Ingles Tailgate Show #48 - Gator Bowl Edition: Clemson vs Kentucky 12-29-2023

It's Bowl time, as the Tigers head down to Jacksonville to take on the Kentucky Wildcats in the Gator Bowl! As always, John and Rich preview today's game, and set the scene with interviews, clips from the players, and more!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Ninety two point five, w UE, S E AM and f M,
Greenville, Spartanburg Anderson. We're talkingClemson Tigers and getting you ready for
a college football Saturday. And thisun Ingles Tailgate show is brought to you
by Ingles Markets, Low Prices,Love the Savings, Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative,
Harley Davidson of Greenville, Career FlooringCenter, the Surgery Center at Pelham,

(00:23):
the Key Heating in Air and palMeadow State Armory Friday. Now here
are your hosts, John Ellis atRichmond Weaver Well. A season of ups
and downs for the Clemson Tigers culminatestoday in a matchup against Kentucky in the

(00:45):
twenty twenty three tax Layer Gator Bowl, the tenth all time Gator Pol appearance
for Clemson. We're here live atthe Ingles in Powdersville ten nine oh three
Anderson Road. There's already a beautifulspread in front of us. Here,
we've got a cake with our faceson, and believe it or not,
come see some of that. Idon't know if you want to see that.
I think you do. I thinkat least Richmond Weaver side of things.

(01:07):
I'm John Ellis. That's Richmond Weaver. We're live here from Ingles for
the Ingles tail Gage Show. Goodto be with you again for the season
finale, Season four of this fineshow. It time flies, my friend,
season finale. That's absolutely crazy tosay that we're talking about season finale
and also just looking at another footballseason for Clemson comes to an end here

(01:30):
in this tax Layer Gator Bowl,but also now turning the page to twenty
twenty four. Again. I don'tknow where time is going these days.
It just seems to disappear, andespecially once we get into fall camp and
football starts, it just continues tobe warp speed. Each and every year
it does. It goes by fast. Seems like yesterday we were talking about

(01:53):
this duke matchup to open the season. Again. The Clemson obviously started out
slow, lost that game had theirups and downs, as we talked about
through the course of this first segment, We're gonna do a little view talk
about some of the highs and lowsand how Clemson took an otherwise lost season
and what was the turning point therethat got them on the right track.

(02:14):
We'll look back at the game Cockswin. As our good friend Levin Kirkland
said they collected the rent down therein Columbia, and obviously they did.
We'll talk about that game, developmentof k club Nik and obviously it wasn't
his best game against South Carolina,but what a season he had down the
stretch. Also got to talk aboutsome of the key opt outs, some
of the players you will not beseeing today, as well as some of

(02:37):
the transfers. It is a notablelist. We want to go through it
with you and let you know someof the guys that would be backfilling in
those spots. And Richmond, asalways staff changes. Coach Sweeney has talked
about it. He's not afraid tomake these changes, shake things up,
and we're going to get to thatas well. We are brought to you
by Ingles Low Prices, Love theSavings. Come on out and see us.
We're live at the Powdersville location rightoff one fifty three. It's Anderson

(03:00):
Road ten nine oh three Anderson Road, to be exact. We've done a
number of shows here from the CornerCafe and it is a gorgeous setup and
we gotta, like I said,we gotta spread out here. Road.
You got wraps Veggie trays, lemonade, sweet tea, chicken. I see
a cheese tray out there. We'reset to go, my friend. Oh,
we definitely are. And this isone of my favorite Ingles in the

(03:21):
Upstate. Just from the perspective ofthis corner cafe. You've got the TVs,
plenty of seedings, so by allmeans, come down here check everything
out. Again. We do havethe spread, all the food is already
out. But here's the thing.If you don't come, I understand because
that's more food for me. SoI'm good. You better come quick essly.
We've got a heavy contingent here frommy Heart Radio and our friends at

(03:44):
Ingles that'll dive right into it.No, we'd love to see you guys
coming out. We're here until nineam, leading you up to the Ingles
Tailgate show with the Clemson Athletic Networkteam of Daja, Davidson, Mark Childress,
and Rich and I will be onthat show as well as we was
Don Bunsen and several other prominent guestson that show. Speaking of prominent guests,
in about ten minutes, will Vandervoortlive from Jacksonville joins us with an

(04:05):
inside look from the Clemson insider givingus all the news and notes and details
on what to expect, not onlyfrom Clemson, but who is this Kentucky
team? What are they all about. They've got a heck of a running
back in Ray Davis. I can'twait to talk about him. And a
familiar name of quarterback, Oh yeah, Devin Leary, who made some comments
yesterday they'd raise some eyebrows about havingsome idea about what Clemson's all about.

(04:26):
Defensively, we'll see about that.But let's look back at what happened a
couple of weeks ago. Clemson sixteento seven against South Carolina in the Palmetto
Bowl. They finish eight and four, two and three on the road South
Carolina. This keeps them out ofbowl season, so there was extra incentive,
I think for Clemson. Not thatthere's bad blood between Sweeney and of
course coach Shane Biemer. We knowthey're good friends, but when there's a

(04:49):
rivalry game, you want to godown and show your best effort, and
certainly defensively they did that. Andhow about the story of Jonathan White's You
know, we talked about the kickinggame being so instrumental to the ups and
downs early this season, Jonathan Whites, what a story it was giving him
a call mid season, Saint Hillo, can you come back and kick for

(05:10):
us here? We're having trouble withRobert Gunn. Come on back and kick
for us three field goals to liftClemson in this rivalry game. That's a
great story, Rich And you thoughtthat the story was going to go off
the rails, so to speak,after the Florida State game, or during
the Florida State game where the missedfield goal opportunity there which for all intense

(05:31):
purposes, would have helped the Tigersget a victory in that game. And
it was that close, obviously losingin overtime for the Tigers, and then
to be able to come back andin that game against South Carolina when you
had to have some big kicks,he was able to perform. And just
think about this, You talk aboutjust how he gets that phone call and

(05:54):
presses the pause button on his futurejob in New York and sides to come
and do that. And then wetalked about that Florida State game, then
the South Carolina game and knowing thathe also was named a permanent team captain
for this team, these Tigers,and now that means he's going to have
a plaque there on Tiger Walk forever. It's a legacy and how that transpired.

(06:20):
I mean, it's one of thegreat stories when you look at it
just from a perspective of why welove sports and how many times it's you
know about we mention sports and life. And also, you know, we
can look at it from a winsloss perspective and we can talk about all
of the stats and break down everythingrevolving around that, because you know,

(06:42):
I love stats. I'm nerd withstats. I'll look at all the stats
any time of the day. Butit just showcases that there's so many parallels
with life and sports, and alot of times the story is not about
a winning kick or a missed kick. It's about the opportunities that you have

(07:02):
in life and facing adversity and overcomingsome of those and some of the things
that you might be fearful of,and you're able to just go out there
and put those fears aside. Becausehe could have easily said, no,
it's too much pressure, I don'twant to go out there and do that.
He's got a cherry gig right hereon my way to Wall Street and
things. Well, now I'm gonnacome back and kick for Coach Sweety.

(07:24):
It's a chance. Took a chance, and credit to the staff, including
coach Sweeney for and I think coachSweeney's one of his sons. Was it
Clay that recruited the Jonathan back intothe fold here? You know Will Sweeney
probably had something to do that aswell. But in this game, we'll
go back and look at what happenedagainst the game Cox, because it was
a compelling game. You saw thedefense and special teams really carry the load.
Here Kate club Nick fifteen to twentyseven, one hundred yards had an

(07:46):
interception, not as fine as game, but again you look at how this
game started. We've talked about KhalilBarnes this season as being one of the
key defensive cogs. This young playerforty two yard fumble return for a touchdown
to start the game in the firstminute of the game. And then of
course Luke Dody one yard touchdown runthe former quarterback now turns Swiss army.

(08:07):
No if that's a twelve play eightyone yard driverdge that ties the game.
And the rest of the scoring waswhites as we talked about and these weren't
chip shots fifty yards, forty nineyards, forty two yards. You can't
say enough about the special teams,Aidan Swanson, pinning them deep. What
a great job beating South Carolina attheir own game, playing bullyball, playing

(08:28):
special teams, but also relying onyour defense and special teams to get it
done. And the running game aswell, with MafA and Shipley, the
two headed monster over two hundred yards, shutting down the run, running the
football. It was central to thisgame. And you can't see enough not
only about this game, but downthe stretch. I guess starting with Notre
Dame would be a good place tolook the turning point. The defense completely

(08:50):
turned this season around for Clemson.Yeah, and then you talk about just
how the season was progressing and obviouslyvery disappointing for the Tigers when you're start
out two and two for the season, but then you also go down to
Miami and you lose in overtime there, and that's a double overtime, I
should say, And that's one ofthose games you're like, that should have

(09:11):
been potential victory. It would havehelped Clemson to have an opportunity for ten
wins this season. But they weren'table to do that. And then the
back to back loss when you loseto NC State after that Miami game,
and so you're thinking, oh,well, this season is completely done.
What are we going to have todo? Is a complete reset for the
Tigers And then obviously the Notre Damegame and they go on the four game

(09:35):
winning streak and now looking for theirfifth consecutive victory to end the season and
finish with nine wins. And remember, I don't think people after the fourth
game. I don't think people gaveClemson a shot at all to be able
to have nine wins this season alland just because it looked dysfunctional. The
offense didn't click, there were somany different things, but the defense was

(10:01):
the stable counterstone or cornerstone I shouldsay, that was able to keep the
Tigers on track. And obviously thatNotre Dame game was the pivotal point and
I did feel that and we talkedabout it. If Clemson could get a
victory in that Notre Dame game,that could propel them to finish out the
season, and they were able todo that. And at the end of

(10:22):
the day, I know the SouthCarolina game might have looked ugly offensively,
but it's a win. It's ahuge win, yeah, and it's on
the road, yes, exactly.So you have to take that into consideration
that sometimes these wins are not goingto look pretty. And we've talked about
it several times, John, howhard it is to win each and every

(10:43):
year. I mean, it isvery difficult. So Clemson is still an
elite status in terms of consistency winningunder Dabo Swinging. Clemson's looking to win
a postseason game for the thirteenth consecutiveseason. The current streak of twelve is
the longest streak on record in majorcollege football history. Just a lot of

(11:03):
history in here too. It's alsothe fiftieth bowl appearance in school history today
at the Gator Bowl, a datethat you look back all the way back
to nineteen forty eight, the firsttrip Clemson may to the Gator Bowl against
Missouri to recap what was an undefeatedseason that year, twenty four to twenty
three win. We'll talk about someof the history of this game later as

(11:26):
we go back in time with RichmondWeaver on this day and some series history
and some bowl history for Clemson inthis Gator Bowl. But obviously a big
win against South Carolina, a bigstretch of wins, and a big move
made a couple of them on thecoaching staff as Chris Rump comes back to
Clemson coaching the defensive line, replacingLemanski Hall and then you get one of

(11:46):
the best offensive line coaches in thecountry. Hats off to Thomas Austin did
a great job here, a greatClemson guy, a lifer. But you
talk about Matt Luke, a guywho showed up in a recruiting trip with
his Georgia National championship bring on acouple of weeks ago, sending a message
that guy has some experience and he'sbeen in some big time programs, and
I think a change was needed there. It's a former SEC head coach,

(12:09):
Yes he is, Yes, awhole message right. You talk about experience,
Yes, I think he has alittle bit of experience and is a
It's an opportunity for Dabo Sweeney toshowcase once again that you might view Dabo
Sweeney at times as Gallio Shucks typeof guy. He's competitive, he wants

(12:31):
to win, and he has He'svery intentional about things that he does with
this program, and that's why itis in the spot that it is because
he's not a willy nilly type ofguy, and he understands that, Hey,
sometimes you have to make the toughdecisions and have to be able to
pull the trigger on changes within yourstaff. And obviously we've seen that over

(12:58):
the years, when you're bringing ina Brent Vana, when you're bringing in
a Garrett Riley, when you're bringingin a Chad Morris, and now when
you're bringing in even from her perspectiveof a Matt Luke and Chris Rohm.
Well, coming up next, WillVandervoord joins us from on site down there
at the Gator Bowl, giving usan inside look, and let's talk with
him about some of the players thatare moving on from Clemson and some of

(13:18):
the guys that'll backfill. Obviously,the NFL Draft comes calling around the corner
a few months. Jerebi Trotter,Nate Wiggins, rook a row Row among
those Clemson greats who will enter theNFL Draft. And you've got some big
names including Dominique Thomas, Saginis,Bo Collins and others. And Andrew mccooba
hitting the portal. It's business incollege football these days. It's unavoidable,

(13:39):
but we'll see what's next for Clemson. We'll get the full breakdown from Will
Vandervort. We got Melissa Level inthe house from Inglesh. He's gonna join
us here later in the hour totalk about all Ingles is doing in your
community and much much more. We'relive at the Ingles and Powdersville ten nine
oh three Anderson Road. I'm JohnEllist's Richmond Weaver. The Ingles Tailgates Show
rolls on right here on ninety twopoint FIVESC. This is the Ingles Tailgate

(14:03):
Show on ninety two point five We sc now. Here are your hosts,
John Ellis and Richmond Weaver as weroll on an early morning edition of

(14:30):
the Ingles Kailgate Show. Come onout and join us with the Ingles and
Powdersville ten nine oh three Anderson Road. And we have a spread for you
ready here veggie tray, we gotwraps, we got everything you need,
and a cake that's got our faceson it. Yes, I said that
right, a cake with our faceson it. You want to come see
that? At least in Richmond's case, you would. I don't know about
me. Thank you, kyn thanksto Melissa Level the entire team at Ingles

(14:54):
for their hospitality is always It's lookinggreat, my friend, Absolutely fantastic.
And the beautiful thing about this toois that you still have time. If
you need tailgating options, get toyour local Engles. They can make things
happen at a moment's notice, soyou still have plenty of time this morning
and be ready for game time atnoon. Game time noon EverBank Stadium,

(15:16):
the house that Trevor Lawrence and TravisEtn are building right now, live down
on site right now. It's ourgood friend Will Vanderford from The Clemson Insider.
He joins us every week with aninside look getting us prepped for this
Gator Bowl of bowl the Clemson hasa long history of playing in and having
success in this game. Will,Happy holidays, my friend, Welcome to

(15:37):
the show. Hey guys, happyfortieth sixth anniversary or hate punch? Yes
that's right, Hey, we're savingthat for OTD. Yes, Oh my
goodness, that's all right. Well, hosting, of course the Believing Clemson
Football Podcast as well, and Iknow you're you're partner in crime there.
Levon Kirkland got him off a greatgig. With Clemson again and you'll be

(16:03):
parting ways with him on the podcast. But I heard your December ninth episode.
I actually drove in this morning listento it, and I heard the
Woody Hayes comment, and I wasthinking to myself, he had totally forgotten
that was part of this series historyhere in terms of the Gator Bowl.
But well, let's take a lookback at what happened the Rent Collection game.
Is Levon Kirkland called it South CarolinaClemson. You don't call it the
pal Metal Bowl, so I'll adviseothers not to as well. But it

(16:26):
was a game that was all aboutdefense. And how about Jonathan Whites knocking
three forty five plus yard field goalshome in that game. Just your impressions
not only of Whites's day, butthe defense just starting it out with Khalil
Barnes and that fumble recovery for atouchdown. Yeah, Whites will go into
the Willie Underwood kind of lore atClemson when it comes to the South Carolina

(16:51):
game because of that performance. Andfor those people who don't know who Willy
Underwood is, shame on you ifyou're a Clemson fan. I think obviously
he had a similar type game backin nineteen eighty when Clemson first don the
Orange fans for the first time.But yeah, it was an unbelievable performance
because let's be honest, I mean, he hasn't made kicks like that all
year. So if you're South Carolinaand you probably would have told Shane Beemer,

(17:17):
hey, you're going to hold Clemsonwithout an offensive touchdown, Biemer is
probably thinking we're winning because he's not. He's not banking on forty plus field
goals from from Jonathan White. Souh, just a great performance by that
young man, come through in theclutch, made the clutch kicks there,
and that's so happy for him.It's a great story altogether. And like
I said, he'll go down toClemson Lowre forever because of those kicks and

(17:41):
what it meant in beating the gameCocks and keeping Carolina at home. It's
kind of funny one of the jokes, you know, kind of us with
the Clemsons, the regular Clyms ofmedia. There's a lot of media that
came from Columbia, I guess becausethey had nothing else to do this time
of the year, so they're downhere for Clymson as well. So it's
kind of it's kind of funny ifpeople we haven't seen all year to the
Austra So it's kind of funny,you know, you know, so we

(18:06):
make the jokes about that. SoClemson did its part there to where it
monopolized the media sports media market forat least one month in the state of
South Carolina. There you go,winning the Palmoda Bowl of the Media.
I guess you could say this willVandervoort for the Clemton Insider. This is
the tenth appearance that Clinton will makein the Gator Bowl. And obviously a

(18:27):
lot of history with this game,and it's in Jacksonville. You've got Trevor,
Lawrence, Travis, etn some Clemsongreats down there playing for the Jacksonville
Jaguars. It's full circle. AndI heard you talking about this in your
podcast as well. That look ona personal note, covering this team,
you didn't want to go to theHoliday Bowl. You didn't want it to
fly out there right after Christmas.How special is it for you covering this

(18:48):
team for so many years and forClemson fans as well, to be going
back to Jacksonville. I think itwas the right fit given where they were
not only throughout the season where theystruggled early, but coming back and winning
those last four games. I thinkit's the right fit. It is.
I mean, you know, thefunny story is that people that Gator Bowl
were describing the whole saga of thea CC that day at bowl selection Sunday

(19:12):
and Clemson. A Clemson official wason its way out out to San Diego
to kind of get the logistics downwhen Old Miss was selected for the New
Year six, which the Gator Bowlwas gonna take Old Miss. When that
happened, it messed things up becauseI don't know what the reason was with
the Pop Start Bowl, but theydidn't want Louisville really and so, uh,

(19:36):
the the Gator Bowl could not takeLouisville because Kentucky was already selected to
the SEC at that point. Toselect Kentucky fell into this slot. So
they're like, well, you know, so it really came became a battle
of who wanted you know, theHoliday Bowl wanted Clemson and so to the
Gator Bowl. But the Gator Bowlended up winning out because of the Kentucky
Louisville rematch that that the Cater Bowldid not want. So so it worked

(20:00):
out for Clemson and they're down hereand they've had They've made it a great
uh you know, it's a nice, beautiful day. It'll be about fifty
four to fifty five degrees from hightoday, but mostly sunny for those people
that are maybe traveling down or listeningdown here on the iHeartRadio app. As
you guys like to say. Soyou know, it's thank you, sir,
good blood, thank you. It'sgonna be a beautiful day down here

(20:22):
in Jacksonville. So I think it'sa perfect fit for Clemson. This is
a game they wanted to be in. I mean, they would have been
fine if they guys they went tothe holiday bollet course, but this was
the game they were eye in oncethey knew that obviously weren't gonna make the
Caall Football playoffs. This is theone they were looking at. As Will
Vandervoord is our guest here on atthe Eagles Tailgate show and also co host

(20:45):
of the Believe in Clemson podcast,and so Will. One of the things
though, that I thinks have tobe a challenge for you, is just
keeping up with who's actually going tobe playing in these games for both teams
and even across college football. Sohow challenging has that been trying to keep
roster management from a journalist perspective inorder? Yeah, for for Kentucky has

(21:08):
not been as hard most of theirguys, and they admitted it. Ray
Davis said yesterday in the press conferencethat the only reason he's playing in this
game is because they're playing Clempson,other than he is looking forward to playing
with his team. But he says, when they found out they're playing Clemson,
he's like, yeah, I'm onplay in this game because he felt
like this would be a good measuringstick for where he's at and where the
program's at. And also a coupleother guys that played from the team that's

(21:33):
that that that we're gonna that aregonna go pro that could have opted out,
they decided they wanted to play inthis game as well. So not
as much on the Kentucky side,but on the Clemson side, it's been
you know, you, Jeremiah Trotterof course announced he's going pro and it's
not gonna play Nate Wiggins Rooke ofroll rou those are three big losses on
defense, and then of course youhad uh transferport guys, you know,

(21:56):
on the offensive side, Boath Collinsa big, big loss for plumbson that
at the wide receiver positions, andthen he you know, he transferred another
dame. On the defensive side,you got started safety Andrew mccouba, who
transferred to Texas. He also lost, you know, because you got Nate
Wiggins gone already, and you've gota couple of guys that are injured and

(22:17):
Jade and Lucas and those guys thathad surgery that won't play in this game
because of that. Uh, thenyou lose you know, another receiver,
another cornerback into the portal and thatthat kind of you know, reserve guy,
but would have helped with depth.And so he's out of the game,
not playing. So you know,some kind of manage the roster a

(22:37):
little bit different than most. Andbut I think, you know, they
feel good about whether there at youknow, they they like Sheldon Lewis is
going to start at one corner spot, and so is and so is Avion
Terrell at the other those guys haveplayed this year, played well. They
like that. Of course, you'reimmediately gonna move Wade wood As over to
the weak side linebacker middle linebacker spotto replace there Mike Trotter. Obviously he's

(23:03):
played the same position mostly. Soyou see what I mean to see what
kind of defensive formation because Kentucky wantsto run the ball, they want to
be physical. Does Clinton come outin a traditional four to three and then
if that's the case, that thatmeans Jamal Anderson is probably your starting SAM
linebacker. Or do they come outin a four to two defense and they
have an extra nickelback And if that'sthe case, and you've got Khalil Barnes

(23:26):
will come in and be starting atthat position. So it'll be interesting what
the how how he starts this game. Kentucky. They don't they don't throw
the ball very well, and theydon't run it really well either, guys.
It's it's a it's a very weirdthing when you look at Kentucky because
Ray Davis is third in the SECand rushing yards with one thousand and sixty

(23:47):
six. He's averaging almost six yardsper carry, but as a team,
Kentucky's only averaging for something for somethingyards per carry and only one hundred and
thirty yards a game. It's aweird anominaly because you look at him and
think they're but they really haven't runthe ball very well at all this year
other than Ray Davis. And what'salso interesting, Will that the narrative,
as you talked about, just froma perspective, that Ray Davis is wanting

(24:11):
to play in this game even thoughhe has entered the opportunity of you know,
NFL draft talks and all of that. But we keep hearing the narrative
though, Will, that these bowlgames don't mean anything. These players don't
want to play. I think we'reseeing that there are still scenarios out there
that college football is still going tobe okay, There are all right that

(24:34):
the demise is not here, Will, because there are players that still they
understand that these bowl games do meansomething. Yeah, it's it's nice guy
kind of mentality, right, andyou know you are going to have guys
like Will Shipley and Barrett Carter playingtoday. You know, Will still has
to make his decision on what he'sgonna do, but he wanted to play

(24:55):
in the bowl game. When welook at Brett Carter, guy decided to
come back. And so this gameis a big one for him because there
are gonna be NFL scouts watching thisgame at this game today. And because
when you got Tyler Davis, thereanother guy who's a senior could have went
on and got ready for the NFLlike Ruth did, but he decided to
come back and play this game andfinish out his his career. Xavier Thomas

(25:18):
is another guy that could have leftand you know, played in another game,
but he decided, you know,he wanted to play one more game
for Clemson. And his reason wasbecause Davo has done so much for him
and and and seeing him through alot of the ups and downs of his
career that he felt like he owedClemson one more game and o coach Sweeney
one more game to finish it outand go out on the right note.

(25:40):
So there's there are those, youknow, those guys that are still want
to play and and and again don'twant to take anything away from a guy
like Jeremiah Triver either or Nate Wiggins. Those guys are gonna be first Those
guys are gonna be first round picks. We get it. It's a business
decision, but it is like yousaid, Richmond, there are guys that
still want to play, and theystill want to finish out their careers in

(26:02):
a bowl game. And then possiblyget their team another win and go out
on a high note and get theteam set up for next year. So
you know you're going to have thatevery year. You know, it comes
down to what's the best interest ofthe individual player in those other moments,
but when they get down here,it's all about playing this game and trying
to figure out where they can geta win. We'll just quickly before we

(26:25):
let you go here, a coupleof coaching changes, and this is the
second year in a row that DablisSweety and the Tigers have made this move.
Here you're talking to position coaches now, bringing in Matt Luke to coach
the offensive line, and then ChrisRump, a familiar name, to coach
the defensive line. The backstory behindbringing these coaches in, and we talked

(26:45):
about it earlier. Matt Liuke comingfrom Georgia, already showing off the national
championship, bring on recruiting trips,and he's been a head coach in the
SEC. Just the thinking behind thesemoves as Dablsweeney continues to beef up this
coaching staff. Yeah, the ChrisRutt move is not surprising in the sense
that Dabo had already talked with themanchet All and they they already had kind
of agreed that they were going togo ahead and make a change there.

(27:08):
So that that's not as surprising asthe uh as that Matt Luke one that
he made a change with Thomas Austinat defensive excuse me that offensive line.
But you know, it just happenedright after the South Caroline game. He's
had a couple of days to evaluatethe team, evaluate the offensive line,
and he cited that, you know, there needed to be a change,

(27:29):
you know, at that coaching position, and so he went with the change.
And he got a guy like MattLuke available who dad was in friends
with for years, going back totheir Alabama going back to his Alabama days
and known them and they just knownhim for a long time, and and
he just he knew he was availableand said, hey, look, is
this the right time for you tocome back. He's the first guy he
reached out to and he said,yeah, I would love to come back.

(27:51):
This is a perfect place and workedout for Clemson, and it's the
guy who brings a head coaching experiencein you bring a lot of other things
to the factor. Recruiting one ofthe top recruiters in the country when he's
been out there and and you know, just a lot of things. He's
a lot of things he brings tothe table from the offensive line unit,
and it's going to be interesting tosee how going forward the offensive line is.

(28:12):
And today we're gonna get an ideaof what they you know, what
they look like with a couple ofweeks of coaching under Matt Luks. You
can find him at Steeler Will onTwitter slash x and of course, good
luck to your Steelers this week,and congratulations is Mason Rudolph shined a little
light on your holiday season with them, if you will. Amazing win for

(28:33):
the Steelers. But of course he'sat the Clemson Insider. It's wil Vandervoort
covering the Clemson Tigers day live fromthe Gator Bowl. Thanks for an inside
look as always, my friend.And happy New Year too, all right,
guys, appreciate you man. We'lltalk to you later. Happy news
y'all too. There he goes willVandervoord from The Clemson Insider, giving us
the inside look at Clemson against Kentucky, the fiftieth bowl game for Clemson in

(28:56):
their storied football history. Will takea deeper look around the ACC coming up
next. Certainly a conference has hada lot of buzz, a lot of
conversation, and it's been a partof a lot of bowl games already in
this bowl season. How they lookso far, well up and down,
mixed results. We'll talk about that. We'll preview Florida State Georgia coming up
in a big game in a coupleof days. That's Richmond Weaver. I'm
John Ellis. We're live from theIngles ten nine oh three Anderson Road in

(29:19):
Powdersville. Come out and join usuntil nine am right here on ninety two
point five WSC. This is theIngles Tailgate Show on ninety two point five
w E SSE. Oh yeah,the sun is rising out here in the

(29:48):
beautiful Powdersville. We're live to theIngles ten nine oh three Anderson Road.
Come on out and see us rightoff Highway one fifty three. We got
an amazing tail getting spread. Comejoin us, Come help us devour some
of what's in front of us here, because we cannot eat at all,
Richmond, we we can't. It'sjust it's like a beautiful spread. We'll
try to say that we're going togive it our best effort, though,

(30:11):
I promise Shuttle College try. Speakingof college, we got college football all
over the tube today, but don'tforget the big one today is the Gator
Bowl presented by tax Slayer. Youwant to tune into the Clemson Athletic Network
and you can lock it right hereon ninety two point five WSC as Don
Munson, Timburray, and Reggie Merriweather. We'll have you on the call there.
All time series. We'll go overthat later on this day with Richmond.

(30:33):
We were some notable moments for Clemsonfootball on this day and we'll talk
more about the series history, notonly with Kentucky, but in this bowl
game. It's the tenth trip alltime Clemson has made down to Jacksonville.
In this I would say, verytraditional game for Clemson. They've been in
this game many times. We talkedabout the Woody Hayes game. Clemson fans

(30:56):
remember that when taking a swing.Oh, listening to some popodcast on the
way in and they were talking aboutwhen Keith Jackson was calling the game for
ABC. He didn't even realize itat the time. Was Keith said,
Oh, we got a little scufflebreaking out on the sidelines. No,
that's a coach swinging to Clemson manand crazy story does how that played out?
And obviously a legendary coach in WoodyHayes and the tarnish on his legacy

(31:21):
ending his career that way obviously notsomething that he was proud of in that
moment. But Clemson and Ohio Stateand the Gator Bowl will always be connected
based on that play, no doubtabout it. Whip around the ACC real
quick. Obviously, there's a tonof ACC teams that have already played bowl
games. You got a couple ofteams left that are doing so. Clemson

(31:41):
of course, and then Florida State, who won the ACC championship thirteen to
zero, eight to zero in theconference taking down Louisville and what, let's
just face it was a bit ofan ugly game expected to be just that
with the weather conditions and with thequarterback situation Jordan Travis. Obviously that was
a terrible injury for him. Thetiming was tear And look, there's a
whole narrative we've already gone over withthe college football playoffs, and I don't

(32:04):
think we can exhaust that enough atthis point, but certainly congratulations to Florida
State for going undefeated the rest ofthe ACC. You look at what's happening
so far. I caught a fewgames yesterday that included ACC game A SEC
teams by the way, and oneof the more impressive stories I think has
been Boston College what they've done withThomas Castellanos at quarterback Richmond the game he

(32:25):
had against of course, a verygood SMU team at the Wasabi Finway Ball
And I just found out recently Wasabithis is a technologies company. I thought
that's just Wasabi like avocados, likeI think the world now is understanding,
or at least the college football worldis understanding that was Sabi is a tech
company rather than that they could havewith your sushi, which I do love

(32:51):
some sushi, so I do understandWassabi. But yeah, a great scenario
played out there for Boston College tobe able to get that win against a
good team. Now, again,these bowl games are obviously different because of
transfers and people opting out all ofthat, so it is a little bit
different to where you have different rostersthere based on what you saw in the

(33:12):
regular season, and even some injuriesalso played out. But you know another
team that I feel that surprised alot of people in a great way for
them to finish their season was alsoVirginia Tech absolutely geting the big win against
Tulane and a Tulane team that alot of people were talking about flying under
the radar. Now, they didn'tfinish the season strong, but this was

(33:32):
a very good Tulane team. Butwhat Virginia Tech was able to do with
that forty one to twenty victory therein the Military Bowl presented by go Bowling
dot Com that I felt that wasa fantastic win and again another strong finish
for an ACC team. And sothis is what's interesting. This is from

(33:54):
David Hale, who I love withESPN, and obviously he's an eight ACC
guy, a reporter following the ACC. So based on Boston College and Virginia
Tech getting their Bowl victories, theACC now finished the season with ten teams

(34:15):
posting a winning record, and that'sthe second time that they've been able to
do it in the playoff era.It happened with eleven teams in twenty and
sixteen that posted a winning record.No other conference other than the SEC has
done that in the last ten years. So the SEC has done it three
times in twenty fourteen, two thousandand fifteen, in two thousand and eighteen.

(34:38):
But that just showcases again. Iknow the ACC just from a bowl
perspective, has not fared very welloverall as a conference. But when you
look at just the I guess thedepth of the conference in terms of teams
that are good teams, the ACCis right up there with the SEC.

(34:58):
And I don't think the AC hegets enough credit. If you're into again
talking about what means more, isit the conference or the teams? So
there is that side of it.Also, I talked to our good friend
an east Shroth. You and Iboth know nischwell. He covers the Carolina
Panthers, calls their games, andhe's a prominent member of the ESPN Played
by Play family. And last weekwhen I saw him up there covering the

(35:22):
Panthers against Green Bay, a goodgame by the way, he talked about
his disappointment that he was not coveringthe Duke's Mayo Bowl this year, but
he was calling another game, yes, the pop Tarts Balls. So what
was said here is you had acouple of ACC teams that didn't get to
either get the Mayo bat or tastethe first annimal mascot of all time.
Did you see that last night?With the pop tart? The mass part

(35:44):
goes into the toaster comes out andthey're playing hot Stuff in the background the
song and the thing comes out,and of course Kansas State their staff,
their players are picking apart this lifesize, man size version of a pop
tart, which you can find hereat Ingles. By the way, low
price is the savings. That wasa great game for Kansas State, but
NC State on the short end ofthat stick, and then North Carolina and

(36:05):
the Duke's mail by obviously Drake made. That's tough to lose him he opts
out, but Neil Brown a Companycongratulate them. They get a thirty to
ten win in mac Brown just can'tseem to get over the hump here of
late. I know it's tough whenyou lose your quarterback, but defensively,
they had a really hard time slowingdown Green, the quarterback for West Virginia,
who had an outstanding game. Andboy, those West Virginia fans they

(36:27):
travel, they definitely travel. AndWest Virginia is a good team that I
think surprised some people this past season, and unfortunately, as you talked about
mac Brown, he has this history, this track record of starting fast and
just not able to finish a season, and we saw that play out in
this twenty twenty three season once againfor mac Brown obviously getting the victory to

(36:51):
start the season against South Carolina therein Charlotte, and then continued a nice
run until the last four games ofthe season and has just struggled from that
perspective and has not been able tohave any type of consistency on the defensive
side. And you were thinking thatmaybe this was the year that they did

(37:13):
shore things up on defense, butonce again that seemed to be their achilles
hill. Yeah. Other ACC Bowlgames that have happened so far, the
roofplaim dot Com Boca Raton Bowl Syracusea tough outing for them, forty five
nothing they fall to South Florida Backon the twenty first. The twenty second
though about Georgia Tech continuing their momentum. A thirty to seventeen win over UCF

(37:35):
in the Union Home Mortgage Gas RillaBowl. Duke gets a big Bowl win
over the City for Troy in theseventy six Birmingham Bowl. So congratulations to
that program. With Mike Elco headingout the door to Texas A and m
now in Louisville, the runner upsin the ACC obviously a tough one for
them in this bowl game. Theylose forty two to twenty eight. Miller
Moss steps in for Caleb Williams andthrows for six touchdowns Richman, and that

(38:00):
was what was very impressive. AndI think when you look at Southern Cow
Lincoln Riley, he knows how tocoach offense. He's got the offense working
and clicking on all cylinders. Doesn'tmatter what quarterback, it's the defensive side.
But when you can score forty twopoints, your defense doesn't have to
do a whole lot. And Ithink that was, you know, part

(38:22):
of that story. And now you'restarting to see the narrative though, just
in terms of when you talk aboutFlorida State and then being left out and
people talking about, well, lookwhat Southern Cow was able to do against
Louisville and this is a backup quarterbackand Florida State was not able to do
anything against Louisville's defense there in thea SEC Championship game other than they did

(38:47):
win the game exactly. Does itmatter the score? As long as you
score one more point than your opponent, then you we'll get the victory.
And that's why I don't put awhole lot of stock into how you have
to win a game. It's allabout winning the game. Now, obviously

(39:10):
we have seen it does from afan perspective, Yes, it's great when
your offense can score thirty five ormore points or game and your defense only
gives up ten points a game.Yeah, that looks great and it makes
it fun when you have those typeof games where your offense is clicking and
it seems easy. But at theend of the day, it's all about

(39:32):
wins and getting that victory. Andso again I don't buy into the narrative
that just this transitive property we knowin sports, it doesn't always work that
way. So just because Southern cowwas able to put up forty two points
on Louisville and Florida State was notable to, does it mean that Florida
State now is a terrible team.No, it does not. And we'll

(39:54):
see Florida State, of course comingup tomorrow in the Orange Bowl Clemson.
There. Last year Florida State getsthe NOD this year against a very good
twelve and one Georgia team with CarsonBeck and company in that game. Lastly,
here we've got to talk about thebad Boy Mowers Pinstrike Bowl, where
Rutgers got the best of Miami.That sort of recaps the acc action so

(40:15):
far in the Bowl season. We'llhit a break, we'll come back.
We're joined by a special guest fromIngles Markets. Director of Advertising and Marketing,
Melissa Level joins us. She's onsite here as we continue with the
Ingles Tailgate Show live from the Inglesin Powdersville. Come on out and see
us. We are here until nineam. Folks live on ninety two point
five. We sc this is theIngles Tailgate Show on ninety two point five

(40:40):
w E SSE now Here are yourhosts, John Ellis, I'm Richmond Weaver.
Well, if you're waking up toa beautiful sunrise and the upstake,

(41:05):
you got to come on down toten nine oh three Anderson Road, the
beautiful Ingles location in Powdersville. We'rein the corner cafe surrounded by I would
say here's a big word for yourcacoffony ye a Symphony. Excuse me,
bless you of wonderful tailgating items hereh and that is provided by none other

(41:25):
than our good friend Melissa Level andher wonderful staff here from Ingles Melissa.
Welcome to the show. Hi,Happy Bowl Day, Happy day Day Day.
You guys are gonna win this one. Well, we're hoping. So
it's in Kentucky. A good teamin the right but Clinston, of course,
has had a heck of a seasoncoming back, some ups and downs.

(41:45):
First of all, happy holidays,Happy holidays. And you have all
your players, you don't have toworry about the transfer stuff. Well there's
a few that had transfer. There'sa few. Now I feel I'm just
being funny because my Florida State Seminolesare playing with the high school football team
today tomorrow tomorrow. Yes, honesty, that is a big game for Florida
State. And you're a huge Seminalsfan, and I want to talk to

(42:05):
you in a minute about obviously theirseason and what transpired at the a SEC
Championship. But this is season fourwrapping up here of angles Tailgates Show.
Can you believe it's been four years? What a great place you know,
this was our very first spot becamearound for a circle and you guys know,
you're all all signed up for nextyear too, so it's going to
start. Thank you. Thank youall signed up for next year, and

(42:27):
we're going to have a wonderful time, you know what. And it's done
everything. You guys are so amazingand you're such great ambassadors for not only
the radio station and Clemson, butAngles as well, and you do such
a terrific job for the community.We thank you so much for the bottom
of ours. Happy new year toboth of you, and we just look
for more fun and more opportunities foryou guys in twenty twenty four. So

(42:49):
thank you so much everything you dothe other way around. Thank you for
the opportunity. I know we arevery blessed. It is a again that
we've talked about. It just afull circle moment and life for me were
My very first job was that aningles as a bad boy. Yes,
exciting. Yeah, you don't getto work now produce. I got promoted

(43:10):
to produce. Amazing. You couldbe president of the company because you know
president started off as a bad boywhen he was sixteen years Yeah, we've
got bigger things for you. Okay, yes, fantastic, all right.
Well, Ingles obviously central to thiscommunity and the commitment not only to your
partnership with iHeartRadio in sports in general, talk about that ongoing commitment in the

(43:31):
world of sports here locally and regionally. It's just been amazing to see,
well, you know, it's it'sreally amazing because so much of people's feelings
and emotions and things that happen intheir lives wraps around either their children being
involved in sports, their previous sportingcareer, or an alumni or a place
that they went to college or placethey went to high school. That is

(43:52):
such an important part of the indeliblebranding that you have, and so of
course that's one of the reasons weget involved in that, but also in
our communities. Our stores are likesmall beacons in our communities. Sure,
you know, we really so we'dreally celebrate the fact that we support the
local communities we're in, and sohigh schools and colleges. A lot of

(44:12):
our people that work here play sports, okay, or go to those high
schools, or go to college,or when they come out of college,
they come into work for for Ingles. We have some terrific you know,
professional jobs from corporate all the wayinto the store level. So it is
really a great way for us tocommunicate with the people that we that are
we see every day, you know, all the time. And of course
sports are fun, you know.I mean you can't do sports without food.

(44:36):
That's right. You have to havefood connection. It's really perfect and
I think Ingles does that so well. You can see behind us what that
is. How incredible that is thatwe can put that spread together and we
can do it immediately. You don'thave to like order it ten days in
advance. Come in. You cango up to any of our food bars
and make it yourself, or justgo up to the Delhi or the bakery.
We even have the cool photo caake. I don't know if you saw

(44:57):
that yet. Oh yes, welove that, right you because you guys
are so incredible. Yeah, letme just let folks know there was a
cake here. You can come outand see a ten I know, three
Anderson Road, and it's got theentire Engles tailgates. You'll cast on it,
that's right. I saw myself onit and said, you know what,
I don't look that great, butthe cake looks amazing, So bless
you for that. That's an amazingcake. That's amazing, Thank you.

(45:22):
That's all edible. So we're gonnahave you guys for lunch. Okay,
I'm blessing now, I'm blessing allright. So it's a horrific job,
and thank you so much. Butthis is such an integral part of it
because we can't communicate what we doin the field of sports, and we
can't promote our business and your businessand the schools without having this communication right

(45:43):
and having you come into our stores, be here so our customers can be
part of the excitement and be partof the show is really wonderful. We
invite y'all to come over. Wegot a great spread out. Yes,
everybody can have a little bite toeat. It's wonderful. We love having
our customers come out and see you. I think that's a big part of
it, just the community aspect ofit, and that's what we love and
we love that you are allowing usto broadcast here. Just be involved.

(46:07):
If I mean you guys go youknow, you're in there in their radios
all the time from the beginning ofthe season through and and then a course
on a daily basis. As well. But you're in there and you've got
this opportunity to come meet you guysand see you all in person, and
yes, come on down. Didyou take it for sure? Ten nine
oh three Anderson Road in Powders Allrun up one fifty three My favorite of
locations because the spaciousness of a randomformat is beautiful. That was great,

(46:29):
all right? So lastly, let'stalk a little football. Your Florida State
seminals against Georgia tomorrow. I knowthere was some disappointment there, but we're
kind of moving on here and wefocus in on Georgia. You're moving on
well, but hey, the flooris yours. You got about two minutes
here, thought going to play theTallahassee High School. Yeah, the best
option that we have. Unfortunately,take a Ronmaker. Our second string decided

(46:52):
to back out just of last week, so we have Brock and Ome.
You guys should do well against Kentucky. He did well again them, and
I think that you have a lotbetter position in that quarterback and in your
your defense. Great against Kentucky Leuisville. I mean, Kentucky can't play that,
you know, they just can't playthat kind of defense. But I
do think that that it's going tobe a sad opportunity for I hope we

(47:15):
win. Yeah, and if Imean, I'm going to prove for them,
I'm pull for them. But theodds are against us because Georgia didn't
keep a lot of their players thatwe're dedicated to stay and we didn't,
And I think that I don't knowwhat the purpose is behind that. A
lot of it's probably disappointment. Alot of it are just touched. Terrific
players going to NFL. They don'trisk the injury that kind of thing.

(47:37):
Transfer portal did we have seventeen thatof our starters are not going to be
there to know, that's a tough. But here's the beautiful thing about sports.
You just never you got to playthe game to play the game.
Look at Alabama, they nobody thoughtthey could be Georgia. And I will
say this, if we win thisgame and one of the two teams that
has a loss wins the National Championshiphave claiming it for we'll be undefeated fourteen

(48:04):
and hey, you know, raisethe flag, Yeah, raise it anyway,
We salute you. Melissa's gonna havea great day today. I think
it's gonna be terrific. It's gonnabeautiful sunny day and it's great. Yes,
sun right now, that's a greatplace to play. I've been to
the Gatorbol bunch of dives. It'sa lot of fun. It's always a
sunny day with Melissa Levels. Yeah, thank you so much for all you
do here on the english Gate Show. You, oh your listeners and all

(48:27):
our great customers and all those fansthat are coming out every week to see
you at the stadium. Too awesome. Always good to have you, Melissa
Level. Thank you for all youdo. Thank you from Ingles Market.
She does it all Richmond. Youknow that's here exactly. She's the yeah,
the maestro. Yeah, I wasgoing to try to think of a
different word, but yes, thatis correct. Coming up next, more
of the Ingles Tailgate Show as wego back in time on this day in

(48:47):
Clemson history and to look at GatorBowl history. As we'll get you set
for this big game today on theIngles Tailgate Show, I need two point
five s, E, A,M and F M. Green, Spartanburg,
Anderson. We're talking Clemson Tigers andgetting you ready for a college football
Saturday and this un Ingles Tailgate Showis brought to you by Ingles Markets,

(49:10):
low prices, love the Savings,Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative, Harley Davidson of
Greenville, Greer Flooring Center, theSurgery Center at Pelham, a Key Heating
in Air, and Pala Meadow StateArmory. Now here are your hosts,
John Ellis and Richmond Weavers. It'sreally early here in the morning for some,

(49:37):
but not for us. We're livefrom the Ingles in Powdersville and there's
a party going on here. Wegot a full house here in the corner
cafe. Come on out because thereare fixings goor We got tailgate fixings for
you. We got the boneless wings, You've got a cake with our faces
on it. You've got nachos,You've got the veggie tray. You got
it all going on on the InglesTailgate Show. That's Richmond Weaver. I'm

(49:59):
John. Let's get you for theGator Bowl coming up at noon eastern right
here on ninety two point five WSC. You went real southern there. We
you know me from the South,just like you'm a friend, right And
the Tigers going south today down toJacksonville, a game they've played in now
ten times when you count today's matchupagainst Kentucky in the twenty twenty three tax

(50:22):
Slayer Gator Bowl. It's at EverBankStadium down there in Jacksonville. Obviously,
we're gonna break down the matchup betweenClemson and Kentucky. Some of the key
players. They've got themselves. Arunning back down there in Ray Davis,
you got to look out for him. And a quarterback that's got some familiar
tone, some familiar game to him. And Devin Leary we've seen him before

(50:42):
from time to time. Is inc State days. We'll go through that.
We'll also walk through the college footballplayoffs. We'll preview that for you,
give you a sense of what wethink will happen when these four teams
face off coming up on New Year'sDay. Gonna be exciting playoffs of course,
come on tomorrow. Yeah, Ilove it. That's one of the
best clips of all time. Thegreat Jim Mora, who I saw,

(51:05):
by the way, on a coverageI believe he's doing network coverage for the
Saints now and he's still looking good. He sounds good. And he was
on another rant after their lost acouple of weeks ago doing the post game,
which is always great, Jim Mooreone of the best of all time.
But without further ado, one ofmy favorite segments of the week.
Let's do this our final edition thisyear of OTD on this Day with Richmond

(51:29):
Weaver, sire up the DeLorean,have time to take a trip down memory
lane. Lead O me load.It's OTD on this Day and Clemson football
history. Here's Richmond Weaver as wewind down this twenty twenty three season,

(51:52):
that we do need to take theopportunity and reflect back on what happened in
Clemson football history on this day,December twenty ninth. And Will Vandervoort kind
of stole my thunder a little bitearlier when we had him on. What
was he doing talking about ot doingsomething against Will pulls on us nineteen seventy
eight. Yes, it is theforty fifth anniversary where Clemson was able to

(52:14):
beat Ohio State seventeen to fifteen atthe Gator Bowl in Danny Ford's first game
as head coach. And it wasalso Woody Hayes's final game at Ohio State
and the winning touchdown was scored byfreshman Cliff Austin, who scored a critical
touchdown three years later in Clemson's nationalchampionship win against Nebraska in the Orange Bowl.

(52:36):
But it was Charlie Bawman who madethe key play. Bowman who made
the key play with an interception withjust two minutes left, and he ran
the return out of bounds on theOhio State sideline, and there he was
punched by the head coach, WoodyHayes, who was not happy. He
had enough that it took matters intohis own hands. Oh boy, but

(52:57):
it is the victory for the ClemsonTigers. And on December twenty ninth.
In twenty and fourteen, Clemson concludedthe season with its tenth victory that year,
a forty to six win over numbertwenty four Oklahoma. Cole Stout would
earn MVP honors by throwing three hundredand nineteen yards in three touchdowns as a

(53:17):
Tigers. Thirty four point win tieda school record for victory margin over a
ranked opponent, and the win gaveClemson three straight bowl wins over opposing coaches
that had won a national championship previously, the first in college football. His
story, Yeah, and Cole Stout, remember that was the season Deshaun Watson

(53:39):
was injured and cole Stout had tocome in there and finish that season.
A great job there by cole Stout, and in twenty and eighteen, Clemson
appeared in the Cotton Bowl for thefirst time since January the first, nineteen
forty and Clemson would beat Notre Damethirty to three in the College Football Playoffs

(54:00):
final game. That represented the firstmatchup of undefeated teams in college football Playoff
history. That's crazy when you thinkabout it, that the first time two
undefeated teams had met. Now,I know the College Football Playoff didn't start
until twenty fourteen, but still thatyou would think that when you've only got
four teams, a lot of thoseteams are going to be undefeated. All
right? How about this twenty twentyone, two years ago, despite being

(54:23):
out without the services of thirty scholarshipplayers from its initial camp roster, Clemson
was able to win a battle againstIowa State twenty to thirteen in the cheese
At Bowl in Orlando, and itwas able to extend its consecutive ten win
seasons to eleven. And the winwas Dabos Sweeney's one hundred and fiftieth in

(54:46):
one hundred and eighty six career games, making him the sixth fastest head coach
in FBS history and the fourth fastestin the modern era to reach one hundred
and fifty career So Clemson is fourto one all time in games played on
December twenty nine, including wins ineach of the last three December twenty ninth

(55:09):
games. There we go, okay, so that's a good omen Tigers.
We liked twelve twenty nines twelve twentynine day. Of course, in bowl
history and in postseason history, justin Clemson history, a lot of good
stuff to look at their Richmond wewere with on this day. And what
strikes me about a couple of thesegames. You mentioned that Cotton Bowl back
in twenty eighteen. Isaiah Simmons wasall over the field. Remember how well

(55:31):
he was in coverage on the tightends there that they had in Notre Dame.
That was sort of a wake upcall. And again he's had his
ups and downs in the NFL,but to be a top ten prospect that
was a big selling port for scoutsto say, boy, that's Simmons kid.
He can do it all. Andthen we also started saying again justin
ross what he was able to dohis freshman year, and Trevor Lawrence obviously
would then help the Tigers go onto win the National Championship in the final

(55:57):
there against Alabama, and seeing whenaj Terrell get the big key interception against
Alabama to start the scoring for theTigers, and the scoring would continue there
in the second half of the Tigerswould win forty four to sixteen. But
as you mentioned, that Cotton Bowlthere against Notre Dame just showcased just how
good Clemson was that year. Andthe dudes that Clemson had on that team

(56:22):
is ridiculous when you look at theroster. Yeah, lift Brian Kelly a
little red faced in that game,no doubt, he's always read fasts,
always red face, and more sonow than the Bayou. You talk about
that win back in twenty twenty one, Hey, who did Clemson beat that
day? Brock Purdy Rock Perdy.I remember watching that game and thinking,
this Brock Purty guy. He's gotsome moxie about him, but I never

(56:44):
thought of him as an NFL potentialMVP. And here we sit now,
although his last game was not hisbest. It's funny these storylines you find
throughout the years there with Clemson playingthese teams on this day, twenty ninth
of December and the last meeting versusKentucky, one of the all time Heisman
snubs of Oh yeah, CJ.Spiller had one hundred and seventy two all

(57:06):
purpose yards and a rushing score.That was a twenty one to thirteen win
over Kentucky and the Music City Bowlat LP Field in Nashville. It was
the tigers first Bowl win since twothousand and five. That ended a three
game Bowl losing streak. And that'sthe last time, of course, that
was on the twenty seventh of Desimberback in two thousand nine. But that
was a big moment for this program, getting it turned around and getting the
Bowl trajectory back on track. AndCJ. Spiller what an amazing player he

(57:30):
was. I mean, you don'thave to say that enough times because we
know his story, but he coulddo it in the running game and the
receiving game and the return game.And the guy should have been a Heisman
winner in my opinion, no question. And it should have, in my
opinion at least been one of thetrue front runners there for the Heisman.
And we talk about even Deshaun Watson, how you know he was snubbed from

(57:52):
the Heisman, but yeah, itgoes back to the first true one to
get snubbed was CJ. Spiller,no doubt about it. This is an
interesting stat too, And you knowyou love stats. I love him too.
Dabo Sweeney and NFL stadiums all time. He's twenty and twelve. He'll
play today at EverBank Stadium in theGator Bowl. You know, his first

(58:13):
ever trip in an NFL stadium asa college head coach, this same stadium,
the same stadium against Nebraska. Okay, so now you're going to start
the conspiracy theories that, oh,because Dabo Sweeney has such good success in
NFL stadiums, he's leaving the NFL. Oh no, no, no,
no, no, bram nep Ifyou're listening to me right now, I
am not saying that's right. Ijust find it interesting that he's had,

(58:35):
at least in recent memory. Youknow, look, you look at some
of the games he's played a lotat Bank of America Stadium, course,
being right there in the a SECChampionship. But obviously he's had some big
wins. Probably the biggest would beconsidered down there at Raymond James Stadium,
thirty five to thirty one win overAlabama in their first national championship under Dabo
Sweeney. But then they go crosscountry to Levi Stadium and put the whipputt

(58:59):
on l Alabama forty four to sixteen. So it's always interesting to see how
this team fares in different venues.There's a different field to these NFL stadiums
and venues. And they're backed inEverBank Stadium today for the Gator Bowl.
Well, and you talk about DaboSweeney and the success that he's had in
those NFL stadiums, how about thisalso just in bowls overall, Clemson has

(59:20):
posted an eleven to eight bowl recordunder head coach Dabos Sweeney, including ten
and five record in the last fifteenbowl games dating back to the twenty twelve
season. And Dabo Sweeney is alreadythe ACC record holder for career Bowl games
coached nineteen bowl games coached, andSweeney this year will become the first coach

(59:40):
ever to lead a team in twentybowl games as an ACC head coach.
And he's also tied for the conferencerecord in career bowl victories eleven and that's
shared with Bobby Bowden. There yougo, how about history versus new coaches.
Okay, so the Gator Bowl againstMark Stoops and Kentucky will be the
fifth game this season Richmond in whichClemson will face an opposing head coach for

(01:00:01):
the first time. That includes Dukes, Mike Elko, Charleston southerns Gabe Guardina,
Florida Atlantic's Tom Herman, Georgia's GeorgeTech, Brent Key. I should
say, though Clemson has never facedMark Stoops, the Tigers are two in
oh all time against Bob Stuns,including wins in twenty fourteen and fifteen and
against Baker Mayfield. Baker Mayfield sincetwenty eleven. Clemson is forty five and

(01:00:23):
seven when facing opposing head coaches forthe first time, and it's a list
that includes guys like Les Miles,Dana Holgerson. There's Urban Meyer's name in
the mix, Bobby Petrino, BobStoops a couple of times, Gus Mileson.
Just a long list here of coachesat Orgeron comes to mind. So

(01:00:44):
again a list that Dabos Sweeney hasplayed for the first time coaching wise,
and again, coaching matchups are keyhere. We don't know a lot about
this Kentucky team. We talked toWill Vanderboard earlier with an inside look,
and obviously there's gonna be some keyelements in this game. Will break down
later in the show, but it'sgoing to be interesting. Clemson is twenty
thirteen all time against SEC foes againstwith Dabosweeney at the helm. Here,

(01:01:08):
Tigers are fourteen and seven against theconference in College Football Playoff ERA games,
including twelve and three in regular seasonduring that frame. And again it's another
SEC ACC battle here, Yes,and obviously there's an opportunity for people to
have bragging rights in terms of ACCversus SEC. And I just think it's

(01:01:29):
from a perspective when you look atnot only has Clemson been able to have
some of these victories against SEC opponents, but also in some of those key
moments winning national championships and Big Bowlvictories and even start the seasons against SEC
opponents. And so once again,just the stability that Dabosweeney and the foundation

(01:01:51):
that he has built leads to thistype of consistency. Now it might not
be ten wins this season, butthis is an opportunity for a ninth victory.
Again, how hard it is tocontinue to win each and every year
at an elite level. You lookat bowl appearances over the history of Clemson's
football heritage. Here the Gator Bowl. This will be the tenth time they've

(01:02:12):
played in this game. It's themost they've appeared in a single bowl game.
Second is the Peach Bowl, followedby the Orange Bowl, and then
fourth is the College Football Playoff NationalChampionship believe it or not, tied with
the Pop Tarts Bowl, and fourthmost Gator Bowl appearances by school. This
is Clemson's tenth. They lead allschools right now nationwide in terms of most
Gator Bowl appearances all time. Secondis Florida, Third Georgia Tech, and

(01:02:35):
then you've got Florida State, NorthCarolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia all
tied with seven fourth place all time, and some Florida natives on this roster.
What I found interesting, here's onein particular, and I just found
this out a few weeks ago.And man, maybe you knew this in
advance, but this agent for TommyCutlets, Tommy oh Y Sean Stillado.
I had no idea his nephew wastra I only found out, obviously once

(01:03:00):
the rest of the college football worldfound out and obviously, the Clemson fan
base found out in terms of theStilado connection to Tommy DeVito. There courage,
that's right, it's a small world. With this small world, Clemson
will be without some of their regularstoday. We'll walk through the matchups and

(01:03:21):
give you some names that you willnot be seeing on the field today and
some names on the depth chart thatyou should be seeing in their place.
And coming up next, we're goingto take a closer look at ball mania.
There's a lot going on around thenation in terms of bowl games outside
the ACC. We'll talk about that. We'll also talk about the college football
playoffs coming up. Rich and Iwill give you your early feel on who
may win that whole deal. AsMichigan comes in as the one seed with

(01:03:45):
a coach in Jim Harball who mayor may not stay long term. We'll
see what happens with him. It'sthe Ingles Tailgate Show. We're live from
the Ingles and Powdersville ten nine ohthree Anderson Road. Come on out and
see us. We've got all thetailgate and fixs you need right here for
you. Come on out. We'reyour tailgating headquarters. Ingles Low prices love
the Savings. The Ingles Tailgate Showrolls on ninety two point five w e

(01:04:06):
SC. This is the Ingles TailgateShow on ninety two point five w E
s C. Now Here are yourhosts, John Allis and Richmond Weaver.

(01:04:33):
We got a lot of action goingon here at the Ingles ten nine O.
Brie Anderson rode in Powdersville. Wehave a full tailgating spread for you
all set up. We have cakes, we have pies, We've got veggie
trays, nachos. In advance ofthe Gator Bull which kicks off at noon
Eastern. The Ingles Tailgate Show rollson live from Powdersville. But now,
did we approve that they were goingto move the table away from us?

(01:04:57):
We're gonna be easy access, right. I feel like it's he's away.
Now it's miles away. Don't forgetto tune in right at noon eastern for
kickoff. And then you've got networkcoverts coming up with the Ingles Tailgate Show,
The Ingles Tiger Tailgate Show, Ishould say, with Mark Childress hosting
that along with Daja Davidson, yourstruly, John Ellis, rich and we
will be a part of that,Don Munson, you'll hear from him and

(01:05:17):
a host of others as well,So stay tuned for that on the Clemson
Athletic Network. All right here onninety two point five, weesc we've walked
through the nature of what's happening inbowl season, and obviously some of these
games one of our good buddies thatwe work with Texas a minute ago,
they seem to be glorified exhibition games, and I get that, and a
lot of folks do see it thatway. But I think you look at

(01:05:39):
what's going on, there are alot of bowl games that matter to a
lot of these young men, alot of these programs. You see what's
going on with Virginia Tech, obviouslywith that program with Brent Pry getting a
big win and they're trying to buildsome momentum. Jeff Hafley with Boston College,
They've got a lot of guys comingback at the ACC and that bowl
game, I think in their ownbackyard there at Fenway Park, mental to

(01:06:00):
them to get that win with Castellanosat quarterback. And you look at what
else is going on in the bowlseason. Here we talked about the big
win with Florida State and Georgia.Obviously, our good friend Melissa Level,
big Florida State fan, talked aboutit feels like Tallahassee High now because of
all the players that have opted outfor Florida State. But you know,
they can become the only Power fiveschool still undefeated left standing when all this

(01:06:23):
is said and done, and they'restill playing for a lot of incentive there
those who are still playing. Thatis so obviously it's going to be an
interesting matchup when you look at Georgia, a team that probably should have beaten
Alabama. They felt like they beatthemselves in that game, and they open
up the door for Alabama, who, by the way, Richard, we
see it every year. They justlurk, They just lurk, and right
there at the end, hello,we're in the playoffs again. Should be

(01:06:43):
a good game though, against FloridaState and Georgia and the Orange Bowl.
Yeah, And obviously you can lookat it from her perspective that when now
you see a twenty point spread forthe Georgia Bulldogs against those Seminoles and how
competitive this game might be. ButI still contend that that's why we play
the game. And we talked aboutit when we had Melissa level Of,

(01:07:04):
the director of advertising and marketing forEngles Markets, and she's a Florida State
grad and just knowing that, yes, it might not be the way you
obviously wanted it if you're a FloridaState fan, play out the season the
way it did. But I dobelieve that Florida State will be competitive.
I don't think they're going to beable to win this game because I think

(01:07:26):
just Georgia is going to be toogood down the stretch, especially in the
second half. But Florida State stillhas talent. Even though the players that
have left and transferred and opted outall of those scenarios, Florida State still
I do believe under Mike Norvel isshowcasing that very similar to what some of
these good programs are able to dois build a culture, build a foundation,

(01:07:49):
and Mike Norvel seems to be onthe pathway for Florida State. Now.
I do think that there's a lotof scenarios that are going to play
out where we're going to see evenmore changes through college athletics and obviously college
football and how that will play outbecause obviously we know right now Florida State

(01:08:10):
and the ACC are not too happywith each other and Florida State filing a
lawsuit and trying to get out ofthe grant of rights that they signed several
years ago that extends until twenty twentythirty six, I should say, but
again, these Bowl games. Iknow that we can view it from a

(01:08:32):
macro perspective and oh they don't meanmuch. But when you dial it down
to these micro levels, these games, these players, you're seeing these players
go out there and still competing andstill wanting to For a lot of these
guys, where that jersey one lasttime that might not be going to another

(01:08:53):
level, going to you know,continue their playing career. So there is
something you know, to be saidabout play that one last time. But
I do believe that we will beseeing some changes in college athletics. I
think so. I think you haveto. It's that time of year where
we always have this discussion. Butthen you see programs like Arizona last night,
being in Oklahoma in one of myfavorite Bowl games of all time,

(01:09:15):
the Alamo Bowl, and of coursein the Alamodome. That's one of those
vintage ones you think back to thenineties, one of those great games we've
had. But Jetfish. What ajob he's done building that program at Arizona,
and just from a perspective that comingout of nowhere out for Arizona this
season and being able to obviously slowdown Oklahoma's offense there to get that victory,

(01:09:38):
but also not only slow down Oklahomaenough, but then the other side
to be able to have the offensethere for Arizona, which we talk about
Arizona's defense, but just a fantasticjob for Arizona to be able to get
that victory at the expense unfortunately ofa Clemson connection. Oh, Brent Vinable

(01:10:00):
there, head coach, But whata great season for Oklahoma relatively speaking,
when you can win ten games andobviously rebound from the first year under head
coach BRENTT. Vinables, and Ithink was able to show that. Okay,
that's why you need to give thesecoaches a little bit of time,
because you can't just measure off ofone season when a guy's coming in and

(01:10:24):
trying to build the program that theysee how they want to build it.
No, you can't. At all. Some big games on today, after
the big game between Clemson and Kentuckydown there at the Gator Bowl, you'll
probably catch this mid stream here.If you want to flip over, go
for it. If not, yousee the highlights. Number nineteen Oregon State,

(01:10:44):
who had a great year, rollingfor a while under head coach Jonathan
Smith DJU having some good moments hereat Oregon State. Takeing on Notre Dame,
who gets the nod for the Tonythe Tiger Sun Bowl out there in
l Passo. And what a seasonfor Sam Hartman again, twenty four touchdowns,
eight interceptions, But again, howmany those interceptions came against Clemson About
half of those, I would saythe turnover machine. Clemson has Sam Hartman's

(01:11:05):
number of late in terms of gettingthe takeaways. But that should be entertaining.
Iowa stated. We mentioned them earlieras being Clemson's opponent in the Cheese
and Bowl a couple of years ago. Take on a very good Memphis team
that won nine games this year inthe AutoZone Liberty Bowl up there in Memphis.
Home cooking for Memphis, but that'sa lot of home cooking right there.

(01:11:25):
And then the Goodyear Cotton Bowl ofcourse, tonight eight pm. Number
nine Missouri against number seven Ohio State. This is an interesting matchup. I'm
really intrigued about this matchup because Ithink Missouri again showing over the past two
seasons that they are a competitive teamand even more so this year. But
then Ohio State again the I guessthe narrative about Ryan Day, can he

(01:11:50):
win the big games, but thesuccess that they've had over the past several
years under Ryan Day. I mean, this is a team right now,
one so you know it's one laws. I granted, now it's to Michigan
and that's a rivalry game, andas we know fan bases, you need
to win the rivalry games. Andobviously I think there's a lot of emphasis

(01:12:14):
on that Ohio State to Michigan matchup the game, so to speak.
But now without their starting quarterback KleMcCord, who's transferring out, So how
will Howse State? How will theyplay and in this game? And I
could see this is a scenario whereMissouri can definitely win this game, oh
my goodness. And Missouri had somegreat moments issue, including holding Georgia down

(01:12:36):
for a while in that game ontheir turf ole. Miss Penn State will
tangle in the Chick fil A PeachBowl coming up tomorrow. That should be
a lot of fun to offenses thatfeature great running games, great receivers,
great quarterbacks. Jackson Dart has hadone of those seasons that was just under
the Heisman radar, but again,twenty touchdowns, five interceptions. He can

(01:12:57):
run the ball. Judkins the MissouriI'm sorry, the Mississippi running back had
a great season. Auburn tangles withMaryland in the trans Perfect Music City Bowl
tomorrow as well. You've got theaforementioned Capitol One Orange Bowl at four pm
Georgia, Florida state number six versusnumber five. If you're interested in some
deep cuts here, here's the BarstoolSports Arizona Ball with Toledo take it on

(01:13:20):
Wyoming. That should be interesting,as always when Barstool's in the mix.
And then January first, obviously theRelaquis Bowl down there at ray J and
Tampa. You got number thirteen LSUBrian Kelly's team with the Heisman winner Jaden
Daniels Forty touchdowns, four interceptions thisseason, and he's going to be a
top five pick in the NFL draft. I would think, I would think

(01:13:41):
of these quarterback hungry teams would needit. They take on Wisconsin, well,
and you look at just from aquarterback perspective, and I'm going to
transition just briefly here to the NFL. Yes, please, how important it
is to have a solid backup quarterbackin the NFL and this year in particular.

(01:14:02):
Yes, And that's why these teamsthey are going to be focusing on
can they find a quarterback And obviouslycan be a starting quarterback, but you
have to have a stable of quarterbackson your roster. And I've just been
impressed well with how a lot ofthese quarterbacks who are getting opportunities in the
NFL, how they've been able toperform. So, I know I digressed

(01:14:26):
off of the LSU Wisconsin game,but it does come back to quarterback each
and every team absolutely. I mean, look at last night's game where you
got Joe Flacco at thirty eight yearsold out there put up three hundred yards
passing in the first half. Yougotta have good backups. Obviously, the
guys coming in are much younger thanJoe Flacco next year, including Bo Knicks,
Jaden Daniels. Heck LSU might havetwo top ten picks and Daniels and

(01:14:49):
Malik Neighbors, who had fourteen receivingtouchdowns this season. Speaking of Bo,
Nicks his team from this season.By the way, Bonix threw for forty
touchdowns this season. Ho Home,Oregon take on Liberty. Liberty. What
a story that was thirteen to zeroand there was a lot of you know,
controversy about should Liberty be that's rightin the Festa Bowl. Well they're
there, and so congrats to JamieChadwell in that program getting rolling in the

(01:15:12):
right direction, no question, andtalking about again just building a foundation.
We saw the success he had atCoastal Carolina and then moving on to Liberty
now and this would obviously be amonumental win for Liberty to be able to
beat Oregon. Regardless of who isplaying for Oregon, it's still the name
Oregon, and obviously Oregon at onetime was in the discussion for college football

(01:15:35):
playoff and national championship opportunity, andso this would is a huge game for
Liberty. Iowa and Tennessee will tangleat one pm on ABC tomorrow and the
Cheese at Citrus Bowl. So don'tget confused here, that's right, it's
now the Cheese at Citrus Bowl.Cheese it has moved over to that bowl
game. The over under in thisgame is thirty five and a half.
I mean you're playing in Iowa,that number comes down by about ten.

(01:15:58):
They might get to twenty seven inthis game. Maybe maybe when we come
back, we'll take a look atthe college football playoffs. You got four
teams here that are very dynamic.We'll start to break down Kentucky's roster versus
Clemson roster as we get set fora big time day to day for your
Tigers taking on Kentucky in the GatorBowl. I'm John Eliset's Richmond Weaver.
We are live from Ingles and Powdersvilleten nine oh three Anderson Road, here

(01:16:20):
until nine am. Come on andsee us. We're gonna be here for
the next few minutes and we'd loveto catch up with you as we have
a tailgating spread ready for you.Much more to come right here on ninety
two point five WSC. This isthe Ingles Tailgate Show on ninety two point
five w e SSE as we rollon. The Tailgate Show is lined from

(01:17:00):
Ingles in powers Field, ten nineoh three Anderson Road. Come on out
and see us. We've got atailgate and spread for you. You won't
believe it. Come on out andjoin us until nine a m. As
we get you said for Clemson Kentuckymore on that matchup here momentarily as I'm
joined by Richmond Weaver, I'm JohnEllis, the season finale, season four
of the Ingles Tailgate Show coming toand in here in about twenty five minutes,

(01:17:25):
getting you set for the Ingles TigerTailgate Show. And then of course
Don Munson, Tim Bray, ReggieMerriweather on the call coming up at noon
Eastern right here on ninety two pointfive w EESC. Just wrapping up our
thoughts earlier on some of the gamesnationally here and of course the college football
Playoffs is right around the corner,front and center, and we've had this
discussion many times on our sister stationone O four nine Fox Sports Upstate,

(01:17:48):
the Richmond Weavers Show at three pm, game on with John Ellis at four
pm. And look, it's toughfor Florida State, they're not in it,
but we got to zone in andfocus in on the teams that are
in it. Number four Alabama takenon Number one Michigan in the semi final
at the Rose Bowl, which isa great venue. By the way,
I love the fact that this isgoing to be at five pm Eastern on

(01:18:10):
ESPN. And what a season forJalen Milroe. I heard some comments from
him yesterday were Bill O'Brien, theformer offensive coordinator for Alabama now with New
England of course in the same capacity, had, according to Milroe, said
hey, try your hand wide receiver, and Milroe said, well, you
know, I don't know. Lookat how I faar now at twenty three
touchdowns, six interceptions, obviously followingBryce Young. That's a tall order for

(01:18:34):
Milroe. But a nice season andan Alabama team the Nick Saban has talked
about over the years here or overthe course of this year, is saying
it's one of his favorite he's coachedin terms of just it's not the complete
package, but they banded together,they just hung around, and there's a
lot of controversy as to whether ornot they should have been the team in

(01:18:54):
but here they are twelve to onetaken on Jim Harball's Michigan Wolverine's team that
loves to run the ball. JJMcCarthy can do a little bit of everything.
Defensively, they're strong, and Ijust don't know if there's a team
out there that's good enough to beatMichigan. I know Michigan's not a well
loved team by some out there,and Jim Harveall has certainly stepped in it
a few times this year. Butat thirteen to zero, they won the

(01:19:16):
big game and here they are undefeated, number one in the country. Yeah,
and this is just an interesting matchupbecause when you look at what Michigan
has been able to do and allof the controversy throughout this entire season and
still sitting there undefeated, and thenyou look on the other side and it's
Nick Saban. And we've talked aboutsomewhat of the Jedi mind tricks that Nick

(01:19:40):
Saban has, and especially against ateam like Georgia being able to win the
SEC Championship and earn that opportunity tosqueak into or eke into I should say,
the College Football playoff. But that'swhy Alabama is Alabama. That's right,
that's you. It's from a betting. If you're into that, you

(01:20:02):
would have to always because the lawof averages tells you that Alabama is going
to consistently be there. That doesn'tmean they're always going to be there.
But if you continue to have Alabamaas your Horse more times you're going to
win than not. But I dobelieve this is a Michigan team that's a

(01:20:23):
little bit different, and for whateverreason, this seems to be a team
for Michigan that is on this pathway. I don't I don't have any type
of stats that necessarily back up everythingas far as how Michigan is able to
win these games and how I dobelieve Michigan is going to win against Alabama

(01:20:45):
because it's hard to go against Alabama. As I just said, you shouldn't
go against Alabama, But just somethingabout how these storylines start developing for a
particular season, and for whatever reason, this just seems to be a pathway
for Michigan to win the national championshipthis year. For whatever reason that I'm
this is kind of this gut feeling. Well, the winner of this game

(01:21:08):
will play one of two offensive juggernauts. When you look at Texas what they
did against Oklahoma State, they justdestroyed them defensively. When you look at
the offense, Quinn, youw weersthrowing the ball all over the yard.
Now they've lost a running back therein their rotation, Brooks, but you
still got xavier' Worthy out there makingplays. And then on the other side,
Washington one of the most entertaining teamsall season, a team that lived

(01:21:30):
on the edge in every single thesegames. But they're all about offense.
With Michael Pennix, They've got twoone thousand yard receivers on that roster,
a couple of guys that'll be inthe NFL Pennis as well. Should be
an entertaining game between two high flyingteams, no question about it. And
I think just from a perspective,how many times have we seen that you
have to have an offense we knowthat because you have to obviously be able

(01:21:54):
to outscore people. And both Washingtonand Texas can do that. And that's
why I do believe that Washington,Ington or Texas they could easily win a
national championship because they have the offensethat can outscore people. But can their
defense be good enough just when theyneed it that bin but don't break type
of mentality that can they keep theiroffense within the game and allow their offense

(01:22:17):
to go out there and then eventuallywin the game. And I think that's
what we have seen from especially fromWashington. They've been their defense been able
to make just enough plays and theiroffense has been able to carry them with
Michael Pennix junior there at quarterback andjust an amazing talent that he is.
But I do believe that Texas hasa better defense, I agree, than

(01:22:40):
Washington, and that's why I couldsee a Texas winning this game and matching
up against Michigan there in the NationalChampionship. Would that be something? Or
if Texas Alabama faced off again yeastSaban a lot of storylines here in the
College Football Playoff, turning our attentionback to the Gator Bowl quickly here and
the matchup between Kentucky and Clemson.Obviously, some names to look out for

(01:23:03):
that will not be participating for Clemson. We know about some of the transfers.
Bo Collins obviously will not be playing. That opens up opportunities for guys
like Stallato and Williams and others inthis game. And Andrew mccoobaugh obviously we
just mentioned Texas, he's Texas bound. It's tough when you lose some of
these players in the NFL draft.Comes calling Trotter Junior, who's just going

(01:23:26):
to be an amazing player at thenext level. I think with his dad,
he's got the heritage and the prestigeof the Trotter name, and several
others including Nate Wiggins, who,by the way, could have made the
Play of the Year. You canargue against North Carolina chasing Hampton down the
sideline and forcing that fumble. Soyou're without some guys, but then you
look at who's stepping in here forClemson, some opportunities for some guys Richmond

(01:23:48):
to be, you know, notjust playmakers, but make their stamp on
this program and move forward. It'sbeen a young team, a lot of
freshman contributing a lot, and especiallyon the defensive side in that secondary and
that's why I think if you're Clemsonand especially the coaching staff, you're very
comfortable with Avion Terrell playing a lotmore now with Jalen Phillips coming back from

(01:24:12):
his injury. So that's a bigplus. Obviously when you're losing, you
know, and Andrew mccouba and they'reyou know, so you have those scenarios
where the players that have transferred out, like a Toreano Pride junior going to
Missouri, and we mentioned mccouba goingto Texas and then Bo Collins going to
Notre Dame, and so you havethose scenarios where can these guys come in

(01:24:34):
and Backfiel And I think just froma perspective of what we see each and
every year from Dabosweeney's team, heplays a lot of players, so it's
not as crucial when you have ascenario where you lose some of these guys,
and especially how college football is rightnow, and just knowing that also
just from an opportunity when you're watchingthe defense out there, there have been

(01:24:57):
a couple of changes in jersey numbers. Uber twenty five, Jalen Phillips,
he'll actually wear number one today,so you're not going to see that's not
Andrew mccouba out there. That's JalenPhillips that is out there. And then
corner cornerback Shelton Lewis, who typicallywears number fourteen, he will actually wear
number two, So that is notNate Wiggins out there. That is you

(01:25:17):
get your death charts ready, Iget your depth charts ready, and be
prepared to be confused. But we'llget through it together. And I think
on the other side, Kentucky acouple interesting names. Of course, the
quarterback Devin Leary has played Clemson twicewith his time during NC State. He
said something along the lines if hehas the keys to beating Clemson. I
don't think he'd meant that Forbada,but I think he means, hey,

(01:25:40):
I've seen Clemson's defense before, butthis is a new defense. It's a
new coordination, and you have youngplayers on this defense that he hasn't really
been in front of before. Oneof them, Khalil Barnes, is definitely
one of those. And you knowjust from her perspective that it's not like
Devin Leary and NCY State have beatenClemson every time they played, you know,

(01:26:00):
So there is that aspect, andI think he's just saying what he
needs to say that, Hey,hey, has I'm very familiar with them,
and you know, we have sometendencies that we feel that we might
be able to exploit, you know, offensively. But I'm just not certain
that it's all going to be onDevin Leary to go out and beat Clemson.
No, I agree. And thenyou look at the running back Ray
Davis twenty touchdowns this season, aprogram record single season. He said in

(01:26:26):
this press conference, code, whenI found out it was Clemson, we
were playing and had the opportunity toplay a really good team. I decided
to step up to the plate.He stays he was gonna opt out,
but he's going to play in thisgame, and that's certainly where your focus
goes. It's not just Devin Leary. He's a fine quarterback. He's had
some good moments in his college career. But Ray Davis makes this offense go.
So then you look at the keysto victory and we'll talk about that

(01:26:46):
coming up in the final segment.Ray Davis is a guy he got to
zone in on. If you're thatfront seven for Clemson, who still holds
some big names up front there.You talk about Xavier Thomas in the mix,
you got Tyler Davis, the senior, Peter Woods who's had a great
season justin Maskell. And then oneof our favorites, a guy you've talked
to, I believe in our interviewswith Ingles, Tiger Tail, Gid Show

(01:27:09):
demonte K Park who has been justa pleasant surprise as one of the many
youngsters on this team. He's ajunior, but he's had limited playing time.
It's going to be key for guyslike Wood has McLeod Carter on the
back end as well. To wrapup this very good running back Ray Davis
for Kentucky. Yeah, no question, And Clemson will be tested from that

(01:27:30):
perspective. Can they slow Kentucky downthat run game? And I think that's
going to be a big part ofit. And also can Clemson be able
to limit big play I mean,I'm say big play, big runs by
Ray Davis because Kentucky's not really builtthat they're going to have a scenario where
they're going to have a sixteen playdrive anything of that nature. This is

(01:27:53):
going to be more about can Clemsonbe able to control things on their side
on the offensive side and keep Clemson'sdefense off the field by maintaining possession of
the ball. Clemson can't turn theball over in this game. No,
they can't. Obviously. That's beenthe story for Clemson early in the season
when they struggled, it was turnovers. It was turnovers and inopportune times.

(01:28:14):
Think of the Duke game, thinkof the Florida State game and others.
And it's critical if you're going toturn the football over, make sure you
had the advantage first of all onthe defensive side, that you've got the
turnover margin in your favor, butjust try not to turn over in general
and those backbreaking turnovers. Because we'vetalked about it, John, not all
turnovers are created the same. Anddoes it How many times did we see,
you know, a scoop and scoreor a pick six? I mean,

(01:28:36):
and it's just rare when you havethose type of turnovers and how detrimental
they can be for your opportunity forsuccess trying to win a game, no
doubt about it. Well, we'rehere in Powdersville at the Ingles Anderson Road
ten nine oh three Anderson Road.We're gonna be here for the next few
minutes and then you got the InglesTiger Tailgate Show network coverage leading you all
the way up to the network coverageof the game. Play by play Don

(01:28:59):
Munty and Tim Burray and Reggie Meriweatheron the call right here on ninety two
point five w E s C.We'll wrap up this initiation of the Tiger
the Ingles Tailgate Show coming up nexton w E SC. This is the
Ingles Tailgate Show on ninety two pointfive w E s C. Now Here
are your hosts, John Ellis andRichmond Weaver wrapping up the Ingles tailgate show

(01:29:43):
live from the Powdersville Ingles ten nineoh three Anderson Rowe come join us here.
We'll be here for the rest ofthe morning. Of course, you
got the Ingles Tiger Tailgate show comingup, and then kick off the Gator
Bowl between Kentucky and Clemson right hereon ninety two point five SC. It's
a noon kickoff in Richmond. I'dbe remiss if I didn't remind our listeners
out here, many of whom areClemson loyalists. How about that basketball program

(01:30:06):
on the me inside, Brad Burnell'steam continues to cook a tough loss to
Memphis, and man, what agreat starts this season. Ten and one
right now, and you've got PJHall playing at an elite level, which
I do believe that he's truly incontention for ACC Player of the Year.
There's no question from that standpoint.Now. I know there's a lot of
basketball left, but you have toadmire what Brad Burnell has been able to

(01:30:30):
do with this team. Obviously,you've got Joe Girard to transfer coming in
from Syracuse has been a great addition. But it's really about PJ Hall,
a guy who is contrary to whatwe see in college basketball right now,
just in terms of staying at oneschool and developing over his four year career
so far and just having a greatseason is one hundred percent healthy. So

(01:30:51):
a big game tonight for the Tigersand Little John at seven pm against Radford
from the Big South. And Iknow I say big game, it is
just from a perspective. Clemson needsto get back on the winning side of
things after that tough loss against Memphison the road, so this will be
the first opportunity since that loss.And Radford is a good team. They

(01:31:12):
will make some noise there in theBig South. And they're coming off of
a big road victory against West Virginiawhere they were able to win last second
shot there. And Darris Nichols isa does a great job at Radford,
and of all things, he playedat West Virginia under Bob Huggins, and
so for him to go on theroad and beat his alma mater. Now
I know Bob Huggins is no longerthere at West Virginia, but does a

(01:31:34):
big win for Radford. So thisis a team that Clemson cannot take lightly
tonight at seven pm. And don'tforget next week coming up on the third,
you've got ACC play kicking at theHike Year and you'll be hearing us
live on ninety two point five WSCfor the Ingles Countdown to tip Off show.
I believe that's five point thirty pmin advance of Clemson and Miami.
Your old friend Jim Lairnega Company.Oh yes, look, we know the

(01:31:57):
story there. We'll tell it anotherday. But Clemson I need get a
tangle and then they've got a hostof games coming up against North Carolina,
Virginia Tech, Boston. College.Conference play is here, my friend,
no doubt, and that's a greatplace to be when you're starting to get
into January with conference play in theACC. Got about a minute left for
Richmond. Final thoughts on Kentucky versusClemson, Well, I think again,
we talked about it. Clemson.You've got to keep your offense on the

(01:32:19):
field, don't have the silly turnovers. And we know that if Clemson can
hold Kentucky to less than twenty fourpoints, they're going to have a great
opportunity to win. Clemson is eightand oh this season when they've been able
to hold their opponents under twenty fourpoints. Season four in the books,
my friend, Yes, sir,it's been a good one. Fantastic for
our producer Trey Falco Beck in studio, who we would not be able to

(01:32:40):
do this without his hard working dedicationfor Melissa level from Ingles, from Will
Vanderford, from Clemson Insider, forRichmond Weaver. I'm John Ellis. This
has been the Ingles tail Gates Show. We're getting you ready for the big
game coming up noon Eastern. Keepinglocked in here ninety two point five WEC
for all your Clemson coverage all daylong. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays,

(01:33:00):
and a happy New Year to allof you. We'll see you next time.