The "Back to Work" Edition

Clemson welcomes Troy to Death Valley one week after a heartbreaking loss to LSU.

Episode Transcript

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

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

Speaker 3 (00:49):
Hell everybody and Swan back in the saddle once again.
It is the show that shakes the south Land. Clempson
is sports talf for you each and every afternoon as
you make your way around the great state of South
Carolina and b a listening to us on incredible radio
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The website, but the dot com on the dog Garnet

(01:12):
that's Clemson Sports SAUW dot com. And of course, the
show The Shakespare South lambrought you in part by our
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That's two two six seven one oh eight. Give them
a call today out to the guest line, bright and
early on a Friday afternoon. Former Clypson Tiger head coach

(01:35):
Tommy Bowden back with us again for another season. Coach.

Speaker 4 (01:38):
Welcome in doing good.

Speaker 5 (01:41):
But I enjoyed on your show a lot better after
a win than a loss.

Speaker 4 (01:45):
Well, a lot more, a lot more fun to do.

Speaker 5 (01:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:49):
Look, you know, I think there's a lot of different
ways to look at college football games from our perspective, which,
of course, and you're kind of in this boat now
not being to coach, where you kind of analyze it
all looking at it. What I've kind of said all week,
And you tell me if you felt the same way
watching Clemson in LSU. I felt LSU maybe took more

(02:11):
chances at times in that game than Clemson did, and
rightfully so. I mean, they were the team that was
the underdog, they were on the road, hostile environment, and
the moment that I kind of felt that way, I'm
gonna tell you this has always been my philosophy. And
you were a guy, you had some rabbits in your
hat for sure as a coach. But I always felt
like the team that maybe goes to a little trickeration

(02:31):
early might feel like they don't have enough to win
that game, just straight up, so to speak. And so
you try a couple of things. And when they ran
that reverse pass, I thought, you know what, Brian Kelly's
willing to take chances in this game that maybe Dabo
Sweeney's not. I mean, did I read that script the
wrong way in your.

Speaker 5 (02:51):
Opinion, Well, there's a couple of boys. Look at number one,
some people have that.

Speaker 4 (02:58):
Attitude.

Speaker 5 (02:59):
It's in their d They kicked places in there in
their DNA. And one, unless the lunack of fathers, you
better run early, coach, you won't have burge late in
the game to do so. They probably watching Brian Kelly's
Team of the Years. He probably had that scripted, and
a lot of his philosophy is what you just said, Hey,
we better foce them, we better prow some caution the

(03:19):
wind immediately now looking like they took more chances. I
just this listed some of Dabo's press conference and he
was talking about the fact that, well, you know, Kate
didn't play He didn't play good. That's her biggest problem.

Speaker 4 (03:32):
Offense.

Speaker 5 (03:32):
He had a fifty yard guy there, he had a
slam here that might have beentitation. Now he had his
net And just to listen to his press conference, if
Paide had taken the shots and it sounded like some
of them were downfield, it might have looked somewhere to
l s U and seemed like they were taking more chances.
And uh, for some reason, maybe Kay didn't take those,
and all of a sudden, you look at the tape,

(03:53):
he said, Josh, LSU's fishing the ball down the field more.
They'll be a little more risky. They're taking more risks,
whereas it was in his game plan. But for some
reason the quarterback didn't pulled the stragger. That's what I'm
listening to the press conference and and watch.

Speaker 4 (04:07):
Way that game went.

Speaker 5 (04:10):
Listen to Dabo's evaluation, Hey, we had chances down the field.
For some reason, he didn't take it. He scrambled left
the pocket early, So maybe that was some of the
way the presentation looked different from LSU and Clipson.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
Offensively, Tommy baldm with this here on the program. Now
obviously be couse you see the game through a different
lens than than I do and a lot of the fans,
but I saw a breakdown of the final play for Clemson,
and in the thought process on what they felt like
LSU did there was that when that defensive end on
k Clebni's right stunted to the inside, it presented this

(04:47):
view to Kad in the pocket that he had the
open field to pick up four yards. But what he
didn't know is they were wrapping around that linebacker, and
and and so, I mean, I don't know what you
would call that type play. I mean, but would you
say that that's probably the reason that Kate Clinton didn't
stand in the pocket. He thought there was four yards
to be picked up, but he didn't know that Perkins

(05:08):
was going to be coming on a bee line from
him from across the field.

Speaker 5 (05:12):
You you should have gone on to coaching. That's as
I watched the That's the first thing I thought it was,
because you know, one of the things you're taught is defense.
Then most of the time they have contained. Okay, they
got it. But as you said, that guy disappeared and
took the b gap or the inside he took the

(05:34):
guard tackle gap charge, which oh man, Kate, I got
it outside now, And it looked like they had worked
for art, they had practiced. Okay, when this defensive end
takes an inside charge, which he doesn't very seldom do
because he's supposed to have contained the quarterback, you know,
his eyes are down filled, but he but he fills
the pocket collapse and he fills space to his right.

(05:57):
And LSU says, okay, wait when he does that now
and go run and you got better speed, you're a
better athlete, You chase them down, will win the game.
So I do believe that was scripted. Yeah, if that's
what you saw, you know more football than you. You're
yourself creditful. I think that's exactly what happened. I think
that that was the way it was.

Speaker 3 (06:17):
Planned Tommy Bowden with us here on the program again.
So now go to it from the coaches standpoint, because
as I'm in the press box watching the game unfold,
and it's really any game i'm watching where maybe Clempson,
you don't really get this feeling when you're the team
you're covering is winning. But there's a moment in that
game somewhere in the mid third quarter where I start

(06:38):
thinking to myself, uhh, we're in trouble. This team's in
trouble if they don't do something in a hurry. Do
you get that feeling as well as a coach? I
can't really describe it. It's not you know, when your
stomach drops when you go over a bump, or when
you have butterflies before an example. It's not that, but
there is a feeling that you get. Do you get
that as a coach?

Speaker 4 (06:58):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (06:58):
Yeah? Another great operation should buy you in a game, law, Well,
there's momentum changes. There's momentum changes. Somebody blocks a kick
for a touchdown. In momentum changes, somebody interceptions, you make
a big run, appointment on whatever. There are big plays
that create momentum changes, which is all, which is a
lot mental and okay, how are you going to respond?

(07:20):
And I felt, just like you did when.

Speaker 6 (07:23):
You watch that game, that momentum was going.

Speaker 5 (07:25):
On less use, They're having more consistent they're moving the ball,
they're running game was keeping them in the game, whereas
Clemson's hadn't. You felt an inefficiency on Clemson's ability to
run the ball. Clempson looks like LSU was having more success,
and you felt a momentum turn and never change. You
listened at Brian Kelly's press conference, and you know he

(07:46):
was kind of taking shots at dab all they're going
back and forth. He say, Hey, the dab will watch
the second half. So obviously Brian Kelly felt felt like
you felt in the fact that hey, there's a momentum change,
we're getting control of the thing, we can run the ball,
just keep playing like they're douce. So yeah, I think
that's a great observation of your part. And I think
that's and that's how the game went, unless the Brian

(08:07):
Kelly's Brian Kelly's comments, it's it's about what you said, Hey,
you see a.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
Second a half well, and I know this. I saw
the NFL scouts there that were in attendance. Those guys
were leaving midway through the third, maybe into the fourth quarter.
I guess to beat traffic to get to the airport
or whatever. But I couldn't help but think, you know,
they came to watch these two great quarterbacks face off,
and I think most of them probably left thinking Garrett

(08:32):
Nussmeyer was the better of the two guys, certainly that day,
and maybe the better NFL prospect. What did you see
from Nussmeyer that major impressed with his play?

Speaker 5 (08:42):
Well? His You know, that was two really really good defenses,
and both quarterbacks had to deal with it with a
with a class pocket more than they had singing practice,
a little more pressure, more hands in their face. Throws
had to be more accurate because of the ability of
both secondaries to close when the balls in the air.

(09:03):
Nuzmar had more success, you know, and and now some
of it Walton and I didn't. I'd have to have
the film to study it. Some of them made it
might have been might have been the plays called and
and and how that opened things up, and and how
LSU attacked Clinson's defense as opposed to how Crimpson's attacked L.

(09:26):
S hues nus Myers might have had more opportunities, and
and Guy's a little more open by design, by route
design and play calling than what Clemson did. I'd have
to study it. But but as I listened to Dabboo
Talkers Press Car, yes he was this point and Cade,
but sounded like he might have been a little frustrated
with some of the play calls that did give Cade

(09:48):
similar opportunities that us. Plus the other thing, Walton's L.
S U's running game really helped those things open up
passing game and Pumpson didn't have that opportunity, just stablished
any kind of running game that would have felt the
passing game.

Speaker 3 (10:03):
And that takes me, by the way, that's Tommy Balden
hanging out with this here on the program today. That
takes me to my next question, and that was about
Garrett Riley kind of getting away from the run. But
you know, I think part of that is Climpson only
had fifty eight plays coach, and at one point when
they were at forty plays, I looked at the book
and they had they had twenty care twenty rushes, and

(10:25):
twenty passes at that point, and they threw eighteen consecutive
passes to close the game. So I mean I kind
of feel like, you know, at one point they were
pretty balanced in that attack. What do you think it
was that really made Garrett Garrett Riley excuse me, get
away from the running game.

Speaker 5 (10:46):
Well, I think the attimpts were good. It was just
the average pertempt that hurt it. You can run the ball,
but if you're not getting anything, it really hurts you.
If if I'm not mistaken, I think Cumpston had twenty
nine yards rushing.

Speaker 3 (11:00):
They get thirty one carries, thirty one yards one point
six carry.

Speaker 5 (11:04):
Not great, no, but I think ten of those were
quarterback and and twenty of those were well the running
backs twenty of those yards. So that's about five yards
per quarter that the running backs are are producing. And
it's it's you get the.

Speaker 4 (11:21):
Point in the game.

Speaker 5 (11:22):
Yeah, I just remember so many discussions, Hey, you know,
why are you gonna run it?

Speaker 4 (11:26):
We're not doing anything.

Speaker 5 (11:27):
We're not getting it. We're wasting it down and it
got work. Comes was running the football, but but they
weren't getting anything. It was kind of waste, wasting a down. Yeah,
and then there their passing game wasn't good enough to
uh to just to save them. And and a lot
of obviously was was was both defenses. It's just more

(11:48):
hard to get out of that game without give a
lot of credit to both both both both defenses were
really really superb well.

Speaker 3 (11:55):
And it felt like too when the polls came out
and Clemson's still in the top ten at number eight,
that there was a recognition that, hey, these are two
big time teams battling. I know Clemson fans don't feel
that way when they get beat. What I've encouraged the
listener to do this week is just in your brain.
If you flip the outcome to a seventeen to ten
Clemson win, what would you be saying about LSU? And

(12:17):
I think the most people would be saying, man, that
those you team's a great football team. I'm glad we
won this game. It's funny how you don't feel that
way when you're on the losing end. Of a big
matchup like this.

Speaker 5 (12:29):
Some of unfortunately's got to do with Dabo's success. He's
had so much success. But that went that loss. You know,
it doesn't hurt them at all. They can still win
the ACC, They'll still be a playoff, go to the playoffs.
A second loss, unfortunately, because the politics involved with the
SEC and the Big Ten, a two loss Clemson team

(12:50):
might really hurt them, but right now they lose nothing.
And it was long. Like he said, you know fans,
you know, study football coaches or pro scuys.

Speaker 6 (13:02):
They look like that.

Speaker 5 (13:03):
Man, that's two really good teams. Texas a high state,
same thing, two really good teams. Not so much as
arch Manning was that bad. That was a good high
state defense. The same thing with the with the fund
he had to play better, but again that was really
good defense.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
Was it was going up against Tommy Ballden, former Clemson
head coach, with us here on the program today talking
about the Clipson Tigers. Yeah, it reminds me of I
almost feel like with the expanded playoff, college football fans
in some ways have to kind of accept the NFL mindset.

(13:40):
You know, NFL teams don't plan to go in defeedd
they understand that parody is is huge. There are certainly
teams on your schedule you should expect to beat, I
think collegiately, but you're going to if you play games
like this, have losses and you do learn a lot
about your team. And I think Dabo Sweeney sometimes can

(14:01):
say things that made people just go, I'll really this again.
But I think he's right, Like that's a really good
Clemson football team, because I think LSU is going to
be in the college football playoffs.

Speaker 5 (14:13):
Oh yeah, but but but ls Yeah, both both teams
well as you can with the with the too lost team,
I think they can make it because they've got really,
really good players. They've got a really good quarterback which
can take you. But you know, it's amazing when you
listen to that. But I've listened to a couple of
press conference this week and he really he really put
a lot of pressure, not pressure, but he was really

(14:35):
critical of his quarterback. And and he can afford to
do that. Dad has got money in the bank, got
a couple of national championships, probably have a statue up
Attempson named after.

Speaker 6 (14:44):
But he can afford to be honest.

Speaker 5 (14:46):
But he can afford to be honest, and now his
second year, if he puts pressure, that puts a lot
of blame on the quarterback where he's calling the quarterback
under the bus. He needs to leave the he needs
to learn to take ownership of the team. Whereas he's
he was being honest about the game. But I think
that's one of the point where he is in his
career right now where he can afford to be honest,

(15:08):
whereas as an other coach, you know you got it,
you can't afford to say what he was saying because
they'll say you're throwing the players are you're throwing the
quarterback under the bush, you're out taking ownership. But he
was being honest. Quarterback didn't play that much and a
game like that two good teams, it's gonna come down
to performance of that guy because unfortunately, that's that's the
way offensive systems will run. There's so much burden on

(15:30):
the quarterback. Are pressure, I should say.

Speaker 3 (15:32):
Well, coach, I know you were in Tallahassee this weekend
celebrating your mom's ninety third birthday. That's incredible. You also
got a chance to watch the Florida State game against Alabama,
a game where the Seminoles were a two touchdown underdog
and ended up winning it by two touchdowns. So, first off, man,
that's awesome. Your mom ninety three, I know, happy birthday

(15:52):
to her. But also the game, what was that like
for you guys watching that?

Speaker 5 (15:57):
Yeah, we could have swore we've heard a cyber from
heaven from my father. After last year's to intend we
saw herd and some Thank goodness, they got this thing
turned around. But you know, those teams played opposite Alabama
played like Florida State did last year. Florida State played
like an Alabama team under Nick Saban where there they

(16:20):
look like they played with a little more hard edge,
a little more something to prove, which they did.

Speaker 4 (16:27):
But you know, being at tallass and all my.

Speaker 5 (16:29):
Fat forty five, but you know, family members there with
my mother and it was a it was a good
experience for our family. But I'm were coaching orban the
Florida State program. Its fell off the face of the
earth last year. I'm glad that kind of kind of
creeping back up.

Speaker 3 (16:45):
Well at the ACC kickoff, you know, he was really
fiery and I said afterwards, I said, I don't know
if he's trying to convince himself, the fans, or the
players that they can be a really good team. But then,
did you get a chance to hear his pregame speech
before that Alabama game?

Speaker 4 (17:01):
Holy moly, you know, yeah, I heard one after him.

Speaker 5 (17:05):
I did not hear the pre game speech. But he
all be really good because last year he tried everything.

Speaker 6 (17:11):
So I probably took the best.

Speaker 5 (17:13):
Of what he has last year and rolled into one
because I don't know how much you can differentiate. You know,
I've given a bunch of those pregame talks and there's
only so much you say in different ways you can say.
And I imagine last year he was really really creative
what to say. So it looks like whatever he said worked.

Speaker 3 (17:32):
Yeah, no kidding, man, they played great? All right? Final
thing for you, Clemson obviously facing Troy this weekend. It's
the team Dabos when he's very familiar with Clempson's played
them a couple of times while he's been there. But
what can you, as a coach, really expect to get
out of this game? Again? Look, maybe maybe Troy goes

(17:52):
up State Michigan on you and finds a way to win, right,
But just in general, assuming Clemson wins the way they're
supposed to win. What can you gain from a game
like like this and your experience?

Speaker 5 (18:04):
You know, I'm gonna answer the question this way because
so much has been said about climpson plenty game. I'm
really looking forward to as a coach to watch how
Clumpson attempts to run the ball. The right backs are embarrassed,
their coaches embarrassed. The whole attack offensively on how to
run the football. But Troy is gonna have a good
enough personnel to say, hey, you still better be created

(18:26):
and how you try to run the ball. If you
just try to run over them, now, Clempson blinds up
there and knocks them off the ball where they where
they're walkingsive linemen, uh create a new line of scrimmage
and affects the running angles of the second level guys,
the linebackers. Okay, then they're gonna win. They're gonna win
the game. But I'm anxious to really watch how Clempson's

(18:47):
prize to run the football because if they try to say, hey,
we're gonna run it regards to what you line up
in it could be a long day. And as you
well know, the history of this game, the last few
years Clumpson and Troy have played, it's it's really been
a close game. So I think I'm really gonna be
interested in that. Damo gonna happen running yes, whenevery focuses.
He's got so much experience. Dabo does prepare the teams

(19:10):
for a team like Troy. But I think now it's going, Okay, Garrett,
how are you going to attack? How are you going
to approve that running game? I guess a pretty dag
on good team that has a history of coming here
and giving us fits. I'm nice to see that.

Speaker 3 (19:24):
Coach. Always appreciate you. Glad to have you back on
the show. Can't wait to talk to you next week.

Speaker 4 (19:29):
All right, how good wish you there you go.

Speaker 3 (19:31):
Tommy bald Man. Great to get coach back in the
saddle speaking to me in the saddle. Will Van der
Voort from The Clemson Insider joins us right around the
bend because in hour number two I felt bad we
skipped about seven minutes of our interview yesterday with Morgan Thomas.
So we're gonna work that in so you can get
Morgan in its entirety. Had to trim it up because

(19:53):
of the technical issues here on the program. So around
the bend, Will van der Bort keep it locked, rolling along,
Clipson Sports, Talught, the show, the Shakespeare south Land. That
was Tommy Bowden before the break. Now we flipped the
script to our good buddy, Will van der Voord. Will
welcome in man. How are you.

Speaker 6 (20:09):
I'm doing good? How you doing man?

Speaker 3 (20:11):
I'm good? Sorry, had to follow up Tommy Bowden. You
know he's given us deep insight into clips of football games.

Speaker 6 (20:19):
Well, hey, if I'm gonna be if I'm gonna be
one up this coach Bowden, I'm okay with that. I enjoyed.
I enjoyed my time working with Coach Bowden. He was
really good to work with when he was here.

Speaker 3 (20:31):
Yeah, he's great man. He's been a part of the
show for like twelve years. And when I didn't call
him last week, Will, it's such a busy weekend getting
ready with Labor Day and the big game, I didn't
call him, and I thought, I Benny things the show
got canceled.

Speaker 6 (20:49):
I can see that coach ballad. He's pretty, she's pretty. Uh,
he's pretty funny. If he if he did he was,
let me say this. If it was canceled, he would
have given you a nice comical note.

Speaker 3 (20:59):
Oh yeah, no doubt.

Speaker 6 (21:02):
He's notorious for that.

Speaker 4 (21:03):
Man.

Speaker 3 (21:03):
He probably would say something like he probably would say
something like, well, I've been ready to retire. This is
the last show I was on. Something he'd get at
self deprecating. All right, let's break it down, man. I mean,
seventeen ten, we've had a chance to kind of put
it in the rear view a little bit, but I
have not had a chance to talk with you about
it specifically. Give me your thoughts on Clemson in LSU

(21:26):
last weekend.

Speaker 6 (21:29):
I mean, I was a little surprised that the game
was as low scored as it was. I'll be honest
with you. Didn't see LSU's defense being that much better,
and I didn't see Clemson's offense being that worse, you know,
And so that a little surprised me, to be honest

(21:49):
with you. I thought the chess match on the other
side of the ball when exactly like I thought it
was going to do. I figured LSU would want to
get the ball out fast and try to get their
playmakers to make plays in space because they knew that
it was gonna have they were gonna have a difficult
time handling Clinton's defensive line. And that was the case.

(22:09):
So that went exactly how the matchup. I thought it
was gonna go for the most part. But the other
side I did not see. I'll be honest with you,
I did not see Clinton's office struggling the way that
they did, especially Kate Club Nick just reverting backwards, you know,
and a lot of the problems. I know, people want

(22:30):
to blame the running game, and and I don't, you know,
I don't know if we got a good look to
give a judgment on the running game. They stopped running
the ball, you know, and they only ran the ball
what twenty times the whole game, and they didn't run
it but four times in the second half. And I'm
just like, you know, I don't know what I was
looking at, but I do know what I saw Kate

(22:51):
Club Nick, and it wasn't good. And and LSU had a.

Speaker 4 (22:54):
Lot to do with that, I think a little bit sure.

Speaker 6 (22:57):
But at the same time, they didn't, you know. And
so you know, if you're Clympson, I'd be really worried
about what you saw to Kate Club Nick last week.
That's the thing to me that was more worrisome than anything.

Speaker 3 (23:10):
I would also ask the question I guess too, write
like how big of an impact in your mind does
a wide receiver like Antonio Williams have in the overall
play of the game or the scheme of the game.
Because to me, I get it what a big piece
he is, but I almost refuse to believe that he

(23:31):
could be so significant will that the drop off offensively
would feel that immense, Like I think there's more to
the offensive woes that Clemson had. I certainly believe this
game will be one where they should be able to
tune things back up and get ready for that big
matchup in Atlanta. But all in all, I mean, do
you think this outcomes different? Like is he that big

(23:54):
of a difference maker?

Speaker 6 (23:59):
I mean mean the good struggle two years ago when
he did play, So I mean there's something to it.
I mean there might be something to it, right, I mean,
you know, you look at what was the one difference
in the game last the other day than last year,
and if he wasn't in the game, right, and then
what was the difference from two years ago to last

(24:22):
year was you know, Antonia Willims was back and they
had those other receivers. But did he make did he
lift those other receivers up, you know what I'm saying, like?
And and did he make it more difficult because he
was in the game, that allowed everybody else to get theirs? Right?
You kind of wonder after what we saw the other day.
And to answer your question, I don't really know, but

(24:43):
I do think it did have some effect on the game,
especially with the way I think some things Clintson wanted
to do offensively, and so not having him in the
game I think really affected them that way. So I
think from that standpoint, yes, But will it affect the

(25:04):
offense going forward, I don't know. We're gonna find out
here this week a little bit. Let's see if the
offense can show some consistency this week in a game
they should, and then let next week, let's see what
they do against Georgia Tech. And I think if they
struggle against Georgia Tech with that Antonio Williams, if he
doesn't play, which I'll be honest with you, I don't
know anything other than he had a hamstring injury. But

(25:25):
I do know this. Hamstring injuries are not easy to
come back from. And if you don't believe me ask
Khalil Barnes, who you know he's still They thought he
was back and he wasn't, you know, So you know,
I'm not guaranteeing Antonio Willis is gonna be back for
Georgia Tech or not. And I think if you're a Crimson,
you have to plan that he won't be right. And

(25:47):
because a hamstring injury, especially with a wide receiver where
they got to do cuts and stuff like that and
they got to run at full speed, it's not easy
to come back from.

Speaker 3 (25:58):
Will van Dervoord hanging out with this year on the
program again on Twitter at Steeler Will. We'll talk about
the defensive side of the ball in just a minute.
We got a commercial coming up, but we got about
a minute left. Will. In terms of the offense, I
think everybody thought they would be, you know, very versatile
and the things they did with with Adam Randall. Were
you as disappointed as I was? And we'll talk more

(26:19):
about the running game in a minute, but just specifically
about the way they didn't really take advantage of the
matchups or the mismatches that he could create. We got
about a minute.

Speaker 6 (26:31):
They Yeah, I thought they they ran they went away
from that, and I thought there were some opportunities to
do some things with him that it didn't show. And
then I think some of it was just that. And
I look at gay when I look at this game
from last week, it's more so Gary Riley was handcuffed
because his quarterback didn't play well, and I think that

(26:53):
led to a lot of the reasons why he didn't
call a very good game either. But at the same time,
I don't understand why he threw eighteen passes in the
fourth quarter when he's down seven points and he could
still run the ball and kind of, you know, one
dimensional his team at the same time when he knew
his quarterback was struggling. So I don't really understand it.
You know, Hey, those guys know more than me. But

(27:15):
I do know this. Dabo Sweeney wasn't happy that they
didn't run the ball the fourth quarter, so we do
know that.

Speaker 3 (27:20):
Yeah, Look, there's no doubt about it. We're gonna hit
a quick break. We'll come back with more from Will
Van Dervoort from The Clemson Insider right here on the
Friday edition of The Show That Shakes Us Outland Clemson
Sports Talk, Lowton Swan, Clemson's sports talk. Don't forget about
our friends in Alumni Hall on the corner of campus
on College Avenue of downtown Clemson. It's Alumni Hall for

(27:41):
all your officially licensed Clemson merchandise, hats, t shirts, tell
Gate gardmore go check them out today in Alumni Hall
where Tiger fans shop. All Right, Will Van der Worts
still on the guest line hanging out today, Will, We
were talking about this Clemson offense. I talked about the
versatility and or lack thereof of kind of maneuvering Adam Randall.
Do you think this weekend will come out feeling like, yeah,

(28:02):
you know what, Hey, Adam Randall could be the guy.
I mean, we hear Dabo Sweeney. I think the fans
here Dabo Sweeney, but the fans have crossed over to
a point with Sweeney sometimes that they say prove it
and they didn't prove it in the opener. Will it
be proven this weekend?

Speaker 6 (28:18):
Yeah, I mean you would hope. So this is a
Troy team, who is They're not very good. You know,
they have won only five of the last nineteen games,
and so you know this isn't Detroit from a few
years ago when Clemson played them in sixteen and in
twenty eleven. Those are good Troy teams, right, that gave

(28:40):
Clemson fits. Clemson should if Clemson who is who we
think they are, they should go out there with no
problem this week. So yeah, you would think, okay, yeah,
they'll answer some of that. But at the same time,
if they do what we think they're gonna do, yeah,
then they're really not going to answer it because we're
gonna say, well, we got to really wait till Jordia Tech. Right,
if they go out there struggle, then oh my gosh,

(29:02):
the world's the sky's falling, the world is ending. So
so really, I think there is a sort of a
lose lose situation this week, and I think it's more
so everybody's gonna have the well, they'll really prove it
to us on what they do against Georgia Tech. And
I think that's where we're at because they didn't show
it against LSU. They struggled in areas that we didn't

(29:24):
think they were going to struggle in. And then when
you look at Adam Randall on the Running Game, you
know we didn't get a good look. But I do
know the last time he carried baw he carried it
for six yards and then they didn't give it to
him ever. Again. That was the first play in the
third quarter. He carried it for six yards and then
he didn't get the ball the rest of the game.
And only three other times they ran the ball, and

(29:46):
by the way, not a single one of those other
carriers were given to a running back. So they ran
off four times in the second half and only once
did a running back touch the ball. Okay, they got
to do better than that. And like I said earlier,
I blame that on Garrett Riley and the and that's
that's on him. He and Dabo really was, you know,
kind of pointing that out all week and with the

(30:07):
media that Garret Riley got to run the football. He
didn't say it directly, he said it indirectly, but it
was definitely the message was received.

Speaker 3 (30:16):
Let's slip to the defensive side of the ball. I
thought they played pretty well. I mean, there were obviously
some some bright spots. I wrote an article today about
running Hannafin and and just his impact and what it
can maybe be over the long haul. But what was
your takeaway from watching the defense against LSU? Because I

(30:36):
think Gus Meyer i mean nus Meyer. Well, I just
made up a new character, gus Meyer. When he's bad,
they'll call him gus Meyer. Garrett. I think Garrett Nussmeyer
is probably the best quarterback Clips will face. And I
don't mean that in the sense that I don't think
Leonor Sellers is any good either. I mean I just
think Nussmeyer probably, based off the way he played, he

(30:57):
might be the number one pick man. He looked really
good to me.

Speaker 6 (31:01):
Yeah, he looked good to me too. I think he's
the number one quarterback. Okay, Now, Sellers and a couple
other guys pumps in the play. Those guys are more
than just the quarterback. They make plays at their legs.
Was never gonna make plays with his legs, even though
he did full us all, which I said was a
trick play, even though it was it was just his
own read. But he ran his own read and carried

(31:23):
the ball for like eighteen yards on one play. And
I'm like, yeah, that was a trick play. And that's
what I because nobody in the country, so Garrett Nsmeyer
running for eighteen yards on his own replay, and so
you know, you give him credit for that, but he's
not a runner. And he was very statue like like
he thought he was gonna be That's why he got

(31:44):
the ball out. I would love to see the numbers
on how fast he got the ball out of his hands.
It had to be right at two seconds. I mean
it was like, get the snap, throw it. I mean
it wasn't you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (31:56):
Yeah, And a lot of.

Speaker 6 (31:56):
It was because Clinton Clinton was and Tom was like,
He's like, I'm not letting those wide receivers get behind us.
I'm keeping everything in front of us, especially with after
when you lose your your you know, your probably your
best safety. In the second quarter of the game, Khalil
Barnes goes out and then you're like, Okay, what are
we gonna do. You know, you definitely want to make

(32:18):
sure you're not doing anything that's gonna put stress on
your secondary And then I think it was the respect
of Clemson's defensive line that they wanted to get the
ball out fast. So Clempson was like, Okay, we're gonna
give you the cushion and then we're gonna come up
and make the tackles, which is what they did, and
uh they made lsu earn All seventeen points that they got.

(32:38):
They really did, and you know, give LSU credit, they
found a way to get just enough. Now, granted I'm
a game when he touchdown drive there early in the
fourth quarter, you know, Clemson aided in that with two
fifteen yard penalties, one on a pass interference from Ashton
Hampton that was clearly he was tugging, he was pulling

(32:58):
the jersey. It was clear. And then and then the
rough and the passer which I don't know what TJ.
Parker did. That look like frustration. We've never seen that
from TJ Parker before. Take a cheap shot like that.
But they then that pertin is team and they got
to be better than that in those situations because those
two penalties, you know, especially a fifteen yard by TJ. Parker,

(33:21):
if you don't get that penalty there, then they're kicking
a field goal and you know, now you just got
to tie the game with a field goal to put
it into overtime.

Speaker 3 (33:30):
Right.

Speaker 6 (33:31):
Yeah. So there's a lot of what if and stuff
like that, but that's that's an example of in a
game that tight, you got to keep your head on
your shoulders. You can't do stupid things like that. So
that was A disappointing part of the defense was they
kind of allowed penalties to beat themselves when they had
played so great for the majority of the game, and

(33:51):
they really did after that touchdown. You know, LSU had
the ball three more times after that and didn't do anything.
The defense shut them down and gave the ball back
to the offense every time with the chance to need
to tie or go win the game, and the offense
didn't get it done. So overall, I give the defense
an A, not an A plus. They could have been
an A plus if they would for those penalties. Overall,

(34:12):
though you hold a team to seventeen points, you hold
that offense of three hundred and fifty four total yards.
You actually held them to one hundred and eight rushing yards.
You know, you take away the one mistackle at the
start of the game when everybody's amped up, you know,
then it's only eighty four yard rushing, right, So you
did everything else very well. The only thing was is
those penalties that cost you on that last drive, that

(34:34):
touchdown drive there early in the fourth quarter.

Speaker 3 (34:36):
Will Van der Voort with us here again, he's from
the Clemson Insider. You could check out his work over
there follow him on Twitter at Steeler Will, We're gonna
hit a quick break, We're gonna come back. I want
to get Will's thoughts on Garrett Riley calling plays from
the sideline and much more. Here on a Friday afternoon. Again,
it is the show that shakes thea south Land Clemson

(34:57):
Sports Talk. Don't forget to check out all of our
post podcast, all of our articles and photos on Clemson
Sports talt dot com. All right, with a quick break,
we'll come back with more right after this final segment
of our one. Will vandermart still on the guest line. Will,
I brought this topic up yesterday. I think it was
all the days starting to run together. But anyway, Garret
Riley calls plays from the field, and obviously Tom Allen's

(35:22):
calling plays from the box. Tony Elliott called plays from
the box. I know there have been coaches that have
called it from the field. Steve Spurrier notoriously called it
from the field. I just can't my brain understand how
you do it from the field, even with somebody communicating
with you. I I just think a good play caller
needs to be in the box. Do you do you
agree with that statement?

Speaker 6 (35:44):
I don't know. I mean, I think it depends on
the success. I think if a guy's not having success,
then yeah, I think you need to go give him
a shot. I always thought West should have given a
shot and Top hmmm, because I thought I thought he
saw the field better as up top from a standpoint
of a as a he was a guy that played
chess and and that he could really see the whole board,

(36:06):
where you can't do that on the field. And you know,
I think the verdic is out on Riley because let's
be honest, the one year that his office did well,
I mean he was on the field, but also they
were on the field two years ago. But was two
years ago really his fault? We don't, you know what
I'm saying, Like this thing that happened during the course
of the season with injuries at all, I don't know
if I really blame that on him, And now I
blame what happened, I all a shoe on him, But

(36:28):
I need to see a whole season. Like if he
struggles offense struggles the whole season, then I'm kind of
with you on that on that thought process. But they
were really successful last year with him on the field,
and that kind of tells me, I'm okay with it.
Chad Morris, as I mentioned, he's a guy that was
on the field his whole career at Clemson, and we

(36:48):
knew how good he was at Colm plays and so
you know, I don't know, you know, is there so
many different communications now with with with Garrett, you know,
then last year, I don't know, I don't know the
intricacies like from that standpoint, Like I do know Tony
Elliott was not the same coordinator without Jeff Scott.

Speaker 3 (37:09):
Yeah I know that.

Speaker 6 (37:12):
And and and just Gott was the guy he talked
to on the field, you know, so they had they
what they had to back and forth that they did
and they were so good together. And I think that's
why that worked that way. And then I also understand,
you know, Garrett Riley wanting to be on the field
because his quarterbacks are on the field, and he wants
to talk to his quarterback. And I think it's important

(37:33):
for the quarterbacks coach to be there to talk to
his quarterback and to see what he's seeing so they
can get kind of get on the same page together.
And especially after the way Kate struggled the other night,
I really want him on the field with him. But
you know, because I think you know, you got to
figure out, Okay, what in the world do you see
because as me and you both saw, there was several

(37:53):
plays wide open and Kate is just staring at him,
but yet doesn't throw the ball. And it's like, you're like,
why why doesn't he throw the ball? He's looking right
at him and the guy's wide open. Why is he
not throwing it? And so that's scared Ryley's job to
figure out what's going on there. And even though it
didn't turn out well the other day, usually in the game,

(38:15):
those things can Having a coach on the field can
help a quarterback a lot when it comes to that
kind of stuff and communications and things of that nature.

Speaker 3 (38:23):
Will Van Dervoard again hanging out with us for a
few more minutes as we talk about this Clemson Tiger
team after that seventeen to ten lost final thing, I'll
ask you on that game and then we'll move forward.
I have said this and I want to get your
thoughts on it. If Clemson wins that game seventeen to ten,
and this is kind of where I feel like fans
need to kind of grasp things a little bit differently,

(38:45):
aren't we talking about how we feel? So Clemson feels
so fortunate to win this game, and how good of
a team LSU is. Why is it when your team's
on the losing end, fans just go, oh, we're awful,
We're terrible, we can't do anything.

Speaker 6 (38:58):
Well, I'm still the verdict's out for me on if
they're off for LSU's offer or Clinton's good, LSU's good.
You know, I think we saw two teams where early
in the season defenses, if you have good defenses, they're
gonna control the game. And we saw that, right, I
think we saw that. I think LSU's better offensively than
they showed against Clintson and and boy you showed you

(39:20):
hope Clinton's better offensively than they so right, So so
you know, so the verdict's still out, Like okay, because
I remember when Clinton lost to and of course things
happened to have a course of the season as well,
but we were in Clinton lost to Auburn and cam
Newton back in twentyd and ten. Everybody came out of
that game like, well, they lost, but hey, they're gonna

(39:42):
be really good, like you know, and then they didn't.
They were six and seven, and they lost how many
games by like a touchdown or less. It turned out
that Auburn game was a trend where they just couldn't
finish games out, couldn't close games out right, and for
whatever the reason, whether it was injuries, whether it was
you know, inadequate play, whether it's plays on the offense, whatever.

(40:02):
But you know, so you got to kind of look
at the course of the whole season before you make
a total judgment. So I don't know, I don't know
if this team is gonna be a good team or
if that was a good loss or not. If Clemson
comes out and takes care of business and runs the
table and goes eleven and one from here on out,
then you look back at that game and said, that's
a good loss, And the Coageotball Playoff Committee is going

(40:25):
to award not only LSU, but they'll award Clemson two
for playing in LSU. So that's gonna be been. It's
crazy to say, but a loss will be beneficial to
Clinton in that standpoint. But if they come out and
they go like eight and three the rest of the way,
and they finish the season eight to four, then we're
probably gonna say, eh, you know, that was what we've
probably that was probably a precursor of what things are

(40:46):
gonna be.

Speaker 3 (40:47):
Right, Yeah, no, you're you're all over it. The final
thing I'll ask you just about it all. When you
look at the landscape of college football. Obviously, Florida State
that was a huge win over Alabama. Did your opinion
on the Seminoles change with that? We got about a minute.

Speaker 6 (41:01):
It did not. Here's why, because I felt like the
Simbals were gonna win that game. I even said in
my podcast, I gave straight up go with Florida State.
And the reason why I thought, you know, there was
a lot of momentum. There's a lot of stuff going
off in the off season, you know, with the with
the Castelano's his comments and the team rallying around them

(41:22):
new stadium or sort of a you know, updated stadium
they're opening. And then I didn't think Alabama was really
that good to begin with. I'm like, you know, they're
running backs on the average three point five yards per
carry last year, their quarterback led the team in rushing,
led the team in touchdowns, their offensive line wasn't great.
Alabama's average running the football, I'm like, what made me

(41:43):
think Alabama was gonna be great this year. They got
a brand new quarterback going on the road to start
the season. Wasn't surprised at all. Flora State won that game,
So I really don't know what Floria State is it. Yeah,
I think they're gonna be better. They're not thirteen and one
like they were two years ago. They're not two and
ten like they were last year. There's somewhere in between,
and I think we'll find that out when they play
Miami here in a few weeks.

Speaker 3 (42:02):
Follow him on Twitter at stealer Will his work on
the Clemson Insider dot com. We'll have a great weekend,
my man.

Speaker 6 (42:07):
All r Lawton, Thanks buddy, I'll talk to you later.

Speaker 3 (42:10):
There you go. That's Will Van der Vort from the
Clemson Insider hanging out with us here on a Friday afternoon.
All Right, I gotta do, my man Morgan Thomas right
yesterday I stund about seven minutes of our conversation. We'll
rerack that for you here a hour number.

Speaker 1 (42:22):
Two each time for Clipson Sports Talk with Lawton Swan.

Speaker 3 (43:05):
It is our number two. That's drivetime right here on
the show. The Shakespare South Lay at Clemson Sports tal
on Swan. Ain't I with you on a Friday afternoon.
Of course, yesterday we talked with Morgan Thomas, but I
literally sliced out like seven minutes of the combo because
we had technical issues with the opening segment. I felt terrible.

(43:25):
It was good stuff with Morgan, so we're gonna reset
that for you here in our number two of course,
the show The Shakespeare Southlane and brought to you in
partment our good friends over at Met's Plumbing Met's Plumbing
dot com two two six seven one oh eight, give
him a call today. That's two two six seven one
oh eight METS Plumbing, mets Plumbing dot com. All right,

(43:46):
here's our interview that we did with Morgan Thomas in
full yesterday. Morgan, what's up, buddy? How are you.

Speaker 6 (43:53):
I'm doing well.

Speaker 7 (43:54):
I'm glad you're enjoying the week one passing charts. Whether
you're enjoying them or not, I don't know how glad
you saw them.

Speaker 4 (43:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (43:59):
Look, here's the thing I appreciate, like with everything that
I do with the radio show and writing for the
website and all of the other graphics and things of
that nature, I would love to be able to have
the time to put something like this together because I
appreciate the rewatch of games, and I really loved it
was I think it was RG three and another guy

(44:22):
breaking down some of the intricacies of Clemson in LSU
and some of the things I thought I saw versus
what maybe perhaps we did end up seeing. So I'll
throw it to I'll throw it to you. Seventeen to
ten the final score, and I texted with you last
night and I want to see if you agree. I said,
if the score was flipped and Clemson won seventeen to ten,

(44:44):
I think Clemson fans would say, man, that's a great
LSU team. Can't believe I'm so thankful that we beat them.
But when you lose that game, people come out of
there going, man, we're awful. Another year being terrible. I
don't think this Clemson team's that bad. I think LSU
took some risk and were rewarded by it, and sometimes
you got to do that to beat good football teams.

(45:07):
What was your takeaway from the results on Saturday.

Speaker 7 (45:11):
Well, that I agree. I think that when you if
you switch just the score, you know, you would probably
feel much better about it once you got to see
LSU face to face, you kind of could see that. Man.
They are actually very talented. They were the number one
transfer portal class in the country in twenty twenty five.
I did a couple of videos about them over on

(45:33):
my podcast, and a lot of the LSU fans that
came in and reminded me, like, hey, we had the
tight end. We have three or four wide receivers. They're
all four three forty guys. They are fast, they're lethal,
and they just need to get the ball in their hand.
And they have Garrett Knutmeyer, who you know, had a
four thousand yard passing year and they didn't even really

(45:54):
feel like it was that good of a year. So,
you know, they have a lot of weapons. The biggest
question was could all those weapons work together, because they're
not the Clemsons of the world. They're not. They're the
opposite of Clemson. You know, they really didn't know each other.
They didn't grow up together through the system. They really
were the transfer portal guys. So it was more of

(46:15):
that philosophy of the team that was development with eighty
something percent returning production versus the transfer portal. The score itself,
you know, doesn't tell the whole story as you are
aware there was a lot of other things that were frustrating.
If you just slipped the score, then yeah, I would say, hey, Clemson, man,
that maybe makes you feel really good that the Tigers

(46:38):
came out with a win against a team that should
be one of the best teams in the country. Clemson
still could be one of those best teams in the country,
and it could have been a match up between the
two teams that were just and that's maybe why they
didn't fall that far in the in the rankings. I
think they're eight now. So maybe that's the case, is
that they're just nationally seen as to really good teams.

(47:01):
But from a fan point of view who's been sticking
through the Dabos Sweeney era and maybe even many years
at before Tabot, there is the problem of consistency, and
there's a problem of another opening game where in another
game against a marquee opponent, where there was seemingly a

(47:21):
lot of confusion or seemingly a lot of lack of
execution on the team, not only from Cad Klubnick, but
from the offensive line. Then as it goes all the
way up to the coaching staff, you have your offensive
coordinator who's a Broyals Award winner, but completely forgot about
the run game, which I've honestly, I don't know if

(47:43):
I've ever actually seen that level of forgetting about the
run game or ignoring the run game. So to me,
if you're a die hard Clemson fan, while flipping the
score would make you feel a lot better. No matter
who you are, there's still that lingering problem of Ken,
why is this team kind of tripping over their own

(48:03):
seat in the first game of the season and against
some of the more difficult opponents.

Speaker 3 (48:09):
He's on Twitter at the Morgan t Show. He hosts
the Lockdown Clemson podcast, does some work with WCCP as well.
But his passing charts are really where his bread is
buttered right now in the world of college football. They're fantastic.
You want to go follow him so you can get
a glimpse at those, and I think maybe for the
first time ever, you did an opponent right, you did

(48:32):
LSU as well. We'll get to that in a minute.
But the other thing too, Morgan, I think, regardless of
the score, if you just watched that game and didn't
take into account the scoreboards, I thought LSU was more
creative offensively, I thought they were more creative defensively. I
love the little play where they flared the running back
out of the backfield. It looked like a screen and

(48:52):
they went to you know, kind of threw it to
the guy behind and created a lane. I mean, there
was so much that they did just creatively on both
sides of the ball that that's where I kind of
when they ran they ran a little reverse pass. Do
you remember that play they ran a reverse pass. In
that moment, I looked at the guy sitting beside me

(49:12):
from Athlon Sports in the press box and I said,
you know, typically, in my opinion, the team that runs
a little trickeration early doesn't really feel like they have
the horses. They feel like they've got to take some chances.
And then when I went back and watched the whole game,
I really thought LSU was willing to take more chances.
I thought Clemson played it safe. I thought LSU risk

(49:34):
it for the biscuit, and you know what, they went
home with a biscuit.

Speaker 7 (49:39):
That's as accurate as I could say it. You know,
I think that's a true assessment of the game. I
told my dad that when I was watching the game,
it felt like Clemson was in a tie game and
they were playing from behind. It felt as if Garrett
Riley was calling the game that he was down twenty
one point, especially with the lack of running game. It

(50:03):
just seemed as if he had some sort of sense
of urgency that was not necessary. And then on the
other side of the ball you saw where Garrett Nusmeyer
and Joe Sloan, he was almost throwing the kitchen sink
at Clemson because of the trick plays and Zavia and
Thomas their slot receiver, they're do it all special teams guy.

(50:25):
They had him in motion, coming back into a kind
of a pistol formation and assessing the attack of the
defense and just really gashing players that way. So you
saw from LSU traditional runs with Durham, you saw the
motion runs into the pistol with Thomas. You saw the

(50:45):
screens out to Brian Brown and Aaron Anderson. What I
really loved is the dink and dunk plays that really
got their speedsters in space where they would kind of
drop the entire offensive line line back and run Anderson
across the line of scrimmage, or the at least the
original line of scrimmage. Because all the offensive linemen were

(51:09):
five yards back, kind of stepping backwards, and it was
just a little dunk play over the top of your
offensive lineman and Aaron Anderson would be wide open. Now,
if you think about the timing on that, he didn't
have to go in a traditional slant up the field
and waste any yardage or footwork. He could just immediately

(51:29):
turn to the right or left and go straight down
the sideline. Well, if you have a speedster like that,
you know he's gonna get open nine times out of ten,
no matter who is guarding him. So I do agree
with you. I think Sloan and LSU really pulled out
all the stops they wanted to win the game. They
circled the game, they put it all over the walls

(51:51):
of the training facilities, and they wore a shirt a
shirt pregame that said one and ozer. They were doing
whatever they could to focus on winning that game. And
as you mentioned, Clemson, on the other hand, tripped over
their own feet a few times, and then they started
playing as if the game was down twenty one when

(52:12):
it was still tied.

Speaker 3 (52:14):
Again. Follow him on Twitter at the Morgan t Show.
So let's talk about the Clemson passing graphic. I think
most listeners probably know some of the numbers, But was
there anything that was alarming to you or anything that
really stood out to you about Clemson's passing chart.

Speaker 7 (52:34):
It really wasn't what we've noticed in the past. The
reason why I originally started the passing chart was because
of Dju and because of Luiana Lulay only throwing to
the sideline and not throwing in the middle.

Speaker 4 (52:46):
Of the field.

Speaker 7 (52:47):
Most people would say Clemson never uses the middle of
the field, and the coaching staff would reply that they
do use the middle of the field. And when I
started questioning that, I said, well, why don't I just
do a and see if that's the truth. Well, what
we found is that, in fact, Dju rarely ever threw
it over the middle of the field. He rarely ever

(53:09):
looked at that he was playing it safe on the sidelines. Now,
he still was very successful as far as wins and
losses go. You know, at Clemson, I think he only
lost like four games in three seasons, so he really
wasn't necessarily unsuccessful from a win loss standpoint, but just
the variety was not there. What I noticed with Cave

(53:30):
this past game is that the variety was there. You know,
there was passes behind the line of scrimmage, but not
too many. There were passes ten yards or less, but
again not all to one side, more to the right
than the left, but you would expect that with anyone,
if anybody who's right handed, they're typically going to lean
more to the right side than their left, So that's normal.

(53:52):
But overall, I do think that Cave spread the ball
around the field very well. The problem that he had
was overthrowing. You remember early in the game he was
sailing them over people's heads. Later on in the game,
you know, for example, he was just throwing an LSU's
defense was just very tight coverage. Now, Dabo, being the

(54:15):
coach that he is, he's going to chew his wide
receivers out for not bringing the playdown to me, Dabo
came out and said their drops. I you know, we
had some discussion with drops back in the day under
Dju my chart, I'm a little more lenient on the
draft drops only because to a fan, a drop tends

(54:36):
to be a blatant wide receiver mistake. You know, to
what Dabo was saying about the drops last weekend were
really in my opinion contested balls that they didn't come
down with. Now, TJ. Moore and Bryant Westco they'll tell you, yeah,
we dropped the ball. We should have caught them. But
if you try to look at it from an objective standpoint,

(54:57):
I feel as if you have to give Let's Hues
defenders a ton of credit too, because those guys were
all over Westco and Moore's back most of the game,
so they were very much a contested ball and I
didn't feel right calling them drops. Now. I believe it
from Dabo, but for me, the biggest drop was the
Bryant Westco over the shoulder. He just unfortunately looked over

(55:21):
his right instead of his left. If he would have
caught that one, it probably would have blown the roof
off and been a touchdown.

Speaker 3 (55:28):
Morgan Thomas hanging out with us here, So you also
noted something that I think a lot of fans picked
up on. I saw it on your Twitter account this
past week too. You know, kid Klubnick, when things kind
of break down a little bit, instead instead of stepping
up in the pocket, he tends to flush out to
his right, And in my hunch is it's because he

(55:49):
believes with his athleticism, He's going to be able to
get around then turn his body back and make a
big throw. But it really does put you know, the
right tackle, Blake Miller in a ton of in a
bad situation, a ton of peril if you will, because
the only option to that points to hold. How many
times do you recalled that you saw that in the
game on the rewatch, and I mean, is that something

(56:11):
Caate's really got to fix?

Speaker 7 (56:13):
From what I saw, there were three times. And Caid's
always had a concern from me as far as his
ability to work well with his right tackle. You know,
Blake Miller, you know he's not a bad tackle, and
he started since the as a freshman. But as you mentioned,
if you're going to roll out to the right and
your tackle is blocking towards the inside or or you know,

(56:37):
keeping his body in the inside of the pocket, if
you roll out away from that, then he can't hold
on to the defensive end or he's going to get flagged,
and so he has to let him run free. Well,
the thing about Kate is ninety percent of the teams
that Kate plays this even this season, he's going to
probably outrun a lot of those defensive ends. It didn't

(56:59):
work out with LSU because of just how freakish athletic
they are at almost every position. I mean, Perkins and
Witweeks are two of the best linebackers in the country.
We would love to have them on the team and
could possibly start over the two guys that Clemson has.
So those two guys are lethal and they're fast, and

(57:21):
LSU also brought into defensive ends from one from Florida State,
one from Florida that are fast, and so Cad is fast,
but he's not always the fastest guy, and sometimes I
think he thinks that he can. What do we say
on the radio hero ballt and we were hoping that
Cad had gotten away from trying to do everything. He

(57:43):
even came out on after the game in the postgame
and said, Hey, I realize that I'm doing too much.
And unfortunately it's nice to that he's self aware, but
it's you know, he's running out of time. You know,
this is last season. He's a senior, and that was
one of his biggest games of the season. So he

(58:05):
needs to prove the doubters wrong and he's running out
of those options. Now you still have a long season
to go, but that was one where you were hoping
to get that one back. It will be nice. They say,
what are things that are fixable? Well, one thing that's
fixable is having a running game, you know, not abandoning
it with twenty nine minutes to go in the game.
The other thing that's fixable is getting kid back into

(58:28):
that rhythm of staying in the pocket. You know. I
would much rather Cad have more than two sacks a
game if he has to. I think that will make
the offensive line step up if he takes more sacks,
but mainly staying in the pocket. That's the reason I
say that, because if you go back and you look

(58:49):
the times where it was he was getting wit weeks
in his face or he was getting hit on throw,
he actually made connections on those plays.

Speaker 3 (58:58):
That's a solid point. Solid point from Morgan Thomas here,
whether it's the Morgan T Show on Twitter, go following. So,
one other thing I want to ask you about in
terms of kay Klubnick is the final play from Scrimmage.
And I don't know if you saw the breakdown of
that from RG three in company, but what I think

(59:19):
we had happened I agree wholeheartedly is when the defensive
end stunted to the inside, Kate thought, oh, I got
this four yards, no problem. What he didn't know was
the freakily talented Harold Perkins and LSU would set him up. Basically,
it was a little uh, you know, if the left
one don't get you, the right one will. They set
him up. And he thought he had four yards, and
I think he was surprised when he got to the

(59:41):
edge and there was a barreling down defender from the
backside coming to get him. Is that the way you
saw that play unfold as well? We got about two
minutes before the break.

Speaker 7 (59:51):
Yeah, I agree as well. I think RG three. Obviously
he's a former pro, so I lean on what he
would say. And that's where people, I think all defensive
coordinators are gonna start licking their lips around Kate. He's
just a little bit overconfident to the point of, you know,
outside of his talent level, or at least outside of

(01:00:12):
his awareness level, and so he needs to bring back
that confidence a little bit trust what the play call
is being made, because as much as we beat up
Garret Riley, you can't really be a good offensive coordinator
if your quarterback is going against what the way the
play is designed.

Speaker 3 (01:00:30):
I think it's a great point. Morgan. Can you got
time if we put you on.

Speaker 7 (01:00:33):
Hol Yeah, I'm still here.

Speaker 3 (01:00:35):
All right, We're gonna put Yeah, We're gonna put Morgan
on hold. We'll wrap up this segment. I got about
a minute here, Morgan. I'm I'm gonna punch you on hold.
We'll come back. We'll talk more with Morgan Thomas here
on Clemson Sports. So today, if you don't follow him
on Twitter, you want to right now at the Morgan
T Show and again he hosts the Lockdown Clemson podcast.
He's got about twenty five hundred plus subscribers, maybe twenty

(01:00:57):
six hundred over there. Go follow him, Go subscribe. Great work.
Also becoming a pilot, which means at some point in
my life, I may very well have my own little
personal pilot to fly me around to all the great venues.
I gotta go to Morgan. I got Morgan's Mike music,
so he can't say anything about that. He's just kinda
he just gotta agree with me right now. We'll get
his take on that and much more when we get

(01:01:19):
back here on the show that shakes the south Land.
All right, keep it locked Morgan Thomas again going into
not just Clemson, but when we come back, we'll talk
with him about what he saw from Garrett Nuspyer. I
thought Nutsmyer was incredibly impressive because one thing too. I
thought Death Valley was as loud as it's been in

(01:01:39):
twenty years this past weekend since the Miami Hurricanes rolled
into Death Valley. We'll see if Morgan agrees with us
on all of that. Again, great to catch up with Morgan,
and for those of you joining us here on a Friday,
Tommy Bowden was with us in hour number one. We
also talked to Will and Devoort from the Clemson Insiders,

(01:02:03):
so those interviews will be locked in as well to
our podcast edition of the show eight zero three four
five O zero zero eighty six. Who knows we might
have been spent. We might have been spent a little
story out of our time with Tommy Bowden over on
Clemsons Sports dot Com. Keep it locked lod the Swan
back with you here on a Friday afternoon to get

(01:02:24):
continuing our conversation with Morgan Thomas. Morgan I mentioned before
the break, you're getting your pilot's license. You you have
your pilot's license. You're working towards a commercial pilot's license.
For those of the listeners that don't know, give us
the story. Man, how's that going.

Speaker 6 (01:02:45):
Well, I'm a little bit ahead of you.

Speaker 7 (01:02:47):
I actually I'm a commercial multi engine licensed or certificated
pilot with instrument rating. So I got that, and last
week I just finished up and passed my Certified Flight
Instructors exam. So I'm right now licensed to or certified
to teach, and I'm going to be looking for a

(01:03:10):
job here pretty soon, getting ready to graduate, about to
finish up my certified Flight Instructor instrument add on so
I can teach you how to fly through bad weather.
So I'm almost done with my flight school. I left
my corporate job last year and decided to go do
something crazy. At thirty seven years old, I left my

(01:03:31):
job and going to go try to fly airplanes for
a little well, so enjoying it so far.

Speaker 3 (01:03:38):
You did call and ask me what I thought about it,
and I told you, if that's what I said, go
for it. I said, if you want to do it,
go for it.

Speaker 7 (01:03:47):
And look at you man, Yeah, yeah, it's pretty crazy
that it goes by fast, you know. I wanted to
go to the fast Track program at ATP and a
little bit more expensive, but it was worth it because
you know now and write at about a year, I've
got everything I need. The biggest thing I don't have
is the hours. So I've got to go try to

(01:04:07):
find a way to build up some hours, hopefully teach
somewhere in the Upstate. So if you want to you
want to get some lessons, I'm.

Speaker 3 (01:04:15):
Open flying me back and forth to Clemson football games
so that I don't have to drive anymore. It sounds
like a plan.

Speaker 7 (01:04:22):
Yeah, we should figure out how to get that together.

Speaker 3 (01:04:25):
I mean, you know, both of my uncles, as I
told you when you asked me about both of my
uncles flew for Southwest. My grandfather flew in World War
Two flight and my cousins are both pilots. Flying is
in my blood. So when you told me you were
going to do it, I was like, Man, go for it.
That's awesome. Morgan, congrats on how good that's going for you.
But again, folks, he's flying, but he's also still doing

(01:04:47):
the Lockdown Clemson podcast. He does great work with that,
and of course still does some work when he can
with WCCP in the Upstate and he's on Twitter at
the Morgan t Show. So for the first time, I
believe in the history of your passing charts, you did
the opponent and Garrett Nusmeyer, And you probably heard me

(01:05:08):
before the break. I was as impressed with Nussmeyer as
I've been really with any Clemson quarterback in Death Valley
in a while. I mean, the way he played, man,
he was something else to watch. What was your take
on Garrett Nussmeyer, who some people now have as the
front runner after this past weekend for the Heisman Trophy.

Speaker 7 (01:05:28):
The reason why I wanted to do the passing chart
was mainly because of that statement right there. I had
a few people saying, Okay, well, Garrett Nussmeyer is the
obvious number one Heisman Trophy, He's the number one draft pick.
He had such an amazing game against Clemson's defense, which
was a really difficult defense. And honestly, the fact that

(01:05:51):
Clemson was more of a Ben Don't Break style reminded
me of the old Brent Vinnable's days. And I know
I hate bringing up Tom Allen and Brent, but it
feels as if Clemson made the right move at the
right time to slowly get back to or maybe even
quickly get back to what we remember from the Clemson defense.

(01:06:12):
You know they're gonna get you know, they're going to
allow plays here and there, but it's going to be
extremely difficult to score on them. We're talking about a
team that didn't have the weapons but was scoring thirty
plus points a game, and Garrett Nusmeyer had four thousand
yards last season. He has more weapons, better options, more options,

(01:06:33):
and obviously a great offensive coordinator, and they held them
to seventeen points. So I do have to give a
little bit of a brag to the Clemson defense. But
back to your original question, Yes, the reason why I
did the passing chart is because Garrett Nussmeyer and all
the talk with him being a Heisman Trophy candidate and

(01:06:53):
maybe even the front runner. Now. A lot of people though,
got into my messages and said, hey, you know, what
do you think of Garrett, Like, was he really that
awesome against Clemson? The crazy thing to me is that,
you know, out of twenty eight completed passes, twenty two
were six yards or less against Clemson. You know, if

(01:07:16):
that kind of sounds like the Brandon's treater days, right,
that kind of sounds like the old Clemson days where
we were frustrated with Clemson. They couldn't they can't pass
the ball down the field. Well, that's a testament to
the talent he has. I mean, think about it. You've
got Aaron Anderson, You've got Baron Brown, You've got Harlem Barry,

(01:07:36):
you've got Zavi and Thomas. You don't It's kind of
like back when Clemson had Sammy Watkins. You don't really
have to throw the deep ball. Just get them the
ball quickly and they'll go tear somebody up. And Garrett
has a lot of talent right now to be able
to do that. And I believe the reason why they
were held back is because of that Clemson defense. The

(01:07:57):
good thing for LSU and Garrett Nesmyern his Heismanhope says,
I think Clemson's defense is one of the best, better
ones in the country, and he's not going to face that,
you know, as frequently, so I think he's going to
have many more opportunities, especially this weekend, to just tear
it up. So I do believe that Garrettnssmeyer, with the
weapons that he has, it's going to be pretty lethal

(01:08:18):
to see because they don't even have to go he
was fifteen or fifteen behind the line of scrimmage, Lawton.

Speaker 6 (01:08:24):
I mean.

Speaker 7 (01:08:26):
They don't even have to go anywhere. They have to
take a step backwards, and they can still get a
ton of yards after carry a lot of their most
lethal plays. I'm thinking of one right across the middle
about minus one yard Anderson caught it and then went
for seventeen. So I mean that's the kind of thing
that they don't even have to go far down the

(01:08:47):
field before you dump it to him and they just
take off, you know, and guess what the quarterback gets all.

Speaker 3 (01:08:52):
That No, you're all over it, Morgan Thomas. Here we
got a text message from a LSU fan named Devin.
He says Death Valley well greater than Death Valley East
Swanee nus Meyer was composed and our front seven owned
the line. Statement win for LSU. Hard to disagree with
that being a statement win for the BYU Bengals who
vault up in the polls. All right, Morgan, we'll let

(01:09:14):
you get out of here.

Speaker 5 (01:09:15):
Man.

Speaker 3 (01:09:15):
I'd love to keep you on longer, but I know
you're busy. I always appreciate your insight don't be a
stranger and keep up the great work.

Speaker 7 (01:09:22):
Yeah, thanks again for having me and I'll talk to
you soon.

Speaker 3 (01:09:25):
There you go. That's the full interview. Sorry we missed
some of it yesterday. Man, that was a stressful, stressful show.
Should not have been, but it was because having to record,
having a slice and dice and do all of that.
All right, with a quick break, we'll come back again.
We'll continue to talk about this weekend's matchup against Troy
and much more. We'll focus on some of the big

(01:09:47):
games around the country that you can lock in on
over the next twenty four hours. Actually a little more
than twenty four hours. It's college football roles in the
week two. Right after this, London swan back with you.
Clemson Sports three four five zero zero eighty six. Again,
huge expectations for teams all across the country, like Clemson,
like Texas, like Notre Dame. Last weekend obviously with marquee matchups,

(01:10:13):
I mean, you go out and you test yourself and
then most teams take a little step back in week two.
Texas is playing San Jose State, Clemson is playing Troy.
I mean that's just a couple of examples of those bigger,
more marketable programs out of the gates, sort of taking

(01:10:36):
a bit of a step back. Now there are four
games today. There's also an NFL game tonight. By the way,
you watch the NFL game yesterday, a little spatunia going
on there as the Philadelphia Eagles topped the Dallas Cowboys
last night. Good matchup though, really good ballgame. I just
don't know what Jalen Carter's thinking going with a little

(01:10:58):
spatunia spitting on Tag Prescott before the first play. My
buddy said, man, you think there was a you think
there was a line out there in Vegas for like
a player getting ejected before the first play of the game.
Petunia tonight in college football? Actually, well, Swanye, you can't
talk about the NFL and then not deliver the NFL

(01:11:20):
matchup tonight in the NFL at eight o'clock on YouTube.
It'll be Kansas City and the Los Angeles Chargers. So
another what should be a really good matchup. And like
I was saying with Tommy Balden right like in the NFL,
the reason you know preseason games makes sense is because

(01:11:40):
you don't have like bye weeks. I mean, as bad
as the Carolina Panthers are, They're not really a bye week.
And by the way, the Carolina Panthers are playing this
weekend against the Jacksonville Jaguars, so that's good for Big
TRAILV in my opinion, if Trevor and them lose that game,
we are in for a season in the NFL. And

(01:12:02):
if you are, like I am a Jacksonville Jaguar fan
rooting to see what Trevor and Travis etn could do
as a combo package in the NFL after the success
that they had at Clemson. But also tonight there are
four games James Madison's at Louisville seven o'clock on ESPN
two Louisville favored by fifteen and a half, and the

(01:12:25):
team that people think can make the College Football Playoff
this year. There are people out there, I won't say
a lot, but they really like Jeff Brohm and the
job he's done at Louisville in terms of quarterback coaching.
Northwestern at seven thirty on the Big Ten Network, I
will host Western Illinois. Also on the Big Ten Network

(01:12:45):
at seven thirty is Maryland and Northern Illinois. I don't
really know how that works. If there's a Big Ten
Network two or what remember Northern Illinois last season went
into Notre to Day and knocked off the Fighting Irish,
which was one of the bigger upsets not just of

(01:13:08):
the year, but of the entire campaign, and Notre Dame
would go on after losing that game sixteen to fourteen.
You might remember that the Fighting Irish would go undefeated
the rest of the way into the College Football Playoff,
win three games in the playoffs, beating Indiana, beating Georgia,
and beating Penn State before falling to Ohio State in

(01:13:31):
the National Championship. But just kind of talking about Maryland,
the Terrapins are fifteen and a half point sixteen and
a half point favors actually in that game. And then
tonight at nine o'clock on FS one, Boise State and
Eastern Washington and that's the smurf turf versus. And I'm

(01:13:54):
almost one hundred percent sure on this. I will have
to google it to double check. Eastern Washington who has
the red turf. I don't know what they call the
red turf, but they definitely have red turf at their field,
and so they kind of took I guess a a

(01:14:17):
note or whatever you want to call it from the
Boise State playbook when they built their stadium. That read, Man,
those are my high school colors. That's rough on the eyes.
You think they'll show it tonight, There is no way.
There's no way they play this game in Boise end.
They don't show Eastern Washington's turf. So check that game out.

(01:14:38):
Then this weekend we sort of you know, we used
to give you the viewing window right of games to
watch as you kind of maneuver around the television. This
is not a great weekend for it. But at noon,
Duke hosts number eleven Illinois at Wallace Wade Stadium on ESPN.

(01:14:58):
The fighting a line, I favorite two and a half
on the road. You've also got a little barn burner
between Iowa State, who's ranked sixteenth in Iowa. At noon
on Fox, Iowa State is favored by three and a half.
Then at noon on the CW, we got a pretty
intriguing matchup out of the Atlantic Coast Conference as SMU

(01:15:22):
host Baylor at Gerald derald Ford Stadium out there in Dallas.
Speaking of Dallas, man God is breaking news to the show.
Next week. New guest Chad Morris, former Clempson Offensive coordinator,
former head coach at smu WO. What you're talking about, Swantie, Yeah,

(01:15:44):
we're gonna go coach on Wednesday, coach on Friday on
the show. We're gonna coach you up on the show
The shakesa Southland. That's exciting. Then as you moved through,
speaking of Chad Morris's son, Chandler, quarterback at Virginia. They'll
face NC State at noon. That's on the ESPN two
as well. The wolf Pack favor by four and four

(01:16:04):
and a half. That's one I'm locking in right after
the game day goes off. That's where I'm headed. I'm
watching that ball game tomorrow. Then at three thirty, you
got a big spread twenty seven and a half between
Oregon and Oklahoma State, but two name schools. I think
you got to watch it three point thirty. Also on ABC,
you've got Kentucky and Ole Miss. And of course all

(01:16:26):
of that runs in conjunction with the Clemson window against
Troy at three thirty on the ACC Network. Think about that.
Clempson thirty one and a half point favorites over Troy,
Oregon twenty seven and a half point favorites over Oklahoma State.
I've already told you I think Gundy's in trouble. Buddy,
you get twenty eight, you know, you get four touchdown blitzed.
Not great, not great at all. Then if three thirty

(01:16:50):
Georgia Tech host Gardner Webb, if you want to watch
it ace excuse me, ESPN Plus just so you can
get a look at the l Jackets. You probably saw
him play Colorado, but you do play him next weekend
over in Atlanta. And then as we move through the day,
you get into South Carolina, South Carolina State at seven
o'clock for all you gamecock listeners peeking over the fence
with us. Then you've got Mississippi State in Arizona State.

(01:17:13):
That's a big game for the Big twelve, no doubt.
Arizona State favorite on the road by six and a half.
And the big game seven thirty on ABC, eighteenth rin
Oklahoma and fifteenth rank Michigan out in Norman. All right,
with a quick break, we'll come back. We'll put a
bow on the Friday edition and make our prediction right
after this.

Speaker 8 (01:17:33):
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? And what have
you done? Always are the same. We win.

Speaker 3 (01:18:46):
Final segment on a Friday afternoon Clemson Sports, do Lawton
Swan hang out with you here again? Clemson and Troy
Tomorrow ACC Network three thirty. So I just, I mean,

(01:19:07):
I get it. Like last year when when you came
out of that Georgia game thirty four to three, I
was the guy that was saying I didn't think Clempson
played as bad as you thought they played, and I
think based off the way the season played out, I
was right. They didn't play as bad as you thought

(01:19:29):
they played in that game, even in a big loss.
Then taking a step further to this year, I know
you're disappointed, and I think it was Tommy Balden earlier
that said this, and I'm gonna give him a lot
of credit. The expectation that Dabosweeney has set for this
program is why a seventeen to ten lost l issue

(01:19:52):
feels like you got bullied around. And there's no mistaking
who won the game physically. In my opinion, LSU did,
But that was a game where the more I look
at it, the more I think Lsu rolled the dice,
and I thought Clemson was a little bit too conservative.
And one of the great things I think about when

(01:20:13):
Dabo Sweeney was coming up and guys like Chad Morris
were coaching, you know, the team was a little bit
more aggressive. And Garrett Riley I wrote an article about
this earlier this week. I'd love to have you. Look,
We've got one article up right now on the web
page that is a premium of the premium variety, and
that is the one on Ronan Hannifin called joy in

(01:20:35):
the Collision Running Hannifin's energy elevates Clemson safety. Go read
that article. It's a dollar to get in the door
if you like what you read sixty three seventeen to
support us. But I wrote an article called a Familiar struggle.
And that's the thing that I think everybody was most

(01:20:56):
disappointed in was Clemson's offense in this game. Because when
you listen to what Garrett Riley would say about what
he wanted his offense to be, and then you watched
it in year three, I don't think you felt it.
I mean, excuse me, I don't think you felt it.
I don't think you felt what you expected from this

(01:21:20):
Clemson Tiger football team, and to not get that type
of that type of aggression to kind of deliver a
dud offensively. Certainly, some of it, like well Van der
Bort said earlier goes on k Clubnick, but I put

(01:21:43):
a lot of it on Garrett Riley. I thought Clemson's
offense was rather who hum I really did. And I
think there's much more opportunity now some of it. Man,
even the offensive line didn't play as good as you
would have liked. But maybe that has to do maybe
that has to do with LSU. In fairness, all that

(01:22:06):
being said, you know, Clympson's got college football playoff aspirations.
They're still very much in the mix. You didn't lose
a conference game. The conference might be tougher than you thought,
with Miami and Florida State both winning their openers at home,
which you probably thought they would be the one that
were you know, those would be the teams that were
trying to bounce back from an early season Top ten defeat,

(01:22:28):
not Clemson. All that being said, you know, this is
another tune up opportunity. This is the quintessential pregame. This
is a chance to get your rhythm and get your
flow and feel good about yourself before a key Atlantic
Coast Conference game next weekend in Atlanta. And I think

(01:22:50):
that's exactly what's gonna happen. Look, I don't know a
whole lot about Troy, but I feel like I know
a lot about who this Clypson team can be. And
I think the Tigers go out there this weekend and
they play like the team you expected to see this week.
I think maybe the biggest development that comes out of

(01:23:11):
this game, if we're fortunate, is that Christopher Verzena plays
so well that you want to talk about why don't
we see Zena? If Cage struggling like that, I think
would be the biggest positive development that could come out
of this Not because I want to create a quarterback

(01:23:32):
controversy or that I want Kate Klubnick to be a
guy that gets yanked from the game if he has
a bad pass, but I want him to have somebody
that's on his tail. I want him to feel the
heat of Christopher Zena playing good enough to press him,

(01:23:53):
because I think that's what Kay Clubnic needs. I think
that it's one thing to be the starting quarterback at
the school. It's another to have a guy in the
rear view that's really challenging you. And what would make
that challenge exist would be the fans to see Vazena
be awesome and and and for Dad would have to

(01:24:16):
temper the fans expectations about the Zena for the future.
I'm good with that. I'm also going to see it.
Adam Randall tote the biscuit a bit more as well,
So I'll take the Tigers to win it this weekend.
I think somewhere in the tune of you know, forty
one fourteen feels good, So we'll take Clemson to win

(01:24:38):
at forty one to fourteen this weekend until Monday is always.
I'll take care now and go Tigers.