SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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- Because they are Clemson and we’re not. Yeah, we beat them four years ago. But our other same against them since joined the conference have been lost by an average of 14-39. Just because a Tiger seems asleep it doesn’t mean that you don’t need to be very careful around him.
- There was an ‘X’ factors in that 2017 game that are not present in this game. In 1983, we traveled to Nebraska and lost 7-63. In 1984, the week before the Nebraska game we lost a fumble-filled game in the Dome to Rutgers. 0-19. Nebraska had no reason to think we were going to give them any kind of a game. In 2016, we lost at Clemson 0-54. In 2017, we lost in the Dome to Middle Tennessee. Clemson had no reason to think we would give them a game. We beat them and then almost beat the next year. And we were in the next two games until late in the third quarter. Clemson has struggled on offense, and we are clearly better than last year. We have earned their respect, which is a good thing but also a bad thing. We’re going to get Clemson with both barrels tonight.
- We have a nice two man game with Shrader and Tucker. But what else have we got? Clemson ahs the 21st best rushing defense in the country and the 19th best total defense. What if they stuff Shrader/Tucker or at least hold them down to, say 150 yards between them. What else have we got?
- D.J. Uiagalelei has been struggling but he’s a 5 star guy and thus a sleeping tiger in his own right. He’s 6-4 and can throw to 6-4 Justin Ross and 6-3 Joseph Ngata. We have nobody that tall to guard them. (We have tall guys, too, but they are young and haven’t learned the offense yet, etc. etc. so we are going to Sharod Johnson and Courtney Young instead).
- How good is our defense, actually? They are improved from last year but we’ve lost our last two games 30-33 and 37-40. Wake passed for 330 yards and 3TDs as well as that big 3rd and 23 against us. Is this the game where Uiagalelei puts it all together?
- We’ll have to punt in this game, probably a lot. We need to do it to center field, not third base. We are 128th out of 130 teams in net punting 32.0. Clemson is 79th with 39.6, which is not great. But it still means that we are likely to lose 8 yards in every exchange. And if we get the ball deep in our own territory, we need to get first downs and plenty of them or we are setting them up with a short field.
- Our injuries are starting to pile up, especially in the offensive line. We have more depth than previously, as Wake found out, but we’re kind of beat up, (and our off week isn’t until next month). We also had 6 days to prepare for this game. Clemson’s had two weeks and is well rested. And when they have to replace someone, they do it with guys we wished we had.
- In a close game, a coach’s decision making makes a huge difference. This is Dino vs. Dabo.
- There was an ‘X’ factors in that 2017 game that are not present in this game. In 1983, we traveled to Nebraska and lost 7-63. In 1984, the week before the Nebraska game we lost a fumble-filled game in the Dome to Rutgers. 0-19. Nebraska had no reason to think we were going to give them any kind of a game. In 2016, we lost at Clemson 0-54. In 2017, we lost in the Dome to Middle Tennessee. Clemson had no reason to think we would give them a game. We beat them and then almost beat the next year. And we were in the next two games until late in the third quarter. Clemson has struggled on offense, and we are clearly better than last year. We have earned their respect, which is a good thing but also a bad thing. We’re going to get Clemson with both barrels tonight.
- We have a nice two man game with Shrader and Tucker. But what else have we got? Clemson ahs the 21st best rushing defense in the country and the 19th best total defense. What if they stuff Shrader/Tucker or at least hold them down to, say 150 yards between them. What else have we got?
- D.J. Uiagalelei has been struggling but he’s a 5 star guy and thus a sleeping tiger in his own right. He’s 6-4 and can throw to 6-4 Justin Ross and 6-3 Joseph Ngata. We have nobody that tall to guard them. (We have tall guys, too, but they are young and haven’t learned the offense yet, etc. etc. so we are going to Sharod Johnson and Courtney Young instead).
- How good is our defense, actually? They are improved from last year but we’ve lost our last two games 30-33 and 37-40. Wake passed for 330 yards and 3TDs as well as that big 3rd and 23 against us. Is this the game where Uiagalelei puts it all together?
- We’ll have to punt in this game, probably a lot. We need to do it to center field, not third base. We are 128th out of 130 teams in net punting 32.0. Clemson is 79th with 39.6, which is not great. But it still means that we are likely to lose 8 yards in every exchange. And if we get the ball deep in our own territory, we need to get first downs and plenty of them or we are setting them up with a short field.
- Our injuries are starting to pile up, especially in the offensive line. We have more depth than previously, as Wake found out, but we’re kind of beat up, (and our off week isn’t until next month). We also had 6 days to prepare for this game. Clemson’s had two weeks and is well rested. And when they have to replace someone, they do it with guys we wished we had.
- In a close game, a coach’s decision making makes a huge difference. This is Dino vs. Dabo.
