THURSDAY RECOMMENDATIONS

Chili:

Team Fortress 2: I'm a fan of online shooters like Counter Strike: Source so this latest iteration of the Team Fortress series is right up my alley. Unlinke CSS, this game features varying classes with varying abilities, speeds, and health levels. Sit back and blow peoples' heads off as a sniper or run into the fray as the Heavy, pictured below. You could also be an engineer and build gun turrets and teleporters or by a spy and stab people in the freakin' back. Your call. Get the game from Steam, let me know if you do and we can go shoot each other in the face.

Let me show you my chaingun. My chaingun, let me show you it.

American Gangster: I had the opportunity to see this a couple weeks ago and highly recommend it. Hitting theaters tomorrow (for you ham and eggers) is the story of Frank Lucas, played by Denzel Washington, a drug kingpin in Vietnam era Harlem notorious for making his own South Asian heroin connections and shipping the bricks back in the coffins of dead US soldiers. The movie tells of his rise to power and the cop (Russell Crowe) who ultimately brings him to justice. Common and T.I. cameo. Also, Cuba Gooding Jr. has a bit role and it's good to see the worst Oscar winner ever (except for that garbage Robert Redford movie that beat out Goodfellas, but I'm really referring to individuals here) get some work. It's a crime film that is more of a Donnie Brasco than a Goodfellas, but still a must-see.


Willy Mac: I Am Legend - Will Smith stars in yet another sci-fi movie that I think will be one of his best yet. The movie, a film adaptaion of the 1954 Richard Matheson book of the same title, is a look a a post-apocalyptic world with Will Smith as the only living human. The world as we know it is gone and only Smith and an army of zombie/vampire beings are around. It's hard to explain, but just watching the trailer it's gonna be awesome.

I absolutely can't wait for this film to come out. In theaters December 14th.

Seigler:

If you ever want to feel patriotic, or to completely understand the Vietnam conflict, this is the book to read. Five Years to Freedom is Col. James N. Roe's book detailing his five years (yes, five) in captivity in Vietnam. It will really piss you off that we pulled out of Vietnam before the job was finished, and certainly will give you a new perspective on the military and our current political climate.

MARYLAND POSTGAME

When James Davis makes a promise, he delivers

We won, I can't believe we actually won, at least so convincingly. James Davis, guaranteed a victory, and he delivered in typical Thunder style. The offense, in my opinion, looked great, despite being unable to score on the opening drive. I'm still not sure what to think of Buccholz though, I'm sure he tries hard, but I still can't understand how Tommy is letting him play two sports. Everyone keeps saying that's not really an issue, but when a kicker has trouble like this, you have to look at the obvious. If Tommy wouldn't let CJ Gaddis play baseball and football (which , by the way, aren't played at the same time of year) why would he let this kid play two sports in the same season. Hopefully our kicker will find his niche again and be able to consistently make field goals longer than 40 yards. It didn't cost us much this game, but with our other special teams struggles, it would be nice to have someone to turn to. As Chili and I were discussing a few days ago, Tommy and his coaching staff have been historically bad with kickers, citing the Jad Dean meltdown last year among others.

Some positives to take away from the game are the fact that both Davis and Spiller gained more than 100 yards, and Clemson was able to put up decent numbers on the ground and through the air against an actual BCS opponent. Maryland was weak and injury plagued, but still put up a little fight, not as much as I expected, but still enough to make us work for a victory. Clemson dominated this game, the score didn't show it, at the end as well as it did at halftime, but the defense looked great. I guess they got tired toward the end, allowing those two touchdowns, but all things considered, they held them down enough to assure a victory. Cullen Harper is repeatedly adding his name to the Clemson record books. He's now the fourth quarterback in ACC history to put up 5 passing TD's in two games in one season, though that's kind of old news now. The more current stat is that he is now tied with Woody Dantzler and Charlie Whitehurst for the single season TD record for a Clemson QB with 21. With 4 regular season games remaining, he should be able to set that mark much higher. I will say that Harper continues to be a pleasant surprise. While most of us are disappointed that we won't be seeing Willy Korn every week, we're glad that we have a dependable QB who can keep the offense moving. We're also still pissed that Harper was sitting on the bench all last year while we endured Will Proctor. Having too many good QB's is better than having none at all, so I can't complain about the controversy, if one really exists. Clemson still has a chance to play to the ACC championship, albeit a slim one, but we'll discuss that further later on.

Negatives to take away are a little more difficult to find. Of course the big one is the loss of Jacoby Ford to an ankle injury. Ford's ankle was in fact broken during Saturday's game and he will be out for the season. Clemson loses it's fastest man, and a good receiver, luckily I don't think we need to look very far to find his replacement. CJ Spiller could easily be sent to WR, and third stringer Sadat Chambers could easily replace him as Davis' backup. We'll see what Tommy does with that, but I'm guessing he won't move Spiller unless we struggle at Duke for some reason. Buccholz is still showing some inconsistencies, but I think we've beaten that horse to death.

In order to play for the ACC title, Clemson will need to play like this, or better, every game, and more importantly, they will need to get some help from other teams in the Atlantic division, since VA Tech wasn't able to take down BC. We'll need to beat BC, and have either FSU, Maryland or Miami take them down as well. Other than that, we'll probably need something horrible to happen to Matt Ryan. Hopefully this new fire I've been hearing about is for real, and Clemson will continue to step up when it counts. I'd love to see at least 9 wins this year, and the way SC is playing lately ( haha) I think we can make it happen. Duke doesn't have a conference win this year, so let's hope Tommy won't be helping them with that again this year. In parting, I think Davis needs to guarantee an ACC title or something, it just might work.

MACALLAN CUP UPDATE

Well, little can be said about this weeks performance, everyone was within a point of each other , just about. Chili was this weeks winner with 8 correct picks and the tie breaker, which helped him claim the number two spot. Other than that, the standings don't look much different than last week.

1) Sam +94 (6)
2) Chili +86 (8)
3) Lyrtch +85 (6)
4) Willy Mac +83 (8)
T5) Tully +81 (7)
T5) Seigler +81 (7)
7) NoleCC +80 (8)

MARYLAND PREVIEW

Clemson (5-2, 2-2) @ Maryland (4-3, 1-2) Saturday, October 27th, 3:30 EST. ABC, XM 191, 98.3 FM in College Park.

The Line: Clemson -3.5

Edge goes to:

Offense: Clemson

Defense: Clemson, who is ranked higher in every defensive statistical category.

Special Teams: I'm willing to bet not Clemson.

Intangibles: Who knows? James Davis's recent guarantee that we'll beat Maryland will no doubt be bulletin board material for Maryland, but it should also fire up the Tigers. It's great to see him continue to step up and be a leader on this team.

Our Panel of Manbearpigs Say:

Chili: With Boston College's miraculous victory at Virginia Tech last night, Clemson's chances of wiggling into the ACC Championship Game went from slim to none. As Clemson and South Carolina fans are used to doing, expectations for the team need to undergo a mid-season adjustment. Playing into a decent bowl game is now the long term goal, with beating the Terps the immediate one. I am always prepared to see Clemson fall flat, but I think James Davis's recent tough talk is an indicator of the team's overall demeanor and I expect to see the Tigers come out swinging. Friedgen tends to out-coach Bowden and will probably do the same on Saturday. The weather looks to be rainy which may lend itself to a lower scoring affair, if that matters to anyone. I think it'll be a close game, with Clemson pulling it out or holding on to win... uh... or losing... either one.

Clemson 17, Maryland 14


Seigler: Keeping with the tradition of Clemson playing horribly against Maryland, I feel this game will be close, and of course, low scoring. I can really see a re-run of the 2004 game, a lackluster game that ends in a narrow (10-7) Clemson victory. Clemson proved to us last weekend that they still have an offense, and that it still is capable of scoring massive amounts of points, so let's hope they don't take the next few games off. Let's hope that special teams are good, because I can really see them costing us this game, like they have a few other games this decade. To be honest, it's so hard for me to get psyched up for these kind of games. I know Maryland is dangerous, they took down Rutgers, who was overrated, but still a good team, but then on the other hand, they've lost to the power houses of Wake Forrest and Virginia ( which, despite their wonderful ACC record, is still not a great team). Clemson should roll this weekend, but don't get your hopes up, Friedgen will out coach Tommy and put his team in a great position to win. I'm really looking for Tommy to start going for it on 4th down, especially when the field goal would be more than 45 yards. It seems our kicker has no confidence, Tommy should start letting him kick short ones for a while, and go for it when they'll be long. Just my opinion, but we need something to build confidence in our special teams. Against Maryland, in Maryland, Clemson puts up another lackluster performance.

Clemson 21 Maryland 20

Willy Mac: Everything about Maryland's offense is terrible. Their running back is ok, but for an offense centered around a terrible quarterback, there's not much hope for them on that side of the ball. Defense-wise, they're decent. As my buddies already said, Fridge is the better coach but there is something different about this new wind Clemson football team that I really like. I mean, we dropped 70 points on a team thats not Temple. Granted it was a non-BCS conference team, still, 70 points?!?! We may finally have found the rythm we need, if we can just keep the Terps away from Cullen. I'm going the opposite:

Clemson 38, Maryland 16

Did you have one of these guys? I did. You can buy one here if you're so inclined.

BLOGPOLL WEEK 9

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	--
2	Boston College	--
3	LSU	1
4	Oregon	1
5	Oklahoma	1
6	West Virginia	2
7	Southern Cal	--
8	Virginia Tech	1
9	Kansas	8
10	South Florida	7
11	Arizona State	2
12	Florida	3
13	Missouri	3
14	Hawaii	--
15	California	3
16	Virginia	9
17	Texas	2
18	South Carolina	8
19	Kentucky	8
20	Wake Forest	1
21	Georgia	3
22	Michigan	2
23	Rutgers	3
24	Penn State	2
25	Boise State	1

Dropped Out: Cincinnati (#20), Auburn (#22), Texas Tech (#23).

EXTREME KORN REPORT: OMFG EDITION

INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY, PERFECT FOR EXTREME KORN REPORT.

YOU KNOW THAT PART IN FAST AND FURIOUS (WHICH ONE? SHIT, ANY) WHERE THE ONE EXTREME WIFE-BEATER WEARING KINDA SPANISHY DUDE LOSES HIS CAR IN A BADASS STREET RACE? AND, LIKE, HE’S TORN THE FUCK UP BECAUSE HE JUST LOST HIS SWEET ASS RICER WITH ONE OF THOSE AWESOME LOUD ASS MUFFLERS? MULTIPLY THAT BY A BILLION AND THAT’S ONE TENTH OF HOW I FEEL TODAY. NOT EXTREME. NOT EXTREME AT ALL, PLANETEERS.

KORN IS….

GOD I CAN’T EVEN SAY IT

REDSHIRTED.

(YOU CAN’T SEE IT BECAUSE IT’S THE INTERNET BUT I JUST SHED A SINGLE TEAR, BECAUSE THAT’S THE MOST YOU CAN CRY WITHOUT BEING A FAG)

THE COACHING STAFF WON’T MENTION IT, BUT THE DEAL IS THIS: KORN WAS THROWING TOUCHDOWN PASSES SO DAMNED HARD THAT HE EXPLODED HIS SHOULDER OR SOME SHIT, AND NOW IS “SUPPOSEDLY” INJURED. WHICH WE KNOW IS A FALLACY BECAUSE HE HAS HEALING POWERS THAT CHUCK NORRIS INTERNET MEMES COULD ONLY DREAM OF ALSO I’M DRUNK.

SO WHY IS KORN HOLDING HIMSELF OUT? HERE ARE SOME POSSIBLE ANSWERS:

1) TO HAVE HIS LAST SEMESTER COINCIDE WITH THE FINAL YEAR OF THE MAYAN CALENDAR (AND PROBABLY THE WORLD) IN 2012.

2) TO HAVE MORE TIME TO READ E.K.R.

3) HE LOST A BET WITH CULLEN HARPER AND HAD TO EITHER KILL HIMSELF OR REDSHIRT. OF COURSE A KORN IS IMMORTAL AND CANNOT KILL ITSELF, IT MUST BE BEHEADED BY ANOTHER KORN, JACKASSES.

4) AIDS

5) THIS SPACE LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK.

I DON’T KNOW WHY KORN IS SANDBAGGIN. THEN AGAIN I DON’T TRY AND UNDERSTAND WILLY KORN, THAT’S LITERALLY HUMANLY IMPOSSIBLE!!!1!!1!

LOOK, WILLY, IF YOU’RE READING THIS, AND GOD I HOPE YOU ARE, PLEASE WILL YOURSELF HEALED. COME BACK TO US. MY LIFE HAS LOST ALL MEANING. ONLY SWEET, SWEET BOOZE CAN SOOTHE MY SOUL NOW. I HAVEN’T BATHED, I STOPPED GOING TO WORK, MY DIET CONSISTS OF FRIED BALONEY SANDWICHES COVERED IN RAMEN NOODLE SEASONING. CAN YOU ACTUALLY BELIEVE… I MEAN SERIOUSLY COMPREHEND… THAT I HAD TO WATCH TRIBBLE FUCKING REESE AT QUARTERBACK? MOTHERFUCKER NAMED AFTER A STAR TRAK EPPY. COME BACK KORN, COME BACK! I'LL SUM UP MY FEELINGS WITH THE FOLLOWING CLIP FROM BLUE VELVET.

CULLEN HARPER? FUCK THAT SHIT. WILLY FUCKIN KORN!

MACALLAN CUP UPDATE

Well, after good showings the last 2 weeks, I'm back where I belong in the standings I guess. Things are again equalizing, and even after missing a week, Tully is back in this thing for sure. We've got two competitors that have called it quits , so we're down to seven competitors now. Suprisingly, this weeks overall champion was Willy Mac, and the fan base is wondering whom he paid for the advice. Here's how things looked this week.



1) Sam +88 (6)
2) Lyrtch +79 (9)
3) Chili +78 (10)
4) Willy Mac +75 (10)
T5) Tully +74 (10)
T5) Seigler +74 (5)
7) NoleCC +72 (6)

8) Brad DNF

CENTRAL MICHIGAN POSTGAME

In a game that will surely quell the angry hoard's cries for Tommy's head -- temporarily -- the Tigers cockpunched the Chippewas 70-14. The game started slowly with CMU taking a temporary lead of 7-0 by driving the ball down the field with relative ease. The defense stiffened, however, and only allowed one more score on the day and had several turnovers to their credit. The kickoff team is still a little shaky, giving up a 30 or so yard return on the opening boot.

Early stats have the Tigers accruing 656 yards of total offense; 307 in the air and 349 on the ground. Harper was a fantastic 19-21 for 265 yards, 4 touchdowns and just 1 interception. Aaron Kelly led all receivers with 121 yards and 2 touchdowns while rushing was split 112 for Sadat Chambers, 96 for CJ Spiller, and 88 for James Davis. Sadat and CJ had a rushing touchdown each while Davis had two to his credit. Other stats of note show that Clemson only punted once the whole game, Mark Buchholz was perfect on extra points but again was off on a field goal from 48 yards. Another dozen or so missed FGs from that distance and the coaches might get the hint.

The Korn redshirt question continues to linger as Tribble Reese was put in at the end of the game instead of Willy. It looks like the coaches are going to hold Korn out and hope to be able to get a medical redshirt based on his shoulder injury against Furman. If a dire need arises later in the season they could blow his redshirt and put him in. The EKR has its own take on the matter, and we'll get to that later. EKR has been drinking a lot since Korn stopped getting PT, we're all a little concerned. EKR's room in the DFIG offices smells like urine and Busch Light and a tinge of vomit.

Check out the ESPN box score for a more sober review.

CENTRAL MICHIGAN PREVIEW

Central Michigan (4-3) @ Clemson (4-2, 2-2 ACC) Saturday, October 20th, NOON EST, ESPNU, XM 190.

The Line: Clemson -17

Edge goes to:

Offense: Clemson

Defense: Clemson: Ranked first in the ACC in total defense, eighth in the nation in total defense, and first in the nation in pass defense.

Special Teams: Who knows

Intangibles: Clemson and the noise of Death Val... nevermind, no one is going to show up anyways. It is homecoming though.


Our Panel of More than Pissed Prognasticators Say:

Willy Mac: Honestly, from what I hear the team has a new fire now. They've already put the first half of the season behind them and I think they come out and beat a very hard non-BCS team. Central Michigan is a tough team, but we've had a bye week to get our heads right and I think we come out swinging CMU has the ability to be the Cinderella team in two years when there QB (Lefevour) is a senior. He kinda reminds me of Stefan Lefors, the Louisville QB before Brohm. This team should be taken seriously and I'm sure that Bowden has got the team back in the right mindset. Let's just hope that we aren't forced to play linemen like Bobby Hutchinson anymore.

Clemson 35, Central Michigan 12

(In my best Michigan/Canadian accent) Ay dere, what's all de fuss about, huh? You meatnoggins shouldn't be hosin around, don't ya know.

Chili: I'll be watching the special teams closely in this game as a predictor of future performance this season. Similar to how the special teams gaffs of the Furman and NCSU games evidenced our deficiencies in these areas prior to the VT debacle, how we perform against CMU may show if any improvement can be hoped for. It will be interesting to see if this team can bounce back or if the entire season is in the shitter. You mean it's not now? Not really, there could still be some satisfying games in the 2nd half. Clemson's consistent inconsistency means that there will almost assuredly be some disappointments to come, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to watch, I'm just not going to care as much.

Clemson 33, CMU 21


Seigler: There is definitely a part of me that wants Clemson to get embarrassed , if only for the sole reason that it might force the Clemson AD to force Tommy out the door ( even if it costs 2.5 Mil). I'm sick of TB, plain and simple, he's done some good for the school, but I don't want to have a heart attack at such a young age, and riding the emotional roller coaster that is TB football, I think it just might happen, if not that then definitely liver failure. Ok, before I turn this post into a Tommy hate fest, let me focus again on the game. In typical Clemson style, I think we'll be able, in all honesty, to put up a grand old performance this weekend. I have it on good authority that we'll have some superior officiating on the field, and I know that the team, if not the coaches are ready to put the last 2 games behind them. Clemson, the whole team, has to put up a great effort this week to pick up our reputation from the mud, so to speak. I think the Tigers will do just that and dominate, even though I think Central Michigan might put up more of a fight than the average fan gives them credit for. Cullen Harper and Willy Korn both see the field in the first equal time game of the year, I think. I'm going out on a limb there, but Korn has been promised more playing time, and I think Tommy and Rob Spence might just be willing to split time to give it to him. Either way, it's a blowout in the Valley, and all the Tiger net fans will be jumping back on the Tommy bandwagon.

Clemson 48, Central Michigan 21

BLOGPOLL WEEK 8

Post suggestions in the comments area and we'll tweak the poll before Wednesday.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	2
2	Boston College	2
3	Oklahoma	2
4	South Florida	3
5	LSU	4
6	Oregon	2
7	Southern Cal	1
8	West Virginia	1
9	Virginia Tech	1
10	South Carolina	2
11	Kentucky	6
12	California	10
13	Arizona State	5
14	Hawaii	1
15	Florida	4
16	Missouri	3
17	Kansas	4
18	Georgia	4
19	Texas	4
20	Cincinnati	4
21	Wake Forest	5
22	Auburn	4
23	Texas Tech	3
24	Michigan	2
25	Virginia	--

Dropped Out: Wisconsin (#14), Illinois (#19), Florida State (#20), Purdue (#24).

MACALLAN CUP UPDATE

This week was a good week, for most in the competition, still Sam holds his commanding lead. All hope is not lost though people, unless you just forget to submit picks for a week. I know things come up, but if you plan to stay in the running, missing even one week might put you completely out of it. That being said, and because we have several players who have failed to submit picks this week, we're instituting a new rule. If you miss more than 2 weeks picks, you're officially disqualified from competition. Tully, after a strong showing at the beginning has been dropped from 2nd to 7th this week, and Brad has all but taken himself out of competition. Most all involved had a strong week picking, still, we wish the best of luck to all in the future. Here's how the standings look this week.


1) Sam +82 (10)
2) Lyrtch +70 (9)
3) Seigler +69 (13)
4) Chili +68 (7)
5) NoleCC +66 (5)
6) Willy Mac +65 (9)
7)Tully +64 (0)
8) Brad +52 (0)

9) Captain DNF

BLOGPOLL

Rank	Team	Delta
1	LSU	--
2	California	1
3	Ohio State	1
4	Boston College	1
5	Oklahoma	2
6	Southern Cal	4
7	South Florida	2
8	Oregon	4
9	West Virginia	2
10	Virginia Tech	5
11	Florida	3
12	South Carolina	4
13	Missouri	6
14	Wisconsin	8
15	Hawaii	3
16	Cincinnati	5
17	Kentucky	7
18	Arizona State	5
19	Illinois	7
20	Florida State	6
21	Kansas	5
22	Georgia	5
23	Texas	9
24	Purdue	4
25	Virginia	1

Dropped Out: Rutgers (#13), Michigan State (#22), Nebraska (#24), Clemson (#25).