The simple things. Snapping to the QB, both under center and shotgun. Snapping to the holder. Snapping to the punter. Catching the ball, whether you're the QB or punter or receiver. Avoiding the dumb penalty.

We all worried about the big things. Willie leading the team. The OL developing. Lovett's new defense holding. The DBs covering. Ankles healing. The crowd intimidating. The big things played a part, but in the end, if we execute the simple things, the things we take for granted, we win.

A ragged ball game, as most first games are, by both teams. When two evenly matched teams meet, ball games are usually lost, not won. Mistakes determine the outcome. No difference here. With the number and nature of mistakes, there is ample fuel for both the Tigers and Dawgs to play the "if only" game ad infinitum on this one. Of course, Georgia doesn't have to: they came out on top on the scoreboard. But let's not play that game. Let's look at the fundamentals that ultimately caused the Tigers to come up short. And let's do that by assuming that the simple things, snapping, catching, punting (8 times!!), will be fixed.

First fundamental. Blocking. Willie was rushed all night. Georgia started a true freshman in the DL, so you wouldn't think the DL was a strength of theirs. Our OL couldn't keep them out. We had to resort to rolling the pocket. Willie's rushing yardage is a direct result of his having to retreat to get away from pursuers time and time again. The key to the rest of this season is how the OL develops up the middle. Chester, Johnson, and Walker will improve. The question is, how fast.

Second. Kick coverage. Georgia's returners are good, maybe better than good. But the Tigers' spacing and convergence needs improving. Bowden said, "if I had a special teams coach, this would have been his last game." Well, coach, may be the first consideration is to have a special teams coach. Somebody needs to direct traffic.

Third. Judgment. Mental mistakes played a big part in the loss. Willie held on to the ball several times when he had time to throw it away. He's just wanting to make a play, but he'll look at the film of this game later and wonder why he didn't throw it away. Just as he'll wonder why he threw several of those passes. He'll learn from this. Probably one of the most harmful judgment mistakes was the personal foul after we had stopped them on third down after they intercepted one of Willie's ill-advised throws. I can't say a lot about this one as I didn't see the foul. ESPN cut to Richt's face just before the flag was thrown. Ron Franklin said Leake was in the middle of it, but the tape shows that John came out of the pile well before the flag was thrown. Don't know who it was on or whether it was justfied. But it was costly as it kept Georgia's drive alive and they went on to score a TD. (I don't put the roughing the passer later in the drive in the bad judgment category. At least, not a Tiger's judgment. Maybe the official's. There were harder and later hits on both QBs when they were in the act of throwing later in the game.)

Fourth. Running game. Two yards per carry net just ain't gonna get it. Until we get that up to near 5, we'll be punting 8 times every game. A daunting thought with our punting game.

Bright spots. Defense. Lovett's scheme was good and the Tigers executed it well. DBs covered Dawg receivers and were almost always in position. DL played well. Did allow Musha to get his 100 yards, but didn't give up long plays and stopped the Dawgs on several short third downs. I think we're going to like Lovett. But we'll probably get sick of "I Lovett" on Tigernet.

Young guys. Justin Miller looks like a good 'un. Hope we use Hall more. Sampson picked up where he left off last year as a freshman. Did Grant play? I never picked him up. Kelly carried his weight--and that of a few Dawgs, too. Think we'll get to see the young kicker next game.

McNeal. Showed some speed on the fumble return. Bet he couldn't sleep last night reliving that moment.

Sacks and pressures. I think we hit Greene almost every time he threw. Wish we could have hit Shockley at least once.

Kelvin Morris. Gonna be fun watching him the rest of the year.

Bottom line. A mistake filled game on both sides. In the end, they made their field goal, we missed ours. On to La Tech in Death Valley. See you there.

First drive. Clemson ball at the the Louisiana Tech 21. Fourth and one. Willie sneaks it for the first down and the Tigers go on to get a TD from a virtually mistake-free march. First drive in second half. La Tech ball at their own 39. Fourth and an inch. La Tech decides to punt. Clemson consumes five and a half minutes and gets a FG to make it 20-13. La Tech doesn't score again. A game of fourth downs, fourth down decisions, fourth down plays.

Key fourth downs. In the first half, La Tech blocks a punt and gets the ball at the Tigers's 13, but the defense holds them and forces a FG. The Tigers later have a drive stall at the the La Tech 22. Fourth and thirteen. Fake field goal nets only 7 yards. Later the Tigers block a punt, get the ball at the 17, and take it in for a touchdown to up the lead from 4 points to 11. The Tigers never looked back after that. Desperation forced La Tech to go for it on fourth down later in the game. After driving 54 yards on the Tigers to the Clemson 14, McCown throws it into the end zone on 4th and 6. Justin Miller breaks on the ball and intercepts. That just about deflates La Tech, but Mo Fountain makes sure they stay deflated by intercepting McCown at the 49 on La Tech's next possession and rumbling to the 6 before the fact that he is a defensive lineman being chased by a wide receiver becomes obvious. I'll bet they won't have any trouble motivating Mo to do sprints in practice for a few weeks. A little more speed and he might have gotten the end zone (OK. . .a lot more speed).

But let's go back and look at the game overall. Defense. It feels good to know that we fans can enjoy the defense again. The Tigers have played back-to-back good games, one against a good Georgia team, the other against one of the best quarterbacks we'll see. Lovett's scheme clearly had McCown confused at times. Mo's interception was a direct result (McCown: what's that DE doing 15 yards downfield?). The other two interceptions, however, were PLAYS. Mance and Miller both had great position and made breaks on the ball to get theirs.

The Tigers held McCown to 213 yards passing. Perhaps more important: no TD passes. That's La Tech's bread and butter. One of the better defensive accomplishments we've seen in years. The DL did their job. They only got one sack, but their role was to contain McCown and exert some pressure. Mission accomplished. The LBs played good, dropping into short pass coverage much of the day. But they read the runs when needed and ended up with almost half the tackles made. Leake led the way, being all over the field and getting 12 tackles total.

The DB's improvement continues. Doing this good a job against a potent passing offense like La Tech's has got to raise their confidence level. Kevin Johnson is doing a fine job, but he'll have to pick it up to keep Justin Miller from taking his starting position in a few weeks. Miller is simply one of the best true freshmen we've seen in a long time. Good enough for Tommy to open the game with a shovel pass to him. A pass completion and an interception in the same game! Impressive.

It feels good to once again EXPECT the Tiger defense to hold after giving the opponent the ball deep in Tiger terrority. After La Tech got the ball at the Clemson 13 on a blocked punt (more about that later), the Tiger defense held and forced a field goal. The past few years, we had come to feel that third and long for the opponent was not a situation we wanted the Tigers in. It seemed that when the opponent had its biggest successes. No more. The crowd once again believes that roaring for the Tigers to hold may well be rewarded.

Fans can really get into supporting the defense. The more noise the better. And when the defense gives them a reason to make that noise, it becomes a feast, with the team feeding off the noise to make plays and the fans feeding off the plays to make noise. Nothing will bring the "death" back to Death Valley like this. We'll get back to Clemson football. I don't know how much we're paying Lovett, but if this keeps up, it's gonna cost us something next year. And we'll gladly pay.

(Note to Tiger Band: a cheer for the defense must involve loud noise--that new "wave your arms" just won't get it. And while we're on cheering, let me put in a plug for the anti-woo hoo fans. While I think it's here to stay, I can always hope. And while we're on fans, I have a question: where were the other 10,000 of you? This was a no-TV, opening home game against a pretty good team that had vowed to revenge their defeat in our last bowl game. Dang it, Tigers, we have got to fill the stadium under those circumstances. Of course, if we start winning those 10,000 will be there, acting as if they're the most avid Tiger fans ever. But the 71,000 that were there were loud and active. Great to see.)

Back to the offense, which seemed to sputter at times like an old truck with bad plug wires. Willie searched the first half for his release point, with many of his balls going high, many low. While Yusef had a great game rushing the ball, especially in the red zone, we once again were at 2.5 yards per rush as a team. Until we get that up to the 4.5 range, we will continue to sputter.

And why couldn't we get vertical with the passing game? Did La Tech's pass defense take away the vertical game? I don't know, but I realize NOW (as opposed to during the game) that some of this rant about the passing game is bad perception based on expectations. I was shocked to find that Willie not only had a better completion percentage than McCown, but had gained 9.7 yards per completion compared to McCown's 8.2. But during the game, I felt that Willie was having a really bad day. I think that's because I expect Willie to excel in the passing game. I expect him to hit open receivers. I expect him to find the open receiver, even if it's the third receiver in the progression. And when he scrambles, I expect him to look down field and find the outlet or the receiver who has broken off his route and gone long. And I don't see Willie doing these things. In fact, the most disturbing thing I saw yesterday was a tendency to lock in on one receiver from the git-go and to throw to that receiver regardless of coverage. Maybe that's the coach's instruction or the play design right now and I'm being unfair to Willie. But I expect better and I think we'll eventually get it, but for now, it's disturbing. Whether play design, coaching, or Willie's shortcoming, it's got to be corrected. Or the interceptions will start.

The Tigers got some problems from the Georgia game corrected. The shotgun snap to Willie was consistently "in the box." No problems on the snaps when Willie was under center.

But the bottom line on the offense is this: 33 points and a win. Even against La Tech, it's hard to complain a lot about that or even to point out a lot of needed improvement. That said, we've got to get that rushing average up, especially against the La Techs of the world.

Special teams. The entire stadium took a collective deep breath when La Tech poured through the line on the Tigers's first punt and blocked it. Oh, no, you could almost hear the thoughts, here we go again. But it wasn't to be "again." Kopp got off the rest of his punts (both! of them, after 8 at Georgia) for a 48-yard average. Hunt hit on 4 of 4 FGs, making them effortlessly, the longest from 47 yards out. Hunt did an adequate job on KOs, then Furr came in and continued that, kicking his last one 5 yards deep in the end zone for a touchback. Kick coverage was good, with the longest La Tech return 25 yards.

Hey, Tommy, what's with the trick play call when we're driving and it's fourth and one? Why not just get the first down? Only a questionable pass interference call let's us keep the drive alive. Of course, if it had worked. . .

Speaking of questionable calls. The WAC-ky officials certainly had two doosies. The pass interference call against Morris in the fourth quarter was one. A DB has a right to his place on the field and if that happens to be where the receiver wants to go, tough luck. But it's not pass interference. But no harm done, thanks to Justin's INT in the end zone. And how about that procedure call against the Tigers when they caught the La Tech lineman 10 yards deep in the Tiger backfield when they snapped the ball? Were the refs just confused about whether they had spotted the ball for play or just about who the penalty ought to have been called against? WAC-ky.

OK. Overall, a good win. The offense needs to improve their consistency, especially in rushing the football. The defense just needs to keep on keeping on. And the fans need to show up for Georgia Tech. First conference game. Let's fill the Valley. As navytiger® said last week, Battle Orders: wear orange, stand up, scream, be the 12th man on defense.

Derrick finally got tired. After 245 all-purpose yards in the first half, carrying both the offense and special teams, his offensive and return productivity dropped off in the second and the Tigers struggled to move the ball as a result. But the defense was there the whole game, intercepting a Tech pass with 1:12 to go to seal the victory. This game was won in the first half. Other than Hollings's long run on Tech's second possession, the Tiger defense forced Tech to punt on all their first half possessions. In all, Tech punted 9 times. The Tiger offense on the other hand scored on 3 of 7 of their first half possessions, thanks to DH.

Tommy said going into this game that the Tiger offense needed improvement in two areas: big plays and red-zone productivity. They got the first in spades. A 77 yard TD run by DH, a 79 yard punt return by DH, and a 44 yard TD pass from Willie to Tony Elliott. Wow! Willie also stepped up his success in finding receivers. Several long 3rd down conversions and a key 4th down conversion resulted. The red-zone productivity was OK, although the Tigers had to rely on 4th down creativity with Willie on a bootleg and a great catch in traffic by Williamson to avoid stalling at the 3 near the end of the first half. That TD and the Elliott catch on the first possession of the 3rd quarter were the key to winning this game. Both the result of big plays.

But Tech didn't quit. After Elliott's catch, they drove down the field (12 plays, 77 yards) for a TD of their own. We helped a little with a personal foul for hitting out of bounds. At the game, I thought it was a bad call, but the TV replay showed that it wasn't. Khaleed did everything he could to stop his momentum and avoid Hollings once he went OB, but he bumped him enough to get the call. But credit Tech for not folding after the way our defense corralled them in the first half.

On the Elliott TD, Tech blitzed the strong safety and a linebacker. Six Tech rushers that the OL picked up, allowing Willie to roll right behind an impressive wall. That gave Willie time to direct downfield traffic and loft it to Elliott. Tony made a great adjustment to the ball, turning back to the inside to make the catch and lunge into the end zone. The OL constantly kept Tech's rush at bay and played a great game. Gathers's name was not called all day, I don't think. Willie was not sacked. Give the OL a hand. Except for one thing. Dang it, centers, you have got to correct those snaps. Two of Clemson's three lost fumbles were caused by bad snaps, one while Willie was under center, and one potentially critical one with two minutes in the game and the Tigers only 5 points ahead. I'll bet Jermyne brought Eric Sampson breakfast in bed this morning. Sampson was the last in a number of defensive stands after turnovers. In fact, not one of Clemson's turnovers resulted in points for Tech. The DEE-FENSE is back!

The offense is doing OK, too. The yards per rush was 4.7 against Tech. As long as we keep this stat above 4.5, we'll be OK. For the offense to give up 4 turnovers (net minus 2 for this game) and the Tigers still win is a tribute to the offense on its other possessions and the defense for forcing punts or turnovers. The defense's 5 sacks were also big as 3 of them were instumental in stopping Tech drives.

Some players had great games. Tony Elliott caught 2 key first down passes and of course the long bomb for a TD. Bobby Williamson caught a key first down pass and the Willie "chest" pass for a TD. Nick Eason and Khaleed Vaughn constantly put pressure on Suggs. Willie ran the team with poise and constantly avoided what Tech rush did get by the OL. Not outstanding stats for Willie, but good enough on a wet weather day. And the whole OL did a great job all day. And then there was DH. His game was more than great as his runs from scrimmage and his returns constantly put the Tigers on the board or in great field position.

Some officials did not have a great day (intentional understatement). Those "halo" calls were terrible. On one, Rhino stepped up 3 yards to make the catch after the Clemson player stopped 3 yards from him. On a second, there was only a Tech player within 2 yards of Rhino as he caught the ball and it was the Tech player who interfered with the opportunity to catch the ball. The Clemson player had stopped more than 2 yards away and was moving away further when Rhino caught the ball. That rule has to be changed--it's ridiculous in that it calls for the cover man to judge not only how far he is from the punt receiver but also where that ball is going to land. Change it, NCAA, it's a bad rule. Leave it in for fair catches, but if the receiver wants to catch it and run, he ought to be fair game.

For Tech, credit to Tony Hollings. Tough runner, hard to bring down. And thanks to Kelley Rhino for dropping that early interception off Yusef's hands. Had you hung on, that could have changed the game from the start.

But the real stories in this game were DH's touches and the defense forcing punts on 6 of Tech's first 7 possessions. That allowed the Tiger offense to put enough points up to win the game, even when Tech tried to come back late.

On to Ball State. Let's hope this one goes as it ought to and we get some playing time for all the second twenty-two.

Top Ten Reasons Clemson Did Not Blow Ball State Out

10. Red-zone failures. Twice the Tigers got inside the Ball State 10 and failed to get a TD. Once they had to settle for a field goal, once they turned it over on downs (keep the ball sometimes Willie--nobody is going to accuse you of acting like Woody).

9. Ball State kept the ball too long on its first drive. Scared us Tiger fans, too, when they moved down the field with such apparent ease. Sure, we helped them with a defensive holding call, but there were 12 other plays in that 77-yard drive. The Tigers were asleep on defense. Maybe you come out sleepy after 3 in-a-row of being wide awake.

8. Penalties kept upsetting the Tigers's (and the Cardinals's) rhythm. It seemed as if the refs threw flags on every play. Some flags set records for distance traveled when thrown. Seventeen penalties were called. That's more than a flag every 10 plays. My brother commented that ACC officials are out to prove the old adage that you can find something to call on every play if you work at it.

7. Fan perception. Look at the breakdown--the Tigers really did blow BSU out. After their first two drives (77 and 37 yards), Ball State did not have another longer than 30 yards. They also never got into Tiger terrority again and averaged only 2.6 yards per play. The Tigers on the other hand, after their first drive, ended every possession in Ball State territory and averaged 6.0 yards per play. During the game, did you realize we dominating like that? I didn't, because the uninspired play and lack of execution kept fogging the lens that I was looking through.

6. Tommy's new ball-control philosophy. We didn't even realize he was doing it. The Tigers had 5 possessions in each half, after 7 and 8 against Georgia Tech.

5. Missed tackles. Just part of the larger picture of the Tigers not being ready to play. But let's be gracious (and truthful) and admit that Merriweather is a big, talented back who is hard to tackle, especially if you're a 190-pound DB.

4. Lack of vertical. The McKelvey catch was a thing of beauty, both Willie's on-the-money throw and J.J.'s leaping catch. The Tigers should have been going long more often. I hope I don't hear "Ball State took away the deep ball" from the coaches this week. With the difference in talent, the only way BSU could do that is drop 9, rush 2, and still get a little pressure on Willie. Couldn't happen.

3. Diversity on offense. If I'm Mickey Andrews, I make sure I prepare for the inside sweep handoff to DH and the flanker screen. We used those any time we needed yardage. And they were our only "sure things" for gaining 6 to 10 yards. Against Ball State!!!????!!! (I know, I know--we were playing "vanilla" so as not to show FSU anything. Sure we were.) That's not to take anything away from DH--he once again thrilled and amazed us with his ability to find a line and avoid tackles. Harder to grab than a wet Noodle.

2. Not keeping Justin in the game all the time. If you weren't at the game (and we had a good crowd considering the weather), you missed one of the all-time great Tiger individual-effort defensive plays. Make sure you see the replay on CSS Thursday night if you can, if only just for this play. It happens with about 5:00 minutes to go in the 3Q if you want to watch just for it. I'll try to describe it, but I'll warn you I will not be able to do it justice. Ball on BSU's 46. Justin lines up one-on-one on the left flank against Hahaj, who has just caught one for 16 yards. Hajah goes down about 15 yards and slants inside. Justin has good position off Hahaj's left shoulder, but Hahaj has gotten slightly inside him. Hill releases an on-target, 30-yard pass, thrown high to use Hahaj's 4-inch height advantage over Justin. As the ball arrives at the Tiger 25-yard line, Justin leaps (make that REALLY LEAPS!!!) over Hajah's left shoulder and tips the ball downfield with his right hand. Justin and Hajah collide in mid-air, but Justin is already turning left to look for the ball. He hits the ground with both feet, finds the ball, extends his left hand and catches it (yes, one-handed). He pulls it in, steps around Hajah, and starts up field. He jukes and jigs and just flat runs around 4 would-be tacklers and only by grabbing his face mask do they bring him down at the BSU 32. WOW! I predicted after the La Tech game that Justin would take Kevin Johnson's starting job before the end of the season. Watch for Justin against Anquan on October 3.

1. And the number one reason the Tigers did not blow out the Cardinals is . . . Florida State. Sandwiched between Georgia Tech and Florida State, it was almost a given that Ball State would be overlooked. The Tigers did that in spades, playing lethargic, uninspired football (a few players excepted, see below). The defense did arouse from a deep sleep after the first quarter, but the offense made thoughtless mistakes the whole game. And still won. The Tigers were certainly looking forward to Florida State (and the coaches probably were, too). Now, they can look forward with intensity and get ready to take on the Seminoles in Tallahassee.

Several Tigers were ready to play this week. DH absolutely dazzles us with his running, even when he's not ripping off 70-yard TD runs. On defense, Bryant McNeal (3 sacks), Justin Miller, and Brandon Jamison were in on a lot of plays. The OL played well, keeping BSU's "record" of no sacks this year intact. Yusef almost got his first 100-yard game (99). (We have got to find Yusef some relief--get well, Bernard.) And the second team offense showed that they were ready to show something when they got in with about 6 minutes to go, taking it 54 yards for a TD (I really wish we could have gotten those guys some more playing time). But now it's on to FSU. We haven't played well in Tallahassee for a long time. Let's change that. Go Tigers! Fight!

In 1989 at Tallahassee, with almost no time left in the first half, Terry Allen took a routine pitch from deep in Clemson territory around the left side of the Tiger OL and carried it to the house. That run ignited the Tigers and they came out in the second half and beat the Seminoles. In 2002, Greg Jones took a routine handoff deep in FSU territory just before the half and took it to the Clemson five. FSU went on to score, came out in the second half and took the game away from the Tigers. Of course, the Tigers mistakes in the kicking game helped them out. Why do I reach back 13 years for a comparison to this year's game? Because 2002 is the first time we've gone to Tallahassee since 1989 and competed with the Seminoles on almost equal footing.

The stats will show that FSU had a lot of rushing yards--they got most of them in the 4th quarter. The Tigers defense stymied the Seminoles until the fumbles put them back on the field repeatedly in the third quarter. FSU ran 46 plays in the second half. The Tigers ran 17. That was the story. Clemson won the first half, but was still behind by 4 because of poor kick coverage. The Tigers lost the second half as FSU turned it up a notch and the Tigers continued their problems on special teams.

Willie played his best game. His receivers did, too. In fact, they made him look good a few times when he threw it high to let them go get the ball. For the first time in memory, our receivers were taller and more athletic than FSU's secondary. McKelvey and Hamilton each took balls away from a Seminole DB.

All Tiger fans have been wanting to see the passing game go vertical. Well, we finally got to see it and it was beautiful. Time after time Willie found a receiver in the seam and hit him or threw it long and let the receiver go get it.

Does anyone else recall the Tigers trying a fade pass before this game? I don't. We had one set up perfectly, but Willie waited just a little too long to throw it, giving the Seminole CB a chance to recover. McKelvey still almost caught it, but the DB got his hand on the ball just as it reached J.J. and he couldn't hang on. With the size of our receivers, this play ought to be a staple in the Tigers' arsenal.

Furr might not be able to consistently put the kickoff in the end zone, but could anyone have placed that onside kick any more accurately? Against Georgia Tech, he did put several in the end zone after Tommy talked to him. C'mon, coach, talk to him more.

And coach, it's time for a special teams coach. Both kickoff and punt coverage have got to improve.

The defense played another outstanding game until they got tired in the 4th from being out there most of the time. McNeal, Vaughn, and Eason (glad to see him in there) put pressure on Rix and McPherson and bottled up the running game until Jones breakout near the half. Justin Miller continued his good play. The pass interference call was not. Mance's play on Boldin on the long pass in the end zone was one of the best pass defense plays we've seen from the Tigers. But with the 3 turnovers, 3 punts, and the offense not sustaining a drive for more than 5 plays in the second half, the defense just got worn down. And you don't want to be tired against a rested 250-pound running back from your home state.

Despite the mistakes and allowing the long kick returns, the Tigers were still in the game at the start of the fourth quarter. Down only 7, the Tigers seemed headed downhill. They had just ended the third quarter by going three and out. FSU seemed to have the momentum. The Seminoles embarked on a 14-play, 6-minute drive that broke the Tigers' back. Even though the defense held FSU to a FG, that drive took the steam out of them. When we fumbled the ensuing KO, it was all over. Got to hand it to Greg Jones--the TD run at the end of that drive was impressive, breaking at least 6 tackles attempted by tired Tiger defenders.

The Tiger offense played brilliantly at times. DH had another 250 plus all purpose yards--we're getting where we expect that. McKelvey had his best game. The OL played well until the fourth quarter when FSU seemed to turn up the rush a little and began to get penetration. Hated to see Nick Black go down. He has been improving every game and giving us some much-needed depth. Heal quickly, Nick, we're with you. We never really got the running game going, but I didn't notice during the game because Yusef got us in the end zone when we needed it and the vertical passing game was working. But we only rushed for 3.2 yards per run. For Tommy's offense to work, that stat has to be up about 4.5. I still can't quite figure Tommy's criteria for deciding his sub pattern with Bernard and Yusef.

What have I left out? Oh, the frustration of finally beating the Seminoles in almost every phase of the game only to lose it on mistakes. 340 yards of offense in the first half and still trail by 4 at the break. Unbelieveable. But it was clear that we've improved our talent level and that we're headed in the right direction. Willie and the offense will be impressive the rest of the year. The defense continues its good progress. Our play certainly improved between Ball State and FSU. I hope the Tigers did not invest so much emotion and effort into the Florida State game that they cannot bounce back for Virginia. Those extra two days to get ready are certainly welcome. Let's go Tigers--get ready for the Hoos.

I ended the Florida State game notes with the hope that the Tigers could recover their focus after investing so much emotion in the FSU game. While they looked flat coming out against Virginia, they moved down the field in a workmanlike manner, only to stall at the Virginia two. It was obvious that the game plan was to run the ball. I guess after seeing Virginia gain 2 yards rushing against Duke the week before, Tommy and Brad thought that was the way to go. Early on it looked they were right, with the Tigers repeatedly ripping off 6 to 8 yard runs. Our first two drives were 19 plays for 93 yards and 12 for 51. But when we had to pass, Willie did not look sharp. Passes were a little high or a little behind. Several of those balls should have been caught, but the receivers were not sharp either. It looked like the offense was still down over the FSU game.

Still I thought the Tigers would get into the game as it progressed. In fact, I thought that up to midway through the 4th quarter. That's when we gave Virginia the ball on consecutive possessions, one by interception, one by fumble. Virginia had to go only 17 yards for their final TD after the INT. The fumble gave them the ball at our 32, but the defense held the Cavs to zero yards and forced a punt. Whitehurst drove the Tigers for a TD, but the Tigers had squandered too many opportunities and didn't get any more.

The level of frustration and disappointment on TigerNet was downright palpable. Understandable, given the Tigers uninspired, going-through-the-motions play. I was depressed myself (that's why these notes are being written Sunday afternoon--I'm still having trouble thinking straight about this one.) Given the number of freshmen Virginia is playing, we all thought that the Tigers would win the game even if they were still trying to shake off the FSU loss. Give Virginia players and coaches some credit. They constantly adjusted throughout the game, came out more agressive for the second half, and turned the tables on the Tigers. That's a disturbing trend, this lack of performance in the second half. I don't know if it's the character of this team or the approach by the coaching staff, but I sure hope it changes and that the coaches see that it does. After competing with FSU better than we have in a few years and beating a good GT team, my expectations for this team went up. After this game, those expectations will be met now only by winning the rest of the games. And we'll be facing teams better than Virginia.

I saw some negative comments on TigerNet about Kopp's performance. Now, I know that his performance is not in any way like Hatcher's or Gardocki's. And Kopp certainly needs to improve his consistency. But give the kid a break and really look at the facts for the Virginia game. Kopp did OK. Oh, yeah, I see the 31 yard average. But look at each punt.



28 yards to Cav 24, out of bounds, with no return.

39 yards to Cav 44, returned 27 yards to set up Virginia FG.

25 yards to Cav 14, fair catch. Great pooch.

30 yards to Cav 9, fair catch. Great pooch.

27 yards to Cav 38, 1 yard return.

37 yards to Cav 11, 1 yard return. Great pooch.

The second punt had enough length and hang time that 2 Tigers were ready at the boundary of the halo when the returner caught it. That return was not Kopp's fault. The only punt, IMHO, that was less than adequate was the fifth one. Even it was high enough to allow good coverage. Oh, sure, it would have been better to get a 47-yarder and make the Cavs go 20 more yards. But surely our defense ought to be expected to stop the opponent when it has to go 62 yards to score. There was even a comment about the onside kick. A pro kicker gets that high kick less than half the time. As I said, Kopp did OK.

I've said several times in these notes that we needed to get the rushing average up to 4.5 yards per play. Well, we got there this time, thanks mostly to the first half. And it still didn't let us win. The more I look at the tape and the stats of this game, the more puzzled I am. I've said before that most college football games are not won, but are lost on mistakes and missed opportunities. This game came down to the consecutive turnovers in the fourth quarter. One allowed Virginia's clinching TD, the other took an increasingly valuable minute off the clock and added 25 yards to the field the Tigers had to cover to score. Give the Cavs credit for the first, the interception of a ball tipped at the line. Tommy had said all week that Virginia played a soft, laterally-moving, run-containing strategy on the DL. They also jumped at every pass. They tipped two, maybe three, on the day, including the INT.

I'm sure there will be Tiger fans yelling for Whitehurst now, after that last scoring drive. And he looked good. Even against a prevent zone, the QB still has to pick out the open man and get the ball to him. Charlie did that to perfection. Willie should still start, but I think Tommy has to get Charlie in there earlier in game situations and see if he can perform better than Willie. I think a lot of the Virginia game was a hangover from FSU for Willie, who invested more emotion than anyone in that game, with all his family and friends in attendance.

I said going into this game that the keys to victory were good special teams play and rushing the football better. We accomplished both (even the one punt return allowed by special teams resulted in only a FG by the Cavs). But we still lost. If there ever has been a game where the stats don't tell the story, this was it.

OK, I'm tired of writing about this game. It's hard when you're depressed and disappointed. So I'm going to do what I hope the Tigers are doing. Forget about this one and focus on the future. Last week I came away for FSU thinking that we could win the rest of the games. This week I'm searching for the ones I think we can win. If I, as just a fan with love for my team, can't correct my attitude, how can I expect the Tigers to get more aggressive and positive with theirs. I can't. All I can say is, Tigers, I will if you will. Let's go Tigers, we've got 6 to win.

College football. Ain't it wonderful? A team can dominate the statistics and lose, like the Tigers against Virginia, then turn around and get dominated and win, like the Tigers against Wake Forest. A tip of the hat to Wake. They won the battle in the trenches, played hard, fundamentally-sound football, and did it for four quarters. They also let the Tiger defense take the ball from them on their last 6 possessions (5 TOs and a punt). It's a recurrent theme of mine: college football teams don't win games, they lose them. Maybe the Tigers learned how to win when they don't bring their A game. As Will Merritt said after the game, "an ugly win is a lot better than a pretty loss."

I hereby declare Brian Mance team leader on defense. Brian's doing it by example, giving 100% on every play. The improvement in his pass defense technique is wonderful to watch. And the interceptions--wow! I still don't know how he got a foot down in bounds on the one yesterday. Four on the year and more to come. Stripping the ball as the Wake rusher headed for the end zone with about a minute to go was absolutely priceless. Wake would still have had to get a 2-point conversion to tie, but is there a Tiger fan that believes they wouldn't have got it. After all, it's only 3 yards. We hadn't stopped Wake for less than 3 yards many times during the afternoon. But Mance's effort saved the Tigers from having to try. Hope they gave Mance the game ball.

Now we need a leader on offense. The offense continues to sputter and misfire. It's great they got TDs in the first and last possessions of the first half. But they did not get a single first down in the other four possessions. Wake constantly got pressure on Willie with 3 down linemen. Florida State couldn't do that. What's going on here? Is it motivation, technique, or talent? I don't know, but it seems that the coaching staff believes we have to constantly throw flanker screens, short hooks, and flares. And those aren't working. How many completions yesterday went for less than 2 yards? I remember 6 off the top of my head. And the running game? 2.2 yards per carry! The offense has got to develop a personality. Maybe our OL is weaker than I suspect, but to me it looks like we're always searching for the gimmicks that will exploit what the defense gives us. Maybe it's time to try establishing a repetitive, effective scheme that the defense will have to adjust to. After all, we knew Wake was going to run the ball and they still did it effectively. They didn't worry about what our defensive scheme was "giving them."

Great special team effort, Tigers. After allowing returns, dropping snaps, coming up with short punts for 3 games, the special teams played well. Coverage of both kickoffs and punts, especially considering the previous success Wake's Davis has had, was extremely effective.

Surprising fact. (I'm always surprised by some fact after I review the hard record after the game. I develop a "feeling" about what's going on in a game and the emotion of the moment--usually, oh, no . . .--leads me to wrong conclusions about what's going on.) Surprising fact: Wake never started a possession in Clemson territory. Isn't it great what good special team play and no turnovers will do?

Eight punts and still win the game. Amazing.

The Tiger defense seemed to be able to pick up Wake's audibles. Rodney Thomas repeatly walked near the center while Wake was audibling and showed the Tiger defense where the play would go. And we still couldn't stop them.

The interceptions by Miller and Mance seemed to turn the game around. And I think they did help the crowd get back in the game. When I reviewed the tape I was amazed that neither pick had resulted in Tiger points. We punted after both. The Bodrick INT resulted in a TD to seal the victory.

Thanks to the WF wide receiver that dropped the wide-open pass on the play before Bodrick's INT. Probably the key mistake in a string of mistakes by Wake.

One defensive stat should not be overlooked. Even though it felt Wake like was driving at will in the first half (the Deacs kept the ball over 21 minutes), the Tiger defense stopped them deep 3 times and forced FGs. Different outcome if Wake scores TDs.

I will never boo the Tigers and especially not a particular player. I don't even boo the refs just so the Tigers won't think I'm booing them. (Okay, so maybe I slipped on this one a few times--after all, they're ACC refs.) But here's an observation in the form of a question: did Willie become more focused after the crowd booed him in the 3rd quarter? Hmmm . . . can booing motivate? Interesting thought. I'll stick to my policy.

The most gratifying thing about this game was that the Tigers played harder in the second half. After FSU and Virginia, I had begun to think that this team just could not come out of the locker room and turn it up a notch. By winning ugly, scrapping hard when the opponent was outplaying them, forcing turnovers, getting the key stop, continuing plugging on offense when not much seemed to work, maybe this team learned something about how to win. Let's see Thursday night if they can combine that with inspired play to beat the Wolfpack. Go Tigers, fight!

Out-coached. Out-played. Out-manned. NC State was ready to play and the Tigers were not. Almost the end of story. I won't write about all the negatives I saw Thursday night because I probably couldn't do so without sliding into the Tommy-can't-coach, Tigers-can't-play whining that I so dislike on TigerNet. Suffice it to say this was one of those games where the apparent level of effort and focus was so poor that nothing went right. Well, almost nothing. When you lose, you always feel like nothing went right. Tommy said so and sounded so after the game. I'm sure the team felt the same way. The only thing to do after one like this is move on and prepare for the next one. If this starts happening too frequently those that are calling for Tommy's head will get their wish eventually.

What do I include in those exceptions to the statement that nothing went right? Well, first of all, defense. Wait, you say, the defense gave up 369 yards of offense and 38 points. Yes, they did give up that many yards. But the game plan was designed to take away Rivers's passing and they accomplished that, holding him to 129 yards. They just couldn't take away the rushing attack, letting McLendon out of the box for runs of more than 10 yards 5 times, including a 65-yard scamper. No, they didn't give up that many points. Special teams gave up 14 of them on a blocked punt and onside KO return. And of the other points, the offense put 'em on the field at their own 15 and 39 on two occasions. And the defense was on the field for 15 minutes longer than the offense because of lack of offensive productivity and turnovers--five of 'em. Under those circumstances, I think the defense played a pretty good game.

Second of all, Justin Miller. The freshman continues to play like a talented upper classman. The KO return was a thing of beauty and showcased his speed, as did his running down McLendon after T.A. broke away for 65 yards.

Third, Brian Mance. The senior continues his good play and interceptions and leadership. His second quarter interception after the interception of Whitehurst at our own 13 kept our hopes alive for a little while.

And . . . well, that's all the positive things I can think of. A horrible night. As I said, the only thing to do is fergidabouit and move on to getting ready for Duke. Go Tigers.

What a day! After moving through a first half that looked way too much like the NC State game, the Tigers finally roused in the second half to get the win over Duke with a field goal with 8 seconds left. Unlike last week's game, this one provided plenty to write about. But the bottom line was that the defense finally turned up the intensity in the second half and Charlie Whitehurst stepped up and led the offense to a win.

Charlie Whitehurst. Where to start? Let's start here: Willie Simmons is a good quarterback that has, with the exception of the FSU game, never seemed to find a steady rhythm with this offense. He is also a young man with character. I believe he has the character and unselfishness to support Charlie in the starting role. Because I believe Charlie should have that job and be given the opportunity to continue Saturday's performance. There'll be plenty of time to consider a two-quarterback system if in fact it turns out that his performance was just one of those rare days when everything (well, almost everything) went right. But Charlie earned the right to be the quarterback on the field all the time until his performance dictates re-thinking that decision.

Charlie led the offense. By showing patience on pass plays and aggressiveness on running plays. By constantly working to keep a play alive (most of his "mistakes" came from wanting too much to do this). By remaining poised and focused when the Tigers were down 14 with 11 minutes to go. Impressive for a redshirt freshman. More impressive to me than his stats and records. [BTW, why do I put mistakes in quotes above? Once you win the game, mistakes become learning opportunities, not sources of criticism. (Well, actually, they're learning opportunities even if you don't win the game, but you feel more like criticizing then.) And everyone makes a number of them in every effort. One of our older security guards once told his captain, who was chewing him out for a mistake, "Heck, captain, you only have to be right 70% of the time to graduate from college."]

Charlie did break records (see the sidebar at the right of the page). But more importantly, he found receivers and hit them when it counted, leading the Tigers to 21 points in less than 5 minutes in the fourth quarter to take the lead. He followed that stellar performance with his worst mistake: holding the ball in one hand too long as the pocket collasped, allowing a Dookie to knock it from his hand and recover it at the Tigers's 24, and setting up a Duke TD to tie the game. That seemed to rattle Charlie some. After the Tigers got the ball back on the KO, he missed DHam wide open over the middle. Then he missed DHam again. And then here's the reason Charlie ought to be the starter: complete to DHam, complete to JJ, complete to JJ to get Hunt in range. A couple of runs, including a great one to the 4 by Bernard, and an incomplete pass preceded Hunt's game winning FG.

Let's talk about the good things that happened other than Charlie and the passing game, starting with individual play. First, Leroy Hill. Has that guy made all the tackles on kickoffs and punts this year? I don't know if the Tigers keep that stat, but if they do, I'll bet Hill is in on most of those tackles. Second, Stephen Furr put 3 of 7 KOs into the end zone for touchbacks, including 2 after the first two TDs in the 4th. Third, Justin Miller . . . well, I was going to write returning 4 KOs for 129 yards, but I should just write Justin Miller and leave it at that as he continues to play fantastically in all phases of the game. The interception that led to the go-ahead score was a thing of beauty in timing and execution. Fourth, Rodney Thomas continues his improvement and team-leading tackling. Fifth but not least, Geoff Rigsby (in your heart and on TigerNet, Goof54) got 2 tackles.

The team good thing: defense. What!?, you cry. Defense? They gave up 468 yards to Dook, let them get 4 or 5 yards per carry all day, and left receivers wide open for TDs several times. Yes, but they also came out in the second half to play. Dook punted on its first 4 possessions in that half, the last 3 after 3 and outs. The Tiger defense held Dook or got a turnover on 8 of 10 Dook 2nd half possessions. That ain't perfection, but it's close enough to win the game. And give Dook a little credit for its improvement. Charlie's heroics don't happen if the defense let's Dook eat the clock like they did the first half.

And now, inevitably, the bad things. Offensive line's run blocking. Tigers can't run. Worse, the coaching staff believe the Tigers can't run. On plays with less than 4 yards for a first down, the staff called passes almost 60% of the time. And it was justified. For most of those short yardage situations, the OL did not move Dook off the line at all. For many of them, the Dook DL penetrated. It's hard to believe that our OL can't handle Dook's DL, but there it is. The OL is this team's biggest deficiency. That said, the OL pass-blocked well enough to let Charlie have the most successful passing day in Clemson history.

Officiating. Too easy of a target. They're ACC refs. Enough said. But the calls on DHam's fumble, the "alleged" personal foul against a Clemson DB, and the "alleged" incompletion to Dook's tight end (which was actually a fumble as he took 2 steps with the ball) were so bad that I don't understand how they could miss them.

Linebacker play. Our linebackers are making most of our tackles. And that's as it should be. But they seem to be out of position on an awful lot of plays, pass and run. Maybe I just don't understand Lovett's scheme for them. Or maybe it's position coaching. Let's see, who coaches the linebackers? . . . uh oh. The DBs sure are playing better, aren't they?

I wonder what's going on with DHam? Dropping passes, fumbling, no big returns (although that was a nice one near the end of the 3rd quarter). Just not like him. And he did come up big in the 4th quarter.

Rambert didn't get a lot of holes, but he took advantage of them when he did.

OK. Great come back, great second half effort, Tigers. Use it to gain confidence and go get the Tar Heels. May we fans make a request: let's have a blow out that we can relax and enjoy. I know you'd like one, too.

Apparently facilities ain't everything. You need players, too. The Tigers started slowly against the Tarheels, but after they got going, it was like running downhill. The OL finally found an opponent they could handle and opened holes big enough for Rambert and Hill to run through for more than 100 yards each. Ah, it felt good to enjoy a game that the Tigers put out of reach early and played almost mistake-free football.

Almost mistake free. I always try to highlight good play by units and players. Many of my notes, however, relate to areas where the Tigers play was less than stellar. I think this is human nature, but I know it is my nature. I want to know what I did wrong so I can correct it. Those that expect perfection in football, especially college football, are doomed to be constantly disappointed. First of all, there are 11 young men on "our" team that have to execute their assignments correctly. At the same time, there are 11 opponents trying to execute theirs. So there are myriad actions and reactions on every play, for some 130 to 160 plays per game. Opportunities abound to miss an assignment, execute it less than perfectly, react too slowly or in the wrong way, or to make a play. The UNC safety is a perfect example. The "glass-half-empty" fan yells at Rambert for missing a block. The "glass-half-full" fan congratulates Rambert for picking up the stunting LB coming from his left and the UNC defensive coordinator for a well-designed, well-timed blitz. Nine times out of 10, neither the offensive nor defensive coordinator has a play called that is the perfect play against the one his opponent has called. But when it happens, it makes the average fan say, why can't "we" do that all the time. It happened 4 or 5 times Saturday, the UNC blitz being one, Jasmin's second TD catch being another.

I'm not sure this game had a turning point. The Tigers seemed to relentlessly move the ball from near the end of the first quarter through the third. If there was a turning point, I think it came on NC's drive with the fake punt. That play could have given them momentum, but the drive later stalled when the Tigers, especially Rodney Thomas, stuffed the Heels on 3 and 6 inches and then UNC threw it incomplete on 4 and 6 inches. The Tigers couldn't capitalize immediately, but the next series Whitehurst did another great job recognizing one-on-one deep coverage. He threw it off-balance and it floated short, but JJ made a great come-back and catch, stepped around the Heel defender, and sprinted into the end zone with just a few seconds remaining in the first half. UNC never recovered.

Speaking of mistakes, I thought Charlie had made one when he released the pass that Jasmin caught for a TD on the first drive in the second half. Charlie threw it under pressure and off-balance, actually jumping backward away from the on-coming defender. The ball floated, nose-up and wobbly. I thought he had just thrown it up for grabs. But it was right on the money, dropping just over a Heel LB's outstretched hands, and Jasmin stretched out for a great catch. Many plays appear to be a mistake initially look brilliant when they turn out right. Was it brilliant or just lucky? Charlie is compiling enough of them to make them look brilliant because luck happens only once in a while.

To me, the most impressive pass came on a 3 and 7 in the third quarter, the only 3rd down in a 14-play, 80-yard TD drive. It wasn't a long pass, but it was accurately zipped at a critical juncture in that drive. Whitehurst got some pressure from UNC's rush and Youngblood was well covered. But Charlie stuck the ball in there low and Youngblood made a nice catch with the defender hanging onto him. The Tigers don't make that throw nor that catch 3 games ago.

Three and outs. I'm think this is an important stat to any game's outcome. Tigers had only 2, one of which was the safety. Tiger D got 6 of them, if you count the change of possessions on downs (which are technically 4 and outs).

Tiger defense played "soft" for much of the game. Even with that, they effectively shut the Heels down. While UNC has not shown much offense since Durant went down, the Tigers played with intensity. Rodney Thomas was all over the field with big hits, the D got 6 sacks, and Jamal Fudge broke up a pass with a tremendous hit on the Heel tight end. The defense continues to improve. Lovett has done a great job.

I'd like to think that having 2 100-yard rushers means the running game is getting untracked. I think it means that UNC isn't very good against the run. Even so, having that kind of success will certainly add some confidence to the Tigers's OL and RBs.

Justin Miller got his 5th. Mance should have got his 6th. I'll bet he still can't believe he dropped that one. Mance's PBU on the TE when UNC went for it on 4 and 6 inches was a thing of beauty. Who would have thought after all our criticism of the DBs last year that we'd be singing their praises this one. And leading the ACC? Fantastic.

Well, the Tigers granted my request for a game that was in hand most of the way. They beat the Heels easily and are now bowl eligible. Now we get to find out if the new-found optimism on TigerNet generated by Charlie and the defense is justified as we go back to playing good teams. Maryland comes in off a big win over NC State. They are also playing the best ball in the ACC. The Tigers will get a stiff test, but we're back in the Valley and the 4,000 road warrior fans will have lots of help to cheer the Tigers on. See you there.

5:01. 5:39. 6:02. 5:36. 7:10. No, those are not Clemson drive times from the 1989 Duke game. Those are Maryland drive times for the recent loss. All resulted in points except the last--that one just ran out the clock to end the game. The Terps dominated the Tigers, rushing for 285 yards while holding the Tigers to 81. They ran 83 plays (!) to the Tigers 51.

These notes will be short. There is nothing new to say. Once again, the Tiger OL could not move the opponents's DL to sustain drives, especially in the red zone. Hence one of the two Tiger bright spots was Hunt's four FGs. The other was Justin Miller's play. The true freshman continues to amaze us with his savvy and aggressiveness. The hit on the Maryland ballcarrier in the 4th quarter was one of the hardest I've ever seen in Death Valley. Even that had a sour ending--Maryland recovered the fumble Justin forced.

So forget about this one. The Tigers have a way to go to play with the conference's best teams. Good thing South Carolina ain't that good. Go Tigers, beat the Cocks.

Stay tuned . . . notes coming real soon now. That's the lead I put up on the page the week after the Carolina game. I really had good intentions, because like all loyal Tiger fans, I was excited about beating the Gamecocks once again. Especially the way we did it, ending the game with a time-eating drive on the ground. Other priorities--minor things like family and work--kept me from writing up my notes. Then came the Tangerine Bowl and I lost my enthusiasm for thinking about Tiger football. Texas Tech shellacked the Tigers 55-15--and it didn't feel that close! Now the question becomes, just how much have Bowden's teams improved? 2003 will be a pivotal year for Tommy. It's his fifth, so all the players will be his recruits. He's got a new boss. He has an opportunity to tune the staff and correct any weaknesses with the departure of Rodney Allison (to UTC) and Rick Stockstill (to ECU). Can't wait till August 30 and the Dawgs.

Thursday evening and getting anxious. The Tigers play the Dawgs at noon Saturday. Last game with them for at least 10 years according to the future schedules published by both schools. Shame. Great rivalry in the '80s. Closest Division 1 school to Clemson. Heavy competition for each other's state's premier athletes. Border states. Divided family loyalties. Lots and lots of reasons for them to play. But growing conferences and the desire to have a few breezers on the schedule work against it. But we've got this one. Let's get ready.

Well, the Tigers lost 30-0 in a pitiful effort. Not to take anything away from Georgia, they're a good team. My concern is that after 5 years under Bowden, the Tigers are not a good team, maybe not even an improved team. It's not just Bowden's fault. Robinson let our facilities slide to the point that recruiting suffered. We are no longer a program that kids seek to get in to, as we were in the 80s. We got some good receivers because of the offense Bowden ran the first two years. We need some hosses to go with the receivers. I'll support the Tigers regardless of who the coach is, but I want to see improvement. I don't want to go to the Duke game wondering if we can beat Duke. I want to go to the FSU game believing we can compete with them. We're a long way from that.

There's a lot of clamor on TigerNet to bring Danny back. I'm not sure we could ever re-create the situation and staff that allowed Danny to have the success he had. But we ought to be able to re-create the quality of athletes, the toughness, and the will to win that characterized his Tiger teams. I just no longer think Bowden is the one that can do it. I hope I'm proven wrong over the remaining 11 games because it's hard to build a program changing coaches every few years. But if I'm not proven wrong, I think it will be time for a change to give someone else a chance to rebuild our program.

I think it's pretty well agreed that Hatfield left us with the lowest talent level in years at Clemson. Yet an unproven head coach came in and went 29-21 over his first 50 games using those players as a base. And he was cheap. He left Bowden a little more talent than he started with. Yet Bowden has the same record over his first 50 games. And he is anything but cheap. It's time for Bowden to give us our money's worth.

The obvious things: the chewing tobacco, the drawl, the farm, the cap, the "aw shucks." Face it, for all our objections to being called the "cow college," that was our roots. And Danny played to it wonderfully. He had a different persona at Arkansas. Danny convinced us he loved Clemson--and probably did as he still lives there. But we loved Danny because of who he was. Same reason players loved him and played their hearts out for him. He knew what he wanted and how to communicate it. He led. He motivated. But the bottom line is that we --and I mean Clemson fans--did not love him mainly for those reasons. The real reason we loved him is shown in this table.

We loved Danny because he won. He especially won the games against quality teams and put Clemson on the map, both with the national championship and the constant success against the Georgias, the FSUs, the Penn States, the other long-time successful programs. In short, he brought us respectability. And the opportunity to feel as if we could compete with, even beat, anybody. I'd love to have that feeling again. I don't think Bowden is the one to bring it back. Then again, I don't think Danny is either. His was a special, a magic, time. It's gone. We need to reconstruct the feeling with new, younger blood. Maybe Bowden can turn it around. I hope so. If not, let's move on and try again. Go Tigers!

Wanted a win, got a win. But the way I feel about the 28-17 win over 1AA Furman sure doesn't feel like a win. Some things were nice. The crowd was good and into the game more than I would have thought. Charlie's passing was crisp and efficient. The bomb to Airese (finally!!) was a joy to watch. (Do it again, Tommy, do it again.) The defense was good--I'll bet the Furman QB is still wondering where Tye Hill came from on some of those plays--although they let the Paladin RBs get to the corner a little too frequently and too open and we still bite real hard on almost any mis-direction.

But (remember, the important part always comes after the but; anything preceding it is butter) why can't our 300-pounders on the OL move a 1AA DL out of the way? Give Coleman or Browning or Merriweather a crack and they're gone. We can't even make a crack!!!! Running plays always seem to break down for the Tigers. Blocks are thrown too soon or not held long enough. The back gets to where the hole should be, but the hole is gone. There seems to be no coordination of timing of all 11 players or even the 4 or 5 that must be coordinated for a running play to work. Oh, you say that goes back to coaching? Just so. 124 yards against a 1AA team. Oh, I know Furman was stacking the line and their game plan was to stop the run. So what? They're 1AA. (I don't say that to demean Furman. They played a heckuva game, especially in the second half. But, dang it, they get 63 scholarships and don't even compete for the Division 1 players that are on the Tigers's roster. There is no comparison of their talent or physical skills to ours.) We ought to be able to run at will on them. If we can't, then who can we run on? We're going to have these same Tiger players the rest of the year. The only things that can change are their motivation, schemes, techniques, and execution. Those things depend on the coaches. Why does that statement leave me with a slightly sick feeling?

The Tigers started out great. The first two drives were workmanlike (the first one) and spectacular (the second one; the bomb). It what I expected all day against Furman. But then came the third. Uh oh, fourth and one. But we've been working on power football. And this is Furman. Straight ahead, coach. Use the fullback. Show the players you have some confidence in them. After all, this is Furman. Wait, no, don't run wide with the TB--look at the Paladin DL pushing right by our Tigers. Didn't even get back to the line. OK, bad play call. We'll let the line work later. But they never do and Clemson ends up with just over its average gain last year. That average is the same average of 1998 team that went 3-8 and led to West's departure. Thus far in 2003, the Tigers's average rush per game is 80.

This game left a lot of questions. How could Furman outscore us 10-0 in the second half? Why was Travis Pugh not pulled immediately upon spiking the ball and costing us a penalty that kept FU's drive alive and later resulted in a TD? Why can't our OL block (oh, wait, I've already asked that)? If Furman had not dropped so many balls, would they really have beat us? Why don't we throw more long passes (especially when we've got the opponent outmanned and can run past everyone of their DBs)? Why can't we play tougher? I hope the Tigers find some answers before next week.

Personal note: got a win. And on a day when I had my entire family there to enjoy each other and celebrate my grandson's and son-in-law's birthdays. Happy Birthday Caleb and Jess. Thanks for making this a memorable day for all of us.

Charlie Whitehurst started his eighth game for the Tigers with a game plan designed to take advantage of his skills and those of his receivers. Air Clemson! Look at the first drive: pass to Currie for 6, pass to Currie for 14, pass to Youngblood for 20, pass to Currie for 1, rush by Browning for 10, pass to Hamilton for 29 and a TD! The Tigers were off and running . . . err . . . throwing for a 37-14 win over Middle Tennessee State. An impressive win after the low-key second half performance against Furman the week before. But the fans pointed out: it's only MTSU. We ought to be blowing MTSU out. And we didn't. They hung in there, running right up our gut for 194 yards.

So, many of us fans came away with mixed feelings. Satisfied with a win, excited about the passing game, hopeful that this team has found an identity. But wondering about the DL, concerned about the kicking game, downright pessimistic that this coaching staff has what it takes to improve over the mediocre records of the past two years.

Successful teams find an identity, a way of playing that suits the personnel and that they can fall back on when the game is on the line. Sometimes the coaching staff can develop that identity by what they teach and practice, if the players buy into it. Sometimes the team comes together around a concept and the coaches run with it and enhance it. Tommy tried to establish an identity for this team in the spring: a tough, running team. Didn't take. I don't know why it didn't, but this team has not been able to line up and push the opponents off the line for a successful running game. Maybe it's strength, maybe it's coaching, maybe it's "want to." Georgia's talent had a lot to do with the lack of success of the Tiger running game. But we couldn't run against 1AA Furman. This team just did not look coordinated and aggressive running the ball. Against MTSU, the coaches decided that the Blue Raiders' secondary was vulnerable over the middle. The game plan was to exploit that vulnerability. And whether by intent or luck, they may have stumbled on this team's identity. Because the Tigers looked sharp the whole game. They looked aggressive. They played crisply. Scored on 4 of their first 5 drives. Put the game away early.

The biggest concern was obvious. Time and time again MTSU ran up the middle for 10 to 15 yards per play. We've heard much about how soft our DL plays. Lovett said after the game that MTSU had used some blocking schemes that the Tigers had not seen. That doesn't explain why our DTs *could* be blocked that effectively by players that MTSU can attract at this point in their program. Does that mean that each new blocking scheme that we haven't worked on in practice will be that effective against us? Hope not.

The other concern, admittedly minor as the game was out of reach, was the level of play by the Tigers in the second half relative to the first. Is the opponent adjusting better than the Tigers? Are they tired? Do they just lose their focus? The Tigers need to play a complete game for 60 minutes. We haven't shown the talent and teamwork to beat good teams playing for just a half.

We came away from this one feeling a lot better than we did from Georgia or even the win against Furman. The Tigers overall looked crisp and motivated, especially in the first half. Next week they get their first real test since Georgia when they travel to Atlanta to play Tech. Go Tigers.

I may have sold the Tigers and MTSU short, talking about how we ought to have been able to blow them out. The next week, the Blue Raiders took 3-0 Missouri into OT to lose 41-40. That is not to say Missouri is a power house, but they are ranked in the Top 25 this week. So maybe MTSU has better talent and coaching than I gave them credit for. Maybe the Tigers are really starting to gel. Still a long way to go.

Holy Purple Jerseys, Batman!!! Yow!!! Coming out in purple jerseys for the first time since the debacle in Orlando in 1992, the Tigers jumped on Tech with their new-found identity--Air Clemson!--and kept at it for a 39-3 victory. Most of us expected another close Clemson-Tech fight. After all, 5 of the last 6 games have a victory margin of exactly 3 points. Last year was different: it was 5 points. But the Tigers didn't plan a tight game this year. Opening it up with the passing game as they did against MTSU, Clemson probed and probed in the first quarter, then exploded for 3 TDs in the second to take a 23-3 lead into halftime.

Time and time again Tech marched down the field. Time and time again the Tiger defense stiffened in the red zone. I don't know where this defense came from. They swarmed to the ball, put pressure on the QB, did not bite on fakes, covered receivers like buns on hamburgers, and generally played the best game I've seen from them in two years. Leake and Hill were phenomenal. The DTs constantly plugged the middle, allowing the LBs to make tackles. The DEs put pressure on the QB and contained the wide game--even got a safety! The DL refused to be moved at the snap time and time again. Have they arrived or were they just highly motivated.

Let's talk about motivation. Reggie Ball, Tech's true freshman QB, said in the paper after their close loss to FSU, "we won't lose again." OK, he's a freshman. But that still went up on the Tigers' BB. Then, Saturday morning, the AJC reported how Clemson defense was "soft" and how the OL was good only at finesse blocking. The Tigers were angry. And they took that anger out on Tech. Here's the question. Was that external motivation responsible for the Tigers' inspired performance against Tech? Or have the Tigers (or maybe Tommy) learned to motivate themselves? We hope it's the latter. This Tiger team seemed to come together at Tech. Both offense and defense played their best, most complete games in years. The no-huddle, pass-oriented attack seems to suit this team. They play smoother and crisper when running that offense. The defense seems to respond to the offensive performance and play its best when the offense is playing well. It could be that Tech's secondary scheme lent itself to being exploited with the long ball. Other teams will adjust their defense for the attack Clemson has used the last two games. Are we good enough that it won't make any difference? Can our coaches counter the adjustments by future opponents? Stay tuned, for the first time this season, I'm interested in seeing just how far this team can go. Before this, I was convinced they were going nowhere. And just like I'm sure the coaches are telling the players, I'm trying not to get too high on the wins and too low on the losses. If the performance against Tech came from the external publicity, the Tigers won't be able to muster that motivation in the future. If however it came from within, then I think they're on to something.

Some things that were nice to see against Tech. A rushing TD from more than 2 yards out--Coleman shrugged off 2 tackles on his wonderful 25-yard TD run. Glad CSS didn't leave that out of the replay. Five yards per attempt rushing. Sure, most of it came when Tech had changed its defense in the second half to try to get to Charlie, but it came, and that's the important point. A 44 yard punting average.

Some things that continue to need work. Third-down conversions: 1 of 11 will not get it against good teams. Run blocking: we need to be able to get 1 to 2 yards per rush anytime. Place kicking: what's going on with Hunt? Another missed PAT. Bowden going for it from the 35 rather than attempt a FG. Hunt's better than that and needs to show it.

Anyway, those are minor in the face of the most complete and impressive game the Tigers have put on the field in 2 years. As I said, I'm eager to see if this team continues to grow or if this was a one-time deal motivated by external factors. We'll find out against Maryland on October 4.

Third and 15. Third and goal at the 10. Third and 10. You'd expect a defense to be able to win the conversion battle in at least one or two of those game situations. But in this case those were the situations from which Maryland scored its three touchdowns to beat the Tigers 21-7. Maryland converted 50% of its third down situations. The Tiger defense played a good game after the first two Terrapin drives to go up 14-zip. The second drive was on a short field after a 15-yard Tiger punt.

I waited to write up my thoughts on this game until I could watch the replay. I had trouble deciding if the Tigers played poorly or if Maryland was just better than us. Watching the replay didn't help much. The game still came down to 4 or 5 key plays that Maryland made and we didn't. Maybe all games come down to that, but this one seemed to rise and fall more on third and fourth down conversions than almost any game I've seen. Maybe I should say third and fourth downs, rather than conversions. Because one major factor was field position. Maryland had it in the first half and took advantage of it. Clemson had it in the third quarter and did not. Of course the other major factor was the Tigers' inability to rush the football effectively. Once we became one-dimensional, Maryland stopped us easily and you knew we were eventually going to be forced into throwing interceptions.

Other thoughts. Why can't we recruit a punter? We haven't had a quality punter for 10 years. I see small schools on TV that have a guy that can boom 45 yarders all day. I asked last week if the spirit and drive of the Tech game was motivated externally by the comments of Tech players in press or internally by the Tigers finally turning a corner. I'm afraid we got our answer as the Tigers did not play with the same speed and abandon that they played with against Tech. To me, that's the bottom line with Bowden teams: they just do not seem to consistently play near their potential.

I may write more on this game later. But right now, we've got to worry about Virginia and Charlie's ankle.

Whoa, Nelly. What a game! Tigers win 30-27 in overtime. A win does wonders for your attitude, brushes away the "why did they" and the "why didn't they," and leaves you satisfied until next week. Or in this case until Thursday night. The Tigers misfired on several scoring opportunities in the first half, leading 10-0 when it easily could have been 17 or 24 to zip. When the Cavaliers came out in the third quarter and marched easily down the field on three consecutive possessions, I thought once again, we've been outcoached. Groh made offensive adjustments to counter our shutting down Virginia's running game in the opening half and we didn't handle it well on defense. The result after three was Virginia leading 17-10. Not an encouraging situation.

This Tiger team had scored 77% of its points in the first half. This Tiger team had scored only 26 points in the fourth quarter in its previous 5 games. This had the makings of another heartbreak loss to a school we used to refer to as "white meat." But wait! Today this Tiger team had been different from the git go. Even to the point of getting a 15-yard penalty before the game for getting in the Cavaliers faces after running down the Hill. The crowd was in it. The Tigers seemed determined. After sacking Schaub back at the 13, the Tigers took a 30-yard punt at Virginia's 43. On first down, it looked like Virginia's turnaround was going to continue as Charlie was hit and fumbled 4 yards behind the line. But Lady Luck cut her eyes to the south sideline and smiled benevolently. Coleman, who had badly missed the block on the defender that forced the fumble, scooped it up in stride and ran 17 yards to the Virginia 30. Ah, today was to be different. On the next play, Dham took a reverse handoff, turned upfield, and then lofted a soft pass to Youngblood at the Virginia 5. Blood spun to the 1 and Charlie punched it over 2 plays later. New ball game.

The Tigers held and then marched mechanically down the field to the 12. Here is where we needed the old time Clemson rushing attack. This is the same team that gained 10 yards net on the ground against Maryland the week before. But there's a difference this week: we have a Yusef. Charlie handed it to Yusef, back and looking like his old self, and he drove forward, breaking first one tackle and then another and then carrying two Cavaliers into the endzone with him. Tigers up by 7.

But Virginia shows their mettle. Returning the kickoff into Tiger territory at the 47, the Cavaliers proceed to march down the field and tie it up again. This is a well-coached and determined Virginia team that proceeds to stop the Tigers on a 3 and out and get the ball back with 37 seconds to attempt to win. Tye Hill's interception of Schaub puts a stop to that and we're into overtime.

Again Lady Luck smiles as the Tigers win the toss and get to defend first in overtime. That may have meant little without an absolutely stellar play from Leroy Hill, stopping the Cav back on 3 and a foot for no gain. Virginia elects to kick and the FG is good. Tigers' turn. Everyone in orange in the stadium is wondering why Kelly is not at tail until Coleman catches a pass over the middle and scats to the 7. Then comes Kelly. Three yards to the 4. And then, wonder of wonder, a fade to one of our big receivers. Blood goes up high and pulls it down for a TD. Ball game.

The excitement of an overtime win wipes out the questions of coaching and execution that come out of any game except a blowout. Even with the thrill of a win like this one, one question lingers. What's with this team and the third quarter? They have scored an average of 1.5 points per game during that quarter. They have outscored opponents 95 to 44 in the first half, then turned that around and got outscored 65 to 40 in the second. Looking at this alone, you'd have to conclude that opponents are making better adjustments at the half than we are. C'mon, coaches, let's improve on that. On the other hand, as long as we're winning, who cares when we score?

Short rest before NC State. State got the benefit of playing a weaker opponent in Connecticut this past Saturday. Looking past UConn and preparing for the Tigers is probably why State had some trouble getting past the Huskies. Hope the Tigers can get adequately rested and prepared by Thursday night. Wish I could be there.

This will be one of those rare reports begun before the game starts. The Tigers play the Pack tonight, Thursday night, on ESPN. That very fact causes concern among Tiger fans simply because playing at night on ESPN has not been good for Tiger victories over the years. But there is reason for optimism this year as the Tigers showed tremendous heart and, we hope, learned a lot about themselves and their approach to the game in coming back to win over Virginia last Saturday. Stay tuned--the kickoff is only 30 minutes away.

So, the barley lamp is lit and the burgers are on the grill. Get ready for some football.

Halftime. 7-6. NCS came into this game 116 of 117 in pass defense. The Tigers offense should have been licking its chops and throwing the ball all over. Instead, we're making the Pack's defense look good. It's obvious the NCS coaches did some politicking about offensive pass interference as the Tigers got two called on them in succession. TV didn't show the first (but the announcers assured us it was--yeah, right), but the second was no interference either way as Tony barely had his hands on the NCS defender at any time during the play. That ref had to be looking for one to call to call that one.

In any event, the Tigers looked a little flat on the short rest and long bus ride and neither team showed a lot of firepower. Of most concern is that the Tigers seem unable to cover the underneath passes. The LBs and DBs seem to wait until the receiver catches the ball to ensure the tackle. Meanwhile, the Pack receivers are picking up 8 to 12 yards almost at will. With Rivers's accuracy, this will have to change in the second half.

Kudos to the defense for forcing and recovering the fumble. That and the field goals are keeping us in it. Nice to see Hunt get two. The offense needs to get cranked up in the second half (127 yards total in first) and the defense needs to shut down the short passing attack. We can't continue to let this Wolfpack defense look good.

Second half. More of the same. Tigers lose 17-15. This game came down to three things. First, we got outcoached. NCS ran a zone most of the night and completely stifled our offense for three quarters. The best evidence of this is the Tigers performance on third downs: 1 conversion in 12 tries. Many of these were completed passes short of the yardstick. Second, we constantly made mistakes at critical times. Late in the 3rd quarter, we stopped State deep in their own territory on third down, only to pile on and get a PF that kept their drive going. After missing the two point conversion, we had NCS scrambling, only to interfer with the catch and give them a first down. Third, we just couldn't keep Rivers off the field enough. He's too good to keep giving him tries.

Everyone expected this game to be high scoring, given NCS's defensive performance thus far this year and River's ability. Isn't college football great? Of course, it's greater when you win. Let's get the Tarheels next week.

Re-reading my post about the NC State game below, which was written during and immediately after the game, I see I need to reflect before writing. That post came across more negatively than it should have, simply because I was so disappointed with the loss. We should have won that ballgame. I let my disappointment color my post too much. In doing that, I did not emphasize the effort and persistence the Tigers displayed. That spirit, more evident in the past several weeks than after the first few games, bodes well for the rest of the season. So let's get on with it. Go Tigers!

The Tigers started out like a house afire, but the Heels had a fire department and the Tigers had to hang on to win 36-28. Lot of luck in this one. After the Tigers got the first two scores, it was which team could run and throw up and down the field the fastest. It's not often you can give up 287 yards rushing, at about 7 yards per attempt, and win. You do it by averaging 7 yards per rush yourself and throwing for 100 yards more than your opponent. That, two defensive stops, and a 6 minute drive in the 4th quarter may let you win. But you'll still have to force and recover a fumble in your own endzone with 42 seconds to go to prevent giving your opponent an opportunity for a two point conversion to tie. Okay, having written that, maybe the Tigers weren't lucky. Maybe they just played when they had to. It would be easier on my heart if they'd play the whole game.

Last game I asked that the Tigers take it easy on my heart by playing the whole game rather than just in spurts good enough to win. They took it easy on my heart this week (at least in the sense of suspense over whether we would win) by not playing any part of the game. I also asked about last game how you allow an opponent 7 yards per rush and still win. The answer was match it but throw for more than the opponent. Well, this week the Tigers allowed only 5+ yards per rush. But got only 2+ yards per themselves. Even when you out-throw the opponent by 260 yards, you're not going to win that one. Tigers didn't, losing to Wake 45-17. They were never in it as Wake scored on every possession in the first three quarters (okay, to be accurate, Wake didn't score on its last possession of the first half when they took over with 28 seconds to go and took a knee) and led 35-0 at the half. Game was over by then.

I've talked about the Tigers' poor third down conversion success thus far this year. Ironically, they had their best success of the year, going 9 of 15. Either conversion percentage is not as important as I thought it was or turning the ball over 3 times and letting the opponent pound you up the middle for 321 yards make it irrelevant. Wonder which one?

This game is one the Tigers need to forget. Never in it. Could set them up for losing out. Or maybe they were just looking ahead to Florida State. See you next week.

Was it Radio? Was it all orange? Was it Bowden's coaching? Was it the night game? Was it Bowden's job on the line? Was it the crowd's constant noise? Was it playing the No. 3 ranked team? Whatever it was, the Tigers need to find the source of their motivation and bottle it for the future. It led to the best played game in over 10 years as the Tigers dominated the No. 3 ranked Seminoles for a 26-10 victory in Bowden Bowl V.

The first series on both defense and offense foretold the night. The defense held FSU to 3 and out. The offense moved down the field and only a bobbled pass in traffic prevented a touchdown; Hunt came on for one of his four FGs and it was 3-0 early. The Tigers never let up.

The defense blitzed almost every down, sometimes bringing all 3 LBs, sometimes a safety. Rix got rattled early and never got into a rhythm. The Tigers stuffed the run repeatedly, holding the Noles to 11 yards on the night. Nothing FSU could do this night seemed to faze the Tigers as someone on defense stepped up on almost every play and the offense mixed short and long, inside and outside to keep the Seminoles on their heels. It was beautiful to watch. In part because it's been so long since we saw it.

The Tigers stepped up on almost every opportunity. In the third quarter, when FSU finally managed a FG, the Tigers immediately answered with a 58-yard bomb to DHam that was a thing a beauty. Charlie pumped right and then lofted the ball left over the Nole DBs to Hamilton. DHam took it at the 25 and scampered into the end zone, pounding the ball from one hand to the other in joy. A fan leaned over the wall in the northeast corner of the Valley with open arms beckoning DHam. You could sense the emotion as Hamilton paused, looking at those outstretched arms, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, then rushing toward the wall for the first-ever Death Valley Dive. The fans pounded DHam as the ref tried once to pull him down before throwing the flag for celebration. The ensuing KO from the 20 gave FSU the ball nearly at midfield. But the Tigers were into making plays tonight, so Khaleed dropped into pass coverage and tipped a Rix pass to Leroy for the INT. If Hamilton's TD had not sealed the victory, the INT did. FSU's backup QB did get a long TD in the fourth quarter, but it only meant that the Tigers did not hold the Noles to thier lowest point total in 30 years.

Perhaps the intensity and focus in this game partially, or maybe completely, explains the performance the week befor against Wake. The Tigers know you can't look forward. But what you know conciously and what is really driving you inside are oft times two very different things. If you've ever played sports, you know you can't always demand enthusiasm and concentration from yourself. Sometimes, despite tremendous effort, all of your internal admonitions to "get in the game," "concentrate," fail to produce results, especially if something else is really on your mind. The Tigers knew how important Wake was to their conference chances. But with No. 3 looming on the horizon less than a week away, it may be that the young men just could not focus on Wake. After seeing the way they played against FSU, that would be my take.

The challenge now is to put away the euphoria of this win and focus on Duke.

This is the way the Tigers are supposed to beat Duke, 40-7, with a lead early and Duke unable to move the ball. I've said the primary indication of our program being unsatisfactory to me is going to the Duke game wondering if we can win. I've got to admit to having that thought this week as Duke had beaten Georgia Tech soundly the Saturday before and interim coach Ted Roof seemed to have them playing over their head. That and the concern about the Tigers still having their tremendous victory over FSU in their heads let the negative thoughts creep in all week. The Tigers proved they have moved beyond the point of having to be concerned about Duke with a focused effort that was fun to watch.

When playing a team of lesser talent, you always have to weather their initial emotion. When they're fresh and motivated, they're going to play right with you. Duke showed this on their first drive, moving down the field quickly until they got within striking distance of the Tigers' goal. By then the defense had cleared away the cobwebs of FSU and started to play. The result was Duke punting from the Clemson 40. So the defense snuffed Duke's initial emotion quickly and showed they were not still re-living last week. The Tiger offense quickly showed they were living in the present, starting from their own 20 and marching 80 yards in 11 plays for a TD. Justin's interception (looking at this picture, you'd never guess this turned out to be an interception, would you?) on the next Duke possession set the tone for the first three quarters. After that first drive, Duke got only 5 more first downs through the third quarter. The Tiger offense took 10 of their 13 possessions deep into Duke territory. They didn't score on each of those as Hunt missed a FG on one and Charlie threw INTs on 2 others. But it was an overwhelming performance by the Tiger offense.

The defense didn't get the shutout. After a fumble at our 25, Duke took the first play up the middle for a TD. The defense was probably still grumbling about having to go back out so quickly after intercepting Duke in the end zone to stop Duke's only sustained drive. And Duke got a quick TD as a result. Bet the defense would like to have that one back.

A good game by the Tigers. As the final horn sounded, I'm really surprised the stands didn't break out in a rousing Beat Carolina. Now the Tigers can turn their attention to the Gamecocks. With the performances of the past two weeks giving them confidence, they should have a good week of practice. For one of the first times this year, I'm confident the Tigers will be ready to whip the Gamecocks. Go Tigers, Beat Carolina.

"We were playing downhill."--John Leake. Were they ever! In just about the most perfectly played Clemson game I've seen, the Tigers jumped out of the gate and never looked back. The result: an unbelieveable 63-17 win over the Gamecocks. Look at the list of "bests this year." Most TDs. Most rushing yardage. First blocked FG. Third highest completion percentage (other two: Furman and MTSU). Highest yards per play (8.1!). Most interceptions (tie with UNC game). Longest punt average. Second highest third-down conversion percentage. Most total offense. The Tigers led in every statistical category except one: time of possession. They were scoring too quickly to get that one too. :)

This was a fun and enjoyable game to watch. But it's hard to write about because there was no drama. No key play (with the possible exceptions of the first TD and maybe Pugh's FGA block). No controversial calls (even with Ron Cherry heading up the crew). Nothing to criticize in the Tigers' play, the coaches' game plan or playcalling, or even the TV announcers' comments. As Leake said, it was downhill all the way. There were very few mistakes. DHam dropped a ball and muffed a punt reception (and believe it or not, someone on Tigernet suggested he shouldn't return punts in the future); Charlie threw an interception (just as good as a punt in that situation); Tye interferred on a pass that was probably overthrown anyway (no harm--Pugh blocked the FGA); and Fudge tripped on the grass at the 5 on his way in for a INT return for TD (and is probably still being ribbed for it--Tigers scored anyway).

Pugh block. If there was a key play, I think it was Travis Pugh's block of a Weaver FG attempt. The Chickens had just scored 10 points on their two previous possessions and seemed to be loosening up and trying to get back in the game. The Tiger offense was still on a roll, leading 28-10, so the Feathered FUs (you figure it out) may have not been able to get back in it anyway. But after the Tye Hill pass interference, the Old Rusty Roosters stalled at the 26. Weaver came in to attempt a FG and the picture shows Pugh going high in the air to block it. The Tigers marched down the field for their fifth TD and USuC did not threaten again until the Tigers handed them a gift with the muffed punt at the 6.

Clemson scored on 9 of its 13 possessions, all TDs. Charlie was 10 for 10 until DHam dropped one in the left flat. Just an overwhelming performance by the Tigers on both sides of the ball.

Ah, bragging rights for the next year. Of course, that's nothing new in the Bowden era. But if you want to display a road card like this one, click here for an 8 1/2 X 11 suitable for printing, compliments of the resident graphics expert on TigerNet, JJansenTiger.

I could go on and on about the Tigers' performance last night, how much fun it was to watch, how much it means for in-state recruiting, how it changed the tone on Tiger Board, how much it means to Bowden's job. Uh oh, I brought the topic up. Bowden read a prepared statement after the game that said he would wait for the president's decision and would not answer any questions about his job security. I know he's tired of them. At his press conference last Tuesday, Bowden was obviously emotional about these questions. Some interpreted that to mean he knew the outcome and it was bad. I thought he was just ticked off about the questions after his team had performed superbly for consecutive games. Then President Barker said last week that the evaluation would have to wait until after the Carolina game. Some took that to mean the Tommy must win over the Gamecocks. I thought it meant simply what Barker and Phillips have said all along, we'll evaluate after the season. In any event, if the Carolina game is a factor, or maybe the key factor , in the decision, Tommy certainly made it hard for that decision to be anything but, Thanks, Coach Bowden, here's your contract extension.

The future is bright for the Tigers. Clemson returns 18 of the two deep on offense and 19 on defense. We've gotten quality play from a likely replacement at every position where there was this season a senior or graduate. All we need to go with the results of this season and the promise of the future is a bowl win over a quality opponent. We'll find out in the next week or so who and where that will be. Can't wait.

The Tigers will play the Tennessee Volunteers in the Peach Bowl January 2. This will be a fun game for our family. My son graduated from UT, but is a bigger Clemson fan. My daughter graduated from MTSU, but is a Tennessee fan. My son-in-law is trying to stay out of the line of fire. Should be fun. Go Tigers!

Who could've guessed a month ago that Peach Bowl tickets would become one of the hardest to get of all the bowls. Tiger fans quickly bought out the ones the bowl itself was selling when Clemson was announced as one of the teams on November 25. The SEC opponent, Tennessee, wasn't announced until December 7 after the SEC championship. Tiger fans ordered 34,000 from the school, which had a few over 22,000 to sell. Volunteers ordered 24,000 from Tennessee, which had 16,000 to sell. There was a lot of gnashing of teeth and general whining over Tigernet as long-time supporters realized that years of contributing to IPTAY wasn't going to guarantee them tickets. I'm sure there was something similar on Voltalk. Tickets from brokers quickly jumped into the $150 - $200 range and Ebay got active. This morning--December 21--Ebay is averaging about $120 per, but some jump into the $250 range. Just amazing what us college football fans will do.

P.S. Got mine. See you there. Go Tigers!

I'd rather have revenge come with lop-sided scores, but a win's a win, even if it's double overtime. Great catch by Kelvin Grant allowed the Tigers to win 37-30.

No Game Notes on this one. It hurt enough the first time through. Tigers fell apart on offense and defense in last three minutes to lose 28-24,

Tigers were never in this one. End result 27-6 Aggies. Don't know if it was the practices shortened by Ivan's rain, the long trip, the long bus ride from the hotel to the game, or the lingering effects of the Ga Tech loss, but they couldn't catch, couldn't tackle, couldn't block, and generally had one of their worst performances since Wake last year. Result was the A&M easily moved the ball 5 to 8 yards at will and literally wore the defense out. That didn't take too long with the offense repeatedly going 3 and out and the heat index of 99 degrees.

Two of Charlie's interceptions came off catchable balls tipped by the Clemson receiver to the A&M back. Repeatedly, A&M's running backs STOPPED AT THE LINE and calmly side-stepped numerous Tigers before running upfield for 5, 10, 15 yards. It was a hard game to watch. Tigers couldn't consistently move the ball and couldn't stop A&M from doing so. I hope this was just a general funk left over from the shocking Ga Tech loss. If not, it's going to be a rough few weeks ahead. Go Tigers!

Well, at least Justin came to play. He returned two kickoffs for TDs, tying a Clemson school record. Otherwise, the Tiger offense was anemic, especially in the second half. The result was yet another loss at Tallahassee, 41-22.

Lost 30-10.

Homecoming. Won 35-6.

Won 10-7.

Won 26-20.

I love it when the Tigers prove me wrong. As much as I hoped for it, I didn't think there was much chance of a win tonight. Glad the Tigers didn't agree and grabbed an OT win 24-17. When Miami blew (pun intended) down the field on the first possession, making it look so easy, I thought, this could be a long night. Nothing in the first half changed that thought. Miami did slow a little, but they scored a TD just before the half ended and went to the locker room up 17-3 and with all the momentum in the world.

Somebody forgot to tell the Tigers. When they went 3 and out on the first possession of the second half, I thought, that's probably the ball game. But the defense had other ideas. They forced a punt after 4 Miami plays, and somebody woke the offense up. I think his number was 37. Charlie got Reggie 27 yards from the end zone and Reggie did the rest. (How long has it been since we've had a 100-yard runner? If Bowden and O'Cain don't start running Reggie at least 25 times a game, then I have to wonder where their heads are.)

After a fake field goal kept the Tigers' final drive of the third quarter live (Jad Dean's got a little speed there), the Tigers took it on in for a TD to tie the game. Miami, by the way, did nothing but punt in the second half—8 of 'em—that's got to be some kind of record, doesn't it? Of course, in the fourth, the Tigers could do no better, although Jad did miss a FG attempt that it turns out could have won the game.

After Miami won the OT toss, it took the Tiger offense just 4 plays—helped by a PI call against Miami—to score a TD. Then the question was, could the Tiger defense do it one more time? It didn't look good after Berlin connected on a 20-yard gain with his first pass. But that was it. A 5-yard run and 3 incompletes later, the defense had held. Tigers win, 24-17. What a night!! Charlie finally got over 200 yards passing (254). The Tigers got a 100-yard rusher (Reggie with 117 at 5.6 per carry). The punt and KO coverage teams held Hester in check (3 returns for 10 yards) and Justin won the return battle (8 returns for 149 yards). Great win, Tigers! On to Dook.

Dook. That dreary place with no noise, no excitement, no fans, and a long walk from the locker room to enjoy it all. That place that is so hard to play in that Coach Bowden made a plea for fan support. That place where the Tigers have struggled of late, with only the 2000 game having a comfortable margin and the 1998 game a loss for the Tigers. No TV today, so this report of the 16-13 loss is based on Pete and Will's broadcast.

The Tigers get great field position because of an on-side opening kick (thanks, Justin) and begin with an all too familiar refrain of three and out. Bad punt gives Dook the ball at their 21, so the benefit of the on-side is wasted. The Tiger defense continues its good work and forces a punt after three. Some life from the offense as it moves down the field and Currie outbattles a Dook DB for a catch at the six. But the offense can only get to the two in three plays, so Jad kicks a 19-yard field goal.

But it's apparently not going to be an easy day as Dook drives down the field to the Tiger 9 before the defense stiffens and forcs a FG. Then Ben Hall has problems handling the short KO and the Devils get the ball at the Tiger 19. Sigh. The defense gives some ground but digs in with the eventual result another Dook FG. Charlie is still struggling with decision-making, throwing incomplete to Stuckey in the endzone when he was triple-covered. So Jad kicked another FG and we'll start all over again.

The Tigers find a new way to turn it over—the punt snap hits one of Chason's "protectors" and Dook gets the ball at the 15. The defense finds a new way to stop them as Justin bats a fourth down pass to Bennett and he makes the interception. Charlie then throws an interception. I know Charlie wishes he could get straightened out. At the half, it's 6-6.

The Tigers continue to sputter on offense. Dropped passes, low punt snaps, no push on running plays. But the defense is keeping us in there, registering 4 sacks early in the 3rd quarter. Fourth and two and the coaching staff feels we have to run a trick play rather than lining up and playing power football. Against Dook!!! And of course we didn't make it. The 3rd quarter was just a pitiful back and forth with the Devils. It's time for our second half offense to show up! Well, I thought maybe they were, as they drove down for a TD. But they went back to there old ways and let Dook stay in there, with the defense in bad field position. Four minutes to go and Dook is driving, pass over the middle complete down to the Tiger 13. Dook is living off the middle. Down to the 8. C'mon, defense! Oh, well, Dook TD. Tie game. It's amazing. Everyone knew the Tigers were ripe for a letdown after the big Miami win. They coached against it, the players recognized it, this is for bowl eligibility, and still they can't get their head in this game. Well, the offense better start now or the Tigers are facing OT. Again.

Well, maybe not, Dook just intercepted. Got a chance to win it with a FGA at 2 seconds left. 53 yarder, with the wind. FG is good! Unbelieveable! Sorry these notes turned into a play-by-play, but I sure don't feel like making any more comments on this game—I hate to be that negative. Hope the Tigers get their heads straight for Carolina.

Won 29-7. Thanks, Reggie.

It's been awhile since I posted to my Game Notes blog. Just wanted to let folks know that I'm still here and plan to do a little blogging this year.

I've moved Game Notes into its own subdomain. The old links will still work, but if you want to save a few seconds and go right to the main page, change your link to: http://gn.jcby.com.

--Jim Brown

Note: post updated 9/17.

I may try to get back to posting game notes this year. A Clemson friend asked me by email the other day how I saw the Tigers doing Monday night against FSU. I told him and went on to say what I thought about the entire year facing our Tigers. So I thought I'd cut and paste that response here for everyone, especially with Trip bugging me about it. :-)

I think Monday night is going to be a fun time and a good game. There is almost no way to predict the outcome. Clemson's lines, as well as its quarterback, are going to have to grow up fast and who knows what FSU will do with that many new coaches. I do think it will be a good game. It will come down to who makes the fewest mistakes in this first game with inexperienced players for us, especially at center and defensive back, and unfamiliar coaches and schemes for them. I think the game will come down to Spiller and he'll come through and the Tigers will win by 2 when FSU misses a last-minute, long FGA. How's that for being specific? (Update: not very good. We beat FSU by 6, although the defense did have to come through during the 4th quarter.)

The rest of the season will depend on how our lines on both sides of the ball develop (Update: hmmmmm). I think we have the talent; they just need the experience and to come together as a unit. If they can open up just a few holes, there is no doubt that Davis and Spiller will pour through them. Bowden has been uncharacteristically optimistic about how well this team will do. I take that as a real positive sign. So I think we're looking at something like 9-3 as I can't see us beating VT (Update: maybe I can if VT keeps playing as they've played thus far in September) and think we'll lose to GT or BC and lose one of the Maryland, NCS, or USC games. The 2007 Tigers ought to be a fun team to watch if Harper can throw downfield successfully (Update: so far so good), as I think the defense will do fine (Update: stay tuned).

Oh, boy! New season, first game, Labor Day night, tailgating, brats and burgers, family and friends and fiancee. Does it get any better than this? With any new endeavor come expectations and hopes.

• I expected the crowd to be loud and electric.



• I expected Davis and Spiller to show us great running, great determination.


• I expected that Ford would break a big return and stretch the field on offense (the one expectation that was not met).



• I expected Harper to be a little tight and conservative in his decision making.


• I expected the LBs to have a good game.



• I expected FSU to struggle on offense with new coaches and two freshmen in the O-line.



• I expected the Tigers to win (okay, maybe that one was a hope).

• I hoped the O-line would be able to give Davis and Spiller a chance to get into the open.


• I hoped the O-line would be able to give Harper the time to make a decision.



• I hoped we wouldn't miss Gaines too much.



• I hoped that our kickoff coverage would be much, much better than last year.



• I hoped PATs and FGAs would not be hold-your-breath times.

The game exceeded my expectations and the Tigers fulfilled all my hopes. Perhaps more important were the things I did not expect.

• I did not expect the Tigers to dominate the Seminoles in every phase of the game.



• I did not expect our talent to be so obviously superior to FSU's. Faster, quicker, more under control, more complete, more promise. As Mickey Plyler said, "Wow."



• I did not expect the Tigers to hold FSU to 52 yards of offense in the first half (40% of which came on one play, a scramble by Weatherford on the first play of the game caused by pressure and good coverage by the Tigers).



• I did not expect the Tiger defense to be able to reach down and grab the game back after FSU got the momentum in the third quarter.

If ever a game illustrated the power of field position, this was it. In the first half, the Tigers enjoyed great field position from their first possession when they forced a punt and FSU punted OB away from the speed of Ford and Spiller. The field position allowed Spence to use all the new formations he had devised to put Davis and Spiller on the field at the same time and get the ball in their hands more. While it took 3 possessions for this to result in a score, the Tigers improved that field position each exchange and scored with true freshman Brian Linthicum's first TD reception, a beautiful catch of a ball thrown behind him, using his body to shield the ball from an FSU player. I was critical of Harper's slightly off-target throw until I saw the replay--Harper did a great job with an on-rushing LB right in his face.

The next TD was a thing of defensive and offensive beauty. Merling forced an FSU fumble that Watkins recovered--both of those guys had phenomenal games, with Merling earning an ACC Defensive Player of the Week honor. It took one play--one thrilling, amazing, twisting 29-yard run by Davis to score. Enroute to the endzone, Davis shook off Myron Rolle's loose grip on his face mask (uncalled, but irrelevant) and firm grip on his jersey, and three FSU tacklers, and made three amazing cutbacks to avoid three other FSU tacklers. Thanks, James, for the wonderful entertainment.

One of the questions going into the season for the Tigers was: who is going to replace Chansi as the go-to receiver. Aaron Kelly made a strong bid for the role Monday night. Kelly's run after catching a wide receiver screen was dramatic and electrifying, especially watching Barry Humphries protecting Kelly's flank much of the way to the endzone. Kelly had a great stiffarm during the run, but the play was so well designed that even that would not have been necessary had Austin and Ford thrown just a little better blocks. And with that play, the Tigers had scored three TDs in a little under 8 minutes of game clock. When the Tigers answered FSUs only first-half score--a FG after blocking a punt--with Buchholz's first collegiate FG, it looked like we could relax. Koenning said after the game that it looked like the Tigers forgot they were playing FSU. After our offense held the ball for over 6 minutes starting the second quarter, I did too--for awhile.

Then, in one flick of the long snapper's wrist, the Tigers started a 6 minute stretch that saw FSU seize the momentum and score 13 points, the Tigers scramble to stop the bleeding, and the crowd laspe into a stunned and anxious silence. Then, slowly, the crowd came back. The Tigers, especially the defense, shook off the shock of those 6 minutes and fought to get back on an even footing with the Seminoles.

Clemson's offense, missing a key starter and a primary backup from the line, settled down, even in the face of a revived Seminole defense that was now playing like . . . well, like FSU's defense. In the drive after FSU's TD, the O-line incurred two holding penalties. Harper overcame the first one with consecutive completions to Kelly. The second one killed the drive, but not before the Tigers regained favorable field position, with FSU starting from their own 20. And the Tiger defense was ready: they allowed FSU but 2 yards on the next series. Shades of 1981--appropriate with Jeff Davis in attendance and recognized for his coming induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. The Tiger offense didn't fare any better in its 3 and out. The defense would be called on twice more. They won both battles, constantly pressuring Weatherford and sacking him on 4 and 10 in the first, and on 1 and 10 in the second and final.

There was a lot to like about this game. Watching the replay, Cullen Harper played better than I thought he did when I left the stadium. I think that is because at game speed, it seemed he was throwing into double coverage or forcing the ball in way too much. When I looked at the replay, I saw the receivers were open when he pulled the trigger. During the game, by the time my eyes found the receiver, FSU's speed made it look like the FSU DBs were in better position than they really were when Cullen released the ball. Davis and Spiller were spectacular. I hope to see Ford stretch the defense more in future games. The O-line looked very good--I hope the injuries to Austin and Pilgrim turn out to be quick heals. The defense played good and Koenning's schemes kept FSU off balance. I think it's going to be a fun year, at least until October 6.

All of us do it. Some days we just go through the motions of doing our jobs. .It may be what we did the day before (like a Monday night game), may be a boring task that has to be completed before we move on to more interesting and challenging assignments, may be that we're still in celebration mode after a successful project, a big sale, a new idea implemented. So five days after a big win on Monday night in a nationally televised, highly hyped game at an unusual time, when the Tigers came out flat and uninspired against a team they were expected to beat easily, I wasn't surprised. I figured it would take a quarter for the offense to get its rhythm. I was wrong: it actually took one and half before they looked sharp, even though they scored twice in the first quarter. I figured the defense would carry the team until the offense got untracked. I was wrong: the defense never really got untracked. Fortunately, with the talent we have on defense, just going through the motions was enough to beat Louisiana Monroe 49-26, especially after the offense got going.

And boy did they get going. It's hard to say they didn't look sharp in the first quarter since they scored twice. But those scores were from speed, not team execution. Witness how quickly the Tigers scored. So quickly that ULM held the ball more than 10 minutes in the opening quarter. On their second drive in the second quarter, the Tigers began to execute. By the time they finished, with about 12 minutes remaining in the game, they had scored five consecutive TDs in a little over 10 minutes of clock time. Along the way, Cullen Harper set a new Clemson game record of 5 TD passes and Willy Korn got his first Clemson TD (ironically, a rushing TD), and James Davis scored to pass Woodrow Dantzler on the rushing TD list. Davis also passed Lester Brown to move into 11th position on the all time rushing yardage list. Dantzler and Brown were both in attendance to be inducted into Clemson's Hall of Fame.

Harper looked impressive in managing the game, running the team, and distributing the ball. His 5 TD passes were to 5 differnet receivers. He hit that magic stat: more than 10 yards gained per pass attempt. Korn came in to mop-up and displayed a lot of poise. For his first drive, he seemed in command as he obviously went through his progression, although he did not hesitate to tuck it and run when his receivers were covered. It's great to have him as a backup, but if Harper keeps improving, that may be where Korn stays this year. But it will be fun to watch the competition--something we Tiger fans haven't been able to see at the QB spot in a long time.

It was obvious that the coaching staff planned to work on the passing game regardless of score. Spiller and Davis were more than capable of doing the job--they averaged over 8 yards per rush--but this game was to practice the passing game. And it was good practice.

Now to the defense. Uninspired, lackadaisical, unmotivated, just going through the motions. To let 2 backs from a team with much less talent than the Tigers gain more than 100 yards each is just inexcusable. Don't get me wrong. The backs were talented, especially Dawson, who showed speed, elusiveness, determination, and toughness when hit. And ULM's line was effective and experienced. Even so, the Tigers looked as if they were standing still waiting for someone to block them. After that early first quarter TD, our starting talent, not our effort, kept them out of the endzone until 9 minutes to go in the game. But ULM held the ball over 12 minutes in the third quarter--the defense cannot allow any team to do that (even though the time of possession was aided by our offense scoring two TDs in 2 minutes).

I believe the defense's lack of effort was just a hangover from the short turnaround and intensity of the FSU game. I certainly hope my belief turns out to be true. We'll see Saturday, because Furman will come in with a lot of hope generated by the defense's performance against ULM.

Go Tigers!!

And Happy Birthday, Caleb.

What can you say about a game like this? Do you moan about the Tigers giving up nearly 400 yards of offense to a 1-AA (or whatever they call it now) team?. Do you grouse about the O-line not being able to open some holes for the RBs (hey, McFadden got 200 yards against Alabama and you can be sure the Tide was stacking to stop the run--the Hogs CAN'T throw). Or do you sing Harper's praises and be happy with a 38-10 win over Furman? Well, I can't sing, but . . .

I'll certainly talk about Harper's great play. He was on target, as usual, and took advantage of almost every scoring opportunity that was created by a Furman mistake or a receiver's getting open. Heck, that throw to Kelly didn't depend on either of those. Cullen just stuck it in to a well-covered Kelly who made a good catch. So I'm not going to grouse about lack of run production or giving up 5 sacks--I'm just going to chalk it up to playing 3 games in 12 days and not being motivated by a 1-AA opponent. I'll take 4 TD passes every game and be happy. (Late Addition: Bowden said after the game that Furman frequenly put 9 men "on the line." I thought that may have explained the lack of rush and the sacks. Well, the only replay I've seen is from the Tommy Bowden Show, where they show selected plays. And on those selected plays, Furman was consistently in a standard 4-3 and usually rushed only the down 4. When they did blitz, they were effective. Sigh. Back to wondering if our O-line is really that weak.)

The Tigers's defense scares me. But maybe it shouldn't. Maybe Koenning is doing it exactly the way he wants to. After all, the most important stat on defense is opponent points per game. We're doing very well there, but we haven't played anyone with a high-powered offense. And the two games where we were playing smaller schools with less talent than the Tigers each got way too many yards. Like I said, it scares me. But I remember seeing a lot more blitzing and stunting against FSU than I've seen the past two games. So I hope Koenning has a surprise for me and, more importantly, for future opponents.

Usually when I come away from a game with mixed feelings, the first thing I look at is the drive chart. During a game, many times what feels like absolutely terrible play by the Tigers looks a lot different in the cold, factual glare of effective football. The Tigers had the ball 10 times (not counting the one with 30 seconds to go in the first half). They scored on 6 of those (5 TDs, 1 FG), using a total of 14 minutes and 16 seconds off the clock on the scoring drives. That's a little over 2 minutes per score. And the TD drives were 66, 49, 69, 76, and 43 yards--not any short field stuff here, despite the defense's 5 take-aways. Furman, on the other hand, had the ball 12 times, scored on 2 of them (1 TD, 1 FG), averaging a little under 5 minutes per score. If your opponent takes twice as long as you do to score, it's going to dominate time of possession. It's also going to lose if you if you're also scoring more frequently. Yep, I can state the obvious with the best of them. But my point is this: there's a lot of grousing among Tiger fans about the almost 400 yards in offense (it's Furman, for crying out loud!), the dominance in time of possession, the many, many passes the Paladins completed on the zone defense, the 1.8 yard per rush the Tigers "piled up," the 79 plays Furman ran, and the 5 sacks against the Tigers. But I'm just glad to get the win and go 3-0 into the NC State game. But I do hope the Tigers will quit scaring me.

Way to go, Tigers. There was a lot to like about the way the Tigers went about demolishing the Wolfpack 42-20. Both the running game and the passing game were working and the defense came to play. The game was really over near the end of the first quarter when Spiller cut back and sprinted into the endzone from 44 yards out. After that, it was a pretty boring game with a few highlights (the best kind??). It was wonderful to watch, but doesn't give me a lot to write about. There were only two minor shortcomings: offensive line penalties and settling for FGs on several drives. But look at this drive chart---a thing of beauty:


CU 1st C42 14:08 TOUCHDOWN 8-58 2:36
CU 1st C23 11:18 FIELD GOAL 9-66 3:26
CU 1st C36 06:01 Missed FG 8-52 2:49
CU 1st N44 01:35 TOUCHDOWN 1-44 0:09
CU 2nd C13 12:34 TOUCHDOWN 8-87 3:21
CU 2nd C20 05:27 Punt 3-1 1:40
CU 2nd C27 02:50 FIELD GOAL 10-44 2:50
CU 3rd C19 15:00 FIELD GOAL 8-69 3:34
CU 3rd C20 09:56 TOUCHDOWN 16-80 5:50
CU 3rd C47 03:18 Punt 3-15 1:15
CU 3rd N43 00:20 Missed FG 6-9 1:52
CU 4th C20 08:29 FIELD GOAL 14-72 7:11
CU 4th N44 00:16 End of half 1--3 0:16

It's hard to improve on scoring on 62% of your possessions and having the chance to score on 15% more, especially when you hold the ball over 7 mintues late in the 4th quarter.

The OL penalties can be worked out. Their play was the best this year, so they've got a good foundation to build on now. The defense, which had looked soft up the middle in previous two games, showed that it was really just playing less-talented teams that put them in that frame of mind. Davis and Spiller, combined with the better play of the OL, were just dominating. Too bad Ford's TD was called back on an awfully-strange penalty. And I hope the training staff gets Spiller's cramp problems solved. Other than that, just about a perfect game.

Was Georgia Tech looking ahead to us this week? I think Tech will certainly be focused against us. The Tigers need to push it into the endzone when they get into the red zone and they will be fine. Get ready Tigers and BEAT TECH.

Well, I guess I should be happy. No, not about Tech's whipping the Tigers 13-3 (I know, that's just 10 points, but believe me, it was a whipping). But about my cable company's inaccurate guide. I was out of town playing golf at noon, so I set the DVR to record the game. It was a "mirror" game for ABC. That is, it was regional on ABC itself, but would be shown on ESPN for those areas where it was not shown on ABC. My cable guide said it would be on ESPN in Aiken. So I set the DVR. And of course, it was on ABC. A long-winded way to say that I didn't have a tape to review to write the Game Notes. I usually review the tape even if I see the game. That helps me figure out if, for example, sacks were caused by the QB holding the ball too long or the line play as a unit or just a screw up by one player. But because of my cable company's bad information, I didn't have a tape to watch in detail as the Tigers screwed up just about every way possible offensively (yes, it was) on Saturday. So I'm happy about that.

I did get to see the entire second half. Believe me, one time through was enough for that game. For me. For the Tigers, I hope the coaches show it to them over and over and over, until they are sick of it. I hope they learn from it how to block an aggresive, stunting defense. Then, I hope they forget about it and use what they learned against Virginia Tech. Did someone say aggressive, blitzing defense?

There won't be any Game Notes for the games with the Hokies and Central Michigan the next two weeks..For VT, my bride and I will be simply too busy getting ready for our wedding the next Saturday to make the trip (we will watch on TV). For CM, we'll be on our honeymoon. For those fans who ask, What idiot would schedule a wedding in the middle of football season?, I can only say: examine your priorities. I know I've got mine right.

Boy, am I glad I said below that I would not be issuing any Game Notes on this game. Otherwise, I would have had to watch it again.. VT's defense manhandled the Tiger's offense. I don't know when I've seen such sure-handed, physical tackling. VT just took it to the Tigers and the Tigers had no answer. The Tiger's defense played well, but they were completely undermined by the offense and speical teams. Even with playing well, the defense did not hit as hard and were not as fundamentally sound as VT. Our fundamentals and "want to" on both sides of the ball were inferior to VT's. Harper was way off target in the first half and I think we should have seen Korn. If Spence is that good an OC, then he should be able to figure out how to use talent like Spiller and Davis even with some O-line issues. In the end, an INT returned for a TD, a KO returned for a TD, and a punt returned for a TD proved too much as the Tigers knuckled under 41-23.

Clemson has become a finesse team. Who would have believed it? I love my Tigers, but I really want them to get back to playing Clemson football.

I got married October 13, which was, of course, an open date for the Tigers. Good planning. :-) We were still on our honeymoon the next week, when the Tigers beat Central Michigan 70-14. It would have been fun to see the Tigers reach 70, but trust me, I had a lot more fun in Vermont and New York City. ;-) I had promised some of you to try to get back to doing the Game Notes after the honeymoon. But it just didn't happen. Except for BC, the games would have been easy to write about as the Tigers ran the table, including a 0:00 field goal to beat the Gamecocks!

We do have something right now to pay attention to---right now when our basketball watching is usually over. The Tigers played for the ACC championship for the first time in 46 years. They couldn't quite pull it out against the Heels, but the really exciting thing is we can realistically expect to see the Tigers in the championship game again as Purnell continues to build a sustainable program. For now, we're content to watch the Tigers play as the fifth seed in the Midwest Region of the NCAA tournament. We don't usually get to watch this long and it's something Tiger fans could get used to. Go Tigers!

Anyway, spring football practice is also here. And it's time for Clemson Club meetings all over the state. My club in Aiken is the first meeting of the year and it's tonight. I'll post some comments about what Bowden says tomorrow.

We had a fun Clemson Club meeting last night. .Aiken is the first meeting this year, so the stuff below is not old hat yet. Bowden didn't say anything startling---well, except that Duke's new assistant coaches under Cutcliffe are the hightest paid staff in the ACC---but he related a few things coming out of the four days of spring practice so far. Here's a quick summary:

Three things staff is focusing on in spring ball: linebackers, offensive line, and leadership. Jeremy Campbell is stepping up at LB (had 2 INTs during last Thursday's scrimmage), McKissic is competing at LT, and believe the good group of seniors will provide the leadership.

Rendrick Taylor is moving back to offense.

Michael Wade and Mason Cloy are the big surprises thus far.

Marquan Jones and Da'Quan Bowers continue to look good and will almost definitely play as true freshmen. For the freshmen coming in August, expect Harper and Ellington to play. Also need one of the incoming linebackers and one of the safetys to step up this year. Bowden also said that on film, McClain may be the most talented OL he has had at Clemson. While there could be a surprise, right now expect all 25 signees to qualify.

Other players doing well in spring: Richard Jackson, Brandon Maye, Chad Diehl, Byron Clear, Brandon Clear, and David Smith.

Other significant comments: 25 players will have their degree by end of the year. Antonio Clay may be back, but it's going to be tough. Second team defense is young, but very talented. Jacoby Ford will be 100% by August---he's fully recovered, just needs work with the QBs now.

That's all for now. Let's go watch some basketball. :-)

Back in 2003, I blogged about Why Tiger Fans Love(d) Danny. It included a link to a table I put together showing the winning percentage of all the coaches from 1940 through 2002. I've updated that table to bring Bowden's record up to date. He's improved his percentages, especially against Top 25 teams, significantly since 2002.

The Tigers open in Atlanta's Georgia Dome against Alabama on August 30. Early, early for a quality opponent. If the rebuilt OL (4 starters replaced) can give Cullen just a little time and James and C.J. just a little space, the Tigers will win it 24-21.

Again. Each time we think the Tigers have turned the corner in talent and ability to win, they disappoint us in a big game. Bowden's record in not being able to get the team focused and ready for a big game is just flat horrible. I'm writing this Monday morning. So Bowden has had his press conferences to give the media a chance to hear his thoughts on his team's performance. Bowden said he was responsible and that the team was not ready, but then, then, he goes off on a wild tangent and gives the media the sound bite "human error." As if someone made a mistake that caused the collapse of the team. I know what he was saying but once he uttered that sound bite, it took all the focus off his accepting any responsibility. Talk about human error. What was he thinking? And, more important, what is Phillips thinking?

It bothers me that Bowden does not seem to understand that Clemson fans DO NOT CARE that Virginia Tech got beat by LSU, that Southern Cal lost to Stanford. Clemson fans care about the Tigers, period. So who was Bowden talking to? There are two choices: a potential future employer or Terry Don Phillips. I actually liked it when he wouldn't stop walking to talk to the ESPN reporter as he left the field after the game and all he would say was a terse, gruff, "we got whipped." I hope he retains that anger at his team's performance at practice this week. We shouldn't need tough practices for Citadel, but we do need them to let this team know that there are consequences to lack of effort, intensity, and focus.

I got to watch this game from the end zone. My seats in Death Valley are in the upper deck, which I love because you can see the plays develop downfield and the overall pattern of them. It's been a long time since I watched from the end zone. It's a perspective that finally solved a problem for me. There has always been something about Spence's offense that bothered me. He's had some success, and I couldn't put my finger on what bothered me. From the end zone and with Alabama's execution to help, it became clear. Spence's offense depends on influencing the defense with time and spacing and pattern. Everything in the play is designed to move the defense into a certain position and then exploit that position. Alabama's offense, on the other hand, especially in the running game, focuses on concentrating blocking at the point of attack. I see now why the Tigers have repeatedly had problems in short yardage situations. They don't know how to block that point of attack because they are spending their practice time learning all those patterns and how the defense may react to them. You saw Saturday night what happens when a defense just ignores what you're doing and just works at overwhelming you and getting penetration. You don't influence them at all and your running backs never get a chance to read the pattern and run to daylight. Of course, that is not a problem if you can't figure out a way to get the ball to the best running backs in college football, but that's another story.

There's really not a lot to say about this game. Alabama simply dominated the Tigers physically. I think Larry Williams, in his blog, had the best description of the Tigers reaction to playing a team with the tradition of Alabama on national TV, with high expectations, and a top ten ranking: "The Tigers looked terribly unfit to be on this stage. You know, the stage on which they were supposed to prove themselves worthy of the Top 10 ranking and all that. Yeah, the offensive line has a looooooong way to go. And yes, the defensive line was almost shockingly soft. But on so many occasions in this game, this had the look of a team that was peeing down its leg in the face of such pomp and circumstance." (ref) That hurts for a Tiger fan, but it was just too true.

But, thank goodness it was the first game. Win the next 11 and maybe, just maybe, the Tigers can wipe away the taste this one left.

Go Tigers!!!! Beat Citadel (and even having to say that better be a joke).

The Tigers had a good practice Saturday. No disrespect to the Citadel, but that's what this game was. Even winning it 45-17, the Tigers did not show the dominance I had hoped for, given the typical talent difference between a 1-A team and a 1-AA team. (I know, it's FBS and FCS now). But some of that may have been the constant shuffling of the OL and DL trying to find a combination that could work together effectively. Two things that did work effectively on the DL: Da'Quan Bowers and Brandon Thompson. Bowers showed why he is going to be a great one. Despite frequent double teams, his speed off the mark and in turning the corner around a tackle were impressive. Bowden said in his Sunday teleconference that we need to get more pressure on the QB. I think Sapp and Bowers will take care of that as Bowers gains more experience. But the DEs can't take that outside rush if we are so soft up the middle that draws and QB keepers are going to be effective. Thompson will eventually take care of that. He's big and mobile. If Scott can get his form back, the DL should be OK by the time we get to Maryland.

The OL is a different issue. They looked better against the talent level of the Bulldogs, and they should. But they still did not look dominant and the Tigers got stopped several times in short yardage situations. And now Hairston gets hurt on a moped! We don't know today (Monday) how serious his injury is, but the line cannot afford any depletion.

The biggest immediate concern is that the Tigers cannot seem to stop intermediate passes over the middle. They finally tightened up the in third quarter, but the Citadel's Roberts constantly hurt them getting open during the first half. Late in the game, against the second string defense--or maybe it was third--the Bulldogs scored a long TD pass over the middle. So is the problem the scheme, the talent, or just poor play? In any event, the Tigers must tighten up on the middle against good teams or their hopes of an ACC championship will be just that--a hope.

It was good to see James and CJ get untracked. Even thought the OL was not dominant, it opened enough of a hole for James and CJ to get through and they took advantage of it. Eight point two and twelve point five yards per carry ain't too shabby, even against FCS competition.

All in all, Tiger fans came away from this one feeling better than after Alabama (how could they not?), but still wondering whether the lines are going to improve enough to allow the talented skill players to work their magic against good teams and whether the DBs and LBs can stop the passes over the middle. Stay tuned. Next week against NC State SHOULD BE another game the Tigers win and gain the experience to improve. If it's not . . .

I expected the Tigers to win by 21 and they won by 18, 27-9. They scored on half their possessions (I didn't count the short possessions at the end of each half). They limited the Wolfpack to scoring on only 2 of their 10 possessions, and a more accurate statement would be that they limited the Wolfpack offense to scoring on 1 of 9 possessions. The other possession was a one-play TD by the State defense after Cullen threw it right to one of their LBs on the first play of the game. The Tigers had 428 yards of offense compared to State's 288. Based on all that, you would think I came away from the game feeling good. You would be wrong.

NC State, with the exception of its defensive front seven, is not a good football team. Too many times, State gained good yardage up the middle on the ground and over the middle through the air. Too many times, the Tigers' OL could not keep the Wolfpack DL out of the backfield. This Tiger team has a lot of weaknesses, not all of which can be ascribed to youth and inexperience. They have one more game to get things straight before the real work begins. Spence and Koenning have got to really get moving.

All that said, a conference win is a conference win. And there were some bright spots. Brandon Thompson continues his improvement and his demonstration that he is going to be very good. The few plays that Ricky Sapp was in along with Bowers showed that our pass rush will be awesome several games from now. Hamlin is just being Hamlin, being in the right place at the right time and showing that at least one on the defense knows how to tackle. CJ is really showing his talent; some of his runs were things of beauty, showing that he only needs a little space from the line or the scheme to make big plays. And Ford seems to be back to being comfortable after his return from injury last year. Special team play was just about perfect.

So now the Tigers get what should be another chance to work on the weaknesses in a game setting. SC State will come in motivated as it's the first shot the smaller school has ever had at the Tigers. So the Tigers will have to take care of business, which they should have no trouble doing. Go Tigers!

I did not go to or get to see this game. That was a little bit of a shame as it was the first meeting between Clemson and SC State. The Tigers won 54-0. That was not enough to satisfy a lot of fans, who still saw too many mistakes in pass offense and on defense to go away happy. To me, it was a good tune-up for Maryland. Go Tigers!

Tigers lost, 20-17. I could write a lot about this game, but the sportswriters have covered everything of significance better than I could. The problems and consequences were obvious. So I'll write about something else. But before I do, I want to talk about one area that I think the sportswriters gave short shrift. They accepted that Maryland's adjustment on defense at the half "left Spence no choice" but to go away from the running game. I don't agree. I believe Spence looked at the alignment change of the front seven, the position of the safeties, and went away from the running game before ever fully testing whether the change would take away the run. James was fired up all day; I don't think I've ever seen him look quicker. But after the first series in the second half, we quit giving him and C.J. the ball, despite the fact that on that first drive the running plays were 2 yards, 5 yards, 5 yards, 7 yards, and 2 yards. That is an average rushing gain of over 4 yards per rush. I'll take that any day. Granted, silly penalties negated some of those rushes and put us in a passing situation, but after that drive, we went away from the running game. Who knows what would have happened had we kept pounding. But we'll never know. We'll only know that once again we hear our coaches talk about how adjustments by the other team affected our play calling. Strange how our adjustments in response to the other team's never seem to have their coaches talking about us after the game!

Now the Tigers made too many mistakes to win this game. But their enthusiasm in the first half overcame mistakes, perhaps more serious mistakes than those in the second. Mistakes gave the ball to the Terps on our own 18 and 30 in the first half. No mistakes quite that serious happened in the second. Hard, enthusiastic play overcame those mistakes in the first half. What happened to that enthusiasm? Does this team have so little character, so little leadership---both from players and coaches---that one play, a long reverse, eliminated all that enthusiasm? After all, they still had a four point lead after the TD that followed that reverse. But the coaches and the team fell apart. Suddenly, we could not generate any offense and the defense slowly began to let Maryland make plays. After that it was just a matter of time.

OK, I said I was going to write about something else. That, of course, is the future. On the drive home, I, like many other fans, fumed and wondered about why this seems to keep happening. This being that the Tigers seem to start strong, whether we're talking about a season or a game, and then fizzle. Now I know there are exceptions, like the 5-game finish several years ago that may have saved Tommy's job. But there's a pattern here of not living up to expectations, of not winning when you're favored and clearly the more talented team (no disrespect to Maryland; after all, they won). So I was wondering what the stats are on that. And Larry Williams, who does a wonderful job of saying what Tiger fans are thinking, produced this line: "When ranked at home under Tommy Bowden, the Tigers have lost to unranked teams seven times." Whoa, read that again. Think about that. Now, if I had the time, I'd love to see what percentage of games has Bowden's Tigers lost when they were favored and ranked as well as favored and unranked. But seven losses at home to unranked teams when we were ranked. My gosh! We average 7 home games a year. We've played 4 this year. So out of total of 67 games, we've lost 7 when we were favored and ranked. And we've lost them to unranked teams!!!!! That's over 10% of ALL home games. I knew there was a pattern that we didn't win the games we were supposed to, but I never guessed it was that bad. Too many bowl games, too many overall wins to obscure that fact, I guess. That indicates a total lack of the coaching staff's ability to motivate and inspire the team. We win some big games because the players motivate themselves. But the pattern indicates a basic problem with our coaching staff. I think it's time for a change. Let's accept the financial hit and the possibility that the program will stall for a year or two and make a change. As far as the financial hit, who knows, the Federal government may bail us out. As far as the other, I don't know that it can get any worse. Time for a change.

And I suspect, if Bowden doesn't win the ACC, Terry Don will think the same thing.

My wife and I were traveling to Seattle the day of this game so I only got to watch about a half of it. It is stored on my DVR at home, so I planned to do the Game Notes next week after I got a chance to watch the whole thing. Of course, after the Tiger offense performed as they did, after Spiller went down, after we lost another offensive lineman, the prospect of watching the 12-7 defeat again was slightly nauseating. (BTW, it would have been fun to watch the defense, who played well except for one play, one drive. Unfortunately that was enough to lose the game given the offense's pitiful showing.) And then, I was saved from the ordeal of having to watch it again. Because the details of this game became irrelevant about 11 AM, Monday, October 13. That's when the media began to announce that Tommy Bowden had stepped down as Clemson coach. So there was something a lot more important to follow and to write about than another unexpected loss.

What a startling day yesterday was! Many fans suspected that if Tommy Bowden didn't at least win the Atlantic Division and get to the ACC championship game, he would be fired at the end of the season. I don't think anyone reasonably expected (maybe some hoped) that he would be gone after 6 games. But Clemson football with Tommy has always been a roller coaster, with exciting, thrilling, and sometimes depressing, changes. The changes all Clemson fans should appreciate most were not the thrilling ones, but the program ones. Bowden built a solid foundation for the program's future.

He began harping about facility improvement from day one, years before Terry Don arrived to actually begin the building. Cynical fans used the "must be the facilities" mantra after every loss. Bowden was eventually proved right. As the facilites improved---and it was disconcerting to learn how much more Wake Forest was spending on upgrades than Clemson was---so did the recruiting. The past three recruiting classes have been some of our best in years.

Bowden led a tremendous improvement in players' academic accomplishments. GPAs and graduation rates are among the best in college football.

Bowden always represented Clemson with class. He was classy to the end, appearing at the press conference to announce his leaving---something you almost never see in major college football. He ended his brief statement with, "I'll be Clemson's biggest fan on Saturday."

There were relatively few off-the-field problems under Bowden. That is amazing in this day and time.

So there are a lot of areas where Tommy was the epitome of a great coach. But football is football and the object is to win, especially to bring home the championship occasionally. And that proved to be Bowden's undoing. His teams lost too often when favored, lost too many of the important games, lost too many opportunities to win a championship. He leaves my beloved Tigers in good shape, much better shape than he found them 10 years ago. He leaves the program headed in the right direction. And for that, I say

Thanks, Tommy. Best of luck.

PS Here's a link to a similar article written much better than mine: Post by TigerTide on TigerNet

I watched Dabo Swinney's first press conference, one that he had little time to prepare for after learning early yesterday morning that he was the new coach of the Tigers. Wow, just wow. The next six weeks should be fun to watch.

Dabo's first game as interim head coach. Four days to prepare after Tommy stepped down. Spence gone, so a whole new page and list of things to do to prepare the offense. Can you imagine the uncertainty, the confusion, the sense of "there is too much to do and not enough time to do it" that pervaded the players and staff? I've been involved with management changes at work. It always takes a few days minimum for everyone to stop talking about what happened and focus on the task at hand. So I'm impressed with what Dabo got accomplished. Even though the Tigers lost 21-17, they played with focus and enthusiasm. There were very few game management glitches (unneeded timeouts, delay of game penalties, etc.). There was no dissension on the bench that I saw. I consider that an amazing accomplishment of the players and staff.

But they still lost. Still had a lead in the fourth quarter and managed to let the game slip away. Still showed that the OL is the basic weakness. Still played good defense until the chips were down.

Change a few plays in any 4-point game and the outcome could have been different. Same with this one. The press and fans have highlighted the obvious plays. The holding call on Austin on the play where the Tigers moved 20 yards on 4-12. Allowing Tech to make a first down from 3-14 on its game-winning scoring drive. Allowing the go-ahead TD on a 3-6. Tech fans can point to a few of their own plays that would have made an earlier difference, like the pass right through Thomas's hands in the endzone. The 3-14 play particularly bothers Clemson fans because we have seen this defense give up the long third-down play too many times this year.

But, in my view, the defense played well enough to win this game. The offense did not. Specifically, Cullen Harper did not. I've looked at this game replay, especially the fourth quarter, several times. The thing that always jumps out at me is how many non-pressured passes Harper missed. Don't get me wrong. Harper played a good game and made several difficult plays, good throws, good scrambles. But there were three passes that were fairly simple throws. If he hits one or two of the three, the drive continues. Who knows what would happen from there. So I put this one on the offense's shoulders more than the defense's. But in the end, winning football requires teamwork, picking up your teammates when they are not playing their best. And neither the offense or defense can claim success in that area.

Still, I was impressed. Impressed with the focus, the enthusiasm, the aggressive play-calling (well, except for that hook-and-ladder; but, hey, if it had worked, we'd be joyfully saying, Wow, did you see that---gutsy call.)

The open date comes just in time for this team. To get together, to get healed, to get ready to beat Boston College. Go Tigers!

It's a little early to be talking about getting ready for football season. Except for one thing. This year is going to be a great year for us and Clemson football. Why, you might ask? Well, for one thing, I believe Dabo is the real deal and we will see football played as it used to be played in Death Valley: focused, hard hitting, enthusiastic, downright nasty. That will be fun. But that is not the big reason. The big reason is that game weekends will be so much more fun. You see, Debbie and I have bought our dream home in the mountains. And it's only 40 minutes from our parking space! So noon games and night games will no longer require early to rise or late to bed efforts.

What a way to start the season! C.J. took the opening kickoff and 96 yards later, the Tigers were up 7-0. They went on to win 37-14. Kyle Parker looked good in his debut, especially in making several key scrambles for first downs. He's going to be exciting to watch.

The biggest concern I saw was the offensive line. This was MTSU. No disrespect to them, but we should, just based on the difference in talent, be able to move their defensive line off the ball. While we had some success running the ball (202 yards total), we still could not score from their 1 on two tries. And as noted above, Parker had to scramble several times--I can't believe MTSU's DBs are good enough that there was no place to go with the ball. So it comes down to blocking. Big improvement needed here.

But a win is a win and I'm sure the Tigers and Dabo are glad to get that first one out of the way. Now comes a short turn-around until the Thursday night game with Georgia Tech. Big game, not much time. Hope they're ready. Go Tigers!

Each year over the past few, I've said I was going to write game notes for each game. Each year, I've failed. Just too much going on! :)

Well, I'm going to try it again. Stay tuned.

A win is a good thing, right? Why, then, do I feel so uncomfortable? Look at these wonderful stats: 9.8 yards per rush, 17.7 yards per completion, 51.3 yards per punt, 9.2 yards per play, and maybe the best one—2 yards lost rushing (way to go, OL). But maybe I'm uncomfortable because it was North Texas and the Tigers also put up these stats: 10 of 21 passing (and Kyle didn't LOOK even that sharp) and 2 of 9 third down conversions. You may have noticed that those are all stats for the offense.

The defense also put up some gaudy stats. Not favorable, mind you, just gaudy—in North Texas's favor. Four hundred and sixty-two yards, 83 plays, allowing 11 of 22 third down conversions, and just under 42 minutes of NTU possession. I think Steele put it best: "Forty-nine rushes for 3.9 yards a carry. Three point three is the goal. It felt like 6.9." Boy, did it ever?! The Tigers just could not stop them. It felt like Tampa all over again. But give North Texas credit. Their offense did their job. Their OL effectively neutralized our defense's strength, our front four. Their effective passing game kept our safeties occupied. That left our linebackers to stop their runners. Sigh. Our linebackers. Sure hope Maye makes a big difference while these other guys get some experience under their belt.

There were lots of good things. The young receivers Hopkins and McNeal looked as if they're ready to step in and start contributing. The kicking game was not exciting (it ain't supposed to be). Gilchrist handled the punt and KO returns with excitement and a lot of yards. The defense held NTU to 10 points, an amazing accomplishment given the yards gained by NTU. The good things were obscured by the veil of watching NTU convert 3rd down after 3rd down, of watching Dunbar and Hamilton motoring down the field in open space, of watching Tune dodge yet another tackle to throw or scramble for a first down.

But, enough of that. A win is a win. If the Tigers get things straightened out and go on to a successful season, we'll look at 35-10 and won't even remember how it happened or how uncomfortable we were after that first game.

Bonus: Good video from the North Texas web site. Enjoy: The Hill from the Opponent's View.

September 11. Pause to think about the attack on the World Trade Center. Hard to believe it's been 9 years.

Clemson has not played Presbyterian since 1957. The Blue Hose are back looking for a paycheck. Clemson is looking for a good scrimmage. At least that better be what this turns out to be. Gonna try something I've done little of: live blogging. We're headed out to see the new grandbaby about 5:00 so I won't get to watch all the game, but I'll record my thoughts as it goes along until we leave.

3:35 p.m. Tigers kickoff to PC. Three and out. Punt blocked. Immediately clear the difference in talent as PC has trouble tackling Brandon Clear with two guys. Clear blocked the punt and caught the ricochet. Tigers score in 3 plays.

3:44 p.m. Tigers kickoff to PC. (I hope that line gets overused in the next hour. Update: it did.) PC moves a little on the ground, then punt. Gilchrist brings it back--had 15 held his block for another second, it's probably a TD. No matter, Parker has all day, hits Allen to 4 and Ellington goes in easily. Not sure about this blogging. It's more like describing what's going on than figuring out what's being done good and what not.

3:52 p.m. Tigers kickoff to PC. Hold, force punt. Whoa, someone missed a rusher off the end and he nearly killed Parker. Nothing after that and Tigers punt.

3:59 p.m. PC with ball. Tigers are leaving a lot of room over the middle. Single safety is 12-14 yards off the line and LBs are up close. PC picking on this area and get a first down. Then fumble.

4:03 p.m. Boyd in at QB for Tigers. Completes first pass to McNeal. After 2 plays, Boyd scores his first TD for the Tigers.

4:07 p.m. Tigers kickoff to PC. End of first quarter. PC has some success running the ball and with a shovel pass. Pick up 2 first downs. Then Tigers stiffen and force a punt. Wow, great catch by Clear, laying out at the sideline. TD pass to Allen. Tigers making it look easy, and I guess it is.

In fact, I'm going to stop this blogging nonsense and just enjoy the game. This is just a case of the talent difference being so great that every Tiger can dominate his defender. So this game is essentially over early in the second quarter. Let's just watch. Oh, well, PC fumbles the KO and Tigers have it again deep in PC territory.

Final: 58-21 Tigers. This was a good tune-up and it was good to see so many reserves get in the game. Also good to see Boyd get a lot of snaps to get used to the stage he will be on next year. On to Auburn. Go Tigers!

Wow, what a game! I hate the Tigers came out with a loss, 27-24. They should have won—Kyle completes that pass in OT 95% of the time. A bad time for a bad throw. A foot to the left and the Tigers win. A gutsy move by Kyle to even be in the game.

But it was an exciting game to watch. The Tigers looked like the Tigers of old (the 80s anyway), pushing Auburn around in the trenches on both sides of the ball for most of the game. Wonderful to watch.

The offensive game plan was innovative and obviously surprised Auburn for the first half. I really liked that we finally know how to get the backs and tight end in space on short passes. We could have 5 to 7 yards anytime we wanted it early. Give Auburn credit. They made defensive adjustments at the half that made it more difficult to move the ball in the final 30 minutes. And they came out with more fire after halftime and pushed us around for a little in the third quarter. The Tigers showed a lot of poise coming back to tie it up after weathering the storm Auburn blew during that third quarter.

Really liked what I saw with the defensive line and linebackers. Disciplined and strong, the DL kept Newton under control for the most part. The LBs played good given their inexperience. I think we'll be okay there.

I'm not one to complain about the refs. Bad or missed calls are going to happen and usually even out through a game. But I hate to see obvious missed calls that directly affect a key play. Case in point—Auburn's hold of Branch on McCalebb's TD run. Branch had the angle and could have easily bumped McCalebb out of bounds. But he suddenly stopped (or was stopped) and the foot-long stretch of his jersey should have been clear to at least two officials on the play. So instead of 10 yards back and maybe a FG at best, Auburn gets 7.

And, of course, McNeil's spearing of Kyle should clearly have been called. Would not have made any difference to Kyle's ribs, but Clemson's drive would have continued. I've seen some debate on other sites as to whether this was an illegal, or just a tough, hit. Here is the wording of the rule:

ARTICLE 3. a. No player shall initiate contact and target an opponent with the crown (top) of his helmet. When in question, it is a foul.

Period. Should have been called.

Tigers and especially Kyle have to re-group. Fortunately, they have an open date to help get healed and ready for Miami in two weeks. See you in the Valley.

Not much to analyze or say about this one. Thirty-four passing yards in first half, two total defensive busts that left Miami receivers wide, wide, wide open for TDs, six turnovers—two that directly and quickly translated to key Miami scores, and failure to gain a yard on two rushes when the Tigers still had a chance: game over, Miami wins 30-21.

I hope the Tigers can take what they did in the second half to UNC. Go Tigers!

Another game, another game we should have won, another we lost. Tigers on the short end of 21-16. No disrespect to UNC. They won the game, did what they needed to do to win the game. But we lost this one. Lots of ways we lost, but 3 critical penalties on UNC's winning TD drive was enough. That was the defense's contribution. The offense didn't help. Or maybe I should say offensive coaches didn't help. At least in postgame interviews, Sweeny recognized after the fact that they should have used Ellington more. Wonder why everyone else realized that while the game was going on?

Also in postgame interviews, Steele defended his defense. Good for him. He focused, however, on the overall yardage given up and the fact that this was one of the smallest number of defensive busts in several years. I think he focused on the wrong numbers. Here are the ones I focused on:

12 plays, 48 yards, 6:11, TD.
10 plays, 80 yards, 3:29, TD.
14 plays, 76 yards, 7:57!, TD.

I don't know how you are satisfied with your defense when a team sustains drives like that against you. And when you know, with 5 minutes to go, that the Heels are going to run the ball and you could not stop them, how do you feel satisfied with that? When you're giving up 163 yards per game rushing, how do you feel satisfied with that? Defense needs to shut somebody down. This week would be a good time to start.

Anyway, penalties, failure to get off the field, and failure to make plays on offense when we needed them cost the Tigers this one.

When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. --Will Rodgers
Time to stop digging and start winning.

Won with defense and special teams, 31-7.

Finally played a complete game. Pushed Tech around on both sides of the ball. Won 27-13.

Disgusting!!!!

Syracuse is 6-2 (Syracuse? What's that got to do with Clemson other than orange? You'll see.... Max Suter, the senior strong safety, when asked what exactly is going on with this Syracuse program. "I can't even explain it. I don't know if other people have tried to explain it, but I can't. It's just an awesome feeling. It's a team now. It wasn't a team before. But we're a team now." And that is the essence of college football—you have to be a team. Sometimes teams just happen, but you hope your head coach has the knowledge and skill to form, to inspire, to build, a team. I have no idea what it takes to do that, but I hope Dabo does. One difference this year at Syracuse: they got rid of Rob Spence after one year. Now this is not about bashing Rob Spence. It's using an example that Clemson fans are familiar with. Spence could not build a team. Syracuse's head coach recognized that and made changes. Do we need changes? I don't know (but we sure ain't a team right now), but I hope Dabo does and if he does, I hope he is enough of a leader to make the changes, both on the staff and on the field.

Go Tigers! Beat the Pack.

As we left the stadium, my brother commented, "Well, that was about as much fun as diarrhea in a hot tub." Exactly. After an absolutely perfect opening drive ending in a TD, the Tigers did absolutely nothing on offense for the next 58 minutes, getting into Cock territory only once more while it still mattered en route to the 29-7 beat-down at the hands of the Gamecocks. Is it talent or is it coaching? That is the question that will be debated for the next 9 months. I don't know the answer. I hope Dabo does, since his job and my future enjoyment depend on it.

While I don't know, I do have some opinions. I think in part it's talent. Even Peyton Manning can't overcome the lack of a running game and good receivers, so maybe we shouldn't be so hard on Kyle. At least, not for the interceptions and lack of production. His attitude is a different story.

The coaching staff is trying to address the offensive talent issue. The commits right now look to go a long way toward doing that if all of them follow through with a signature come February 2. The OL loses only Hairston and I hope we get Davis and Norris back next year. Then we'll see what we've got with Beasley, Beasley, Timothy, and Webster.

We Tiger fans have questioned whether our OL ought to be more effective for many years now. Players change, but coaches stay with the position for at least a few years. Brad Scott has been associated with the OL since 2004, with full responsibility for 5 years and partial (guards and centers) for 2. So maybe a change is needed there. If you agree with that, you should think again. With securing commitments from Bellamy, Bryant, and Watkins, Brad ain't going anywhere.

So maybe we need a new receivers coach, since only our true freshman Hopkins seemed to have the skills to get open. Forget that, too. If Brad's not leaving, neither is Jeff.

So how about a new OC. Possible, but I think Dabo hung his hat on Napier and he's not ready to admit that perhaps it was a little too early to turn the reins over to someone as inexperienced as Napier. I don't even know if he needs to. I do think they need to re-think their overall scheme and learn to fit the scheme to the talent. And they need to learn to work together better. I would love to see Dabo quit signaling in the plays and be a HC, spending his time getting a feel for the game and adjusting strategy, not tactics.

I think it would be good for Dabo to make some changes. But maybe he has not learned enough himself to know what changes to make. Bottom line, I don't think he makes any staff changes on offense. If it doesn't work next year, he'll have to.

I hope the defense next year is as solid as this year. But we lose a lot more. We have some talent and experience behind them, but we are more likely to miss Maxwell, McDaniel, Jenkins, Gilchrist, Chavis, and Wade, than to miss the ones we lose on offense (Dye, Hairston, and Ashe). And we don't know yet what Bowers will do. Likely he is gone, too.

The Carolina game ended a disappointing year. But the Tigers are still headed to a bowl game, which is more important for the extra practice than the actual location and outcome. Now comes the question: who should the QB be for that game? Does Dabo begin to get ready for next year by giving Boyd all the reps during that extra practice and letting him have the reins from here on out? Does he reward Parker's efforts over the past two years by letting him start? If so, how many snaps does Boyd get in practice and the game? Parker hurt his standing in many fans' eyes with by jawing back at Dabo and walking away from him after the interception in the Carolina game. Is that strictly a Parker attitude issue or is it a lack of respect for Dabo? If the latter, is that an issue in general with other players? Dabo is a nice guy and sometimes seems to want everyone to agree that he is and to like him. Can't always do that as HC.

I've asked more questions than I've answered. If I were Dabo, and based on what little I know, here's what I would do. Go with the game plan for the Carolina game regardless of who you're playing the bowl. Give Boyd all the first team reps during practice. Give Parker the start and tell him he's going to play the first quarter and then Boyd is taking over for the rest of the game. Forget this stuff about the one who gives you the best chance to win the game. This bowl game is a reward to the players. The practice is more important than the win. Next year is, too.

Go Tigers!