Thanks guys! I asked for a domination game and got it. Damn fine effort and straight pimp slapping of the war plainsmen.
The offense looked efficient and confident. The line was opening holes for the RB’s and the QB was delivering the ball with precision to the receivers. They all stepped up especially Chris Conley who took over for Marlon Brown. Nice game all around for the offense.
Domination from the defensive unit. Jarvis and his JunkYard Dawg pals didn’t give up much of anything. I don’t even think they had a penalty called on them. Keep it up guys!
We didn’t miss any placed kicks and the punter only kicked it twice….
Well, Clemson is 9-1 for the second season in a row. Definitely an improvement over years’ past. Save for a few stupid turnovers it was a solid performance all around, & the 2nd-teamers got some solid reps.
That said, the way our defense is playing, I have no confidence that we won’t collapse like we did last year. Our D looks like it’s getting better, but our last 3 opponents have been Wake, Duke & a ridiculously 1 dimensional Maryland w/a LB for QB. This trend could mean good things are on the horizon, but those opponents don’t offer much of a yardstick. Going forward we should easily beat NCSU to go 10-1, but we should have easily beaten NCSU last year, & they crushed us. SCAR will beat us if we don’t shore up our porous D. We give up too many big plays, & SCAR’s strengths play right to our weaknesses. They crushed us w/o Lattimore last year, & this year will not be any different unless things change quickly.
I say we finish the regular season at 10-2, & depending on our Peach Bowl opponent (who could be anyone from UGA, UF, LSU, TAMU, or MSU at this point), we could easily finish 10-3. The only team I see us beating in this scenario is MSU, or PERHAPS Florida depending on which UF team shows up.
It is hard to not be satisfied with where we are. For years, I have always wanted to Clemson to win the games they were supposed to win first and foremost. Well, they are finally doing that. FSU was definitely a game we could have won, but our defense had not matured well enough and FSU at home got some momentum and we didn’t handle it well.
Like 4shitz, the last 3 games didn’t tell us a lot. We got big leads and put our offense to bed early and let the kiddies play. By the way, I am fine with that!
I am not as comfortable about NC State as people will be. They beat us last year, they beat FSU this year and this one has me a little concerned. If we really take care of business against the Wolfpack next week I will feel much better.
If we really handle NC State, I think we can and should beat USC. If we struggle or play sloppy I won’t be so certain.
I will say one thing. ESPN is projecting us to play Alabama in the Sugar Bowl and that excites the heck out of me. Bama did not handle aTm’s high tempo offense well and ours is quite a bit better so it would be a great opportunity.
It is hard to not be satisfied with where we are. For years, I have always wanted to Clemson to win the games they were supposed to win first and foremost. Well, they are finally doing that.
Like 4shitz, the last 3 games didn’t tell us a lot. We got big leads and put our offense to bed early and let the kiddies play. By the way, I am fine with that!
If we really handle NC State, I think we can and should beat USC. If we struggle or play sloppy I won’t be so certain.
I will say one thing. ESPN is projecting us to play Alabama in the Sugar Bowl and that excites the heck out of me. Bama did not handle aTm’s high tempo offense well and ours is quite a bit better so it would be a great opportunity.
It’s nice that we’re trending upwards, & I’m happy that we’re 9-1, but we’ve been “on the verge” for almost a decade, & it’s hard to be comfortable until we actually do get over the hump & win consistently. The upside is that history will be kind to our shortcomings. Nobody will remember our collapse last year (except for the epic beatdown WVU gave us…that will live in infamy), they’ll just see an ACC Championship & 10 wins. & if we make it to 10 wins this year, it won’t matter if/how bad we lose the other 2 games.
That said, we’re in the here & now, not in the future, & until we win consistently against a solid schedule, we won’t know if we’re really over the hump or not. We had a shot last year & blew it, & we have a shot this year, but we’ve played an extremely weak schedule & we won’t know what this team’s legacy will be. & regardless of the outcome, we won’t know if we’re through “pulling a Clemson” for several seasons.
SCAR should beat us unless our defense has plugged its holes, & they are BIG holes. Even w/our recent defensive surge, we’re still giving up WAY TOO MANY big plays. It doesn’t matter what we do against NCSU b/c SCAR’s strengths are our weaknesses. They run well enough to set up the play action effectively, & Shaw can run well enough by time to open things up & make us pay if we overcommit. I’m a Giants fan, & this matchup reminds me of the 2007 SuperBowl. The Pats were 18-0, & everyone thought the Giants were toast, but they were strong in all the areas that the Pats were weak…same thing last year. This game sets up the same way.
As for Alabama, I see where you’re coming from, but I just don’t see that as a winnable game. I see that as a repeat of the 2008 season opener (a game I very optimistic about before kickoff). A lot of stuff will have to happen before we get a BCS bid. IF we beat SCAR, perhaps we get a decent enough BCS ranking to qualify as a 2nd ACC team, but as you’ve seen since week 6, the BCS does not like us or our schedule. At best we’ll stay @ 13, but I see us dropping to 14 b/c even though Louisville lost, TAMU & Stanford will likely jump us. & I think we get crushed against any other BCS bound team other than Louisville (or Rutgers)...though I thought that against WVU last year.
Nice to know some things will never change….........
Right now, we are becoming the the offense nobody wants to play. Our defense is getting better ever week. We play who we play…..can’t do anything about it. The only thing I can say about the last 3 games is that we could have scored 100 on all of them if we really wanted to…...
Next weeks game is out last chance to “Pull a Clemson” if you will and I think we will lay some serious lumber to TOB’s boys.
I’m confident in the final 2 games. We will win both. Both are at home, a HUGE advantage for us. Its been a long time coming for South Carolina and the team is hungry for that win. No ACC title game for us to overlook USCjr for this year folks. All the focus will be on USCjr coming to Death Valley…...they won’t beat us. Especially if we can pull ESPN Gameday and a night game, a HUGE possibility seeing as how FSU and Florida already hosted this season, and Oregon St lost and won’t have as big of a game against Oregon. Plus games in Oregon tend to be late (10pm east). I’m confident.
I’m tired of being the typical Clemson fan always on edge, always wondering, hoping, and praying we win games we should. No more. If the program’s mindset is changing so is mine, hence why I’m confident on the games above. I’m all in not half in half out. Quit being negative nancies Clemson fans (mainly 4schitzngrins).
I’m watching the game on DVR now, was out of town this weekend and didn’t get to see much of it live. One thing I know, to many dumb turnovers.
Take it from us UNC fans, when you have an awesome new potent fast offense, defense will usually always suffer in some way….we’ve seen it a few years now.
They scored 50! Too bad Georgia Tech scored 68. I believe the DC Disch shoud be on thin ice. I also will be glad when #10 is graduated.
I dont blame the new staff. The defense left from the previous staff was not that good and alot of the talent that would be here stocking it left early. They need to build continuity and get their players in, not deal with more coaching changes. UNC has had enough of that for the past decade.
Recruiting is going very well and all trends are up for our program.
The game yesterday was a pinball game however…interesting to watch but not a classic by any means.
I’m tired of being the typical Clemson fan always on edge, always wondering, hoping, and praying we win games we should. No more. If the program’s mindset is changing so is mine, hence why I’m confident on the games above. I’m all in not half in half out. Quit being negative nancies Clemson fans (mainly 4schitzngrins).
I’m watching the game on DVR now, was out of town this weekend and didn’t get to see much of it live. One thing I know, to many dumb turnovers.
I wish I could be as confident as you are about SCAR. It’s not so much that they’ve won the last 3, it’s the manner in which they’ve won. For all our positives, they are strong where we are weak. They’ve completely dominated us…even at home. We started out quickly in Death Valley 2 years ago, but after a quick score to open the game, SCAR rattled off 29 unanswered points & all we could muster in our remaining possessions were 9 punts, 2 turnovers & a sack to end the game. Who knows…perhaps if we can pull Gameday, Clemson might play like they did when Gameday was last in town. That would be incredible. We CAN win, but only if we plug our holes. If we don’t, it could be a long & disappointing night.
As for the rest, there’s a difference between being negative & being realistic. & tempering optimism w/reality does not equal negativity. I’ll be “ALL IN” when the team is “ALL IN”, b/c there has been no indication yet that the program’s mindset has changed. It certainly appears that we are trending in that direction, but we’ve all been fooled before. When this type of stuff becomes the norm instead of the exception, then we can say the program’s mindset has changed. Sure, we’ve beaten all of the teams we should have so far this year, but that is not very comforting b/c our opponents thus far are a 47-53. & if you take FSU out of that mix, the record drops to 38-52. This is hardly a yardstick to measure success against.
See, even though I’m a Libertarian, I always liked Reagan for wisdom like this…“trust, but verify”. I like where we’re heading & I’ll trust that the program is changing, but they have to verify that this is the case b/c as you so rightly say, “I’m tired of being the typical Clemson fan always on edge, always wondering, hoping, and praying we win games we should.” As w/poker, we can be “all in”, but unlike poker, in football you can’t bluff your way to success. Trust, but verify, mon frere. Trust, but verify.
Well, we decided to show up this week. Let’s see what old Rasputin O’Brien has got up his sleeve when we roll down to Death Valley. I have no idea what to expect.
They scored 50! Too bad Georgia Tech scored 68. I believe the DC Disch shoud be on thin ice. I also will be glad when #10 is graduated.
I dont blame the new staff. The defense left from the previous staff was not that good and alot of the talent that would be here stocking it left early. They need to build continuity and get their players in, not deal with more coaching changes. UNC has had enough of that for the past decade.
Recruiting is going very well and all trends are up for our program.
The game yesterday was a pinball game however…interesting to watch but not a classic by any means.
I’ve heard from a couple of folks “in the know” that Disch might not be the one. Defensive system is not thing. Being out of position and poor tackling techniques are apparent week in and out.
98, Remember that Koening is there too and he is very highly regarded as D coordinator. UNC just doesn’t have a secondary and that KILLS this team. I would be more concerned but this year is just a season long practice to get Fedora and his system installed.
