The "2025 Rivalry Week" Edition

Clemson and South Carolina face off on Saturday after both teams have fallen way short of preseason expectations.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Each time or Clempson Sports Talk with Lawton Swan.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Now finally, Clemson Sports Talk has come back two drive time.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
Hell everybody, Lowton Swan back in the saddle once again.
It is the show that shakes the south Land. Clemson
Sports Talk for you each and every afternoon as you
make your way around the great state of South Carolina
and beyond, listening to us on incredible radio stations like
Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred the Midlands, heard around the
world on the iHeart radio application. Download today is free

(01:10):
the website, but the dot com on a dog gunet
that's Clemson Sports Tall dot com. You know, three four
five zero zero eighty six Texa on phone line and
again be a part of the program any time, any place,
anywhere on our website Clemson Sports tal dot com. All right,
So the Tigers get it done this weekend, forty five
to ten over Furman. Yeah, not exactly. Overly exciting. Clemson

(01:34):
jumps out to a thirty one nothing lead. Furman makes
it thirty one to ten in the third quarter. Clemson
didn't do a whole lot offensively until what Chris Dnsen,
Who Baby Dinson, That boy's got some wiggle He goes
four to four for twenty two yards with a touchdown.
That touchdown reception was by Clemson backup tight end Logan Brooking,

(02:00):
and then he also Dentson had six carries one hundred
and six yards and a touchdown, averaging seventeen point seven
yards per carry, firing up the Clemson Tiger faithful giving
Clempson one hundred yard Russia in the ballgame, Kate club
Nick nine to fifteen, one fifty nine with two touchdowns,
no picks, Bazena nine to fifteen fifty two yards a touchdown,

(02:24):
no interceptions. But I would say a lot of fans
just disappointed in how things felt with Christopher Vezina or
Trent Pearman who also played before Chris Denson, who's the
fourth string freshman quarterback, the lefty, the former commit to

(02:44):
Coastal Carolina. Speaking of Coastal Carolina, they got beat by
South Carolina this weekend, and again it is rivalry week
here in the state of South Carolina, and of course
the Game game Cox come in with a victory topping
Coastal fifty one to seven this past weekend. The game

(03:07):
Cocks now four and seven. They will not be Bowl
eligible at least it doesn't appear to me that they
will be Bowl eligible. It doesn't sound like they're expecting
some miraculous five and seven Bowl eligibility to come to fruition.
But my, how things have fallen off for the game Cocks,
who opened the season in Atlanta with a twenty four
to eleven victory over Virginia Tech. Even then, I noted

(03:29):
how flawed this team was, and Carolina sorta played right
into my hands and my thoughts losing to Vanderbilt and Missouri,
both of these teams starting out under achieving by comparison

(03:50):
to where people thought they would be. And of course
Clemson bounces back a much easier schedule. Don't get me wrong,
but South Carolina loses to LSU, Oklahoma, Alabama, Old miss
and Texas A and M five consecutive weeks, and this
past Saturday was their first victory since September the twenty seventh,

(04:14):
a thirty five thirteen win over Kentucky. But everything you've
done the rest of the way is out of the window,
and quite frankly, if you're the Tiger fans, regardless of
your record, it sure feels like South Carolina is throwing
a lot more out of the window than Clemson. I

(04:36):
mean give South Carolina credit. They were competitive against number
four Alabama and a twenty nine to twenty two loss
at home. They were competitive on the road against LSU
and the twenty ten loss, and they were competitive. Dare
I say should have won their game at Texas A
and M, who is still the number three team in

(04:57):
the country following thirty one thirty after being up to
twenty seven thirty to three at the half, by twenty
seven points at the break, I think the game Cocks
come in quite frankly as probably the better team, which
is why you've seen the line shift dramatically. Now. A
couple of Clemson injuries in this past weekend's game certainly

(05:19):
helped lean that thing further in South Carolina's favor or
switch it into South Carolina's favor. Clemson was favored at
one point by five and a half, now two and
a half point underdogs. Kind of wild to see that
game shift the way it has shifted. Taking a look
at ESPN, though, they are a little a little more

(05:44):
kind to the Tigers as to what the opening spread was.
They've got the open being South Carolina minus two and
a half, so they've got it opening where it is currently,
whereas a week ago it looked like Clemson was favored.
The ESPN matchup predictor has the game cock to winning

(06:05):
this game sixty three point six percent of the time.
As Lenori Sellers in Ky clubnick two preseason Heisman Trophy
favorites who are so far off the Heisman Trophy ballot, Well,
I wonder what the odds would be. I bet you
can't even catch odds on those guys. Now, I'm not
saying they could win it, but I bet it's that bad.
Or maybe it's not. Maybe they'll maybe somebody will take

(06:26):
your money, suckers. Bet ky Klubnick's been better than Sellers
this year, There's no doubt about that. I mean kay
Klubnick's two hundred and eleven for three fourteen, sixteen touchdowns
and just five interceptions for twenty four hundred and eighty
two yards. Sellers one fifty five of two point fifty
one for eleven touchdowns and six interceptions this season. What's

(06:51):
probably most surprising though about Lenor Sellers this year is
his lack of you yards on the ground, and again
that's affected by the fact that South Carolina is one
of the worst teams in the country in giving up sacks,
but just two hundred and sixty eight yards on the ground,
averaging two yards per carry this season for the game

(07:15):
Cocks with five touchdowns. Mark that back to what he
did a year ago, most specifically against Clemson, and you
understand why there is major concern in Tigertown about Sellers,
who not only threw for one hundred and sixty four

(07:35):
not outstanding, but rushed for one hundred and sixty six
yards against Clemson. And when you compare that to some
of what he did a year ago where he had
one hundred and six yards against Texas A and M,
where he had eighty eight yards against LSU, or sixty

(07:56):
eight against Old Dominion. Like Lenoris, Sellers a year ago
put up numbers when it comes down to rushing yardage
throughout the year this season not so much. The most
rushing yards he's had in a game this season in

(08:18):
a game eighty one against Kentucky on fourteen carries. He
had sixty seven against Alabama. He had eighty two this
past weekend against Coastal. But listen to some of the
other numbers. Just twenty five against Virginia Tech, just twenty
three against sc State, negative three against Vandy, negative twenty

(08:41):
eight against Missouri, nineteen against LSU, negative nine against Oklahoma.
He got hurt in that Bandy game. Recall you'll recall
minus seventeen against Old Miss, twenty eight against Texas A
and M. But that's where clips has gotta keep him.
They got to keep it rained in under fifty yards

(09:01):
rushing in this game. And if they do that, including
sack totals, which Clemson has not been dynamic when it
comes down to sacks either, and Clemson's really struggled quite
frankly in sacks. I mean, Leonora Sellers has been sacked
thirty seven times this season, and this past weekend was
the first game that he has not been sacked all year.

(09:23):
Ole Miss got him six times, Oklahoma got him six times,
Missouri and LSU got him five times, A and M
and Virginia Tech got him four times. You gotta be
able to get your hands on Leonora's Sellers. Clemson a
year ago they got to him three times, but it's
not enough. And with a change in coordinator and a

(09:44):
change in the staff. I mean, he is the straw
that stirs the drink that most when he was asked
about South Carolina and he talked about Lenor Sellers on
Saturday following Clemson's win over Furman.

Speaker 4 (09:58):
Yeah, I mean it's I mean, it's the state championship.
I mean, you know, it doesn't matter if you're twelve
or eleven and oh or oh and eleven. This game
is it means a lot to a lot of people.
It's a forever game. You know, there might be some
games along the way you'll say, well, what happened in
that game, and somebody will be like, yeah, I don't
really remember, but you remember this one, all right. Everybody

(10:19):
lives with this one. This is one of those one
of those games. So I mean, you know, you don't
have to say a whole lot this week. Everybody knows,
you know, what's at stake, and both teams want the
same thing, and you got to play, well, you don't.
You don't really have to do anything different. The same
things win a rivalry game, that win any game. It's turnover, marching,

(10:39):
it's big plays, it's you know, being a disciplined team.
It's having having good special teams play. It's winning in
the trenches, it's finishing in the red zone. It's it's
playing with amazing uncommon effort. I mean, it's the same things,
but you know, be fun.

Speaker 5 (10:56):
It's always exciting to be a part of this game.

Speaker 4 (10:58):
Thirteen thirteen Alabama Auburn games, and this is my twenty
third Clemson South Carolina game. So whatever that is was
that thirty six. It is my thirty six rivalry game,
you know, just like you know, it means a lot
to a lot of people, and I look forward to

(11:18):
the challenge this week. We'll have a great week of
preparation and go down there.

Speaker 5 (11:23):
And give it all we got.

Speaker 3 (11:24):
That was Debo after the game on Saturday. I apologize
I did not play the correct audio there, hit the
wrong button, but that is him talking about Clemson and
South Carolina. He was asked about the game Cocks and
whether or not they are better than their record indicates,
and that's where he talked about Lenora Sellers and that

(11:45):
was from his Sunday teleconference.

Speaker 6 (11:47):
Oh for sure, Yeah, I mean they won every game
they've been in. I mean they've been they're good football team.
Just if had you know, had really just gone their
way in some games, but they've they've been in position win,
you know, all year. They're talented team and you know,
obviously beat us last year, so we had an opportunity

(12:09):
and didn't finish the game. And that quarterback is still
the quarterback. He's a great football player and a lot
of respect for him. His toughness, his just his overall game.
He was absolutely difference last year. He's still there. As
long as he's there. They they got a chance in
any game they play, and that's you know, getting been

(12:30):
the story of their season this year, a few plays
away from having a great season. But you know, again
that's say in the same for US. I mean, honestly,
they're a good team.

Speaker 3 (12:39):
That's Dabosweeney talking about Clemson and South Carolina. He also
talked about the fact that, you know, after the last
two games the opposing team is won on the road
and playing in a flag at mid midfield and just
kind of saying that, you know, he and Shane Biember
would like to get rid of that type of stuff

(13:00):
in this rivalry. Here's what Sweeny had to say about that.

Speaker 6 (13:02):
Well, I hope we get the opportunity to be better,
but we talked about that last year and that's definitely
something that does not need to happen, you know, that's
not something we didn't need to We don't need to
disrespect the other team's logo and all that stuff, you know,
and win the game, you know, with class and celebrate,
I mean certainly, and you know all that all that stuff,

(13:25):
you know, we need to do everything we can to
make sure that doesn't happen when you're at the opposing
teams stadium, regardless.

Speaker 3 (13:33):
Regardless of who you play, debosweeny, and that's reminiscent of
that fifty eight nothing victory at Miami where Dabo Sweeney
grilled the team back in twenty fifteen, when the Tigers
are on their way to an undefeated regular season into
the National Championship game. You win with class and you
lose with class. And I would just say this to

(13:56):
the Clemson players. There would never be, in my opinion,
never be a reason. I know fans, you're gonna you're
gonna be fans, so you're gonna say you absolutely plant
the flag at midfield twenty. But I'm gonna disagree, and
I'm gonna say that if you are who Clemson is

(14:19):
in this rivalry and South Carolina fans won't like this,
it's always a great debate about you know being the
dominant team in the rivalry, but Clemson has been dominant.
The Tigers lead the all time series seventy three to
forty four and four, and I give Shane b Mer

(14:41):
credit for winning two out of the past three. I thought,
I openly said here on the air, as Clemson was
running through this stretch, like when they beat Carolina fifty
six to seven in twenty sixteen and thirty eight to
three and twenty nineteen, I thought Clempson would stretch this
thing out to at least a ten game winning streak.
And yes, Clemson would have set the all time mark

(15:06):
in terms of wins in this series had these two
teams been able to play in twenty twenty, But instead
that didn't happen. Clemson was only able to tie it
with a seventh consecutive win in twenty twenty one, which
was a thirty to nothing victory. But they were going
for number eight back in twenty twenty two and they

(15:27):
were up in South Carolina, comes from behind the win
thirty one to thirty in Death Valley, and then last year,
Clemson again with the lead with a chance to win
the game, can't get off the field, and in both
of those games, Clemson had plays that really shot themselves
in the foot in both games. In almost all matchups, okay,

(15:51):
you you do have moments like this where a team
hurts itself, and South Carolina definitely hurt itself in victories
and Clemson's hurt itself in victories. But in that thirty
one to thirty game, you'll recall Clemson got a safety

(16:13):
and really stole the momentum, took the momentum, and South
Carolina kicked off and Clemson inexplicably runs a trick play
and they fumble. They turned the ball over and South
Carolina ends up scoring. So what went from being a
two point positive for Clemson turned into a quick five

(16:34):
point negative. The safety actually ended up hurting Clemson, oddly
because they got cute. Then a year ago, Clemson in
scoring range runs a reverse and they fumble the ball
away again trying to get cute. If you go back

(16:56):
to Chad Morris's time at Clemson, down here, you know
Clemson's driving I think it was on the opening drive.
We can actually talk with Chad Morse about this this
week because this is one of the play calls that
fans will never let him live down It was a
play where Sammy Watkins is gonna throw a pass and

(17:17):
it's intercepted. You're driving, you're in control, you're in command,
and you let your five star wide out throw a
pass and it's picked. Turns the momentum, and look, I
don't know if Clemson would have won that game or not.
South Carolina was really dominant at that portion of the series.
The five straight games the first time South Carolina had

(17:39):
won two games in a row in the series since
what sixty nine to seventy. But you know, you can't
have those moments on Saturday against the South Carolina team.
And I don't care how bad their resume is when
you look at their record. I have seen how competitive

(17:59):
South Carolina has been this season, and you look at Clemson,
and I have seen a lack of competitiveness from the
Tigers against teams that I know. Clemson is supremely talented
by comparison to Clemson has played down South Carolina has
played up the game. Cocks have played tougher competition than Clemsons.
Like if you handed me a script and you didn't

(18:20):
tell me what it was, and you said Team A
punches Team B in the face for three and a
half hours on Saturday. I would venture to guess, based
off of what I've seen, that South Carolina that's going
to be doing the punching. And again I'm not telling
you South Carolina is going to win this game, but
based off of what I have seen, if one team
beats the other one down on Saturday, if that's the

(18:42):
script that you hand me, from what I've seen, I
would say Clemson is the team that's getting punched right
in the mouth. South Carolina again has been disruptive against
much better competition than Clemson. Look at no further than
what they did on the road in College Station. Do
you think Clemson could stand in there against the Aggies

(19:04):
at all this season?

Speaker 5 (19:05):
Ha?

Speaker 3 (19:06):
I don't think so. So that's my point. I don't
care how South Carolina collapsed at the end. It was epic.
The fact of the matter is South Carolina was in
a position in College Station that I don't think Clemson
could be in. Now. Does that mean Clemson won't win
on Saturday? Absolutely not. Are the game Cocks favored Absolutely yes,
And I'm not surprised at all. Clemson, I would argue,

(19:29):
has more talent than South Carolina. I would argue that
for about everybody on Clemson's schedule. The problem is Dabo
Sweeney's club hasn't played like the more talented team, and
now heading into this game with some key injuries in
the past couple of weeks. It doesn't leave me or
Vegas feeling good about Clemson's odds. But if it's a
punched in the face for three and a half hours,

(19:50):
I don't see any way that it's Clemson. This is
doing the punching based off of what I've seen from
the Tigers through eleven weeks. All right, well, hit a
quick break and come back with more. Right after this
stay with us Clemson Sports, all Law and swan On
a Monday afternoon again rivalry week here in the state
of South Carolina, with Clemson and South Carolina both come
ag in to this matchup off of victories over other

(20:13):
end state schools. It's a little in state tournament if
you will. South Carolina knocking off Coastal over the weekend convincingly,
Clemson knocking off Firman, the Tigers actually having to go
back to the starters on defense late because the offense
wasn't doing much and as I mentioned, out of the
gates are on the program, Chris Dnson makes a couple

(20:34):
of plays and the next thing, you know, everybody thinks
he's the next Lamar Jackson. We'll see pump the breaks
on the Chris dentson Love. Although enjoyable to watch, don't
get me wrong about that. Here's Dabo Sweeney following the game.
As I mentioned, you know, a couple of big losses
for the Tigers coming in two weeks ago with the

(20:54):
loss on the offensive line of Braden Jacobs and also
the loss of Walker Parks, and then this week losing
Olsen pat Henry for the season and also just jam
Lawson as I said earlier. But anyway, here's Dabo Sweeney's
opening statement following the victory over Firman.

Speaker 5 (21:14):
A fun day, fun day in the valley, Proud of
our team. Always always a special day.

Speaker 4 (21:21):
With military appreciation and all that, and and then Senior
Day and especially when you get a chance to play.
I think we got every senior in there. I believe
it's always fun to be able to finish your season,
you know, at home, being able to play everyone that
was blessing that it worked out that way, and just
happy for our fans, you know, to be able to

(21:42):
finish up the season a couple of wins in a row,
you know, at one to three in a row. We're
playing our best football, you know, down the stretch here,
which is which is good to see and it's fun
to watch and fun to see the growth.

Speaker 5 (21:56):
I appreciate our fans.

Speaker 4 (21:58):
You know, this is a coming This is my twenty
third home season coming to an end today, you know,
so twenty three years of battling out.

Speaker 5 (22:08):
There in the valley and a lot of games.

Speaker 4 (22:11):
And I'm just grateful for all of it, you know,
the big wins, the painful moments. I'm grateful for all
of it because it really is just a special place
to to do something that you love to do.

Speaker 3 (22:25):
Dabosweeney also talked about Chris Denson as we mentioned the
opportunity that he got to play more than just a
single snap in front of the Tiger fans. And here's
what he had to say about what you saw on
Saturday night.

Speaker 4 (22:39):
And really get dents in some significant time was awesome,
you know, and I just thought he was I mean,
that's what you know, that's what he does in practice,
that's what we've seen. He's he's he's he showed up
really raw, but he's developed and he's had a great
spring and summer, and again there's been a lot of growth.
Growth you don't see, but it's gonna pay dividends. I'm

(23:01):
really proud of him. And you know, I mean, seventeen
point seven yards per carry. I think they told me
that's the most since nineteen forty seven by a quarterback
and uh six carries one hundred and six yards and
our first quarterback rush have over one hundred yard rushing
since Trevor in twenty nineteen. And he was four for
four and had a nice touchdown pass on then RPO.

Speaker 5 (23:23):
There the logan brooking Man that was that was awesome.

Speaker 3 (23:27):
That's stabos when you follow in Clemson's forty five to
ten victory over Furman. He also talked about the fact
that with the victory, Clipson is indeed Bowl eligible and
for teams that started one in three the way this
one did in Clemson in Clemson history, our good buddy
Tim Beray had this detail for Dabo.

Speaker 4 (23:46):
But we're Bowl eligible. That's a it's a big deal.
Tim Bray told me that. He said, one hundred and
thirty years, there's been thirty teams at Clemson start one
in three and I think we're only the fourtheen to
rally and get to the postseason. So you know, it's,
you know, not what we were, you know, shooting for

(24:07):
coming into the season, but you got to respond to
where you are and so to see them to respond
that way and and do something, you know, like that
is awesome. And we just got to see if we
can keep building momentum.

Speaker 3 (24:20):
Here's Davos Sweeny given his comments on the Jaheim loss
and injury which should not have happened. And here's Davos
Sweeney following the game talking about the injuries to Jaheim
Lawson and Olsen pat Henry. And it turns out that
Jaheim Lawson's is as bad as it could be, as
he's also out he's got to have tightrope surgery. At

(24:42):
the time postgame, though daboswen he didn't seem to think
that it was I wouldn't say all that big of
a deal, but he certainly didn't make it sound like
Lawson was going to be out for an extended period.

Speaker 4 (24:53):
No, I mean, I think it's just a spring ankle.
So we'll just have to see, you know, where he
is day to day. The big one is old and
you know, so he's he's gonna be out, he's gonna.

Speaker 5 (25:03):
Have to have surgery.

Speaker 4 (25:04):
I think I think they said he as a Patel attendant.
I believe that was what they I mean, you've got
to get the m R. But they felt pretty confident
that's what it was. So not an a c L
or that. But but it's still you know, you got
to go in there and fix it. Hate that, but
you know he'll be the same thing that Kobe had

(25:25):
to have. I think Kobe. I think Kobe had the
same thing last year.

Speaker 5 (25:29):
McLeod and and and you know.

Speaker 4 (25:31):
He's doing great, he's great and ultimate bounce back to
but just hate that's a lost force there. So again
it's you know, Josh sap And and Benny got to
step up and Logan and Chef, those guys have to
step up for us and get it done.

Speaker 3 (25:49):
Here Sweeney explaining how Jaheim lost his injury occurred because
the stars, I want to say starters, but the stars
are supposed to be out.

Speaker 5 (25:58):
Hindsight, you wish he wasn't in. Yeah, yeah, I wish
you wouldn't have an It was a package.

Speaker 4 (26:01):
I thought we had everybody out honestly, but that's a
that's a package where he's inside and and you know, honestly,
I didn't say that's that's all me shouldn't that's one
hundred percent. I guess I should have. You know, we
shouldn't have been in there. But if i'd just really
seen it, I should have called time out and got
him out of the game. But hey, you got it's
a package and he was kind of the only guy
we had for that.

Speaker 5 (26:22):
But you know, that's football. I mean, those things can happen.

Speaker 3 (26:27):
Man, what what a bummer? It's all you can say
about it, like, how do you mismanage that? And and
you know it's not even the mismanagement of the moment,
but it feels to me and we might talk with
William Qualkinbush about this, But the lack of communication to
the player, I mean, when you think you would say

(26:51):
to the guys when you bring them off, hey you're
not going back on unless we specifically like sit you
guys down and say, hey, you're going back.

Speaker 5 (27:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (27:02):
I just I don't know. That just seems like another
misstep in a season full of missteps from this coaching staff.
And I know people are gonna clamor about a whole
lot of off season changes, and we'll certainly hear Ki Clubnick,
or excuse me, we'll hear Davilis when you talk about
Kay Club Nick in its curtain call moment. But I'm

(27:28):
not so sure that Sweene's gonna move on from Garrett Riley.
I'll tell you why when we get back Clempson sportsal
Law of the Swan on a Monday afternoon rivalry week
here in the State of South Carolina. Programming note, we
are on the air Monday and Tuesday, then we are
off the air Wednesday, Thursday, and we'll be back on Friday.

(27:49):
All right, So Monday, Tuesday, Friday. That's the programming notes
for this week for the program, our guest lineup, we
will try to keep the same, though we'll have some
guys shift around and move throughout the week. But today
sort of a recap of Clemson's forty five ten victory
over Furman and Dabo, Sweeney talked about Ka Club Nick

(28:13):
getting his curtain call and standing ovation there in Death Valley.

Speaker 5 (28:18):
Yeah, I wasn't planned. It was just in the moment.
You know.

Speaker 4 (28:21):
We went into the game with a plan of what
we wanted to do from a quarterback standpoint on kind
of how you know, we wanted to play those guys
and win and then if everything goes well, you know,
really wanted to be able to get dents and the
majority of the fourth quarter. I wanted to get trend
in there into the third quarter. So it kind of
that all worked out well. But that was just kind

(28:42):
of in the moment as far as hey, let's let's
call Tom out and let's get number two out of there.
I mean, he's been a warrior force. I mean, he
really has, and it was a cool moment for him.

Speaker 3 (28:52):
And the only moment that really got me at all,
just as a human being, was Cade asking for just
one more play. You know, he's going one more play
and they're like, Nope, this is it, and then the
emotions hitting him on his face. You know, you can
read it like we could be critical at Kay Clubnick
and if you think back. As a matter of fact,
my nephew texted me today about K Clubnick and he

(29:16):
said was asking him about how Clubnic's tenure started. He
couldn't remember, and I said, DJ got two drives at
the a SEC Championship and K came in and won
the MVP, led Clemson to the victory in the AEC
Championship over in North Carolina, and then the Orange Bowl
matchup against Tennessee didn't go his way. And you know,

(29:39):
I hate that DJ left at that point because I
think maybe a little combo package might have been just
perfect for that game. But yeah, like Kate's had some moments. Man,
what he did at Texas last year, the way he
played in the in the College Football Playoff, and he's

(29:59):
had some other moments like what happened the year following
the a SEC Championship game, losing it Duke and the
turnovers and all the miss you know, the missteps and
things of that nature. And that's part of the reason
I'm not sure Clemson is going to make a change
in offensive coordinator.

Speaker 7 (30:17):
Now.

Speaker 3 (30:18):
I don't know if you'd be wise to or not
quite Frankly, I really don't because I've wondered. You hear
Dabo Sweeney last week saying that when Kate tried to
hand the ball off on fourth down to Peter Woods,
he had a brain fart. When you hear Dabo Sweeney
say this past week that you know Kge just made

(30:40):
a dumb play, on taking that sack that he took.
I think dumbplay was the word he used. Either way.
You know, he never really never felt like he's kind
of talked about a quarterback like that. Maybe I'm wrong,
but it almost feels like, like, you know, if there's

(31:01):
a reason to give Garrett Riley a little bit more time,
more than the defensive side of the ball with Wes
Goldwin and you know, things of that nature, is the
fact that Garrett Riley has just had the same quarterback.
He has had the same straw stirring the drink. And
perhaps a new straw will stir that drink more efficiently.

(31:23):
Perhaps a new straw will make this Clemson offense click
under Garrett Riley. So maybe what you want to see
is one more year of Garrett Riley with a different
quarterback to see how it how it all shapes up.
Here's Dabo Sweeny talking about k Klubnick's leadership for the team.

Speaker 5 (31:44):
The younger quarterbacks. Yeah, I mean, Kate's all in all
the time. I mean, he just doesn't flinch.

Speaker 4 (31:50):
I mean he's a leader, takes ownership, he sets a
great example in everything he does.

Speaker 5 (31:57):
This kid, he's in the building all the time.

Speaker 4 (32:00):
He's in the rehab prehab area all the time. I mean,
he's played through a lot of pain. He's gritty, he's tough,
he just he just he just His example is can't
quantify it, but he's shown these young guys and how.

Speaker 5 (32:18):
He prepares, how he practices is the same guy every day.

Speaker 4 (32:22):
He's not a guy that's up and down from an
energy standpoint.

Speaker 5 (32:26):
He is own all the time.

Speaker 4 (32:28):
When we step on the practice field, you get the
best of k Clubman every single day. You can't ask
for a better example than that for all these other
young guys.

Speaker 5 (32:37):
I'm really proud of it.

Speaker 3 (32:38):
Final thing from dabos Sweeney. He was asking about Antonio
Williams making the decision to turn pro a year early.
Williams had a year of eligibility left. Here's Dabo Sweeney's
thoughts on the playmaker that he is and and you know,
he's probably judged un fairly because Clemson hasn't had the
same level of success as some of his pre assessors

(33:00):
at White Out.

Speaker 4 (33:02):
Yeah, yeah, he's definitely gonna he's graduating, unless you can
talking into coming back. I mean, I guess he's got
another year. Uh, I think he's got another year. But
now he's he's ready. He's ready, He's he's ready. Somebody
gonna get a great one. He's as good as we've
ever had. He's different than some of the guys. He's
different than Sam, he's different than Mike. He's different than Nuke.

(33:23):
He's different than t he's different than Hunter. He's different
than you know, a lot of these great ones we've had.
But he's he's as good as any of them. He's
a special player. He's he is a he is a
complete player and gonna be a great pro.

Speaker 5 (33:37):
And I'm really proud of him. I've I've really enjoyed.

Speaker 4 (33:41):
Coaching him, challenging him, teaching him, encouraging him.

Speaker 5 (33:45):
You know, he'll probably tell you I was. I was
really really hard on.

Speaker 4 (33:49):
Him early in his career, really hard, but I really
but I also knew what he could be. And that's
my job is to is to push him to become
the best version of him.

Speaker 5 (34:02):
That's what that's what I'm supposed to do.

Speaker 4 (34:04):
But he has to decide if he's gonna accept the
challenge and buy in. And boy did he. I mean,
I've just he's become an amazing leader. I saw his
mom and dad out there today and just it's great
to be able to hug their neck, and they're so
proud of him. His grandmother, I see her all. She
comes to about every practice. She lives in Greenville, and
she brings her chair and sits in practice all.

Speaker 5 (34:26):
The time, and she's his biggest fan. I'm gonna miss her.

Speaker 4 (34:30):
She's she comes up and listens to my talk after practice,
every every practice. Almoch So I just loved his family.
But that kid is a special, special player. Special that
catch he made, kind of wrong shoulder, you know, being
able to keep his balance, his control, awareness of where

(34:50):
the pylon and goal line was. That's a big time play.
That was not an easy play, and he makes it
look easy.

Speaker 3 (34:58):
So there you go. That's Stabos. When he talked about
Antonio Williams, all right, well we come back. It was
a big weekend for Tiger hoops, as we mentioned, a
ninety seven ninety fourth victory over Georgia down at Charleston.
We'll tell you about it when we return. Final Saber
Devour one coming up. William Walkin Bush joins the program.
Of course, don't forget about our friends at Alumni Hall

(35:18):
right there downtown Clemson. You can see Bowman Field from
the front door. Go check them out next time you're
in town. Remember if you are a Clemson student, if
you're a faculty member, or you're in the military, you
get ten percent off when shopping in store at Alumni Hall.
Let them know, Swanee Sinja. It's Alumni Hall where Tiger

(35:38):
fans shopping hey for the holiday season. Don't forget about
this if you go to Alumni haul dot com. Right,
I'd love for you to go through our website and
click one of their links. Then we'll get credit for
your purchase. But if you've got a family member who's
a Virginia Tech fan, they're fired up about James Franklin.
There's a Virginia Tech Alumni Hall site. You see what
I'm saying. Like there are more ultiple schools under the

(36:01):
Alumni Hall umbrella. And you could do your Christmas shopping online,
have it delivered. You don't even have to go out.
I mean, it's a beautiful thing. Check them out today
online Alumni Haul dot com. All right, Clempson Hoops, you
know on Friday they had a game against West Virginia

(36:24):
down there in Charleston, and West Virginia was an undefeated
team coming into that game. I think there were five
and oh, I mean it's still early in the season, right.
It was at the Shriners' Children's Charleston Classic. But West
Virginia led by eleven points with ten to fifty seven
remaining of the game, fifty two to forty one, Clempson

(36:47):
storms back. Fun team to watch by the way. They
win seventy sixty seven in advance to the championship of
the Palmeadow side of the bracket. And when I tell
you this is a balanced Clemson team, I mean it.
Fourteen points from Justin Porter in that game, fourteen points

(37:10):
from r. J. Godfrey in that contest, thirteen points from
Dylan Hunter, thirteen points from Carter Welling, eleven from Buda Johnson.
But back to Carter Welling for a second. His athleticism
as a big man, He's much more athletic than PJ. Hall.

(37:31):
Runs the floor better, has the ability to take the
ball of the hoop better, and he finished strong late
in that game, a couple of threes. I mean, he's
a smooth player.

Speaker 7 (37:42):
Man.

Speaker 3 (37:44):
I like this lineup. I like this team. And you
know Zach Foster, who we talked about all week as
a young guy goes over four in that game. But ma'am,
when those guys are going with like Ace Buckner only
had two points. This is a collection of talent, that's

(38:04):
what this is. This is not a one or two
man show. Clemson has a collection of talent, and it
showed up in their ninety seven ninety four victory on
Sunday over Georgia to win the championship of the Palmetto
portion of the Shriners Children's Charleston Classic. Again justin Porter

(38:30):
with a big day. Eighteen points for Porter, and this
one he was supported though. Again listen to it. Dylan
Hunter score sixteen, Buda Johnson had thirteen. R J. God
Three had twelve, Carter Welling had eleven, Zach Foster had eleven.

(38:53):
I mean, so you're getting scoring from all over the place.
And Foster made one move in that game that was
the you know, just kind of an indicator of what
kind of player he can be. There was a steal,
the ball was passed to him. He's in a one
B one situation, and he had a silky little reverse

(39:15):
euro you know, bang bang in the reverse lay. So
nice hit a couple of big threes. I think he
went three for four from beyond the arc if I remember,
but plus twelve while he's in the ballgame. This is
as good a team in terms of top the bottom talent.

(39:39):
Like when you look at the players who are getting minutes.

Speaker 7 (39:48):
All right.

Speaker 3 (39:50):
Right now, those players I think it runs about nine
deep that are getting legit minutes like fifteen minutes or
more per game, and that tends to slip back a
little bit as you get further into conference play. The
only person I'm really worried about right now in terms

(40:12):
of their playing time of this group might be Nick
Davidson because he just hasn't been very efficient. I mean,
he's one of a Nick Davidson's gotta be better. And
if he's better, then all of a sudden, you don't
have much drop off at the center position. And when

(40:38):
you don't have much drop off when you're subbing across
the board, that's generally a good thing, you know. I
don't know how this team will be at the end
of the season through the Atlantic Coast Conference. It's hard
to judge because I mean, at this point you don't
really know what everybody else is. It's still very early.

(41:03):
It's one of the stranger dynamics of college basketball up
until this point. Like Clempson will get a lot of
credit for beating West Virginia, Clypson will get a lot
of credit for beating Georgia. But it's still so early
in the season. You truly have no idea how these
teams are going to perform in their conferences, and you

(41:24):
don't know how Clempson is going to perform. But if
you've watched this team play, you probably like how aggressive
they are defensively. You probably like the motion and the
sets that they run offensively, how they are able to
kind of morph into a team that can run up

(41:45):
and down the floor if they need to. To guys
taking you know, the ball one v one to the
half court sets that Brad Brownell has been known to
draw up. It's a fun group, and they win in
the Charleston the Shriners Children's Charleston Classic this weekend with

(42:06):
a ninety seven ninety four overtime victory. They scored seventeen
points at overtime to top the Georgia Bulldogs. On Sunday,
All Right, Real Quick Break, William Qualkinbush joins us around
the band. Keep it lot right here on Fox Sports
Radio fourteen hundred the Midlands, and of course you can
hear the show around the world on the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 7 (42:25):
Each time for.

Speaker 1 (42:27):
Clipson Sports Talk with Lawton Swan Swanny.

Speaker 3 (43:06):
It is our number two. That's Drivetime. Ready, you're on
the show The Shakesta South Lane, Clemson Sports Salt, Lawton
Swan hanging out with you on a Monday, and of
course the show The Shakestare South Lane brought to you in
part by our good friends over at Matt's Plumbing Mets
Plumbing dot Com six seven one A wait, that's Bett's
Plumbing two two six seven ones here wait all right,

(43:26):
William Qwalking Bush on the guest line on a Monday,
Rivalry Week. I have said it great all week so
far and feeling good about it. Quat, welcome in, buddy.
How are you?

Speaker 7 (43:37):
I'll tell you what, Swannee. If you can say rivalry
Week for an entire week of rivalries without messing that up,
then you're a Hall of Famer, my friend. I hope
you're doing well.

Speaker 3 (43:46):
Listen so far the day so good. I've learned over
the years though, you just take your time as you
go through it. That's the key. Quawk Pace yourself through
those words.

Speaker 7 (43:57):
You know. Uh, I'm not a very take but I've
learned that vocally patience is better than rushing because let
me tell you something, the Internet never forgets, and you
know what, my wife never forgets either. My wife will
send me the dumb stuff that I say or the
stuff that I I didn't mean to say or whatever. Yeah,
she's unforgiving too. So uh yeah, there's a double reason

(44:19):
there to just take your time, you know, just methodically
get through it.

Speaker 3 (44:22):
You know, I actually did some research on this qualk
and and there is a whole it's when it when
those kind of things happen, like when you say the
wrong name but you didn't realize that you said the
wrong name and you just pressed right through. There's actually
it's it's it's actually not like a way you protect
yourself from criticism and your brain sort of tricks you.

(44:45):
I did. I did a whole you know, segment on
it a few weeks back. It's kind of wild how
in this business you can You'll be talking about Dabo
Sweeney and then switch to Danny Ford and then all
of a sudden, you say Dabo Sweeney when you thought
you legitimately thought in your brain that you said, Danny Ford,
have you ever I mean, you know what I'm talking about?

Speaker 7 (45:05):
Yeah, I mean, I know one hundredercent what you're talking
about there. I mean, And I don't know if it's
the same thing, but I catch myself all the time
reading what somebody meant to write or reading what I'm
meant to write, as opposed to reading what's actually there.
And so you're papering, you know, you're papering over mistakes,
grammar mistakes or word choice or whatever. You're doing it
in your brain because you know what's supposed to be there,

(45:27):
and you just sort of, like you say, your brain
just kind of tricks you like that. The brain is
a funny thing, Swanny. It really is, man, it really is.

Speaker 3 (45:33):
And of course Clemson in South Carolina fans will be
turning those brains off this weekend and turned it on
their loyalties to the Tigers in the game, Coach, regardless
of what happens on the field, they'll take a one
point win, Dabosweeney saying, you know, we'll take a three
to two win if we got to get one. This
matchup is so special. This year was supposed to be
though quote really special, and instead it feels a little

(45:57):
bit like a dud. Now that's because it's kind of
matchup just gonna get these two teams to the college
football playoff. Not because I don't expect it to be
heated in Williams Brice Stadium, But how disappointed are you
that that's what this game is gonna be instead of
what it could have been?

Speaker 7 (46:14):
You know, I we are so far away from, being honest,
I'm not that disappointed by it because those those aspirations
are so far gone now that it I mean, we're
way we're so far away from it. You know, might
be a little different if like both of these teams
went into two weeks ago like eight and two or
something or seven and two and lost, and so, you know,

(46:36):
two weeks from the game, you thought, hey man, they
these two teams got a shot to really like play
for a playoff r and then and then it turns
out that you're you're not even close to that. That
that to me would be more disappointing. Swanny. I just
feel like that this season is what it is at
this point. Yeah, just being honest with you, I mean,
to me, this game is now important for the exact

(46:57):
opposite reason. It's like, don't lose. Don't lose South Carolina
to the worst Punson team in fifteen years. Don't lose
to the program that's without an offensive coordinator or an
offensive line coach, and is you know has what two
Power Conference wins this year, Clemson. Don't lose to that team,

(47:18):
and you can now file instead of like one of
the great you know, quarterback battles and rivalry games with
big time stakes and all this stuff, you know, don't
don't file it under like win and you get something great.
It's one of those like if you don't think it's
important to win, lose and we'll see if it is important.
It's one of those like Davis when talks about, you know,

(47:40):
some of the some of the easier games on the schedule.
That's where this rivalry is right now. It's basically a
don't you dare lose this game, rather than hey, if
you win, there's some major stakes attacked, and I think
I think that makes it important. But sort of for
the exact opposite reason.

Speaker 3 (47:58):
You know what's funny, Quak. I have to tell you
I texted my nephews this weekend because I was listening
to you on the pregame show, and you said the
road to Bowl eligibility, and.

Speaker 8 (48:08):
I thought, I felt by how the Tigers have fallen,
But they are Bowl eligible and they'll go into this
game against South Carolina obviously, you know, feeling better about
themselves with the way they've played over the back half
of the schedule, and that is something to be said
dab Bosween.

Speaker 3 (48:24):
He pointed out that you know, only what four teams
and one hundred and you know are out of thirty
teams that have been at one in three to start
a year have been Bowl eligible in Clempson history. And
at least this team could say they are playing much
better than they were earlier in the year. Do you
think that'll translate to Saturday, because I really think South Carolina,
as bad as their record is, is probably one of

(48:46):
the best teams clips I've seen.

Speaker 7 (48:49):
Yeah, I mean think about what that means though, And
I was kind of thinking about that stat like, wow,
that's crazy, Like nobody responds, But your early games are
normally the easier games, like you, you know, you get
into your league then supposed to ramp up a little bit.
At least you might have one or two tough ones
in there. But like if you're one and three, you're
losing to significantly worse teams you'll face later. And that's
true of Clinton. Think about it. Syracuse not a very

(49:12):
good football team. I know, quarterback injuries big deal there,
but not a very good football team. LSU ended up
not being a very good football team and you know,
fired their coach and embarrassing losses and and all that stuff.
SMU is you know, SMU has a chance to play
for conference title. Duke still alive, like you know, or

(49:32):
you know, was alive until ninety four teams decided to
join the chat there, you know, like you've lost to
some decent thing and then you beat Louisville, a team
that yeah, I mean they went with a freshman quarterback
and got thumped against SMU. But Louisville when Clinton played them,
like middle of November, so we're talking about end of
the season, had not lost the game in regulation all

(49:52):
year and had a couple quality wins, including and went
over Miami. So you know, you're Clinton's actually stacked its
best win since the one and three start against tougher competition.
That is something that you can hang your hat on.
I mean, I would say it's a big deal. It's
a big deal to say that that you've closed this
season better. I'm not gonna say good. Good isn't really

(50:15):
relative term swanny, so I won't say good, but you've
closed the season better. And so yeah, it's important. And
you know what, I know that if you're in a
certain age group, then there are certain things that mean
a lot to you, and if you're you know, you're
different age groups, things don't mean as much. I think
sometimes it's like older people think things are different, you know,

(50:36):
younger people it doesn't matter. A lot of times we
blame the youths for this, but I think when you're
exactly my generation and you didn't see the eighties at all,
and you grew up in the nineties when Clemson didn't
go to a bowl game every year, like that was
literally my first impression at Clemson football is you know,
let's just see what happened. It was there were no

(50:56):
expectations ever. You know, I sat through every home game
in nineteen ninety eight. I sat through the TA McClinton
Thursday night game. I sat through a freaking severe thunderstorm
and watched this loose to Maryland. I sat through like
getting sunk by Florida State A million times. I sat
through all these I mean I sat through just disasters,

(51:16):
just absolutely disasters, And so I do think it matters. Man.
I was nine years old the last time Clemson wasn't
Bowl eligible. Nine And there are lots of folks who
would say, and I don't think this is a generational thing.
There are people older than me that would say, yeah,
but that doesn't matter anymore. Like I've been to national
champions I've been a playoffs. Look, man, I think you

(51:38):
can look your peers Florida, South Carolina, Arkansas, Auburn, look
at all these schools, Florida State. You can look all
your peers in the eye. Did I say South Carolina?
And you can say the worst that we'll ever get
here is a bowl game. And that is not nothing. Man,
when you're trying to differentiate yourself, you can't do it

(52:00):
at the top end. The least you can do is
you can different differentiate yourself at the bottom end. When
the bottom falls out in our program and half the
staff's probably going to be fired and everyone wants to
bench the quarterback and low is us and the talent
gap and all this stuff we still have seventy eight
thousand people for a Senior Day military appreciation game against

(52:20):
an FCS opponent, and we still go to bowl games.
And I'm telling you, there is nobody in America. I've
said this all year long, even before we knew that
Clemson may fall in this category. There's nobody in America
who is capable of totally avoiding a four and eight.
Four and eight is there for everybody, And the fact
that Clemson avoided it this year is something to be

(52:41):
proud of, even if people don't see value in going
to El Paso or Shreveport or wherever clemps is going
to go for a bowl game.

Speaker 3 (52:48):
Man, what a great take. Again, he's on Twitter at
qualk talk. Go follow him today again. Twenty seven consecutive
seasons of Bowl eligibility for the Tigers. And you know,
real quick, though, let's shift gears for a moment and
we'll come back, because I do want to circle back
to Clempson of South Carolina. But you know, we'll obviously
find out what's going on with Lane Kiffin after Friday's

(53:10):
Egg Bowl, which could make Saturday some of the games.
I know it's big rivalry week, but maybe uneventful if
that news ends up breaking at that point. And then
the other thing I do want to ask you about
is Florida State more specifically and their decision to stick
with Mike norvel I'm not sure I've been happier about
a decision than that. I know they don't want to

(53:32):
stroke the check, but I hear their fans and their
fans are saying, look at what happened with Penn State
and James Franklin. They didn't have to strike that big check.
You know, it got trimmed down to what nine million dollars.
Qualk Like, come on, man, I mean, Florida State, are
they going about this the right way? Do you think
this is the right move to keep? To keep Norvelle

(53:53):
another year at a minimum?

Speaker 7 (53:55):
Here's the problem Florida State has, Swanee, and it's the
same problem that LSU has, and it's the same problem
that olemiss has, the same problem for to have the
tend state and everybody, you can't afford to make or
not make these decisions. Now, the it depends on the
legal interpretation of duty to mitigate too, which I don't
want to get to in the legal leese there. But

(54:15):
Tom Mars, who's who's a very effective attorney, has defended
coaches in some of these instances. Basically says that there's
not a school anywhere that's been able to prove that
a coach has not fulfilled a duty to mitigate. And
what that means for your audience is in some of
these contracts, like James Franklin, like michae Level, Yeah, you've
got this, uh, this large buyout, but there is a

(54:38):
duty to mitigate clause that says you have to be
like looking for gainful employment basically in the market range. Right,
So you can't just take a job as the Maryland
head coach if you're James Franklin or whatever for one
dollar a year. You can't do that. You have to
you have to be GameFly employed at the market range
in order for that clause to kick in. Now again,

(55:00):
how do you, I mean, how do you prove that
a coach wasn't looking I don't I don't know. I
don't know how that works legally, but suffice it to
say that when you're Penn State and you've got this
massive buyout that gets cut by I don't know, thirty
forty million dollars from thirty nine to nine.

Speaker 5 (55:17):
Is that?

Speaker 7 (55:17):
What the is that?

Speaker 3 (55:18):
What the forty nine nine whatever?

Speaker 7 (55:20):
So I mean that that is a big deal. Now,
if you're Florida State Mignorvel, you gotta wonder a guy
who's basically what, uh he's gonna be either seven or
eight wins combined in the last two years. What kind
of job is he getting? Uh? His duty in the
mittigate Again, it goes that. But like you might think
mign Norvel needs to take a job as an offensive coordinator.

(55:42):
I'm not try to own Mignorvel to be my head coach.
If I feel like he basically bumped into a transfer
Layton roster when everybody else is trying to figure out
the landscape, and then as woefully underperformed in high school recruiting,
I'm not I'm not certain that I would be doing that.
So they might be looking at it saying, yeah, we
can do this, we can we can mitigate some of this.
But the job that our fired head coach is going

(56:03):
to get is not head coach at Virginia Tech. The
job that our fired head coach is gonna get might
be in conferent to USA, or might be an offensive coordinator.
And then you're talking about firing assistants who are very
highly paid. Florida. Here's the thing, Florida State is kind
of a financial mess or whatever. The next problem is,
they're just throwing as much money as is humanly possible

(56:25):
at it. And when you do that, you come up
with things like what I've what I've seen reported many
times that they believe to fire Mike Norville and fire
all his staff and hire new people is going to
cost one hundred million dollars. We know Florida State doesn't
have one hundred million dollars sitting under the couch cushions.
We also know that their money people are pretty ticked
off about the state of the program, so they may

(56:46):
not be willing to go above the caps, as they say,
significantly to you know, to help next year's roster be
any better. So they're stuck between rock and a hard plays.
I understand financially there is whiz him in. Let's wait,
let's drop this down like twelve million dollars or thirteen
million dollars. I think the buyout goes down next year.

(57:07):
Let's try to put a little more money into the roster,
try to be a little more frugal. See if we
can get the eight wins. See if we can you know,
work some magic here. Maybe you know, Gus mell Zon
takes his job. I don't know. Whatever, whatever the case,
Uh so you get a new OC in there, perhaps
and we run it back one more time just for
fiscal responsibility. But it is not making anybody happy to

(57:31):
think about Mike Norvell leading Florida State. And you know what,
I will say something real quick about Lane Kiffen. I
don't understand Lane Kiffen getting three thirteen million dollars a
year offers the guy's not coaching a playoff game. In fact,
he's gonna he's gonna coach himself out of the playoff,
I think, or talk him stuff out of the playoff.
If what I think happens is gonna happen where he says, hey,
appreciate you, old miss, but I'm gonna leave and go

(57:52):
ahead and get started with LSU because we got portal
stuff to do and roster stuff to do, and I
don't want to be a distracted to do the playoff.
If that happens, then LSU would be hiring a guy
at thirteen million dollars that's coached his whole life, and
never in a playoff game, never sniffed the BCS game,
never sniffed the Final four game, got his team to
the playoff, didn't even coach in it. Yeah, I mean,
and you still see in game Swanny that there's some

(58:14):
immaturity there with Lane about how he calls plays, you know,
some of the dumb personnel decisions he makes, like inside
the Kinyard line, don't you don't even know what we're
what we're talking about there? I mean, it just it
feels like this guy's not gonna get you to the
Promised Land because of how he sort of lived his life.
And I don't like. I think Lane Kiffin has matured
quite a bit, But man, wouldn't you be better off

(58:36):
hiring I don't know, Alex Goliz for eight million dollars
a year or Ryan Silverfield for eight million dollars a
year then getting in a bidding war with two other
schools for a guy who has never been where you're
trying to go. In fact, if you're LSU, he has
not been where the guy you fired has been. So
I like, I don't, I don't know what the deal

(58:57):
is with that. I think this is way too much
noise for the same guy because people have a lank
Kippin fetish out there. But it is the urgency of
the moment that every time you make a higher you
have to get it right, because now it's not just
about that higher and that ad. It's about all the
money people needing to be behind the higher immediately.

Speaker 3 (59:16):
And how about the Old Miss fans who are in
the midst of arguably their greatest season in their lifetime
and the only thing they can think about right now
is is our coach going to stay?

Speaker 7 (59:29):
Like?

Speaker 3 (59:30):
What a bizarre scenario to be in for them.

Speaker 7 (59:35):
I agree, you know, you know what I think honestly
about Ole Miss, and I know there's a lot, Like
I've read all the pieces. This is why Ole Miss
has to know whether Lane Kivin is leaving her staying.
My thing is no, you don't, No, you don't. Man,
stop looking to give to horse in the mouth. Let
Lane Kiffin coach as long as he wants to coach
and win as many games as he wants to make.

(59:56):
Because Ole Miss, we talk about schools, nobody's about four
and eight. Old Miss for sure is not about four
and eight. They can easily go back to four and eight,
that they have won fifty games combined in the last
five years. You could go all the way back to
the beginning of time. You're not seeing a year where
old miss or a time where old missus won fifty
games combined in five years. Now. I know, I'm I'm

(01:00:17):
singing Lane Kiffin's praises line just dinged his resume. But
I'm really talking about at the top of the coaching
pay cycle, like at the coaching pay scale. I'm not
sure I would pay him like that. Like I wouldn't
pay him like Kirby Smart right more than Dabo Swingy.
I wouldn't do that. But man, I for sure if
I'm ole miss, wouldn't like run him off before the plane,
Like you have to decide because we have to know

(01:00:38):
about next year. No, you don't. You don't have to
know about next year. Why would you sacrifice this year,
the great season that you're in right now, just because
you're worried about next year? Man, worry about next year?
Next year? Man, God closes sparrows and feeds him. Man,
you don't. You don't need to worry about that. I
got a great team right now. I want my coach.

(01:01:00):
That's been responsible for that coaching that playoff game. I
feel like they're gonna cost themselves a chance to win
a playoff game because they're too worried about the next
two years or three years. And I just think that's
crazy from an Ole Miss standpoint.

Speaker 3 (01:01:12):
Well, and what's wild for me? I get it, Like
I understand LSU is a better job. I get that.
You might think Florida is a better job. But right now,
where these rosters are and from top to bottom, Old
Miss is the better job. Just stay where you are
and just keep doing what you're doing. Man, what's that?
Butsween you say, bloom where you're playing it? That's what
I would tell, uh how That's what I would tell

(01:01:33):
Lane Kiffin. All right, Qualt, let's shift gears to Clemson
basketball real quick. Then we'll circle back to the football
and call in the day here with you. So we're
gonna put Qualk on hold. We'll come back. We'll get
his thoughts on this rivalry game Clemson in South Carolina.
And you know, people people been messaging me. I see,

(01:01:53):
I see what you're saying. You guys say, can well
Chris Dinson play this weekend against South Carolina? Like that?
Seems like such a far fetched conversation, but it is
in the ether. We'll see what Qualk has to say
about that and much more when we get back. Keep
it a lot right here on Fox Sports Radio fourteen
hundred the Midlands, and of course you can hear the

(01:02:13):
show The Shakestare south Land each and every day from
four until six o'clock on the iHeartRadio app Stay with Us,
Rocking and on along with you. Clemson Sports stall Williamqualking
Bush on the guest line quat Man. This Clemson basketball team,
let's shift gears real quick. I love what I see
from this group. But dude, Welling is one of the
most athletic centers I've watched at Clemson.

Speaker 7 (01:02:35):
He's springing. I was trying to think like he's an
Oliver Pernell era post athlete. Like there's some explosiveness there,
there's some shot block and ability there. There's also the
ability to step bound shoot to three that like you
don't see. And the cool thing is I like you
talking to my wife about this yesterday. Jake Wallen and
Carter Welling are multi year transfers, so they'll be back.
I mean, unlet's they get into portal you've got two

(01:02:56):
years with those guys. I'm still worried about Nick Davidson.
In Yeah, the strength to this team is their post depths,
but man, Nick Davison is the highest paid guy in
there in terms of the guys that were new to
the program, and I think he's still struggling with physical toughness.
He was better in the second half. I feel like
he kind of just wants to play and realizes, Hey,
if I keep getting my chest kd in every time
somebody drives, or keep fading away every time I turn

(01:03:19):
to shoot inside the post, I'm probably just gonna never
play because Welling and Godfrey are not doing that. And
by the way, I love how I actually I made
this point Friday, and I used BUDDA Johnson as an
example for no reason. It ended up bearing fruit. I said,
you know, coaches like to shorten their bench, like Albrepreneur

(01:03:39):
kind of shortened bench, Brad Branils short of bed, like
everybody shortens the bench, right, and when you get deeper
into the season, Well, I don't know that Brad Bryan know,
and he's the shortenest bench. I think he'd like to.
But they got ten or eleven guys, you shorten your
bench on who sucks today. Hey Davidson, you suck today,
You just gonna sit over here and you'll dressed up
for next time because these guys are playing. And then
you know, you pick a guard like whoever Ace Butner

(01:04:01):
or Zach Foster. Right, how you guys aren't playing well
to day, We'll just sit you and that'll be our
eight or nine man rotation for this game based on
who's just not playing well. That's exciting. It's also unnerving
as a coach because you love high floors and you
love guys that if I know what you're bringing every night,
then I can scheme around you. Welling gives you like
he's the ignition RJ. Godfree's ignition justin Porter when he's

(01:04:24):
making shots. Ignition. You got so many guys that can
light affuse with this team. Physically, they rose up in
overtime against Georgia. In the last ten minutes against West Virginia,
Physically they were being beaten and they just sort of
kept playing. And that's what I love about this team
is those were two like gritty, tough, physical like walk

(01:04:47):
it out over forty minutes or forty five in the
case yesterday, wins over teams that are your peer. I
had a doctor's upon him this morning. My doctor's a
big Clint spanning. He said, you know, West Virginia, Georgia
not great teams, but they are going to be in
this conversation that you're probably gonna be in come selection Sunday.
And that is one hundred percent right. There's no question
about it that those are two right now, they're quad

(01:05:08):
one wins based on the early iterations of the net.
Those are two quad one wins, and you get an
MTE championship kaboot in front of your fans in Charleston.
Great weekend for Cleinson Hoos.

Speaker 3 (01:05:18):
All right, let's shift back again. This William Qualkinbush every
day in the Upstate. Last year, Leonora Sellers was an
absolute menace to this Clypson Tiger team. Defensively, Clympson could
not get off the field when they needed to late
in that ball game. How do they contain him in
a year where South Carolina has been really bad on
the offensive line. As a matter of fact, they were
going into this past weekend the worst team in the

(01:05:40):
country in terms of sack yardage. How do they control him? Though,
in this game, because he is a heck of a
playmaker and.

Speaker 7 (01:05:46):
You control him on first down, because if you win
first down against South Carolina, then second and third down
becomes passing downs and those are nine yards sat. Now,
I've said this many times this year. Lenora Sellers is
playing in front of a terrible offensive line, and that
is certainly a factor in the equation, but that does
not that is not the reason why he's taken nine,

(01:06:07):
ten twelve yard sacks on a regular basis. There have
been some games where he's taking five sacks and three
of them have been for double digit yards. There was
a point a few weeks ago, and I think South
Carolina is is not last anymore because they've done little
bitter job last couple weeks. But where South Carolina was
like fifty yards beyond every other team in college football,
Power Group, whatever, whatever collection you want to call the

(01:06:29):
teams in sack yardage lost, it was like two seventy eight,
and then South Carolina's like at three thirty five. I mean,
it was. It was outrageous. How much more Some of
that is offensive won, but some of that is Sellers.
But you don't get those opportunities unless you're making him
a strict drop back passer, and you've gotta have spies.
You've got to be I mean, how many times we
talk about that this year, that you can let him

(01:06:51):
have the three big runs that clants to let him
have last year because your spies either take bad angles
or they're not there. So you gotta have somebody there,
maybe even two spies. Under need to get that underneath coverage,
basically with eyes in the backfield and trust that he's
not gonna able to see over top of it or
the receivers are not gonna be able to make the play.
But also, if you're winning first down, if you're not
alliowning South Carolina to establish the run in passing downs,

(01:07:14):
this is not a good football team. They need the
element of surprise. How did they move the ball against
coastal big plays? Number one? But number two they did
it because they stayed on schedule and rarely an SEC play.
Were they able to stay on schedule for sixty minutes.
I think that is the key to stopping South Carolina's
offense on Saturday.

Speaker 3 (01:07:30):
Well, final thing, I don't think we're gonna see Chris
Dinson this weekend. I could be wrong. But Tiger fans
have been asking me, could he get a series in
this game? I mean, or was what we saw just
an aberration because he's playing Firman.

Speaker 7 (01:07:43):
I don't understand why Chris Dnson's not in like. I mean,
it ain't like you're blowing people off the ball in
short yardage. So you could do worse than put Dnson
back there in a wildcat situation with the capability to
potentially pop pass or whatever. Now I don't think they're
gonna do that because it makes too much sense. I mean,
how many times we had to beg for stuff that
makes total sense to happen this year.

Speaker 3 (01:08:04):
I mean, so you don't disagree, I'm.

Speaker 7 (01:08:06):
Just tired of doing it. I don't disagree, no, But
I mean there are people that are like, Denton needs
to start next week. Why wouldn't he? Yeh, come on,
he's like ten snaps against Furman. But here's the thing. Okay,
he scored more points than Christopher Verzena did in a
third of the snaps against Furman. You don't have to
think that Chris Dentson is Michael Vick, which golly, let's top.
He's not Michael Vick. He's not what he danceler. He's

(01:08:27):
not any of that stop stop stop. He's a really
good raw player who is budding as a pass, just
like Davis when he said, but he is a weapon.
And man, I don't have to believe that Chris Dentson
is the second coming of Michael Vick to understand that
Christopher Visina didn't move the ball on score against Furman,
and Trent Pierman didn't move the ball score against Furrman.
And when's the last time Clinton had a backup quarterback

(01:08:49):
that you felt like could move the ball score against anybody.
That's why people are overcooking the hands. To use Roy
Philpott's praise on Chris Dinson, it ain't because of Dnson.
It's because we've seen all these other guys that can't
get it done, and we've seen the drop off when
the backups come in. And Man, if you're telling me
the Clemson's roster man for man is gonna be a
little less talented next year, I think you need a quarterback,

(01:09:11):
whether it's Didnson or somebody else, that is gonna give
you more individually by himself to try to sure up
some of that. And I just think that's what we saw.
I think there is this fear out there, Swanny, that
Dabosweeney is gonna go with Christopher Zina even though we've
seen evidence that Zena cannot take this roster to the
end zone against Furman on a consistent basis. I played

(01:09:31):
finding its smu his his entire resume screams and his
skill set screams really good. Backup, that's what it screams.
Chris Dinson's resume and skill set screams potential future star.
Let's see what happened. So I think that's where we
go with Denson.

Speaker 3 (01:09:49):
Happy Thanksgiving quote Man, always appreciate your brother.

Speaker 7 (01:09:52):
Saying to you, Swanny, help you and the family have
a great week.

Speaker 3 (01:09:54):
Quick breat We'll roll on right after this, London Swine.
Clemson Sports Talk on a Monday afternoon. Hard to believe
we're almost through the whole show. But one of the
things we're going to lean in on this week a
little bit. You know, it's again Monday, Tuesday. Friday is
hearing from Shane Biemer, South Carolina's head coach ahead of
the rivalry, and he, much like Dabo Sweeney, also has

(01:10:17):
a Sunday media session, and his first question was the
first question asked of him was about what he's seen
from Clemson this year getting ready for this matchup.

Speaker 9 (01:10:28):
Come on, hell, I was watching tape on Clemson this
morning at ten am. I was in the building at
seven point thirty and watched the Coastal game from yesterday
in all three phases and made my notes on that
and then immediately turned on the Clemson tape and got
the works.

Speaker 5 (01:10:42):
I've been watching them all day.

Speaker 9 (01:10:44):
Saw him on crossover tape when we got ready to
play LSU. So we obviously watching the LSU Clemson games.
I saw him on tape then have seen them on
television in college station. I watched that game a couple
of weeks ago on Friday night from the hotel room
when we got done with Meat. Their game against Who's
at Louisville. So seen them on TV a little bit.

(01:11:06):
It's the normal regular Clemson.

Speaker 7 (01:11:09):
Uh.

Speaker 9 (01:11:09):
They've got really good players. They've got they're extremely skilled,
uh in the secondary and at receiver. They've got receivers
that can run, they have size, you know, offensive linemen,
those guys have been there for forever, it seems, and
so there's a veteran offensive line. Cade's done a great
job and gotten better as the year has gone on

(01:11:31):
as a quarterback and athleticism can make all the throws.
And then you know, defensively, they've they've they've got an
sec defensive line. Uh every year, I mean, they've got
freakazoids up front at the defensive line position, and this
year is is no different. If you guys look at
those draft projections, I'm pretty sure you're gonna see multiple

(01:11:52):
climps in d line and then are picked to go
in the top ten in a lot of these things.
And that ain't that's not fake news, that's real. Talk
to a line really good football players and very productive
and then go on special teams kickers kicking lights out.
So impressed with them. I know they've had some injuries,
they've had some tough losses, they've had some heartbreaking things.

Speaker 5 (01:12:12):
But they've been in every game.

Speaker 9 (01:12:15):
They are a few plays away from, you know, where
they want to be, and and they're a team that's
playing with confidence and playing good football here down the stretch.

Speaker 3 (01:12:24):
Shane Beember was also asked about the fact that they're
preparing for a quarterback for a third time in this
transfer portal nil Era in k klubnick and is that unusual.

Speaker 9 (01:12:34):
Uh, yeah, probably is Ben, just because of the transfer
portal and the way rosters change and things like that.
Very rarely do you, you know, see a guy that
many times. I'm going through my head, I guess it
trying to think my first year at Georgia, they started
the UH with the name J. T. Curtis I think
was the quarterback in twenty one, and then Stetson kind

(01:12:57):
of took over after that, and who else Tennessee has
been a different guy, I guess each time.

Speaker 5 (01:13:03):
So I don't know.

Speaker 9 (01:13:04):
Yeah, I guess it is rare. As far as Cad,
he's he's come a long way. I mean, I think
I've told you guys before. He's from Austin, Texas. When
I was an assistant coach at Oklahoma, Austin, Texas was
my recruiting area. So I went in Westlake High School
when Cad was a freshman in high school, and I
remember Todd Dodge, the head coach, telling me, look, we're
playing three quarterbacks, but this freshman I got is going

(01:13:25):
to be special. And you see exactly what Coach Dodge
was talking about. That day that I was at Westlake
High School in Austin, we had cad came up to
a Oklahoma home game when I was coaching there, and
then to see him go to Clemson and just continue
to get better each and every year, from when he

(01:13:46):
got thrown into the fire in the Orange Bowl against
Tennessee a couple of years ago to our few years
ago whenever that was, to you know, playing against us
the last couple of seasons. He's a great young man.
He's a competitor. You know, you can tell he's got
a great fuel for the offense and what they're doing.
And love love watching him play and have a lot
of respect for him as a person and a player.

Speaker 3 (01:14:10):
Beemer was asked if it was unusual for him to
watch tape of his opponent on Sunday, which didn't surprise
me because I know Dabo Swiny does. But here's what
Beemer had to say.

Speaker 5 (01:14:19):
No, I always do most of the day.

Speaker 9 (01:14:22):
Yes, it's spent on the next opponent. I usually, you know,
I'd usually get into the office about seven seven thirty
on Sunday mornings, heale, and then I spend the next
The first meeting I have is at eleven am. Always
meet with the offensive staff, and then from eleven am
kind of throughout the rest of the day, I'm with players, meetings, practice,

(01:14:43):
things like that. I got done watching everything with coastal around.
I don't know, it took me two or three hours
to watch it. So I was able to start watching
Clemson this morning before the eleven am offensive meeting, and
then after the special teams meetings and all between offense
defense meetings, I was able to watch a little bit more.
So I'd say that's pretty pretty normal for me being

(01:15:06):
able to start work on the next opponent. And then
we'll we'll go to practice, like I said here, in
a few minutes, and when practice is over, we'll you know,
finish that we'll be out on the field for about
forty five minutes or an hour and then and then
it's full speed ahead on on Clemson as a staff
tonight and all day tomorrow before we see the players
again on Tuesday.

Speaker 3 (01:15:24):
So there go a couple of quick hitters from Shane
Beemer again, ask Clemson gets geared up to face South Carolina.
Both coaches have their media presence or or their media
time coming up this week as well, so we'll have
audio from both of those for you on the program.
But really try to just focus on what what Shane

(01:15:44):
Biemer had to say, you know about Clemson, We didn't
give you the stuff about, you know, asking about Aaron
Noland and his time in the game this past weekend
and South Carolina's blowout victory over Coastal. I will say
that I thought it was interesting because I did not
realize and maybe Beemer's talked about it before, but I

(01:16:07):
did not realize that Shane Beemer that his recruiting area
when he was at Oklahoma was included Austin, Texas, which
put him basically recruiting of very young K club nick.
Are certainly hearing about a very young K club nick
from coach Todd Dodge. I mean, just kind of a

(01:16:32):
wild connection that these two now are facing off as
rivals here in the state of South Carolina. Not that
you know, not that your buddy buddy with people that
are recruiting you, or buddy buddy with people from Oklahoma
if you're a quarterback at you know, in Austin, Texas.
But the correlation between the two programs certainly has to

(01:16:53):
stand or the correlation between the two people and now
the rivalry between the two programs certainly has to stand
out to Shane Beemer. I don't know how where Kay
Klebnick is of that fact. He may get asked about
it this week. Who knows. It's the first time I
recall hearing about it. Anyway, Wait a quick break, we'll
come back. We'll put a bow on the Monday edition

(01:17:16):
of the show The Shakes of south Land again. It's
Clemson Sports talt right here on Fox Sports Radio fourteen
hundred the Midlands, and of course you could catch the
program around the world on the iHeartRadio app or on
your Amazon Echo and Google Home device.

Speaker 10 (01:17:34):
What have you done for me lately? It's a fair question.
Just don't lose sight of the bigger picture, don't forget history.
Lucky for us at Clemson, the answer to the questions
what have you done for me lately?

Speaker 5 (01:17:52):
And what have you done?

Speaker 10 (01:17:53):
Always are the same.

Speaker 5 (01:18:00):
We win.

Speaker 3 (01:18:46):
Final segment on the Monday afternoon rivalry week here in
the great state of South Carolina. These two teams, however,
not having great seasons, Clemson Bowl eligible South Carolina huh
four wins and cannot get Bowl eligible. I was looking
at the Bowl eligibility situation and I can't remember if

(01:19:13):
it's eighty two or eighty four. Teams that get into
Bowl games. But what it said was that there were
seventy two teams that have already qualified, and there was
a big list of teams that can still qualify. So
I don't think the I don't think the five and
seven situation is going to come into fruit or come

(01:19:35):
to fruition for Carolina. I think they will indeed be
home for Christmas, as the billboard in Death Valley or
the Paul Vision showed on Saturday highlighting of fans signed
that they had in the stadium. And you know, for
South Carolina, it's been such an up and down ride

(01:19:58):
with Shane Beamer. But I have always I have always
stood in here and said, hey, I think he is
a good fit. I think he's a good person. Does
he get on, you know, Clemson fans' nerves the way
Dabosweeney gets on the nerves of South Carolina fans? Absolutely.

(01:20:18):
I think there's probably something beautiful about that that your
fan base can both love the guy that's eerily similar
to the other guy and can like some things about
the other guy while the other guy still drives you insane.
I think that's that's kind of where this thing is.
I I would be hard pressed. I think, I mean none. Listen,
there are people out there, don't get me wrong, they

(01:20:39):
would use the word hate. I hate Dabo Sweeney, I
hate Shadebimer. There were people that would say that, but
I think those people are few and far between. And
Dabo Sweeney, as a matter of fact, during his Sunday teleconference,
was ask about the rivalry and sort of turning down
the temperature a little bit on postgame celebrations. Here's what

(01:21:02):
Sweeny had to say during his Sunday teleconference about that.

Speaker 5 (01:21:05):
Well, I hope we get the opportunity to be better.

Speaker 6 (01:21:08):
But we talked about that last year and that's definitely
something that that does not need to happen. You know,
that's not something we didn't need to We don't need
to disrespect the other team's logo and all that stuff,
you know, and win the game, you know, with class
and celebrate, I mean certainly, and and you know all
that all that stuff. You know, we need to do

(01:21:28):
everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen when
you're at the opposing teams stadium regardless.

Speaker 3 (01:21:35):
So they go Dabo Sweeney sort of talking about, you know,
the postgame celebrations and saying, hey, I hope we get
a chance to celebrate in Williams Brice Stadium. But they
you know, we'll do it with class. And you know,
I can understand that there's a situation or you know,

(01:21:56):
these young players get fired up about the ivy and
you want, you want the rivalry to maintain a certain
level of competitiveness. You want the rivalry to maintain a
certain edge and a heated you know nature to it all.
But you know, I think there are moments where you go, Okay,

(01:22:20):
that's that's a little bit over the top and doesn't
need to you know, doesn't need to go that far.
Uh talking about rivalries though, did you see this over
the weekend Stanford and Cow. Stanford and Cow faced off.
This was spectacular. And after that game they have a axe,
right that gets passed between the two teams. You know,

(01:22:44):
the winning team holds you know, keep the keepers of
the acts, if you will. But they have like students
whose job it is to kind of pass it off
to the other school. And they look so serious about it.

(01:23:05):
They carry the acts out. They're all wearing their their
clothes and then or their there looks like Harry Potter.
It looks like, you know, Slytherin and griffindor facing off
or something, and uh, their whole look gets so serious
at one another. There's this big football game that's gone
on to decide it, and then Cal has to hand
the acts over, and the football players came over, and

(01:23:28):
that the students didn't look all that intimidated by these
huge football players. And there's the passing of the acts,
I guess. And then Cal passed the acts to their
head coach, just Justin Wilcox as well, who had been
at Cal for I think nine seasons. He got fired.
Another opening, another opening also, as I mentioned, now the

(01:23:50):
gates this weekend, Florida State. If you're just joining us
confirming they're gonna keep, they're gonna keep. Mike Norvell, Boy,
that went over like a lead balloon in Tallahassee. People
not excited, not excited about that at all. I certainly
am good with it, I think, honestly, I think Mike
Norvelle's kind of a dufast. I'm good with it. I'm

(01:24:12):
excited about it. But anyway, we'll see if I'm right,
or if the administration at Florida State is right. Is
this a good move or not, I think not. They
don't want to stroke the check and a lot of
Florida State fans are saying, well, look at what happened
with James Franklin. Penn State only ended up being out
what like nine million dollars because he got a job

(01:24:34):
at Virginia Tech and that mitigated what they had to
pay him. Anyhow, we'll be back tomorrow. Rivalry Week rolls along.
We'll talk to you at four. Until then, as always,
y'all take care now and go Tigers.