I just peeled an orange, ate it and then threw the peel at a Gamecock. It felt soooo good.
Great job Tigers! Steele saves his job and I hope we continue to play this aggressive. Dabo looks like a genius. The program is in the right direction (Bellamy, my friend, we need you...get your head straight over the break and stay with the Clemson family). Boyd ran hard and like a man. Sammy was amazing and the defense honored the legend Chester McGlockton. Great effort.
1st BCS Bowl, 1st ACC Champs in 20 years and 1st Orange in 30 years.
All IN ALL THE FREAKIN TIME! HAHAHAHA...I love it.
Showing posts with label ACC Championship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ACC Championship. Show all posts
Saturday, 3 December 2011
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Yeah I Jinxed It
I let out a gut wrenching scream when Tajh let go of the ball and it sailed smoothly into the GT players hands, Watkins standing wide open on the goal-line. That was the visceral manifestation of a lost national championship. It was the sound of a lost national championship. I've never made that sound before in my life--I'm sure neighbors contemplated calling the cops. Having had a couple of days to reflect, however, it also marks the first time in my adult life that I have ever had a 'real' conviction that Clemson could be national champions. In the moment its awful but at least you can honestly say that you felt like a national championship was within your grasp. It has been an amazing ride and hopefully we still make it to the Orange Bowl.
On the less cheery side that has to be one of the most frustrating games I have ever watched. How hard is it to stop a QB running behind a dive back. Is it mobile QB's and pitches now? The fumbles killed momentum. The fourth and 1 conversion by GT was deflating after starting with 3 and outs. On offense we had drops on hot routes, receivers getting jammed at the line, and players coming up short on third downs. Our LB play was atrocious and the secondary didn't help them out at all. Hill just flat out dropped a TD and got that other huge reception. PJ basically said that they were running away from Brandon Thompson--why not instruct him to simply blow up the center every play. Stick Lateek right behind him and let him run around crazy headhunting for the QB. It would have been better than watching Christian out of position and blocked consistently (he is not having the year I thought he would after that nice Int. against FSU) or Hawkins six yards away from the line of scrimmage and just waiting, asking, pleading for an O-Lineman to block him and take him out of the play.
I think we are scared or unable to deal with cut blocking. We don't know how to shed a block to save our lives and its not pretty. I know everyone is calling for Steele's head but our problem wasn't really schematic. What is on the heads of the defensive coaches are safeties taking ugly angles to the ball, and the poor fundamentals of our LB's (which is Steele's coaching position), oh and the ever-present poor tackling. The LB play needs to improve in the next year or I will start to question our defensive coaching but Steele and company still have my vote. I love Coach Brooks and Coach Cheese but am worried about our depth moving forward. All of these guys have been in the system awhile though so hopefully the ship can be righted for next season. (haha...did you hear that--righted from an 8-1 record!! You would have called me crazy if I said that before the season)
One thing to note though is that we are not a good road team so far. VT was awesome but you saw some nerves and Maryland was ridiculous. I think this is something to pay attention to when we roll into Columbia. Dabo looked really tense at the beginning of the game too, didn't seem like his usual confident self (to be expected when you go down to GT). We were really choking though--the return of Cat man knuckle kick, the Hopkins drop/Allen drops, the high Boyd throws, and making a marginal QB look like superman all felt like last season. But still when Rashard Hall intercepted the pass and got it to the five yard line I felt like we could do it. Then the yell/banshee scream...
At least I don't have to be jealous of USC and Alshon Jeffrey. Watkins catches passes in-stride like no other receiver I have ever seen...He still is working on becoming other-worldly in jump balls (right now he is just superhuman) but he is an absolute treat to watch. I would watch him if I wasn't a Clemson fan. One day I will write an 'Ode to the National Championship Lost' but for now I will stop rambling.
On the less cheery side that has to be one of the most frustrating games I have ever watched. How hard is it to stop a QB running behind a dive back. Is it mobile QB's and pitches now? The fumbles killed momentum. The fourth and 1 conversion by GT was deflating after starting with 3 and outs. On offense we had drops on hot routes, receivers getting jammed at the line, and players coming up short on third downs. Our LB play was atrocious and the secondary didn't help them out at all. Hill just flat out dropped a TD and got that other huge reception. PJ basically said that they were running away from Brandon Thompson--why not instruct him to simply blow up the center every play. Stick Lateek right behind him and let him run around crazy headhunting for the QB. It would have been better than watching Christian out of position and blocked consistently (he is not having the year I thought he would after that nice Int. against FSU) or Hawkins six yards away from the line of scrimmage and just waiting, asking, pleading for an O-Lineman to block him and take him out of the play.
I think we are scared or unable to deal with cut blocking. We don't know how to shed a block to save our lives and its not pretty. I know everyone is calling for Steele's head but our problem wasn't really schematic. What is on the heads of the defensive coaches are safeties taking ugly angles to the ball, and the poor fundamentals of our LB's (which is Steele's coaching position), oh and the ever-present poor tackling. The LB play needs to improve in the next year or I will start to question our defensive coaching but Steele and company still have my vote. I love Coach Brooks and Coach Cheese but am worried about our depth moving forward. All of these guys have been in the system awhile though so hopefully the ship can be righted for next season. (haha...did you hear that--righted from an 8-1 record!! You would have called me crazy if I said that before the season)
One thing to note though is that we are not a good road team so far. VT was awesome but you saw some nerves and Maryland was ridiculous. I think this is something to pay attention to when we roll into Columbia. Dabo looked really tense at the beginning of the game too, didn't seem like his usual confident self (to be expected when you go down to GT). We were really choking though--the return of Cat man knuckle kick, the Hopkins drop/Allen drops, the high Boyd throws, and making a marginal QB look like superman all felt like last season. But still when Rashard Hall intercepted the pass and got it to the five yard line I felt like we could do it. Then the yell/banshee scream...
At least I don't have to be jealous of USC and Alshon Jeffrey. Watkins catches passes in-stride like no other receiver I have ever seen...He still is working on becoming other-worldly in jump balls (right now he is just superhuman) but he is an absolute treat to watch. I would watch him if I wasn't a Clemson fan. One day I will write an 'Ode to the National Championship Lost' but for now I will stop rambling.
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
I Don't Have the Stomach For Patience
So Dabo has called for patience from the fans. This is the same guy who was demanding excellence and was going to change the culture--teach us how to get over the hump and win???
No sir, I will not have any patience. The defense is certainly not the problem. Special Teams is directly related to quality of coaching more than any other facet of the game and has less to do with talent (plus we have more scholarship special teamers than almost any other team in the country). The offense was recruited with Billy Napier as recruiting coordinator and Dabo as the main recruiter. One of the main reasons why Dabo was hired was to maintain the continuity and judging by the recruiting rankings--this was the year!! Please don't try to insult me by saying you don't have the players or the talent.
There is plenty of both, you have just mismanaged it. You aren't rebuilding--you are screwing up what was previously built. If you don't have the talent now that must mean you were a bad position coach beforehand and for some reason I am supposed to reward that with patience. I am supposed to somehow feel pity for you?? And please don't say Bowden or Spence had too iron clad a hand and you couldn't get the recruits you wanted.
We should have easily beaten FSU. I am sick of the Spence stalls in the red zone and being a .500 team. Just think if we hadn't played those two powderpuffs at the beginning of the year...
If Dabo can't get us to the ACC Championship game (notice I said we don't even have to win it, just be there) then he should be gone. If we lose to South Carolina three times in a row then he should be gone. Remember Dabo this is that word 'competition' at the highest level so quit your whining and quacking like a duck. If you can't deliver then get out of the way because Clemson deserves better.
At least we beat Wofford (I am relying on Basketball, thats how bad things have gotten), go Brownell...
Friday, 4 December 2009
ACC Championship Game
Clemson vs. Georgia Tech, 12/5, 8:00pm, Raymond James Stadium
Tigermax: If you would of told me at the beginning of the year that we would make it to the Championship game, I would have been overjoyed to the point of not caring much about the result of the game. There were just to many questions surrounding the team before the start of the season to realistically be that optimistic about our chances. But now that we've made it...I really want to win. 19 years has been too long for a team with the annual talent and dedicated fanbase of Clemson's. Also, in the event of a loss, for several reasons this isn't a situation where we can step back and say "well, there's always next year."
1) We've got a lot of talent graduating at key skill positions (RB, WR, TE, etc.). We could even lose Kyle Parker to the baseball draft (although personally I think its unlikely).
2) Despite marginal improvement this season, we still have the seemingly perpetual problems at LB and O-line, as well as an emerging problem in the WR corps.
3) Unfortunately, the coaches overseeing these positions lack experience or have spotty track records in coaxing improvement.
4) This is shaping up to be the second consecutive "down" recruiting year. Not bad years, necessarily, but its not like we have loads of game-ready talent knocking down the door right now.
5) The rotation of our schedule works against us next year. As long as we continue to have Wake, BC, and FSU as road games every other year, our odds of winning the division take a substantial hit in even years (while being significantly improved in odd years).
So its a definitely a stretch to think we can contend next season. Swinney and company may well be envisioning a two-year plan for contending in 2011, but we'll need to see emergence of some players in the interim to obtain the "serious contender" label. So I guess I'm saying that the talent on this year's squad is almost certain to be superior to next year--I just never thought we'd put it together enough to make a run at the championship.
So what about Georgia Tech? I definitely think we are the underdog; I have next to no confidence in our ability to stop Paul Johnson's ground attack. Our best shot for winning is to match GT blow for blow with our offense and hope to force a turnover or two. We can do this against Tech's defense. The problem is our margin for error turnover-wise is non-existent. Put the ball on the ground even once on Saturday and we could be in a hole too big to climb out of.
Clemben: So its taken me a week to get over the whole losing to your eternal rival thing. So our main problems--blown Oline and LB assignments. I also think our secondary has seen its performance fade towards the end of the season. I thought for the first time all season coach Steele made some bad calls and couldnt make any key adjustments. So what I am hoping for is an early Christmas present in the form of a slowed Josh Nesbitt. He sustained an ankle injury against Georgia. A guy can dream...
We can beat GT but I think they are better than us right now. I think we were the better talent at the beginning of the season but spotted them too many points. Let me rephrase that--the coaches spotted them too many points that game. Pretty much on offense the game revolves around Parker settling and keeping his mechanics, which means Landon Walker needs to have the game of his life against the #8 rated prospect on Mel Kiper Jr.'s bogus big draft board. Morgan must be double teamed. Its tough though bc Palmer is our best WR.
Speaking of Palmer, I want more of those TE screens and misdirection plays we saw earlier in the turn around--no third and bubbles!!! We arent getting Spiller in space anymore which has been really disappointing. Spiller, Ford, and Palmer should be enough to beat GT offensively. How about another fullback dive this game? Designed Parker run or two?
I also think this game will be about how healthy Daquan Bowers is. He played slow the past couple games and it hurt us--he needs some super healing powers like the other bookend Sapp. He wasnt supposed to be ready till the fourth game?? Thats a month ahead of recovery time, thats really two months bc of camp and august drills he participated in...insane...
Anywho--I wanted to be more excited since this is the biggest game in almost 20 yrs but my heart isnt in it yet. Got to make one last pitcher of orange kool-aid for the year!! Come on Tigers!! I like Dr. Pepper so that is an encouraging sign...makes no sense I know, but I'm just going with it...
Clemson Surge!! Thats it the Clemson Surge takes the Dr. Pepper Champs...We can call it the All In, All Orange Bowl...haha...Oh and remember, after a yellow jacket stings you and loses its stinger its dead, right? So GT is already dead...just keep on keepin on...
Go Tigers!!
Tigermax: If you would of told me at the beginning of the year that we would make it to the Championship game, I would have been overjoyed to the point of not caring much about the result of the game. There were just to many questions surrounding the team before the start of the season to realistically be that optimistic about our chances. But now that we've made it...I really want to win. 19 years has been too long for a team with the annual talent and dedicated fanbase of Clemson's. Also, in the event of a loss, for several reasons this isn't a situation where we can step back and say "well, there's always next year."
1) We've got a lot of talent graduating at key skill positions (RB, WR, TE, etc.). We could even lose Kyle Parker to the baseball draft (although personally I think its unlikely).
2) Despite marginal improvement this season, we still have the seemingly perpetual problems at LB and O-line, as well as an emerging problem in the WR corps.
3) Unfortunately, the coaches overseeing these positions lack experience or have spotty track records in coaxing improvement.
4) This is shaping up to be the second consecutive "down" recruiting year. Not bad years, necessarily, but its not like we have loads of game-ready talent knocking down the door right now.
5) The rotation of our schedule works against us next year. As long as we continue to have Wake, BC, and FSU as road games every other year, our odds of winning the division take a substantial hit in even years (while being significantly improved in odd years).
So its a definitely a stretch to think we can contend next season. Swinney and company may well be envisioning a two-year plan for contending in 2011, but we'll need to see emergence of some players in the interim to obtain the "serious contender" label. So I guess I'm saying that the talent on this year's squad is almost certain to be superior to next year--I just never thought we'd put it together enough to make a run at the championship.
So what about Georgia Tech? I definitely think we are the underdog; I have next to no confidence in our ability to stop Paul Johnson's ground attack. Our best shot for winning is to match GT blow for blow with our offense and hope to force a turnover or two. We can do this against Tech's defense. The problem is our margin for error turnover-wise is non-existent. Put the ball on the ground even once on Saturday and we could be in a hole too big to climb out of.
Clemben: So its taken me a week to get over the whole losing to your eternal rival thing. So our main problems--blown Oline and LB assignments. I also think our secondary has seen its performance fade towards the end of the season. I thought for the first time all season coach Steele made some bad calls and couldnt make any key adjustments. So what I am hoping for is an early Christmas present in the form of a slowed Josh Nesbitt. He sustained an ankle injury against Georgia. A guy can dream...
We can beat GT but I think they are better than us right now. I think we were the better talent at the beginning of the season but spotted them too many points. Let me rephrase that--the coaches spotted them too many points that game. Pretty much on offense the game revolves around Parker settling and keeping his mechanics, which means Landon Walker needs to have the game of his life against the #8 rated prospect on Mel Kiper Jr.'s bogus big draft board. Morgan must be double teamed. Its tough though bc Palmer is our best WR.
Speaking of Palmer, I want more of those TE screens and misdirection plays we saw earlier in the turn around--no third and bubbles!!! We arent getting Spiller in space anymore which has been really disappointing. Spiller, Ford, and Palmer should be enough to beat GT offensively. How about another fullback dive this game? Designed Parker run or two?
I also think this game will be about how healthy Daquan Bowers is. He played slow the past couple games and it hurt us--he needs some super healing powers like the other bookend Sapp. He wasnt supposed to be ready till the fourth game?? Thats a month ahead of recovery time, thats really two months bc of camp and august drills he participated in...insane...
Anywho--I wanted to be more excited since this is the biggest game in almost 20 yrs but my heart isnt in it yet. Got to make one last pitcher of orange kool-aid for the year!! Come on Tigers!! I like Dr. Pepper so that is an encouraging sign...makes no sense I know, but I'm just going with it...
Clemson Surge!! Thats it the Clemson Surge takes the Dr. Pepper Champs...We can call it the All In, All Orange Bowl...haha...Oh and remember, after a yellow jacket stings you and loses its stinger its dead, right? So GT is already dead...just keep on keepin on...
Go Tigers!!
Saturday, 14 November 2009
NC State Recap
Well, that should teach me to trust my instincts over the actual numbers. In my (admittedly weak) defense, I think the end result betrays the relative competitiveness of the game. If that Spiller non-fumble gets called the other way, the game probably ends up uncomfortably close. On the same note, Russell Wilson is a mighty fine-looking quarterback--if Tom O'Brien can resurrect his defense next year no one's going to look forward to playing these guys. As it was, we simply outscored 'em. Their kicking game didn't help much either. I'm wondering if Clemson doesn't see a net negative punt at some point before the end of the year (6 yards!).
Offense
Kyle Parker took another incremental step in the right direction today. Looked pretty tall in the pocket. Earlier in the year I rapped the coaching staff for not letting him be more mobile, not letting him make plays with his feet if a play looked like it had broken down. Now I think we're seeing what the coaching staff envisioned, in order to maximize Parker's main strength (his live arm) he needs to develop into more of a pure pocket passer who limits his runs to designated keeps. Its been a learning process, at times a painful one, but it might be coming together faster than if the coaches had just let Parker tuck the ball and run every time his first option was covered. Let's see how he handles the stiffer defenses coming in the next two weeks.
DrB hit it on the head a few days ago, one of the reasons for the offensive improvement is instead of throwing out a fresh set of faces every drive to see what sticks, we're now playing the same guys week in and week out. I think things like QB-WR "chemistry" are overrated a bit, but I have little reason to doubt the most talented and reliable guys are seeing the overwhelming majority of both snaps and ball touches. Ford and Dye (and to a lesser extent, Ashe) at WR, Palmer and Allen at TE, and of course the RBs.
Defense
Not sure if Chancellor and Butler still weren't 100%, but it seemed like the 2nd string CBs were seeing a lot of time. As a possible result, coverage wasn't exactly an abject disaster but definitely a large step down from previous weeks. Two counter-points: 1) after a rough first quarter, Wilson was on the rest of the game and 2) Jarvis Williams had a couple of highlight-reel catches (the rest of the recievers could have really helped his final statline if they had held onto the ball a few more times). Since a lot of defense in the secondary is reflexive, an accurate QB and disciplined, talented receiver are going to connect despite the best defensive efforts. Oh, and third point: ridiculous penalties.
Brandon Maye needs to rein himself in a bit, he's starting to make plays that stand out, but not in the good kind of way.
Not much else to say from my vantage point, except that we might want to consider recruiting a new kicker to replace Jackson after next year. 3/6 (?) on PAT attempts is not good for a kicker, small sample size notwithstanding. Seriously, I don't care if you've been sitting on the bench for 10 games, a random soccer player kicking for the local high school football team can manage 3/6.
Waiting for Thomas Austin news...
All in all, a solid game for the offense and an utterly average game from the defense when we've come to expect more. I think the big difference between this and the FSU game was we weren't constantly trying to give the game away for the first 2 and 1/2 quarters. One game, step, whatever you want to call it, away. Virginia brings a stronger defense than we've been playing recently. This should give us an idea of how well our offense has really come along...but our real defense needs to show up and provide support next week.
Offense
Kyle Parker took another incremental step in the right direction today. Looked pretty tall in the pocket. Earlier in the year I rapped the coaching staff for not letting him be more mobile, not letting him make plays with his feet if a play looked like it had broken down. Now I think we're seeing what the coaching staff envisioned, in order to maximize Parker's main strength (his live arm) he needs to develop into more of a pure pocket passer who limits his runs to designated keeps. Its been a learning process, at times a painful one, but it might be coming together faster than if the coaches had just let Parker tuck the ball and run every time his first option was covered. Let's see how he handles the stiffer defenses coming in the next two weeks.
DrB hit it on the head a few days ago, one of the reasons for the offensive improvement is instead of throwing out a fresh set of faces every drive to see what sticks, we're now playing the same guys week in and week out. I think things like QB-WR "chemistry" are overrated a bit, but I have little reason to doubt the most talented and reliable guys are seeing the overwhelming majority of both snaps and ball touches. Ford and Dye (and to a lesser extent, Ashe) at WR, Palmer and Allen at TE, and of course the RBs.
Defense
Not sure if Chancellor and Butler still weren't 100%, but it seemed like the 2nd string CBs were seeing a lot of time. As a possible result, coverage wasn't exactly an abject disaster but definitely a large step down from previous weeks. Two counter-points: 1) after a rough first quarter, Wilson was on the rest of the game and 2) Jarvis Williams had a couple of highlight-reel catches (the rest of the recievers could have really helped his final statline if they had held onto the ball a few more times). Since a lot of defense in the secondary is reflexive, an accurate QB and disciplined, talented receiver are going to connect despite the best defensive efforts. Oh, and third point: ridiculous penalties.
Brandon Maye needs to rein himself in a bit, he's starting to make plays that stand out, but not in the good kind of way.
Not much else to say from my vantage point, except that we might want to consider recruiting a new kicker to replace Jackson after next year. 3/6 (?) on PAT attempts is not good for a kicker, small sample size notwithstanding. Seriously, I don't care if you've been sitting on the bench for 10 games, a random soccer player kicking for the local high school football team can manage 3/6.
Waiting for Thomas Austin news...
All in all, a solid game for the offense and an utterly average game from the defense when we've come to expect more. I think the big difference between this and the FSU game was we weren't constantly trying to give the game away for the first 2 and 1/2 quarters. One game, step, whatever you want to call it, away. Virginia brings a stronger defense than we've been playing recently. This should give us an idea of how well our offense has really come along...but our real defense needs to show up and provide support next week.
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