed them, clothe them, etc.. Now all the kid really needs is like 50 bucks a month and you can’t come up with that. You have no tuition, no room, no board to pay for and you can’t come up with $50 a month. Please.

These kids walk around like the school owes them something just because they can catch a football or dunk a basketball. Yes, it probably stinks that the school and the NCAA is making a ton of money off of you, but that money gets spent on non-revenue sports at the school level and the lower Divisions at the NCAA level. I’m not going to pretend there isn’t waste and fraud in the NCAA, but that is not a reason to now pay players. They are already paid with the opportunity to earn a free degree. A degree studies show is worth on the average of a million dollars in earning potential over one’s lifetime.

Tangent #2
So I got some random email about some house bill called "Student Non-Discrimination Act," and if it gets passed the email claims:

"In fact, it will set them up to ram through their entire perverted vision for a homosexual America."

I guess they don't see the humor (or maybe they did) in using the term "ram through." Whether you agree with your classrooms being pro-gay or not is this really something that should or can be enforced at the federal level?

Heisman and Pres. Candidates - THE BOYD/PAUL TICKET

So Tahj is now 4th in a lot of Heisman talk. If he keeps his numbers at this same pace and Clemson finds a way to go 13-0 then all he would need to have happen is Stanford to get beat once or twice, Bama get beat once and somehow hope either Boise loses or their QB slows down his sick pace. Basically what I am saying is all their numbers are so similar it will go to whomever leaves their team to an undefeated regular season.

The Tigers lead the nation in snaps. When I heard that one of Chad Morris' biggest goals was to have 80 snaps a game I thought that is not nearly as important as other stats. But, you can't have a lot of snaps without sustaining drives and you also need to actually run a "hurry-up" no-huddle offense. Since the departure of Rich Rodriguez the Tigers have always ran a no-huddle, but rarely a "hurry-up." Nothing was more frustrating over the last decade than watching the Clemson offense manage to get a little momentum (rare enough) going and rush to the line and then turn to the sideline while their lineman sit there wasting energy in a 3-point stance and then run an awful play. So now I understand the snap goal. Do you really think Chad is just this brilliant at halftime. Maybe he is a little, but more than that is these defenses are dead tired in the 2nd half. Research says the first thing to go for an athlete when fatigued is not speed or strength, but the brain. Defenses break down when they are tired, because they struggle to make the quick decisions needed. Thus the domination of the Tigers in the 2nd half.

What worries me is if Ga Tech can sustain drives then the Tigers will not wear down the Tech defense like they have other teams. This is the big game. If the Tigers can get to the bye week and lick their wounds they should be ready for the last three.

And time for a tangent:
Saw a great article about Dems registering as Rep. to vote for Ron Paul. They are a little pissed that Obama lied and said he would get troops out of Iraq immediately. And since Ron is the ONLY Republican candidate to pull them out of Iraq and Afghanistan and cut "Imperial" spending, he is the only choice in either party if you are anti-war.

Dr. Ron is finally saying he will not cut any money to "defense," but cut money to mantaining our empire. We will be safer if we weren't overextended. It's like basketball. If you run a full court press, you will create some turnovers (kill terrorists), but you will also give up some easy baskets (attacks on your soil). The best way to protect your basket is to get as many players in the paint or troops on your home soil. There are 10 terrorists from a country the US has a base in for every one who is from a country we are not in. There are whole books on this "blowback" principle. They don't hate us as much because of our "Western" ways, they hate us because we won't mind our own business.

Anyway, the blue republican aricle has some really good paragraphs http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robin-koerner/blue-republicans-an-idea-_b_897405.html

"As we were all having our "I'm right, you're wrong" Democratic and Republican arguments, the powers that be made themselves more powerful, and while we were arguing, we have lost most of the rights that we weren't arguing about because we took them for granted.

It is as if we have suddenly looked up from an argument at the kitchen table over which sofa we should buy for the living room, only to find out that the house has been foreclosed on and we're homeless. Sure, the issues we were arguing over were important -- but they were not the most important, nor are they now the most urgent.

As I have written elsewhere, America has been brought to its knees by a Left that has empowered the state and a Right that has subsidized big business."

Brilliant. That is why Ron Paul is actually a third party candidate. There is no difference between Obama and the other Republican knuckeheads. 9-9-9 only talks about a new way of collecting taxes, but doesn't talk about spending. Great, another beuracracy to collect your national sales tax and I'm sure every business in the country will be so on top of getting every dime to Washington. Changing the way you bring in revenue without talking about cuts is like a family in debt deciding they will change from Discover to Mastercard to pay for everything.

Everyone should quit worrying about can Ron Paul win. Someone told me all that matters is beating Obama. I used to think that, but all other of these candidates would change nothing. Any vote for them is a vote for future bankrupcy, endless war and possibley the end of the great experiment known as America. As I got older I started to really like the ideas Republicans said. That the government (especially at the federal level) is inneficient and unproductive and that people should be empowered and not enabled by the welfare state. But Republicans are in bed with big business and especially the military/govt/industrial complex. I now would never call myself a Republican. I am a conservative and until more people like Ron Paul are in the Republican party then I will stay away. I think Ron would love to run under another party, but he knows the better thing for our country is to try and push more people in his direction.

So there is very little difference between the two parties and if you are Democrat leaning, fine, stay that way. But for this one election see if you like what the old man stands for. He stands for everything Ben Franklin, GW and Thomas Jefferson does. There is a reason those men feared so much power in one place and tried to spread it around to the states. That reason is the mess we are in now.

The "Death" is back

So for most of the last 20 years the home field of Clemson might have been referred to as "The Valley." Now it is starting to return to the glory days of the eighties when Clemson only lost about three home games in the whole decade and it was DEATH Valley. In the 90s three losses in a year was not impossible. Not only are the Tigers back to beating teams at home, Clemson is annihilating them. It might be too quick to change mindsets, but it is nice sitting in that stadium and not expecting the other shoe to drop. I kept saying to the person next to me that even though everyone is predicting (including me) a close game, shouldn't we just beat the crap out of this team. I had said something like 55 to 10 at the tailgate. Well, if the Clemson secondary would quit giving up those huge plays and if Spencer Benton was in there to crack skulls on the kick off it would have been 55 to 10. Dabo has changed the culture on the team in one short year and also with the fan base. Fans have grown to expect great half time adjustments or just that the fast paced offense will wear down the defense. Whatever it is, most of the 79,000 in attendance are believing and most importantly the 85 scholarship athletes are believing. "Honk, Honk! Either get on the Dabo band wagon or get out of the way, because I am driving it again!" For those wondering, I didn't just start driving the original wagon, but have up upgraded to a nicer model.

I love that we were recruiting a big time Off. Tackle from NC and decided to bring him down for the UNC game. His last four choices were UNC, NC St, USC and Clemson. Based on his other three choices I question if you even want a kid considering those waste lands, but I do love that Dabo and Jeff Scott said, "Okay, you are considering UNC. How 'bout you come down Oct. 22nd. We will get you some booze and women and you can watch us beat the ever loving crap out of UNC." Just kidding Dabo would never use booze and women to recruit. By the end of the game, the young man was coming to Clemson. There is something in those hills. If you can just get a kid on campus they can feel it. Of course there is a lot more in those hills when you have 59 on the scoreboard in the 3rd quarter!

A few questions to consider:
Does anyone else feel like buying ACC Championship tickets is the ultimate kiss of death?

Does anyone wonder why Terry Don hasn't already offered Chad a boat load of money to stay? (I hate to jump on that band wagon after only 8 games, but holy crap this offense has been scary good.)

Does Steele just watch the Miami/Ga Tech film on loop or does he take the Clemson plane down to South Beach and beg their DC for advice?

Is there any uglier color than Carolina Blue? (Remember that Chad Morris, when they offer you the head job here in two months. Stay at Clemson and help build something special or head to Chapel Hell and be Roy Williams little b$%ch?)

Is it my fault I forget sun screen when it is 30 degrees when you start tailgating?

Can you really not talk about Tahj Boyd for Heisman at this point? (We will see. I heard Ron Paul called Tahj to discuss the heart ache that comes from the media ignoring you when you are a deserving candidate.) Oops, did I just slip Ron Paul into this Blog.

How many times will I have to type Dabo on here before this Blog's spell check realizes it's not an accident I am typing the letters Dabo?

Any of the answers to these questions would be greatly appreciated on the comments below. These are very pressing matters folks!!

UNC Preview

Our first full length stop clock exhibition was Wednesday. It went pretty well. As a junior college we did pretty well to hang around with a four year school. I love when refs come over and they are kind of too into the moment and a little adrenaline is going and they talk to our head coach and say things like, “What you got to do is know that when you say it, then we gotta roll with it. I hear you and that is the end of it. No need to harp on it cause we are gonna roll.” “Huh?” says our coach, “I wasn’t even yelling at you about anything.” Then later in the game another one says, “Coach that is enough.” Again coach says I wasn’t even talking to you. Reply: “It’s a package deal. Package deal.”

On the way up was even more interesting. I can’t stand modern rap, but I figured instead of eight black players in anguish as Toby Keith sings about patriotism it is better that only one white person is appalled by songs centered solely on drugs, murdering and quickies. The first song had a great line: “She so cool she gives ___ with her shades on.” I’ll let you fill in the blank and it wasn’t gifts if that was your first guess. Next song had the chorus, “I aint lookin for love, I just want a quickie. I don’t want no hickey, I just want a quickie.” Those are words to live by. I put something similar in my wedding vows. Not to be outdone by the wonderful wisdom of: “I’m out there gettin it, so of course I’m spendin it.” I wanted to reach through the radio and tell him to buy some silver! We mock rappers sometimes for their ridiculous expenditures, but right now with the inevitable crash of the dollar the smartest thing to do is probably to buy gold chains.

As for Clemson, last week was a crazy roller coaster ride. The Tiger defense is by no means good, even though Brian Griese kept saying, “Wow, Maryland is torching this very good Clemson defense.” What they are is opportunistic and have made enough plays to allow a great offense to win games. Yes, they were very good at Virginia Tech and for a half against Auburn, but I would say the defense is average to above average. That said, I expect them to hold UNC in the twenties. Maybe they won’t. Again, I’m not in the prediction business especially this season. Of course it could always be your trap game with Georgia Tech a week away. Who knows? Clemson could win by 40 or lose.

Plyler had a great blog on Wed. Every year, ESPN in an effort to self promote a college playoff they would make a ton of money off of, claims the world is caving in. This will be such an injustice to Clemson and Stanford if all 8 teams go undefeated. Plyler showed that in the last nine seasons 79 teams were undefeated after Week 7, yet only 23 went into the bowl games undefeated. And only Auburn went undefeated out of a BCS automatic qualifier conference and still denied a title shot. Did you know Boise has had an undefeated regular season four of the last seven years? I am surprised the entire state of Idaho hasn’t petitioned Congress to help them get a play off.

I wouldn’t mind the top four playing a quick playoff, but the thought of eight or 16 just doesn’t do it for me. How awesome is the Bama-LSU game going to be? How about the Okl.-OSU game? Neither of those games would matter nearly as much if eight got in. College football is the only sport left with a regular season that matters. Clemson probably doesn’t go undefeated, but every game on their 12/13 game schedule is a national championship semifinal game. Any loss and they are out. That is what makes it great. A college football playoff would be great, but what we have now is pretty darn good. I think four would be good because I hate the idea of an undefeated team being left out. Any one loss team has no beef because they should not have lost. Hopefully Clemson can eclipse mine and Vegas' season win total by only Week 8.

Clemson 34
UNC 23

Ronnie

All right. So I will try and keep this short and not preach. Our debt is out of control. Anybody with a 5th grade math education and an internet hook-up can tell that. It is 14.7 trillion and going up 4 billion a day. No candidate for the Republican primary is talking about any real cuts except one, Ron Paul. Some talk about vauge cuts over the next ten years, but in ten years the dollar will be about as valuable as Stephen Garcia's draft stock. Some of the candidates even talk of a war with Iran. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have, most importantly, cost us over 6,000 soldier's lives and over 32,000 wounded. The cost financially is already at least 2.3 trillion and probably at least another trillion over the next 50 years caring for our wounded veterans. A war with Iran would cost at least as much in human lives and financially. Anyone who suggests that is a good plan of action is dilusional or in bed with defense contractors and probably both.

I know I sound like a hippie in the 60s but these wars aren't wars of defense. If some country showed up on our shores and attacked us I would be all for fighting them until the last one was dead. But, the fighting over there only creates more terrorists. Sept. 11th was awful and revenge was on everyone's mind. But every attacker but one was from Saudi Arabia, so we attack Iraq and Afghanistan? The reason they were from Saudi is because terrorists are ten times more likely to be from a country where the US has a military presence. They hate us over there! Does that justify Sept. 11th? No. But it tells you that after the attack people like Bin Laden were hoping we would attack and help his recruitment. We did and it has.

You may not agree with the fact that leaving the Middle East would actually make us safer. You may think they will always hate us no matter what we do (even though in the early part of this century the US was well respected in the region). But, look some stuff up for yourselves. Don't just let the media tell us it's the only way. Besides whether you agree with the war or not, we can't afford it. This is the best and only way to make quick spending cuts that would not hurt anyone and even save a few lives.

Today is a big day for Ron Paul. He is being ignored by the media, because he is the only person for real change and change scares the rich folks bank rolling TV channels. So today he is trying a grass roots movement to collect so much money he cannot be ignored. If you like/love Ron Paul (and truly feel he is the only hope for our struggling country) then please give him money. If you don't know anything about him go to his website: www.ronpaul2012.com. Search his name on you tube. Watch the Jon Stewart interview. It is hilarious. His views may seem shocking at first, because we have gone so far down the wrong road that correct principles seem foreign and crazy. His principles are the same as guys named Washington, Jefferson, Franklin and Madison. He isn't crazy. Crazy is this massive debt. But, please don't let me decide for you. Don't let the media decide for you. Don't let anyone convince you he can't win. Cain is rocketing up and he stands for nothing really. People are dying for an intelligent, principled leader who will do what is best for our country. Not what's best for his cronies, his pocket book or his political party.

Maryland review

Again, Saturday showed why I don't spend much time predicting. I doubt anyone would have predicted 100 points would be put on the board. When Maryland plays Clemson in basketball there probably won't be that many points on the board. At halftime I still felt secure about the Tigers ability to come back. Then when the Tigers went down 38 to 24 late in the 3rd I didn't think we would stop them enough to make a come back. Wasn't too worried about the offense, but the D gave no inkling of getting a stop. But they made enough. Within nine minutes the Tigers went from down 11 with the ball on their own 30 to up 4. Then they added two more touchdowns in the next seven minutes. Pretty explosive bunch.

Somebody made a comment that Sammy had a great game when you forget about his kick return to the 30. I sure as heck didn't forget about that. With a team that looked totally unready to play and a defense playing awful AND a QB looking terrible I remember that kick return very well. If Tahj had to start that drive on his own 20 he may have continued to pee all over himself, but with the great field position he was able to loosen up a little and Clemson was able to score using mostly Ellington. The kick return was bigger than the one he housed in the second half. In the second half the Tigers probably score either way.

As much as Chad Morris seems to be a brilliant OC, it was still frustrating early on in the game. After the first drive of 10 rushes for 90 yards and only one pass for five yards, he starts the second drive with an ugly Boyd incompletion and a 22 yard run by Ellington. What would you do next? Three straight incompletions. Maryland's d line was awful. Run it down their throat. Next drive: 4 yard run followed by pick 6. I had no faith in Tahj at that point, but he came back and looked great in the second half.

Tigernet gives us these little tidbits:
*This was the second greatest comeback in Clemson history and just the second time in history that the Tigers have overcome an 18-point or more deficit. Clemson overcame a 28-0 deficit to defeat Virginia 29-28 in Charlottesville on Oct. 10, 1992.

*Clemson also overcame a 14-point deficit against Auburn. This 2011 team is the only team in Clemson history to overcome two deficits of 14 points or more in a season.

Very resillient bunch. Had to overcome early turnovers. The defense not showing up. Sadly, that effort against a better opponent would have ended in a butt whipping. Being a second half team is good, but you can't just play awful for a half. Hopefully, the Tigers put two halves together against UNC.

Sophomore slump and Maryland preview

What is the deal with a Sophomore slump? It makes no sense. Usually a player makes his biggest jump in production from his freshman to his sophomore year. They adjust to the speed of the game, they get in the weight room and they have more familiarity with their coaches, teammates and the system. So freshman with average years can come back and be good to great their sophomore year. You might not see much improvement after the sophomore year, but there is a big jump after the freshman year. This is the reason the red-shirt is such an effective tool for mid-major basketball programs. They realize you get very little out of most true freshman, so they red-shirt almost all of them and then do damage in March with a ton of fourth year juniors or fifth year seniors.

But for some reason when a player has a great freshman year, there is a significant amount of players who take a dump on themselves their sophomore year.

Two examples of each case are the QBs at Clemson and Maryland. Holy crap, has Tahj Boyd improved from his freshman year (all be it a red-shirt freshman year). This, after a freshman year where even in his limited action he looked very inaccurate and confused. Plus, you would like to hope if he was this good last year in practice he would have unseated Kyle Parker (another soph slump guy).

Maryland had Freshman Danny O'Brien at QB last year and threw for over 200 yards per game and 22 TDs with eight picks. This year he is throwing for less than 150 yards per game, only four TDs and already has six interceptions through six games. He may not even get the start Sat. in favor of fellow Soph. C.J. Brown. Two programs going in totally different directions mainly because of the play of the QB.

Of course there is always more factors to consider. Is Tahj that much better or is it mostly due to Chad Morris' system? Would anybody look great throwing to NFL WR Sammy Watkins, NFL possibility Nuke Hopkins and NFL TE Dwayne Allen? Did he just work his butt off in the summer? Was he pretty good last year, but just didn't get a chance to settle in (I don't think this one is true)? Is there film on O'Brien now, so defenses know his tendencies? Is the new OC at Maryland much more a Napier and the old one more like a Morris? Did the fear of Ralph Friedgen eating him for a halftime snack help motivate O'Brien to greatness? These are all questions very difficult to answer.

What I do know is Maryland is a dangerous place. Playing at night will help. The crowd will be slightly louder, but that is much less of a fear than the Tigers sleep walking through a day game. I've been to Byrd, crowd noise will only be a factor on a few 3rd downs. Weather isn't too much of a factor. Low 60s but very windy. It is a misconception that wind effects a throwing team. Wind effects the crappier QB. A guy who throws a tight spiral is not effected very much by the wind (I should know, I was an Intramural Quarterback, haha). Look at Jim Kelly and Brett Favre. They were amazing in bad conditions because they threw tight spiral lasers. Hopefully Jim Kelly's son (heading to Clemson) will do the same. Anyway, Tigers will be in more of a fight than fans would like and hopefully Tahj isn't jumpy with his new hip injury. (BTW - he was not wearing a hip pad when he got injured! WTF - why weren't you wearing a hip pad? Apparently, all Dabo kept saying over and over was "Why the hell aren't you wearing a hip pad?") Tigers will hopefully prevail to move to 7 dash 0.

Clemson 30
Maryland 20

BC and other observations

Finally got to watch the replay. Had a long day of scrimmages in Tallahassee for my basketball team on Saturday, so didn't see it live. They did well. Glad I didn't see Tahj's injury live. Would have been brutal. Looked like a textbook torn ACL injury and a guy who has already had one of those. Sammy looked like his typical disgusting self even though defenses are keeping him out of the end zone. He is due for pay dirt a couple of times against Maryland. Cole Stoudt looks more athletic than I thought he would be and is a servicable back-up, but to win the ACC he needs to stay a back-up. Sounds like Tahj will play so all is right in the Clemson football universe.

Andre did not get many holes on the inside, but that is BC's M.O. That inside LB Keuchly is sick nasty. He is probably the only guy on BC who will play on Sundays. His coach says he is like Urlacher. People don't realize Urlacher was so fast he played a lot of safety and LB in college. Even though he played at New Mexico, I saw him play live at UCF against the immortal Dante Culpepper. He was all over the field. I don't think Keuchly is Urlacher good, but he will play on Sundays.

Tig Willard and Andre Branch are starting to look like the playmakers the defense needs. Getting Anthony back healthy will help. Branch must talk crap to the refs, because they hate him. He barely touched the 250 lb Va Tech QB and got a flag and against BC he was already airborne when the QB threw and still was hit with a roughing the passer. That call was a joke. It was Clemson's first penalty leading to this exchange.

Me: Wow, we are well coached. Just really well coached.
Wife: Beep, Beep! (Implying I am again driving the Dabo band wagon)
Me: No, that is more an assessment of the offensive and defensive coordinators. (But, yes I am back driving the Dabo Doubledecker band wagon! Come on board, it's a fun ride.)

But, it is true. They look really well coached this season. When I am looking at football programs to see if they are well coached I think four things stand out.
1. Turnovers
2. Special Teams
3. Penalties
4. Are they prepared to play every Saturday regardless of oppenent or location

The first three Clemson has looked great.
The fourth one I would say Clemson is 5 for 6, with the team not looking ready to play against Wofford (at least defensively).

How fun is it to see Clemson's name pop up all the time nationally. Right now they are saying #7 in the BCS. Lot's of fun. Hopefully it continues.

Finally had an accurate prediction last Saturday. Yeah for me. I hate that you can just throttle BC up and down the field and the score never indicates that. But a win is a win is a win. Next up, Terps.

Clemson stuff and Junior College Randomness

Alumni Giving
So, while I was getting a call from the alumni office at Georgia College (who does a great job of politely hounding me for money), I checked on Clemson's alumni giving rate. It is 25th in the nation at 28%. The school gets credit if you even donate $5, so if any alumni are reading this I recommend giving at least a little. If for nothing else because we are tied for 25th with GA Tech and who can stand GA Tech. I didn't give for the longest, because I didn't believe in Parker's Top 20 initiative, but I figure what the heck, he is going to be there a while whether I give or not. Plus, I gave half to scholarships and half to the West End Zone project. So you can indirectly give to athletics. I wonder if IPTAY giving counts for alumni giving?

Best stories lately from the junior college realm:
1. Was doing room checks looking for safety issues such as plastic lamps and toaster ovens and if I happen to notice more dangerous safety items such as hand guns then I would probably note that too. One of the rooms had a huge box of extra large magnum condoms. Right next to that and actually touching the box was the holy bible.

2. Another juxtaposition is our student body. Almost all our on campus students are black. Almost all our commuter students are white. Our on campus putzes can be seen throwing oranges into the swimming pool, while our commuters can be seen wearing T-shirts "Does my lip stick match my four wheeler?" Actually saw that shirt today.

Other Random thought
I love that Fox News is complaining about a few "green" companies the government gave loans to and then failed. Why is the issue that a few of these didn't work. The issue should be the federal government should not loan money to a company. How does the federal govt. who is $14.83 trillion dollars in debt lend money to anyone? That debt is incomprehensible. This is a little easier to wrap your head around, that debt is $180,037 per family. And it is growing a ton. The debt goes up ONE MILLION every 35 seconds. So when you watch a college basketball game, every time the shot clock goes off you know your country just went ONE MILLION more dollars in debt. Lovely. Check out this website for a quick look: http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Random thoughts and BC

ESPN is so ridiculous. They have no backbone. So Hank Williams Jr said Obama and House Speaker John Boehner golfing is like Hitler and Netanyahu playing golf. Let's ignore the fact that Hitler died in 1945 and Netanyahu was born in 1949. I guess the fact that one is Jewish and the other wasn't too fond of Jewish folks is what he was going for. Of course everybody says he compares Obama to Hitler, because that makes for better news.

I love that Hank said it was a dumb statement and sorry it offended, but also said ESPN stomped on his first ammendment privaleges by pulling his song. He said: "I have made MY decision . . . Me, My Song, and All My Rowdy Friends are OUT OF HERE." ESPN had every right to pull him and Hank has every right to fire ESPN. He will probably get picked up by NBC next year for Sunday night football.

This is just like when ESPN fired Rush Limbaugh because he commented on the most overrated QB of the last 20 years, Donavon McNabb, ""Sorry to say this, I don't think he's been that good from the get-go," Limbaugh said. "I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve. The defense carried this team."

At no point did Rush say anything that probably wasn't happening. Anyway, they let him go and they are so soft on anything. ESPN is just a 24 hour commercial for itself. Gameday doesn't go to the best game, they go to the best game on ABC/ESPN. Sports center focuses on sports they carry like the god awful WNBA.

One of the things ESPN does right is Dr. Lou. As much as most of us can't stand his Gamecockness (and once you have it, you can't get rid of it...it's like herpes), I still love his segment Dr. Lou. He was asked, "What is the biggest change from coaching today's players and the players of 40 years ago?" He is THAT old. He said, "The same change in all of society. Everybody now wants to scream about their rights and privileges, when 40 years ago we talked more about our duties and responsibilities." I coach and 9 times out of 10, if a kid gives up a bucket it is because A.his teammate didn't call out a screen B.someone else should have helped or C. someone was supposed to switch with him. Rarely does a kid say, "I'll just do better next time." I'm guilty of it too. I come up with five excuses in my head for why I didn't get something done. As I get older, I try to supress those thoughts and think about how I can just do better next time.

As for BC...
I can't stand that program. I can't stand they are 4-2 against Clemson since entering the ACC. They have no business in the ACC geographically or athletically and Clemson fails to prove that. Even with NFL QB Matt Ryan, at no time did BC have more talent than Clemson. They play smarter and possibly better coached. I was there last year in Chestnut Hill for the embarassing defeat that was the beginning of the end for the 2010 Tigers and for OC Billy Napier. At no point was the crowd a factor. This is also something frustrating for Tiger fans. The only very difficult venues to play in the whole ACC are Clemson, FSU and Va Tech. Maybe UVA, UNC and NC St can be somewhat tough when they are going good. I'll reserve judegement because I have not been there. Duke and Wake are the only other ACC stadiums I have not been to, but I know they are lame. Miami is not as tough you would think.

Anyway, as for Saturday Clemson should romp. Enough with the, "Do they have anything left in the tank?" Most of these kids are teenagers. Do you remember ever being tired when you were a teenager. It is Dabo's job to get these guys up for EVERY game, not just the big ones. That is where Tommy Bowden failed. He believed it was the player's job to motivate himself. This is true to a point, but a coach needs to express the importance of giving maximum effort regardless of opponent. I think Dabo is pretty good at that. He says it's only 12 Saturdays a year. If you can't get up 12 times in a year, something is wrong with you. As much as he will try though, the Tigers will have a little drop off. That said, a drop off still better mean the BC offense only scores at most 17 points. It is a high school offense.
(5-0) Clemson 34 (1-4) BC 17
I had us at 2-3 at this point and still going 7-5, so hopefully Clemson can go at least 5-2 down the stretch.

4th Quarter

14:14 to go. I swear if Clemson even gets a field goal her they win. Come on boys.

13:36 Get Sammy the ball!!! Daddy wants another shot

13:19 Nice drive. Three and out. Gosh dang it. End this!!!

12:24 Said Beamer ball for the first time, but then said it again 5 seconds later. That is two shots at once. Another awful call. Very clean block called illegal.

11:35 This game is no where near over.

10:55 Who is #12? Great play! Oh, yeah is the true freshman.

10:12 Kick the field goal Beamer. You are not getting a 4th and 4.

9:36 YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8:40 Just run the football and punt it

8:15 CLEMSON, quit snapping the damn ball with 20 on the play clock

7:15 “When does the clock really become Va Tech enemy?” Ummmmm 5 minutes ago!

6:05 YEEEEESSSSS!!! Holy crap this is fun!! TD for Bellamy puts Tigers up 23-3

And no more notes for the last six minutes. Why?!?! Because I was hammered (totaled 7 shots over the course of the 2nd-4th quarters) and calling every Clemson fan I know. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty good. Shouting into the phone on every play. What a great win for the Tigers. Largest margin of victory over a ranked opponent on the road. Most importantly 2-0 in the ACC and FSU is 0-1. I liked that the defense did not let a bad quarterback beat them. They came up and stuffed the run for the most part and forced a bad QB to make a play.

Today's victory brought to you by Jamison. It's PAWsitively delicious.

This is of course the most fun I've had following Clemson since 2000. Of course that year Clemson was 8-0 going into the Ga Tech game and it all came crashing down. Not to jump ahead, because Maryland and UNC are not gimmees, but Clemson could possibly go into Atlanta with both teams 8-0 and both ranked in the top 10. It kills me to root for the Rambling Wreck, but both teams at 8-0 would be great for exposure and for the whole ACC. Here's hoping.

While searching for a Jamison picture I spotted this one, couldn't get it any bigger, but visit the link. I think that's me, but I don't remember wearing that hoodie.
http://compare.ebay.com/like/320556769937?var=lv<yp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar

HALFTIME Just showed the pail right before the third quarter. That’s a shot. Still no BEAMER BALL reference. Has he not earned the respect of ESPN. He is only down 7 with a QB who probably wouldn’t start at Byrnes HS.

13:44 Va Tech RB Wilson scares the crap out of me. He is a more powerful CJ Spiller.

13:10 Great open field tackle by Tig Willard. Second of that series. I love that kid!!

12:55 Seven yard punt by the punter. Ummmm. Opposite of Beamer Ball.

12:32 We are about to break this Sh%$ wide open.

10:42 And we just did. Big throw to D. Allen. 17-3 TIGERS!!!! HELL YEAH!!! ANOTHER SHOT!!! MIGHT GET UGLY UP IN HERE!!
Announcer: “Tahj Gibson’s 13th TD” Who the F is Tahj Gibson?

10:42 I LOVE THE COFFIN CORNER KICKOFFS!! Very close to being out of bounds and their ball at the 40 though..

10:36 Good, get pass happy Va Tech. you win if you give the ball to Wilson. Logan sucks a ton.

9:42 Another blown call. No interference. FIRE RON CHERRY!! I CAN”T STAND HIM. HIS CREW CALLS EVERYTHING!! HE IS AWFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8:55 Just announced Breeland will not return. Shocker. He got knocked more silly than Lady Gaga costume.

8:01 TACKLE!!!! WR screen on 2nd and 20 and could have been tackled for only a two yard gain, yet a Hokie gained 15.

7:44 3rd and 1! Yeah!!! That’s right!!! PUNT THE BALL!!!! Apparantly Mike O’Cain is like Mike Spense and doesn’t want his best players in there on the most important plays. Little known fact. Mike O’Cain has a scalding hot daughter. She worked at Monterays when he was Clemson’s OC. Ignore the fact she was 17 at the time.

6:20 Score on this drive and the game is over.

5:31 Of course you don’t get a first down. Called J and here was my quote when Sammy didn’t get the 3rd and 3, “Get it, come un F%$%, D%$# it, what the hell, Get thD%$# first down!!” He got off the phone soon after.

5:05 MEEKS!! Big pass break up. Defense was realing.

4:11 ANDRE BRANCH!! PLAY OF THE GAME. It’s over now. Tigers are going to drive here to put it away!!
Watching bama f up a td play. My quote, “You are a joke of human being. You are an embarrassing a%$hole!”

3:19 Clemson drives here and scores they win. Uhhhhh. 1st down loss of 6!! D$%% it! Anyone notice how much more I curse with some booze in me.

0:44 Wilson almost had a 2 and 25, but gained 15!! I am so scared of him. Sick athlete.

0:00 One more quarter. Up 14. Don’t F this up. This is your time TIGERS!! Lot of explanation points when I booze too.

COME ON!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLD ON!!!! DON’T PLAY NOT TO LOSE!! (Editor’s note: I would change this double negative, but it’s funny).

2nd Quarter

13:21 Can anyone catch a FREAKING FOOTBALL. That would be our fourth drop. Boyd is putting a lot of tough throws on the money. Somebody make a play!!

11:16 IT’S ABOUT TO BE 3RD AND TEN AND THEY CALL ANDRE BRANCH FOR A GENTLE SHOVE ON THE QB OUT OF BOUNDS. I LUCKILY THREW A BLANKET. IT WAS THE FIRST THING I COULD FIND. THIS IS THE WORST CREW IN THE COUNTRY!

10:44 That was disappointing. On 3rd and 16 three Tigers waited at the first down marker to hit the QB. I know he is big, but you have to attack.

9:344 Big stop for the D. Va Tech special teams is down. Perfect punt to down on the one and the guy runs into the endzone with it. Thus the lack of Beamer ball comments. Changing rules: Half shot on every Sammy catch and/or Clemson score. GO SAMMY!!

9:02 Couldn’t find hat. Remembered I threw it during personal foul tirade. Found it under coffee table. Life is good. Need my lucky shirt and hat on at all times.

8:24 Bad pick!! Don’t throw at the all-american!!

7:25 D is stuffing the run. That is huge. (That’s what she said).
Beamer says I can keep doing this after all these years because, “We recruit great kids.” Really Frank. Vick runs a dog fighting ring. Deangolo Hall just complained his head coach was to blame for calling a blitz even though his ass was the one that got roasted on a game winning play.
If Va Tech gives the ball to Wilson every play they probably win. Put 9 in the box!!

4:44 Good timeout by Tigers. 3rd and goal at the 2. I think you have to sell out on the run and hope they don’t pass. If they do pass they aint very good at it. What will they do…..uh they will jump. Now 3rd and 7. Probably pass, but draw scares me.

4:35 FG attempt for Va Tech. Watch fake!! BEAMER BALL!! If I say it do I get to drink? It’s good. No fake. And Sammy with no catches in the second quarter? I can’t get my drink on!!

4:00Boyd rattled after pick. Two straight awful throws. 3rd and 10

3:44 Ellington finally catches a ball and picks up a huge 3rd down. Biggest block in the back not called.

3:04 Watkins not nearly as dominate when there are great athletes on the other side of the ball. He is still very good. It is only a matter time.
Half shot for me!!! Huge 3rd and 8 catch for Sammy!!

1:48 HALF SHOT!! TD!! ANDRE!! RUN IT DOWN THERE THROATS TIGERS!!!
Not that anyone cares, but clicked over and the Tampa Bay Rays lead 1-0 early. Great night thus far.
Is there any better jingle than “NAPPA KNOW HOW! NNNNNAPPA KNOW HOW!” I don’t think so.
And you do care about this! Gamecocks lose!! To the same team Clemson shellacked at home.
Please cover this kick!! They do and get a three and out.

1:11 Tahj still a little jumpy. Not on the money right now. Missed Nuke on a big gainer.Go deep here on 3rd and 1! Wuss. Took the Qb keeper.

0:30 Another Clemson ad. Oh my God!! They keep getting worse. I thought Raw Raw Research was the worst ever, but now Clemson is one spirit and say “Bring It On”. Really. We quoted a cheerleading movie.

At half up 7. I’ll take that. Our QB and our protection will improve. Their QB is just bad. Clemson has been a pretty good 2nd half team and I think it will be okay.
Enough with the Freaking first time ever we would beat a ranked teams for the 3rd straight week like we are pathetic for not doing it. Note to ESPN, no ACC team has ever done it. Very few teams have probably ever done it.

VA TECH!!!

What a great picture!! We know your agony #20, but now it is your turn.

Decided to do a running commentary of the game Saturday. Holy crap what a win! Now the defense is showing signs of life.

Earlier today: Was scanning the TV for the early games and found Air Force v. Navy. Then came to channel 4. They have Jason Aldean (very good country artist) singing one of his best songs, but the changed the words like Monday Night Football to fit the game. Was getting pretty excited, little bit of goose bumps and then…. Wake Forest versus Boston College…. Oh yeah!! Wow that is a great game.

Pre game notes - I am going to take a shot every time the announcers say “Beamer Ball” or show Bud Foster’s stupid lunch pail.

Hate when we wear all white on the road. Looks like we are wearing long johns.

14:56 Oh, my god RON CHERRY!! He might be the worst official in the nation. Sidebar: At the Clemson/FSU game in '09 Ron made an awful holding call or as I like to just call it a Cherry. As soon as he did it, I yelled, "Ron Cherry, you co@#sucker!" Not proud of it and my buddy leaned over and said, "you can't say co$%sucker in this section." Kids everywhere, but I just can't stand him as an official.
PUBLIC ENEMY #1

Ron is off to his usual start. Easily could have called running into the punter, but called the personal foul. First down Clemson.

13:00 1st Great start. Back to back three and outs. Three dropped passes. That’s more than the whole season thus far. Clemson is handling the cold weather just great.

12:35 1st Va Tech just going to spread the field and RUN!!
10:12 1st Temperature drops below 50 and nobody can catch!! Unbelievable. Pick for Clemson on a dropped slant that my sisters would have caught.

8:43 1st Great coverage on a punt. Watching Va Tech return a punt gives me the same feeling when I am up on a tall building. Total and utter fear!

6:14 Huge play. Clemson forces a fumble and returns it to the 3. But wait, a flag. Hold on Andre Branch. On the replay it shows Andre just deck someone and lay on top of him. Oh, Ron Cherry!! NO big deal, just a 56 yard penalty.

5:30 Ron Cherry on my screen again. He is getting more air time than Talhj Boyd. That is not a good thing.
Ellington’s second drop. Can’t throw to him anymore.

5:26 Holy crap! A faked bubble screen that is perfectly thrown. That will help the screen game later.

4:28 Sammy with another BIG TIME catch!! It’s nice having an NFL receiver as a freshman.

2:12 Cat Man made a FG!! You couldn’t have slipped one of Sammy Watkins dread locks between the ball and the upright. Looked way right off his foot. 7 would have been nice but points are always good. Gotta stack the box and make the Va Tech QB beat you.

1:50 Holy huge hit on the kickoff. Too bad the Clemson guy Breeland took all of the impact. He is concussed and will not return I would bet.

:50 1st Big three and out. D is flying around. Va Tech surprisingly has a terrible punter and only nets 30. And a good TE drag for a 1st down. End of the quarter. Dominated by the Tigers, yet only 3 to 0. No references to Beamer ball. Taking a shot anyway!

2nd Quarter tomorrow, 3rd Wed, and 4th Thurs.
Just to forewarn, the writing deteriates as Clemson improves!!

Something in these hills

So, instead of talking about what to expect in Blacksburg, because I don’t know, I wanted to go another direction. Instead of talking about the keys (as ALWAYS they will be turnovers and special teams), I want to talk about the greatness of Clemson as a place.

Joe Sherman does a better job than me:
“There is something in these hills that brings together and binds together and holds together men and women of all persuasions, of all heights, sizes, weights, and cultural backgrounds - something that cuts across every difference, spans every gap, penetrates every wall - something that makes a man or a woman stand taller, feel better and say with a high pride to all within earshot, "I went to Clemson."
There is something in these hills that you and I can't define and others can't understand. A wave of warmth always surges through me when "outsiders" say, "I don't know what it is about you Clemson people, but your undying love for Clemson is admired by everyone I know."

There's something in these hills and I suspect that's what it is - the ability of an institution through the unending dedication and greatness of its people - its administration, its faculty, its staff, its students and alumni - to impart to all it touches a respect, an admiration, an affection that stands firm in disquieting times when things around it give impressions of coming unglued.
Yes, there's something in these hills where the Blue Ridge yawns its greatness.”
That’s only half the poem and if you went to Clemson and haven’t read the whole thing in a while, I highly recommend.

The point is I was wandering around on Friday and the campus was its usual gorgeous self, the weather was amazing and I wanted to grab each student walking by and shake them and make them understand, “Never take this for granted!! This is the greatest four to eight years of your life!! You will never have this much free time again!! You will never have this little responsibility!! You will hopefully never be this poor again, but who cares!!”

This from a person who loves his job and loves his new wife (at least for now) and can’t complain about anything (other than the sad state of our federal govt.). All that said, my years at Clemson were AWESOME!! I lived with three of my best friends and a kegerator. It doesn’t get much better than that.

A few recent stories as well to show the awesomeness of the place. I got my diploma reframed after it took a tumble off the shelf. They quoted me 60 to do the etched glass again. I get there and she sees the picture is scratched up. Get’s me a new picture. Has to do more matting to make it fit and then charges me $50. I got more stuff and it was less than the quote.

Friends of ours were sold fake tickets by a scalper (obviously not a Clemson local) and the athletic department was nice enough to give them free tickets.
Speaking of free tickets, Clemson gave free tickets to anyone from FL that year hurricanes kept destroying that state, so my parents got four free tickets.
Got a burger, fries and a pint of yuengling for $5 at TDs. It’s as if this town is stuck in the 70s with its prices.

Last April, I was rolling through Clemson and had some time to kill, so I marched up to Dabo’s office and asked him if, as a fellow coach, I could ask him some questions about running a program and recruiting. He took 15 minutes of his day to sit down with me and answer some questions. That is pretty awesome.

It is a wonderful place. It puts me in a good mood just being there. I have nothing but fond memories of my time there, except for the heart wrenching football defeats and the entire Larry W. Shyatt era I had to endure. I made a ton of lifelong friends and memories. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend a trip. If you have been, I highly recommend you get up there for a game this year, because there is something in those hills. Hopefully an ACC Championship is added to those hills this year too.

Oh yeah, and:
Va Tech 30 Clemson 27

But what the hell do I know? Usually the optimist that is wrong, now I am the other
way and loving it!!
Also, enough with all the scary defensive stats from Va. Tech. Their d is probably pretty good, but it won't be top 5 at the end of the year. If it was a great d, they would be #1 in every stat, because no big boy school has played an easier schedule than Va Tech. No one.

What a fall so far?

So the Rays make the playoffs in thrilling fashion. My fantasy team "The Fighting Ron Pauls" is 2nd out of 12 teams. My Bengals bet (1-2)is looking okay needing them to lose at least 10. And most importantly (well, the bet is pretty important) is the fact that Clemson is 4-0 and not your normal playing of patsies 4-0.

The Rays are such a clutch franchise. Always seem to come up with the big hit when they need to. How wonderful was it to watch the great defensive outfielder and former Ray Carl Crawford fall on his face instead of throwing out the winning run for the Red Sox. This to cap off a pathetic year in which his On Base Percentage was only .289 and hit only 11 HRs and only 18 stolen bases. He can run like the wind and only stole 18 bases? Scott Van Pelt opposite Stuart Scott's ridiculous bow tie said "Tonight is why sports are better than anything else...always."

All these great games and I was already going to think up a list of greatest Clemson games since the turn of the century. Here's the thing though. I'm going to list them in their greatness at that moment. Not looking back, but their greatness when they happened. Of course, sadly, in retrospect none of these wins were very big, but many of them were exciting when they happened. This list was harder to compile than I thought. Not because there are that many wins, but because there are so many factors, exciting finish, beating ranked opponent or big rival, could lead to ACC title (never does!). Anyway here goes:

Honorable Mention
2001 at NC St. 45-37 Woodrow Dantzler probably played the greatest game a QB can play. Look up his stats. It's gross.

2003 Peach Bowl Tenn 27-14 Domination of a SEC opponent

2005 Texas A@M 25-24 Great game to start year. Kicker actually made kicks, 6 of them!!

2007 at So. Car. 23-21 Last second drive and kick for the win.

Drum roll please.....
10. 2011 #21 Auburn 38-24 They may be average this year, but they were national champs last year and they were up 21-7.

9. 2003 at So. Car. 63-17 Always nice to beat your rival this bad in their building.

8. 2003 #8 FSU 26-10 Finally beat FSU after a decade of them dominating the ACC. Was good to get that monkey off the back.

7. 2009 FSU 40-24. Helped to eventually clinch first Atlantic Division crown. In retrospect FSU was awful that year, but who cares. McDaniel destroyed Ponder's shoulder after picking off a ball and pointing right at him. It was great. Sorry about your shoulder though Christian.

6. 2001 at #9 GT 47-44 OT Woodrow was awesome. JJ McKelvey had like 23 catches. Best decision ever to drive to this one. The big wins are always a little sweeter on the road.

5. 2006 #13 GT 31-7 Clemson was #12 and Gameday was in Clemson. The building was rocking. Did not remember this, but the game was only 7-0 at half. I sure remember this being a butt kicking from the start.

4. 2011 # 11 FSU 35-30 Maybe this one will not be as big when we look back, but they are always way more exciting when you are still undefeated. There is always that what if this is finally our year to do something special? Plus the whole last 5 minutes were exciting and surreal.

3. 2000 #14 NC St 34-27 Beat a very good Phillip Rivers led Wolfpack team to go 6-0 and move to #4 in the nation. Felt like Tommy Bowden had something going, but wahhwahh.

2. 2009 at #10 Miami 40-37 OT Felt like this game could get the program over the hump. Great win over good opponent and exciting finish.

1. 2000 So. Car. 16-14 It was cold as crap. It was one of the few where Clemson didn't clutch defeat from the jaws of victory. Clemson did the opposite. The Catch II- Rod Gardner with a subtle push off and a huge catch to set up game winning FG. I was on the hill so it all happened right in front of me.
I ABOUT TOOK A DUMP ON THE HILL WHEN THIS HAPPENED!! Of course I didn't think our kicker would make the FG either!!
Note:
I have been at all of the top ten games, but one. Maybe being there skews my list a good bit? The only one I missed was for a wedding! One of the best weddings I've ever been to and we did watch the whole 2nd half on a white curtain (game was projected on to it). I spent the rest of the night yelling "Dabo has turned the corner!" and singing "Daaabo, Daabo Swinney" to the tune of the Top Gun theme played by the DJ. I also rapped Young MC Bust a Move. It was a great night.