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.

FSU v. Clemson observations

What a phenomenal experience in Death Valley. A very loud and passionate stadium. I've been to most ACC venues and I would say there isn't one better than Death Valley. Va Tech and FSU are the only ones even close and Death Valley is louder and has Howard's Rock.

As for the game, if Tahj Boyd continues to play at this level he will have to be talked about for Heisman consideration. If Sammy Watkins continues to play at this level he will have to be talked about for Heisman consideration. Holy crap are those guys playing well. I think Tahj will drop off a little because it is so hard for a QB to play this well every week, but Sammy is what he is. A tall, fast beast with sickly good hands. I am not exaggerating when I say he could line up on Sundays right now and be the 3rd receiver on most if not all NFL teams.

The best part of the game was the last five minutes. The stadium was going nuts/freaking out. When we got the first big stop the band played Tiger Rag and since the jerk in the red shirt that takes care of media timeouts refused to leave the field the band played the C-L-E-M-S-O-N part of Tiger Rag 5 straight times. Never heard them do that and each time it was so loud as we were trying to will the team to a win. Then later at the end of Tiger Rag the band quit playing while the crowd did C-L-E-M-S-O-N Acapulco (this is what spell check gave me when I tried to spell acapello??). That was awesome. Then Clemson clinched it with the sack and the Valley was louder than I have ever heard it and they played "We will Rock You" just like they did two years ago when Clemson beat FSU.

Some of my favorite moments were when my sister kept yelling, "Kill the Lolly Pop!" in reference to the 170 lb QB who looks like a sucker with his pencil body and large helmet. I enjoyed the family of three in front of us give us evil looks every time we screamed in there ears on big plays. Probably the only three in the building not cheering. Should have been removed by security.

I really feel this defense has a chance to be okay. What I don't get is why expectations were so high on defense? Did people not realize how disgustingly good DaQuan Bowers was? He was a human blitz. You only sent four and he put pressure on the QB every play. I guess fans felt with our LBs being so bad this year, better LB play would offset Bowers. Well it hasn't yet, but it is a very young defense. I felt like they stiffened up for the most part, but just got hit with big plays. Every deep ball Cole Trickle (was that his name or is that the guy from Days of Thunder) threw was EXACTLY on the money. If a QB puts a deep ball dead on stride there isn't much you can do especially if he was rolling out- see Ben Rothlisburger. Need more pressure on the QB and I think the D will be serviceable enough to go with this above average to great offense.

Special teams is still a concern as the Cat Man blew a kick WAY wide and they returned a kickoff a long way, only called back by a hold that was behind the play. This scares the crap out of me as we are about to play Beamer Ball, which is latin for we will dominate your ass on special teams.

A win is a win. A win at Va Tech would put an Atlantic Division crown as a very attainable goal. Right now the Tigers could easily go 6-2 (barring any major injuries, read Andre, Tahj, or Sammy) in the league which means the Noles would have to fall apart against one opponent in their extremely easy schedule. It may happen.

I love that Dabo is the toast of the town on the Internet. One bad showing this Saturday and they will be calling for his head again. I can't say too much, but I don't change game to game, maybe season to season. I loved the guy after '09 and thought he had turned the corner. I wasn't just on the band wagon, I was driving it. After '10 he looked like an idiot, mainly for thinking Billy Napier was ready to be an OC. But he had the balls to fire him and looks like that move saved his job. I jumped off the band wagon, but was willing to give him one more year. Now, I am too timid to get back on that bumpy wagon!! He says all the right things and can recruit like hell, but let's just see how this year turns out before we anoint or crucify him.

Clemson V. FSU

So, everybody is drinking the kool-aid. Since we beat a very average Auburn team we should dominate FSU. Well, I hope that is true, but it will not be easy. FSU looks to have a very good defense, but is very questionable at QB, both in terms of health and talent. It'll be a fun one. Clemson is better than I thought at this point. Mainly because the freshman have had a bigger impact than most freshman do and because the QB has not looked like a Soph with no game experience. But Auburn put no pressure on him and he will see a lot Saturday.

I am not going to do keys to winning or talk endlessly about stats, mainly because the keys are always the same. Win the turnover battle and play good special teams. Also, stats are useless this early because 2 of the 3 games were against SW Nobody St.

It could be one of the biggest games of the Dabo era or it could not matter, see every game in '10. Should be the loudest place that the FSU QBs have ever played in. I spent the whole game my freshman year yelling obscenities at the FSU band and I plan on doing that again tomorrow. First time in a long time I will be sitting near them. Hopefully the war chant is only played 97 times, because that means they are losing.

I can't get away from the feeling Clemson will struggle to win a close game. Really hope I am wrong. Maybe it won't be a close game. Did like that Chad Morris kept his foot on the gas pedal in the 4th quarter last week. It's risky, but so is punting to a great offense only up 14. If it is close at halftime I like Clemson, but still have to go with:
FSU 27 Clemson 24
Should be a great one that could decide the vaunted ACC Atlantic Division.

Tangents

All right. It's called tangents for a reason. I figured I would count how many unrelated topics I would talk about.

1. Conference super sizing is possibly going to be great for football and bad for every other sport. We might get some conference championship games with two undefeated teams. It'll almost be like two seperate conference champions meeting. For every other sport it will be brutal. Football is low travel,high revenue. Every other sport is comparitively high travel, low revenue. Let's go to big fooball only leagues and keep smaller leagues for everything else. Too late for this to happen, but it would have been nice.

2. Watching Real Sports last night and they mentioned that almost all bowls are non-profits. They claim to be charities even though the CEO of the Outback, Sugar and Fiesta all make over $600,000. To coordinate a one-day event. Glad our wedding coordinator was a little cheaper than that.

3. Bryant Gumbell can't shut up about the need to pay players. They are getting a free education. The average college grad makes a million more over his/her life than a high school graduate. But, they can't afford a movie or laundry. Shut the hell up. Any kid whose parents make less than 45,000 gets 5,500 a year and if they make a little more than that the kid still gets a percentage of the 5,500. Plus, they get enough clothing and shoes to last them a lifetime. What about the kid in the engineering dept. working on million dollar research? He doesn't get a check. Why? Because that's how it works in America. You are a pee on for a while in the hopes that one day you will be doing the peeing.

4. My theory about NFL QBs was excellent. I got 13 out of 15 right, throwing out the Eagles game because Vick got hurt and they would have won with him in there. Better QB wins with evenly matched teams.

5. I saw a headline, "WHO IS TO BLAME" for the Sea World worker being killed. Why does someone always have to be to blame. Can't it just be that the worker knew she was getting in a pool with a Killer Whale. Not a Friendly Whale or a Somewhat Fiesty Whale. A KILLER WHALE. It's right there in the title. Get a clue.

6. How bout the Red Sox callapse? The Rays are only one back in the loss column and are beating the Yankees as I type this. James Shields is the best pitcher no one knows about.

7. Heard Urban Meyer was real critical of losing recruiting battles to Clemson. I would be too since UF was winning national titles while Clemson was winning Music City Bowls, but Charlie Strong finally said, "Coach, you ever been to Clemson? It's pretty nice." Then on Saturday doing the game he recipricated the fact that yes Clemson is indeed nice. Nice won't win the ACC though.

8. Nice to see the Tigers ranked again. Meanwhile, it could easily back to the cellar with back to back games against FSU and Va Tech. All the Auburn win really did was get a tougher start time at Va Tech- 6pm. Not really. I'm very happy with the respect we gained, but again all is lost if Clemson gets obliterated in the next two weeks.

Big win for Dabo

So Dabo went crazy on the field after the game. The video of that is now on the front page of espn.com. You would go crazy too if you just threw a lot of cold water on a very hot seat. He feels like Obama would feel if this economy actually quit crapping along. So I figured I would rank Dabo's big wins. He only has six of them so it wasn't hard.

at Miami '09
Huge win on the road in overtime helping to catupult the Tigers to the ACC Championship game. Jacoby Ford caught a walk-off pass in overtime to win it. Most of the readers of this blog were trapped at a wedding, but the bride and groom were nice enough to show the game at the reception. I kept yelling, "Dabo has turned the corner!" I was wrong on that one as 2010 was an awful year.

FSU '09
The McDaniel destroys Christian Ponder's shoulder game. The stadium was rocking after Clemson sealed the win with that interception. They played We Will Rock You on the loudspeaker and it felt like an 80,000 person party in the stands.

Virginia '09
Boring game. Not very good opponent. They could only move the ball in the Wildcat. What made this noteworthy was this is the game that clinched the Atlantic Division crown. This is the game a Bowden team would have found a way to lose.

S. Carolina '08
After righting the ship a little in his first year, he needed to beat his rival to get the interim tag removed. Always a big win when you beat your rival.

Auburn '11
Good statement game. We may not be great this year, but after that game you have to think Clemson won't be awful. Didn't quit or panic after going down 21-7.

Kentucky '09 Nothing major, but winning a bowl game against the SEC is always good. Good to come back after the brutal loss to GT in Tampa in the ACC Championship.

So, 6 big wins in about three seasons. Glaring is the fact that not a one of them was in the putrid 2010 season. Hopefully he can add FSU to the list this weekend. That one might even vault up to #1 if he can get it.

What a weekend

So, the Clemson Tigers started as bad as you can start on Saturday. Give up a TD, 3 an out, TD, but somehow got the ship righted to come back. They even made plays with a lead, when the entire building was waiting for the other shoe to drop and for Auburn to do their usual miracle finish thing. The Valley was pretty wound up for a noon game. I am now going to start drinking the Chad Morris kool-aid. As an offensive coordinator he is like a boxer. He takes a few series and he throws some jabs, just perusing. Then he sizes you up and by the second half he is throwing hay makers. We used to complain about the Bowden era lack of 2nd half adjustments. Through three games it appears Morris and Steele are figuring things out at halftime.

Let's start with the obvious. Sammy Watkins is a difference maker. Barring injury or something crazy, he will leave Clemson the most accomplished offensive player in our history. Yes, he will have a better career than Raymond Priester and CJ Spiller. He is just so explosive and will hopefully have a good OC for three years.

Hopefully Tahj Boyd plays close to as lights out as he did on Saturday. There was only one ball he threw where it wasn't right where he wanted to put it. His accuracy was the concern coming in and it appears that will not be the case.
Maybe a "Hymen candidate"? Friend of mine said hymen this weekend when she really meant Heisman, we think.

To beat a much better defense like FSU we need a healthy and effective Andre Ellington. The youngins who backed him up looked good, but he needs to be the man. I think Morris' offense with all the misdirection and fakes will negate some of FSU's speed. It will be interesting. It's just funny, because last year I guarantee Stoops watched our film and said okay lets stop the Hopkins kid and we're good, since Ellington was hurt. He did get burned a little for thinking that, because Jaime Harper did have the one great game of his career last year in Tally. But this year he is watching film and thinking, okay we gotta stop #2, 5, 6, 23 and 83. There is speed and play makers all over the field.

Some great quotes from the Tigers. This defense is really struggling at assignment football early in the games. Any misdirection or play fakes is destroying them. At least Andre Branch is saying the right things, let's see if it gets fixed next Saturday. “We just had to settle down [after the first half] and do our jobs. We all knew about Auburn and their trickery- trying to make plays. All we had to do was settle down and do our jobs.”

And I love Sammy Watkins quote, "I want to thank our coaches for giving me a chance to play. They’ve been so supportive. I felt great. I wasn’t really thinking about records, I was just focusing on beating Auburn. I kept thinking ‘We have to beat them.’ I wasn’t thinking about touchdowns, I wasn’t thinking about yards. I was just thinking “we have to beat Auburn.” Seems to be a humble young man, but Sammy I guarantee you that Dabo is thanking YOU every game for probably helping him save his job.

And I saved the best quote for last. "I think we showed a lot today. They shot their load earlier. We just had to sit back, read the play, and get the keys right.” Yes, he referenced ejaculating and they still printed it. AWESOME!!

Yes, Auburn is probably a 4-4 SEC team, but Clemson took them to the woodshed. They dominated the line of scrimmage in the second half and looked to have just as many athletes out there as an SEC school. Plus, the offense executed like a big time football team should.

So, what a weekend! Not to mention I have a significant amount of money on the Bengals losing at least 10 games and they lost a thriller in mile high. Plus my fantasy team, The Fighting Ron Pauls, are probably going to win as long as Cadillac Williams doesn't fumble 3 times tonight. Wish I could get excited about the Tampa Bay Bucs winning, but I just hate the cheap as hell owners too much to care. But the Tampa Bay Rays did take 3 of 4 from the Red Sox and are only 2 back!!

Hopefully next weekend is just as good.

Tigers vs. Tigers Preview

I won't give you many stats, because at this point in the season they don't mean a whole lot. Clemson played a I-AA team who ran the ball 95% of the time, so of course their rushing defense stats look awful. Maybe it is bad, maybe it isn't? We'll see as the year goes on. As for Auburn, they lost every statistical category the first two Saturdays and are 2-0. Thus the reason I am not a big stat guy. Just win baby!

With that said, this is such an interesting game. Both these teams are so inexperienced. Auburn only brings back three starters on O and three starters on D. Auburn now has a 17 game winning streak, so I think they are coming in with the feeling we can and will do whatever it takes to win. On the opposite side of the ball is a program going on at least 13 years of rarely winning close games. I think if Clemson wins it will be a ten to twenty point win. I am not predicting that but it is possible with how bad Auburn's defense has looked the first two weeks. It would be great for Clemson to get a close game win and get the ever growing Gorilla of their back.

I feel like it didn't always used to be this way, but right now QB is everything. They have always been very important, but it seems right now with the complexity increasing and the speed of the game always getting faster the QB's ability to run the team is so crucial. I did awful in my NFL picks last week and this week I just picked the team with the better QB. It's gotten to the point where it doesn't matter where the game is played or who is hurt or who is coaching, the team with the better QB is going to win 90% of the time. Sooooo, my point is welcome to the Tahj Boyd era. Those first two games were nice warmups and maybe Troy has a better d than Auburn? We can hope, but it is time for big boy football. He has looked very good on some throws, but against Wofford threw three balls an SEC defense will most likely pick off. He also looks at his first receiver and then tucks and runs, which will get him hit A LOT on Saturday. He is only a Soph so I understand he is still learning, but it will be a big test.

Special teams will also be a factor as it is always in evenly matched games. Not been a good start for Clemson in that regard and a team like Auburn who gets out played and still wins is a dangerous team on special teams.

Next 10 games will define Clemson for a long time. Win 7-10 of them and you bring in another top 10 recruiting class and maybe Dabo is the guy. Win 3-6 of them and you are looking for a new head coach and lose all the recruiting momentum. With 10-12 wins overall maybe the SEC comes calling? Who knows?

Auburn 34 Clemson 31, but of course I hope otherwise.

Random

-If the Tigers best players were all to cut the 5 pounds of dreads on the top of their head they would be at least .1 faster in their 40 time and even more lethal.

-I was hoping the Cocks were going to go into Athens and lay an egg like they always do as soon as expectations get high. Well, they didn't. They have a ton of play makers on both sides of the ball. If they can handle Auburn at home in a few weeks, they could go into Starkville 6-0 and like #5 in the nation. Yikes.

-Remember Troy's QB Corey Robinson. The guy is a great quarterback and only a Soph. Well, Troy is the only D-I to offer him. He had 91 TDs his senior year in KY. I know he probably was playing a bunch of tiny schools, but 91 TDs is 91 TDs. We get caught up in projecting a kid and don't just look at his production. I as a recruiter am guilty of that, but try to fight it.

-If you want a laugh go to . You may remember Tribble was a fourth string quarterback at Clemson and he was on the TV show Sweet Home Alabama. Please take time to read his resume where he puts "ping pong" and "can drive automatic and manual" under special skills. Under achievements he lists his brilliant spring game performances: Completed 12-18 passes for 122 yards in the three spring scrimmages in 2007.

ACC Observations
-Another bad weekend. BC gets slaughtered by UCF 30-3. Remember that when the Eagles come to Clemson on Oct. 8. If they stay within two touchdowns any of you reading this who are there should storm the field and demand Dabo's resignation from him immediately.
-UNC squeaks by Rutgers at home and Virginia goes on the road to beat Indiana. Neither impressive, but it's a start.
-Duke stomped by Stanford. Not at all suprising.
-Va. Tech and Clemson both play squeakers to much lesser opponents.
-Writer's picked NC St. to finish 3rd in Atlantic division, but the loss of their QB and injuries have made it look like it will be a long year in Raleigh. Wake handled them at home.
-Huge weekend for the ACC. Four teams host ranked out of conference opponents and all four are winnable, and of course losable (is that a word?). Clemson hosts Auburn, FSU hosts Okl., Miami hosts Ohio St and Maryland hosts WV. Amazingly Vegas has all four as favorites right now. That is funny, because I would be happen with a split in those four, of course very happy if Clemson is the victor in one.

Clemson v. Wofford observations

Positives
-Tahj Boyd looks very good throwing a deep ball. He is also a little more athletic than we were told. Not blazing fast, but is a load.
-Sammy Watkins IS SPECIAL. He is at full speed on his second step and cuts at full speed.
-Ellington almost looks back. Don't know if he had the wrong cleats, but if he would have stayed up on a couple cuts he would have had an amazing day.
-Andre Branch is stepping up on defense.
-Quandon Christian is a LB who actually makes a lot of plays.
-O Line is opening up running lanes and is usually okay if defense only sends four
-Martavis Bryant is fast, very fast
-Chad Morris seems to have no desire to share the ball. 90% of play calls are for Ellington, Watkins, Bryant or Brown.

Negatives
-The whole freaking game. Closest I-AA game in the 25 Clemson has ever played
-Clemson defense cannot play assignment football. Every big play was because someone was trying to do someone else's job. Triple option- Tackles and Mid LB take dive, defensive ends hit QB every play and OLB and corners take pitch man. With the safeties helping to clean up all over the field. This worries me if the youngins on D will figure that out by GT game.
-The O-line cannot pick up a blitz to save its life. This is also magnified by the fact the backfield is empty so often, leavaing no one to pick up a blitzer.
-I thought Tahj either looked great on some throws or very shaky on others. He threw 3 balls that would have been picked by a better secondary and one would have been housed if caught. More inaccurate than week one and a ton of bubble screen completions to pad his stats. The bubble screen will not beat the next three opponents.
-Dabo finally ran his first fake. Pretty sure it is his first, please comment if you remember him ever faking a punt/kick. Well, I would be happy for him, but it was the WORST TIME EVER. Late in the game against a slow plodding option attack he had a chance to go up 11 with a chip shot FG. I really like the guy and hope he survives cause he recruits as well as anyone, but he scares me sometimes.

The Funny
-Same two announcers for the broadcast the first two weeks. Both games the play by play guy said, "no better atmosphere for college football." at least five times. He also called Dabo, DAYbo the first time and then was reminded by someone that his name is not DAYbo. DAYbo would be ridiculous. Dabo is an awesome name to be respected.
-Warrick Dunn, yes that Warrick Dunn, as the color man said, "This triple option really gives the offense a lot of options." Wow, Warrick, that's probably why they don't call it the Lack of Options offense.

Military Appreciation Day

So it will be Sept. 10th, 2011 on Saturday. Ten years since my classmates and I were hanging out at 1201 Berkeley Place. Having the time of our lives, except of course Sept. 11th, 2001 was not a good day. Not shockingly, my "where were you" story is a little funny. It was a Tuesday I think and only my second day at my co-op. My first experience with a full-time job not cutting chickens. So at 9am on the second day everyone in the machine shop I was working in shuts down their machines and starts grouping around the radio. Then one guy brings in his little 9 inch TV he has in his truck. I'm like, "What? We shut down the plant every time anything news worthy happens." So, I am continuing to work or at least look like I am working since it is my second day. Then I hear from a co-worker that a plane hit the towers. I don't know if I was naive or just not thinking, but my first instinct was it had to be an accident. At that point I hadn't been to NYC in a while, so I figured those towers were so big and with the three airports nearby planes were buzzing near the towers all the time. Anyway, not a good day. I also hate to admit that I sat in line for gas that night. I was pretty sure the whole "gas will be impossible to get soon" was a crock, but I figured why chance it.

I just remember being so angry. Part of it was an arrogance of how dare they mess with the US and part was just the anger you should have when faced with pure evil. I've been to ground zero twice, but nothing compared to when I took the subway in from Jersey and just saw this giant crater of earth open up in front of me. That was way more powerful than seeing it from the edges. It was neat to see the country come together after that day. The saddest part is even after Giuliana and Bush Jr. said they would make sure the skyline was made whole, ten years later only one 52 story building has been built. Others are on the way, but it only took 3 years to build the first set of twin towers!! Politically fighting and lack of backbone to get something done are the main culprits.
Sorry, couldn't find one without PROOF written on it. Deal with it.

Anyway, back to more uplifting stuff. I hate missing Military Appreciation Day at Clemson. Clemson was a military school until 1955, so there is a strong military tradition in those hills. The band's playing of each service's song and the F-14 flyovers are the best part. As for the game, I don't see this one being remotely close. There are some I-AA programs that would scare me, but Wofford isn't one of them. The fact we have seen Ga Tech's triple option three times over the last two years will help. Now that we have speed at the skill positions, we should more easily put away lesser opponents. Good news that safety Rashard Hall could play, but they will probably hold him out until Auburn unless we are in a dog fight. The O-line needs to step up and of course Tahj Boyd needs to keep improving and learning with every snap. Clemson 48, Wofford 17.

By the way, the 10 day forecast for all those heading to the Auburn game has a Saturday high of 78. How awesome would that be? I've never been to a September Clemson game that wasn't boiling heat.

Stay in ACC vs. go to SEC

If you are Virginia Tech, FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson your small window of opportunity is closing. UNC and Miami probably blew it with all their scandals. As a Clemson fan it makes you frustrated we have had 20 years of "upper mediocrity." If Clemson football was where it could be, like in the 80s with perrenial ten win seasons than the SEC would be beating down the ADs door to join their conference. As it is they might have interest. If I were the SEC I would take FSU first, then Clemson, then Va Tech, then Georgia Tech. Only putting Clemson ahead because I think once Beamer leaves Va Tech will become a decent but not great program. Of course the real gems for football would be Oklahoma, Ok. St. and/or Texas.

But, the real question is should those schools want to leave?
Advantages of staying in the ACC:
Better chance of winning a conference championship.
Better chance of going undefeated in a season.
More geographical rivals, which is not a huge advantage. We would trade Ga Tech and the NC schools for renewing the rivalry with GA and adding Tennessee and Florida.
Much better basketball.

Advantages of leaving for the SEC:
5 million reasons per year, just on the TV deal alone, not to mention which home schedule sells more tickets? This years conference slate of BC, Wake, UNC and FSU OR SC, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia every other year, with a Alabama, LSU, Auburn and Arkansas sprinkled in most years. Ummmm. Tough call.

Much better bowl affiliations.

Improved recruiting in football.

A one loss season could still easily put you in the national championship game.

If you are able to win the SEC, you are so battle tested you are probably going to win the national championship game (See last 5 in a row)

No longer dealing with an ACC conference whose commissioner used to work for UNC.

My answer:
I say you have to push to get into the SEC if you can. I do think that means you will win a lot less conference championships, but Clemson isn't winning any right now. Would you rather be a middle of the road unranked ACC team or a middle of the road #22 ranked SEC team. With the extra money and exposure in the ACC Clemson should be able to compete. The end all dream is a national championship. We did it once in the ACC, but recent history shows your odds are MUCH better winning it if you are in the SEC. But, with our administration thinking that big time football and big time academics cannot happen on the same campus we are probably staying put. I guess they don't notice how good of a school Florida is both academically and athletically.

ACC Observations

Wow, this league is awful. Take out Virginia Tech and there isn't a single consistently good program in the Atlantic Crap Conference. I am not even sold on the FSU resurgence yet, while I still think they win their division but not the league.

Let's review.
BC gets beat at home by Northwestern and their back-up quarterback, Wake can't beat a terrible Syracuse team and Duke loses to the Richmond Spiders. I know the ACC would never hang its hat on Duke football, but it seemed Cutcliffe had Duke to the point where they could at least beat a I-AA opponent (and yes its I-AA). I don't know what the hell FBS or BS or BSF stands for and I don't care. I would call Richmond winning, but they beat Duke in '09. Didn't play them last year, so that is a two game winning streak!! Unbelievable. In the last 2+ years a I-AA team has beaten a BCS conf. I-A team only 8 times and 4 of those were ACC defeats.

Now, to the more positive observations. I think Va. Tech goes 8-1 in the ACC, with their eighth win in the title game. The Hokie defense is better than last years. The only reason I am giving them one loss is because their young QB will botch up one game.

On Va. Tech's side of the league you have UNC and Miami in shambles due to their cheating and Duke is just plain terrible. Virginia is only mediocre, so that only leaves Ga Tech to compete for the division. Tech does not have the horses for that race.

On the other side, as much as I can't stand BC even being in the league, they are a pain in the butt. They have very little talent, but they play so disciplined and have an All-American caliber middle linebacker who makes plays all over the field. Wake isn't very good and Clemson is a huge wild card. NC State will be interesting, but they are so injury plagued this year it will be hard to compete for a division title. That leaves FSU and the suprising Maryland Terrapins. Maryland's QB was rookie of the year last year, so they should be okay, but probably not enough to beat FSU.

The ACC needs a good next few weeks in out of conference to restore a tiny bit of faith in its ability to play football at a big boy level.

Clemson v. Troy Observations

Observation for the Day
Was headed to the dumpster and offered to take a students very small bag of trash for him. He said, "I'm heading that way anyway, let me take yours." Awesome example of Kharma in action

Clemson Observations
This is sadly coming from someone who did not watch the game, so I will stick to things I can comment on. Like how does a kicker go 3 for 3 from beyond 45 yards and miss an extra point. But, the Cat Man is 9 of his last 10 going back to last year.

Dabo said they didn't panic at halftime. The way they played in the second half it sure looked like they didn't panic. But, you know there had to be a moment when he was by himself when he thought, "Sh*#, if this team of a*#holes, doesn't wake the hell up, I'm gonna be back selling houses in the middle of a recession!!" I wouldn't say I panicked, but it wasn't the most fun halftime of my life.

Dabo also progressed past relaying signals. In the last few years, he could be seen waving his arms and making weird gestures, while at the same time mouthing the play to the point where my father could predict our play by watching Dabo. Leo would say he just mouthed, "strong right jet sweep." And sure enough we would line up strong right and run a jet sweep. Okay, it wasn't that bad, but Leo could predict Napier's plays with 90% accuracy just based on formation. Hopefully the new OC Chad Morris could mix it up enough to fool a high school coach who only watches every other Clemson game, and only every other drive due to sporadic napping.

Lets not panic too much cause Troy hung with us. They would probably beat BC, Wake, Duke and maybe Virginia on a nuetral field.

Kickoff specialist Spencer Benton added another two tackles for his career. This is not a good thing, you would rather a kicker never make a tackle, but he is making them at the 27 and 31, respectively. That is awesome! He is just starting his junior year and already has the most tackles by any kicker in Clemson history.

While I still feel 2011 is a rough one, with the chance to at least be decent, 2012 could be really good. Of the 70 guys that played on Saturday, 24 are freshman (12 true and 12 red-shirt), including future all-american?? Sammy Watkins with 8 catches and (this is a quote from the Clemson SID office) "scored his first career touchdown on his first career reception on his first career drive in his first career game." Watkins scored 26 seconds into his career, which might be a record that is never broken. It isn't the quickest into a season a Tiger has scored, since Spiller took the opening kickoff in '09 to the house.

Speaking with some other fans, it should be a solid defense, but it might lack the studs of the last few years who were counted on to make big plays. Rashard Hall isn't as talent as the stars Clemson has had on defense, but he seems to always be around the football. Maybe he can be that guy? The key is will one of the defensive lineman require a double team. Really great defenses are ones who can really pressure the quarterback while only rushing four. Don't know if this team is going to be able to do that.

Dabo said they didn't panic at halftime. The way they played in the second half it sure looked like they didn't panic. But, you know there had to be a moment when he was by himself when he thought, "Sh*#, if this team of a*#holes, doesn't wake the hell up, I'm gonna be back selling houses in the middle of a recession!!" I wouldn't say I panicked, but it wasn't the most fun halftime of my life.

Dabo also progressed past relaying signals. In the last few years, he could be seen waving his arms and making weird gestures, while at the same time mouthing the play to the point where my father could predict our play by watching Dabo. Leo would say he just mouthed, "strong right jet sweep." And sure enough we would line up strong right and run a jet sweep. Okay, it wasn't that bad, but Leo could predict Napier's plays with 90% accuracy just based on formation. Hopefully the new OC Chad Morris could mix it up enough to fool a high school coach who only watches every other Clemson game, and only every other drive due to sporadic napping.

Went back to a more classic looking uniform pants. Like them much better than the new age Nike crap. Wish Nike would think enough of us to make something as hideous as the power rangers uniforms they made for Georgia or the overly sleek Boise look OR the amazing things the Maryland boys wore last night. From the left they looked like the Steelers on crack and from the right they looked like they were on a crusade. WE MUST ATTACK THE HOLY LAND!! GOD WILLS IT!!
I guess it is like the crusades. A group of guys fighting evil, in this case the evil is the University of Miami.

ACC PREVIEW 2011

Okay, even though I am a terrible blogger and blog about once every six months I am keeping up the tradition. Year three of the ACC preview. In year one, I was one game off of Clemson’s record and correctly predicted an Atlantic Division crown. Last year I was a whopping 3 games off and falsely predicted another Atlantic Division crown. I thought having Kyle Parker back was a huge blessing, but in retrospect all he thought about was not getting hit so as to protect his body for his multi-million dollar baseball career. He had a great three quarters against Auburn until he had his sternum nearly separated from his body and was never the same. Hard to blame him, but painful to watch. Also, once Andre Ellington went down, there was as many playmakers on that offense as there are competent politicians in D.C. WR Nuke Hopkins being the only one. Last year I had the Atlantic Division race all fudged up, but did go six for six on predicting the coastal. Not that it’s hard. Virginia Tech is the only team in the league with a proven head coach who doesn’t get busted for cheating every other year.

CLEMSON PREVIEW –
DEFENSE - All spring while I should have worried about wedding preparations I was instead fretting Clemson could have its first consecutive losing season since 1976! The loss of a DOMINANT defensive player like Da’Quan Bowers (spelled his name right without a google search, except for the apostrophe) is irreplaceable. Lot of good players from the secondary now playing on Sundays, but a lot of good ones remain. Depth isn’t as good this year, but if this unit can stay healthy it has a chance to be almost as good as last year’s defense. Lost in the sh#@iness of our offense was the fact our defense was 1st in the ACC (11th nationally) in scoring defense and 3rd in yards per game (23rd nationally). Doesn’t sound like a 6-7 team does it? Well, being 86th in the nation in takeaways meant our offense rarely had the short field they needed to even have a chance to score. This was surprising with our great pass rush and excellent secondary. That said, the only thing keeping last year’s defense from being a top five dominant unit was the awful linebacker play. Due to the dominance of the defensive lineman, no linebacker had to deal with a block all season and still couldn’t make plays. The only reason I have improved my outlook is it seems our recruiting class isn’t just great on paper, but a few of these LBs are ready to play immediately. If this unit can just stay almost as good as last year’s the Tigers would be looking at a winning season.

OFFENSE –I think Andre Ellington is special. Like, really special. If he gets enough touches, I think he could even crack 1500 all purpose yards. The offensive line should be pretty good and Dwayne Allen at TE is a future NFL player. Hopkins at WR is proven and should have a solid Soph. season. Can Sammy Watkins live up to all the hype at the other receiver spot? And the huge wildcard, what will red-shirt Sophomore Tajh Boyd look like at QB? Will Chad Morris (only one season removed from high school coaching) and his high paced no-huddle offense make a difference in year one. It did at Tulsa, but Tulsa didn’t play Auburn, FSU and Virginia Tech.

SPECIAL TEAMS – Other than the actual kicker, our return and coverage units have been great the last few years. I hope the loss of Andre Powell (who apparently was worthless otherwise, but seemed to keep our special teams in order) will not mean we will go back to the days of letting Virginia Tech and FSU run back at least one kick each time we play them. Not even going to discuss the kicker Cat Man as he could be great or terrible, who freaking knows with kickers.

OVERALL
So, sadly I am going with 7-5, losing to Auburn, FSU, Virginia Tech, Maryland and tragically South Carolina for the third straight year. The South Carolina loss alone will keep Dabo on the hot seat one more year. Hope I am wrong, but there are just too many question marks. I think this program has a chance to be really, really good in 2012 and even an 8-4 and 9-3 2011 would really keep the recruiting momentum going. All this being said, like any other year if the Tigers stay healthy and finally catch or make a few breaks 10-2 is not inconceivable. It’s college football. The national championship team started the year unranked coming off a 6-5 season and played Wofford. I am NOT predicting a national title, but I am just saying anything is possible and long overdue in Tiger Town.

Atlantic
1. FSU
2. Maryland
3. Clemson
4. NC ST
5. BC
6. Wake

Coastal
1. Virginia Tech
2. Georgia Tech
3. Miami
4. Virginia
5. North Carolina
6. Duke