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.