OK everyone, I’m ready to make my season predictions for this year’s Clemson Tiger football team. This is a fun exercise but doesn’t really mean a whole lot on the grand scheme of things. I just like to record my thoughts at the beginning of the year so that I can look back and see [...]
OK everyone, I’m ready to make my season predictions for this year’s Clemson Tiger football team. This is a fun exercise but doesn’t really mean a whole lot on the grand scheme of things. I just like to record my thoughts at the beginning of the year so that I can look back and see how things turned out comparatively.
Anyhow, now that week one is under our belts, it is possible to make a somewhat educated guess as to how the rest of the season will go. We’re now in Coach Dabo Swinney’s second full year as head coach, and this is traditionally the year that a new coach surprises the rest of the conference. Dabo has had plenty of time to get his system in place, he’s got a solid OL and two great running backs, along with a great QB in Kyle Parker. He’s got a defense that is loaded with talent that should be able to keep opposing points off the board. That being said, here are my thoughts:
9/11/2010 – Presbyterian College – Clemson, SC – WIN
This is another warmup game so look for our team to run scripted plays and to work on our weaknesses. Also look for our fans to complain endlessly because the score isn’t 100-0 with the other team having -237 total yards.
9/18/2019 – Auburn – Auburn, AL – WIN
When it comes to Auburn, don’t believe the hype. Sure, they’re an SEC team, but they’ve been knocked off their pedestal and I don’t think they’ll win more than 6 games this year. They have a very athletic quarterback who is supposedly Mr. Football but from what I’ve seen he telegraphs passes and makes poor decisions. Yes, they have “SEC Speed” but guess what, so do we. Also, we have a defense that keeps their eyes on the QB and excels at interceptions, which should propel us to victory.
10/2/10 – Miami – Clemson, SC – LOSS
Miami has talent from top to bottom and their quarterback Jacory Harris is a junior this year so look for him to make less mistakes and finally put his talents on display. We may be able to pull off the upset because they are going to come to Death Valley but to me it seems unlikely. Our defense is going to have to get several key turnovers or we just aren’t going to win this one.
10/9/10 – North Carolina – Chapel Hill, NC – WIN
When the NCAA gets through with North Carolina, they’re going to be left with a freshman team. Clemson should beat the tar heels with ease.
10/16/10 – Maryland – Clemson, SC – WIN
What happened to this team? Easy win for Clemson in the Valley.
10/23/10 – Georgia Tech – Clemson, SC – LOSS
Nesbitt is making a Heisman run and Paul Johnson is the reigning ACC coach of the year. I believe this will be a close game because we will be able to score on the Yellow Jacket defense, but I think Paul Johnson will outcoach Dabo Swinney once more.
10/30/10 – Boston College – Chestnut Hill, MA – WIN
Although everyone will be pulling for BC this year because of their cancer surviving linebacker, they simply won’t be able to keep up with Ellington and Harper. This is probably going to be an ugly game but I say we’ll win it by at least 10.
11/6/10 – North Carolina State – Clemson, SC – WIN
The Textile Bowl used to be a gritty matchup between the Wolfpack and the Tigers, but now it’s just a distant memory. Clemson will roll over NC State.
11/13/10 – Florida State – Tallahassee, FL – WIN
Somehow, according to all the sports writers, this is supposed to be the year of the Ponder. Now that Jimbo Fischer has moved to “Official Head Coach” instead of just “Head Coach with the title of Assistant Head Coach” the Criminoles are supposed to somehow be a dominant force once again and will roll through the ACC. Not so fast my friends. McDaniel will get at least one interception as our defense picks apart Ponder’s passing game and hopefully, for his sake, Ponder will just let him run it on into the end zone this time. Should be a close game because it’s in Tallahassee, but Clemson wins.
11/20/10 – Wake Forest – Winston-Salem, NC – WIN
Wake Forest has slid back to their rightful position as ACC bottom dwellers, and we should have no problem skating right through Winston-Salem.
11/27/10 – South Carolina – Clemson, SC – WIN
It’s payback time. South Carolina is high on the hog right now with all the praise they are getting in the sports media, even though they are in the middle of an NCAA investigation for providing players with luxury hotel rooms. After getting beat up by the likes of Georgia, Florida, etc they are going to be fighting for bowl eligibility once again and hopefully this year they are DENIED in Death Valley. If the scandal doesn’t get him, the Tigers will, and this will be Steve Spurrier’s retirement year.
Conclusion – 10 and 2 – Return to ACC Championship
Yep, I actually think we will have that kind of year. I think it will be between Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech for our ACCCG opponent and I think it will be a heck of a game. Do I have anything concrete to back it up? Of course not, but who ever does? Regardless, this will be fun to watch, and I look forward to every minute of it.
I think Clemson fans should be pleased with Coach Dabo Swinney if we go 9-3 in the regular season or better, but if we go 8-4 or worse then I think something should be done from the personnel standpoint. Depending on this year’s performance, we may need to look into a new coordinator on whatever side of the ball that is lacking. I think we should be patient with Dabo but at the same time if we fall short of 8 wins and he doesn’t make any changes then I think he will have a hard time keeping his job. That being said, I truly do see us winning 10 games and I hope we have a great year and Dabo continues to be successful.
Tommy Bowden says he was fired, he did not resign: Bowden said when it became apparent he lacked administration’s support, he agreed to begin negotiating terms of a buyout instead of trying to prolong his stay by probably a matter of days or weeks.‘I’m sure if we had talked longer, I probably could have,’ Bowden [...]
Tommy Bowden says he was fired, he did not resign:
Bowden said when it became apparent he lacked administration’s support, he agreed to begin negotiating terms of a buyout instead of trying to prolong his stay by probably a matter of days or weeks.
‘I’m sure if we had talked longer, I probably could have,’ Bowden said. ‘But at that point in time, Dabo (Swinney) was obviously in their thought process, and we had just finished in the top five in recruiting the year before.
The sad thing is: he probably could have prolonged his stay. Hell he sells himself short, he probably could have gotten a new contract with a signing bonus and a new 10 million dollar buyout. He always was a smooth bullshitter. I just wish TDP wasn’t such an idiot.
Now we’re stuck with Tommy 2.0, who was already in mind as the ongoing head coach before Bowden was even fired. I guess that line about “evaluating other coaches” during the remainder of the season was all bullshit too. Imagine that.
Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney today announced the full coaching staff for his first full season. As you may have guessed, I’m less than thrilled. Clemson Football Staff Assignments for 2009 Season Head Coach: Dabo Swinney Offensive AssistantsBilly Napier – Offensive Coordinator, QuarterbacksDanny Pearman – Assistant Head Coach, Tackles, Tight EndsAndre’ Powell – Running Backs, [...]
Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney today announced the full coaching staff for his first full season. As you may have guessed, I’m less than thrilled.
Clemson Football Staff Assignments for 2009 Season Head Coach: Dabo Swinney Offensive Assistants Defensive Assistants
Billy Napier - Offensive Coordinator, Quarterbacks
Danny Pearman - Assistant Head Coach, Tackles, Tight Ends
Andre’ Powell - Running Backs, Special Teams Coordinator
Brad Scott - Associate Head Coach, Offensive Guards and Centers
Jeff Scott - Wide Receivers
David Blackwell - Defensive Tackles
Charlie Harbison - Co-Defensive Coordinator, Defensive Backs
Chris Rumph - Defensive Ends
Kevin Steele - Defensive Coordinator, Inside Linebackers
In all honesty the defensive staff looks pretty solid. No complaints from me there. I thought Blackwell did an outstanding job in the Gator bowl against a great offense with absolutely zero assistance from our own offense. Everything I’ve seen about Steele is that he’s a great coordinator and we should expect a hard-nosed, dominating defense out of him, so I’m really looking forward to that.
However, that’s where the positives stop. First of all, do you notice something missing from that list? Here’s a clue, it’s something other than offense that we’ve sucked at for the last two decades… Special Teams. That’s right, we still don’t have a dedicated special teams coordinator. Instead we have a running backs coach who also, in his spare time, coaches special teams. That’s not a good start.
The next obvious characteristic of the list is the lack of experience or success on the offensive side of the ball. We went with a gamble, an unknown, a risky choice for head coach and so rather than go out and hire an experienced veteran of an offensive coordinator, he decided to go with a gamble, an unknown, a risky Billy Napier. The same guy that called the plays for the last seven games, where our offense completely crumbled when faced with a halfway decent defense. Look at the Georgia Tech game, the Florida State game, the Virginia game, and finally the Nebraska game: what stood out as absolutely pathetic? Our offensive playcalling. Who was responsible? Napier. So he gets the job as Offensive Coordinator… excuse me for not pumping sunshine on this one, but I’m simply not buying the “but it was Bowden’s offense” excuse. Napier had plenty of time to install new plays and formations and he just didn’t get it done.
To be fair, we did see glimmers of hope with Napier at the head of the offense. The first half of the South Carolina game was filled with things we never saw from Bowden: power running with fullback lead-blocking, passing upfield on first and second down, quick hitting vertical pass plays like slants and posts, etc. Those things played to our offense’s strengths (speed, runningbacks) and compensated for our weaknesses (linemen, quarterbacks.) For a minute there it looked like we were in for a complete offensive turnaround. Unfortunately, Napier didn’t seem to learn the lesson of how effective those things were and they disappeared just as quickly as they had arrived. By the second half of the South Carolina game, we were back to our tunnel screen and double reverse loving ways, and that carried on to our Gator Bowl debacle against Nebraska. The Fun ‘n Punt® offense was alive and well, with expected results.
Now, I should mention here that Swinney did mention in the press conference that there were going to be some offensive strategy changes in the off-season:
“Billy and I have worked together for four of the last five years,” said Swinney. “We have a good working relationship and the same philosophy, the same approach. We will have some changes next year. We will basically be a spread formation team. What will be different next year is that we will use the quarterback more in the running game. Billy is one of the fine young coaches in the nation. He will be a head coach some day.”
Call me a pessimist, but I just don’t see much promise in this statement. I just don’t see us coming out next year and running an Urban Meyer style shotgun option/veer and devastating the ACC. I wish we would, but something tells me it’ll just be more of the same, except next year on third and long we’ll have a scrambling quarterback who won’t get sacked, but will run for 8 yards when we need 15. Yay.
Finally, it looks as if Swinney has caved to fan pressure about Brad Scott and taken the full responsibility of the offensive line away from him. Now he is only coaching guards and centers but as a consolation prize his son gets to move up to the big times in college football and coach the Wide Receivers. Hey, who knows, in just a few years he could be a head coach.
After watching our pitiful offensive performance in person at the Gator Bowl a few days ago, the only emotion I could feel was disappointment. I thought we had gotten rid of Tommy Bowden but the playcalling during that game made me feel like we just had a new, slightly improved Tommy Bowden with all the [...]
After watching our pitiful offensive performance in person at the Gator Bowl a few days ago, the only emotion I could feel was disappointment. I thought we had gotten rid of Tommy Bowden but the playcalling during that game made me feel like we just had a new, slightly improved Tommy Bowden with all the screen plays and reverses but without the last name. In fact, I hadn’t seen such a pathetic effort by an offense since the Georgia Tech game of ’07. It was just an extremely depressing game to watch, especially with the amazing effort our defense put forth.
The problem was clear: our offensive playcalling was simply braindead. What happened to the playcalling from the South Carolina game? Why had we reverted to the predictability of the Bowden era? We seemed to be following the same formula on every drive: Dive, screen or reverse, third and long pass attempt (sack,) punt. It was the Fun ‘n punt of old.
Where was the passing on first down? Where were the quick hitting pass plays like slants and outs that had worked so well against South Carolina? Why did we run so many damn screens and east/west plays? As you can tell, it was an extremely frustrating debacle to witness.
What’s even more frustrating is how the Clemson faithful have responded to the game in the same ol’ typical way that absolves the coaches of any wrongdoing whatsoever. “Cullen Harper sucks” and “our offensive line is pathetic” are the main excuses. If our QB can’t make decisions and our OL can’t hold blocks, why then did we not run more “no brainer” pass plays like those I already mentioned? It doesn’t take a great QB to run a TE pop pass, and it definitely doesn’t take a great line, but it does gain yardage. If our line was so bad, why did we run so many plays that required such precise, excellent blocking as reverses and tunnel screens? The fans just don’t seem to get those points. They just fall into their comfort zone of blaming certain players and absolving the coaches of any responsibility.
This brings me to my overall point: if Clemson wants to compete for the ACC title, Dabo Swinney needs to realize that his current offensive staff just can’t get the job done. More specifically, he needs to hire an offensive coordinator that has a demonstrated record of success and knows how to put together a gameplan that uses the strengths of his team against the weaknesses of the opponent. Even more than that: we need an offensive coordinator with his own philosophy that is a complete departure from the failure of an offense that we couldn’t seem to discard after Bowden’s firing. If Napier remains at OC and our offense is not completely redesigned, we will see another frustrating year of what if’s and could have been’s in 2009.
Remember when I said this? This will be the year that South Carolina demonstrates to the whole world that they are the NCAA’s coaching graveyard. Steve Spurrier, I hope playing Augusta National was worth ruining your coaching career. Couldn’t have happened to a better guy. Looks like it might be happening: Spurrier: Apologize to fans [...]
Remember when I said this?
This will be the year that South Carolina demonstrates to the whole world that they are the NCAA’s coaching graveyard. Steve Spurrier, I hope playing Augusta National was worth ruining your coaching career. Couldn’t have happened to a better guy.
Looks like it might be happening: Spurrier: Apologize to fans Personally or Retire Now
It’ll be interesting to see how this one pans out.
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