My Take

[sutomcat]

I'll start with the tailgate, which was pretty extraordinary. It was a big one, the biggest we have had to date. At one point OE made a count and declared there were over 150 people in attendance. He is a world class head counter so the number should be accurate. With people coming and going all the time, I am quite sure we had over 200 participate during the pre game activities. It was quite a sight to see; 4 grills going at once, 4 tables filled with food, 7 or 8 coolers and kegs too. Solid work by everyone involved, especially Mark, Mike, Jeremy, Steve and up and comer Caz, whose recent emergence reminds me of the situation with Darius Kelly on the football team.

Otto made an appearance, as did Grande Dame Cto, Rob. dapper as always, and many more. Should mention DNabb, who won the long distance award for travel, driving from LA. Linda was a close second. Great to see so many old and new friends, home to see many of you again later this season and in the future.

A special mention to Jeremy's fiance for creating a magnificent Syracuse football cake, with a special tribute to Don McPherson and board fave Otto. It was the most impressive baked good I have ever seen at a tailgate, and worthy of first prize on those baking shows they have on the Food Channel. And it tasted great too.

It was great to see the Dome filled close to capacity again. There were some empty seats but not many and the crowd was very loud and into it early on. Clemson brought a lot of fans as expected, somewhere in the 4K to 5K range I think. WVU might have brought a few more once or twice, but if so, it was only by a small margin. Impressive showing by a team based in South Carolina.

I looked at this game as a good measuring stick to see where SU stands in the ACC hierarchy. I think we all knew the Tigers have some serious speed and athleticism on their team. My general feeling was that the ACC was faster and more athletic than the Big East but that the Big East was more physical and tougher.

Well, after watching them in action, I guess we have to hope and pray that the Tigers are the clear class of the conference, because as a fictional knight said in a movie some time ago, paraphased for convenience, "Syracuse, you have been weighed, you have been measured, and you have been found wanting".

Clemson has terrific athletics across the board. Their WRs are terrific, not only fast but physical, strong and tough. I haven't seen the closing speed, excellent technique and athletic ability on defense in the Dome since the glory days of Miami. Even when we made a good call on offense and drew a few Tigers away from the play so we in effect had a 10 on 8 situation, one of their players would consistently make a great play and limit the damage to a minimum.

They just might play for an NC this year. Experienced, excellent QB, good OL, great WRs (the 91 yard completion to Sammy was a thing of beauty; Boyd got crushed just after he released the ball and the pass was picture perfect), very solid defense across the board and excellent special teams as well. They are loaded. The only weaknesses I see are that the RBs are good but not great, the OL is not stellar (our defense did a good job shutting down their running game most of the game) and their secondary is a bit suspect (they blew some tackles and took awful angles on a couple long runs by the SU running backs and were beat deep a couple times on pass plays we were not able to take advantage of).

And then there is the whole Dabo thing. The guy appears to be a real wild card. He is the Charlie Kelly of college football head coaches.

Also wanted to briefly talk about the Clemson fans, who to a man all seemed like good people. Had a great time talking with them. They knew their football, they love it and they support it. No question about it, the better the football program, the better the fans. Hope everyone who came up here for the game had a good time.

Anyway. I hope they win the whole thing; it will be great for the conference. I think it is great to have a team this talented in the conference; am hopeful it will help elevate the rest of the teams to higher levels.

Regarding the game, here are some disjointed comments before I head out to golf.

Darius Kelly is the most special teams player I have ever seen at Syracuse. They says a lot given David Tyree played here. He is a heat seeking missile on the coverage teams; it is quite remarkable to behold.
He continues to earn more PT at FS as well. He has great anticipation, excellent speed and is a terrific tackler. Was a great pick up.

Riley did a really nice job again at punter. Love the crazy formations, the rugby style kicking, we are making teams spend a lot more time on special teams than they would ordinarily. The fake punt that resulted in the long run for McFarlane was beautifully executed and was maybe the highlight of the game for SU.

I hate to throw players under the bus but Eskridge is killing us out there right now. Continues to be far too aggressive, is the most gullible safety we have ever had. Every time they run play action and throw it long he gets beaten badly and the band is playing for the opposition. At some point, you have to learn to play your position or you sit on the bench. I am not sure what is more amazing, that he hasn't been benched yet or that the staff hasn't been able to teach him how to play his position. I think he has been beaten long 6 times in 5 games. It can't continue.

Thought Spruill was solid, played maybe the best game of his career. His stock for the NFL rose yesterday.

Cam Lynch continues to be picked on like he was against NW. He can't cover a big fast TE. is lost out there in those situations. Not sure we have someone better, but this is on film and we are going to see more of it the rest of the season. But wow, that 86 for Clemson can really run.

It really hurt not having Reddish for this game. He is the one guy we have that might have been able to handle their WRs one on one. Hope he is ready for next week.

Wayne Morgan needs to play more. We have to address the speed issue; he and Kelly will do that. Great hit on the special forces dude.

Remain really concerned over our WRs and their inability to get open and even fight for the ball. Kobena was just run right off his routes. Clark the same, though he did fight hard later in the game and ended up getting a PI call as a result. And West...I don't know what to say. Every time the ball is passed to him it appears he and the QB are on different pages and we are close to an interception. Broyld is the only WR I see getting open consistently and even though he continues to drop a ball seemingly every game, good things tend to happen when we throw the ball his way. Hope to see more of it.

What ever happened to our TEs? Did someone spill spaghetti sauce on the pages in the playbook that call for plays to them?

This was a great test for Hunt. He made a couple bad passes, lost his mechanics for a bit, and rushed a bunch of throws. Worse, he did a bad job with his counts and made it very easy for the Tigers to jump them and get in the backfield early.

But he also made a lot of plays with his feet, in general made good decisions, threw the ball well and showed me the leadership and toughness you look for in a QB. I bet he is one banged up kid today. Clemson hit him with some good shots.

Maybe the most encouraging things I saw yesterday were the play of our OL and DL. Both held their own against the Clemson lines. Hunt consistently had adequate time to get his throws off and the OL did a credible job opening holes in the Tiger DL.

Our DL put a pretty good rush on Boyd on a regular basis and I think we did a good job against their rushing attack as well.

Our linemen are good. Not great but certainly not bad. We need to continue to upgrade the skilled positions.

I like our RBs, and personally I think we have a better group than Clemson has. Smith is a player, McFarlane and Morris can play with anyone as well.

I continue to be very concerned over the defense, seeing the NW nightmare repeated is unacceptable. Bullough is off to a bad start and needs to get his act together.

Not impressed with McDonald to date. Not much rhyme or reason to what he is doing. He made a major mistake with the starting QB, the game plans have been flawed. To his credit, I think for the most part the adjustments made at half time have helped things but I am not sure if this is more because of good moves on his part or the other team letting up after getting a huge lead.

A bowl game is still possible. The game against NC State might will determine whether we go to a bowl or not...I think this is our best bet for win #6. Hope the team is ready next week.

 

[SmilinBob]

Agree with about all you wrote.

Bullough needs to show me more but I look at what Northwestern did offensively vs OSU and obviously Clemson vs the world and maybe it's just two damn good offenses that pretty much no one can stop?

I see some improvement in the line but do not share your optimism. True that our receivers could not create any separation and that made it harder for them to protect Hunt...those receivers did nothing except for the H backs. Literally nothing along with very poor blocking. West missed a block early and Gulley got drilled. Either block well or get open and that group did neither. I can see why they are recruiting wr's so hard.

Back to the oline...the jumps offsides hurt, can't do 2nd and 13 or the like against a team like this. Granted Clemson jumped a few times but the ref was looking at a cheerleader at the time so he missed them. Hickey missed a big block on the Hunt pass back...unacceptable.

McDonalds love for getting a 2nd and 5/6 was quickly figured out by the Tigers and those countless runs up the middle on first down got tiresome and watching 2nd and 8/9/10/11 just didn't do it.

Love the fake punt and throw backs. Nice to see them in the arsenal.

Smith ran hard. Gulley HAS to make a guy miss him, he has struggled to get by a lb/db one on one on the outside.

Clemson was fast, super fast and they cleaned our PC out and hopefully we can start to duplicate their speed in the future. Missing Reddish hurt a lot, you ain't kidding. Why Morgan and Kelly don't play more, I have no idea.

Agree with you 100% about the Miami/Clemson comparison. Plus, that Watkins bomb was like watching a pro vs a high school kid, that was beautiful.

 

[Fjoinkay]

Nice take.

And no shame in losing to Clemson (or NW) this year. After all in January of 2012 Clemson gave up 70 to West Virginia, and since that BCS bowl game Clemson seems to have responded quite nicely. Yesterday Clemson seemed intent on being on the other side of a similar score, and I loved the stop SU's defense made at the end of the first half. But credit Clemson because yesterday they showed up prepared, focused, and locked in, and they executed. Clemson seemed to play with a bigger picture in mind, and they have a legitimate shot at the NC.

 

[capeorange]

Thanks for the write up!

 

[chakka3421]

My gut this morning is telling me that our OC & DC and HC were also exposed and out coached. I agree fully why we aren't playing our seemingly better players more often - Smith, Morgan, Kelly - heck even put Funderburke back in if our WRs are no good.

However, I just can't get a good feel where we are yet - clearly not in the same league as Clemson & NW nor is Wagner & Tulane in our league. The next 4 games should give us a clear picture.

 

[SteveC]

My gut this morning is telling me that our OC & DC and HC were also exposed and out coached. I agree fully why we aren't playing our seemingly better players more often - Smith, Morgan, Kelly - heck even put Funderburke back in if our WRs are no good.

However, I just can't get a good feel where we are yet - clearly not in the same league as Clemson & NW nor is Wagner & Tulane in our league. The next 4 games should give us a clear picture.

I really, really, REALLY don't understand why Smith hasn't been the primary back. He was clearly our best back last year and it's been obvious he is far better than Gulley this year. I don't understand how you have a game where Gulley gets 11 carries and Smith get's 10 (tulane.. i think). Smith should be getting 21.

 

[CuseOnly]

Agree with about all you wrote.

Bullough needs to show me more but I look at what Northwestern did offensively vs OSU and obviously Clemson vs the world and maybe it's just two damn good offenses that pretty much no one can stop?

I see some improvement in the line but do not share your optimism. True that our receivers could not create any separation and that made it harder for them to protect Hunt...those receivers did nothing except for the H backs. Literally nothing along with very poor blocking. West missed a block early and Gulley got drilled. Either block well or get open and that group did neither. I can see why they are recruiting wr's so hard.

Back to the oline...the jumps offsides hurt, can't do 2nd and 13 or the like against a team like this. Granted Clemson jumped a few times but the ref was looking at a cheerleader at the time so he missed them. Hickey missed a big block on the Hunt pass back...unacceptable.

McDonalds love for getting a 2nd and 5/6 was quickly figured out by the Tigers and those countless runs up the middle on first down got tiresome and watching 2nd and 8/9/10/11 just didn't do it.

Love the fake punt and throw backs. Nice to see them in the arsenal.

Smith ran hard. Gulley HAS to make a guy miss him, he has struggled to get by a lb/db one on one on the outside.

Clemson was fast, super fast and they cleaned our PC out and hopefully we can start to duplicate their speed in the future. Missing Reddish hurt a lot, you ain't kidding. Why Morgan and Kelly don't play more, I have no idea.

Agree with you 100% about the Miami/Clemson comparison. Plus, that Watkins bomb was like watching a pro vs a high school kid, that was beautiful.

This was not a team that you can run East-West against and not lose yards. Straight ahead power running (Jerome Smith) will be successful. Gulley lost yards on almost all but 3-4 runs trying to go East West, reminded me of the last Rutgers game in NJ.

 

[weakstraw]

My gut this morning is telling me that our OC & DC and HC were also exposed and out coached. I agree fully why we aren't playing our seemingly better players more often - Smith, Morgan, Kelly - heck even put Funderburke back in if our WRs are no good.

However, I just can't get a good feel where we are yet - clearly not in the same league as Clemson & NW nor is Wagner & Tulane in our league. The next 4 games should give us a clear picture.

Do you think Marrone and company did a better job coaching their first year? I'm not a big fan of DC/OC coaching yesterday, and Shafer was a little amped, but it is their first year and I am willing to give a little slack.

Might as well try other WR's and see if they can do any better. Now might be a time to find out who can play in live games.

 

[SmilinBob]

It's like watching somebody run against a wall...speaking of running against a wall...

That's another thing that is just driving me ape crap Cuse Only...those WR throw outs. Other teams have blockers, our receivers have 2 to 3 guys to beat pretty much by themselves...terrible.

 

[GoSU96]

Great summary as usual.

Much thanks to the Fine Mess CEO for his organizational skills, and to the folks that executed the program. And a little economics experiment took place, when price is not an issue the market will always go to quality. The Saranac Octoberfest was kicked by 2pm and I still have 1/2 of a 1/2 of Blue Light left.

As for the game, can't get too worked up about it. Went about the way I thought it would, not surprised in the least. I think we have a good team, but there are some weaknesses on defense based on the scheme and talent that SU plays with that are pretty easy to exploit by teams as good as Clemson and Northwestern.

I thought both lines played well yesterday. That last bomb to Watkins is only completed by that combination. ZJones was "this close" (think two fingers an inch apart) to a safety on that play. Any other team that is at least an incompletion, if not a safety or int.

Hats of to Whigs. Made a great interception and some big plays in coverage. He needs to play more. Same with Wayne, Darius, and Desir.

As for the WR's, it's a much of what they are being asked to do as their talents. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of effort to try to scheme guys open. And we have some good TE's, use them. And as P and D found out playing Miami at its height, running wide against teams like that just won't work, you need to run power, traps, iso's and counters. Go back to film last year and watch how they used the TE's on wham trap blocks to spring guys open. And how about some play action on 1st down once in a while, or the pop pass to the TE off of the zone read play.

 

[Crusty]

Always look forward to your posts. I must say this time the highlight was the cake! Seriously, the hours of work to do that kind of detail. I have to ask what flavor was the inside?

To put this game into some perspective, Clemson, as we all know, is certainly one of the best teams in the country and may just play for the NC. They rank near the top in both offense and defense.

Clemson has held its opponents to 83 points in 5 games - 16.7 per game - 16th in the country. Excluding Georgia, that drops to 48 points in four games or 12 ppg. They are statistically one of the best defenses in the county. Our 14 points is right there with everybody else except Georgia and we aren't Georgia (yet).

Clemson's offense averages 44.2 points per game - 14th in the country. Passing they are 11th with an average of 343.2 ypg and 66th in rushing or 175 ypg. We did a good job giving up 190 yard rushing, pretty close to their average. However, in passing, they shredded us for 466 yards or 36% more than there average.

In other words, the score was pretty much what disinterested observers might have expected.

I try to be objective when it comes to the coaching staff, especially new ones. It is just not fair to judge them on a small sample working with someone else's recruits. That said, when problems don't get fixed they become fair game to a reasonable degree. Esk just does not get any better and continues to kill us. At some point the kids will resent playing their hearts out only to lose for the same weak play of the secondary particularly from one player over and over again. Coach Reed needs to get his act together and either straighten him out or sit him down. This is where the HC needs to step in and demand some answers.

Broyld is not getting the credit he deserves. All I hear is the dropped passes. Ashton has 24 receptions in 5 games (4.8 avg per game) so far this season. At this pace, he will have 57-58 receptions for the season. Marcus Sales's best season was 63 in his senior year. Lemon had 68 in his junior year and 70 his senior year - the two best seasons ever for a SU receiver.
I maintain that his drops are no worse than either of those two players. Moreover, he is far and away the best receiver on this team. Jarrod West is second with 11 receptions in four games (2.75 per game and he is a WR). Broyld gets open and catches most of what is thrown his way. His routes go through more traffic than most and he does a good job of yac. He is a RS Soph!

Your best line is, of course: "What ever happened to our TEs? Did someone spill spaghetti sauce on the pages in the playbook that call for plays to them?" I think that question needs answering. The "Cool Kid" seems to be playing checkers with DC's that are playing chess. Not so great thus far. We'll see what happens the rest of the season.

Hunt simply had an education last night. The O Line did a decent job but they can't hold forever and, when your receivers can't get open, there is not a lot any college QB can do. I would have liked to see him run more but that is really hard to assess since I don't see what he sees. I really like this kid and look forward to watching him grow.

One of the worst things about yesterday's game is that film is an instructional manual on how to beat us. Play physical with our WRs on defense and then just get Esk to bite and go over the top. It's going to be a long tough season but I look forward to every minute of it.

Can we get rid of these blue uniforms now?

 

[Orangello]

"... continue to be very concerned over the defense, seeing the NW nightmare repeated is unacceptable. Bullough is off to a bad start and needs to get his act together.
Not impressed with McDonald to date. Not much rhyme or reason to what he is doing. He made a major mistake with the starting QB, the game plans have been flawed. To his credit, I think for the most part the adjustments made at half time have helped things but I am not sure if this is more because of good moves on his part or the other team letting up after getting a huge lead."

These are the two biggest take aways for me after yesterday Tom, and I could not have sad it better. Yes, we know that we are still slowly improving our depth and quality of players on both sides of the ball but I am really concerned about our DC and OC 5 games into this season. On the D side the horrendous play by our secondary and continued over reliance on the blitz are going to continue to kill this team against opponents with seasoned QB's. On the offensive side I am just stymied to understand what I the heck our strategy is. McDonald seems to be making it up as he goes along and that's never a good thing.

Kudos to Clemson. They are the real deal this year.

 

[florange44]

I hate to throw players under the bus but Eskridge is killing us out there right now. Continues to be far too aggressive, is the most gullible safety we have ever had. Every time they run play action and throw it long he gets beaten badly and the band is playing for the opposition. At some point, you have to learn to play your position or you sit on the bench. I am not sure what is more amazing, that he hasn't been benched yet or that the staff hasn't been able to teach him how to play his position. I think he has been beaten long 6 times in 5 games. It can't continue.


I can not agree more TC. Eskridge is either unable to understand what his job is or isn't being told what his job is.

Also, on the long TE, Anderson hesitated when he saw the underneath man cut outside. This gave Watkins the advantage. I can only think that Anderson was looking for the big hit on the out route and ended up costing us a td. DO YOUR JOB! You have to know that Boyd can make that long throw, stay in position.

I believe that Reddish, Morgan, Kelly, whigham should be the starting secondary. They are more talented and at this point can't make more mistakes than the starters. I believe that the coaches won't start them because they don't want to disrespect the seniors. Bodes well that we have young talent. Not sure what that means about the coaches.

Florange44

 

[GoSU96]

I hate to throw players under the bus but Eskridge is killing us out there right now. Continues to be far too aggressive, is the most gullible safety we have ever had. Every time they run play action and throw it long he gets beaten badly and the band is playing for the opposition. At some point, you have to learn to play your position or you sit on the bench. I am not sure what is more amazing, that he hasn't been benched yet or that the staff hasn't been able to teach him how to play his position. I think he has been beaten long 6 times in 5 games. It can't continue.


I can not agree more TC. Eskridge is either unable to understand what his job is or isn't being told what his job is.

Also, on the long TE, Anderson hesitated when he saw the underneath man cut outside. This gave Watkins the advantage. I can only think that Anderson was looking for the big hit on the out route and ended up costing us a td. DO YOUR JOB! You have to know that Boyd can make that long throw, stay in position.

I believe that Reddish, Morgan, Kelly, whigham should be the starting secondary. They are more talented and at this point can't make more mistakes than the starters. I believe that the coaches won't start them because they don't want to disrespect the seniors. Bodes well that we have young talent. Not sure what that means about the coaches.

Florange44

Keon Lyn isn't playing badly at all.

 

[tbonezone]

the hot grill shots were probably the best moments of that hi-def video asswhooping. brats and beer in october. tailgate perfection.

 

[Crusty]

Keon Lyn isn't playing badly at all.

He has stopped making those foolish PFs at critical points in games. That's a big plus.

 

[orangepassion]

Still excited about Hunt. I think he will learn a ton from this game.
Think we got way too predictable with the 1st down runs after Smith had that big run. Unless you are just physically in a different league than the other team, you need to mix it up on first down. Too many third and longs.
Too many plays with WR's wide open. Against a QB like Boyd, DB's 1st priority has to be coverage.
Agree about Broyld-i'll take his one drop a game. he's an athlete and can get open. Think he gets better and better.
Surprised they pulled so many trick plays with the game out of reach. Love these plays, but are they wasted in a blowout?

 

[HtownOrange]

Thanks, Tom. Really appreciate your recaps. Thanks to others for their comments.

Overall I am pleased with Broyld. He goes where most receivers dread going.

Loved the fake punt call. Very pleased with the young RBs. Not sure why Clemson had PTG's number but couldn't hold back Smith, but when that happens, call less plays PTG's way, just a suggestion.

I wish that that the coaches would just let the kids play what they know, simple, fast paced game, looking down field more than a lateral. Glad we have the ability to lateral, but should be used to keep Ds honest, unless we have a lightening quick back or a cutback runner like Joe Morris.

ON D we should have played much smarter. All the way around.

Overall, I think our coaching staff is growing into their offices. I was very pleased to see that we came out fighting in the second half and that we played looser, making adjustments, playing a faster paced game. Clemson would have beaten us in a shootout but our kids would have played better.

 

[Finwad32]

Great points in this thread, a lot of good stuff.

Just to throw in my two cents:

1) Bullough was thoroughly out schemed yesterday. Clemson did everything possible to remove the crowd from the game early. Furthermore, for a team with so much firepower they also use a vast array of creativity and uniqueness on the offensive side of the ball that make them very dangerous. That being said, take away the long ball and I think they'll struggle a lot more against an FSU type.

2) although I question some of McDonald's play calling, there were some things there yesterday that we didn't execute. two consecutive screens on second/third and long in the 1st and the vanilla zone reads on first and second in the second half got to me. I understand we're trying to get ourselves in 2nd/3rd and manageable but you don't have to get to that with the same play call repeatedly.

Every OC has their own identity, I don't know if McDonald is sure what he wants to be yet, for a million different reasons I'm sure. Personnel may be a big factor.

PS - Clemson is very talented. They made some tremendous plays on the defensive side of the ball.

 

[phil77]

Good thread Tom I came away with a mix bag of concerns and things that gave me hope...

1- Coach scares me. People have a huge double standard going on here. They are willing to throw Bullough and McDonald under the bus and run them out of town. But when you say something bad about Shafer the same people are quick to point out sample size. I question them all. I do not like what I am seeing from the team at all. They had 13 days to prepare and we looked unprepared that is the head coach. When teams come to the dome they are suppose to have the deer in the headlights look because of the crowd noise instead our team was the one with all the flags. That speaks to coaching and Shafer. I questioned the Shafer hire from the start and didn't think it was the best for the program. Shafer can talk and give a great speech but if he can't game plan an entire game then maybe he is just a good coordinator and not a head coach? That question needs to be answered. And you guys can't say McDonald and Bullough have to go and use the sample size excuse on Shafer because they are all new to the job.

2- Hunt I loved what he was able to do with his feet able to create more time and make some big chunk plays with his legs. But with the arm I still have concerns and see why the staff went with Allen especially with our WR core. I think the staff went with Allen because we had such a poor set of WR's not because Allen was the better QB but because Allen might be able to force the ball into the WR's. If our WR's aren't getting separation then you have to force it in and Hunt's arm simple can not do that. Like I said in another thread I think this program will be in trouble if Hunt is a 3 year starter here and I think he needs to be recruited over.

3- In general our lines played really well IMO and is a bright spot on our team.

4- I thought our linebackers played above average. Spruill was a big factor and will be remembered by Clemson he made some outstanding plays yesterday and really held his own.

5- I am going to single out a DB and it is Whigham!! I know everyone hated him when he celebrated on that long pass deflection. But when he was in the game he was the one corner I saw running with his guy. He was the one corner out there making plays. He had that big pass deflect, a big TFL and a great highly athletic INT. I think he should play every down on D even when Redish comes back. He should start on the other side. Lynn third DB and Morgan the 4th. Andreson shouldn't play. I think there is actually some good talent there they just need to play the right people and get Anderson off the field.

6- Our WR Smith, Morris and McFarlane are studs. Bottom line they can get it done.

NOW I will get to the worse two groups...

7- Safties - They are awful. I think this is by far the worst group of safeties we have had here at SU in a long long time. Words can't display how bad I think I think ESK played yesterday that was the worst play from a safety I think I have ever watch. If there was something he could do wrong he did it on every play.

8- WR- Outside of Broyld who is a nice #3 WR we do not have a D1 level WR on our roster that plays IMO. I don't mean to be harsh but really there is not talent at that position that actually plays. That is a major concern and the reason why the staff is looking at bringing in so many WR's this year. I hope the ones we have committed right now stay committed because there is a ton of early playing time available.

 

[SmilinBob]

One time I'd like to see Broyld in space...it seems like every time he has the ball he has to dodge a guy within a fraction of catching the ball...and yes I know he dropped one that he started to run too early.

 

['72 Orange]

Thanks for the usual great recap. Posts like yours always help to keep things in prespective and give us (who could not be at the game) an insight as to the pre-games activities.

During the game I promised myself I would give it some time before I ventured onto this board. But like a moth being drawn to a flame I couldn't resist.

While all of us fans were disappointed in the outcome I could not believe some of the drek I saw posted on this forum! The very insightful knee jerk reactions on the game thread seemed to be typical of the garbage i have seen in the chat room which I will continue to avoid like the plague. Other posters wishing people would get cancer and careeer ending injuries! And of course the ever popular well "my dad can beat your dad" nonsense when the basketball team was drawn into the football forum.

Love reading your posts as well as the "Upside/Downside" recaps from SWC. They always get me off of the ledge!

 

[BlazeOrange]

Surprised they pulled so many trick plays with the game out of reach. Love these plays, but are they wasted in a blowout?

I believe it was 35-14 when they pulled the trickeration. We came up empty but close on two drives in the 3rd quarter - finish those and it's a one-score game. Keep the momentum on defense they started the second half with and you never know. Instead, after doing most things right, Clemson stuck a 90-yard dagger in us in the closing seconds of the quarter.

 

[Consigliere]

Just a couple additional tailgate points:

First (for my daughter who has always dreamed of playing Eponine in Les Mis) "A little fall of rain can hardly hurt us now!" Way to soldier on group! Absolute deluge that showed up as a tiny green dot on the radar didn't even slow us down. Glad we brought our tailgate canopy though!

Second, to all the lurkers out there who have never joined one of these extravaganzas: To a person, the first timers I brought with me yesterday remarked what a wonderful time they had and how friendly and welcoming the entire group is. We have a great group here with some incredibly diverse experiences and stories from literally all walks of life. Join us and in literally minutes you will feel like part of a family. As I mentioned in another thread, our group and tailgating prowess alone increased next year's season ticket count by 5 yesterday. More to come!

 

[AZOrange]

That is some cake!