ORANGE & WHITE GAME POST THOUGHTS

This season's Orange and White game was pretty interesting. I didn't go to last years game, but it's good to see that it's no longer just first stringers vs the rest of the depth chart. It's good to see they might actually try and start selling (in an promotional sense, not monetary) this game and get people to come out. They actually tried to distribute the talent around on both teams. I'm not going to go through stats and such, so you might want to check out the Clemson Athletic Department article.

Some reactions that I felt necessary to be covered after stewing on them for a week:

- Our depth on offensive line is crap, but to their credit they're really young and inexperienced. I think our first stringers did well, but they really need to work hard this off season and get on the same page.

- To be brutally honest, Willy Korn is starting to show that he's getting antsy in the pocket. I think that there might be a conflict of interest where Willy wants to run but the coaches don't want him to. I say, let him go with his instincts. The kid practically shit out state championship rings in high school, so let him do what he needs to do to win. If that involves playing chicken with a freight train on the other side of the ball, then so be it.

- Our defensive line is seriously the meat and cheese of our defense and I love it. Chris Rumph has done an excellent job here at Clemson and I hope that we can realize this and keep him around when other schools come waiving checks at him like the stockbrokers from Trading Places.

A brief look into the future. Here we see a few ADs from other schools vying to get Chris Rumph on the phone.

- Aaron Kelly is just great. I feel as if I could throw babies continually at him when he isn't paying attention and he could swaddle, feed, and put each one to sleep before I had the chance to reload.

Don't worry, he does this all the time (Chilishop)

- After spending hours upon hours going over spring game film and slaughtering a baby lamb on my Clemson football alter at home, I liquidated all of my assets sans car and house and put everything on Clemson to win THE BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP NEXT YEAR. ALL THE WAY BABY! WHOOOOOOOO! WE'RE GOING TO MUSH FACE OTHER TEAMS ON OUR WAY TO THE CRYSTAL BALL, BABY! YYYYEEEAAAAHH!!!! YYAAARRRGGGHHH!!! No seriously, I'd be elated with a ten win season and/or an ACC championship bid next year. Of course, come November I'll probably be singing the tune of "Fire Bowden" for getting to and losing the ACCCG next year.

SOLID ORANGE WRAP UP

Besides the baseball team getting swept (we totally suck now... I can't believe I actually thought we were going to be awesome) and the rain and lighting cutting Eddie Money's set to about 8 minutes the entire event was awesome. Here are a few clips of the first night. Wyclef Jean absolutely rocked. I got to meet him at the meet and greet and he was pretty cool, as were the Wailers.

Wyclef had an amazing set.

Don't necessarily agree with his presidential views, but at least he did some old school stuff too.


The Wailers (Bob Marley's former band) had an awesome set too.


The Movement had some pretty good stuff as well.

If any of you guys have any pictures or videos from the weekend that you would like to share you can send them to use via the feedback email and we'll put them up. Also, if you went, let us know what you thought about the event in the comments section.

HEY PAUL!

Clemson basketball fans: Dorsia is overrated anyways.

I can imagine that I was feeling the same immediate reaction of seething murderous rage that many readers of this website were feeling as the roller coaster that is Clemson basketball finally derailed at its apex and came crashing to the ground in horrible fashion through the second half of the Villanova game. A few thoughts on the game itself:

- I think we played the best basketball we'd played all year long during the first half. I also firmly believe that the refs did a decent job of not falling into basketball politics (i.e. calling fouls that didn't happen and letting obvious chops go uncalled) during the first half.

- Terrence Oglesby got cold throughout the game and it became really hard to watch him take shots. Also, his key areas seem to be free throws and insanely deep threes. He's potty at defense and even worse at any shot worth two points.

- Some readers caught the Purnell call in show and some of them said they thought they heard OP say something to the effect of "Now that Booker is gone, we're going to need Grant to step up." The readers said he kind of choked stumbled over Booker's name but it sounded like he said it. I'm thinking if two people caught it that maybe there is something that should be looked at.
UPDATE: I'm pretty sure he said Booker's name but it was just a slip of the tongue. I think he meant that Booker needed to step up now that Mays is gone.

- The officiating was terrible in the second half. So was the commentary. Those guys were practically blowing Jay Wright, even as he was getting T'ed up for his Coach K-esque sideline language. Nova played a little dirty and got away with it. All in all, it made me wish I had a neighbor who was a Villanova fan so I could knock on his door and then proceed knock his teeth out. Unfortunately, my neighbor is an Auburn fan so I try to avoid eye contact at all costs because I'm really just an internet tough guy. Plus the guy is kinda huge... I'm getting off track and making myself look like a pussy, so back to the post.

- We did check out early in the second half and it cost us dearly. When we stopped using the press, the game was lost. I think one of our reader's commented something like that in the preview post. Credit to whoever said that, take it in the comments section on this post.

- Most of the comments from the last post were from 1am to about 5am. Way to go guys. Good showing. It's nice to know we're your choice of reading material after coming home late from downtown.

On the season I think we did great. We were third in the ACC for the regular season. We made it to the finals in the tournament for the first time since the 60's. We made it to the NCAA tournament for the first time in ten years. We resigned OP for a millenia. We're starting to recruit kids who can play AND shoot free throws. We're on the up and ups and I'm excited about it.

To all those who are still pissed... NEWSFLASH: BESIDES INTERMITTENT FLASHES OF BRILLIANCE, CLEMSON HAS NEVER BEEN GOOD AT BASKETBALL. EVER. Be happy with what we've got. It takes years to decades to build a program and it's rare for a program to be built overnight. That being said, I can't wait to see what we can do in 2009.

BIG FAT BOWL CHALLENGE RESULTS

Congratulations to whoever the hell goes by the Yahoo! tag william.brown21 for winning this year's Big Fat Bowl Challenge, picking 24 of 32 bowl games correctly (straight up, mind ye, not against the spread). The following is the top 10, bottomed out by yours truly.

1	LSU beats OSU 63-17 william.brown21	412	24 of 32
2	Sharp Picks briant_008	397	23 of 32
3	Coby DuBose content.king	395	21 of 32
4	fasteddie esink26	387	20 of 32
5	Tully Sucks Asshole samuelfosteratcu	368	22 of 32
6	The Ol' Ball Sack dblackm5806	366	21 of 32
7	Playoffs? Tom W	366	21 of 32
8	a770Tiger a770tiger	363	22 of 32
9	Struz's Pick thestruz	359	20 of 32
10	Chili Chili	354	21 of 32

CLEMSON 20, AUBURN 23

ROB SPENCE, YOU'VE DONE WONDERFUL THINGS HERE.  REALLY.  YOU HAVE. PLEASE DON'T LEAVE. EVER.

THE BOSTON COLLEGE GAME

[Scene.]

Life: Hi there, Clemson fan, I've got something for you, something you've wanted for a loooong time!

Clemson fan: ZOMG! What is it??

Life: It's a brand new puppy! *holds up puppy* Your favorite kind of puppy, the breed you haven't had in years!

Clemson fan: *dancing* Oh man this is the greatest thing ever! I miss having a pet! This is going to be awesome! I will love him and hug him and pet him!

Life: That's sweet.

Life extends its arms, cradling the happy lil puppy, towards Clemson fan.

Life: Here you go.

As Clemson fan reaches towards the puppy, Life draws back, and in one swift motion snaps the puppy's neck. Puppy arfs, dies.

Clemson fan: WHAT THE HELL, MAN!?

Life then stabs Clemson fan in the balls.

Life: GOTCHA BITCH! HAHA! OH MAN YOU TOTALLY THOUGHT YOU WERE GETTING A PUPPY BUT I JUST STABBED YOU IN THE YAMBAG INSTEAD! PWNED!!!1!

[End Scene]

WAKE FOREST : DOORMAT

The Tigers have finally put themselves where I've longed to see them, back in the race for the ACC title. This time I can really taste it too. Through the last three victories I've maintained my skepticism, but I think this Tommy led team is making a believer out of me. Every season it seems I get my hopes up only for them to be smashed over and over again, with this season seemingly being no different. Now, when this team sets foot on the field, they do so in a way that none other that I have watched has since I began closely following football. Let's hope this continues.

Now before everyone starts jumping on my case about flip-flopping on the whole Tommy Bowden issue, hear me out. If you have really watched this team in the past few weeks, they look like an entirely different team than the ones that showed up against the Techs, causing the vast majority of us to give up hope. I can taste a title after this weekend's showing, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Let's take a close look at the game and the team now.

AP Photo- Patrick Collard

LIGHTNING- Back and Better than ever

Clemson did something this week they failed to do in the past 3 games, score first. Scoring often has not been a problem, but scoring first and scoring often is what I like to see. This was a dominant offensive game, without having to rely too much on our rushing attack, which admittedly, is not as much of a threat this year as it was last. I can only credit that to Cullen Harper, who has been so much better than advertised and taken a lot of the pressure off of Davis and Spiller in the backfield. Speaking of taking the pressure off of Spiller, it is great to see him finally hitting his stride. With Ford out for the season, the need for Spiller to be a big time play maker has been magnified. I don't know if he started taking vitamins, or got counseling or whatever, but he has certainly worked out of the funk that seemed to slow him down earlier this year and he is back, rejuvenated and ready to lead us to a championship. He also is helping me forget our special teams woes, which haven't been all that apparent in the last few weeks. Let's hope he runs another one back for a TD this coming week. Apparently that open date did more for him than we give it credit for.

His counterpart in the backfield, the always reliable James Davis, is really stepping up his team leadership this year and we really need to make sure he is given proper credit. We know Davis was the reason that Spiller did not transfer prior to this season, and now he's at it again, trying to keep players out of the draft so we can make a run at the BCS again next year. Rumor has it that Philip Merling and Michael Hamlin, among others, are thinking about trying to make the jump to the next level after this season. Davis himself is staying, and he wants his teammates around to give them all the best chance at another conference title and possibly, a BCS championship.

We can't stop talking about offense before mentioning Cullen Harper, who as I said before, has been amazing. It still pisses me off every time I think about him riding the bench while we suffered through a year of Will Proctor, I mean, what were they thinking? Harper now holds a few more records, and has shown us that he is mobile when he needs to be, scoring another running TD this week. The offensive line is doing much better at keeping the defense out of his face too, giving Harper more time to work his magic. It seems that the offensive woes that plagued us against Georgia Tech are long gone, though Wake's defense, by the numbers is pretty horrible. Aaron Kelly has been lights out for us too, and if he and Tyler Grisham continue to be such good targets, I don't think our offense will be slowing down. Kelly passed Derrick Hamilton this weekend to claim Clemson's record for receiving TD's in a single season with 11.

AP Photo-Patrick Collard

OUCH

I can't say enough good things about the defense. I think Riley Skinner will be seeing those guys in his dreams (make that nightmares) for the next week or so. I know he had to have felt like a tackling dummy after getting sacked that many times. Clemson is sporting one of the top defenses in the country right now, ranked 5th in all of division one. This puts us just behind big names like LSU, OSU, West Virginia and the "real" USC. The defense really has never been an issue with this team, and we need them to continue their dominating performances. Once again though, Wake's offense is admittedly, pretty horrible in comparison to other teams in this conference.

One last thing to bring up is a sticky subject lately. This doesn't mean that I think TB is a great coach, or that we should renew his contract or any of that other stuff, it just means that I'm slightly impressed with how he is handling this team this year. The two losses we suffered were pathetic, I know, but this team has turned things around in style. I know we give most of the credit to the players, but this whole "finish the job" idea was Tommy's. He knows that Clemson fans want championships and that's why he was brought in to coach our football team, to win championships. I was impressed with Tommy's spirit on the sidelines this game as well. Spiller is rejuvenated and has the spirit of a winner, and I think he's influencing the old coach a little bit too. Tommy argued some calls with alot of passion I don't often see from him. One of my main criticisms of him was his lack of activity when it came to getting calls overturned. He was really in the ref's ears a lot this week, and that helps his players out, knowing that he's going to fight for them. When the coach has a winning attitude, the team can't help but have a winning attitude. I've often said that Tommy plays not to win, but rather not to lose. In the past few weeks I haven't seen that. Tommy is letting the offense run up the score and it seems he wants to dominate other teams as badly as we want him too. Let's hope this is a new and improved Tommy Bowden. I still don't think he deserves an extension, but he can stick around through the bowl this year at least, we'll re-evaluate at the end.

All in all this was a classic performance. This was Clemson using the proper attitude and the emotions in Death Valley, to their advantage. Dominating Wake Forest, while not necessarily that impressive when it comes to numbers, was definitely a morale booster and a victory won on principle. We've got a lot of momentum built up, and BC seems to have lost theirs. Let's hope the Tigers perform like they have been and take the Eagles down next weekend.

DUKE RECAP

Hey there Rendrick, where ya been buddy? (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Clemson 47, Duke 10

Saturday, 12:18 pm, and my stomach is doing barrel rolls. That little lump was growing in my throat. Duke goes up by seven and I'm thinking "Here we go again." Three hours and a few beers later, well, you know what happened. The most interesting thing about us finally being able to take care of business in Durham is that now we might have an outside shot at the ACC Championship Game.

UVA was able to inch out Wake Forest by a score of 17 - 16. That dropped Wake to 4-2 in the conference, tied with us for the Atlantic Division right behind Boston College. I'd say that this weeks game against Wake Forest might be the most important game of the entire year. Keeping with our "Finish the Job" mantra or slogan for this year, this will be the first crucial step in doing just that. We need to beat Wake to take sole control over second place and put them out of the ACCCG hunt.

Of course, FSU decides to get good when it matters and beats Boston College in Chestnut Hill. If we beat Wake, there is a good chance we maintain that momentum and beat Boston College the following week for the following reasons:

- BC hasn't played anyone that good besides VT up until last night (and they got lucky against VT).

- We would have momentum as well as home field advantage.

- We have an excellent defense and if we can just figure out a good blitzing scheme we'll be able to get into and stay in Matt Ryan's head.

- They have a mediocre at best defense with a terrible pass defense.

Beating Boston College would make us first in the ACC (granted BC wins at Maryland this week, which they will more than likely do). Even though we would both have two losses, we would have the head to head match up win against BC and that would put us in the championship game against probably the winner of the UVA/VT game.

There, that's my half-cracked out, caffeine fueled, fingers crossed, little coin of hope that I'm throwing in the ACC wishing well.

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.

WE GOT BLASTED IN THE VALLEY

Yet again another game that we were forced to sit through, this time it was almost too much to bear watching us get blanked in the valley. It reminded me of the days when VT would roll into town and throw 50+ on us. Only thing is back then they had Michael Vick, and they were a national championship contender. I've never wanted to hide under a rock more than at halftime. Here is what I took away from the game:

- He's a good recruiter and I like him as a person. He also has done wonders for our facilities, graduation rate, and reputation. I'm sorry though, Bowden has to go. I don't care what you say, his time is up. He is obviously not the answer for us. He just can't get us over that hump. I can only hope that our Athletic Department realizes this sooner than later and I will wish him luck in his next endeavor when he goes.

- When is Spence going to realize that the Toledo three ring circus just won't work at this level unless you have baller talent, which we don't. Can you imagine the Raiders actually tried to hire him? Imagine how bad this offensive playbook would be in the pros.

-If there is a coaching change, I'd like to see Swinney, Koening, and Napier stay. They've earned their keep.

- I hate it for Cullen Harper, but he wasn't getting the ball to his receivers well enough. This week wasn't so much a problem with the receivers catching the ball. The problem was they had to make highlight reel efforts just to catch passes that should have been gimmes. Also, his arm has to hurt. I don't care how far down we are, you don't throw the ball 65+ times and only run the ball 12 times unless you're Texas Tech.

- This is the first time I've ever seen a score so bad and the defense not be at fault. 10-13 of VT's points were their fault. I'll take that.

- Like Chili stated before the game, I'm done with the season already. It's not that I'm a crazy superfan, it's just I'm tired of the rollercoaster. I want off. I've got motion sickness. Not saying I'm not a fan, or that I won't get excited and participate, I'm just saying I'm taking most of my eggs back out of the Clemson football basket and putting said eggs into a tailgate centric basket. Yet another year that Bowden can't produce or get us over the hump. I don't think that BC is going to lose two games and I don't think we'll beat them head to head. I don't even know if we'd beat Central Michigan right now.

- I'd love to hear Vic Koening behind closed doors. being a fly on the wall for that would be awesome. I bet you he tears up his shirts like Hulk Hogan and bleeds from the ears.

- Which coach do we get from here? And don't say Cowher. He won't ever coach college unless it's at NC State (his alma mater) and that train has left the station. No matter how much money, it ain't gonna happen. I say we pull a decent head coach from the professonial ranks like Southern Cal did.

- EKR to follow.

Bowden's best Souljah Boy impression.

GEORGIA TECH AFTERMATH

Clemson's decision to wear the new Nike Teflon Receiver Gloves will be second guessed for a long time.

GT 13, Clemson 3

I'm not going to do the normal postgame summary, as there's little to say. Tommy's Law holds true. No realistic Clemson fan was surprised by the loss or the ineptitude displayed therein by an unprepared team and poor gameplan. The Greenville News has a good recap, The State has a blurb about Mark Buchholz's Duke-like kicking day. The Tigers looked like a carbon copy of the team that got blasted by Virginia Tech last year, only with more penalties. The one constant of Tommy Bowden's tenure is that every year we have a game where the team comes out and absolutely embarrasses itself. Duke a couple years ago, Wake a couple years ago, VT last year, GT this year are all examples of this sleepy Tiger team showing up. I had really hoped that the coaching staff had learned from past blunders; there was big talk of 4-0 meaning nothing, we went up to NCSU and won a game we might've lost in past years, then we go down to play an ailing Tech team that just got jacked by Virginia and has a quarterback who might as well have limp Bob Dole dicks for arms and we make them look like worldbeaters. Our offensive line was about as effective as the US Border Patrol in keeping out the opposition and our one Minuteman, Barry Richardson, became a nonperson in a way that would warm the cockles of Stalin's heart. We went to a stadium (partially) full of Techies who have the smugness of Virginia fans and the loyalty of Miami fans and the stadium atmosphere of a 1-AA team and got our asses handed to us. Vitriol out of the way, congrats to Tech.

I am holding out one tiny ounce of hope that the team can rebound from this, I did state that out of GT, VT, BC, and Md I thought 3-1 would be the best finish we could hope for, but there's no reason to get too optimistic when Tommy's Law is still alive and well.

NC STATE POST GAME

Seigler's take:

On Saturday Clemson demolished the Wolfpack by a score of 42 to 20. If it weren't for a few questionable calls by the referees and some terrible reviews from that goon in the review booth, it would have been a larger separation in points.

Hello dual rushing attack, nice to see you again, I thought you might have left us this season, but I'm overjoyed to see that you're just as effective as ever.

Too many penalties. How many TD's were lost and turned into field goals because someone got called for holding during a break away play? Too many.

Luxurious, beaded hair and blazing fast return skills? What doesn't Blackman have?

Defense looked better, still not great, but five interceptions is always nice. The sacks were nice too. Kick coverage got punched in the mouth early, and it was depressing. Things looked to have improved later in the game, but for the most part I'm still skeptical. There is no excuse for letting a mediocre kick returner run one back 99 yards on you. How many missed tackles were there? Jacoby Ford, you were faster than that kid, why didn't you push him out of bounds instead of trying to just drag him down?

Schedule gets tougher next week, though GA Tech looked not so hot against Virginia last week. Our rush defense better be focusing on better tackling.

Other than a few things I noticed, overall this was a good game. Two backs with more than 100 yards, more than 600 yards of total offense, and Harper STILL hasn't thrown an interception. This was a win we needed to sort of prove to ourselves, and the skeptics that we just might be the real deal.This was our last gimme game for a while, but if we continue our somewhat balances attack, and our defense really steps up, then we should have nothing to worry about.

FURMAN POST GAME THOUGHTS

Clemson 38, Furman 10. Anonymous called 33-7 and is the big winner today.

Clemson's official season motto is "Finish the Job," but a more appropriate motto after the past two games may be "We're passing now, deal with it." Clemson rushed for only 49 yards, but passed for 325 in a mediocre effort against the Furman Paladins.

Thank God we only played Furman today. Had any other team laced up their cleats and set foot in Memorial Stadium, they'd have kicked Clemson's teeth in. Our team lacked tenacity in all aspects of the game. The offensive line was porous on what should be our strong point, the running game. Our defense was like a swinging door, offering no resistance to a Division 1-AA offense. Admittedly Furman ran an offense like a cheap-ass NCAA 08 player - crazy options and going for it almost every 4th down - but for them to outgain us is absurd.

While Cullen Harper (16/19 266, 3 TDs, 0 INTs) and Jimmy Maners (Kicking puts into outer orbit) continued to shine, most every other aspect of the Tigers' game was a disgrace today. This game, more than the first two, showed me that our offensive line needs work. Much was made of our general inexperience on O-line but it didn’t show the first two games. Throughout the second quarter of the Furman game, our offensive line looked passive, their effort barely more than that of our uninspired defense today.The Paladins marched the ball down the field with ease in the second half They had a punt return for touchdown nullified by a penalty that only served notice that our special teams are still a glaring weakness.

Bottom line, if Clemson plays this way against any other team on our schedule, they’ll get their asses handed to them. I'll follow this post up with a more detailed assessment when I find some articles to steal from.




THE DEFENSE MAY HAVE STUNK THE PLACE UP BUT WILLY KORN STEPPED IN AND “RAISED THE ROOF” FIGURATIVELY AGAINST THE FURMAN PALLADIUMS. Willy Mac told me that right after the game WILLY KORN called Tim Tebow on the phone and called him a PUSSY. TEBOW YOU JUST GOT KORNED. I was so inspired and FIRED UP…. INFIRED? by Willy’s performance today that I wrote a small action scene based on his drive in the Furman game. NOT THAT EXTREME… UH… BUT HERE GOES.

[SCENE]

Announcer: ENTERING THE GAME, FROM LYMAN, SC….. WILLY…… KOOOOOOOOOORN
*crowd explodes in applause, panties thrown on field*

Defense: Oh Man, it’s WILLY KORN, I heard that dude melts faces.

WILLY KORN: Yeah, Ima melt ya FACE OFF. The last thing you’re going to see before you die is my BURNING FACE OF DEATH.

Defense: *face melts off* AGGGGGGG! BURNING KORN HEAD OF DEATH! *dies*

WILLY KORN: I’m dedicating this touchdown pass to the memories of those whose faces I melted with my swagger. DEDICATIONNNN TOUCHDOWNNNNNN. *touchdown* [KORN wills in an extra point.]

The ghost of Wille Hutch suddenly appears midfield. The lights, sun dim and a single spotlight shines on the late Mr. Hutch. He begins to sing:

A banner is dropped from the Ring of Honor. WILLY KORN #3 is revealed underneath the banner. AXL ROSE, wearing a KORN jersey and realizing he’s on the Jumbotron now, nods approvingly and gives the camera a thumbs up.

[SCENE]

I think it’s EXTREME. Maybe too EXTREME FOR HOLLYWOOD. The only action scene I’ve ever seen that is better than this is the teahouse shootout scene from Hard Boiled.

If you don’t think this is the MOST EXTREME action sequence EVAR, get the hell off my blog and never come back.

E….K….R…….. OUT.

MORE LA-MONROE POST GAME NOTES

Oh, hello there.

Now that the dust has settled from the game and reporters have had time to compile stats, let's take another look at some of the numbers from Saturday's game versus the Warhawks, shall we? We shall.

*Puts on cardigan and house slippers*

Alright, kids, here we are. What do you call this? Yes, it's a passing game! Why, I haven't seen a solid one of these since Charlie Whitehurst's sophomore year, you know, before his head got too big? As I stated in the wrapup, Cullen Harper set a single-game record for TD passes by a QB with 5. La-Mo stuffed the box, as teams have learned to do against us. This time we showed, albeit against a middling team, that we can overcome this ground blockage with an air assault.

Other passing stats of note:
- 9 different receivers caught passes
- 5 different receivers caught touchdown passes
- Freshman tight end Brian Linthicum caught his second TD pass in as many games
- Jacoby Ford caught a 52-yard bomb
- CJ Spiller had 4 catches for 87 yards

In other CJ Spiller news, he reached 1,000 all-purpose yards for his career and set a new record in fewest carries needed to reach that mark with 142. That means, on average, Spiller will gain over 7 yards every time he touches the ball. That, my friends, is what we call "doin' wurk." He bests the previous mark set by Ronald Williams in 1991. Williams needed 185 carries to hit the same mark.

James Davis scored his 28th career rushing touchdown, tying him for 4th place overall tie with Terry Allen for the all-time record.

Tommy Bowden coached his 100th game at Clemson, putting him at a wonderfully mediocre 62-38.

Even our kicking game had some notable feats on Saturday. Junior Jimmy Maners had a 71 yard punt, the longest in Death Valley since Chris Gardocki blasted a 78 yarder against USC in 1990. Starting kicker and soccer phenom Mark Buchholz, winner of DFIG's Ironman Award (A prestigious decree that I just invented) is on a one-man marathon of futbol and football. As the Charleston Post & Courier states: "The Tigers' starting kicker will be in Blacksburg, Va., playing for Clemson's soccer team in a tournament at Virginia Tech. It'll be the end of a three-games-in-three-days extravaganza by Buchholz. Buchholz played 107 minutes in Friday night's 2-1 overtime loss to the Hokies in Blacksburg. The university plane got him back to Clemson at 12:30 a.m. Saturday, and he was scheduled to be whisked back to Blacksburg later Saturday evening." INSANITY. Although I bet Willy Korn could do that, except he wouldn't need a university plane as everyone knows he flies on the wings of eagles.

While a number of notable offensive stats are evident here, the defense did not fare so well. While the dearth of compliments for the D may be attributed to the short turnaround from the FSU game or the abundance of minutes played by 2nd and 3rd stringers, they still gave up 271 yards to a mediocre team.

So that's our full disclosure version of the news and notes from Saturday's game. Let's hope we don't suffer our own private App State against Furman this weekend. Have a great week, campers.

LOUISIANA-MONROE POST GAME

We could've done a better job at this today, but for our 2nd game in 6 days, not bad.

The Tigers started off slow today but never let up once they got goin', a phrase that sounds like it should be a Bachman-Turner Overdrive song, but that's besides the point. Clemson prevailed with a score of 49-26. Enough of a high scoring game to satisfy those with questions about the Tigers' offensive prowess, but not enough resilience on defense to inspire total confidence in that group. For the official recap of the game check out the ESPN writeup.

Cullen Harper did a fantastic job for the Tigers today, aided by solid blocking from the offensive line. Harper finished an admirable 20/26 for 270 yards and 5 touchdown passes, with no interceptions. He set the individual Clemson single-game record for most touchdown passes with 5, eclipsing the previous record held by 5 other Clemson quarterbacks.

While the running game wasn't exceptional, I'm not really concerned as I would attribute this to the coaches' insistence on not repeating the mistakes of last year and focusing more on the passing game when games are already won. There was a lot of talk over this last week about how infrequently the Tigers honed their passing attack when up on cupcakes last year and I feel this issue was pretty fairly addressed on the field tonight. My only other concern is the ease with which our defense gave up rushing yards, a malady that plagued them last year late in the season.




EXTREME KORN REPORT: Willy Korn absolutely DOMINATED the field, THRASHING the defense with an ASSSSSTOUNDING 49 yards on 6/8 passing, BARRELING through the unworthy and puny defense for a rushing touchdown to cap off a 75 yard POWER DRIVE. HE'S NOT EVEN A RUNNING BACK AND HE RAN FOR A TOUCHDOWN. BALLS. Rumor has it that PRESIDENT BUSH called Willy after the game and congratulated him on his effort. GOD BLESS AMERICA and WILLY KORN. EKR OVER!

One issue I was pretty ticked about has nothing to do with the team itself, but of my ability to watch the team. Of course a gem of a matchup like this one wasn't available on ESPN, ESPN2, CSS, Raycom, or Fox Sports. But, aha, you can always rely on ESPN Game Plan to watch all the games that slip through the cracks. Well, you could if you are in any part of America that doesn't give a crap about the game. The entire Southern region was blacked out. The key region that would want to see the game can't even do so if they pay for it. So, if you can't make it to the game, and you want to watch it at home, and you live anywhere in the south, you can't. Tough. Of course fans should be at the game, but there's no way every Clemson fan can travel to every game.

Minor gripes aside -- and this game was all about minor gripes -- the Tigers played well and won easily. They played around with some things, got lots of playing time for 2nd and 3rd stringers, didn't suffer major injuries, and more than likely got better as a team. It wasn't as much of a blowout as some predicted, but they got the job done.

FSU GAME WRAP UP BROUGHT TO YOU BY TWO CRAZY GUYS ON A MOPED

Very cool.

As for the game, you can check out the CUAD's wrap up here since they could probably give you better stats and such. Check out Bowden's press conference notes here. Funny how he did a PR wonder explaining the second half offensive goose egg. "We weren't really productive in the second half, but again, I assumed that was Florida State coming out (ready to play)." Wow, weaseled his way out of that one. Lastly, be sure to bookmark this link: The Sporting Gnomes 2007 ACC Helmet Schedule.

Now, for the good part. Yesterday was just utter craziness. It started out good enough, but cops need to figure out a way to let traffic flow both ways. I was on the moped yesterday and was forced to discover all kinds of sidewalks and off road trails on Clemson's campus simply because some fat asshole from Lumpkin County wanted to exercise his badassedness (Yeah, it's a word now, write that down young'n) and told me to go around (a trip that would have literally taken me a mile and a half in traffic) when I was only 100 feet from my tailgate. Imagine his dismay when I would appear thirty minutes later coming out of the barricades he'd spent so much precious time keeping me out of. Seriously, cops need to lighten up on game days and at least pretend that they don't consider themselves to be higher classed citizens than everyone else around them not wearing a badge. Lighten up, Clemson fans aren't Ohio State fans.

Clemson Cops = SERIOUS BUSINESS.

A great game all in all. Well, all in the first half and final minutes. We get back to the tailgate after the game and everyone kind of has that dazed look on there faces accompanied by tired, dirty faces. And then the worst thing that could have happened, did. The car that was supposed to drive Chili and I back at the end of the night left. Needless to say, it was interesting. We hopped on the moped and our hilarious journey began.

12:30ish: After abandoning my cooler, we departed the Fike parking lot and headed towards Fort Hill Street.

12:38: Two big guys on a moped making all sorts of cartoonish noises finally strains its way to the stop sign near the shoe boxes.

12:39: The brakes on the moped almost snap off of the handlebars as the moped screeches to a halt at the bottom of Fort Hill Street, directly across from the East Gate.

12:40: A couple of drunk guys jeer and laugh excitedly as we pass them heading very slowly up the hill away from the stadium. I give my bitch horn a few honks and away we go. The look on the parting crowds faces was priceless.

12:55: We've been at the top of Williamson road for quite sometime, so we decide to venture down a side road.

12:56: That wasn't a side road.

12:58: We make it to the Cooper Library back lawn/top of Strom Thurmond Center. Hell yes we're cutting across, $1000 fine be damned. We just saw a Cat Bus do it.

1:04: After nearly being hit by oncoming traffic we manage to steer the wobbly and tired moped into Thornhill.

1:06: We turn onto 93 and head back toward Central after vowing never to go back into Thornhill without a weapon of some sort after 7pm from here on out.

1:08: We cut off a Cat Bus driver who tried to pull out in front of us earlier. We all exchange vulgarities muffled by the wind and appropriate hand gestures. I give the bitch horn a few more taps just to show my seriousness of the situation. Chili has his hands in his face from embarrassment.

1:09: We get stuck at the red light in front of Bilo beside said Cat Bus. Further exchanges take place. He calls me crazy and I tell him that he and his cohorts constantly make me late for class and take breaks at terrible times. The passengers are dying with laughter.

1:15: Finally at home. I think I hear the moped let out a sigh after Chili and I get off. "We're there. Got a little nippy goin' through the pass, ay Harry?"

Same thing, except for the cold. And the pee.

FINALLY, EVERYTHING FALLS INTO PLACE FOR ONCE

See you tomorrow. Oh yeah, and we won the bet.

THURSDAY NEWS AND NCAA 2008 RECAP

News

- One of the world's best exercises in football futility, the Tommy Bowden Women's Football Camp, is set to kick-off on July 28th at 8 am. The PR gopher that rears it's ugly head once a year is basically a day camp for females from teens on up to learn the rules of football. Activities include Q&A sessions, tours of the WEZ & locker rooms, meals, lectures, and a photo op w/ Bowden. Yawn...

- Bowden also held his annual Media Golf Outing this past Tuesday. The CUAD didn't have much to say about it either. Who wins a round at Augusta, TB or Spurrier? Discuss in the comments. I'll say this, Spurrier has had plenty of practice. (*Side note - To take Bowden's defense, he's taking so much R&R because there's not much that he can do. Can't recruit and can't be at voluntary workouts.)

A Google image search of "Bowden golf" turned up this picture of professional women's golfer Natalie Gulbis. Chenqui.

- The injury bug has bitten the football team again, but fortunately for us it's got to the back-ups rather than the starters. Kavell Conner (second string WLB) and Ray Ray (third string HB) are the more important injuries. Both have had one of their knees scoped and both will be back for preseason practice. Ronnie Watson Jr. had it too but he's a scout running back. Lastly, Drew Traylor will probably redshirt as he broke his ankle back at home before reporting for second summer session. I'm more enthralled with his name rather than his injury though. Any relation to the late Ray "Big Bossman" Traylor? From the looks of it I'd say no, but he does have the size and the southern lineage.

Let's just hope he keeps to kayfabe and doesn't go clubbing teammates over the head with a nightstick.

NCAA 2008

I got my copy from the local GameStop at the midnight release this past Monday night and I literally haven't slept since. Okay, that's a lie, but the game does tend to immediately suck the life force and will to do anything out of your for a good four hours as soon as you turn it on.

A few general notes:

- HD for this game is almost a must have. It's almost like playing two different versions of the game. Not that it helps with game play really, but it does almost overload the optical nerve.

- The Campus Legend mode is probably the funnest part of the entire game.

- I'm disappointed that Jared Zabransky go the cover this year. I mean, he did lead his "struggling-to-get-over-the-non-BCS hump" team to an undefeated season as well as a BCS bowl victory over Oklahoma with style. I've always thought of the guy as kind of a goon. Post who you would have picked in the comments. Personally, I thought that Calvin Johnson was going to get it. I wanted to see Chris Leake take the cover.

- They fixed a bunch of the tackling glitches. The tackling, blocking, and game play are very realistic. However, there are a slew of new glitches with the sounds, the announcers, and even the challenges. I had a deflected pass soar into the air only to come down about ten to fifteen seconds later. Kinda reminded me from that scene in The Babe. Lastly, the game contains a bunch of drive summary pop ups that won't go away and say things akin to " P #47 Punted for a TD".

- In Campus Legend mode it doesn't allow you the options of fullback, offensive line, tight end, kicker, or punter... the last two for good reason. If you want to kick, go buy Fifa 2008.

- In dynasty, the recruiting aspect of the game has taken over and it's both awesome and time-consuming at the same time. It takes you two to three times as long to get through a week as it did last year. The plus here, it gives you more options than talking through a cup connected to a string when recruiting players.

Clemson notes:

- If you choose to be a WR on the Campus Legends mode and sign with Clemson, Cullen Harper will NEVER throw your the ball. EVER. He'd much rather throw it to James Davis even if he is out of bounds. Or get sacked. If he does choose to throw it to you, it will be too short, or too long, or right at a defender in your area. Also, Tyler Grisham might appear in the form of a bolt of lighting, jump over you, and catch your ball. This scares me. Let's hope XBox Cullen Harper and real life Cullen Harper are totally different in that area.

- Cullen is rated as an 81. Willy Korn is rated as an 81. Willy has better ratings where it counts. I guess EA wants to see Willy start over Cullen as does most of the Clemson fan base.

- They have that annoying gap of fans on the hill like in previous years. I thought they fixed this last year? Why bring the gap back?

- James Davis is rated a 91. CJ Spiller has an overall rating of 90. AWESOME. If Bowden doesn't create a Florida/Arkansas/Nebraska 94-95 hybrid of a play book with the talent he has in the backfield this year it will be a huge disappointment.

- Our defense on the game is scary good. I mean, Mike Tyson scary. Please let Electronic Arts be right about this one.

TIGERS FARE WELL AT THE DRAFT

All in all, five former Tigers were drafted in the seven rounds of the NFL draft last Saturday and Sunday. Five more of our guys were signed as undrafted free agents.

Drafted were the following:

Player........................Pos....Team......................Pick...Round
Gaines Adams...........DE.....Tampa Bay............4.........First
Anthony Waters........LB.....San Diego.............96.......Third
Dustin Fry..................C.......St. Louis................139.....Fifth
C. J. Gaddis................DB....Philadelphia..........159.....Fifth
Chansi Stuckey..........WR...New York Jets......235.....Seventh

Undrafted Free Agents signed are as follows:

Player...............................Pos....Team
Sergio Gilliam.................DB.....Minnesota
Nathan Bennett...............OL.....Carolina
Reggie Merriweather.....RB.....San Diego
Duane Coleman...............DB.....Buffalo
Marion Dukes..................OL.....Miami

So far, 10 out of 19 of the Clemson players that worked out for pro scouts were signed to teams in the NFL. Several others, mostly Roman Fry, Will Proctor (believe it or not, he had a very good spring), Jad Dean, and Thomas Hunter will more than likely receive invites to training camps and tryouts for various teams across the league.

Rumors abound at Fan Nation that Gaines Adams might hold out to get more money on his contract, but can you really blame him with what happened to A. J. Hawk last year? I'd get as much money as possible up front. The NFL is a cruel multi-million dollar beast that chews up players' bodies like tic tacs. Plus, who wouldn't want to swim around in millions of dollars like Scrooge McDuck?

What Gaines Adams will be doing once he gets paid.

There are plenty of pointless facts on the CUAD website (which was copy/pasted verbatim by Tigernet), but the most important are the following:

- Gaines Adams was the fourth overall pick of the draft... eat that. This makes the second year in a row that a Clemson player has been drafted in the first round. Tye Hill went to St. Louis last year and was the 15th pick of the 2006 draft.

- There are lot's of players from the 2006 Clemson team joining former teammates in the bigs. Gaines Adams joins Charles "Flyin' Orange n' Purple People Eater" Bennett in Tampa, Chansi Stuckey joins up with 2007 Pro Bowler Justin Miller in New York to don the Green and White, Anthony Waters and hopefully Reggie Merriweather head out west to join Charlie Whitehurst in San Diego, C. J. Gaddis heads to the home of the WORST SPORTS FANS EVER... you know , Philadelphia, to learn the ropes from Six time Pro Bowler Brian Dawkins, and lastly Dustin Fry heads to the beer capital of America to play with Tye Hill.

- Most importantly, Gaines stuck around for a very successful senior year instead of fleeing after his junior year. I think it really paid off... I mean, REALLY paid off. Tommy pointed that out to me:

"I am very happy for Gaines and his family. He showed patience in January of 2006 when he decided to come back for his senior year and that patience paid off today." - Tommy Bowden

Two opposite ends of the spectrum: One, a man that possesses talents worth millions of dollars. The other, a man that possesses an uncanny ability to choke under pressure and ride the coat tails of teammates into the pros.

BASKETBALL DOES WORK, SON

Although the wheels nearly fell off the bus in the final few seconds, the basketball team was able to swallow dow