Keep Clemson to field goals

[Jake]

BTW, guess who's leading the ACC in rushing - Louisville with over 200 y/g. How did that work our for them against us?

We were healthy against them.

 

[All4SU]

nc st went to Clem fds were 20-20. NC st committed the only 2 TOs NC st gained 280 and allowed like 360
nc st went to SU fds were 16-20. SU committed the only 2 TOs. NC st gained 260 and allowed 390.

We can hang with them but it would be nice to win the turnover battle in a big game.

Special teams needs to be more special this week.

 

[qdawgg]

We are giving up 95 yards/game in rushing and 269 yards/g. Total! Are you telling me he's going to get almost double what we normally give up and more than half of the total we've been giving up per game? I'm not buying it.

I’ll be surprised if they run for less than 150

 

[A Clockwork Orange]

How have our OC's offenses fared against Clemson, if anyone knows

in 2020 UVA lost 41-23. Threw for 270, and ran for 147 for 417 total. Three turnovers hurt them. Averaged 3.8 on the ground.

 

[LAOrange]

Everything between us is statistically even. We have more yardage and a better defense and they score a few more points. The stat that sticks out the most to me is an unusual one: Clemson's punted 33 times and we've punted 16 times. Since we both have really good placekickers, that means they've been stopped 17 more times before reaching the opponent's 35—twice as much as we have.

 

[texascpa]

I don't think we are viewed as pretenders, but I understand how an unbiased outside observer might not yet be totally sold on us. The past reputation of suckiness will take a while to overcome. For every valid argument we can make for the attractiveness of each P5 win, an unbiased outside observer could also say "yeah, but..." And they could do it with varying degrees of validity.

And that's OK. We can only control what we can control. Polls are always going to be subjective and always have been. We have dug a hole for ourselves with our own past reputation and therefore we have to be a little better than other teams to get the same recognition. Is it fair? No, but that's the way it is and raging against reality doesn't change that.

Beating NCSt WITH Leary would have helped. It would have overlooked SU's own losses in personnel, but when you have a putrid reputation to overcome, you aren't going to get those close calls at home (to mix a baseball metaphor into football). At the end of the day, however, we have 6 games left to convince people that we are as good as we think we are. It is our destiny to control. It is our job to make sure that all doubt is removed.

It didn't take a while for them to get over it for Kansas! Hell, they had Gameday. It was the resurgance of Kansas! Blah, blah, blah. But, Syracuse..."well, not sure really how good they are yet. They played Wagner" Uh, yeah, everyone plays a Wagner. Get over it. We're Good!

 

[texascpa]

We were healthy against them.

Didn't Thompson get hurt that game, in the third quarter? So, with the exception of our DT, we had the same starting defense for NCST as we did with Louisville.

 

[texascpa]

I’ll be surprised if they run for less than 150

He said Shipley would run for more than 150. The team, yeah, sure, maybe, but not Shipley himself, not on this defense. We tackle great, we fly to the ball, we're a fast defense. Yes, we're soft in the middle at times, but teams have not gotten out of the edges on us.

 

[qdawgg]

He said Shipley would run for more than 150. The team, yeah, sure, maybe, but not Shipley himself, not on this defense. We tackle great, we fly to the ball, we're a fast defense. Yes, we're soft in the middle at times, but teams have not gotten out of the edges on us.

Different team we’re facing than we have and we’ve been wearing down faster in the 2nd half with injuries catching up.

Who cares though. He could run for 150+ and we still win. I could care less how many yards he has. If they run the ball a lot I think it favors us even if they’re successful running. But I expect us to give up more on the ground than we have before. Doesn’t mean I think we’ll lose.

 

[DustyMoore]

Way I see it, Clemson is really tough at home, but for whatever reason we always seem to play them tough, so who knows what happens Saturday. I feel confident that our coaching staff will have some good ideas on how to attack them and put in a good game plan, and I'm confident in the players to execute it. Even at that, against top teams like that, it might not be enough.

But... Clemson has to do it too. They can't just show up and win. I think the early start helps us a lot and weird things can happen on the football field. Enough things break our way and we can win this one.

And if we do, then things get really interesting. We're solidly in the playoff conversation at that point. We'd have a lot of work left to do because I think we'd need to have a perfect season to get there, but we keep getting tested and we keep passing tests.

Well stated…

It is tough to win at Death Valley but I can assure you Syracuse is never taken lightly here in SC.

Make no mistake, the winner of this game is squarely in the playoff picture. Your schedule sets up well with a potential prime time match up against Wake before the ACC championship would put your guys in the playoff were you to win out.

 

[cali315phan]

I'm not buying it unless you are telling me he might get 150 in total yards, but I took it to mean you thought rushing yards. That I don't buy even at discount prices.

Wish I would have bet you.

 

[texascpa]

Wish I would have bet you.

lol, yep. That one run for the final TD put him over the top.

 

[cali315phan]

lol, yep. That one run for the final TD put him over the top.

I'm so depressed today. I told myself I wouldn't be. Lied to myself.

 

[texascpa]

I'm so depressed today. I told myself I wouldn't be. Lied to myself.

Same here. Been in a funk all day.