The "Almost Disaster" Edition

Clemson trails Troy 16-0, but comes back to score 27 unanswered points to find a win in Death Valley.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Each time for Clipson Sports Talk with Lawton Schwan. Now finally,

(00:44):
Clemson Sports Talk has come back two drive time. Hello everybody,
Lowton Swan back in the saddle once again. It is
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(01:07):
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(01:28):
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All right, Well, this could have been a disastrous show,

(01:51):
and many of you would probably like it to be
a pity party, given the fact that Clemson trailed Troy
sixteen to nothing out of the gates this weekend. But
on called treyer mon Freyer, No, no, no, not this show.
I've been around this game long enough. I've covered it
for twenty years. I've seen games like this in the past. Heck,

(02:13):
I saw one very similar to this against Troy the
same year Clemson won the national championship. So when the
Tigers are down sixteen to nothing and you're at home,
changing your t shirt into something that's gonna work to
help the Tigers come back because your lucky shirt from
last week is not getting the job dne the job done.

(02:34):
I'm sitting there going, well, it's just a matter of time.
It's just gonna take a play to break through. And
there's a lot to get into about this game, but
I think the one thing for me that really stuck
out about why it ended up feeling and looking the
way it did came down to the hour and thirty
two minute rain delay. And here's why. First and foremost,

(02:54):
Troy came out of the gates five plays, seventy five
yards touchdown, sort of shocking everybody, and the way it
all went down, giving Clemson fan Clemson fans an uneasy
feeling to the start of the game, and then you
flip it to Clemson's possession and they go three and out,
And in fairness, I thought those were three well really

(03:16):
two of those three plays were pretty poor in terms
of k club Nick, which amped up the stress that
you had as Tiger faithful in the arena watching that
game play out in Death Valley, and then Clemson punts,
and I truly believe that had the game continued there,

(03:37):
the Tigers probably get to stop, get the ball back,
and they settle everything down, But then they got to
go and stew on this thing for an hour and
a half, and the fans don't return in the numbers
that you would expect, and now the uneasy feeling has
turned into an uneasy crowd, and from there, games like
this happened, And what you hope to avoid is what

(03:59):
happened to Florida. And I don't think it's really fair
to compare South Florida to Troy, because I believe South
Florida is a much better team than Troy. But there
are plenty of games out there across the country where
the better team doesn't win, and there are games where
the team that's truly more talented by a mile don't win,

(04:23):
and Clemson's not one of those. Because the Tigers showed
what Dabo Sweeney and the players talked about resilience. They
continued to fight, and when they turned the momentum, you
saw them playing the way that they probably should have
played the entire game. They drop in both polls. We
can talk about that later. My thing would be if
Clemson had jumped out to a twenty seven to nothing

(04:45):
lead and then Troy came back and scored sixteen is
this game, you know? Does it feel the same way?
Is it determined that Clemson didn't play all that well
in a scenario like that? Probably not. But when you
fall down sixteen to nothing and that sixteen to nothing's
on the screen for a while, and really that's seven

(05:06):
to nothing was on the screen for an hour and
a half or more, right, that impacts the way people
feel about you. But you know what, it's a step,
it's a hurdle that Clemson got passed, regardless of what
the world wants to think about it. And now the
Tigers turn their attention to Georgia Tech. If you're watching
this on TikTok, let us know what you thought in

(05:26):
the comments as the Tigers were down sixteen to nothing.
Were you panicking? Were you changing your shirts? Or were
you like me, whol Breeze Louise, I was just chill,
no problem. Let me know, now, you might say, and
in fairness, well, Swane, I follow you on your social
media accounts, and you were posting on Clemson Sports Sun

(05:48):
dot com, you were posting on the you were posting
on the Twitter account on Facebook, and some of that
look like panic me. Well, not exactly. If you know
how the social media game works, A big part of

(06:11):
those posts and those messages are about engaging with you,
the fans. And so we found out before the game
that Tristan Lee, clemson starting left offensive tackle, was going
to be out and freshmen Braden Jacobs got an opportunity
in his place, and Jacobs played okay. I mean, Jacobs

(06:35):
played okay. He didn't play spectacular, but he played okay,
and you would expect that from a freshman. And he
ended up getting pulled out for some mistakes that he made,
and I completely understand the decision to pull him out
and all of that that goes along with it, right,
I mean, it's just the facts of big time college football.

(06:55):
That's what it is. It's just the facts of big
time college football. But Braidon Jacob's out, Khalil Barnes out,
Antonio Williams out, Easton Ware. We knew he was going
to be out because obviously Easton Ware was injured out
for the season. But again, you know, that's another body

(07:17):
that's not able to go on Saturday. But when you're
losing your starting left tackle, starting wide receiver, and maybe
your best wide receiver, and you're starting safety, you might
have some issues here and there. And that's exactly what
ended up happening with Clempson. They did have some issues

(07:40):
here and there throughout this game. And it started with
that five play, seventy five yard drive in two minutes
and fifty four seconds as Troy just marched down the
field as if they owned the joint, as if this
was their building, and I think Clemson fans were like,
oh man, what was that? Oh the Tigers go three

(08:01):
and out. They did put Randall, Adam Randall in motion though,
on two of those plays, And the reason that I
think that's important is because last week that was one
of the things I called for. And I am far
from an offensive coordinator believe you me, But for crying

(08:23):
out loud. When you've got a versatile guy at running
back like Adam Randall, why in the world you weren't
giving him a couple of opportunities here and there to
motion out of the backfield. And I thought it should
have been a pretty frequent thing, quite frankly, and it
wasn't frequent enough for me in week one. But you

(08:46):
saw it a couple of times in the early going,
and then you get that lightning delay, and you don't
know when you're getting back on the field. You gotta
figure out if you're gonna have the players eat a
little bit like it's just a I mean, it's really
just a bad situation for everybody. And listen, Troy's in
the same spot, just not like Clemson had to go
to the locker room and Troy kept getting to play.

(09:08):
I mean, both teams lived through the lightning delay. But
you come out, Clemson forces a punt, they get the
ball back, still can't really do anything with it, and
it's just a very very slow start, and so the

(09:32):
Tigers end up going down after cade Klubnick throws a
tip ball that's picked and Troy returns it, making the
score sixteen to nothing, and that's when I think the
real concern kicked in for a lot of people, but

(09:56):
again not for me. I mean, Troy made it ten
to nothing after a seven play thirteen yard drive taking
up to twenty four, and that moment made people uncomfortable.
The stats at that point were terrible in terms of

(10:17):
k Clubnick by comparison to his counterpart. I put that
out on social media, so you can't run from this
stat line as Goose Crowder. You know, a man named
Swan likes a man named goose. Goose Crowder was ten
to fifteen for one hundred and twenty two yards, a
touchdown in an interception, and Kay Clubnick was six of

(10:41):
nine for twenty five yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions.
At that point either way, either way, you're still only
down ten nothing. But then that temp pick six takes place,
and the air in the arena and the stress in

(11:06):
the arena went through the roof. I think that was
the moment My sister texted, and it was a total
meltdown at that point, and that is a very fair
assessment of the situation. It was an absolute, unmitigated meltdown
for Clemson at that point, but you got a little fortune.

(11:29):
Troy missed the pat and now you're only down sixteen
instead of seventeen. You're only down two scores. Clemson thinks
they score with four to eleven left in the half,
as Tristan Smith catches a ball and makes his way
to the end zone. The problem was, after further review,

(11:50):
it was pretty obvious too right his knee was down.
So Clemson settles for a field goal, and so it's
sixteen three at the break. The defensive line in the
first half I thought was getting worked by Troy. The
offensive line, to me, wasn't doing enough. And all off
season Dabosweeney had talked about win the one right and

(12:14):
in those moments, I don't know about you guys, but
I didn't see a whole lot of ones being one,
so to speak. And so the Tigers go to the
break and you kind of feel like, all right, this
first drive they get the ball is gonna be an
important one. You know, the tone can be set here

(12:38):
with the opening drive of the second half, and that's
exactly what happened. Adam Randall came out and I mean
he played like his hair was on fire. It was
almost as if Adam Randall knew that if he made

(13:01):
a couple of key plays, he could turn the entire
momentum and maybe even more importantly, in that moment, turn
the belief of the fan base right that, Okay, this
game's far from out of reach, and you should have

(13:21):
known it. If it was sixteen to nothing at the break,
it was far from out of reach. Now, I did
say this that at the start of the third quarter,
if Clemson didn't score, I really thought at that point
you would have needed to pull k Klubnick for a series.

(13:42):
And not so much because I thought, oh well, Caid's
not able to win this game. But I felt that
in that moment, Cade probably deserved to be on the
sideline and allow Christopher of Vezina to try to do
something to create a little hubbub in the building, to

(14:08):
create a little buzz. But Adam Randall has a huge
run thirty yards, went for more, got called back because
he stepped out. The Tigers continue to march on that drive.
I'll give you the rundown of the entire drive real quick,
because it was Adam Randall on top of Adam Randall,

(14:30):
on top of Adam Randall to kickstart things for Clemson offensively.
Randall rushed seven yards on his first carry. He rushed
thirty yards on the second carry. At the Troy thirty eight.
Gideon Davidson would come in and get a carry, lose
the yard. Gideon Davison would have a pretty good six

(14:52):
yard run coming up in just a little bit that
put Clemson down at the twelve yard line. Then Adam
Randall rush for a eleven yards to the one, and
then Adam Randall capped the drive to give Clemson their
first touchdown of the day and pull the Tigers within
six points on that play. The other thing that happened

(15:14):
that was important was that there was a penalty on
on Troy for unsportsmanlike conduct on Elijah Davis, and so
that allowed Clemson to have the kickoff from the fifty
and I thought, well, they should onside kick it here,

(15:36):
and they didn't really onside kick it. It was more of
like a little pooch by Robert Gunn and Troy didn't
really prepare very well for it, and they had the
ball at the six. Clemson holds them on their next
carry to no yards gained. So facing a second and
ten at the sixth, Goose Crowder throws a ball I

(15:59):
now formerly have called it the butt bump interception because
the ball bounces off of the butt of Ashton Hampton,
off of the butt of a Troy Trojan player, and incredibly,

(16:20):
Jones dives and makes the interception, giving Clempson the ball
at the twenty six yard line, down by six, and
on the next play, kay Klubnick finds Bryant Westco Junior
for twenty six yard touchdown. And now there's ten minutes

(16:40):
and seven seconds left in the third quarter and Clemson
has taken the lead, and there's a sigh of relief
from the fans, certainly a sigh of relief from the players.
And you do still get stressed a little bit here
and there by Troy in the game, but at no

(17:04):
point from that point, you know, from then, did you
feel like, oh man, the Tigers are in trouble. And
that's all it took. Like the stress of the moment
and the stress of the day sort of compounded, in
my opinion, And because of that, fans and rightfully so,

(17:26):
your fans is short for fanatic, just could not handle
the belief that this is what was happening. And you know,
they weren't the only team though they had a tough
time this weekend Georgia. The rain delays there I think
had a similar impact. I don't think that, or at

(17:47):
least I don't know that LSU had weather issues, but
I do know that the Bayu Bengals did not play
what their fan base would consider to be their best
football this weekend, and thus it brought up a question
from some people on social media, like are Clemson and

(18:09):
LSU really as good as we thought they were last weekend?
Like people were legitimately stunned at the way both LSU
and Clemson played after they put on a performance, you know,
just these two Titans, it appeared going head to head

(18:30):
last weekend where maybe the defenses in the early season,
and rightfully so, were a little bit better than the
offenses either way. Either way, what I'll say about it
all is once Clemson got the lead, and really once
they scored on that opening drive, I think everybody knew

(18:53):
what was coming. And then Kay klubnick I got to
give him credit with ninety one left in the game
through an absolute tear drop of a pass to Bryant
Westco a little Texas to Texas connection, giving Clemson the
twenty seven to sixteen lead. That would be the final
score that would hold up. As Adam Randall rush for

(19:15):
ninety one yards in the second half two hundred and
twelve in the day. We could talk about his stats
a little bit more in a minute, but man for
Clemson to get out of there with a win and
just advance, and after trailing sixteen to nothing, when you
see what happened to Florida, you just go, well, you
know what it wasn't what's the old saying. I'd rather

(19:37):
win ugly than lose pretty. And the Tigers won and
they won ugly, all right. We hit a quick break.
Tiger fans, don't forget about our friends at Alumni Hall
on the corner of campus on College Avenue in downtown Clemson. Man,
that place was packed out during that LSU game. Go
check them out next time you're in Tigertown or online
in Alumni Hall dot com. Quick break. We'll come back
with more on a Monday afternoon. Lawton Swan back with

(20:00):
you on a Monday afternoon, Clemson Sports though at the
show of the Shakespeare south Land. So, as we mentioned,
navigates the Tigers survive. We've got audio from Davos Sweeney's postgame.
As I mentioned, yet dabos Sweeney even admits he was
he too, was booing as Clemson fell behind sixteen to

(20:23):
nothing at home de Troy. I saw some people on
social media saying, let's not let's not play Troy again.
It seems like every time the Tigers face him, it's
a tough game. But again, here's some of what Davosweeney
had to say his opening comments as he entered the
press room postgame on Saturday night.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
Well and me, he.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
Thought, y'all'll be here at ten o'clock. When y'all came
to work today, I mean, man, what a weird day.
I mean, just a crazy day. First of all, appreciate
our fans for hanging in there. I mean, crazy day, weather,
craziness in the first half. And but I really do

(21:08):
appreciate our fans, you know, just for hanging in there
with us when the guys needed it. They were there
for him, and I really appreciate that. But I'm just
I'm proud of our team. You know, there's a lot
of things that win football games, but two of the
things that you got to have have not just win
a game, but to have a really good team and
good season is you gotta have resilience, and you gotta

(21:30):
have some courage. You gotta have some freaking courage about
everything that could go wrong was going wrong with these guys.
And obviously you're coming off of really disappointing week and
a lot of noise for these kids and again managing disappointment,
and then you step in there and all of a sudden,
it's like craziness.

Speaker 1 (21:48):
The opening comment is there from Dabo Sweeney during his
press conference on Saturday, and he said that the coaching
staff has to take the blame for the first touchdown.
It felt like that they didn't do a good job
in preparing for some of the personnel and having the
right personnel themselves on the field. At least that's kind
of the way I read it, or not read it,

(22:09):
kind of the way I heard it and my breakdown,
But here's exactly what Dadosweeney had to say about that.

Speaker 2 (22:16):
And you spotted.

Speaker 3 (22:16):
You can't spot a team like that two touchdowns, and
that's what we did. The first touchdown was one hundred
percent on us because coaches should have never happened, and
we did a poor job recognizing they had a personnel
that we hadn't prepared for, and we put Jamal in
a bad position there. So that's that's where we got
to be better, you know, getting the time out called
and not letting that happen. That's number one.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
You kind of hang in there and battle around.

Speaker 3 (22:41):
And you know, you just you know, Cade put yourself
in his situation right like he's he's been just crucified
all week and you know, very disappointing.

Speaker 2 (22:51):
Didn't play well last week.

Speaker 3 (22:52):
And now you come into the game and you know,
guy stops rushing and puts the ball up. You got
an easy little access throw and pick six. I mean,
crazy about how you go respond. And as I told
you last week, if the worst part of that game
last week was that our best player played poor.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
Sign me up for that.

Speaker 3 (23:12):
Because there's one thing I got no doubt on it's
what two's made of. It shines you up or grinds
you up. It's all about what you made of. I
know what that kid's made of. And you saw that tonight.
I mean, so now all of a sudden, you got
that happening. The very next drive, he goes down, he
goes right back out there, and he takes us right
down the field.

Speaker 2 (23:29):
That throw to westco over the cloud player.

Speaker 3 (23:32):
Man, what a throw, gutsy drive all the way down
the field. And then once again, you know, you think
you got a touchdown, but the knees down. I mean,
it's just kind of one thing after another. So instead
of sixteen, you know, seven, and you're kind of feeling like, Okay,
we're back where we need to be here, we've spotted
them two scores, it's sixteen to three and kind of

(23:55):
a different field.

Speaker 1 (23:56):
And swing's right, Like if the Tigers score there and
make it six seven, it doesn't have the same feeling
that it did at sixteen to three. But again, I'm
not somebody that gets concerned about things like this. I mean,
I'm watching the gameplay out and I'm thinking clemps is
going to flip the switch. They're gonna figure this out.

(24:18):
As I said, out of the gates, I think it
was just a combination of things that sort of rattled them.
Here's Sweeny talking more about that key drive before the half.

Speaker 3 (24:26):
That drive was huge because they picked up that, they
felt that and they really needed that. And then it
went five straight scoring drives, five straight scoring drives, twenty
seven un answer points after that pick six. So, man,
that's what champions do. That's what resilience looks like. That's
what courage looks like. That's what toughness looks like, especially

(24:46):
mental toughness. And I was super proud of how they responded.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
That's Stabos when you talking about Clemson picking up a
little momentum, and the biggest piece of momentum I think
that I got out of that game was Adam Randall
and the way he ran in the second half and
just the numbers that he was able to put up.
Randall with twenty one carries for one hundred and twelve yards,
ninety one of those coming in the second half, and

(25:12):
a touchdown, and it just felt good to kind of
see him finally get his feet underneath him, so to speak.
Here's dabos wweny.

Speaker 2 (25:19):
On that got Adam Randall going.

Speaker 3 (25:21):
I mean, what a what a gutsy game for him
to get fourth and two, He gets the first down,
we got the fumble, so we don't get points there.
Off the turnover was a missed opportunity. It just like
everything was going against us. Twenty one for one hundred
and twelve one hundred and sixty five doll purpose I
was really proud of Adam and I just thought he
made some tough, tough runs.

Speaker 1 (25:43):
That's Dablos. When he talking about Adam Randall, he also
mentioned Bryant Westco and Westco had a big performance with
seven receptions for one hundred and eighteen yards of two touchdowns.
We featured both of those guys in a graphic on
all of our social media accounts, so make sure you're
following us everywhere. But here's Dabo. Sweeny talked about Bryant

(26:04):
Westco's big day in Death Valley Westco.

Speaker 3 (26:07):
Obviously a big game one hundred and eighteen yards, but
man k Covenant eighteen to twenty four, one hundred ninety
six yards and two touchdowns and he had two drops
that I can know off top my head.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
Really proud of just how he responded.

Speaker 1 (26:22):
Dabo Sweeney also had big praise for the Clemson defense,
especially the job that those guys did after that opening
drive where Troy went seventy five yards on five plays
before the hour and thirty two minute rain delay, lightning delay.
But here's Sweeny talking about the defense.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
The biggest thing was the sacks.

Speaker 3 (26:42):
I mean, we had some really timely sacks that negated
some field position and stopping the fate was huge.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
It was a great job by Avion there.

Speaker 3 (26:53):
That quarterback had not thrown any interceptions, sort to pick
him off three times and really roun in four. That's
why we moved him to d Yes. He's forgot how
to catch. So man, we were fortunate and those are misplays,
you know, because that was the drive that they went
on and we ended up stopping the field goal fake.
You know, it's two good weeks for Ronan. You know,
he's had two picks in two games. Gets his hands

(27:15):
on the ball, Ricardo. Good things happen when you get
to the ball.

Speaker 1 (27:19):
The stabos when he prais and running Ronan Hannovan there.
He also talked about the butt bump interception if you will,
that Ricardo Jones had. We'll play his comments on that
one and Ashton Hampton's tush coming into play. Right after
this stay with US Clemson Sports Talk on a Monday
afternoon again, the Clemson Tigers escape Death Valley with a

(27:40):
twenty seven sixteen victory over Troy, scoring twenty seven unanswered points.
The Tigers did drop in both major polls, but all
in all, this is a win and move forward type deal.
And while it wasn't pretty, there were a lot of
teams out there that weren't pretty, as we said, out
of the gates here on the program, And that's that's

(28:01):
kind of the nature of college football, especially early in
the season. We see it every single year. I don't
push the panic button. Dabosweeney, though, did talk about one
of the big moments in the game, maybe one of
the big turning points in the game, quite frankly, when
a ball ricocheted off of Ashton Hampton's took us. Well

(28:22):
you've heard of the tush push, Well how about the
butt bump. And the ball bumped up off of Ashton
Hampton then hit off of really the backside, just above
the tush of the Troy wide receiver, and Ricardo Jones
dove in and made the interception, electrifying the crowd. You know,

(28:44):
back in the day, Gorilla Monsoon, when when you were
in a wrestling match and you took two guys and
they banged their heads together, he called that a double
knogga knocker. Well, we had a double button knocker, so
to speak, in death. Here's Davosweny breaking that playdown.

Speaker 3 (29:02):
That ball bounced right off of Ashton's But I don't
know if y'all saw that he got a soft tush.
We can thank mother is mom and dad for that,
So bounce right up off his tush and and Ricardo's
hustling to the ball to get it picked off. And
then Ashton had a great pick. But just just a
really good job. You know, a lot of good. Wade
had another big game.

Speaker 2 (29:24):
Uh, just a lot.

Speaker 3 (29:25):
We got to clean up. We were I thought we
were poor and third and long. You know, we're doing
a good job. We're doing a really good job of
creating third and long, but we got to do a
better job of getting off the field and third and long.
So that's an area of improvement. But we're you know,
awesome jobs. That's two games in a row. We've won
the margin. If we keep that up, we'll win a
lot of games. So that's a that's a positive.

Speaker 1 (29:46):
Speaking of positives, Davos Sweny highlighted the Clemsons special teams.
Remember we had conversations here on the program with timber
A and other people about oh, Clemson's the punting situation
and who's gonna step forward, and and I said, look,
that shouldn't be a big deal if your offense is
what it's supposed to be. In the offense really hasn't
been what you hoped it would be. But yet Jack

(30:07):
Smith has been really really good punting the football. Here's
Dabo Sweeney praising his punter and special teams.

Speaker 3 (30:15):
To me, the quiet positive in two games as our
special teams, you know, Hooser had a couple of big kicks.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
Those were huge. Obviously we stopped the fake.

Speaker 3 (30:24):
The execution of the deep on side was a big,
big play in the game. Great job by Robert Gunn
and we kind of called him off guard and the
kids fair catching it.

Speaker 2 (30:33):
And you know that ball was on the five.

Speaker 3 (30:35):
All of a sudden, you starting field position on the
five yard line, So I thought that was really well executed.
The thirty yard kickoff return by Adam was a big
play Jack Smith. I'm proud of Jack Smith. I know
y'all all been asking me a lot of questions about
our punters.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
Man.

Speaker 3 (30:50):
He averaged forty five, he was forty four last week
he was forty five.

Speaker 2 (30:53):
To day had another fifty plus yarder.

Speaker 3 (30:55):
I'm really proud of him and the job that he's
done for us these first couple games and again got
no Tristan Lee, no no Antonio Williams's probably our best, you.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
Know, offensive weapon, and then no Khalil. So a lot
of guys out, but.

Speaker 3 (31:10):
Guys stepped up and they responded, and there's a huge,
huge win force anytime you can get a win. It
was good, but I think it's the third biggest comeback
in Death Valley history. There's a reason why there's only
three because usually when you get down like that, you
usually get beat. Proud of the heart of our team,
their courage and toughness and resilience to get it done.

Speaker 1 (31:32):
So that's a good bit of what Dabos when he
had to say in his opening statement. He also was
asked about the one hour and thirty two minute weather
delay that took place after again, Troy goes right down
the field the scripted drive seventy five yards on five
plays for a touchdown. Clemson goes three and out on
their scripted drive and then has to go sit for

(31:54):
an hour and a half and think about it. Here's
Davos when he talked about that and just adjusting to
that and how they handled it.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (32:01):
Well, we spent a lot of time as a staff
because when we first you know, happened to Georgia Tech.

Speaker 2 (32:06):
I don't know, twenty one maybe something like that.

Speaker 3 (32:09):
And then and then I think my first year in
O nine Boston College, we had like three delays, if
I remember correctly, that was like, I think that's the
longest game in Clemson history. It went all day. It
was crazy, you know, you go win. First of all,
what's what are we looking at? And they quickly told
us that it looked like it was probably going to
be five point fifteen. Uh man, you're that's an hour plus.

(32:30):
We just talked about, hey, let's treat it like pregame,
you know, as far as the team. So we're hydrate
and we're getting snacks. Hey, they're listening to their music
kind of like kind of like pregame, get yourself ready
to go. We said we'd only played what four minutes
or so over four minutes, so.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
That's kind of how we went about.

Speaker 3 (32:45):
And then we get hoddled up, you know, offensively and defensively.
You know, we got the iPads now, so that's you
can go ahead and see some stuff in real time again.
Just then just met and then we got holded up
with our players individually, you know, collectively offense defense and
then position group and then just once they kind of

(33:05):
gave us about a fifteen minute warning, we stretched in
the in the locker room, so we kind of did
a pretty good stretch in the locker room, and then
they actually moved it up with though it was five
to fifteen and they said, hey, we're gonna be on
the field.

Speaker 2 (33:18):
I think it was five oh.

Speaker 3 (33:19):
Five that they let us come back out, So then
they gave us some time to get back out there,
so we just kind of did a little bit more
of a team flex and some individual and then back
at it.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
It was a it was a weird day.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
A weird day. Indeed, again, that's Dabo Sweeney after Clipson's
twenty seven to sixteen victory over Troy on Saturday, And
if you're interested in watching that full press conference, it
is certainly over on our website Clypses sports ta dot com,
along with a host of other content. I believe that

(33:54):
one in particular is the story title Dabo Sweeney the
first touchdown was one hundred percent on us or that
man maybe not now I'm I'm I'm I'm double checking it.
It's in the uh the from wide out to workhorse

(34:14):
Randa lifts Tigers over Troy. I'll tell you what, I'll
make sure it's in both that way. By the time
you get over there, it will be in both that way.
You can catch it in either situation, you know what
I mean, Like if I got the ability. There's an
old song back in the day, Right, you got the money, Honey,
I got the time. Well, I got the ability. If
you got the time, I'll drop it in that way.

(34:37):
There's multiple stories over on the front page of clemsonsports
tu dot com that have the link back to Dabbo
Sweeney's postgame press conference, plus snippets of those snippets of
those over on our social media accounts as well. All Right,

(34:57):
we'll hit a quick break. We've talked a lot about
Clemson and Troy. When we come back, we'll talk more
about some of the other games that took place over
the weekend as well. Keep it locked on Fox Sports
Radio fourteen hundred and on the iHeartRadio app Long and
sw I'm back with you. If you didn't like the
way things played out or Clemson in Death Valley where
the Tigers did come away with a victory, might I

(35:19):
remind you that Florida lost this weekend to South Florida.
That's right, the Florida Gators. Billy Napier, who's already on
the hot seat and under a lot of pressure, they
fall on a walk off field goal at the hands
of the South Florida Bulls and probably put up one

(35:40):
of the more stunning final results of the weekend as
the thirteenth ranked Gators fall eighteen to sixteen to South Florida.
South Florida's now ranked. They've got two ranked victories already
this season. Sticking in the SEC, there was a big
victory for the Southeastern Conference as Mississippi State topped Arizona State,

(36:07):
who was the twelfth ranked team. The Sun Devils, who
were in the College Football Playoff a year ago, get
beat by one of the teams that I would say
most people would consider to be sort of at or
near the bottom of the SEC. And then also in
addition to Clemson and the feeling and the vibe that

(36:27):
people had about the way the Tigers played, it wasn't
all that great over in the classic City of Athnes,
Georgia either for the fourth ranked Bulldogs, as Georgia beat
Austin p twenty eight to six, and finally third ranked
LSU going into the weekend, the team that came into
Death Valley and the Tigers had this great battle, and
everybody was talking about how great both of these teams were.

(36:48):
They beat Louisiana Tech twenty three to seven. So it's
not like these were dominant dominant performances by these teams
ahead of Clemson, necessarily, LSU, and Georgia in the polls.
I mean quite frankly. I mean, Florida State was a
team that did a number on their opponent. But yet,

(37:12):
I'll be honest with you, I'd never heard of East
Texas A and M. Florida State beat him seventy seven
to three. I don't know how much you can ascertain
from that, but either way, I think when you when
you're talking about the college football weekend that we just saw.
The thing that you want to do as a team

(37:34):
is is find a way to win these games early
in the season. I mean, prime example, Syracuse beat Yukon
twenty seven to twenty in overtime. I don't know if
you saw this or not. Steve Angeli passed for four
hundred and seventeen yards, but yet Syracuse only managed twenty
seven points and after the game, fran Brown had his

(37:59):
team running because of their performance, and fran Brown was
interviewed about that. I love fran Brown, you know this.
I sat down with him at the ACC kickoff, but
he was asked about his team running and why they
were running. Here's what he had to say.

Speaker 4 (38:18):
Erecuse comes back to winning overtime twenty seven twenty over Yukon.

Speaker 1 (38:21):
We have fran Brown with us.

Speaker 4 (38:22):
Well, I know for fifty five minutes or so, that
was not a pretty game. What did you learn about
your team with how they were able to find a
way tonight?

Speaker 2 (38:31):
That they're relentless and they're tough.

Speaker 5 (38:33):
Oh, they showed that they can't exemplify our core values.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
Right.

Speaker 5 (38:39):
We didn't play a brand of football that I know
we can play that I watched us play all week.

Speaker 2 (38:43):
And that's what's frustrating. I'm so thankful for our fans.

Speaker 5 (38:49):
I'm so thankful for the alum and just everybody that
could team to support us. So I'm happy that we
won just due to all of them, do to all
that support. But there's a certain way you're supposed to
win the football game. They sure we was tough when
we came.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
Back and were gone there.

Speaker 5 (39:03):
But we just got to play our brand of football
and that that means a lot, because when I signed
up for the job, I told him that it was
gonna look a certain way, and it didn't look for
that for about fifty minutes of football. So that's I
just want to do what I promised I was going
to do.

Speaker 1 (39:18):
And here's Fran Brown with the question about making his
team run after the game.

Speaker 4 (39:23):
You know you talking about the team one the team
to play a certain way. Is that the message you
were just trying to send there at the end of
the game, even with the win, you had the guys
run a bit there at the end.

Speaker 5 (39:32):
Yeah, because it's certain times in the game we wasn't running.
Guy's not running to get lined up, Guy's not running
to the ball. I just I just want I want
to celebrate, to run with the people. But I'm so
pissed right I'm mad as heck right now. I was
talked through a lot of the coaches that coach me.
You know, you need the coach that are allowed with,
so I feel that I'm allowing it, and there's just
some things that I got to do. But I just

(39:52):
I just want to hold them to the standard of
who they are, right. These guys are excellent men. They're
gonna be great fathers and husbands, and I want to
make sure I'm always holding them to that standard of
who they are and not allowing them to underachieve at anything.

Speaker 1 (40:05):
I mean, that's why, I mean, you hear it, That's
exactly why. That's exactly why I really really like fran Brown.
One of the other games we talked about going into
the weekend was that Oregon Oklahoma State game, sixty nine
to three. The final score, I mean, that is absolutely ridiculous.

(40:29):
Sixty nine to three, two Power four teams facing off.
And I know Oregon's got boatloads of money, but that's
an absolute abomination. And the final final little nugget here
during this brief little roundabout, if you will, by the way,

(40:52):
coming up, William Qualkinbush from one oh five to five
of the roar in the upstate South Carolina the game Cocks,
who are now ranked ahead of Clemson by one spot
in both major polls in the AP pole. We'll go
through the polls later later, but South Carolina's eleven in
the AP clempses twelve. The Tigers dropped four spots in

(41:13):
the Apeopole and in the Coach's Poll, South Carolinas ten
and Clemson's eleven, as the Tigers fell three spots in
the poll. I think Clemson and Texas may have been
the only two teams that won and dropped in the polls.
I'm pretty sure I'm right on that if I remember correctly. Anyway,

(41:36):
let's talk about South Carolina real quick. They moved to
two and zero with a thirty eight to ten victory
over sc State. But it was a thirty eight ten
victory that came in sort of a weird way. But
Kari Swain had back to back punt returns in the
first half to give South Carolina a fourteen to three
lead after the game Cock trailed three to nothing late

(41:57):
in the second quarter. But it's not just a heat.
We had two punt returns, which is incredible. He's got
three punt returns on the season. The game Cocks did
score because of those punt returns, seventeen points in the
final five minutes of the first half, and we cruise
in the second half. But the Cary Swain what an
unbelievable punt return game. This guy's or punt return season

(42:20):
he's having quick break. Williamqwalkamba joins us on the flip
side each time, or Clipston Sports Talk with Luwton Schwan.

(43:06):
It is our number two. That's drivetime right here on
the Show that Shakes the south Land. Clemson Sports tal
Lot and Swan hang out with you on a Monday afternoon.
And of course we were off last Monday. We Qualking Bush.
Those that to join the program here momentarily, don't forget.
The Show that Shakes the south Land is brought to

(43:28):
you in part by our good friends over at mets
Plumbing mets Plumbing dot com two two six seven eight
give them a call today two to six seven one
o eight. That's mets Plumbing online at mets Plumbing dot com.
All right, qualk, welcome in, my man. Sorry we missed
you last week. I hope you had a good uh

(43:49):
labor day though.

Speaker 6 (43:52):
It's why I am miss you too. And it was
it was a good it was a really good labor day.
I uh, I had fun. It was a nice weekend.
And you know what, the football the first two weekend
has been really really good. The first two main weekend,
you know, go to no disrespect to a week zero.

Speaker 1 (44:09):
Yeah, but yeah, I.

Speaker 6 (44:10):
Mean, I think it's been It's been exceptionally fun, maybe
more so than any other time.

Speaker 2 (44:15):
I can remember.

Speaker 1 (44:17):
So let's start with the LSU game, because obviously you
and I didn't get the chance to talk about we'll
just kind of gloss over it a little bit without
any context of what we saw this weekend.

Speaker 2 (44:28):
Right. Uh.

Speaker 1 (44:29):
The thing that I said pretty consistently all week is qualk.
I really felt like if you flipped the outcome and
you asked Clemson fans what they thought of the losing
team that had ten points, they would have said, I
think that's a really good football team. The problem is,
for some reason, when you're on the losing end, you

(44:50):
just can't see yourself that same way. You just go, man,
we're awful, We're terrible, same old stuff. How did you
see it? What were what were your thoughts on Clemson
and la you.

Speaker 6 (45:03):
Boy, Uh, it's hard to talk about LSU and also
bringing in enjoy because now we've seen the we've seen
the other game. My thoughts with LSU is LSU looked
really good and I did you know there was all
this talk about you know, what what would it look
like for LSU? And you know, they put so much
emphasis on this game. They came out in the one
and oh T shirts and all this stuff. To me, Fanny,

(45:25):
it showed in the game plan and the way they
called the game. They had way more stuff in and
ready to rip than I remember any other team having
in an opener since I really started paying attention to
these things, I mean, look, I felt like Clemson called
some buying stuff. I thought we drew up some nice stuff.

(45:46):
I thought they had some, you know, some good stuff
going on. What else you did is abnormal. What else
you did was like middle or end of the season
type stuff in terms of what they the way they
used motion, the way they like, the way they manipulated
the defense.

Speaker 1 (45:58):
It was.

Speaker 6 (45:59):
It was not one. It was not let's uh, let's
wade into the year, and you give them credit for
that because I thought Joe Sloan I would say you
out coached Tom Allen, because that says that Tom Allen
coached poorly. But I feel like he just did some
really nice stuff to set his team up well. And
then I did think that Blake Baker and out coach
Jan Riley. I just I think Blake Baker with the

(46:21):
blitzes and the way they disguise them, the way they
kept them coming. They just put pressure on Kata and
they basically were like, shrew it. If people are open,
he may not hit them. And you know there were
all those like offensive line right downs and this and that.
Let me just say, I think the main issue from
a coaching standpoint, it comes to that is not schematic.
It's not play calling. That's what people think of. But

(46:42):
to me, it is getting players ready. And I think
only offensive side of the ball talented players are not
ready to confidently play. We saw that against LSU, and
I know you didn't ask me about Troy, but we
saw it again against Troy. I just feel like we
are we have either badly misinterpreted, badly overestimated the talent

(47:03):
level of the players on Clinton side, or they are
not prepared to play at their most talented, most competent
level coming into these games. You just don't see the
differential playmakers, particularly on the offensive side of the ball,
that we're promised at Clinton. I know Antonio Williams is
on the shelf, but I I and I'm not saying

(47:23):
this because I can't like logically get there, but I
don't think this receiving course in Paul part without Antonio
Williams's no disrespect to him, but they're good players and
Tyler Brown's been the best receivers so far in my opinion,
over the course of both games. Brian westco with an
absolute star in the second half against Troy. He looked
like in the second half against Troy when he sort
of got a rapport there and that you know, a

(47:44):
couple of s beschdowns will do that. But to me,
that was the issue in the Troy game is that
Kye just missed way too many things. Offensive line, at breakdowns,
they completely forgot to run the ball. And then the
one thing on the defense, they didn't get a three
and out until drive ten or nine, like it was
the last major drive of the game. That else you
had they could have helped. And what you know, my

(48:06):
main takeaway, my first takeaway that I actually came on
there with on the last Tuesday, was that it was
non complimentary football because as much as the offense struggled,
the defense could have gotten off the field and put
them right back on and they just never really.

Speaker 1 (48:19):
Did that in the game. William qualkin Bush again on
Twitter at quaalk Talk every day noon until three o'clock.
Alabama's will qualk and be in one of five to
five the row in the Upstate. So from there we'll
turn to Troy, and I think qualk. I mean, there's
a lot to get into, but one of the things
that I think definitely played a part in how this

(48:40):
game went was the hour and thirty two minute delay
after you gave up a silky smooth touchdown to Troy
seventy five yards on five plays, and then you go
three and out and you're kind of stewing over it.
Fans a lot of them didn't return, and now you're
in this awkward feeling of an environment. And I've been
in enough games, I've seen it enough times to know

(49:02):
that once it's not doubt that creeps in, but it's
this level of uncertainty it can be difficult to overcome.
And I think that's what Clemson was kind of going through.
I don't think it's maybe as much about how their
lack of execution as much as I just think they
were caught up in the funk and it could be
tough to shake at times.

Speaker 2 (49:24):
You know.

Speaker 6 (49:24):
I think it's an interesting point. I do think that
one of the things you mentioned it. One I think
it's the hardest to do in a game like that
is when you think things are gonna be easy that
are not, and it's hard to like, like you you
have your thought in your head like this is not
how hard this is gonna be today, or this is
how easy this is gonna be today, and when it
doesn't match, you're taking a back. Sometimes you're taking it

(49:47):
back and it's easier than you thought, and then you
settle into that and you're like, okay, well let's just eat.
But sometimes it's harder. And I think for Clemson things
just don't look easy right now.

Speaker 1 (49:57):
Offensively, that's true, Yeah.

Speaker 6 (49:59):
I do. If it were William Guager must advising a
game plan. I know a lot of the folks are
mad at Aaron Riley right now, and his issue is
Malta Dan gets telling you I'm gonna travel with you
a whole lot different than what he did against Troy.
It's Troy. You have four and five stars all across
the board at your skilled given your running back with
a top hundred type player in Adam Randle coming out,

(50:20):
you're asking top on hundred players gona be three stars.
It is basically what's happening. And I don't need fifty
plays in the playbook to do that. Like, if it
were me, I'd be like, hey, let's try to run
four plays and see if we can get away with it,
you know, kind of a defensive cornatday. Say we shoot
get pressured with four. We have blitzes in the back pocket,
but we'd rather not use them if we don't have to.

(50:41):
Let's see if we can get pressure before I think
we can, and then if you don't, then you go
to the blitzes. In the second half. The thing that's
probably most troubling to me in the second half climtson
that actually scheme up touchdowns band actually like scheme up
points and I okay, like with running the ball rip
and there were some things that looked better in the
second half, But to me, you took a skeleton game
plan in there, because it should have been as simple as, hey,

(51:05):
we got two blockers in front of you. There's three defenders.
They'll take care of there too. You make the one
guy missed, and they weren't making the one guy miss Hey,
this is a simple read. It's a square in throw
the ball when he crosses the nickel don't get all
the way to the mike linebacker and then make your guy,
you know, go through concussion protocol kind of like getting
lit up. I mean, like these are the basic things

(51:27):
that Clenson was was not taking advantage of the first half,
and it was it was shocking.

Speaker 1 (51:32):
I mean, it was sixteen nothing Swiney, Yeah.

Speaker 6 (51:35):
And like it didn't feel like click that done anything.
And what they did was like not easy. And I'm
looking around the country. I understand like these are a
different level, but like we're talking about and not just
doesn't but nationally we've been talking about national chimgent for Clenson.
Oregon beat Oklahoma State by sixty six. Okay, why can't
it look like that? The reality is that it never

(51:55):
really looks like that in our Dabo Swiney, but it's
been closer to that than what we saw on Saturday
a lot of times. And let's be clear about this too.
They got mood off the field twenty eleven. I gainst
a three to win Troy team, and I think this
is like a more win Troy team that they just played.
That was different though, because they were down by three,
uh and they came out and they sort of blew
their doors off. Even so, like with the comeback in

(52:17):
the second half, Clinton still only won the game by
eleven and they have to go play Geordia Tech next week.
If they play like that, if they wait till the
second half to get going schematically or like in terms
of ever level focus, whatever it is they're losing, you're
gonna come back for now sixteen to three to a half,
get Georgia Tech. I can just go ahead and tell
you that right now.

Speaker 1 (52:35):
No, I agree with that assessment. And you know, obviously,
I think one of the biggest surprises to me is
moments in that game, you're talking a lot about the
skill position right, and offensive line didn't seem to be
making a whole lot happen, defensive line didn't seem to
be very disruptive. And I had somebody brokes this question

(52:55):
to me, and I don't like it because I really
like to believe that this is not the case. But
this individual said, are we at a point where players
aren't really playing for the desire or hunger of the game,
but it's about the money that they can make. And

(53:17):
are you know, again, Clemtson, is not this only team
on this island that's playing in the same realm. So
that's where I kind of hesitate on the question qualt,
But I think you know where I'm going, like, is
that an issue that we've got this new model and
it's not about maybe playing for the paw anymore?

Speaker 6 (53:37):
You know, I think it's a fair question. I just
don't I don't think it shows itself at other plates
than the landscape. The way I would answer that is
if it's true at Clinton, it's not true at other plates.
Or again, is a rented squad okay, like they they
go out and buy whoever every year. Now that well,
but like I mean, they're going they're spending money. They're

(54:00):
proud of it. Like there was a bold tit for
tat between Dan Lanning and Mike Gundhy about that, and
Dan Lanning never once said, no, we're not buying rosters,
Like yes, you are? You for sure? Are they doing
it too? Those guys are playing tremendously hard and tremendously well,
and they're executing like Oregon beat Don't Woman to take
by sixty six. If that were just a you know,

(54:20):
if that was a mindset that was just ingraining young
people and that's that's why they're doing it, then Oregon
will be having all kinds of problems. To me, I
don't think that's it. I actually don't think that eff
and focus are particular issues with this team. If anything,
I think the types of issues that we're seeing are
trying to be too precise and too perfect and too
on the nose instead of just letting it rip offensively.

(54:43):
I think that's certainly. I mean I said that today,
I want where is gunslinger k Okay? Like I don't
want catastrophe k that we saw his first year starting
and even some you know, the pig six against more
Dame and all that stuff that when he was a
back of the DJ back at twenty two, But like,
what are his gunslinger Kate? Because the guy that's pat

(55:05):
patting the ball and throwing the ball too late and
being a fight on court the ball and a tight window,
like that guy's back's a loser. That's not Kate clubbing.
That's not who we've seen for a couple of years.
I almost feel like we've course corrected too far with him.
Where now he's he's scared to throw interceptions and I
gotta tell you, he's got two and two games, so
being scared to throw interceptions and keeping him for throwing

(55:26):
an interception. I want to see Kate Klubney play with
the swagger of a guy that's the best player on
the field that much. When he has said it in
the last two postgame press conference, is Swani that if
the biggest issue with today coming up for that he
is mentioned that multiple times about Kate clubbing so far
this season, that Kate Clubney needs to believe that because

(55:49):
right now when Clintons, here's what I see when Cless
go down there, Swanmi, I see a bunch of dudes
hoping to make the play. I don't see a bunch
of dudes confident the play is going to be made.
And that meant can exude from the quarterback and everybody
else feels a little more confident. And that's that's what
I see is mostly lacking. I think the line will
play a little better. I think there's EAMs will play
a little better. I think the run backs play a

(56:10):
little better. Get two plays better.

Speaker 1 (56:13):
Yeah, I agree. By the way, follow quawk on Twitter
at qualt Talk. I think the other thing too, Like
when I'm when I'm watching that game unfold, you know,
it feels like there's there. I don't know that Cade's
an unquestioned type leader. I mean, I hate to say
that out loud, but you know, I feel like it's

(56:36):
sort of forced at times with him. And you know,
I think you had guys like Trevor and Deshaun who
really that was a real asset to their game. And
I still wonder, you know who the leader is of
this team on the offensive side of the ball, and
if it is indeed k club Nick, I don't. I
don't know if you get that vibe too. You know,

(56:58):
remember when he was a young quarterback, he was kind
of like a up dog out there bouncing around. It
feels like we're seeing a lot of that this year
as well. But in terms of leadership, I just I don't.
I don't know, qualk and maybe I'm just, you know,
reading too much into it, you know, I think that's fair.

Speaker 6 (57:16):
I think it particularly fair earlier in his career. I
think he's sort of given off more of a like
steady Eddy leader vibe this year more so than other years.
I think he's he's matured into that. I just don't
think that's showing up for whatever reason, it's not showing
up on the field right now. I think the reason
for it, and again I I can logically get here,

(57:36):
but I can't make it, like make sense with everything
that we know and everything that we've heard, is that
the real leader of this offense is Antonio Williams. Yeah,
and that this offense is not going anywhere down Toni Williams.
But we I talked at Tyler Brown a couple weeks ago,
and one of the things he kept pointing out is
like Antonio is like making us getting the cold too,
and Antonio's making us, you know, get with the drugs
gun and Antonio's making us. Antonio's making us, he's grabbing us,

(57:59):
He's doing it. And it kept coming up in the
interview to the point that I'm like, wow, I'm going
anywhere down Antonia Williams. Yeah, And you know, I got there,
but I didn't go to the point like, wow, he's
the leader of the offense. He's actually the alpha personality.
But if you look at what's happened, you've got one
series basically with Antonia Williams on the field. It didn't
go well. You'd got like one series and we haven't

(58:20):
seen him. And so if he's the leader, if his
presence is calming for everybody. If he's a dog out
there and everybody else is getting their dog from him,
then you can't do that on the sideline. And if
that's it, that's actually the biggest concern going into Georgia Tech.
But it's also the biggest I think encouragement that it
may be that easy as having Antonia Williams back in

(58:43):
the lineup for this offense to really gel and become
the unit that we thought we were getting at the
first of the year.

Speaker 1 (58:48):
Again, William Qualkin Bush hanging out with us here for
a few more minutes as Clemson gets geared up for
what was already labeled as a significant road matchup. Just
kind of the belief around what's going on in Georgia Tech.
With coach Brent Key in his program, And I didn't
get a chance to hear the audio today just yet,
but I know he talked about Haines King and his health.

(59:11):
I know he was out last week. They kind of
rested him up. I mean, I would have to imagine
this guy would have to be like Civil War era
on a stretcher to not be out there for Georgia
Tech this weekend.

Speaker 6 (59:23):
Yeah, I agree, you know, I know what they're saying
publicly about this. My hunch on it is they really
like filoed. They want to guy to flex. They know
that Haines King gets in an arm's way, they know
he does. They want to protect his body. I don't
think it's a I mean, I think he's got a
little shoulder deal, but I don't think it's anything that
would keep him out this weekend. I just think it's

(59:46):
more load management from Georgia Tech, and honestly, rightfully so,
because he I mean, he got banged and bruised in
the opener against Colorado while the road, and they're gonna
need him. Look their run game without the quarterback run,
it dramatically changes. I like Jamal Haynes a lot, but
Jamal Haines carrying the ball twenty five times, it ain't happen.
It's a Dodo bird, right, He's like a twelve to
fifteen touch a game. Guy. Haines King is the volume

(01:00:08):
runner in that offense. And you know, I do think
like Aaron File is a really good thrower the ball.
That's the future of Georgia Tech next year. So that's
a great opportunity for him to grow and for them
to sort of prove to him, hey, you're next, we
got to plan for you, et cetera, et cetera, And
for them to sort of flex in the passing game
maybe be a little confusing to Clemson. But yeah, I

(01:00:30):
don't think Haines King. I think if Clemson played Georgia
Tech last week, to Haines King would have played just
about every snap. I think this is more about low
management than any sort of like current right now injury
situation that would have held him out of a game.

Speaker 1 (01:00:44):
All right, Well, final thing talking about backup quarterbacks. My
thought was going on that Troy game, if Clemson didn't
score on the opening drive of the second half, I
thought Clemson was at least going to go to the
Bozena for one drive. Would you agree with that? We
got about mint and a half.

Speaker 6 (01:00:58):
Well, I mean I thought so. I thought they would
go with a lot of guys. But like when you're
and you put the Zina in, I mean, Dabo's answer
on that was we want to put him in a
critical situation third and two, and somebody asked what happened.
He said, well, we missed the block. We didn't block it,
So that's great.

Speaker 2 (01:01:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:01:15):
I mean I think ideally you would have seen the Zina,
you would have seen Ian Chepland as the Mighty text
me to day about eight. Well we ever see in
Chepplin the game. I'm like, well, not go down thirteen.

Speaker 1 (01:01:23):
And a half.

Speaker 6 (01:01:24):
I mean, that's another thing too. This was an opportunity
and Dado centers Tuesday press commence, this was an opportunity
to build our team. Well, you can only do that
to a certain degree when every possession is magnified and
the value very possession is magnified. Your starters have to
give you permission to do that as a coach to
some degree. The guys who are regularly in rotation. I

(01:01:45):
feel like Clinton didn't get the coach's permission by the
way that they play, the sort of experiment and get
their backups that type of experience. Maybe a layer down
the line they will, but I think that is an
opportunity missed and not see Bazina and some other backups
a little.

Speaker 1 (01:01:59):
More prominently featured scary game coming up this weekend at
noon over in Atlanta for the Clemson Tigers. Again, you
could listen to him every day from noon till three
o'clock Allabaun's with qualking Ben William Qualkin Bush from one
oh five to five. The roar in the upstate Quald buddy,
have a great week, my man.

Speaker 6 (01:02:14):
You thanks, buddy. Are you gonna be waiting?

Speaker 1 (01:02:17):
There? You go? That's Williamqualkin my share on a Monday
quick break. We'll come back with your calls Texan more
right after this, Clemson sports talt Lawton Swan back with
you on a Monday I mentioned talking to William Qualkin
Bush head coach Brent Key of the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets.
He was on the radio on six eighty of the
Fan over in Atlanta today, uh, and gave this update

(01:02:41):
on his starting quarterback.

Speaker 2 (01:02:43):
Hangs is doing well. Uh.

Speaker 7 (01:02:45):
You know, we'll we'll make decisions once we get into practice.
He's expected to practice this week, and uh, you know
it's one of those things that was right up until
game time beforehand. I mean, you know, he'd gone through
all pre warm ups and everything that you know, when
you got something that you know could be completely healed
in a matter of you know, in a short time,

(01:03:07):
then if you do something else to it. And now
Sin it's four to six weeks. I mean look, I'm
gonna listen to the doctors. I'm gonna do what they
say when it comes to that, because that's priority when
it comes to our players.

Speaker 1 (01:03:18):
So again, no definitive word there, and we likely won't
get the definitive word. But as I said with William
Qwalkin Bush, I mean, it's incredibly difficult for me to
imagine that Haines King would not be the starting quarterback
against Clemson. We might see Filo some, but I would

(01:03:38):
I would expect King to be the guy. All right.
Had several text messages come through, including some that have
come in today. We'll get to those right now. First, Nick,
listening to us in Georgia, says, Ha Swanny, I did
change my shirt. Yeah, I know, Nick, I know the fans.

(01:04:02):
He said, we were down thirteen. Oh, I went to
red Saki toe soaketo. I'm not sure you pronounced that
restaurant to eat and found out we came back to one.
He gave up. Nick Bale, Nick, appreciate the text. Kevin

(01:04:23):
hit us up over the weekend. We put the number
out listening to us, and easily, I guess he's out
of easily, he said, down sixty nothing to Troy at home.
This isn't the Clemson standard. Garrett Riley's offense looks flat
out lost. Yeah, it was rough to watch, Kevin. I'll

(01:04:45):
tell you this, so, keV, I can't remember if I
mentioned this earlier or not. I meant to if I
didn't have it in my notes to mention it, but
I didn't put a check mark by it. Wednesday, maybe
for the rest of the year. Wednesday, Chad Morris con
be on the program, so we'll get a chance to

(01:05:05):
talk a lot about offense with Chad Morris. So Laura
texted the program during the game, has said Clemson looks
completely out of the sync, the crowd's dead, the offensive
line is getting bullied, and k club that can't settle
in shocking start. Yeah, Laura, I don't think you were alone.

(01:05:26):
I don't think you were alone. We did, however, also
get a couple of texts after the game. Jason in
Greenville said, now that was a response. Defense clamped down
and club made enough plays to turn the tide. Gutsy comeback. Yeah.
I think the thing that I would say to that,
Jason is that when you I think, when you are

(01:05:50):
a team that's in the position that Clempson was in
entering that game, and you should win the game. The
more and the longer that you trail, right, the more
you trail and the longer that you trail, let me
clear that up grammatically, the more difficult it becomes to
get over the hump because of the stress. You see

(01:06:12):
it in the NCAA tournament. You don't beat an eye
in the NCAA tournament. That happens all the time. Top
team expected to win a lot of pressure. And I
hate to say it, but I think Clemson puts some
undue pressure on themselves because they had already lost to LSU,

(01:06:37):
and I think it ballooned when the game started slow.
Let's see one more here that we can get in. Actually,
you know what we'll do too. This one doesn't have
a name. It just comes from the five to four
to zero area code. It says, why hasn't our offense

(01:06:57):
changed to ten years? Do you think that's a valid question?
Not that it hasn't changed, because obviously it has. But
I think remember when when they hired I think it
was when they hired Tony Elliott, Jeff Scott, or whenever

(01:07:24):
they hired Garrett Riley. At some point Davis when he
made a comment about it, this is a Clemson offense,
but I watched that Garrett Riley offense at TCU and
I liked it. Let me get can I have the
TCU offense? Please? All right? Let's see a couple of
more here. Another this is from the four h five
saying give Wesco the ball, good things happen and Tristan
Smith needs way more snaps. I agree with both of

(01:07:46):
those statements. And you know, I thought Tristan Smith on
the touchdown not touchdown play showed the fire that you
want to see.

Speaker 2 (01:07:55):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:07:55):
I loved the the energy that he That's what I
think Clemson is missing right now is a little bit
of a little bit of energy. All right. Let me
see I saw one more Bobby in New Jersey. Bobby says,
if you think Kay Klemick is a first round quarterback,
then you would think that trading Michael Parsons was also

(01:08:16):
a good idea. Boy, Parsons man, he played well yesterday
for Green Bay, didn't he? Whoo eee? I bet the
I bet the cowboy fans are hating that. And speaking
of cowboy fans and pro football in general, like, do
you guys cross over Bobby into the realm of feeling
sorry for him giving their lack of success for so long,

(01:08:38):
and I mean nobody feels sorry for them. Out swagger
they roll around with, but the lack of success. Holy cow.
Good success though for Big Trav the Giant Killer. That
was good to see Trevor and Travis. Travis ripped off
like a seventy one yard run in their victory over

(01:08:58):
the Carolina Panthers. That game was also in a rain delay.
I mean, if you're if you were a Clemson fan
this weekend trying to watch the Tigers or the Jaguars,
tragically you had to sit through some extensive rain delays.
But what may have been the best game of the night,
by the way, the Jaguars win twenty six to ten,

(01:09:20):
similarly to Clemson's final score of their game over Troy.
But the best game of the day in my opinion,
was the final game last night, that matchup between Baltimore
and Buffalo, and the Buffalo comeback and nuke Hopkins with
a turn back to clock type touchdown reception for the

(01:09:44):
Ravens Man. Those two teams, it seems like they're probably
on a collision course in the postseason. They look really
good the AFC. Who that's tough sledding. I feel bad
for Trevor quite frankly. All right, stay with us, rocking
and rolling along with you the show that shakes the
Southland Clemson Sports Talk on a Monday. Hey, you know,

(01:10:08):
I was on campus the other day. Pop By Alumni Hall,
the ultimate Clemson Tiger shopping destination. As I mentioned, they've
got all the latest gear, all the Nike. They have
those drive fit polos that look so good on me. Yeah,
I'm kind of excited because River Bluff they're switching the Nike.
So I got some of those dry fit polos for

(01:10:29):
the River Bluff gear and the Clemson gear as well. Man,
let me tell you, not only is the merchandise spectacular
new gear for your tailgate pop by Alumni Hall right
there on the corner of campus on College Avenue of
downtown Clemson. Or shop online at alumni haul dot com.
Or get this, they just told me about this. Download

(01:10:52):
the Alumni Hall app and remember all the schools I
told you about. It's always the best and newest gear
for your game day right there in downtown Clemson in
Alumni Hall. Check him out online in alumni Hall dot com.
Man really do appreciate williamqwalking Bush. Great to catch up
with him, you know, getting a chance to kind of
reset two weekends of ball. You know we didn't get

(01:11:15):
to talk to him. If you're just joining us, I say,
what do you mean two weekends of ball? Well, we
didn't get to talk to Qualk after the LSU game
because it was Memorial Day weekend, so we were off
last Monday, and you know, busy week but excited to

(01:11:36):
be able to finally kind of get his thoughts on
not one game, but two. And I did get to hear.
In fairness, I did get to hear him after the game,
because you know, he's on the postgame show, so I
did get to hear his thoughts on the LSU game
after the game, et cetera. But you may not have.
And that's why that's why we have him on the show, right,

(01:11:59):
We want to get his insight. Ager are three four
five zero zero eighty six? You know this past weekend too,
not the best slate of games. We knew that going in.
Getting shout out to Brent Vinables and the Oklahoma Sooners
for beating Michigan. I think what happened with Michigan and
the sign stealing and winning a national title and the

(01:12:22):
coach vacating the premises for the NFL. You know, there's
a lot to not like about Michigan, and there's a
lot to like about Brent Vinibles if you've been around
him and you followed him at Clemson. And so I'm
rooting for Venables to have a great year. Would love

(01:12:45):
to see Oklahoma do really well because you know, I
understand the pressure that exists there and they've got a
tough slate of games. As a matter of fact, I
think right now every team on their schedule that is

(01:13:08):
in the SEC is currently ranked. Every team remaining that
they face in the Southeastern Conference is currently ranked. Now.
This weekend they'll play Temple, but currently Auburn is ranked
twenty fourth. That's who they play. September twentieth. October the fourth,

(01:13:28):
they play Kent State. October the eleventh, they face number
seven Texas. October the eighteenth, they faced eleventh ranked South Carolina.
October the twenty fifth, they face seventeenth ranked Ole Miss
Are you picking up a little pattern here? November first,
they play they face fifteenth ranked Tennessee. November fifteenth, they

(01:13:54):
face nineteenth ranked Alabama, November twenty second, they faced twenty
fifth ranked Missouri, and November twenty ninth, they face currently
third ranked LSU, Which means every team remaining that's in
the Southeastern Conference that Oklahoma has to play is ranked. Now, granted,

(01:14:24):
we do spend a lot of time on this program
talking about rankings and how the Southeastern Conference is maybe
perceived or evaluated. I mean, listen, I'm far from not
being a critic of some of that, right, if you've
been around the show, you know I'm happy to be
critical of it. But my man BV and that defense

(01:14:51):
got their work cut out for them. As a matter
of fact, let me just sew if you throw Michigan right,
as obviously one of their games and they played Illinois
State the previous weekend, every Power five team that Oklahoma

(01:15:13):
faces this year at this point in the season is
in the top twenty five, including the Michigan team that
they just beat, who dropped eight spots from number what
fifteen or so back to number twenty three. And maybe
this is a good time to look at the polls.
We'll take a look at the AP poll and the

(01:15:34):
coaches poll. Here Ohio State and Penn State are one
and two respectively in both major polls. Penn State has
five first place votes in four first place votes depending
on which pole. Ohio State's the predominant first place voting
team fifty seven in the AP, sixty two in the coaches.

(01:15:55):
Number three in the AP is LSU, four is Oregon,
in five is Miami. Over in the Coaches poll Georgias three,
LSU is four, and Oregon is five in the AP
Georgia six, Texas seven, Notre Dame eight, Illinois nine, and
Florida State ten. That's your top ten. Florida State moves
up to number ten boy shot in the arm for

(01:16:16):
the Florida State Seminoles after beating Alabama and then walloping
East Texas A and M back to the coaches poll.
Number six is Miami, seven, Texas eight, Notre Dame nine, Illinois,
and ten South Carolina. The game Cocks entering the top
ten in the coaches poll. Over in the AP, the
game Cocks are eleven, clempsones twelve, Oklahoma thirteen, Iowa State
fourteen to Tennessee is fifteen. Back in the Coaches poll,

(01:16:42):
Clemson's eleven. Florida State's twelve, Ole, miss is thirteen, Iowa's fourteen,
and Tennessee is fifteen. Back in the AP, number sixteen
is Texas A and M seventeen Old miss eighteen South Florida,
nineteen Alabama, and twenty Utah. Back to the coaches poll,
where number sixteen is Oklahoma, seventeen Texas A and M

(01:17:03):
eighteen Alabama, nineteen Indiana, and twenty is Texas Tech. Over
in the AP, number twenty is excuse me, twenty one
is Texas Tech, twenty two Indiana, twenty three Michigan, twenty
four Auburn, and twenty five Missouri. And to round out
the coaches poll, Utah is twenty one, Michigan, twenty two,
South Florida, twenty three, Arizona State twenty four and BYU

(01:17:26):
checks in at number twenty five. All right, quick break,
we'll put them on the show right after this.

Speaker 8 (01:17:32):
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 2 (01:17:51):
And what have you done? Always are the same. We win.

Speaker 1 (01:18:45):
Final segment on a Monday afternoon Clemson Sports Talk again.
Big weekend coming up as the Tigers travel over to
Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech. K Clubnick became just
the fifth quarterback in Clemson history to reach seventy five

(01:19:08):
hundred yards. Passing full stats on all of that over
on our website and shout out to de goat Over
on Twitter who said demand about to be the third
one to win the Natty. I guess technically would be
the fourth, right, would be the fourth if you could
pull that off. But man, it's been a rough start
for kay Clubnick. By the way, we do have some

(01:19:33):
scheduling notes obviously this weekend's game being played over in
Atlanta at noon against Georgia Tech. Well, we now have
a start time on that Syracuse game next weekend back
in Tigertown, as the Tigers will either be on ABC

(01:19:55):
or ESPN next weekend with another new Une kickoff. So
to this weekend's games on ESPN as the Tigers face
Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech two and zero. You probably tuned
in last weekend or e'xcuna be two weekends ago to
watch Georgia Tech face Colorado the Yellow Jackets won that

(01:20:20):
game twenty seven to twenty. They beat Gardner Web fifty
nine to twelve this past weekend, and again doing that
without Haynes King at quarterback. According to ESPN's Matchup Predictor,
the Yellow Jackets are predicted to win the game fifty
five point nine percent of the time to forty four

(01:20:44):
point one percent for Clemson based off of ESPN's analytics,
but the Tigers open as nine and a half point
favorites in the ballgame. So Bobby Dodd Stadium, beautiful weather,
it looks like this weekend and again Clemson's still not
clicking on all cylinders. And if it is, like you know,

(01:21:05):
people like to speculate, well it's dabbo meddling, blah blah blah.
If it is, like if it legitimately is, wouldn't it
be nice if you if if not, Kay club Nick,
wouldn't it be nice if Garrett Riley just went into
the coaches obviously, say you're not dabbling in my plays

(01:21:25):
this weekend. I'm calling the plays. I don't care what
you think. Fire me if you don't want me here,
but I'm calling the plays. Like if Dabo Sweeney was
actually meddling, I don't think he is. I think that's
just the excuse that Clemson fans make when things don't
go well. They always want to blame the guy at
the top. Anyway, I think for me, you know, the
good thing about this weekend is you kind of get

(01:21:47):
back to some decent ballgames. You got a top fifteen
matchup with Georgia and Tennessee this weekend. You've got also
another top twenty five matchup Alabama. Well Wells kind is
not the top twenty five, but they are two and oh.
I think that'll be an interesting game. You got top
twenty five matchup between Miami and South Florida. The Hurricanes

(01:22:08):
up to number five in the polls. As we mentioned earlier,
South Florida now at number eighteen. You've got LSU in Florida,
and that game's in Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, which
would certainly give the indication that after a loss this
past weekend for the Gators, Billy Napier seat is hot.

(01:22:33):
You also have a top twenty five matchup as Texas
A and m travels to Notre Dame, the sixteenth ranked
Aggie's at number eight at the number eight fighting Irish
Notre Dame oh to one, lost the opening weekend at Miami,
had this past weekend off, and then also you've got
South Carolina and Vanderbilt Vanderbilt two and oh. Both of

(01:22:59):
these teams faced Virginia Tech in the hokies first two
games of the season. But what was most surprising to
me was the fact that Virginia Tech led this game
twenty to ten, twenty to ten in the second quarter

(01:23:24):
with four to nineteen left. They took a twenty to
ten lead to the half, and those jokers got beat
forty four to twenty. Virginia Tech got outscored thirty four
to nothing in the second half by Vanderbilt. The reason
that it's so shocking to me is simply the number.
Like if that game had kept going back and forth

(01:23:45):
and Vandy had squeaked it out, but how do you
how do you go up ten and lose by twenty four?
That's just that's inexcusable. And I hate it because I
really liked to coach, But dude, that's get you fired
type stuff right there. That is get you fired type stuff.

(01:24:08):
I mean, like maybe maybe if you lost your starting quarterback,
like if Kyrine Drones had gotten hurt. Brent Price said
after the game, quote, we need to find the team
that tried it out there in the first half. That's
who we need to be. The team that battled in
Atlanta for four quarters against South Carolina. Yeah, no kidding.

(01:24:28):
The Hokies fell apart and have lost fifteen consecutive non
conference games against Power four opponents dating back to twenty seventeen.
Take that stat with you on the way out, all right,
We'll be back tomorrow. Till then, As always, I'll take
care now and go Tigers.