Tag Archives: #auburnwithalake

The weekend that was at Message Board Geniuses – week 10

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So many places to start our trip around the message board universe this weekend, but we’ll start out at both stops in the Palmetto State.

I guess we’ll be hearing from Clemson players after they beat whomever they play next week that they want Louisville again. The Cardinals go into Death Valley with a rock and pull the Greater Anderson Cow College’s pants down. I really thought Dabo had picked his team up off the mat after the Benz Boatrace and had them poised to give the Almost Competitive Conference a chance at a 2nd CFP bid. All of that came crashing down in a flurry of field goals. I looked at the stats this morning and still don’t understand how Clemson lost.

I’m sure Tyler from Spartanburg is ready to let everyone in the Upstate know how much football he knows this week.

Let’s head down I-185 to the hottest place in the southeast and the weirdness that is Williams-Brice at night.

Texas A&M runs into a buzz saw they never saw coming Saturday night in Columbia as the Poultry downright kick the Aggies’ asses up and down the field at the Dead Cockroach. The performance of the USC defense was incredible to watch as they stopped two 4th and 1 plays and harassed Reid all night. The South Carolina offensive line punched Texas A&M’s defensive line in the mouth time after time, and Rocket Sanders went off as South Carolina ripped off explosive plays by the bunches.

What is it about that place once a year where the Gamecocks punch way above the cock fighting weight?

It’s getting old to continue to go there, but it’s time to check in the geniuses in Greater Opelika.

Auburn gets punked by Vanderbilt, the Alabama state champions as a result of their season sweep of the Alabama schools for the first time since 1955. Assuming Vandy keeps winning Clark Lea should be SEC coach of the year and in the running for national honors. Diego Pavia owns Auburn, Alabama. In the meantime, I’m sure the Voldemort of agents, Jimmy Sexton, is reminding the folks at Auburn what the buyout provisions of his client’s contract are as the Tigers’ football season goes south in a hurry. Auburn has to win out just to be eligible to play in the Birmingham Bowl.

Let’s jet up north to check in on Vanderbilt’s former coach who can’t seem to get a break … even against the Just for Men spokescoach.

Penn State loses their white-out game … again. Talk about overrated fake juice. James Franklin loses another game against a team who can match up with talent. The parts of the game I saw showed how slow and not physical the Nittany Lions are and how average as instant grits Will Howard is as anOSU’s quarterback. While it’s now likely both teams will make the CFP, neither of them should strike fear into any SEC team that happens to line up opposite them.

Let’s keep our Yankee leg of our trip going as we move over to Ann Arbor, the home of the most overrated stadium in the sport.

Can you say living rent free in someone’s heads for the last 3+ years? Michigan fans know their title is the result of cheating plus the fact they didn’t have to see us. Where did the sleazy Kirby Smart touch you, Baba?

Anyway, back to the game, Oregon dissects the Wolverines to give mighty Michigan their 4th loss of the season with 2 potential playoff teams (did I just write that about Indiana?) still left on the schedule. Maybe Michigan will end up somewhere crappy for a bowl game. Conor Stalions is somewhere laughing quietly about that.

Let’s swing back through the Sunshine State to check in on the latest in Tallahassee.

Conquered again … This time by a UNC team that isn’t very good themselves. When fans are talking about firing both coordinators and shaking up the coaching staff, it’s only a matter of time before the axe falls. FSU can’t afford to buy out Norvell’s contract and pay someone to take over, but can they afford to slide back into post-Crab Legs mediocrity as the sport continues to change? The bottom line is FSU has a culture problem, a talent problem and a coaching problem. Do they trust the head of the program to solve all of them? Yikes.

We end our trip this weekend on the banks of the St. Johns River where the Dawgs win and give Sun Belt Billy somewhat of a moral victory.

A double digit victory over your most hated rival and we bitch. I’m not happy with how we played on offense for stretches on Saturday, but this team takes everyone’s best shot and keeps coming. This bunch of geniuses on the 247 message board is exactly why I don’t post much on the game day thread unless there’s something to say rather than something to say in the moment.

The only thing I have to say about yesterday is … stop turning the damn ball over. I’m sure Mike Bobo is coaching Carson Beck to throw into coverage or not to throw the ball away when nothing’s there. When we force teams to drive the length of the field, we generally get off the field. Take advantage of that.

As I wrote yesterday, #15 has cost himself a lot of money as this season goes on, but frankly, I don’t give a damn about that. We have all of our goals still in front of us. Keep winning.

That’s what I saw over the weekend. Let us know what you think in the comments.

PS – I’m happy as hell that we won’t have to watch 3 political commercials at every TV timeout next weekend.

Hold that Tigger – Clemson preview

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We have finally arrived. The last time our Dawgs were on the field, Georgia was taking the “Unconquered” behind the woodshed for a 63-3 embarrassment that could have been worse … much worse. The last time the Tiggers were on the field, they were squeaking by an unranked SEC team we beat by 38. At noon on Saturday, the two teams get together at noon on the turf of Mercedes Benz Stadium to renew the rivalry.

I can’t write a preview this week without mentioning some of our content creator in perpetuity’s greatest hits when it comes to the Greater Anderson Cow College:

When the bandwagon breaks
At Clemson, it might be time to beat the rush.
Number One in the Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda Poll
Meanwhile, at Clemson
“G-Day made it obvious that Clemson football will be better everywhere else.”

For more from the Senator on Saturday’s opponent: https://blutarsky.wordpress.com/category/clemson-auburn-with-a-lake/.

When Georgia Has the Ball

Earlier in the week, I mentioned red zone conversion rate as an interesting statistic from last year. The Dawgs were almost automatic to put up a score after entering the red zone while the Tigers’ defense struggled to keep points off the board when away from Howard’s Rock. The issue is that the Tiger defense doesn’t typically give opponents many opportunities in a game to get into the red zone. In the Tigers’ 4 losses in 2023, opponents’ red zone conversion percentage was 100%.

What does all of that mean? If Georgia’s offensive line is able to do enough against the Clemson defense to sustain drives and get into the red zone, I don’t think Clemson has much of a chance to make this a game as Georgia likely gets into the 30s where the Dawgs have been practically unbeatable in the Smart era.

How can this happen? 1st down success and 3rd down conversions. All of this comes down to how successful the Dawgs’ offensive line is in moving the line of scrimmage on run downs and keeping Carson Beck upright in the passing game. All of the chatter is that Trevor Etienne will not play against his older brother’s college team due to suspension and Rod Robinson is not going to be available due to toe surgery (practically guaranteed). If #1 doesn’t play, can Branson Robinson hold up in his first action since last year’s pre-season knee injury and Nate Frazier be able to pass protect when needed? If Beck gets time to throw, I believe he will carve up the Clemson secondary.

When Clemson Has the Ball

This game may be the biggest game former 5-star QB Cade Klubnik has played in since arriving in the South Carolina Upstate. Can the Georgia defense take away the Clemson rushing attack and rattle Klubnik as they did DJ Ukulele in 2021? If so, it could be a long afternoon for the Tigers in Atlanta. That means the Georgia defensive line has to improve against the run over last year’s effort. Saturday is not a day for the Georgia defense to sit back and allow the Clemson offense to dictate as we did in our last appearance in the Benz. The defense needs to be ready to attack the Clemson offense from the moment they get off the bus even it means taking a risk of exposing a young but talented secondary in coverage.

What Will Happen

Georgia wants to get off to a fast start on both sides of the ball. Clemson likely wants to shorten the game and keep the Georgia offense on the sideline and their stout defense fresh. I do think Georgia is better in totality across the lines of scrimmage and has a clear advantage at quarterback. I believe we see a Georgia team that is still salty after getting left out of the playoff last year. That probably doesn’t bode well for the Tiggers. The Dawgs win a game that isn’t as close as the final score indicates and shows the country in the first TV window that the road to the national championship is going to go through Athens at some point in the season.

Final Score: Georgia 31, Clemson 20