Clemson 4th down call right before halftime

[Chip]

the field goal was the correct choice. you need to build the momentum.. we make it the crowd stays energized.. we ended up stopping them again and probably would have kicked the next one had we made the first.. at that point it would have been 35-20 and a 2 score game.. we missed it and were forced to go for the next 4th down.. we completed 7-8 passes all day so a 4th and 11 is probably unlikely..

Sure, if you have a FG kicker. I'm not so sure we do this year.

 

[Chip]

Did any of you database experts run a query to see how many people liked Shafer's "fire", but were all up in arms about Addazio's "fire" last week? Please send on the data.

I still think Shafer came off like an angry guy who couldn't control his emotions because he had so little to be happy about. That's the kind of thing I LOVE if the other coach is yelling it at our coach for the exact same situation. Sadly, we were on the insecure side this time.

 

[TheCusian]

Clemson pizza doesn't hold up to "NY City" pizza, agree with you there. That said, I've had pizza at Varsity and ...I mean, y'all have said all week that Syracuse isn't NYC so it's not like you'd claim that style pizza as your own or anything. Varsity pizza isn't close to NYC quality stuff.

Varsity is average. Syracuse is known for its Italian food - there are quite a few authentic NY pizzerias. Just gotta know where to look.

Varsity is a traditional spot, not the best eats.

 

[Forza Azzurri]

Did any of you database experts run a query to see how many people liked Shafer's "fire", but were all up in arms about Addazio's "fire" last week? Please send on the data.

I still think Shafer came off like an angry guy who couldn't control his emotions because he had so little to be happy about. That's the kind of thing I LOVE if the other coach is yelling it at our coach for the exact same situation. Sadly, we were on the insecure side this time.

I'm with you on all points.

I have no issue with them trying to strike a death blow right before half. We were only a few plays away from making it interesting in the 3rd quarter. We score a TD instead of missing a FG and it is 35-21 in the 3rd quarter with a capacity crowd going nuts...

To say the game was over and Clemson should not have tried for the TD, especially on the road where a team with emotion and a loud crowd behind it can easily propel itself back into a game, is simply not true.

I think Shafer comes off as a coach who cannot control his emotions. Not good.

 

[SmilinBob]

It's big boy football and big money at stake because of the BS beauty pageant system college has in place and will still have in place even after the "committee". Go for the points and knock out punch, I have no problem with going for the TD because the defense has to stop them to shut them up and SU did on that particular play. You kick the other teams butt until they say or beg to stop by putting in their backup qb when it really is out of hand.

Let's also notice that Clemson put their back up QB in before SS put Allen in.

 

[TheCusian]

To say the game was over and Clemson should not have tried for the TD, especially on the road where a team with emotion and a loud crowd behind it can easily propel itself back into a game, is simply not true.

The game wasn't over - so that's exactly why you kick the field goal and take the points. Dabo went for the knock out and that's what fired up Shafer and was probably used at halftime to get that 3rd quarter play we saw from the team. If Dabo kicks the field goal, we limp into halftime. Instead, he was arrogant and went for the kill. It had the opposite effect. It fired us up.

I think Addazio is a 1000x worse than SS, too. SS just got caught on camera at the wrong time, in a very public way.

 

[Cuseregular]

Clemson pizza doesn't hold up to "NY City" pizza, agree with you there. That said, I've had pizza at Varsity and ...I mean, y'all have said all week that Syracuse isn't NYC so it's not like you'd claim that style pizza as your own or anything. Varsity pizza isn't close to NYC quality stuff.

Varsity pizza actually kind of blows, but its a traditional joint and other food is decent so it continues to thrive. There are, however, dozens of dozens of other great NYC like pizza joints all throughout town here but just none up there (sorry SUers, Cosmo isn't in that league).

 

[Forza Azzurri]

The game wasn't over - so that's exactly why you kick the field goal and take the points. Dabo went for the knock out and that's what fired up Shafer and was probably used at halftime to get that 3rd quarter play we saw from the team. If Dabo kicks the field goal, we limp into halftime. Instead, he was arrogant and went for the kill. It had the opposite effect. It fired us up.

I think Addazio is a 1000x worse than SS, too. SS just got caught on camera at the wrong time, in a very public way.

I wasn't arguing that you should go for the TD vs the FG.

I was arguing that Shafer had absolutely no business getting upset.

 

[HtownOrange]

It's in Clemson's best interest to win the game as fast as possible so their players don't get hurt and to show pollsters that they are very good.

Agree. As an Orange fan, I absolutely disagree with Swinney, but if the shoe was on the other foot, I would want Shafer to seal the deal as soon as possible. Clemson is not just playing for their fans, right now they are also playing for the pollsters and the computers.

 

[ImperialOrange]

I'm not sure the not wanting to kick off line carries any weight to anybody. If they score the TD they still have to kick so that line in itself is kind of funny/cocky. Taking a knee stops the clock because of turnover on downs so that statement, combined with the line about kicking, are just mocking the situation and made Dabo look like a bit of an ass. The obvious reasons are A) Trying to impress pollsters to make the title game and B) Trying to win the Heisman for your QB by padding his stats. Just own it, there's nothing wrong with either of those objectives.

As an SU fan in the crowd, I thought it was a ish call and it momentarily brought out the worst in me as a fan so I can't get mad at SS. If the shoe was on the other foot I would want our coach to take the 3 and make it a 5 possession game. A FG pretty much seals the game away (as if it wasnt already) but by biggest point of contention is it doesn't risk getting any of your starters hurt. Boyd got hit on the play, imagine if he gets up limping? Is that really worth the risk to potentially go up 35 vs 31? What if an opposing player loses his **** and crushes your guy after the play or takes him out later in the game for the perceived slight?

Perhaps that mentality is just bred from playing multiple cheap shot teams in the NE though. Perhaps Southern schools don't go Maine/Rutgers on opponents?

 

[TigerTown]

One of those things where, not going to try and convince you otherwise and if I were in your spot not sure I wouldn't feel the same way.

My educated guess is this based on previous situations and comments he's made - he 100% wanted to see his offense step up and finish the drive. No doubt, being up 28 allowed him the luxory to do that, but the idea of 4th down on the the 5 yard line (whatever it was)...every play is as important as the last "game winner". Quite sure that situation is being used this week to show players they failed there and need to improve.

Also willing to guess he regrets how he handled the question leaving at the half..now, I think most coaches struggle w/ what to say there when running off the field but honestly I'd have him rather just say "I wanted to see my team pound it in there after driving down the field, we need to be able to do that if we want to be the team we expect to be. They stopped us, we now have more work to do." Which as I said I think is the actual truth. Nothing more, nothing less.

I mean, he's from Alabama...you really think he's being all tricky on ya'?

 

[ZoneAttack]

One of those things where, not going to try and convince you otherwise and if I were in your spot not sure I wouldn't feel the same way.

My educated guess is this based on previous situations and comments he's made - he 100% wanted to see his offense step up and finish the drive. No doubt, being up 28 allowed him the luxory to do that, but the idea of 4th down on the the 5 yard line (whatever it was)...every play is as important as the last "game winner". Quite sure that situation is being used this week to show players they failed there and need to improve.

Also willing to guess he regrets how he handled the question leaving at the half..now, I think most coaches struggle w/ what to say there when running off the field but honestly I'd have him rather just say "I wanted to see my team pound it in there after driving down the field, we need to be able to do that if we want to be the team we expect to be. They stopped us, we now have more work to do." Which as I said I think is the actual truth. Nothing more, nothing less.

I mean, he's from Alabama...you really think he's being all tricky on ya'?

His call was fine. This isn't Pop Warner. Go for all the points you can, because you guys are going to be on the outside looking in at BCS barring a melt-down by someone else so you've got to go for style points.

Shafer's outburst was embarrassing and idiotic.

 

[Entropic]

First and foremost I think you take the easy points. I think the point was to embarrass us considering all the fictional trash talk that supposedly took place from our players. On top of that they have a Heisman contender on their team and it makes recruiting that much easier when you have a recent Heisman winner. I think they were just trying to get Boyd as many points as possible. He threw a couple picks and took some bad hits in the mean time. That makes me a little happy.

 

[clem_alumn]

First and foremost I think you take the easy points. I think the point was to embarrass us considering all the fictional trash talk that supposedly took place from our players. On top of that they have a Heisman contender on their team and it makes recruiting that much easier when you have a recent Heisman winner. I think they were just trying to get Boyd as many points as possible. He threw a couple picks and took some bad hits in the mean time. That makes me a little happy.

I think you are dead wrong on this one. I've had the opportunity to watch all of Clemson's games this year and at no point has Dabo tried to run up the score on any body even though he could have. He clearly took his foot off the gas peddle in the second half. A similar situation happened at the end of the NC State game when instead of taking sure points in the red zone Dabo opted to run on 4th down because at the point in the game field position was more important than putting points on the board. I wish he had taken the sure points myself because running up the score only happens late in the game in my opinion.

 

[anomander]

Clemson pizza doesn't hold up to "NY City" pizza, agree with you there. That said, I've had pizza at Varsity and ...I mean, y'all have said all week that Syracuse isn't NYC so it's not like you'd claim that style pizza as your own or anything. Varsity pizza isn't close to NYC quality stuff.

Varsity isn't a good representation of our best pizza, but we have some places that live up to NYC pizza. I literally have 9 pizza in a 1 mile radius around me and 6 of them are outstanding. I live next door to Twin Trees which I would put up against pizza anywhere.

 

[OrangeMojo]

Anyone who thinks Clemson pizza lives up to New York pizza should be put to death.

there are former New Yorkers all over the south - and some of them open up really good pizza joints down here

it would be like a southerner reading something on a Syracuse site about Dinosaur BBQ and saying - "there ain't no such thing as good bbq in the north - that dude should be put to death"

blanket statements like that don't hold true any more

 

[TheCusian]

there are former New Yorkers all over the south - and some of them open up really good pizza joints down here

it would be like a southerner reading something on a Syracuse site about Dinosaur BBQ and saying - "there ain't no such thing as good bbq in the north - that dude should be put to death"

blanket statements like that don't hold true any more

Good call, I guess. But in your close knit group of southerners, do you still find it hard to give Dinosaur BBQ true respect vs the local favorite establishments?

 

[upperdeck]

if it had been 4th and 20 from the 25 they would have kicked the field goal and never thought twice. he thought the game was over and started playing for looks. if it was a 14-7 game he would have kicked it. he had a lead and felt he could run it up because in his mind it was already over 4 or 5 score game it didnt matter.

in the long run going for it was one thing that had to happen to keep us with a slim to chance to win.. he already thought we had no chance.

 

[Chip]

if it had been 4th and 20 from the 25 they would have kicked the field goal and never thought twice. he thought the game was over and started playing for looks. if it was a 14-7 game he would have kicked it. he had a lead and felt he could run it up because in his mind it was already over 4 or 5 score game it didnt matter.

Everyone's got an opinion, but this is just one I don't agree with at all.

I just can't believe we're "that" school now. It was so much fun being on the other side.

The 90s may have had too much flannel, but I'll remember them fondly. We were an "it" school. Now we think coaches are running up the score on us in the first half. That should continue to sell tickets.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - http://tapatalk.com/m?id=1

 

[storange]

Everyone's got an opinion, but this is just one I don't agree with at all.

I just can't believe we're "that" school now. It was so much fun being on the other side.

The 90s may have had too much flannel, but I'll remember them fondly. We were an "it" school. Now we think coaches are running up the score on us in the first half. That should continue to sell tickets.


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Agree, You score as much as you can in the first half...complaining about someone running up the score is like complaining about someone not giving you a 12 inch putt in match play ....its not your call so just play.

 

[Bayside44]

Everyone's got an opinion, but this is just one I don't agree with at all.

I just can't believe we're "that" school now. It was so much fun being on the other side.

The 90s may have had too much flannel, but I'll remember them fondly. We were an "it" school. Now we think coaches are running up the score on us in the first half. That should continue to sell tickets.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk -

Welcome to the new sensitive board, poetry reading tomorrow at 3.

 

[Entropic]

I think you are dead wrong on this one. I've had the opportunity to watch all of Clemson's games this year and at no point has Dabo tried to run up the score on any body even though he could have. He clearly took his foot off the gas peddle in the second half. A similar situation happened at the end of the NC State game when instead of taking sure points in the red zone Dabo opted to run on 4th down because at the point in the game field position was more important than putting points on the board. I wish he had taken the sure points myself because running up the score only happens late in the game in my opinion.

Clemson players and the commentators referenced the Syracuse players and their trash talk. You don't think that stuff gets into the heads of a superior team? In boxing or MMA fight if you have a challenger talking trash to the champion you better believe the champion is going to try and embarrass the challenger. Its natural.