Beamer Ball Exposed, Coach Gives Game To Michigan

Way to go Frank. Sure, everyone thought Coale made the catch but Beamer was such a stupid coach during this game. The dumb fake punt (which led to the field goal for Michigan but also lost them a timeout to manage the clock at the end) and then going all conservative at the end before regulation. Not to mention going for that 4th down in the first half and not taking the points. At least everyone knows that VT belonged in the bowl and probably should have won. They certainly weren't outplayed by Michigan.

How does a replay official make that kind of call?? You have conclusive evidence to overturn the call on the field and change the outcome of the game? If the booth had been consistent all night with their calls then I wouldn't have a problem with it but at least two of their 'catches' were with much less 'conclusive' video evidence. If I am being honest I thought one angle looked incomplete but another angle where the left elbow comes down looks like a catch. I think if you can find a catch and it was called a catch then you can't overturn it. Sucks for the Hokies. What in the world possessed Wilson to backpedal 30 yards?? Logan Thomas looks like a great QB and I think its awesome that we beat them twice (then I remember that Mike O'Cain is calling the offensive plays). Bud Foster must give a horrible interview because his defense is amazing and if he wants to be a head coach he should be one.

Final note: The Man of Steele to Tennessee?? There recruits are evaporating as we speak (or transferring) and the ship is burning. We have oodles of talent and consensus 5* Linebackers, chance to repeat as ACC Champs, outside Natl Champs contenders? I'm not too worried. As I have said before I like Coach Steele, although the defense took a step back this year, and this continuity will help the team next year. The offense needed a change and that worked out well but I love the defensive staff and want to keep our current recruits in place. What I think this becomes is leverage for Steele to get a raise. This might become tricky if we are done with coaching raises after Morris gets 1.3 million. If I'm the defensive guy I wouldn't be thrilled about that since I'm sure Clemson has never appeared to have such deep pockets before. The only way I see Steele leaving is if things go south in that negotiation over contracts.

You must remember the story of DeAndre McDaniel coming to Steele's office to find out if the rumors about Steele leaving were true and helping to convince the coach to stay. Steele likes Tennessee and may want a change of scenery after the negativity this year--its a possibility. He has never been much for staying in the same place for too many years.

Quick Reminder: Brad Brownell Not Really Much of an X's/O's Guy on Offense

I'm not sure where the rumor started. I just remember reading it in the blogs somewhere, and then suddenly it everyone seemed to accept it as the gospel truth. Seriously, its almost like this idea was planted by the front office and bam! pretty soon everyone is a stenographer.

In an effort to inject some data into the assessment of Brownell's hiring, I took a quick look at the statistical profiles of his past squads (this was back when I had the time for this sort of thing...) No doubt he's led some great defenses, but on offense his team finished in the top 3 in his conference only once--last year (#3!!). Other than that, his offenses have hovered right around average in both the Colonial and Horizon Leagues. Not exactly the dominant mark of a young coaching wizard. In fact, Brownell's overall statistical team profiles eerily resemble the not-so-dearly departed Oliver Purnell, despite using starkly different strategies to construct stingy defenses and middling offenses.

The Michigan game is disheartening, but it reinforces my early views that we are on a rocky road this season with our best hopes likely lying in an 8-8 ACC season. I believe we have latent offensive talent on this team, but without a coaching staff capable of scheming to fit or develop the talent we are in for a long season of crappy offensive displays. Kind of like the last several years, but less frantic. Much, much less frantic. Glacial.

Clemben Addition: This is the perfect game to shut up Tanner Smith enthusiasts. 1-7 and 0-5 from 3 pt. land. 4 fouls and beat to the basket on multiple occasions (not that anyone was rotating on defense so its not all his fault). We really need Noel Johnson to step up and take half of Tanner's minutes or ACC play will get ugly. Lucky for us Wake and GT stink. Miami, Virginia Tech and FSU are underachieving. Roy Williams has Harrison Barnes and can't right the ship (I love that Barnes was picked as a preaseason All-American??, would have been a top draft pick in NBA but is struggling in college). Maryland and NC State I don't know enough about but are beatable and only Virginia seems to have improved much since last year. Yes, Duke is back to being unstoppable but our schedule is favorable.

This loss to Michigan at home on national TV really does sting though. We have to hope that Michigan continues to improve in the Big Ten. We really need to win our next two games to stay in the NCAA hunt if we go 8-8 in ACC play. Losing to South Carolina in the 3 major sports this year is unacceptable Barker. Don't let the door hit you on the way out Terry Don. How about we get an athletic director with a normal name for a change? That would mean Billy D'Andrea would be disqualified. Hooray!

One thing to remember is that expanded brackets (which I absolutely abhor--64 was a great number) might really benefit us this year. Still unless this team improves fundamentally, its going to be a long year. Glacial sounds about right.

Halftime Ramblings: Pass to Booker Inside

How many layups can one team blow in a half?? So the officiating really sucked--case in point, Michigan was trying to foul in the end and tey dont call it, KC got manhandled a couple times...we should be ahead but if we play the same kind of half we are going to hit the road. Give OP a lot of credit for sitting Terrence Oglesby on the bench where he belongs tonight...he is so cold and is hurting the team right now.

We have played some alright defense and Booker is a personal offensive rebounding machine, so some good points to build on. But we are still leaving a lot of threes open and the manny harris show is killing us. If I hear "thats just MANNY BEING MANNY" one more time...

On a personal note I am so emotionally invested into the outcome of this game...if we bite the dust here its going to take me awhile to recover...ahhh...the life of a loyal clemson tiger!!

Go Tigers! Please, please you can loose in the second round--just please win this one!!

Purnell versus Beilein

So this isnt really all that fair to Purnell but I think its important to note that Beilein has been an absolute genius in the NCAA tourney. I got to say that Peter Tiernan has an interesting thing going with his Bracketscience.com but too much gives me a headache. He is doing four articles for cbssports.com now that espn has gotten rid of almost all their outside contributors, I really enjoyed this one but I digress...

Beilein is perhaps most known for taking a West Virginia team with a white kid named 'the Great Gansey', taking them to the brink of a final four birth as a seven seed in 2005, they were up against Louisville by 2o at one point, effectively turning them into repeat "Cinderella" disruptors. I really think that Michigan beating Duke early on had to do with a Duke team still finding itself...and a coach who can impressively gameplan given adequate time to prep. Beilein may be the best thing about this Michigan team.

Some of the strengths of this Michigan team and points Clemson needs to plan for are:

• Main guard Manny Harris--17 pts a game, 7 reb, 4 asts. That is impressive and we know how Clemson has trouble with scoring guards-Douglas, Downey, Clinch etc. Ft shooting is a crazy 85%-the entire team shoots a good percentage at 74%--could be pivotal down the stretch.
• This team loves to take three pointers. They arent the best or the worst three point shooters but everyone on the team can shoot. Thats classic Beilein style--think about that Pittsnogle guy, so we might be giving up a lot of easy threes in transition off of the press. If the press is porous and they are hot from three land we are one and done.
  
• What we have going for us is that as stated before is that we have a height advantage against this team especially when Michigan goes to its bench, everyone on the bench is short. Beilein likes to go nine deep, sometimes even 11 deep--so we arent going to wear them down. OP if the press aint working lets go full court man to man...
• Lastly Michigan cant rebound ranking 275th in the nation. That has to do with the 1-3-1 zone but also because they launch threes and dont get a lot of offensive boards. It would be absolutely criminal if Clemson allowed itself to get outrebounded.
  

Ultimately I think we can win if we have the right gameplan and then do some damage to a Oklahoma team that doesnt handle pressure as well. Got to have faith in this season! I feel a tiger rag coming on...Go Tigers!!