Clemson is still the best team in the league

[upperdeck]

Duke got every break to beat them
FSU got every break to beat them

We got no gifts from Clemson. We dropped all the picks and also another fumble went right to them and we gifted them a fumble. Got no help from the refs. and we made all the ket mistakes.

that given

Clemson 140/283 FSU 22/289
Clemson 209/213 Duke 199/175
Clemson 126/263 SU 100/186

We did the best job on D of the 3 teams, We did the worst job on O.. We have the worst oline of the 3.

Clemson gifted pts the first 2 games and not to us. We needed that extra help.

We can move the ball on FSU, I dont know how we cover the BIG wrs..

 

[atom58]

That is my opinion too. Despite their record (2-2) coming into this game, it was turnovers that cost them the games against Duke and FSU. They could have been 4-0 or 3-1. They are a very dangerous team if they improve. They may even make it to the ACC championship game if they continue to win.

 

[sufandu]

We had opportunities that we missed and made mistakes we couldn't afford to. They're the better team, but we could've beaten them with our A game. Instead, we had a C- game. Oh well. On to the next.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

I think FSU is better given the QBs. Not sure exactly how good UNC is yet. Or Miami. Clemson IMO is at best 2nd and at worst 4th.

 

[upperdeck]

That is my opinion too. Despite their record (2-2) coming into this game, it was turnovers that cost them the games against Duke and FSU. They could have been 4-0 or 3-1. They are a very dangerous team if they improve. They may even make it to the ACC championship game if they continue to win.

duke probably loses several games if the QB is out.

 

[Newhouser]

I think they are not great on O. Line play is down, and their back end seemed down. That said...they are good.

 

[djorange1989]

Let’s face it, even a down Clemson so to speak is still elite. We have only beaten them once since we joined the conference but you can pretty much say that about every other team in the ACC, especially since they really took over the conference around 2015-2016. Ok fine Duke beat them this year, well, that is probably not happening again for a long time. I am certainly not happy with how we played yesterday but I still think we are pretty solid, I would say the 7th best team in the conference at the moment and if Duke loses Leonard for a long time, maybe 6th best. We have our flaws( dumb penalties, deranged coaching decisions, an offense that relies too much on Shrader) but we also have a QB who can wreck havoc against non-elite teams, an excellent RB and a very good defense that, while getting burned deep several times yesterday, was also placed into terrible field position many times and showed out well against an outstanding rushing offense.

At the end of the day, we need to hope for the best these next two weeks on the scoreboard and in the trainers room, the WR/TE injuries are just getting insane, hopefully Barron is ok too, need him. After the bye we couldn’t ask for a softer schedule unless UVA was on it.

 

[kingtidge]

I think FSU is better given the QBs. Not sure exactly how good UNC is yet. Or Miami. Clemson IMO is at best 2nd and at worst 4th.

This... and their kicker misses a lot and makes it look like every kick is an adventure. Gonna have problems in close games.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

The ACC is weird this year. It feels like every year it was Clemson and then a bunch of mediocrity. This year there are more high quality teams, but there are also a bunch of bad teams. The large middle in years past is now gone.

I think you have FSU, Clemson, UNC, Miami, Duke at the top. BC, Pitt, UVA, VA Tech, GA Tech at the bottom. NC State and Wake barely above them. Leaving only SU and Louisville in the middle.

 

[MikeSU02]

FSU is the best team.

Clemson still has legit talent, though.

 

[CanadianSU]

Yeah maybe the ACC is cheeks this year.

But it’s still a bit of cope.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

We made a lot of mistakes yet with 1/2 a Q to go we had the ball down only 10 to a Top 25 talent team.

IMO Purdue is better than any of the last 5 teams on our schedule. We made didn't play our best game and still won comfortable in a Saturday night road game with an amped up crowd.

I have a hard time seeing us lose at home on a Friday night to BC, or at home to close things out vs Wake. We shouldn't lose on a neutral field vs Pitt. GA Tech is a road game, but we have already beaten a better team on the road. Same for a Thursday night at VA Tech.

If we can somehow steal a W this weekend, we might be in for a special season.

You don't always beat teams that you are better than. But you also don't always lose to teams better than you. Additionally are we really going to lose to teams worse than us multiple times? At this point anything less than 8-4 should be a disappointment.

 

[NYCCuse826]

Duke didn't have any breaks. They dominated them. That wasn't luck. They thoroughly kicked their behinds.

Two things can be true, the ACC isn't good this year and this isn't a good Clemson team.

 

[djorange1989]

We made a lot of mistakes yet with 1/2 a Q to go we had the ball down only 10 to a Top 25 talent team.

IMO Purdue is better than any of the last 5 teams on our schedule. We made didn't play our best game and still won comfortable in a Saturday night road game with an amped up crowd.

I have a hard time seeing us lose at home on a Friday night to BC, or at home to close things out vs Wake. We shouldn't lose on a neutral field vs Pitt. GA Tech is a road game, but we have already beaten a better team on the road. Same for a Thursday night at VA Tech.

If we can somehow steal a W this weekend, we might be in for a special season.

You don't always beat teams that you are better than. But you also don't always lose to teams better than you. Additionally are we really going to lose to teams worse than us multiple times? At this point anything less than 8-4 should be a disappointment.

That is where I am, 8 wins is very reasonable. 7 would be disappointing but I will sleep at night. 6 wins or less is a failure and would warrant a change, even at 6 and bowl eligible

 

[HRE Otto IV]

That is where I am, 8 wins is very reasonable. 7 would be disappointing but I will sleep at night. 6 wins or less is a failure and would warrant a change, even at 6 and bowl eligible

We were 7-5 last season with a stronger schedule, no Shrader at Pitt, and a shell of Shrader vs ND and FSU. Going 6-6 this year is absolutely a step backwards (given the current situation which is fluid).

Going 6-6 in year 3 of your tenure is not fireable. Going 6-6 with many years remaining on your contract is not fireable. Going 6-6 in year 8 with 1-2 years left on your contract IMO is time to move on.

That being said I do not think and really hope that it never comes to that. I like what I see from Beck and Long.

 

[djorange1989]

We were 7-5 last season with a stronger schedule, no Shrader at Pitt, and a shell of Shrader vs ND and FSU. Going 6-6 this year is absolutely a step backwards (given the current situation which is fluid).

Going 6-6 in year 3 of your tenure is not fireable. Going 6-6 with many years remaining on your contract is not fireable. Going 6-6 in year 8 with 1-2 years left on your contract IMO is time to move on.

That being said I do not think and really hope that it never comes to that. I like what I see from Beck and Long.

Perfectly said. I hope both Beck and Rocky stick around(as long as Dino is sticking around, that is)

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

Duke got every break to beat them
FSU got every break to beat them

We got no gifts from Clemson. We dropped all the picks and also another fumble went right to them and we gifted them a fumble. Got no help from the refs. and we made all the ket mistakes.

that given

Clemson 140/283 FSU 22/289
Clemson 209/213 Duke 199/175
Clemson 126/263 SU 100/186

We did the best job on D of the 3 teams, We did the worst job on O.. We have the worst oline of the 3.

Clemson gifted pts the first 2 games and not to us. We needed that extra help.

We can move the ball on FSU, I dont know how we cover the BIG wrs..

Don't over think this. Usually, the best team wins the most games.

 

[GoSU96]

9 wins regular season without any more major hits to the roster.

 

[GoSU96]

That is where I am, 8 wins is very reasonable. 7 would be disappointing but I will sleep at night. 6 wins or less is a failure and would warrant a change, even at 6 and bowl eligible

I said before the season started that if Shrader is heathy for 12 games and they finish 6-6 I’d fire Dino myself.

a bit surprised

I'm thinking 8-4/9-3 regular season. I think we're gonna surprise some people this year Agreed.

syracusefan.com

 

[Cusefan95]

Football is a fairly high variance game. The difference between this Clemson team and past teams is this team doesn’t have the same elite talent everywhere to be able to overcome the inevitable bad game. There’s a reasoning why “Clemsoning” is a term - they had good not elite talent for years which meant the bad game or two were losses. Then they got the talent bump to overcome that, but regressed back.

Turnovers decided the Duke game, and analytics consistent show that’s mostly a flukey, high variance part of the game. In previous years they could have overcome that but don’t have the same level of offense this year.

I don’t know that they are the best team, but they aren’t far behind FSU if they aren’t the best.We can compete with both…we can also get blown off the field by both.

 

[upperdeck]

I think the fact that we stayed in a game that we gave them a score, dropped all the picks, missed the fg. dropped key passes, made the penalties and had several calls by the refs go against us is a sign we can compete. We lack that one play maker on the outside or the DE spot to cover for the mistakes

 

[Deleted member 8116]

If their RB picks up that blitz against FSU that led to sack-fumble-TD, they win the game.

 

[blizz]

No

 

[BKCuse]

I agree with the OP. Clemson is loaded with elite recruits.
Duke shocked them in Game 1 but game 1’s can be tricky. Clemson could’ve / should’ve beat FSU but those teams are pretty evenly matched talent wise.
Both teams have considerably more talent than we do.

We could’ve won but we need Shrader to play a flawless game. He didn’t.

The better team won. Keep it moving. Let’s try and steal one in NC

 

[IthacaBarrel]

At the end of the day, Clemson is/was still a lot better than many were giving them credit for. Syracuse did not help their own cause with poor play and turnovers but the opponent had a lot to do with that as well. Margin of error is still very small to beat a team like Clemson. Duke beat them because Clemson made a ton of mistakes and turnovers at the wrong time.


Onto to UNC