Quick news

There is not much to post, but I saw this article by Strelow come out and if you believe its definitely Korn or Parker, then you should give it a read. He makes several key points.
Parker:

What we saw from Parker were the Matt Stafford-esque arm and effortless, quick release for which he already had a reputation. We saw him excel in area that were question marks about him as well; he escaped trouble numerous times and turned negatives into positives, including a pair of flipped shovel passes (one rather ill-advised), plus he deftly used his eyes twice to keep a safety from jumping long passes down the right sideline. Plus, after a rough initial series, he was consistently accurate the rest of the way.

But … he got away with locking in on receivers a couple of times, including a time when he apparently didn’t see linebacker Kavell Conner and bounced a shoulda-been INT off Conner’s hands.

Korn:

What we saw from Korn were both the intangibles and tangibles Clemson’s new coaching staff has been hoping to unleash with an offensive approach (in other words, sans the Rob Spence philosophy) in which the quarterback can be a playmaker instead of a manager or someone whose goal is to not lose the game.

Wade:

But all you need to know about Wade’s place in the QB quarrel is that the Tigers have been using Wade as the “flashlight” on their punt protection unit.

He’s the middle guy in the back threesome who reads the block coverage, calls out the protection and the snap cadence, then tries to block a charging defender who has a head of steam — basically as the last line of defense for the punter.

Then he gives 5 issues to solve before next season, which are pretty obvious.


Baseball
Mickey Plyler explains that Baseball gets the shit end of the stick when it comes to scholarships in Division 1. With SC always making education cuts and Clemson jacking up tuition, its a wonder either school is doing well at baseball.

I have one thing to add, Clemson was last #1 at baseball when I was there, during the Khalil Greene years. My class was also hit hard by the first big tuition increases at Clemson. Is it a coincidence that our baseball team hasn't been quite as good since those years, because we lost the stud hitters off those teams?, or is it that we've lost Kevin O'Sullivan (Florida), Tim Corvin (vandy), and John Pawlowski (Auburn) from the staff in the last decade?

Clemson is ranked as high as #18 (USA Today/ESPN), but still unranked by the AP.

A snippet from BaseballAmerica's weekly chat discusses Clemson's chances of hosting a Regional in the NCAAs.

Q: Jim Bob from SE Des Moines asks:
FSU has done pretty well for themselves, considering their youth; most of their regulars are in the sophomore and freshman class. A team to fear in 2010, I would speculate. Do they have any shot at hosting a regional this year? They have good series wins against UNC, Clemson, and Auburn, and have the weak part of their schedule forthcoming.

A: Aaron Fitt: You nailed it. FSU weathered the tough part of their schedule well. If they can go 7-2 or 8-1 over the next three weeks against teams near the bottom of the ACC, they really could find themselves in position to host again. The Seminoles are very quietly putting together a solid season, though not without its ups and downs.


Q: Bob from Greenville, SC asks:
How close is Clemson to getting back in the top 25? What about their chances for hosting a regional? Thanks for the chat!!

A: Aaron Fitt: Very close, but it's tough to separate those three ACC Atlantic Division teams (Clemson, BC and FSU), because they've all beaten each other and lost to each other. We just decided to wait another week before ranking any of them. Clemson is 15th in the RPI right now, so they're very much still in the mix to host. The thing that hurts them is UNC, Miami, Georgia Tech and Virginia are all a bit ahead of them in the pecking order right now, and there's no way the ACC gets more than four host sites. That's the same thing that hurts Florida State's chances. Like FSU, Virginia is through the worst part of its schedule and could go on a late-season run to lock up a regional hosting slot. And it's hard to see UNC, Miami or Tech not hosting right now, unless one of them goes into a tailspin. I don't see it.

Clemson has thankfully made it through the toughest portion of our schedule, but we and FSU both have to play GT in coming weekends. Our schedule otherwise is fairly weak, so if we could win 2 of 3 against MD, VT, and NC St., we'd have about 40 wins and would have a great shot. We can also host more fans than places like UNC.