You might think that with an 11 point win, and our 5th straight win over Sakerlina, that we really dominated this game, but that was not the case.
We came out in the first half sloppy and unmotivated, and it showed. Sakerlina jumped out to an early lead, while Purnell tried to right the ship, as evidenced by the timeout he called after the first minute of the game. All this despite the obvious overpursuit of the SC press. With Stitt in foul trouble, Andre Young stepped up big throughout the game and it was our depth that really beat the Cluckers, not our defense.
Throughout the first half, Devan Downey basically ran the exact same play over and over: he would start at the point and take it to the left of the lane and lay it right in there, and neither Sykes nor Booker would challenge him. Why? He must've ran that very play and succeeded 10 times tonight. In the second half Purnell did adjust and we blocked it much better. Most of Downeys turnovers were because he took it right down the lane.
When we came roaring back towards the middle of the first half, you could clearly see that SC's defenders were getting really tired because of the amount of minutes they were forced to play. By the end of the half we built up a solid 56-44 lead that shouldn't have dwindled in the 2nd, but gotten monstrous.
But it did dwindle, and we came out completely flat offensively in the 2nd. Thankfully the defense did improve in intensity and we remained in the lead despite a strong Carolina run to start the half. They really surprised me, considering the way they looked at the end of the 1st half. A press team needs to have SOME kinda bench, but SC plays with basically only 8 men. This SC team will win some SEC games, unless people play Box & 1 on Downey, and match up a great defender to him, in which case they are screwed.
Its a win, and I'll take it, but Clemson should've won this game by 30 points, on paper. SC outhustled us all night but the stats wont show it. If they had depth, they'd have won this game. We had 20 points off the bench, SC had 5. Everything else Clemson did ok: we shot well at the free throw line (thank you God!) and rebounded well.....except for some in-bounds passing.
Some criticisms:
Why does Oglesby not get set screens? This guy is a fantastic pure shooter. He could easily have been in the 30+ range tonight.
Why does Clemson not push inside more? Booker and Sykes should both be getting more points....we dont press in the paint. They rebound well and block shots, but offensively if we'd push inside, the defense would have to collapse and then Oglesby would be open even more outside.
Outland Trophy winner Dave Rimington was the Center that Fridge and William Devane were matched against in the '82 Orange Bowl, and he talks about the matchup here.
I watched the tape of the game again, and it looks like the announcers felt that Rimington was All-everything and was going to manhandle our front....but he didnt. While I'd say he's right in his assertion that Fridge and Devane didnt really dominate, they did bust up that Nebraska line several times. It was a solid battle up front between two physical teams, and we got the best of them more often than they did us. In those days Clemson played alot of 5 man fronts (3-4 sets with the OLBs playing at the line) and double-teaming was not an option most of the time.
Are you gonna miss Aaron Kelly? All this hoopla about receptions and Terry Smith's records....Do you know why Terry Smith has those records? Its because he was the only WR on those teams who had ability, and they threw to him all the time. I'll miss Kelly's 3-5 drops per game, right.
Rod Gardner is who I miss. You throw it in his general direction, he catches the football.
A couple of articles give mention to Blackwell and West running the defense, and how we're supposed to stop the potent Nebraska offense, which is a mix of West Coast principles with old-fashioned Nebraska power running, and a dash of motion.
With LSU likely taking D. Walker from UCLA to run the defense, it appears that Chavis is Clemson's, and unless Blackwell shows out in his play-calling thursday, I can't see why it wouldnt happen. Its not surprising that it has not been announced though, with recruiting going on. I was hoping Dabo would at least try to interview Dick Bumpas (TCU DC) now that his bowl game is over.
Edit: Chavis has accepted the job at LSU, for a reported 500K (he got 340+ last year at UT). TI thinks that Steele is a candidate now...which makes no sense to me.
WHEN CLEMSON AND Nebraska square off in the Gator Bowl on Thursday, the game will mark the second meeting on the football field between the schools. But it will not be — as some have suggested — deja vu.
The stakes were much higher the first time the Tigers and the Cornhuskers met, in the Jan. 1, 1982, Orange Bowl. Because second-ranked Georgia and third-ranked Alabama had lost earlier in the day, the winner of the Orange Bowl would claim the national championship.
Clemson defeated Nebraska 22-15, launching an era of excellence in which the Tigers finished ranked in the top 20 in nine of the next 10 years. The accomplishment was remarkable considering no one expected the team to win its conference.
However, the Tigers rolled through their ACC slate and finished the regular season 11-0. They entered the Orange Bowl ranked No. 1 in both polls, but plenty of skeptics didn’t believe the Tigers were for real. Clemson was a 4½-point underdog to Nebraska, which started the season 1-2 but rolled over their final eight opponents.
Danny Ford, the coach of the Tigers at the time, wasn’t surprised his team hadn’t earned the oddsmakers’ respect.
“A lot of people didn’t even know where Clemson was,” Ford said earlier this month after spending several hours riding a tractor on his 170-acre farm in Pendleton. “Some people thought we were in Georgia or North Carolina or somewhere else.”
That the Tigers had made 10 previous bowl appearances, including a 17-15 victory against Ohio State in the 1978 Gator Bowl, had done little to educate many of the nation’s geography-challenged football fans and sportswriters. During NBC’s telecast of the game, analyst John Brodie, with the help of play-by-play announcer Don Criqui, held up a map to show the audience where Clemson is located.
“Where is Clemson?” Brodie said, and then added with a grin, “I can tell you that a lot of NFL scouts know where Clemson is.”
Ford chuckled at that.
“I kind of like to think that what we did help put Clemson on the map for some people,” he said.
Ford would be the first to tell you the thought of a national championship never entered his mind when the team gathered in August for preseason drills.
“We just wanted to try and win the Atlantic Coast Conference,” he said. “Clemson had won maybe one conference championship in the past 12 years or so. I knew that’s what the Clemson people wanted.”
The Tigers didn’t impress anyone when they had to come from behind to beat Wofford in the opener and defeated Tulane 13-5. Pollsters took notice the following week when Clemson downed Georgia and Herschel Walker 13-3.
“That’s when I thought we might have a pretty good team,” Ford said.
The Tigers continued to roll and were undefeated when they faced rival South Carolina in Columbia. Ford, ever the worrier, was concerned about the Gamecocks.
“They had some pretty good players,” Ford said. “The more time has passed, the more I appreciate what (coaches) Jim Carlen and Joe Morrison were able to do down there (at USC).”
Ford’s fear seemed justified when the Gamecocks took a 7-0 lead. Minutes later, however, Clemson’s Rod McSwain blocked a USC punt and teammate Johnny Rembert recovered in the end zone. After that, it was all Tigers as they closed the regular season with a 29-13 victory.
Next stop: Orange Bowl.
TIGHT FIRST HALF
The Tigers’ march to Florida was something of a surreal experience for me. As a kid, I watched Clemson play Colorado in the Orange Bowl on television on Jan. 1, 1957. Twenty-five later, I was in Miami sitting in the press box covering the game for The Columbia Record, which was the city’s afternoon newspaper at the time.
I tried to drink in the sights and sounds. It was truly an Orange Bowl because thousands of orange-clad Tiger fans sat in the stadium.
“It was an awesome setting,” said Perry Tuttle, Clemson’s star wide receiver. “I remember it was hot and it was loud. And we were playing Nebraska with all that great tradition.
“I know a lot of people didn’t give us a chance. I really thought we could win because, with all due respect to (Nebraska) coach (Tom) Osborne, I thought we had a better coaching staff.”
Clemson, decked out in all orange, went up 3-0 on a 39-yard field goal by Donald Igwebuike. Minutes later, Nebraska’s Mike Rozier tossed a 25-yard halfback pass to Anthony Steels for a touchdown to put the Cornhuskers up 7-3. Igwebuike added a field goal at the end of the first quarter to make it 7-6.
“They kind of fooled us with that halfback pass, but I thought we held them pretty good the rest of the way,” Ford said.
Clemson took a 12-7 lead into halftime after Cliff Austin scored on a 2-yard run. That was hardly a comfortable lead.
Jim Phillips knew. Up in the press box, the late Tigers radio play-by-play announcer, paced nervously. What made it doubly tough for Phillips was that he could not call the game because the Orange Bowl had its own national radio network.
“This is insane,” Phillips said as he sat down and then got back up again. “I should be on the radio right now.”
Phillips was better off than Tim Bourret, Clemson’s assistant sports information director at the time.
“I wasn’t even at the Orange Bowl,” said Bourret who is now the Tigers’ SID. “Clemson had a basketball game that night, and that’s where I was. I was constantly trying to get updates from Miami.”
A TITLE ... AND A MAGAZINE COVER
Tuttle felt good about the game as the Tigers took the field for the second half.
“We had some really good players,” said Tuttle, reeling off the names of defensive back Terry Kinard, linebacker Jeff Davis, defensive end Bill Smith, quarterback Homer Jordan and others.
“Of course, we had the ‘Fridge’(freshman William Perry),” Tuttle said with a laugh. “He was pig-headed and didn’t know any better, didn’t know we weren’t suppose to win.”
The 295-pound Perry played middle guard and spent much of the night squaring off with Nebraska All-American 283-pound center Dave Rimington. Perry more than held his own.
In the third quarter, Jordan directed the Tigers on a 75-yard, 12-play drive that culminated with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Tuttle. The extra point and another field goal by Igwebuike gave Clemson a 22-7 advantage as the final quarter began.That’s when Nebraska put together its best drive of the game, which concluded with Roger Craig thundering around left end on a 26-yard scoring run. The two-point conversion made it 22-15 with nine minutes to play. When Clemson got the ball back, Ford had Jordan try to move the team by passing. It didn’t work, and the Tigers had to punt.
“Homer had been running the ball good all night, so I had him passing there,” Ford said. “That was pretty stupid of me.”
With Nebraska hoping to move in for the kill, the Clemson defense rose. Tackle Jeff Bryant, end Andy Headen and Perry each made individual plays, forcing the Cornhuskers to give up the ball.
The clock showed 5:24 when the Tigers took over. This time, Ford played it smart; Jordan stuck to the running game and the Tigers ran out clock. The noise already was deafening in the Orange Bowl, but once the final second ticked off, a mammoth roar rocked the stadium.
Clemson players jumped around, hugged one another and gave a salute to their fans.
In the locker room afterward, Ford managed a slight smile.
“It was sort of relief, but it was fun when you look back on it,” Ford said. Asked when he thought the Tigers had a chance to win the national championship, Ford quickly replied, “When the game was over.”
Ford paused a moment and added: “I’ll tell you something; (what) I really remember about that night is how classy coach Osborne and the Nebraska team were. It was a clean, well-played football game.
“Oh, Perry and Rimington might have had a few words with each other, but it was mostly two teams playing football in a good, hard way. Nebraska showed class before and after the game. I’ll never forget that.”
When the next issue of Sports Illustrated hit the stands, there was Tuttle on the cover, arms in the air, celebrating what turned out to be the winning touchdown. Next to him were the words, “No. 1: Orange Bowl Hero Perry Tuttle of Clemson.”
2nd team Free Safety Sadat Chambers was arrested at 2am by a Chesterfield deputy, after failing to dim his lights for the officer, for having a suspended liscence and driving. Strelow at The State initially published a hatchet job article, but then retracted a little.
Here in this holiday season, it's time to stop and give thanks for the bountiful gifts sports supplies us.
Specifically, lift a mug of eggnog to college football, which is putting the finishing touches on a run of coaching hires that have been a laugh riot. These college administrators, they kill me. Now that Tina Fey has shelved her Sarah Palin impersonation for the time being, where else can you get comedic quality like this?
Mississippi State's decision to hire Florida offensive coordinator Dan Mullen was a coup. The vacant jobs that have been filled in automatic BCS qualifier leagues to date are Tennessee, Auburn, Mississippi State, Clemson, Washington, Kansas State and Syracuse. The seven (white) men hired for those prestigious jobs had a combined head-coaching record in 2008 of 7-15.
Seriously. Is that not the funniest thing you've heard in weeks? If you're scoring (or laughing or crying) at home, that's 2-10 for Gene Chizik at Iowa State, 4-2 for interim Clemson coach Dabo Swinney and 1-3 with the Oakland Raiders for Lane Kiffin. That's whoopie-cushion material right there. None of the others sat in the big chair this fall.
Among those not hired: Mike Leach (11-1 at Texas Tech and in a mood to move, had there been interest) and Turner Gill (8-5 at Buffalo, not long ago the worst program in America). Short, sweet question for the slapstick administrators in question: What the #### were you thinking?
Wait. Before you answer, here's what I'm thinking of each of those hires:
Clemson. The hire: Swinney, who was recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach until Tommy Bowden was whacked in midseason. The grade: D-plus.
Swinney was part and parcel of a failed season, but somehow got a promotion out of the deal. Who knew that beating Duke and Virginia could lead to such ample rewards? Clemson fans loved the fact that the Tigers closed the regular season by beating rival South Carolina. But hey, Bowden beat the Gamecocks seven times in nine tries and look where that got him. Swinney has the same thing going for him that Sarkisian has at Washington: the in-conference competition in the ACC isn't that stiff.
Now, I'm not saying Forde doesnt come across as a total dimwit with that article, but we should take a second to look at the national perception of the hiring.
Dabo has no head coaching experience at any level, no national recognition, absolutely no fame as a player, and no coordinator experience. No one else in America was going to hire Dabo as anything other than a position coach or recruiter, thats all Saban wanted him to do. Our WRs are not even fantastic. Swinney was on no OC lists anywhere. He was not on anyone's HC 'maybe' list. Dabo could rightly be viewed as a minor cog in the failed regime of Bowden. On almost anything other than 'hunch' level or a charismatic personality level, the Dabo hire makes no sense. He beat BC, which was one thing Bowden couldnt do. The team wasnt dominating against anyone until SC, and we always beat their ass.
RubtheRock has an interesting interview with Reggie Merriweather everyone should check out.
Clemson has dropped McCalleb from its list (grades) and is raising the activity around Tim Simon and Daquan Hargrett .
Rk School ('08 Final Record) 1. LSU (49-19-1) 2. North Carolina (54-14) 3. Rice (47-15) 4. Georgia (45-25-1) 5. Stanford (41-24-2) 6. Arizona St. (49-13) 7. Florida St. (54-14) 8. Louisville (41-21) 9. Texas A&M (46-19) 10. Texas (39-22) 11. Mississippi (39-25) 12. Georgia Tech. (41-21) 13. Cal. St. Fullerton (41-22) 14. Oklahoma State (44-18) 15. Baylor (32-26) 16. Fresno State (47-31) 17. San Diego (44-17) 18. Miami, Fla. (53-11) 19. Kentucky (44-19) 20. UC Irvine (42-18) 21. UCLA (33-27) 22. Missouri (39-21) 23. Pepperdine (38-21) 24. Southern California (28-28) 25. Florida (34-24) 26. Clemson (31-27-1) 27. Notre Dame (33-21-1) 28. Coastal Carolina (50-14)
Early Bird College Football for 2009 poll has come out from NationalChamps.net, here. Clemson is unranked of course, and they predict FSU to win the Atlantic Division. Florida and Bama are 1-2.
Clemson moved up to 20 and 22 in the USA Today and AP Basketball polls after our solid win at Miami. We're off until Dec. 30th against Sakerlina, where we can continue our usual ownage.
A good article came out today about Woody McCorvey's new position with Clemson as the Director of Football Operations, where rules say that he can't give actual instruction in practice. I expect the NCAA rules prohibit him from contacting recruits as well but haven't found the documentation.
This is clearly just a short-term position though, either Woody will be moved back to coaching or he'll eventually leave Clemson.
“This is going to give me an opportunity to see where I can go with this,” McCorvey said. “By being able to do this this year, it will give me another perspective of the athletic world. And it might lead down the road to something like athletic director. But once you’re a coach, you’re always a coach. We’ll see.”
People bragging about our OL? Say what?
Mason Cloy has been getting some good PR on the OL lately, and this GNews article talks about his struggles on the Line this year, and how he's progressed all season. The P&C does the same here.He was named Freshman All-American the other day along with D. Bowers and Brandon Maye.
Recruiting
Incoming OL recruit JK Jay appeared to have suffered an injury in the Shrine Bowl game today. Sounds from the description like a sprain to us.
Florida DB Jaron Hosley has but Clemson in his final five, most notably against Ohio State and Michigan, while Dre Kirkpatrick still has us in the running for a visit.
Bowl Game
Swinney comments on the shittyness of bowl practice lately here, and apparently Korn has healed enough to play sparingly in the Gator. Meanwhile, Nebraska is taking a few days off for the holidays.
The next Priester, or Terry Witherspoon?
Jamie Harper talks about his reduced role behind JD and CJ Spiller here.
"It's a big transition coming into the college game from high school," Harper said. "I've got some great running backs ahead of me and they've done a great job of guiding me this season. I think I've improved so much since the beginning of the season. I knew when I got here that it was going to be tough getting on the field.
"I understood coming in that James and C.J. were established in the lineup and they're going to be great backs at the next level. I understood what my role was going to be this season and they've shown me the way to be successful in the future."
Both of us here will greatly miss JD, and this article talks about his career and the struggles this season. When I spoke with Coach Ford thursday morning (story forthcoming), I mentioned to him that if JD was on that 1989 team, we'd not be talking about him breaking the record this year, he'd have broken it last year and would be in the NFL.
Former Clemson Center Robby Chapman passed thursday afternoon at just 43. Its quite sad when someone goes so young and leaves little ones behind, our prayers go out to his family.
Visits last weekend were the last before the end of the "Contact" period that ends friday. Recruiters and HS recruits alike get the holidays off. Given that we're not allowed to post Ard info verbatim, I'll only be linking Korncoot's stuff. I know Korncoot slants his observations, but its the only thing that you dont have to pay for.
12/13 visits: DE Leon Mackey (6-6 260) (4-star JC) DB Jonathan Meeks (6-2 193) (4-star JC, committed this weekend, from Rock Hill orig.) RB Onterrio McCallebb (5-11 172) (4-star JC) WR Bryce McNeal (6-2 175) of Minneapolis (4-star) OL JK Jay (6-7 275) of Christ Church (previously committed, 4-star)
Although this looks like a stellar weekend, it is a departure from the strategy (as of late especially) of megaloading all good recruits into one weekend. The first three are all from Hargrave Prep, where Clemson tends to get most of its prep school players. JUCOs are essentially a stopgap move, geared to fill an immediate need, as most can only play 2 years. Prep school is an extended version of high school where they tend to go only one year (or semester), and in most cases have 5 to play 4 as pointed out to me.
They are nearly always rated 4-star, because they can contribute immediately.
With Clemson needing at least 3-4 OL this year, interior DL, possibly a RB to replace Spiller, and 2 safeties graduating, you can see why Dabo would go for so many JCs. Indications are that Meeks will bulk up and play SS or OLB, however.
In Meeks' comments to Korncoot about the others:
Meeks called Mackey a "soft commit" to the Tigers. "He's going to take his Virginia Tech visit (this weekend), but he's not ready to announce it (a commitment). And he said McCallebb would choose either Clemson or Auburn.
Auburn's staff is in flux with Chizik on board, and the radio call-in shows throughout Auburn territory (as I was driving through the area this weekend) indicate none of the current staff will be retained.
McCalleb's comments:
"It's a great possiblity that I am going to commit to Clemson," he said. "I like Auburn and Clemson and it's going to be a battle."
Chris Rumph is scheduled to meet him Wednesday, and Dabo will meet his mother this weekend.
Bryce McNeal is considering offers from Oregon and OU mainly, and is being recruited by Jeff Scott. Right now we're looking good with this kid and he was impressed by our facilities. He says he'll decide Jan. 3.
DE Sam Montgomery looks like he'd rather go to LSU right now, but Clemson and Sakerlina will be all over him for an official visit. As I suspected, he'd have followed VK to LSU, but you see no mention of K. State on that list. I still get the feeling he'll stay in-state.
Clemson is set for another important recruiting weekend on January 10.
Clemson's Steve Fuller-led team finished the 1978 season 10-1, with their first ACC Title since 1967.Ranked 6th, Clemson was invited back to Jacksonville (we got whipped 34-3 the year before by Pittsburgh), this time to face the 7-3-1 Ohio State Buckeyes, whose losses came to (11-1) Penn State, (9-2-1) Purdue, and (10-2) Michigan. Ohio State had defeated only one team who finished with a winning record that season (Wisconsin, 5-4-2).
But despite the good feeling about the season and the direction the program was going under Pell, things were not alright in Clemson. Pell was being courted by the Florida Gators, and was ready to leave, saying "You just cannot win a national championship at Clemson." IPTAY tried to get him to stay by purchasing a new Jaguar for Pell, but once he said he was going they turned to a young assistant named Danny Ford. Pell offered to coach the team through the bowl game against Ohio State, after spending a week in Gainesville setting up shop, but the Clemson administration and fans refused, as they all wanted Pell's full attention to go to the Buckeyes.
Woody Hayes' most famous comments came when you asked him about the passing game, citing that only 3 things can happen when you pass, two of which are bad. His freshman QB Art Schlicter was good though, and finished the game 16-for-20 for 205 yards, with another 70 rushing.
While Clemson dominated most of the game in the trenches, Schlicter brought the Buckeyes back into it in the 4th Quarter and scored his second TD of the night with a little over 8 minutes left in the football game. Jim Stuckey tackled Schlichter on a sweep to prevent the two-point play, and Clemson still led at 17-15.
Clemson handed the ball back after only a few minutes on the next possession, and Schlicter brought them downfield again, pounding us up front. Late in the 4th, faced with 3rd & 5 at the Clemson 24, he dropped back to pass, missing a wide open reciever to his left and throwing to a RB over the middle. The pass was underthrown, and was intercepted by backup nose guard Charlie Bauman.
This was to be Woody Hayes', the fabled Ohio State head coach, last game thanks to this bonehead moment, when he hit Bauman, after he was dragged down at the Ohio State sideline.
Players on the Ohio State bench intervened, pulling Hayes off Bauman, while Tigers ran across the field. Though the hit was on live TV, cameras almost immediately panned off, and Keith Jackson says he didnt see the incident to this day. ABC never replayed the hit, later saying that its videotape machine as busy rewinding to show the interception and therefore didn’t catch it.
Consecutive unsportsmanlike conduct penalties gave Clemson field position, and Fuller was able to run out the clock, giving Clemson its first win over a Big Ten team. 17-15.
But it was replayed nationwide the next day, and Hayes was immediately fired. Hayes died of a heart attack in 1987, having never apologized for the incident publicly, or to Bauman.
The next season, Schlicter led the team to the Rose Bowl undefeated, where they lost to USC for the national championship.
6 players on the 1978 Tiger team became 1st Round draft picks by the NFL.
Hayes won 238 college games at Denison, Miami of Ohio and Ohio State, and his share of detractors.
He had no hobbies beyond football. He saw the game as the embodiment of American values. “Without winners there would be no civilization,” he said.
Before Charlie Bauman, Hayes would dress down sportswriters, elbow hecklers and hurl haymakers at a Times photographer and an ABC cameraman.
“You ask, why are we talking about him now, why is he still interesting?” Natali said. “One reason was because he was so deeply and publicly flawed. I think it was the mistakes he made that made him that much more compelling and interesting.”
The 2008 season for most was probably the most disappointing season that many Tiger fans can remember. Hell, I will even admit that CU played much worse than I ever expected under Tom (and for the record, I quit expecting jack-shit out of Tom after UGay beat our ass to start off the 2003 season).
Coming into the year, we all expected TB to gallantly fuck up--especially with all the talent that we had at skill positions coming into the season. **SIDE NOTE: scratch the last idea, there were (as always) some idiots on T-Net with their heads so far up their asses that they could not watch Tom's previous failures. These same people were also predicting perfection out of a flawed staff of coaches and a soft team with a piss-poor attitude.
The end result, as everyone is fully aware, was that CU and Tom parted ways. Because of this, we can split this season into two (2) distinct eras, BTF (before Tom's firing) and ATF (after Tom's firing). BTF was a period that saw Bammer absolutely humiliate the Tigers. This time period was one of copious screen passing, lack of motivation, soft play, and provided Clemson a stage to repeatedly beat themselves.
ATF immediately unemployed a mad scientist. ATF also saw a Clemson a team that played with much more enthusiasm (and noticably fewer screen passes). ATF saw a team that hit a lot harder and played a step faster. While I am not ready to annoint D Swinney the next great coach in football, I seem to like him more and more with each presser he holds and Bammer article written about the guy.
Now, on to less obvious things. The 2009 version of the Clemson coaching staff will look much different from this season's crew. VK took the hint and is freezing his ass off somewhere in Kansas as this is written. Spence and his bush league offensive scheme is gone for (what we all hope) will entail a more physical offense that will not be afraid to throw the long ball.
Swinney gets two thumbs up for his hiring strategy (so far). McCorvey, Harbison, and Pearman all have previous ties to Dabo's two working institutions.
McCorvey obviously has the trust of this blog by default, as he served at CU under the man and at Bammer under Stallings. McCorvey has also hauled in some major talent over the years and his history as a playcaller could be a useful tool for Swinney and crew.
Harbison was McCorvey's defensive counterpart at Miss State. Harbison worked at CU under T West and in Tuscaloosa under DuBose (not as impressive as Danny and Gene). Additionally, Harbison was at LSU with Saban, so he does earn some street cred there.
Pearman was a TE at Clemson in the mid-80's. While this tells us nothing about the art of catching the football, it surely does mean that he knows how to get push off the ball from a three point stance and get a good seal when running the sweep. Additionally, D Pearman was a GA under Danny and worked in several capacities under Coach Stallings.
With a new attitude for the staff and the shedding of some dead weight (I still think we are still one kechup spokesman too many on the staff), I don't see how next season could be any worse than this year. The Tigernet faithfull will overlook the effect of the coaching change on high school athletes and question Swinney's ability to recruit from the head coach's desk. They will then put on the orange tinted sunglasses and predict invinsability next year.
Another one of these, and SOS will fall just like Dietzel, Carlen, Morrison, and Holtz before him.
That is, if he is still there after Florida drops half a C-Note on him again in '09 in the Brice--note that the Gator nation wouldn't even give up a backwoods meth lab for SOS to return to Gainsville.
John Chavis has interviewed a 2nd time for the open DC position at Clemson, and the word is that there is a sticking issue on his salary. Its possible there is an issue with someone to be brought on staff to replace one of the current defensive assistants. An article today talks about the salaries on staff here.
Mike Dooley, promoted to TE coach (from GA) when Napier was made OC, has been pushed back to GA. Pearman is taking his spot on staff.
The redundancy on staff is at LB, where Blackwell and West technically are split ILB/OLB. Ron West is a Clemson graduate, Blackwell is the better recruiter.
Mobile (AL) news station is reporting that Will Muschamp will go to Auburn, and be announced today. Muschamp has denied it and says he "has not and will not interview for the Auburn job."
He said the same thing about Texas DC job and took it the next day.
Everything I've ever heard about Muschamp's departure was to do with the A.D. and Trustees (Bobby Lowder), and not Tubby. They are all still there, so I dont see how that bad blood was smoothed so quickly.
Ron Morris throws grenades at Spurrier for throwing players under the Bus. But what will they do in Columbia if another HOF coach can't fix the program?
Vic Koenning said today that he has no hard feelings in his firing from Clemson. Please God, let this be the last VK mention I have to see in local papers?
Strelow posts an article about recruiting for the year, and how we're behind and have gotten no commits since Dabo Swinney was named HC here. I'm going to be happy with a Top 25 class this year. Rarely do new coaches come in and have dynamite classes; transition years are always poor. Dabo will do better with the same staff however, and McCorvey and Harbison are great at it. Next year I expect to be much better, independent of our record.
Larry Williams posts a free article for a change, about the press conference.
Paul Rhoads, currently the DC/Secondary Coach at Auburn, has met with Swinney for the open position here. In 2008, Auburn was ranked 27th in Total Defense, 18th in Scoring, 22nd in Pass, and 52nd in Rush defense this season, though they had no help from their utterly pitiful offense. He was formerly the DC of Pittsburgh, where LB Coach David Blackwell came from. At Pitt, he consistently had good, but not great, defenses.
Still rumored about are Joe Kines (Texas A&M) and Ellis Johnson (SC), both former Clemson coaches. No word on John Chavis that I can find over the weekend, though he has said "I am absolutely interested" in the position. He is also up for the LSU job, with Tyrone Nix, D. Walker of UCLA (former Miles assistant), and Greg Robinson.
With Vic Koenning taking a Co-DC job at Kansas State along with Maryland DC Chris Cosh, do we need to worry about his targets for Clemson?
Koenning has said, in his parting potshots at Swinney, this:
"I'm ready to recruit now," Koenning told the Wichita Eagle. "I have a five-star recruit right here in South Carolina who is ready to go wherever I go."
The recruit in question is (4-star recruit) DE Sam Montgomery from Greenwood, who said today he was "honored" that Koenning was speaking of him but knows nothing of KSU.
Vic, he might've followed you to LSU, but I'll go out on a limb and say he will NOT go to Manhattan, Kansas. The only ones following you are your wife and kids. Who in their right mind would go to Kansas? Bill Snyder is only there long enough to right the ship, he's not putting in over 5 years at K. State.
Clemson Basketball unranked still... At 9-0 we're ranked 27th by the AP, despite their #2 ranking in the RPI and 6th ranked SOS so far by Rivals.
Not that you can fault the pollsters, we've been historically a bad team. I predicted before the season that we'd be at the NIT/NCAA-Bubble team level, but having seen them play twice I think they will make it to the NCAA Tourney. I'd put us at 25 if it were up to me. Lets win @Miami and they'll definitely put us in.
I just have this sick feeling that one day Purnell will leave us for some place like Arizona or UConn, and I don't want to see us back to the level of Shyatt, which I had to see courtside for 4 years when I was there.
So its Florida vs. Oklahoma, and the early line was favoring Florida, the last time I looked. Oklahoma will have a difficult time stopping the spread option Florida runs. Florida will have a difficult time preventing the OU offense from executing their offense. Whomever plays defense in the game will win it.
I dont really thing it'll be all about turnovers and special teams play here, just defense.
But I want to know why Alabama went to the Sugar, while Texas went to the Fiesta?
I realize the Sugar Bowl has almost always taken the SEC Champion, but Fiesta doesnt have a tremendous history of taking Big 8/SWC teams, so why are they now always getting the Big XII champ?
Most of the time it was the Orange Bowl that took the Big 8, while the Cotton took the SWC Champ. If the Rose Bowl want to act like bitches and continue to create shitty matchups by always taking the Pac 1 champ vs. whoever-sucks-the-least from the Big 10, thats their call, they have a long history of it.
But the Fiesta should have either picked up Alabama and let them play Texas, or the Sugar should've come out openly and released Alabama for consideration. Fiesta should, in theory, have the higher picks since New Orleans hosted the NC last year. Thats the game we want to see. If Texas and Bama played and Texas won, they'd have a real argument for a piece of the national championship either way. Now, with them playing an Ohio State team that doesn't deserve to be there, even if they stomp OSU soundly they won't be able to make a case.
Let the Sugar take Boise State against Utah. Screw Ohio State, let Georgia kill them in the Citrus Bowl.
But instead we get to see Alabama vs. Utah, basically a WGAF bowl game like Georgia vs. Hawaii last year, and Texas vs. a Ohio State team that has beaten no one all year.
John Chavis, The Chief, Def. Coord for Tennessee, is rumored to be on the list for jobs at LSU and Clemson. He interviewed with Swinney per TI. He, along with Alabama DC Kevin Steele, is from Dillon, SC.
Steele is intriguing as he flirted with Arkansas for the DC position there last year, and almost went to U. South Alabama as HC last year. Why he would've left Saban for Petrino is beyond my comprehension. I don't think he would come to Clemson unless he just wanted to come home to SC. Why would you give up a shot at a national title for the same job somewhere else? He already makes $360K at Alabama, and they would match any offer, bet on it. (Chavis makes about 340K)
In the meantime, Blackwell and West will coach the defense for the Gator Bowl.
While Swinney said he doesn’t expect to have a coordinator hired before the bowl game, he modified the statement by saying if he did, the Tigers would adjust staff responsibilities as need be.
The scheme run by Chavis is essentially the same as Koenning, a 4-3, and he plays alot of soft Zone coverages, but Chavis will blitz from everywhere, which is what (we all) Dabo wants. Chavis is credited with initiating the zone blitz to college football, and specializes at LB/DL, so Blackwell or West would probably go. He's regarded as a mediocre recruiter, but would likely bring DL coach Dan Brooks with him, who has stolen alot of recruits out of the Carolinas (Jeff Coleman and Shaun Ellis and Leonard Little come to my mind). That means Chris Rumph would leave, likely West will be gone at least and Blackwell could stay on. Tennessee fans are split 50/50 on the guy, some hate, some love.....most dont like that he's gone to soft zone the last 4-5 years. See here the defensive playbook.
WoodyMac and Charlie Harbison are coming back Think about this: Flagler, Flowers, Allen at Clemson. McCorvey recruited those guys.
When Tennessee was bringing in every RB recruit in the southeast in the early 00's, it was Woody that stole them from Georgia, Clemson, Alabama, Auburn, etc. Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry, Travis Stephens...etc.
The man who brought them in is coming back to Clemson. I think he's one of the top recruiters in the southeast, and one of the best position coaches in the country. He's rumored to be put into an administrative position, at least for now, after jilting Spurrier (again) for the WR coach job. With Jeff Scott keeping the WR coach position, Powell's head might be on the block, which is a shame given how he's helped our Special Teams the last two years.
Lately he's been the OC at Miss. State, which was a horrible offense, but that works fine for us because this guy is damn good at recruiting and coaching RBs. Jerius Norwood still surpassed 1000yds at Mississippi State for this guy.
If Jeff Scott is kept as a GA only, with WoodyMac and Burton Burns (just a rumor) on staff Clemson will clean house in recruiting offensive skill players.
Charlie Harbison is coming back to Clemson too, a former DB coach under Tommy West (and Nick Saban), who is a great recruiter in his own right. Sure, he was here for the Ford brothers (Toast and Burnt), but also coached Dexter McCleon. He brought in Alex Ardley and Robert Carswell. At Mississippi State he coached D. Pegues, likely a 1st or 2nd round draft pick at FS. At Bama, Fernando Bryant in 1999 and Tony Dixon in 2001 were taken in the first and second rounds of the draft. He's recognized as a Top 25 recruiter in the country by Rivals. This guy is a step up from Koenning in recruiting (by FAR) and a position coach. Harbison will make about $250K and his deal expires in Dec. 2010.
Our favorite Cockfan has posted again
Ron Aiken sends another scathing review to Spurrier.
Damn you, Steve Spurrier. Damn you for making me right about your offense’s sad futility, damn you for sabotaging the entire football team, university and fans by sticking with the pitiful Chris Smelley while he literally threw the game away for the second contest in a row, and damn you for lying to fans about why you did it.
....And, USC had two stinking weeks to get everyone ready for this game, time in which, if I understand correctly, USC did not practice as much as it could have in preparation for Clemson. Great move there, Steve. That really paid off handsomely.
Tuberville was 85-40 in 10 years at Auburn, and is 110-60 in 14 years as a college head coach. Tuberville is fourth all time in wins in Auburn. He was the fourth-longest tenured coach in school history. Tuberville's best season was also Auburn's best season. The Tigers were 13-0 in 2004.
Genius move Auburn, who are you gonna get? Shouldve done it sooner so you could win the Kiffin sweepstakes. Petersen is staying put, Kelly is staying put.
Bobby Lowder takes out another one for Auburn in shitty fashion (listen to the caller Amy, Ensminger's wife, and Donna Dunn). You could hire Jesus and he'd hate him. Lowder is the one who pushed hardest for Petrino in 2003, and I wouldnt be surprised if he was just dumb enough to try prying him from Arkansas but I hear Petrinos contract prevents him from leaving to another SEC school.
And Tubbs didnt even knock up his secretary like Terry did.
I know a few Auburn fans, and most say that Tubbs just had a demeanor that rubbed many the wrong way; that he kind of gave up in recruiting lately, and with Saban around thats really bad for Auburn. Like Bowden, he wouldnt bail on his assistants (Nall and Ensminger) who people have hated for years.
Miss. State might have him, since he fucked Ole Piss over for the Auburn job I'm sure they dont hate him. Goodbye to one of the ballsiest asshole coaches I've ever seen. Auburn always plays dirty football.
But somewhere LSUfreek weeps....
Saban knockouts so far: Tubbs, Bowden, Croom, Phil, and Miles will come soon.
Between the three of Alabama, FSU and Nebraska, this is likely the best balanced offense we've faced this year. The only game I got to see them play was @Texas Tech, when they led late and their defense folded. Joe Ganz is a good, capable QB. In the only game I watched, they were a multiple-set offense that aims for balance. I tended to think of it as a meld between the ball-control SEC offenses and the spread offenses of the Big XII. Recall that the players Callahan brought in were geared towards his West-Coast style.
Pelini's background is on the defensive side, so I'd expect them to have a good gameplan for us. The talent on the defensive side is lacking, and they have had some big injuries hit them. Having seen alot of Pelini at LSU, I know the types of defenses he runs. Its a 4-3 with alot of confusing zone blitzing schemes and he will play press-man and Cover 0/2 otherwise. Expect more Cover 2 against the spread we run. I'm not sure the talent at Nebraska is at the level where he can get away with mostly rushing 4 like he did at LSU, especially judging from their sack stats.
Today Danny Pearman was brought onto the staff, and though it hasnt been stated what position he will oversee, but at the very least expect him to take the TE's over, and possibly take Powell's spot as Special Teams Coordinator. I think anyone who has seen the improvement over the last two years in the ST's would not like to see Powell go right now, but if Pearman is better then so be it.
Pearman is a 1988 Clemson grad who played TE for God from '84-87. He then became a GA for Ford in '88-89 before going to Alabama under Gene Stallings. From '91-96 he was a ST Coordinator/OL-Tackles coach (when Swinney was there) and in '97 also coached the DT position for Mike Dubose.
After that he went to Virginia Tech, assisting with the Special Teams under Beamer, along with TE/OT position. After 2005 he left for NC (ST/DE), 2007 for Duke (ST/TE), and this year for Maryland (ST/TE/H-backs).
His records at these places are solid, which is what you expect from Special Teams. The only one that stands out is VT, but Beamer is the man behind their ST. I dont see how its going to change all that much from what Powell has done. He has coached under some Greats, so I think he'll be a solid guy.
I can find no record of great recruiting for Pearman though. He doesnt seem to be that good at it, as I've seen some articles from VT beatwriters and message board posts who said he was totally ineffective. Andre Powell (also RB coach) is a good recruiter though, and brought us in Stanley Hunter and Marquish Jones this year. Billy Napier was the TE coach last year, but apparently will move to QB/Off. Coordinator from now on.
I'd be really excited if he brought Woody McCorvey back to Clemson in some capacity, but it doesnt look likely unless Powell is toast altogether.
UPDATE: WoodyMac turned down the job at SC.
Def. Coordinator Vic Koenning out...
After VK's comments when Dabo got the job, this one wasnt a big surprise. Dabo has said he wants a defense that will attack instead of sitting back in soft Cover 0/Cover 2. VK wouldn't call a blitz to save his life, but he was solid at DC since taking over for Lovett. Our pass defensive stats have been some of the best ever at Clemson (especially if you ask him), but while I dont want a Reggie Herring blitz-every-damn-play-and-lose-in-the-4th defense back, I would like a more aggressive setup. From the official statement:
“I want to thank the Clemson administration, coaching staff and most of all the student-athletes for a great four years,” said Koenning. “This is an outstanding program and a great place to live. I am proud of what we accomplished this year and over the last four years.
“I want to thank Tommy Bowden and Dabo Swinney. I enjoyed working for Coach Bowden the last three and a half years. He brought me to Clemson and I appreciate the opportunity. And, it was a great run with Coach Swinney the last seven weeks. He will do well at Clemson.
‘It was a great experience here, but I was not certain of my role past the bowl game, so I think this is a good time for me to pursue other coaching opportunities.”
This year we were #9 in scoring defense, 12th in pass defense, 11th in pass efficiency defense, tied for eighth in interceptions and 16th in total defense. It is the fourth consecutive year that Clemson has ranked in the top 25 in all of those categories in the same year. VK was a solid, if not outstanding, recruiter.
I'd expect an outside hire, John Chavis? Dick Bumpas? Charlie Harbison? Ellis Johnson? Joe Kines? I wouldnt be surprised if its another Bama guy....or maybe he'll give it to David Blackwell and hire a Secondary coach to come in (like Harbison). I'm not impressed with Blackwell, as highly thought of as he was, our LBs havent been overly special (and we havent brought in great recruits there either).
UPDATE: Charlie Harbison has been hired as Secondary Coach. LINK
Harbison Bio, he coached here while the Ford Brothers were here. They left after '96 as I recall.
Gator Bowl Bound
Clemson vs. Nebraska on January 1 in Jacksonville at 1pm, a rematch of the 1982 Orange Bowl that gave us the National Title. We got it because FSU was the only other team on their radar and we'd bring in more money. Nebraska fans travel really well and have never been to the Gator, so I'd expect it to be a full house. LINK
Our Gator Bowl record: 2000 Virginia Tech L 20-41....and VT didnt belong there at all. 1995 Syracuse L 0-41...I'd rather not remember. 1989 West Virginia W 27-7....Danny's last game. 1986 Stanford W 27-21 1978 Ohio State W 17-15....Danny's first game, Woody's last. 1977 Pittsburgh L 3-34...Pell 1951 Miami FL L 0-14...Howard 1948 Missouri W 24-23....Howard
From 1989, recall that WVU was in the title race in '88 and '89, and Major Harris was a Heisman candidate those years.
ESPN/Scouts Inc. columnist Craig Haubert gives his opinion on the hiring of Swinney and the impact on recruiting here.
And the Tigers do have some good building blocks to work with in this class still. Clemson has three ESPNU 150 prospects, including two Under Armour All-Americans, and of their eight commits, seven rank among the top 25 at their respective position. Swinney also got good news as offensive tackle J.K. Jay (Greenville, S.C. / Christ Church) will be standing by his commitment to Clemson despite having entertained interest Georgia and other top programs.
The bad news for Clemson is that it looks highly unlikely that it will be able to regain many, if any, of the losses suffered after Bowden left. While that is an unfortunate break that results from a coach leaving, the Tigers can now finally focus on positives. There should be little, if any, change to the staff and that should allow Clemson to quickly make up for some lost time. Recruiting relationships with coaches and prospects have already been formed and keeping recruiting coordinator Billy Napier, in particular, on board should also allow Clemson to quickly regain stride.
Those links won't be active forever, knowing WSPA. They are sometimes downloadable using FLV Player.
Dabo clearly wants it and its hard for anybody to root against him. He will get a 5 year deal (5 because of recruiting) valued at around a million per year, less than half of what it would've cost to bring someone like Patterson here.
Pictures In many posts here I try to post a picture or video, just for shits & grins. For the majority I try to give the source, and always if it is a chop made by other sites. If you believe you created it, let me know and provide a link. For the most part I get pictures from TNet, and have a large collection over the years, without remembering where I got them all from.
At least that is what the fabulous reporter Gregg Doyel says in his blog.
Dabo Swinney? Are you kidding me? Look, Clemson, you don't kill the king to promote the prince. But that's what you did, running off Tommy Bowden and promoting his receivers coach, Swinney. Because as we all know, Clemson is known as Wide Receiver U.
It looks good now, Clemson fans. I get it. Swinney went 4-2 as interim coach and beat South Carolina. Great. Terrific.
But in three years when Clemson is 4-8, remember where you heard it first.
Typical Doyel, I must say.
This GNews article does make some good points about the salary being paid to Swinney, $1mil/year for 4. Especially this part:
...Phillips needs to know from a managerial point of view who will fill the staff and just what their duties will be.
That's necessary because there's a lingering question about the gradual erosion of discipline and work ethics that occurred during the last year or two of Bowden's tenure. Swinney talked about how players slacked off in drills, didn't run on and off the practice field, how they were allowed to abbreviate stretching exercises and back off in other small areas of team-oriented routines.
All of those things contributed to Bowden's downfall. The question is why, with a full staff of professional assistants, was that lack of attention to detail allowed to continue? Did nobody notice or did they just not care?
And from TNet, what I thought was a great post: by Sugarbowlson. 1. Unknown Hillbilly hired to coach Clemson after Charlie Pell defects to Florida. 2. Go 3-7-1 against Hillbilly. 3. Hillbilly fired. Boring Milquetoast hired. Now Clemson can’t cheat. 4. Go 1-3 against Clemson during Boring Milquetoast’s tenure. 5. Boring Milquetoast run out of town. Replaced with Hillbilly, Jr. Ha ha. Now they’re really dead. 6. Go 2-3 against Hillbilly, Jr., in era now referred to as the Golden Years. 7. “Got Lou” billboards first erected. Up the road, guy who will eventually be referred to as “Tammy” hired away from powerhouse Tulane. Clemson’s in trouble now. 8. Proceed to go 1-5 against Clemson under 2008 College Football Hall of Fame inductee. 9. Future Hall of Fame inductee hired. Clemson’s in REAL trouble now. 10. Future Hall of Fame inductee (and Heisman Trophy winner and former coach of 6-time SEC Champ and 1996 National Champion Florida) goes 1-2 against Clemson, forcing eventual ouster of Tammy. 11. Tammy replaced with ex-real estate developer turned wide receiver coach with cartoon character’s name. See light at end of tunnel. 12. Light turns out to be Lightning and accompanying Thunder. Go 0-1 against Cartoon Character. 13. Now they’re really gonna get it.
CLEMSON — The "interim" tag will be removed and Dabo Swinney officially will be named Clemson head coach within the next few days. Athletic Director Terry Don Phillips will conduct a formal interview with Swinney this afternoon, and Clemson sources indicate a formal news conference will be held Monday or Tuesday.
Swinney has not revealed his plans for a coaching staff. The most likely keeper is recruiting coordinator Billy Napier, promoted from tight ends coach to quarterbacks coach when Swinney took over. Napier has helped Swinney with play-calling.
Offensive line coach Brad Scott, the former South Carolina head coach hired as part of Tommy Bowden's original Clemson staff in 1999, also wants to stay. Jeff Scott, Brad's son, was promoted to wide receivers coach from graduate assistant when Swinney replaced Bowden.
I'm not 100% sold on Dabo Swinney. I look at him and say, "he's done everything right off the field to get this job with the fans." But people in large groups are idiots, and TNetters seem to take the cake. I see alot of improvement on the field, in X's and O's and intensity, so I'd give him 3 years. If he can't win the Division in 3, I will not support him any longer.
Some people might say "well you should give a coach time to get his players in, 4 years"....but Dabo brought these guys in himself. He knows exactly what he has to work with.
We also do not support keeping Brad Scott and his son on this staff, not by a longshot. I'd (DrB) rather offer a top-line OL coach, I'm reaching but perhaps Sly Croom would work for another Alabama grad? VK is likely out, and John Chavis is available from UT. I want Napier and Rumph to stay either way. Blackwell is over-rated in my opinion.
Cock-a-doodle-doo?
Strelow reports about the trick play that Ford scored on, that almost wasnt, when Cullen threw from his knees.
“I hadn’t seen that one since I ran it at Gaffney High School with the junior varsity,” USC defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson said. “And we scored on it, too.”
Ford went undetected along the left sideline and ran downfield uncovered at the snap.
However, senior quarterback Cullen Harper got unexpected quick pressure from USC defensive lineman Jordan Lindsey as he dropped back to throw.
Lindsey spun around Harper, who somehow managed to release the ball before hitting the ground.
Ford came back and caught the ball at the 34, then cut inside one defender inside the 15-yard line en route to the score.
Ellis Johnson is a former GHS assistant coach, smart man.
Champs Sports (Tangerine) Bowl likely
Strelow also says in Pawsitive Press that the Tangerine will likely go for us. I'd be happy with that so long as we do get the Big 10.
So here’s calling Clemson to the Champs, where they could face Iowa or Minnesota. Wisconsin is also under consideration, but the Badgers have been to four straight bowl games in Florida.
Although Meineke Car Care (lube and tire center) Bowl and Music City Bowls are possible. We beat Colorado 19-10 at the Tangerine, in Tom's only good bowl showing if you ask either of us.
Tammy to Miss. State?
Sapakoff mentions it in Tiger Tracks, and I think it would be a fit. Tommy has said that he would only come back to a BCS-level school (thats what Terry said, Tom has been mum). I just think that Tammy will likely sit out a year or two first.
THIS IS SOUTH CAROLINA FOOTBALL Following the 2008 season South Carolina has an all-time winning percentage just above .500 (528-525-44), which ranks 60th all-time in D-1A football. A few of the notable football programs who have been better than the Gamecocks include such powerhouses as: Western Michigan, Toledo, Navy, UAB, Central Florida, Ball St., North Texas, Nevada, East Carolina, Houston, Northern Illinois, Utah St., San Jose St., Vanderbilt, Akron, Baylor, UNLV, Kansas, and Rutgers just to name a few. This is Carolina Gamecock football.
In the 59 seasons Carolina has been affiliated with a conference, they have won that conference once...the ACC in 1969, with a 7-4 record. Since the Associated Press began ranking football teams in 1936, the Cocks have finished in the Top 20 of the rankings only five times in the 67 years. Carolina has never finished in the Top 10 of a major recognized poll...NEVER. The first year of Gamecock football was in 1892, Carolina won its first bowl game 103 years later under BRAD SCOTT. In 109 seasons of football, Carolina has yet to participate in one of the Big 5 Bowls (Rose, Sugar, Orange, Fiesta, Cotton). Guess what? As Carolina is set to begin its 110th season of collegiate football, they have won 10 or more games in a single season once. In 110 seasons, Carolina has won more games than it lost only 50 times. In 110 seasons, Carolina has won 6 or more games in a season 33 times, and lost 6 or more 35 times. This is Carolina Gamecock football.
South Carolina has had 32 different head coaches in its storied tradition...only five of them stayed longer than 5 seasons, 21 of them have losing records. Add to that the winning tradition the Cocks have enjoyed at home in Williams-Brice Stadium. Carolina is 18-36-1 at home in conference since joining the SEC. Lou Holtz is the devil. It’s another Carolina Touchdown! Not quite. Of the 56 programs, which have played more than 1000 games all-time, only four have scored fewer points than South Carolina in their schools history.
Since joining the SEC in 1992, Carolina has had a winning record in the conference twice. In the eleven seasons as a member of the SEC, Carolina boasts a conference record of 33-62-1 only two teams have been worse: Kentucky has 26 wins, Vanderbilt 11. Although Carolina has yet to finish in the top two of the Eastern division, they have finished last twice. Carolina has yet to win six conference games in a season, something only Kentucky and Vanderbilt have done in the last 11 seasons. And no one should forget the fact that Carolina went two consecutive seasons without winning one conference game, not one. Carolina had an impressive string of 21 consecutive games with a loss snapped in 2000 by beating New Mexico State (then let the rest of the country know what Carolina football was all about by tearing down the goal-posts). Since 1992, only three times has any non-probation member of the conference failed to win two or more games overall in a season .South Carolina has accomplished this feat twice, Kentucky once. Since 1992, only once has a conference member failed to win a game overall in a single season .You guessed it, South Carolina. South Carolina’s all-time record versus other current conference members is even more impressive: 2-9 vs Alabama, 4-8 vs Arkansas, 1-4-1 vs Auburn, 3-18-3 vs Florida, 13-41-2 vs Georgia, 8-6-1 vs Kentucky, 2-14-1 vs LSU, 5-7 vs Ole Miss, 5-6 vs Mississippi St., 2-18-2 vs Tennessee, and 11-2 vs Vanderbilt. That’s correct, Carolina leads the all-time series against 2 SEC teams...Kentucky and Vanderbilt. This is Carolina Gamecock football.
But, the comparison of only 12 seasons in one conference does no justice to the tradition of South Carolina football. So lets compare the Cocks record versus D-1A schools they have played 20 or more times: 36-61-4 vs Clemson, 17-24-3 vs Duke, 3-18-3 vs Florida, 13-41-2 vs Georgia, 9-12 vs Georgia Tech,11-17 vs Maryland, 16-34-4 vs North Carolina, 25-26-4 vs North Carolina State, 2-18-2 vs Tennessee, 21-12-1 vs Virginia, and 34-20-2 vs Wake Forest. William Brice is a crap hole. That’s correct; Carolina leads the all-time series against 2 of these 11 teams...Virginia and Wake Forest. This is Carolina Gamecock football.
Gamecock fans justify their horrible football record thru the strength of the SEC conference. But let’s look at the Gamecock’s record against the other big 4 conferences. South Carolina is 172-221-18 vs the ACC, 6-8 vs the Big 12, 22-26-5 vs the Big East, and 3-5 vs the Big Ten. This is Carolina Gamecock Football.
But all this tradition and past records are meaningless. What is more important is the recent history. Only losers live in the past. We are in the best years of Carolina Gamecock football, and the future has never been brighter...or has it? Carolina is coming off another losing season, the 9th in the last 13 seasons. Overall record since the legend Lou Holtz became Head Coach: 27-32 (0.458). Since 1995: 43-59-1. Since Joining the SEC: 60-75-1. Since 1990 South Carolina is 69-86-3. Carolina has finished in the Top 15 once in the past 15 seasons, and been to three bowl games in that span. This is Carolina Gamecock football.
2003 would be the year that Holtz previous recruiting seasons would begin to pay dividends. The team no longer had any cancers and was again united. Team unity, young stars, and maturity at QB would get South Carolina back to a New Years Day Bowl game. Your most hated rival would be down and a Carolina victory at home on the seasons last game would likely lead to the departure of the rival coaching staff. The best High School Running Back to ever step on a field made a pledge in February to attend South Carolina, and bring glory to Columbia. That Running Back ended the season by leading the team with 58 yards per game rushing in his first season in Columbia.3 Freshmen Running Backs in the conference were better. Your QB who had matured, and finally had a grasp of the offense. He finished with the lowest completion percentage in the conference, as well as the fewest yards. Again, it was a sub .500 record overall, 2-6 in the conference, another 0-for against the Big 3 from the East. And the season finale that would send your in-state rival back to the drawing board and end the coaching career of Tommy Bowden instead ended in a 46-point home loss.
Seventeen of Twenty-two starters returned for 2004, and with it came high expectations. Returning was your entire offensive backfield. You brought in a new defensive coordinator who was going to implement a new scheme that would be a better fit for your young defensive talent. On offense, Lou took over play calling duties and was supposed take Carolina to the top by grinding it out on the ground. And when your Senior QB would be presented with the situation when he must throw, Coach Holtz said he was going to shock the conference. The season began with a blowout win over Vanderbilt, and a 16-point lead midway through the second quarter over highly touted Georgia. But, then the reality of what the true description of South Carolina football is occurred, South Carolina wouldn’t score again until the South Florida game. When the season ended, this group of Gamecocks etched their name next to failures of the past. Once again South Carolina failed to reach the postseason. Once again, they ended conference play without a winning record. For the third season in a row they went 0-4 against the big three from the East and in state rival Clemson. The lopsided defeats in the 2004 contests against these four teams brought the total point differential margin to 191 points that Carolina has been outscored by in those four rivalry games over the last three seasons. South Carolina has allowed 23 or more points in nine of those games, and scored 23 or more only once. The Quarterback who was going to shock the conference didn’t make it to the third game of the season. Gamecock players gave Coach Holtz an early retirement gift during the final contest of the season in a 22-point loss to Clemson by delaying the game nearly ten minutes midway through the fourth quarter. The reason for the delay was frustrated South Carolina players started an ugly on-field altercation. The actions led to a postseason ban by the University. A team that had positioned itself to accomplish what only 11 teams before them had accomplished, instead took their place in Gamecock history as the 100th team that failed to reach postseason. Coach Holtz called the scene, his biggest disappointment. For many it was just another chapter of This is South Carolina football.
On November 23, 2004, South Carolina named Steve Spurrier as the schools Head Football Coach. Spurrier brings to South Carolina a .777 college winning percentage. His resume includes six SEC titles, one ACC title, and one national championship. Coach Spurrier holds the mark with the all-time highest winning percentage in SEC play. Spurrier will also bring to Columbia the highest expectations in the schools history. Spurrier finished in the Final AP Top 15 twelve consecutive seasons at Florida, so that is what we should expect at South Carolina. Spurrier had a career record of 11-1 against Georgia while at the Gator helm, so that is what we should expect at South Carolina. Gamecock players have greeted Coach Spurrier’s arrival in emblematic Carolina fashion with an abundance of team rules violations and felony arrests. In January, six players were charged after a total of $18,000 worth of computer and video equipment and framed photographs were taken from South Carolina's stadium in late November. The incident resulted in Offensive Lineman Woody Telfort being charged with a felony count of grand larceny, and numerous other charges against players. On March 1st leading rusher Demetris Summers was dismissed from the team. A day later, Tackle Kevin Mainord was arrested for stealing televisions from dorm rooms. Defensive End Moe Thompson was also arrested on similar charges six days later. On April 16th, two more Gamecock players, Josh Johnson and Ty Erving, were arrested and charged with simple marijuana possession. Less than two weeks later, WR David Smith pled guilty to third degree burglary. In late May, Linebacker Dustin Lindsey was charged with DUI. On June 23rd, Cory Boyd was dismissed from the team. In all, twelve players have been arrested in the 2005 calendar year. It’s been a typical Gamecock offseason. But, all will be suppressed in less than two months, when 111 years of South Carolina’s losing tradition will be changed. The man who will single handedly change the program has arrived in Columbia sounds similar to what we were told before Holtz arrival. When Spurrier accepted the job to lead the Gamecocks, he commented, they really haven’t ever done much here. No kidding Steve, welcome to South Carolina football.
On October 20, 2007 South Carolina was ranked #6 and hosting the Vanderbilt Commodores. Vanderbilt triumphed 17-6 by defeating the highest ranked opponent for them since 1937. Next up was Tennessee which began the first leg of the Orange Crush with a come-from-behind overtime win 27-24. Then, Arkansas set rushing records galore with 542 yards rushing in the 48-36 win over the Gamecocks. Up next, Carolina bolstered another player’s Heisman Trophy chances when Tim Tebow rushed for five TD’s in a 51-31 win in Columbia. Lastly, the Orange Crush was completed for 2007 when Clemson defeated the Gamecocks 23-21. The loss gave Spurrier a career first of 5 losses in a row. South Carolina dropped from #6 midway through the season to 6-6 at its regular season conclusion. This is South Carolina Football.
In 2008, South Carolina went from a NCAA ranking of 77th to 96th in total offense from the year before, down from a high of 20th in Steve Spurrier's first year as head coach in 2006. The offense slightly improved after a loss to LSU, avoiding the first leg of the Orange Crush by defeating a bad Tennessee team and using a strange QB rotation for each play during the Arkansas game, putting the Gamecocks back in the Top 25 before a road trip to Gainesville. There, the defense that was ranked #1 in the SEC and #3 nationally was completely exposed and humiliated by Tim Tebow again 56-6. The 50-point drubbing was South Carolina's worst loss since falling 63-7 to Spurrier's Gators in 1995. Spurrier's only double-digit loss in Gainesville before this came in 1993. Again, the third leg of the Orange Crush struck the Gamecocks in Death Valley, where an interim coach defeated the Gamecock's legend 31-14, dropping the Gamecocks to 7-5 at the end of the regular season. This is South Carolina Football.
Game recap & review of the beatdown none of us expected from Clemson.
The keys to this game were the play of the Clemson secondary and the ability of Clemson to run the football adequately against a talented defense that was shaken badly in the loss to Florida last week. Ron Morris predicted a 42-6 SC victory, further proof that Morris loves to stir shit up.
Well we accomplished everything we set out to do, and though it didnt appear that way on the first drive, the first SC possession let us know.
Early in the first, we were held on downs and got a big break from SC with the holding call, then a huge catch, but Spiller fumbled on a direct snap back to the Cluckers.
After a couple holding calls put SC in a 3rd & long, the Ghost of Blake Mitchell rears his head and Smelley throws to Chancellor for his first INT at the CU 15.
At this point, Clemson was calling a few LB blitzes, but there was little pressure...and the LBs appeared to just walk to the line of scrimmage and simply stop?
On the next CU drive, the OL fails to open holes on most running plays. While the stats for the RBs looked good today, it was a direct result of a few big plays and not a consistent 4-5 yards per carry. But CJ makes his first big play and rips this vaunted SEC defense for a 39 yard gain at the end, sprung by a couple great blocks from Cloy and Diehl, and JD takes it in on the next play. Harper is doing a good job of checking down from his WRs and hitting the backs underneath. James Davis and Spiller both made some key catches in the game today.
10 plays, 85 yards on the drive. 7-0 CU.
After the defense forces a 3 & out, Jamie Harper comes up the gut untouched and the punt bounces off his chest. Clemson recovers but the SC defense does well and stuffs JD at the goal line. At this point I believed Spiller shouldve gotten a play out of those 3 in the goal situation, as he clearly had the hot hand early in the game. Clemson FG, 10-0 CU.
The Defense comes back out and puts some good hits on Smelley (one a stupid hit by Hunter out of bounds), and a hit by Maye rings his bell enough that Clemons and Hamlin nearly pick off another pass on the 3rd down play following. SC punts and Clemson recovers on the 3.
JD pulls us out of the hole, but Harper gets sacked twice inside the 10. The first was good pressure, the 2nd a coverage sack. Why didnt we have a quick hitch or slant to Jacoby called as one of the routes? Maners nails a 50 yard punt.
Following a stupid penalty by Jenkins to jump offsides on 3rd & 5, Clemons gets the 2nd pick on a ball thrown poorly behind the receiver. We get our 2nd INT, as I predicted.
The miracle play of the day soon followed. From the 50, Cullen dropped back and SC blitzed, and the DE basically came free unblocked and wrapped around his legs. Cullen, from his knees, tossed a prayer to the flat where Jacoby Ford was sitting wide open, and then juked & jived his way to the pylon. Ford was completely uncovered in the zone. 17-0 CU
On the next SC drive, they appear to be getting things going as McKinley makes a great catch and their OL stifles the Clemson rush....but, alas, the Chicken Curse strikes again and Hamlin picks off a pass at midfield intended for Jared Cook. There were 3 orange jerseys there in coverage.
Lightning began striking the Clucker D at will, gashing them for big gains, and JD takes in the TD from 20 yards out, made possible by a great block from Grisham.
SC gets the ball back and runs right back down the field, another underthrown ball was nearly picked off at the 10 by Chancellor, and to tell the truth we lucked out that it wasnt pass interference. Smelleycock chokes on 4th down, throwing the ball to the ground, but Harper shows his true colors and fumbles on the next play.
Somebody tell me WHY, when SC has no timeouts, and Clemson has a 24-0 lead, and just over 2 minutes on the clock, we would come out and throw the ball from our 30? You can run 2:20 off the clock from just kneeling on it. You could give it to JD three times and maybe get a 1st, but instead they call a pass. That was fucking dumb.
Clemson got screwed on the TD call. The reciever was supposedly pushed out of bounds, which means he can come back in and be the first to touch. The SEC officials in the booth apparently didnt look at his trajectory on the wheel route, or they'd have seen that he would've gone out either way. The man was out of bounds from the 10 to the goalline.
24-7 CU.
Just before the end of the half, Dabo goes for the jugular with a 42yd pass to Kelly to the SC 20. A high pass that Ford couldve caught sails out of the endzone. Buchholz misses the 36 yd FG to the left.
Halftime.
Artist's rendition of the Cock'N Fire offense.
Davis 9-40, halfway to where I want him to be. 122yds rushing, 152 yds passing for Clemson in the first half. Smelleycock 10-25 101 yds 1 TD and 3 picks, worse than I expected.
Halftime camera shots show the Coot sections in Death Valley already emptying.
At the half, I expected Spurrier to make some adjustments and that the Cock'N Fire would play better, and initially SC moved the ball right down the field with several big plays and its 24-14. 8 plays, 69 yards on the drive.
The CU defense, after only one drive that netted real pressure in the 1st half, had not adjusted to blitz Smelley.
Clemson gets the ball and what the hell happened on the first play? We have to take a timeout after halftime when we havent run a single play? The Refs got the call right on the Harper slide and we have to kick. I wonder why Harper would not go headfirst to the sticks between the two Gamecock defenders, his lack of toughness is not something I'm going to miss next year.
Maners kick put the Coots at their 14, where the defense forces 3&out. Clemson returns the punt to the Clucker 45. Clemson was not getting much on the ground early in the 2nd half, at least not consistently. SC brought another defender to the box and we were getting no push up front, but a few big 3rd down conversions put us at 1st and Goal at the 1.5 yard line, where JD took it in off a great cut block by Kelly.
9 play, 45 yard drive. 31-14
Clemson finally begins blitzing on the next SC drive. Crezdon Butler comes unblocked and he sacks Smelley and forces a fumble, but I dont know how Chavis didnt get the ball. McDaniel breaks off coverage of his Slot WR and nails the RB on a middle screen, forcing another fumble, bug Saunders recovers it for SC, again we had 3 guys in orange there to recover and nobody got it. SC punts, no return at the end of the 3rd quarter.
On the next drive, Grisham makes a great play on 3rd and long to nail a first down. Aaron Kelly does the same on a WR slipscreen on the next 3rd down, with a good block by #65 to spring him. All along, Spiller and JD are getting a steady diet of carries, but not breaking for good yardage. While the statistics for Davis and Spiller look good today, the truth is that they're inflated by a few big plays, and for the most part SC did ok against our running game. A coverage sack puts Clemson further back to kick the FG, and Buchholz misses to the left again.
SC drives back downfield, and Smelley misses open receivers in the endzone before throwing his 4th pick to Chancellor at the CU 7. The WR gave up on the ball and didnt try for it. Clemson just runs out the clock.
As we predicted before, if JD got 20 carries we'd win by 10. He got 23 and we won by 17. We predicted that the SC rush was a nonfactor, and aside from two drives it was.
While we hoped Clemson would blitz more, it never panned out. Clemson stayed in zone all day except for a few plays here and there.
A big worry of ours was that Jared Cook would have a big day, but Clemons came back from injury, and together with Hamlin, Cook was held to just one catch.
The team whose offense didnt screw up the most prevailed.
