Tag Archives: #clemsontigers

The weekend that was at MBG – week 8

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You knew it wasn’t going to last because of this guy

It was hard to choose the stops on this weekend’s trip around the message boards. With the chaos of the weekend, I could have made Diamond Medallion in a weekend. All of this without a stop in Palo Alto to see the smoking crater that is the Florida State football program.

Let’s start on Friday night in the Sunshine State as the Hurricanes get exposed by Louisville.

In the words of Marc Antony through the Bard, I come to bury Mario Cristobal and Carson Beck, not to praise them. 63 yards rushing for a team whose coach is an offensive line coach by trade. 4 interceptions including a back breaker on the last possession in plus territory when all you need is a field goal to tie the game.

Miami is going to make the playoff because no one else on the schedule is that good and they have the win over Notre Dame. 9 penalties and 4 turnovers equals an undisciplined team that is going to have issues in the playoff.

Let’s head back to the Plains to check on the Auburn Family as they move closer to the ledge after another loss.

At this point, Auburn’s defensive players have to be throwing up their hands in frustration. They have played well enough throughout the season for the Tigers to be undefeated and positioned for a playoff berth. That offense is wretched. They won their turnover margin. They rushed for more yardage. Jackson Arnold wasn’t good but also wasn’t terrible.

That means one thing … Hugh Freeze sucks. This is what you can get when you decide to fire a coach with some success because you believe you can do better. I’m here to enjoy every moment of it.

Let’s head up to South Bend to check on the Boy Wonder and the temperature of Arrogant Nation.

The stat line from Saturday looks like a Lincoln Riley team – 306 yards rushing given up and they only rushed for 68. They got physically whipped by the Irish. Riley has the same advantages at USC that Cristobal has at Miami – an NIL war chest and a fertile recruiting base with no geographic equal. Yet, he can’t seem to get out of his own way in big moments. He could cover that up at Big 12 OU where his teams would just make you play basketball on grass.

Let’s head to Tuscaloosa to look in on Tooth Nation after the 3rd Saturday in October.

Butch Huepel? That’s genius worthy right there.

Alabama slaps down Tennessee in T-town again. I’ll admit I listened to part of the game on my way home from Athens last night. The Alabama radio announcers are the worst. Eli Gold loved Alabama, but he was a treasure. Their PbP guy is just a Bammer douche on the radio. I had to turn it off before my ears started bleeding.

On to the game, Bama used a flurry in the 2nd quarter to put Tennessee away capped by a 99(!)-yard pick 6 on the last play of the half after the Vols drove the length of the field. That reminded me of Sean Jones running down the sideline in 2003 in Kneeland.

I was happy because one team had to lose.

Let’s head to Music City where Corn Dog Nation has to be beside themselves today.

I didn’t know Cajuns knew any words to replace the f-word especially given the language in one of their cheers.

You would think the motivation message to the LSU Fightin’ Tigers would have written itself, “Vegas has you as a betting underdog to Vanderbilt! What are you going to do about it?” Get Pavia-ed looks like what the response was. Josh Pate haz a sad over Blake Baker’s defense being bludgeoned to the tune of 239 yards yielded on the ground.

I’ve said the Corn Dogs would turn on the Leprechaun as soon as things went south because he isn’t one of them. It’s happening. I’m guessing with A&M and Bama coming up next that Kelly is reading the fine print of his contract this morning.

Let’s head to the Palmetto State to check in on the state of South Carolina college football.

Clemson and South Carolina both lose by double digits, and both Dabo and Baby Beamer find themselves in the crosshairs of their fan bases. I’m not even going to go into the details of the games.

At this point, the Clemson-South Carolina game would be on Raycom or Jefferson Pilot in the old days of TV. If tickets were still paper, a Cock or Tiger fan may put them on the windshield of their car at the local Ingles and find more tickets on the windshield when they come back.

Let’s head up to the bluegrass to check in on how “Texas is back.”

If you looked at a team’s stat line and saw the following numbers, what would you think happened with 179-395 total offense, 132-258 passing, 47 yards rushing and 20:00 of ToP?

A loss by 2 TDs? Well, you would be wrong. That team wins in overtime.

The Archduke has a 25 game QBR with a below 50% completion rate. Kentucky sacks him 3 times.

This Texas team is not good at all. They go to Starkvegas next and then entertain Vandy prior to their off week prior to their visit to Athens. Is it possible Texas could have 4 losses when they visit between the hedges?

For the preseason #1 with the Heisman winner and #1 overall draft pick in the 2026 draft, that has to hurt.

Let’s move on to Hogtown to check in on the mental state of the Handbags.

Sun Belt Billy is out at Florida. When your fan base bemoans a win especially a conference win, you know you’re in trouble. My only question is whether the team quits on the staff heading into the Cocktail Party. As others have said, I wonder if Kirby would bring him up for an analyst role similar to the Jaden Rashada season just to get under the Gators’ hides.

My only message to Kirby is to annihilate them.

Let’s end this weekend back in the Classic City to check on both sides of the game of the weekend.

We have a segment of our fan base who needs to learn about resiliency. That statement isn’t about creating a bogey man or pumping sunshine.

To the Ole Miss fans, the game flipped when the Rebel defense finally completely broke and Trinidad Chambliss realized he wasn’t playing in Oxford or Ferris State any longer. it had nothing to do with ABC’s decisions for TV timeouts.

I have to say two things about the game. First, I would rather see us take chances in man coverage rather than give ridiculous amounts of cushion. Second, I don’t understand Kirby’s decision to go for 2 in the 3rd quarter.

What did you see this weekend? Let us know in the comments.

The weekend that was at MBG – week 6 edition

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How did I get outcoached by that guy?

A couple of big road upsets occur on what was supposed to be a boring Saturday of college football. Needless to say, the message boards lit up across the fruited plain as usual on a Saturday. Before we start our trip, take a quick look at this (remember most of these teams have beaten a ranked opponent at the time of the game).

Just leaving this here for Mumme Poll voters.

Let’s get started this morning this morning in the Classic City where it’s clear BBN isn’t happy with basketball season starting the first week of October.

Kentucky is probably the best job for a coach looking for stability while being the worst for maintaining consistency and acquiring talent. It’s the exact opposite of their men’s basketball coaching job. The problem is their fans are starting to expect close to the same performance from their football program that they expect from their basketball program.

Stoops is probably now a dead man walking unless he finds a way to beat Tennessee to save his job. I’m guessing Kirby told him after the game that he has a spot in his coaching rehab program when the time is right.

On to the game, I don’t understand why Kirby doesn’t coach this game in Lexington the same way he does in Athens. Turn the superior athletes loose and let them make plays. Kudos to Stoops for hitting the over for his buddies in Youngstown by leaving his starters in while Georgia was emptying the bench. I was surprised he didn’t try an onside kick to get a field goal to cover the spread.

Let’s move on to Tobacco Road to check in on the Bill Belichick Experience.

Before the season no one would be surprised that Clemson was going to beat North Carolina. I’m not even sure I would have been surprised to see the Tiggers beat the Heels convincingly.

I am surprised at how quickly things have gotten sideways with Belichick. I thought it was a dumb hire for a Kentucky type of program (football at a basketball school) to attempt to short-cut their way to national relevance, but this has gone worse than I thought it would.

Does Bill have the class to step down and go play golf after 1 year in Chapel Hill? We’ll see.

Let’s stay in the ACC to check in on Seminole Nation.

Yes, the final score was only by 6. -3 turnover margin gets you beat, and many times gets you run out of the building. Down 28-3, the Noles scramble to score 19 in the 4th quarter.

After the Alabama game, I thought Norvell had probably saved himself. His buyout is probably the only thing saving him now as the Noles season is officially on the brink. Trips to Clemson, Raleigh and Hogtown loom for the Tribe.

Is it just me, or does the new Doak just not have the same degree of home field advantage as the old one?

Now, we head to the 2 places you’ve been waiting for this week. Let’s start out at the land of the Big Bang Theory … Pasadena, California … to see how the Lions are doing this morning.

James Franklin has made a lot of money in Happy Valley by beating teams his team is supposed to beat. They went out and hired Jim Knowles away from the hated Buckeyes and threw a bunch of NIL money at players hoping to replicate what anOSU did to win a title.

Instead, now the season is close to half over, and they allowed Oregon to beat them twice. UCLA is one of the worst Power 4 teams in the country, and they controlled much of the game with Nico I accounting for 5 TDs and outplaying the preseason #1 overall pick in the Yankee Cade Klubnik.

I think it’s safe to say that Franklin is quickly wearing out his welcome and a trip to Columbus looms.

Let’s end today’s trip in Hogtown not for the reason we thought at the start of the weekend.

You ain’t wrong, collin12345. But we all think you’re a “laughing stock” because no one wanted you.

In the name of a meteor game, the north central, meth lab geniuses aren’t getting a pass this week.

Where’s F-bum today as Arch Manning’s Heisman campaign, after his moment against (checks notes) Sam Houston, crashes and burns in The Swamp? Watching this Texas offense has to be making the Shorthorns wonder where is the Sark who is supposed to be an offensive genius. The problem on Saturday was they sucked on defense as well.

To the Handbags, congratulations on keeping the Sun Belt Billy farewell tour going for another week. A trip to College Station to face an AgCult team who is now taking on the toughness of its coach probably isn’t going to end well for you.

That’s what I saw this week. Share your well wishes to Texas and Penn State in the comments.

The weekend that was at MBG – week 1 edition

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The brick-throwing Bammers aren’t either, Kalen.

Yes, I know we still have games to play on this Labor Day, but I don’t care about TCU & UNC (if something about the Tar Heels comes up, I’ll probably edit this post). Most games went true to form, but we still have plenty of #MeltdownAlert and #FireEverybody posts to chuckle about.

Nowhere better to get started with this week’s trip than Tallahassee to check on the mental state of Bammer Nation. I knew the panhandle would be a stop this week. I just thought the reason would be different. There was plenty of ammunition for this stop, but I found this be to be the most hilarious.

When Alabama looks to Georgia Tech for its next head coach, you know it’s hit close to rock bottom in the Yellowhammer State (I wish the Nole fans would have sung Rammer Jammer right back at them on Saturday evening). The last time Alabama hired a Fech man, it started with running off the guy who followed a legend and ended with a contract fight after winning an SEC title. I know some of our readers think a lot of Brent Key … I’m not one of them.

Bama got outmuscled on both lines of scrimmage by a team coached by a guy who had to be desperate. It’s too early for this to be an indictment of Bama or a coronation of FSU, but Saturday’s loss broke the internet.

Let’s move on to the game of the century this year in Columbus to check in on the “Texas is back” crowd.

Texass fans are so used to getting every break that they blame this loss on SEC officiating. Hey, Shorthorns, do you remember the temper tantrum your fans threw last year in Austin resulting in an overturned call on something that can’t be overturned once the ball is marked for play? I thought so.

How about blame the coaching and the offense (Sark’s specialty) for only scoring 7 points? If you said on Friday Ohio State would only score 14, I’m sure the Texas coaching staff would say they would leave the Shoe with a win.

If this game is the canary in the coal mine, Texas isn’t going to go through the SEC unscathed and may lose more than 1 conference game. The Red River Shootout looks questionable, and trips to Athens and Hogtown will be no picnic.

Let’s head to South Florida to check in on the leprechauns who didn’t find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Does this genius realize Miami is in the schedule due to the ACC arrangement the Irish has as a partial member?

I give Carson Beck an A for how he played in the rain on Sunday night. For the most part, he looked totally in control, and his arm and mental game seem to have recovered nicely. Where was that Carson Beck for much of last year in Athens? That Carson Beck is a day 1 or 2 selection with his arm and the way he took care of the ball.

On the topic of the post, Notre Dame runs into an equally talented (and healthy) team and loses again. Don’t look now, Irish, but a Texas A&M team comes into South Bend next and can beat you. I think it may be safe to say Notre Dame’s season may already be on the brink. Will a 2 loss team that doesn’t have the ability to play in a conference championship game get the benefit of the doubt in November?

Let’s move on out west to the Rose Bowl to check in on the team that should have been the Dawgs’ opponent this weekend.

Utah takes ucLa behind the woodshed on B1G After Dark to announce that the end of the Whittingham era isn’t there yet. The reason for this post is twofold. First, the Bruins ducked us because they knew what was coming, and they still got it from a different source. Second, Nico left Tennessee because of the “offense.” After yesterday, maybe his camp needs to look inward for the problem – 183 yards of total offense and a 50.4 QBR.

Maybe Bobby Hill wasn’t the problem after all.

Let’s end today’s trip in the South Carolina upstate to check in on Tyler from Spartanburg and the fans of the Greater Anderson Cow College.

Hey, Clemson, Deshaun Watson or Trevor Lawrence isn’t walking into the football facility. Cade Klubnik once again showed he isn’t the game-changing quarterback necessary for Dabo to win at highest level. I’m not sure what being in the ACC had to do with their loss (see FSU-Bama). What I did see is exactly what I saw last Labor Day – an offensive line overwhelmed by SEC defensive front 7 talent.

What did you see this weekend on the boards that gave you a good laugh? Let us know in the comments.

Tale of the stats – Georgia 34, Clemson 3

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I’ve decided to do a series looking back at each game through the lens of the game and individual statistics (not all the advanced stats fancy stuff) and draw some conclusions about that game. Hopefully, I can pull some nuggets to think about for the 2025 season. If you like it, I’ll keep doing it … if not, my fee-fees won’t be hurt (unlike Penn Wagers). Let’s start with the Clemson game in Atlanta on Labor Day Saturday afternoon.

Here’s a link to my preview post:

Hold that Tigger – Clemson preview

Team Statistics:

An ass kicking for the ages

Other than the slow start, the Dawgs dominated Clemson in Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Some like to talk about game control as a good statistic. According to ESPN Analytics, the Dawgs opened the game with an 81% chance of winning. The closest Clemson ever got to turning the analytics in their favor was at 3:06 in the 1st quarter when Klubnik connected with Antonio Williams for a 36-yard gain to bring the probability to a 73% chance of a Georgia win. The Junkyard Dawgs’ defense controlled the game throughout even after Kirby and Schumann started to empty the bench in the 4th quarter.

The key statistic of the game was the rushing differential as the Dawgs rushed for 169 yards and 6.3 YPA while limiting Clemson’s running game to 46 yards and a measley 2 yards per carry. The defensive performance on this day was classic Georgia anaconda style defense forcing Clemson to become one-dimensional while using field position to tilt the field against Clemson’s offense. At the same time, once the Georgia offense got going after a slow start that would be typical of the season, the Dawgs’ ground game was efficient and forced Clemson’s talented defensive front to stay on the field.

Individual Statistics:

Carson Beck was the main difference between the 2 teams on this Saturday. He was efficient, played within the offense, got us into the right plays, and, most importantly, protected the ball. While we started slowly on offense, we used the leg of the Thunder from Down Under to keep the field tilted against Clemson. On the other side, our front 7 played one of their best games of the year as Cade Klubnik had no running game to speak of to lean upon and was harassed for much of the game. Klubnik is no scrub at QB, and we made him look like a deer in the headlights on a South Georgia highway (believe me, I know what that looks like).

Needless to say, Tyler from Spartanburg wasn’t happy with the gap between the programs shown on this Saturday afternoon. I wonder if I saw him on the Doraville MARTA after the game. Probably not because the northwest corner of MBS emptied out in the middle of the 3rd quarter.

Something to Consider for 2025:

These 3 guys were playmakers (along with Lawson Luckie) against the Tigers. They all return in 2025. First, Nate Frazier will probably be featured in this series throughout the year. He showed on this day that he can be that Dre Swift slasher. One of the things I hope we see more from him in 2025 is his ability to make plays in the passing game in addition to his running. Second, Dillon Bell did not have the kind of year we all expected in 2024 especially late in the year. Maybe using him as an alternative at running back in addition to his wide receiver duties will get him back to doing the things we saw in 2023. Finally, London Humphreys has an acceleration with the ball in his hands that I thought we would see more throughout the season, but he never really popped last season. The TD he scored on this Saturday was the type of play we had grown used to seeing from Ladd McConkey.

Our 2 top defensive guys from this day are 2 different tales of 2025. Of course, this day was Jalon Walker’s true breakout as more than a 3rd down pass rush specialist. No one knew on this day that he would start a slow march to the Butkus Award and consensus 1st team All-American honors and will enter the draft as a likely 1st round selection. Who is going to fill that role as defensive leader and the epitome of GATA? I highlight Daylen Everette here as a guy who the fans seem to think is a weak link. He got picked on in 2023 being opposite of a future NFL player in Kamari Lassiter combined with 3 other guys in Malaki Starks, Javon Bullard and Tykee Smith who were stars in their own right. Everette quietly had a solid season, and 2025 will be his year to follow in the footsteps of other great CB Dawgs.

I could put these guys on this feature every week. The bottom line is, assuming Thorson is healthy, no one will have the combination of specialists that the Dawgs will in 2025.

Summary

A great opening win over the eventual ACC champions and a playoff team starts a march to an SEC title. Clearly, some issues arose on offense that would be a harbinger of things to come.

The leather helmet fits well.

What are your takeaways? Let us know in the comments.

First look at the We Lost to Georgia Bowl

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Orange is just butt ugly. Do not adjust your screen.

The middle game of CFP triple-header Saturday features the teams in the “We Lost to Georgia” Bowl, the Greater Anderson Cow College Tiggers and the Texass Hamburgers at DKR Memorial Stadium. This game has all the look of a Texas easy win based on the teams’ performance throughout the year … home field advantage, offensive line play, and overall defense. On the other hand, this game isn’t Dabo’s first rodeo in the CFP and Clemson’s defensive line play. Let’s get to the preview.

Series Record: First meeting (I was surprised that these 2 schools had not even played in a bowl game)

Gambling Degenerate Facts: The Harrah’s sports book at the Venetian has Texas as a 11.5 point favorite with a money line of -455 and a point total of 51.5.

How Should a Refugee Watch This Game: We beat both of these teams soundly in the regular season, one on a “neutral” site and one in their backyard. We turned around and beat the Hamburgers again in Atlanta in an SEC championship game for the ages. Texas is one of the 2 teams in this thing that is built in a way to compete with us (IMHO, Ohio State is the other). To me, the Greater Anderson Cow College has the defensive front to do to Texas what we did to them twice … get pressure on Ewers and control the Texas running game. I’ll never consider Texas as part of the SEC, so I’ll be fine if the Tiggers go ahead and take them out of this thing. I would enjoy the Message Board Geniuses’ X feed if that happened.

Interesting Statistic: 0.86/2.25 (net yards per play for Clemson and Texas, respectively)

The difference in this statistic is stark. After drilling into the detail, the Longhorns’ defense is the real difference between these 2 teams. That doesn’t mean I’m saying Clemson’s defense is the weak link, but the Longhorn defense should be the best total unit on the field on Saturday and have been the most consistent unit throughout the season.

Early Outlook

Texas should win this game and should cover the spread if the game goes as the teams on paper would indicate. The problem for Texas is that the game isn’t played on paper. Similar to the 2 games against Georgia, the media and the talking heads are lining up with Texas against “little ole Clemson.” Turnovers (game 1) and drive-killing mistakes (game 2) changed the games. If those equalizers show up again on Saturday, this game will be a 4 quarter fist fight.

Clemson’s path to victory requires them to be able to run the ball effectively, stay in front of (or with) the chains and stay out of 3rd and long … the thing they did not do consistently in Mercedes-Benz Stadium against Georgia. The Tigers really need to turn this game into a low-scoring street brawl to have a chance to steal it in the 4th quarter. I’m not convinced about Sark’s in-game coaching prowess, and a close game in the 4th would only magnify those concerns.

I think the team with the most paths to victory is the likely winner. Therefore, the burnt orange of Texas makes a return trip to Atlanta to take on Arizona State in the Peach Bowl.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.

UGA Men’s Glee Club Clemson Hate

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Back in the early 90s, the UGA Men’s Glee Club would rehearse in one of the P/J Auditoriums. They had a display case in the lobby with sheet music, old programs, etc, but this poster hung prominently in the case:

Many of our great Georgia songs referenced Clean Old Fashioned Hate, but this pic was a reminder of who our closest rival truly is (as the crow flies, anyway!) Director Dr. Pierce Arant, aka “Coach”, was no fan of the orange and purple for sure, and made sure we remembered it.

Man, that ’91 Clemson night game was wild, what with the Braves clinching the Worst to First division that day, too. One of the few football highlights of my time in Athenstown…which reminds me of a sweet medley that closed each concert.

“Goin’ back, goin’ back, goin’ back to Athens Back to Athenstown…”

Spinning on Howard’s Rock

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Transfer portal? Forget it, Dabo’s rolling…

https://twitter.com/chapelfowler/status/1790741448012259345

I’ll give him credit, he’s holding fast to traditional head coach practices…he’s living by the creed of “dance with the date that brought you”. Perhaps Dabo is hoping that the NIL is just a temporary thing, or that the proper counter to a new and evolving practice in college sports is a stable and traditional practice, tried and true…or at least it was a few years back.

That brings me to this:

https://twitter.com/wiserdawg/status/1790843232978383113

If Dabo loses in the Kickoff Classic, and the rest of the season is a failure, by Clemson’s standards…is he on the hot seat?

Specifically, are any of the old-school recruiters on the hot seat? Who? Brian Kelly just ranted about development and being against the NIL era.

Do the evolution, baby…or go the way of the coaching Dodo?