Huge win, schedule opens up.

[richmondcuse03]

We stole one of the initial road games which is what I thought we needed to put 8 wins in play. I never thought it would be Clemson instead of Tennessee or SMU but I’ll take it.

Key is still going undefeated at home. But Duke is a trap game for a lot of reasons and one I was worried about going into the year. Gotta win that one and worse case you’re 4-2 heading into the bye.

We’ve won the first quarter of the schedule. Team should keep getting better (with the obvious question marks at QB now). LGO.

 

[wfschrec]

One minute of "rah, rah, rah SU. Eight minutes of Clemson issues. I agree the coaching staff at Clemson is not likely to be the issue, they know what it takes to win championships and have done it. The players were lacking in general and Klubnik is overrated, has a bad day.

Of course, we know SU made Clemson have a bad day, but they already recognized Syracuse improvement, they are not ready to recognize Syracuse as a conference leader.

I think part of the staff is the issue ... from the NC teams both coordinators are gone. And hell Tony Elliott needed two elite QBs to have a consistent offense with Trevor and Watson. Losing Venables I think was the start of the end for Clemson.

 

[HtownOrange]

I think part of the staff is the issue ... from the NC teams both coordinators are gone. And hell Tony Elliott needed two elite QBs to have a consistent offense with Trevor and Watson. Losing Venables I think was the start of the end for Clemson.

Fair points with losing two coordinators. And Venables was a huge loss. Still, this staff won the ACC championship and has been in the playoffs since. Regardless, your point remains valid.

 

[dasher]

He was all Brady and Refs, clear now

It's wasn't the refs. It was Brady

 

[hungrychuck]

For different reasons, 6-6 would still be a great outcome.

 

[MGraves5]

Normally losing out starting qb for the season would have me lose complete faith in getting to 6 wins. The that gives me hope is Jeff Nixon. I think he knows how to put his players in a position to succeed and will call the right plays to play to their strengths, whether it's Collins or Carney at qb.

 

[anomander]

If we had Angeli we could possibly be looking at 8 wins. Massive improvements each week. Getting Grant back on defense helped and the young guys continue to improve. That side of the ball has upside. I loved watching Tremble too. He’s too good of an athlete not to be on the field is improving quickly at a position of need.

Going to be tough without Steve, but getting 6 or even 7 with the injury gives us an excuse. Another big season could really have primed us for 2026 though.

 

[AZOrange]

They’re a team that I want to see less of late in the year if they keep playing well. That’s the type of squad that can snowball down a mountain if momentum builds and become a wrecking ball.

The coach is a big dumb meathead that will blow it

 

[AZOrange]

Just get Duke first…then worry about the rest. Easy to lay an egg in that game

 

[NKR1978]

I think he's clearly one read and run right now. He's not going to hang in and deliver the ball in the face of pressure. Angeli did that a couple of times in the Clemson game, Rickie did not and ran into the collapsing line.

Hopefully the game will slow down for him. It took Angeli until 5 minutes to go against UConn to look really comfortable and then he kind of caught fire.

 

[dollarbill44]

Miami is another paper tiger. Not even remotely close to the 1991/92 Canes.

Lol. Not many teams in history have been.

 

[RF2044]

3-1.

Have to say UNC is in ink at this point. That’s 4.

2 of the remaining 3 at home gets you to 6. All hard games but true peers at home. You should win more than you lose.

Of the four road easiest to hardest, SMU, GT, ND, Miami. Get 1 and 7 or 8 should be it.

If Collins is efficient and doesn’t turn the ball over can the run game and OL fill the void created with Angelli’s injury? That’s the key.

Need the defense to continue to improve. Don’t think they can be a shut down defense, but they do have some playmakers and did a really good job on key downs.

At this point, here are the keys, IMO.

The OL has shown improvement -- that is a positive development, a good sign, and must continue.

The defense overall has shown improvement -- that is a positive development that suggests that the D will be able to do their part moving forward.

So it all comes down to... whether Collins can get the job done, and whether we can run the full playbook with him at the helm, or whether the offense takes a significant step back.

 

[RedtheGOB]

Anyone that hasn't seen the postgame player interviews should have a watch. You can tell they were not shocked, granted it was like a 6 hour game so they were pretty gassed. Sure the locker room was pumped but not like what we saw in the Dino years where they acted like 1 big win was like they won a Natty or something.

They just said tomorrow we just go back to work. This is just what we do now. We'll get home watch some tape and be at it Monday. The team is emulating Fran and Staff which is how it should be.

 

[orangenauburn]

At this point, here are the keys, IMO.

The OL has shown improvement -- that is a positive development, a good sign, and must continue.

The defense overall has shown improvement -- that is a positive development that suggests that the D will be able to do their part moving forward.

So it all comes down to... whether Collins can get the job done, and whether we can run the full playbook with him at the helm, or whether the offense takes a significant step back.

Offense is 23rd in country currently for Total Offense

 

[RedtheGOB]

Duke: does not play Defense but can fling it. If our D plays like they did Sat and the Secondary holds up which is our strength we will cruise.

SMU: Another tough road game. The main concern is they come off a bye week and this is their first ACC game. They know their only path back to CFP is winning the ACC which they know is possible with only Miami left on their schedule that they will be dogs against.

Pitt: Need to see more. They've played no one. Let's see what they look like with BC and FSU.

GT: Does not worry me unless they figure out how to handle a legit Offense that Nixon runs. Obviously Hayne's King and how he plays will make a big difference. I also think our staff has Brent Keyes #.

UNC: Is a joke although I kind've want to see what Old Bill and Jordan are wearing for Halloween.

Miami/ND/BC I think will all look alot different in November than they do now so prob gotta wait and see.

 

[cusefan88]

Mensah is a great passer. Blitz will need to get home and Peal/Samuel will need to play at their top level.

 

[dollarbill44]

Anyone that hasn't seen the postgame player interviews should have a watch. You can tell they were not shocked, granted it was like a 6 hour game so they were pretty gassed. Sure the locker room was pumped but not like what we saw in the Dino years where they acted like 1 big win was like they won a Natty or something.

They just said tomorrow we just go back to work. This is just what we do now. We'll get home watch some tape and be at it Monday. The team is emulating Fran and Staff which is how it should be.

I remember the players having similar attitudes in the Coach Mac days.
After a game in the 1989 season, I was playing foosball with a buddy against two of the starting OL at the time. It was late Saturday night and they stopped by the house afterr returning from a road win. My buddy and I were pasting the OLs, scoring easily. With each successive goal, one of the guys was getting more and more aggravated, even lifting the table up with the rods and slamming it down after the winning goal. Afterwards, I asked the other guy what was going on - it wasn't unusual for us to beat them. He said his friend was unhappy with the football game, to which I replied that we won, and fairly easily. He said, "Yeah, but he wasn't happy with how he played."
Great programs aren't just happy with winning. They demand high performance from themselves.

 

[NKR1978]

UNC: Is a joke although I kind've want to see what Old Bill and Jordan are wearing for Halloween.

The SU student section on Halloween better be exceptionally lubricated and mercilessly troll Belichick.

 

[VA Citrus]

Fair points with losing two coordinators. And Venables was a huge loss. Still, this staff won the ACC championship and has been in the playoffs since. Regardless, your point remains valid.

Buddy is an Oklahoma fan and said the same thing. They're not the same without Venebles. He has Bud Foster to Dabo's Frank Beamer. I think now more than ever it's harder to win college football games and your coaching staff better want it more than the other guys and I think Clemson got fat and happy. They made the playoff last year by barely slipping by a bunch of awful ACC teams. The program has been rotting from the inside for a while but they were still better than the other ACC teams. They're not better anymore and it's falling apart fast.

 

[RF2044]

Offense is 23rd in country currently for Total Offense

That's awesome.

But predicated upon a QB who was leading the nation in passing. We have a new QB for the rest of the year, so the stats up to this point aren't neccessarily what to expect moving forward.