Clemson Post-game Thread

[wvGT11]

My take on the game. We were embarrassed, but Clemson really is in a league of their own. Clemson really isn't competitive with the rest of the acc . We can be but man we have to improve on both sides of the ball. Coach collins and crew just seem simply out coached by quite a few teams .we have a long way to go but I feel like we can be competitive in the acc just not with clemson right now. I guess we were spoiled for a bit under cpj

 

[Vespidae]

So we could bench a guy like Tre Swilling and give him consequences? How's Tobias Oliver gonna do against that Clemson offense?

We could fire Thacker and hire Belichick as DC. You think he's stopping Clemson too?

Look, I get it yesterday got out of hand and was way worse than it probably should have been. Dabo clearly wanted to RUTS (which doesn't bother me as much as others) and he could hang 70 on most teams they play if he really wanted. We are 1.5 years into a serious rebuild where a lot of talented kids are coming here and looking at coming here. Pardon me if I'm not going to throw a tantrum about our coaching staff because they get their *** kicked by a dynasty program.

Where did I say any of that? All you can do is the best you can do under the circumstances.

As to the coaches, I can't comment on their game strategy because I'm not sure they have one. If they do, share it.

 

[Vespidae]

I don't know if there is enough data to be statistically significant or not, but that is a big gap between 5 stars becoming first rounders at Bama vs. Clemson. Just find it interesting enough to comment.

Bama's first round draft rate is TWICE that of D1. If you are a good player, your chances of being drafted in the first round are the best if you choose Bama. That is their recruiting advantage and it's pretty much untouchable.

 

[jeffgt14]

That sucked donkey balls but at least Saban took care of business to make me feel better later. I've noticed I end up pulling for Bama way more than I want to the past few years just to keep uga out of the playoffs.

I don't even remotely go into Clemson weekend anymore thinking we can win. Anything within 4 scores would have me satisfied. I understand the whole we need more talent **** but at some point you have to at least prove you can play above your talent level. I'm not even sure we've proved we can play at our talent level so far in this coaching regime.

BC should be a winnable game and hopefully we can improve enough over the rest of the year to finish strong with wins over Duke and NC State. I haven't seen anything over the past year and a half to suggest we can do that but that should be the goal to at least look like we have some kind of potential heading into next year otherwise we better strap in for another 3-4 win season.

 

[4shotB]

Bama's first round draft rate is TWICE that of D1. If you are a good player, your chances of being drafted in the first round are the best if you choose Bama. That is their recruiting advantage and it's pretty much untouchable.

Hard to argue with that data. And I don't begrudge kids being all in on their dreams to play pro ball either. You only get one shot as Marshall Mathers says.The PGA guys have been working at their craft since they were small kids. So too the guys playing at the top levels of soccer in the world. The old days of a guy like Lee Trevino picking up a sport while in the Army and becoming one of the best in the world are long gone I am afraid.

On a tangential note, this is why I like the idea of recruiting guys who have been at their positions for years (CB,QB,WR, LB, etc.) instead of recruiting athletes and fitting them into spots. The learning curve is painful. I get that most of the best athletes are probably playing QB at a lot of HS's, but in this age of specialization you can get stuck behind the curve. I know I will get slammed for this for picking an outlier but one of the things (among many) that make Trevor special is that he has groomed to be a QB for years. And in HS he wasn't asked to also play WR and safety too.

 

[SWATlien]

You can't really blame the defense when they have been on the field ALL game. They are exhausted and tired because our offense blows. Thanks, Patenaude.

Play calling? Clemson’s dline was parked in the backfield, what the hell type offense can you run.

Dabo wanted to send a message with this one.

 

[Dottie1145]

What do you mean by "for everything else?"

Scheme, game management, just coaching in general.

 

[rfjeff9]

College football has fundamentally changed since the days of Ross and O'Leary.

Say you are a five-star kid and Saban, Dabo and Geoff come calling. Here's the pitch:

Saban: "Come to Alabama. 55% of 5-stars will be picked in the first round. 82% will be drafted period. You'll make the most money after college."
Dabo: "Come to Clemson. 36% of our 5-stars will be picked in the first round. 91% will be drafted period. You're set for life."
Geoff: "Come to GT. None of our players are drafted first round. Most not at all. But you can design barracks for the Corp of Engineers."

That's what we are up against.

But Geoff can say with reasonable honesty today: "Come to Tech and you'll probably start the next game."

 

[forensicbuzz]

I have yet see anyone post giving Clemson credit for what happened today

You aren't looking too hard then. There's been a number of posts giving Clemson credit for outplaying and out scheming us.

 

[Dottie1145]

Friendly reminder: personal attacks on any of our coaches, staff, and most importantly our players is not allowed here. This includes but is not limited to derogatory or "funny" nicknames.

Criticism of our coaches is certainly okay and expected especially after such a loss but I suggest being specific with your concerns and criticism instead of resorting to name calling.

Seriously? I’ve seen 500+ posts referring to CDP as “Pnut”.... Is that not allowed moving forward? 2020 and Clemson have us soft as hell...

 

[gtstinger776]

Few things here:

1. There's probably 2 other teams in the nation that have a chance to beat Clemson ('Bama, Ohio State). Remember what LSU did last year to teams once they got going? That's Clemson this year. They have a once in a generation QB, and a bunch of players that will be top 1-5 at their position. If no one has been paying attention to recruiting lately, Clemson is literally turning away FIVE star recruits right now.

2. This is a statement game for Dabo and Clemson on two fronts. 1. They need voters and press to do a double take when looking at the score on the day 'Bama-UGA were playing. An emphatic win by either (which 'Bama succeeded in doing) could have catapulted either one ahead of Clemson. With the B1G playing next week, there's a chance Ohio State and 'Bama could take the poll position down the road since they have more quality opponents to play against than Clemson. 2. The two signature QBs (DeShaun Watson, Trevor Lawrence) in Dabo's and Clemson's "elite" run come from GA. Before the coaching change, high level QBs in the state of GA either went out of state or went to UGA...and UGA basically eliminates themselves with the way they mishandle in state QBs (that's why Stetson Bennett was playing against 'Bama). Given how well Jeff Sims is doing, and how we are transitioning to a more attractive offense, GT is now a real option (no pun intended) for high level QBs. Right now, the state of GA is the #3 best state in the country for developing elite level QB recruits (behind CA and TX). That means the best team in the nation has to defend their turf against us. Dabo did the right thing...absolutely crush an upcoming threat to his talent pipeline...and that's not just at the QB position.

3. As good as Clemson is, we still should have done a LOT better against them on offense. The offense looked putrid at times. Trevor Lawrence was pulled after the first drive in the second half, yet Clemson was still moving the ball and putting up points on us. Dabo may have laid the hammer on us, but he still took mercy on us in the second half...it's not on Clemson to stop themselves. That's on CGC and our staff. We should have definitely done better than what ended up on the scoreboard.

The best thing the team can do is learn from this, and erase this game from their memories. CGC talks about raising the standard to compete with the elite teams...well, right now Clemson is the standard and now we know where we need to raise it. BC is next, and they're a good team. If we don't move on from this loss, BC will embarass us. Win against BC, and no on really cares about this embarrassing loss to Clemson. Lose to BC, and it problems become magnified.

This is insightful

 

[GT_B]

After a day of reflecting, I’m still in the same position on Thacker. He seems like a cool guy and I like his energy, etc, but we seem really unorganized and not prepared on defense.
When he talks, he seems like he knows what he’s talking about but the play doesn’t reflect it. I’m not sure if it’s he’s not a good defense coordinator or what he’s teaching isn’t being translated well, but we look so bad on defense at times, especially in the first half of games. It doesn’t matter much if you make adjustments in the 2nd half if you’re already down 52-7.
I know he doesn’t have much to work with at several positions, but he coaches the LB specifically and that is prob our weakest group overall.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

Miami does Miami things, but they look to be a tough out. Other than them, every other team on our schedule is winnable. Notre Dame is barely beating the worst teams in the ACC. They scored 12 against Louisville when we scored 46. We can finish with anywhere from 2 wins to 7 or 8. Today sucked dirty cow balls, but if we can finish with 6+ wins maybe some people will realize that today’s game only counted as 1 loss. Losing to Alabama helps, but I may find myself cheering for Clemson this year later as they may be 1 of only 2 teams who can beat the dwags.

Don't discount the Gators against the mutts.

 

[forensicbuzz]

There is a temptation with Tech people, and I include myself in this, to denigrate liberal arts as opposed to STEM majors. As I have aged and have more time to read, my perspective as changed. Here are five books I recently read/reread. Nothing that happened in my Calculus classes compares to comprehending these books.

1. Finnegans Wake by James Joyce (1939)
2. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (1929)
3. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (14th Century)
4. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (1967)
5. Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (1973)

That's some pretty heady reading. Faulkner is especially dense. Chaucer is like reading Shakespeare, you need a translator to understand what the words actually mean.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

There is a temptation with Tech people, and I include myself in this, to denigrate liberal arts as opposed to STEM majors. As I have aged and have more time to read, my perspective as changed. Here are five books I recently read/reread. Nothing that happened in my Calculus classes compares to comprehending these books.

1. Finnegans Wake by James Joyce (1939)
2. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (1929)
3. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (14th Century)
4. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (1967)
5. Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (1973)

Surprised you included The Canterbury Tales in that list, but the fact remains that reading or studying books like those does very little to provide a decent income for one, nor really even to provide anything applicable to daily life.

 

[4shotB]

It's amazing how many timeless lessons came out of Canterbury Tales...a book written around six hundred years ago.

Actually the Bible is the same, no matter what you may or not believe about it. Fact or fiction, most of the stories are timeless. Technology gets better but, sadly, people seem to stay the same for the most part. IMO.

 

[4shotB]

Seriously? I’ve seen 500+ posts referring to CDP as “Pnut”.... Is that not allowed moving forward?

No.

 

[Jmonty71]

This game shows the talent and experience gap, between us and the best team in college football. We have no quirky offense, to close the gap, we don't have the players, to stop really good players. This showed yesterday. Will we ever be that good? Remains to be seen. I think we will morph into a good team, in 2 years. However ; we will not become a great team. Collins still has to show me he can game manage coach. The OC and DC, still have to show me we can do in game adjustments. We have a couple of years, before we become a team, that can win 6 games.

 

[Treb1982]

I think what most of the haters are intentionally missing is that Clemson could/can do this to anyone they want to save 1 or 2 teams on their schedule.

Those bringing up their scores against the Citadel and Wake prove nothing. Do you honestly think they couldn’t put up 70 against them?

Dabo was our to prove something yesterday. my best guess is it had nothing to do with the playoff and everything to do with recruiting. You don’t throw 50 times in a game you win by 66 points unless you’re trying to prove something.

So while the loss is embarrassing, the reaction by our fans (most of the usual suspects around here who were missing after the win against UL) is more embarrassing.

I see it the other way I’m embarrassed that people are seeing positivity from this staff. Let me give you some highlights in the last 17 games
1) Lost to FCS school at home
2) worst loss in Clean, old, fashion, hate history
3) worst Loss in Clemson history
4) Worst Home loss in school history
4) Worst loss in ACC History

And some on here say we are making progress.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

College football has fundamentally changed since the days of Ross and O'Leary.

Say you are a five-star kid and Saban, Dabo and Geoff come calling. Here's the pitch:

Saban: "Come to Alabama. 55% of 5-stars will be picked in the first round. 82% will be drafted period. You'll make the most money after college."
Dabo: "Come to Clemson. 36% of our 5-stars will be picked in the first round. 91% will be drafted period. You're set for life."
Geoff: "Come to GT. None of our players are drafted first round. Most not at all. But you can design barracks for the Corp of Engineers."

That's what we are up against.

That is similar in nature, at least, though not in actual substance, with the kind of recruiting obstacles that Dodd faced. Dodd prevailed for a long time, but eventually even he was not able to overcome.