Are the first four games in any way predictive of the rest of the year?

[HRE Otto IV]

One thing noticeable yesterday was the impact of the crowds in several stadiums. BC was a sellout, NC State fans made Clemson uncomfortable, with around five schools playing in front of 50,000 to 80,000 every week so far. Dome attendance hasn't been as large, but it's been loud. The dome is a big advantage. Crowd noise is a major home field advantage. Florida State is one of those places where 70,000 fans gather to cheer their team on. FSU, the team, may not be as good as they'd like, but the fans will excel and put pressure on SU to communicate. How will the team perform on the road?

This crowd?

 

[Shenexon]

It appears that our two best defensive players are done for the year plus we've shown nothing in regard to scoring more than 2 touchdowns. I'd flip your score prediction.

Clemson is still the team to beat. There are some visible blemishes in the Clemson aura, but Dabo and Venables are good folks to handle the challenge...

This crowd?

Yeah, seems be be a year of diminishing crowds in Tallahassee, starting the year with 68,000, then 60,000, then 50,000 against Louisville. They still have a big following for some games. The crowd at BC that stormed the field to celebrate staying undefeated, was loud and motivated. Clemson is a tough place to play but NC State made use of a big home crowd to ruin the day for Clemson fans. Just commenting that it was nice to see motivated crowds again. The students at the dome looked pretty good, too...

 

[upperdeck]

how loud do they get in that place with a small crowd.

 

[A Clockwork Orange]

Agreed. I think they're probably the third-best unit on the team currently behind RBs and LBs. I think the grade on them is incomplete. Davis played a really solid game against Liberty, and Bergeron is really becoming the anchor of the line.

My concern is when you have five or six or seven blocking against eight for the rest of the season how that will stress them. That's why it's imperative we get any type of passing game from the QBs and WRs.

AllI know so far is that in Limited reps Alford has gotten free for HR throws. Give him more shots at that. Coach also said he ran the wrong/bad route on one play.. Who knows how many of those he has had.

I agree, Alford needs more run. It sounded like Dino at one point thought Gadsden was positioned to make some noise. It will be interesting to see how they get these guys involved in the conference season.

 

[A Clockwork Orange]

Indicative, not predictive

If they end the year 10th in defense and in the 60s on offense they should have more than six wins

I think we know the defense won't finish top 10 and the offense won't finish top 60. I think the defense has a better chance to stay in the top 15 to top 20 than the offense does to stay in the top 60. They have it all in front of them.

 

[Chip]

I think we're more likely to beat VT on the road (especially if it's a nooner) than NC State.

But I also don't feel great about winning any of our road games without our passing game being part of the equation.