The "Basketball Gap" Edition

Is the revenue advantage the SEC has over the ACC beginning to showcase itself in basketball? 

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Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Finally, Clemson Sports Talk has come back two drive time.
Hello everybody long and Swan back in the saddle once again.
It is the show that shakes Thus South layd Clemson
Sports tal for you each and every afternoon as you
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(01:05):
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Clemson Sports Talk dot com and the show that Shakespeare Southland,
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(01:25):
to two. Drip Drip Drip, you know the jingle as
the Tigers get ready to take on the Texas Longhorns,
the first time these two teams have ever met. We
are what forty eight some odd hours away from kickoff
the college football Playoff? Maybe fifty hours or so. I
don't want to do the tabulations on it. Okay, fifty

(01:46):
two I think if I'm counting correctly, But anyway, blowsing
in on kickoff the college football playoff first round games
as Indiana ventures into Notre Dame on Friday night. Last
night in the midlands of South Carolina, Clemson ventured into

(02:08):
the Colonial Life arena and came away with a loss.
Disappointing loss for sure, South Carolina, much better than I expected.
Ninety one eighty eight an overtime matchup for Clemson and Carolina.
Three point football game earlier this season, three point basketball
game that went to overtime. Tim Beray tweeting out, and

(02:33):
if you don't follow Tim on Twitter, you should. He's
on Twitter at Tim Bray. He'll join the program on
Thursday Tomorrow's show. But talking with Tim Bray about this
or reading his tweet, I should say, you got me
thinking about him being on the program. Clemson played back

(02:55):
to back overtime games and lost for the first time
since February nineteen thirty seven. February nineteen thirty seven, Dylan
Hunter got ejected in that game, and Hunter had been

(03:16):
a key piece for Clemson over the past few weeks.
His brother Chase obviously the most impactful player, probably at
least with the ball in his hands. I mean there, look,
you can't hardly deny what Ian Shefflin does for this team,
and it's not like Sheflin's bringing the ball up the court.
But Chase Hunter's younger brother, Dylan got ejected from the

(03:43):
ballgame for a flagrant foul and he headbutted a South
Carolina defender. He was at that point as a South
Carolina offensive player. He was three of six with six
points in the ballgame. He also had three rebounds and
three assists. At that point. He's been a pretty important

(04:06):
piece for the Tigers. Bumpson's outscored the opposition by twenty
three points with Dylan Hunter on the court the last
two games. And losing him for just a ridiculous reason.
I mean, it made no sense. I couldn't get anybody

(04:27):
to tell me a reason why. Heather says it was unnecessary.
Other people felt like the South Carolina player flopped. But
my thing is, if you're Dylan Hunter, you can't put
yourself in that position. You just can't put yourself in

(04:49):
that spot. And when you're in the waning moments of
a game or the final minutes of a ballgame, it
just it's nonsense. Randy said, that's one of the stupidest
things I've ever seen. Dylan lost his mind, Russell said,

(05:12):
being an idiot. Now, some people have said, look, defenders,
will you know, kind of brush up against the guy
to aggravate him, lean up against him, and you know, again,
there will be Tiger fans that will say that, hey,
the game player sold and didn't have to fall to

(05:36):
the ground on that play. But man, when you put
yourself in a situation like that, it's what it is.
And Dylan Hunter is Clemson's best player off the bench.
He's got great productivity and when you're struggling like Victor
Lockan was in this ballgame against South Carolina. Lockin had

(05:58):
what twenty three points against Memphis, just one of seven
from the floor for the big Russian for your Tigers,
four point six rebounds, five personal fouls, and up oar
tridge and a pear tree. Chase Hunter led the way
twenty seven points ninety one eighty eight. The final, Chase
Hunter had a three pointer with three tenths of a

(06:19):
second left in regulation to tie the ballgame. Just a
running kind of I don't know what you'd call it,
just kind of just a running shot that banked in
to tie the game to send us to overtime. South
Carolina unfortunately, would dominate overtime. Give Lamont Parris and his

(06:42):
crew give them credit many they look like the better
team for most of the night. And that's saying something
given how good this Clemson Tiger team is expected to
be this year. But the SEC has just flat out
dominated the Atlantic Coast Conference this season. It's not even close.

(07:03):
I think going into that game, it was like twenty
eight and four. I mean, wow. You know, I think
if we're talking about feeling the impact of the college
football money, ironically, where it might be felt right now
is what we're seeing from the SEC in basketball, going

(07:26):
up against a league in the Atlantic Coast Conference that's
been universally my entire forty seven years here on Earth
seen as the pre eminent basketball conference save for a
few years here and there, and now in this league,
what we're finding is a lot of these teams can't

(07:49):
cut the mustard against teams from way for it Southeastern Conference,
I would almost argue. And I know South Carolina, Georgia,
Florida fans etc. In the SEC want to talk about
their prowess on the grid iron. I hear them all
the time. I think this year, I think it's safe

(08:10):
to say at this point, the SEC is further ahead
of the Atlantic Coast Conference in basketball than it was
in football. No, I'm not one to say that the
SEC's not ahead in football. There are some out there
that will try to talk you into that, your boy
Swane right here on Fox Sports Tradio fourteen hundred one
hundred in the Midlands and around the world on the

(08:30):
iHeartRadio app, I will not try to talk you into that,
but I will try to convince you for sure that
I think the basketball gap in the SEC at this
point is greater than the football gap. Which who would
have thought. Who had that on their Bingo card? Not I.

(08:55):
I certainly didn't have that on the Bingo card going
into this season. But hey, tip of the cap the
game Cocks for that victory night again Chase Hunter with
twenty seventy and Shefflin with twenty three. Chauncey Wiggins was
a bit of a liabilities just seven points, three of
eight from the floor, just not playing very smart basketball.

(09:20):
I know there was a controversial goaltend late in that game.
I thought it was absolutely a goaltend. I know the
ball hadn't hit the backboard yet, but I did think
that the ball was on the way down, and all
in all, you know, South Carolina was a much better

(09:40):
basketball team than I expected, and they looked like they
could potentially be a handful for a lot of teams
this season taking a look at some of the other things.
It also was a weird game of runs. I mean,
it really was. It's one of those matchups where when

(10:03):
it's all said and done, you go, Holy Moly, what
a strange scenario we dealt with there. I think South
Carolina came out, went on a little five oh run.
The two teams sort of trade baskets for a while,

(10:24):
and then South Carolina, up thirteen to ten, puts together
an eleven oh run to take a twenty four to
ten lead. Clemson then answers right back with a fourteen
oh run to tie the game at twenty four with
three thirty nine left in the first half, and then

(10:46):
South Carolina answers back with a ten to oh run
of their own to go up thirty four to twenty
four with twenty five seconds left before the half, and
Clemson gets two free throws before the half, giving South
Carolina an eight point lead at the break. Weird set
of runs there to open things up in the first

(11:07):
half of action. Then late in the second half, with
Clemson leading sixty nine to sixty seven, South Carolina would
put together a nine to zero run to take a
seventy six sixty nine lead. Clemson would hit back to
back three's from Chase Hunter that put the Tigers within
one at seventy six seventy five with one zero four left.

(11:31):
South Carolina comes down and gets a three with twenty
three seconds remaining. It feels like it's all said and done.
The Tigers get a quick layup from Chase Hunter with
fifteen seconds left to make it seventy nine to seventy seven.
The game Cocks get this go the free throw line
up by one Right clanks two free throws, but the

(11:51):
second one gets rebounded by South Carolina and the Tigers
have to foul again, this time with seven seconds left.
Thomas goes to the line makes the first to give
South Carolina a three point lead eighty to seventy seven
with seven seconds left. Miss is the second, not on purpose.
Chase Hunterer gets the rebound, races up the court, and
then that's when he throws up the bank shot. The

(12:15):
bank shot to tie the ballgame and send it into overtime,
and again South Carolina would go on to win in overtime.
As the game Cocks really took control, got up six
with a minute and forty left in ot Clempson would
have a Chase Hunder three pointer trim it back to three,

(12:37):
but then the game Cocks again continued to fight and scrap.
Chase Hunter had a couple of free throws to trim
the lead back down to two with fifty seconds left.
You felt like, man, we've been there before. Reeves for
Clemson goes to the free throw line. If he hits both,
he can tie the game. He goes one of two.

(13:01):
South Carolina gets foul, goes back to the line. Thomas
hits both free throws, this time to put the game
Cocks up ninety one eighty eight, and then Chase Hunter
misses a three at the end of the ball game
and the game Cocks win and the Tigers lose for
a second consecutive ballgame in overtime. But man, alive, you

(13:24):
talk about a ballgame that just really it kind of
felt like an out of body experience watching that Clymson team.
They've been playing so well, even in that Memphis game,
but there were moments in this matchup with South Carolina
where I was left unimpressed with this Clemson Tiger team honestly,

(13:48):
But it is just a basketball game. There are many
more to come, and I think one of the things
that you start to learn watching this sport and being
around this sport work long enough, is that when you
do lose a guy like Clemson did with Dylan Hunter
going out, I mean that changes things. He's a big

(14:09):
He's a big part of this team. Regardless of the
poor play from Victor Lockin, Dylan Hunter is a big
part of Clemson's success. And with him out, albeit on
his own accord making a dumb decision, the Tigers, now

(14:31):
dropped to nine and three, want to know in the
acc they'll face off with wake Forest on Saturday at
Little John Coliseum back in the friendly confines of Little
John Coliseum. Are your Clemson Tigers, But man, South Carolina,

(14:52):
tip of the cap from me, buddy, A better team
than I expected. All Right, here's Brad Brown now talking
about the loss following the game last night down here
at the Colonial Life Arena.

Speaker 3 (15:08):
First of all, congratulates South Carolina a good win. Incredibly
hard fought, competitive game, swings both ways. Certainly never would
have thought that both teams would score like they did
in the second half. The defenses coming in both teams
defenses have been very good, and they were in the

(15:31):
first half, but second half just obviously neither team could
really stop each other. Obviously, the free throw blockout misses
a misses for us. I think we had two were critical.
Proud of our guys for fighting. We just kind of
the second game in a row where dug ourselves a
hole and just had to kind of keep battling every

(15:53):
all the way back. Certainly the filing was a problem
for us at the end, and again they just they
made one or two more plays. Colin Murray boiled down
the stretch. Was probably the difference.

Speaker 2 (16:05):
Brad Brown that was asked about the fact that Chase
Hunter scored zero points in the first half of the
ball game, even though he caught fire in the second half.
He was asking, you know what kind of made the
difference there?

Speaker 3 (16:16):
I just thought we were I didn't think we had
very good pace. I didn't think we did a lot
of what we came into the game trying to do.
I thought we made soft cuts. They pressured us a
little bit. It bothered us some. We just we just
didn't We didn't have the energy and the competitive fight

(16:38):
that we needed at from the start. Why that is,
I don't really know. Obviously, I think we got it
throughout the course of the game. You know, both teams
are obviously going to play a little better offensively when
the benches are helping. But you know, I don't really
know why that was. Certainly Chase his play was tremendous

(16:58):
in the second half.

Speaker 2 (16:59):
For US in overtime Brad Brown that was also asked
about the fact that Victor Lockin and Ian Shefflin both
fouled out late in the game and maybe what the
impact that might have had on the finish.

Speaker 3 (17:13):
Yeah, obviously that was. You know, Victor had one of
his poor games for US all year. He's coming off
a great game and for whatever reason, didn't play well tonight. Yeah,
Ian filing out is obviously a problem. With Victor already
filed out, We've got Christian in there, who doesn't play
a whole lot for US. Still kind of a developmental
big that. I'm proud of him. I thought he did
some good things, you know, And obviously they had to

(17:37):
battle Kyler Murray Boyles was in some foul trouble, so
he didn't play as much as he normally plays. Both
teams were jockeying all that all game. You know, they
have a good team. They can play big, they can
play small. Pringle helps him when when they have he
and Boils out there. They're a big, strong, physical team,
and then they can you know, a guy like Studie
has shot the ball poorly all year, makes five threes

(17:58):
against us today, you know, but they can spread you
and put pressure on your team because of that and
being able to talk about we talked about big lineup
versus small lineup in the game, but we didn't have
an answer for it.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
Brad bro and that was also asked about what tweaks
he feels like he'll need to make between now in
that Wake Forest game this weekend.

Speaker 3 (18:19):
You know, I don't know. It's kind of like I
told my team, I need to watch the film to
have more a better understanding of what really happened. I
just didn't think we played very well in some of
that South Carolina in the first half. Offensively, we were
very poor. Defensively, we were okay competitive on some things.
We got our win back. Confidence back, got a little

(18:43):
bit of rhythm in the second half. You know, it
was hard because Victor wasn't playing very well for whatever reason.
I need to see why that is. And he's been
a piece that's been a good player for us. So
you know, I probably need to watch more before I
can give you a better answer that There you go.

Speaker 2 (19:01):
That's Brad Brown now again trying to break down to
a degree Clemson's ninety one eighty eight loss to South Carolina.
That's back to back games here in Colombia against Lamont Paris.
Good buddy of his, that Brad Brown el has come
up on the short end of the stick. And I
think South Carolina, as I said, was better than I expected.

(19:26):
But I don't think that honestly, that they've got more
talent right now than this Clemson Tiger basketball team, which
makes it, you know, more disappointing in the loss. But
tip your cap. The game Cocks came to play, took
care of business, and knocked off the Clemson Tigers last
night in a really exciting game. I think that's what

(19:47):
most people said about it. Even though there were some
moments that were rough, all in all was an exciting ballgame.
Right quick break, We'll come back with more as Clemson
gets ready to face Texas out west later this week.
Clemson Sports saw the show the shakesas south Line all right.
I mentioned the Tiger's getting ready to head out to Austin, Texas.
They'll leave tomorrow for that matchup with the Longhorns, the

(20:11):
first ever between these two teams. A big opportunity for
Dabo Sweeney and this Clemson Tiger program to continue to
prove the doubters wrong. I wrote an article about that
yesterday and I saw some people respond and say, what
do you mean who they prove wrong? What do you
mean what are they doing to prove anybody wrong? I mean,

(20:33):
my thing is when it comes down to Clemson and
Dabo Sweeney in this program, when they got beat thirty
four to three in the opener, people, people, let's face it,
regardless of how you feel about people wrote them off,
this team's wash. They're not going to get back to
the College Football Playoff. Even with what people would have

(20:54):
labeled as a favorable schedule, there wasn't a ton of belief.
They starting to catch stride, They're working their way back
into the conversation. Boom, they get knocked on their ear
in by Louisville. Well, a lot of people at that
point thought it was over thought, it was done. Didn't
look good in terms of making the a SEC Championship
because they needed Miami or SMU to lose two games.

(21:17):
Clemson just continued to win. They finished in conference play
at seven and one, and they're sitting on the sidelines
playing two ball games, one against the Citadel and one
against South Carolina. They win those games, or they win
that Citadel game. They go into that South Carolina game
knowing that they probably need a Christmas miracle to get

(21:38):
to the a SEC Championship. Ran Brown and Syracuse need
to beat Miami. So the Hurricanes will have dropped two
of their final three conference games to give Clemson a shot.
Some people would said that's a backdooring your way into
the ACC championship game. But the reality is when you
are seven to one, you set yourself up. You can't
help win. You went seven to one, for example, if

(22:01):
you reverse it right and you have Miami wrap up
their conference schedule at six and two a couple of
weeks before Clemson was finished, and then the Tigers went
out and won their final two games in conference played
to finish seventy to one. You wouldn't say they back
toward their way in. You say they played their way in.
Just because it happened to be the Clempson finish their
schedule first, doesn't change the dynamics of their sevent to

(22:23):
one in the league. Well, at that point, going into
that South Carolina game, you know you're kind of a
fringe college football playoff team. If you win and they
get beat and it looks like it's all said and done,
then that door gets opened. You go to the ACC Championship,
you really dominate the first half. Then after that you

(22:49):
go and allow SMU to get right back in the game,
so much so that with sixteen seconds remaining, we're talking
about a tai football game in Charlotte, only to have
an outstanding kick return and then a fifty six yard
field goal after k Klubnik found Antonio Williams for what
was that like a sixteen yard pickup? I believe, And

(23:11):
anyway you knock that through, you're in the Coach Football
Playoff And now that opens up the opportunity to go
out to Texas. So yeah, I think the long road
to Austin how comes improved. The doubters wrong Sweeney talks
a lot about those fundamental principles, the effort, the toughness
to believe, the physicality, how you play, not where you play,

(23:33):
not when you play, not who you play, not what
time you play, but how you play. And so that's
something we've talked about here on this program a lot.
And now with the Tigers heading out to Austin for
this ball game, it's another opportunity for this team to

(23:55):
continue to prove the doubters wrong that in this college
football playoff nil era, they can win, and they can
win at the highest level. They can win against the
biggest teams and the biggest programs. And on Saturday, Clemson

(24:18):
will get a chance to prove it really win, loser draw.
I think again, it comes down to how you play. Now,
certainly if you win, it'll change the narrative. And Clemson,
I think at that point's got a great chance to
make a run in this college football playoff Because I
like the Tigers back in Atlanta against Arizona State, I

(24:39):
wouldn't find myself just, you know, overly concerned about the
matchup with the number one team in the country in
Oregon playing that game in Dallas. If you're playing that
game against Oregon on their home field out in Eugene,
or playing them maybe at the Rose, But I think

(25:01):
in Dallas, if Clemson were to get there, I it's
not one where I go. Man, the venue is gonna
be you know again, it's not LSU in in New Orleans,
And I'm okay with that. And then you're right back
if you win that in the National Championship in Georgia,

(25:22):
and it's a long way to get there, make no
mistake about it. But if they get out of this
first game, buddy, I think they got a chance to
really surprise some people. I really do. But this one
is the big hurdle for me. Not seeing Oregon is
a small hurdle if you're fortunate enough to get there,

(25:44):
but this, you get through this one, you kind of
prove your wherewithal your worth or whatever. Being eleven and
a half point underdogs, I think that number is still holding.
Let me double check what they're saying again. The matchup
at four o'clock on Saturday on T and TN Max.

(26:05):
ESPN's playoff predictor gives Texas an eighty point four percent
chance of beating Clemson just a nineteen point six percent
chance for the Tigers ten and a half point underdog
to open it has now ballooned to twelve point underdogs. Yeah,
I think, I think Davos when he's probably gassing up

(26:29):
the roy bus for that one. But this Texas team
has not played well offensively really the past few weeks.
Twenty to ten versus Arkansas, IP, thirty one to fourteen
versus Kentucky. I can't really say too much about that.

(26:49):
But seventeen to seven against A and M. You go, yeah, man,
but Swiny, that's A and M. You mean the same
A and M team that allowed South Carolina to score
forty four points on Yeah, that's the one, and then
just nineteen points in overtime against Georgia. So for Clemson,

(27:09):
look big opportunity, a chance to prove everybody wrong that
this method can work the way Dablosweeney does it. They're
still adding, you know, they're starting to add guys through
the portal, but a big, big opportunity looms this weekend,
and being at home, I don't know if it's as

(27:31):
advantageous as you might imagine. I'll tell you why when
we return. Clemson Sports Thought, the show that Shakes the
south Land on a dreary Wednesday afternoon. Tim Morey will
be a part of the program tomorrow. Don't forget Clemson
Tiger basketball coming up this weekend up at Tiger Town,
as they will take on Wake Forest on Saturday. That

(27:53):
game's been bumped up to kind of work out the
coverage with Clemson football taking on Texas. But don't forget
if you are up in Tigertown this Saturday, on the
corner of campus on College Avenue, right there across from
the subway, you'll see it. Alumni Haul, one of our sponsors.

(28:13):
Alumni Hall doesn't just you know, have a you know
business that has Clemson apparel and merchandise. They've got stores
at tons and tons of different schools. So if you
got a friend who's a fan, maybe of Tennessee, you know,
check out their other stores and locations and maybe you
can get some of those gifts there. But listen, when

(28:34):
you go through our link on our website, we get
a benefit from that because Alumni Hall is the ultimate
Clemson Tiger shopping experience. You can upgrade your tailgate gear
or shop for officially licensed Clemson clothing for your family
and friends. Don't forget if you spend one hundred and
fifty dollars, you'll get ten dollars in Alumni Hall rewards.

(28:55):
With that program, you can use them, then you can
roll them over and in store. Clemson students, faculty, and
all military received ten percent off. Check them out Alumni
Hall located on College Avenue or online at alumni hall
dot com. It's Alumni Hall where Tiger fans shop. All right.
With the fact that Clempson has got to go out

(29:17):
to Texas and face off with the long Corns, it
got me thinking about the home field advantages. And a
home field advantage is something that we harp on and
talk about quite a bit, but I think it is
also fair to say that a home field advantage in

(29:39):
this time of the year is sort of an unknown.
And hear me out Texas, no doubt about it. Their
fans are excited about their program under Steve sarkisian one
of the great play college. We'll hear from West Goodwin
coming up in just a few minutes as he he

(30:00):
talks about facing off against Sark But one of the
things that I think you have to wonder, and I'll
begin with a different ballgame than Clemson in Texas to
kind of present the topic and then we'll come back
to it. Ohio State Tennessee. Now we all know how

(30:25):
good Ohio State head coach Ryan Day has been. I
don't know that there's a person among us, save for
Ohio State fans, that would say that guy has not
been good enough. You go look at his stats, You
look at his numbers, what he's done as the head coach.
It's absolutely phenomenal, except for the missing piece, right, not

(30:53):
winning a conference championship in four years, losing the Michigan,
no national title. You know, all of the big end
of the season kind of spoils that you would want
don't exist right now for Ryan Day and Columbus and
they're in the College Football Playoff and they're playing a

(31:14):
home game. And if they were to come out this
weekend against Tennessee and struggle early, maybe fall behind, do
the fans sort of turn on Ryan Day in that program?
Do the boo birds come out? Now? Flip the script
back to Clemson in Texas at four o'clock. What if

(31:39):
the Longhorns are struggling a little bit with Quinn you
weres at quarterback. What if Clemson's beginning to take control
of that ballgame. We talked about one hundred thousand people
in that venue, and I don't know how many of
them will be Clemson fans. I am hard pressed to

(32:00):
believe that that number will be greater than fifteen thousand
Clemson fans. I just don't know how that's that's possible.
But imagine a scenario where those teams aren't playing good
and the fans sort of turn on them a little bit,

(32:23):
maybe they're booing Quinn you weers at some point coming
off the field. How does that added pressure of being
at home perhaps begin to backfire against the home team.
Is that a factor? Like we've seen that through the
years in college basketball in the postseason, when that upstart

(32:44):
underdog is playing pretty well and as the game begins
to narrow in time, the pressure switches to the other
team and the underdog can play loose, and a lot
of times at the very end of the game, that
will kind of switch back in the favor, especially if
it's a tight game. It seems to always switch back

(33:08):
into the favor of the better team. But man, if
that better team doesn't make a run and get back
in the game, and you continue to allow a team
to play loose, and imagine Texas fans with their hands
in their laps watching Clemson take like a fourteen to

(33:31):
three lead or something like that, Like what's the response?
What is the response in that stadium? And sometimes a
thing like that can make a coach make a change
that he wouldn't otherwise want to make, Like maybe Steve
Sarkisian feels like quinn Ewers is the answer to win
that ball game. But if they get down, then the

(33:53):
fans turn on yours and everybody wants to see Manning
come in to be the hero. And then you go
to Manning and he makes a mistake that costs you
even more, like it can snowball in a hurry. Again,
I'm not here to tell you that Clempson is going
to waltz into Darryl K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium and
bebop out of there with a victory without breaking a

(34:14):
sweat by any means. I think this is easily the
toughest game Clempson his face this year, or the toughest
game Clemson has played in this year, because of the
venue and the opponent and the stakes. Really, but if
you can put the pressure of those stakes in the
lap of the home team. Then all of a sudden,

(34:35):
maybe they're making some mistakes that you might deem uncharacteristic,
but are perhaps during the Scotts Football playoff era, mistakes
that we begin to call characteristic of home teams in
big pressure games where it's the you know, it's it's

(34:56):
like old school, old school wrestling back in the day,
where it's like a loser leaves town match and said, whoa,
right here, quick break. We'll come back with more on
a Wednesday. We'll hear from West Goblin. Stay with us,
rocking and rolling, hanging out with you the website clemsonsports
talk dot com and the show that Shakespare Southland, brought

(35:17):
you in part by our friends over at Mets plumb
in seven three two Drip Drip Drip. You know the jingle,
all right, So West Goblin, Clemson defensive coordinator certainly will
have his hands full this weekend with all the eye
candy and all the pomp and circumstance that will be
presented to him by Steve Sarkeesian. In that Texas offense,

(35:41):
they like to do a lot of motion, like to
try to figure out This's one of the things that's
kind of bugged me at times, if I'm being honest,
And we'll hear from Garrett Riley. He met with the
media yesterday, but I we'll hear something from Garret Riley.
But it's one of the things that's really bothered me
about Garrett Riley's offense is that a lot of times
I don't see all of the you know, the motion
that gives you an idea or a better idea of

(36:04):
what might be coming from a team defensively. But it's
not that he doesn't do it, but it's just not
done as much as I expected. But Clemson defensive coordinator
Wes Gilman spent some time with the media a couple
of days ago, and he was asked about, you know,
what it means to be able to coach and make,

(36:24):
you know, this college football playoff because as a coach,
it's his first time being in this scenario.

Speaker 4 (36:31):
Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 5 (36:32):
They're fired up, and obviously I am as well. You know,
people coach and play this game for a lifetime and
never get these type of experiences, So truly grateful for
this opportunity. And guys have been practicing with a lot
of fire and energy and have been fired up and attentive,
did the details and it's been a great start in

(36:53):
the past few days.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
He was also asked about Texas's offense and what he's
seen from Steve Sarkise.

Speaker 5 (37:00):
Yeah, definitely, just really all around a lead offense start.
You know, Coach Sart he's an unbelievable coordinator and play
caller and have always had a lot of respect for
him over the years and how he does things. Quarterbacks
are really good player, very smart, very savvy, knows where
to go with the football. It is a really good

(37:23):
game manager, you know, always got elite skill being at Texas,
so great wide out group running backs A twenty three
and twenty six are really really good players and they're
they're massive upfront and it'll be a huge, huge challenge.

Speaker 4 (37:39):
The tight ends a really good player as well.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
Wes Golbin gave a little more insight into coach Sarkesian's
strengths as a play caller.

Speaker 5 (37:46):
In his mind, I think he manipulates and has a
lot of eye candy. You know, if you boil down
his system, it's not I wouldn't say simple, but they
do what they do from a place them point and
they have a million different ways to window a dress it,
you know, so you've got to be great with your adjustments,

(38:06):
all the motion and shifts pre snap stuff, and then
obviously he does a great job of taking shots down
the field layered routes max pro. His run games very
complex with all the eye candy and moving parts. But
I feel like I feel like he's very very balanced

(38:26):
as a play.

Speaker 4 (38:27):
Caller, run pass.

Speaker 5 (38:28):
He's usually fifty fifty on a lot of things, so
and everything that he does schematically, he has a complimentary
playoff of it. So if you take away one thing,
then you have to also be able to take away
the compliment off that play. But just the eye candy
first and foremost, and then all the shots and gadget
stuff that you have to deal with as well.

Speaker 2 (38:48):
So again you here Wes Gilbin. They are just kind
of talking about the motions, the shifts, the eye candy,
not saying that it's a simple offense per se. He
might have kind of said that, but I don't think
that's what you mean. He just means that, you know,
they have whatever, let's say it's twenty plays that they
like to run, but they can run those twenty plays

(39:09):
out of eighty fourmations and eighty different looks, and you know,
they just do what they do, and that's kind of
the goal. Sometimes when you talk about simplifying an offense,
it's not about completely scratching the playbook to smith reens.
It's about taking the things that you can do really,
really well and then making it seem complex. Here's Wes

(39:35):
Goodwin talking about what he feels like he's seen from
Texas and their utilization of their running backs.

Speaker 4 (39:41):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 5 (39:42):
You know, they throw it to them, they screen it
to them, they try to get them matched up on
running back, I mean linebackers in the passing game, and
always got to be checkdown awareness, like I feel like
yours always knows where his checkdowns are, so if the
SHOT's not there, he's checking the ball down to elite
players in space. So we got to do a great
job space tackling as well.

Speaker 2 (40:02):
Wes Goodwin was also asked about Arch Manning and the
backup quarterback for Texas, who I'm almost certain we'll get
snaps against Clemson. Here are his thoughts on Manning.

Speaker 5 (40:13):
But yeah, I mean I think he's got a lead
arm talent obviously size and speed as well, so I
think he's got a chance to be a complete quarterback
when it's all said and done. But just he's got
all the talent that you've seen through the years.

Speaker 2 (40:26):
And then the last thing he was asked about was
how he feels Texas mixes in reps for arch Manning.

Speaker 4 (40:34):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 5 (40:35):
You know, I think it just kind of depends situationally
involving him in the red zone with quarterback run game,
and I know early in the year he's played played
some spots as well in the open.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
Field final thing from Wes Goodwin. You know, Sammy Brown
is a guy that everybody wants to talk about given
this is set the success that he had as a freshman.
Here's Goodwin talking about Sammy Brown's progression this year basis.

Speaker 5 (41:01):
Yeah, definitely, it's been awesome to see his progression. You know,
early on, you could just see him kind of being
a little timid, you know, just learning, filling things out,
seeing things, processing it, and the more and more he
sees it and stuff, just the faster he plays and
you know, he tackles well, he processes things quickly, got

(41:24):
great great FBI football intelligence, and just the sky's the
limit for him.

Speaker 2 (41:30):
He was also asked about what's helped Sammy Brown become
more competent as a player.

Speaker 5 (41:35):
Yeah, definitely, just seeing it in real time and just
process and reacting. It is typical for young linebackers especially.
You know, you just got to get those reps and
see it. You know, in today's world, offenses motion probably
fifty percent of the time against us, So you know
you got a jet motion going that way, a tight
end swapping back this way, and the ball carriers going

(41:57):
that way. So just seeing it in real time, processing,
understanding where you're leveraging, help us based off the coverage
and uh, I mean he's growing, growing tremendously over the
last month, month or two.

Speaker 2 (42:10):
There you go. That's We's goodwin hour number two of
the Show That Shakes the south Land Here on a
Wednesday afternoon Fox Portraydio fourteen under the Midlands and around
the world on the iHeartRadio app right around the bend.
Keep it locked for more of the show The Shakes
the Southland. Stay with us.

Speaker 4 (42:27):
Each time.

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

Speaker 2 (43:07):
It is our number two that's drivetime rater on the
show The shakesa Southland Clemson Sports tal and Swan hanging
out with you on a Wednesday, it is official Clemson
in Texas. That game is a sellout. That news coming
out just a little bit ago, so a sellout in

(43:29):
Austin as the Tigers and Longhorns will face off at
four o'clock December the twenty first on TNT and HBO Max.
A homecoming for k club Nick to a degree, a
homecoming for several other players on Clemson's roster RJ. Mickens
certainly Bryant westco. And a matchup against former Clympson Tiger

(43:54):
defensive back Andrew mccouba as well, who's one of the
more unique recruiting story of really dabblesh Sweeney's tenure because
he had never met Sweeney because of COVID until he
arrived on campus, which, honestly, that time in our existence
here on the planet Earth was a weird one for sure.

(44:16):
No matter how you look at it, always strange. We'll
talk more about that Clemson matchup with Texas coming up
here in just a little bit. We'll hear from Garrett Riley.
We heard from Clemson defensive coordinator West Goodwin before the break.
As we get you set for the college football weekend
College football action, well, I guess College Football Week, because

(44:39):
there is college football throughout the days and coming weeks.
We are already in bowl season. Last night, number twenty
five Memphis in the Scooters Coffee Frisco Bowl beat West

(45:00):
Virginia forty two thirty seven. Quite the offensive matchup there
last night. And then you got a couple of games,
one of them getting underway in about thirty minutes. We've
got our what third bowl game of the bowl season,
I think it is now kicking off. That game coming

(45:22):
up at five thirty today, Western Kentucky and James Madison
facing off in the Boca Raton Bowl. That's at five
point thirty on ESPN. And then tonight at nine o'clock
it's the Art of Sport La Bowl as cal out
of the Atlantic Coast Conference takes on number twenty four UNLV.

(45:46):
That game's played out at SOFI Stadium. UNLV is a
three and a half point favorite, by the way, James
Madison a seven and a half point favorite. And then
we got bowl matchup on Thursday, a bowl match up
on thirdday with Georgia Southern and Sam Houston and the
Ril Carriers New Orleans Bowl, and then Friday, our first

(46:06):
college football playoff game, along with two other Bowl games
sprinkled throughout the day. I guess they assume everybody's everybody's
not at work or something. With a noon kickoff on
a Friday, Hey, welcome, welcome to the holiday season. I
know those of you that do work, you know, you're

(46:27):
not off all that much. Most of you probably just
off Christmas, even some just Christmas Day. Maybe many of
you back to work on Thursday next week. Christmas is
a week from today. By the way, make sure you
got your shopping done. All that being said, yeah, Bowl
season's here. It feels weird. The weather was hot today.

(46:49):
I mean, I mean hot, balmy eye, I don't know
what you call it, but it was not cold. It
wasn't winter. I can tell you that it's not winter
weather outside. But it will be winterather Friday night at
Notre Dame. Possible snow flurries in the area for that one,
and it'll be cold at noon at Beaver Stadium on Saturday.

(47:12):
When Penn State host SMUs as I said to you yesterday,
there was already snow on the ground at the stadium,
right there under the shadows of Mountain Nitney. All of
the home teams favored what is the impact of the
home fans? How many people are there? I mentioned that

(47:34):
Texas game is a sellout. How many Tiger fans are there?
The other thing I started to wonder about, and I'll
ask Timbrey tomorrow, did the players get tickets for their parents?

Speaker 4 (47:45):
Like?

Speaker 2 (47:45):
Is there going to be a section in the stadium
where players parents are sitting? From Clemson all one? Because
I know Ipty didn't get a lot of tickets, but
I think the players certainly should, right, shouldn't there be
a at least if if there's no section for Clemson
fans in general, shouldn't there be a section for the

(48:08):
player's parents, like all together in one spot. I mean,
I would think so, But at this point I haven't
seen anything about how that's going to be handled either way.
Clemson making their seventh playoff appearance Texas now with back
to back playoff appearances. The Tigers, however, it is their

(48:30):
first appearance since twenty twenty. Back during Trevor Lawrence's final season,
that COVID nineteen campaign that was so strange. Clemson, you
might recall that year, faced off with an Ohio State
team that had played what six games going into that

(48:51):
matchup against Clemson, and the Tigers had played ten or
eleven at that point. I always felt like that was
a decided advantage from the standpoint of being healthy and rested.
You know, I think that as we kind of go
along with this college football playoff, we probably will find
ourselves benefited by the possibility of a change in the

(49:13):
elimination of conference championship games. You know, if everybody's not
playing in one or can't like Notre Dame or maybe
even some of the teams that lost before the final
weekend of the college football campaign and you just didn't
get a chance to play in your college football excuse

(49:35):
me and your conference championship a la Ohio State in Indiana,
you know, there's a little bit of an advantage for
them in terms of rest by comparison to say Oregon
in Penn State, and maybe not necessarily an advantage by
seating or placement in the playoff. But I think we
can agree that. You know, when we talk about the

(49:58):
scenarios I've mentioned, if people don't want to do a
conference championship game, that we award the automatic berth to
the best team in the conference during the regular season,
make it about the entire body of work. And then
I suggested, well, what if you had a playing game
in your conference air quote championship, you know, make that

(50:20):
kind of a conference play in matchup where the winner
of that gets in between your number two and number
three teams in your league. But honestly, if you wanted
to take the team that had the best long haul,
the best season from top to bottom, winning the conference
regular season title and put them in and then just
eliminate play in conference championship games or whatever you want

(50:45):
to call the game that we just saw in Charlotte
and the game that you saw between Texas and Georgia
in Atlanta, Like, if you just wanted to get rid
of those games and put everybody on the even playing
field with a program like Notre Dame that'll never be
at this point in a conference championship and have an
extra week of rest even though they can't qualify for

(51:08):
being one of the top five, but then remove that
little that little tagline or you know, adendum from their
name so that hey, look, nobody plays conference championship games. Hey,
Notre Dame if you're ranked one, two, three, or four,
just like if Clemson is ranked one, two, three or four,
just like if South Carolinas ranked one, two, three, or four,

(51:28):
that's the spot you get start to eliminate and alleviate
the issues that we see and the conversations that a
lot of people have about the college football Playoff with
the way it's structured from the rankings, where you've got,
you know, some teams that are obviously better than better

(51:49):
than Boise State, better than Arizona State, that are still
behind them in the the bracket, trying to think of
the name the bracket. So for me, I think that,
you know, a big part of the future of college

(52:12):
football is going to be one finding way to perhaps
eliminate a game, as strange as that sounds, regardless of
the money that it makes, eliminated game make the season
slightly shorter, because I think you're probably gonna add more
teams in get rid of these conference championship games that

(52:36):
some schools don't have to play, and that I think
can be a huge benefit. But if you if you
do that right, regardless of what we think now with
these home site games and some neutral site games and
some some some traditional bowl matchups that we've got looming

(52:57):
because of it, that that's kept some of the great
Bowl games of our era still in the mix. I mean,
there's it's gonna be hard to say that, hey that
at the end of this that it's it's bad, and
I think this is gonna be really good. But I
think we can also all appreciate, look at and value
the tweaks that could come from this. And I've even

(53:23):
heard people suggest that you do two rounds at the
home site, which honestly, if you, if you had the
if you had the schedule in place that would allow it,
I don't. I can't. I cannot give you a reason
to say, no, that's a bad idea. If you expanded

(53:48):
the playoff, do you water down the regular season? I
don't think we saw that this year, and I think
that was the biggest fear for most people. Might there
have been a game at some point along the way,
near the end of the season where you felt like, hey,
both teams are probably in Yeah, Texas Georgia being the

(54:12):
main one. That SEC championship game meant a lot, but
it didn't mean as much as it's meant in the past.
Like to me, that was one of the few games
this season because of where those teams were positioned that

(54:32):
lost a little bit of value. But look at the viewership.
I mean, it absolutely destroyed in terms of viewership, and
so diminished is a strange word, I guess for me
to even try to connect with that given the viewership.
But I think you followed me. There were some games

(54:53):
at the end of the season where you knew the
loser was still gonna be in the College Football playoff.
But to me, that is a negligible issue. I don't
have to have that ironed out totally for me to
think that this system is better than what we had before.

(55:18):
People will always be left out. That we know, someone's
always going to be left out. But thirteen point one
nine million people viewed that Georgia Texas game, and we
knew both teams are in win or lose. And I

(55:39):
think as we go on and as this thing adjust,
it's going to get better and better. Now for Clemson,
for the Tigers in this matchup, I think so much
of it is laying on the shoulders of Kklubnet and

(56:03):
he has been really good, and from what I've been
able to pick up, it sounds like at this point
he's probably most likely coming back to Clemson, but he's
focused on being locked in on this ballgame, and if
he were to deliver some kind of miraculous finish for

(56:27):
Clemson beating Texas and beating Arizona State and beating Oregon
and getting to the National Championship, who knows where he
goes from there. I mean, he's got Heisman like numbers
without Heisman like respect. But it sounds like he's planning
to fore go the twenty twenty five NFL draft based

(56:49):
off of what some people have reported, although there are
also some deals apparently on the table for him in
terms of nil and transfer portal money maybe to go
somewhere else. But you know, if he wins this game,
that window for the fall portal is gonna shift pretty quickly.

(57:13):
And not to mention, like I think when you listen
to Kaid and you kind of read the tea leaves
on who he is as an individual. I think he
settled in with exactly where he wants to be in
the program he wants to be a part of. And
I think now after having a couple of years under
Garrett Riley, even though it hasn't been as polished as

(57:35):
you would like, I think it is pretty obvious that
he is a much better quarterback now than he was,
and you have to attribute You have to attribute that
to Garrett Riley, whether or not you think Riley is
the elite play caller that you thought Clemson hired or not.

(58:00):
I think at this point you have to recognize it.
Just just acknowledge that k Clubnick has grown immensely and
his numbers bear it out late game moments. I've talked
about this. I still think he reverts to kind of

(58:20):
this nervous young puppy, but there are a lot of
possessions in game after game after game where he looks
like the big dog in town. And when you get
the big dog K Clubnick instead of the pup, you

(58:46):
can find yourself in trouble in a hurry because he
is a confident, talented, fast, versatile, smart quarterback. And it's
one of the reasons I think you know that Clemson
is where they are. They're not perfect by any means,
but ka Clemton is good enough to have other people

(59:09):
come out and pursue him through the portal. But I
think ultimately, regardless, he sticks around, he stays at Clemson,
and he finishes his career. The big question becomes, maybe
with a little bit of a log jam at quarterback.

(59:31):
You know it's a guy like Christopher Vezena. Does he
look down the line and say, I don't want to
be a backup again? Or does Clemson have that culture
that has the patience built into the players that makes
them want to stay regardless of what those circumstances look like.

(59:52):
I saw a post a couple of days ago, and
I'm sure it's changed, since it has not changed for Clemson,
but it said retweet if your team has lost less
than five players to the transfer portal. They had Ohio,
the Bobcats, of course of Ohio. He had Army, Navy, Rutgers.

(01:00:17):
It had Buffalo, Clemson, SMU, Georgia, Southern Duke, air Force,
Penn State, UNLV, Oregon, TCU, Notre Dame, and I think
it was South Alabama those on that list. And hey,

(01:00:38):
credit those programs for having so few transfers. I mean,
we talk about the culture and Clemson, I would imagine
we'll have more people transfer the more they bring in
transfers like Tristan Smith as Dabosweeney. That news came out

(01:01:04):
officially today from Clemson's communications department. Smith joins Clemson after
playing the twenty twenty four season at Southwest Missouri State,
helping the RedHawks to a first place finish in the
Big South OVC Football Association and a berth in the
College Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. He was an All Conference

(01:01:25):
honoree in eleven games with seventy six pass receptions for
nine hundred and thirty four yards and six touchdowns in
addition to rushing for a touchdown. His seventy six receptions
and his eighty four point nine receiving yards per game
ranked among the top twenty in the FCS. He posted
three hundred yard receiving games prior to his time there.

(01:01:49):
Smith sent Smith spent easier for me to say, two
years at Hudginson Community College in Kansas. Guinea is a
native of Lagrange, Georgia, where he played football and basketball
Lagrange High School. He'll have one year of eligibility remaining.
So that was the official release from Clemson. We gave

(01:02:12):
it the story earlier in the week. Go check it
out though over on our website, Clemson Sports Talk dot com.
All right, quick break, We'll come back, We'll push forward.
We'll hear from Garrett Riley around the bend. Stay with us,
welcome back Clemson Sports Talk Lawton Swan on Twitter at
Clemson Sports TikTok as well, closing in on four thousand

(01:02:32):
followers there, I gotta push that number. Haven't been on
TikTok in a while, taking a little break. I mean,
I'm war I am warned out, dude. We've been My dad,
I'm sure he's listening today. We have been all over
the map, whether it's soccer, or whether it's cheer or

(01:02:53):
just going to the Clemson games or whatever I'm I'm
looking for. We got one, you know, two more day
and a half at work. We got a half day
on Friday. I should say the students have a half
day on Friday. But then you know, a few weeks
off and being able to rest our. Our schedule is
gonna be weird though. All right, let me just tell

(01:03:14):
you that the schedule is going to be a strange
one because of the timing of Clemson's football games and
all of that with Texas and the potential of you know,
if Clemson wins, where they would end up next, YadA, YadA, YadA.

(01:03:37):
So here here's what we got. Here's what I'm gonna do. Okay,
just to give your heads up, I'm gonna do a
show on December the twenty third, all right, that's next Monday,
to recap Clemson in Texas, and I'm taking the rest
of the week off. Then that following week, I'll be
back on Monday, the thirtieth and thirty first, in case

(01:03:59):
Clemson wins to lead us up to a potential first
round game. Now, I will tell you if Clemson loses
to Texas this weekend, and we recap that game on
the twenty third, the thirtieth, and the thirty first will
have some live update, et cetera in it, but it

(01:04:23):
will be mostly sort of what you might call best
of episodes. And then we'll be on air January second,
just in case Clemson wins that game, and if Clemson
isn't playing, I'll do a show that day just to
recap those college football playoff matchups on January first, and
then we'll be off on Friday, January third, and we'll

(01:04:47):
come back to our regular schedule January sixth. So it'll
be a little sporadic. So if you hit the radio
waves and you don't hear me, I'm still here, but
we're probably probably in the mid in the midst of
a holiday break, vacation, whatever. So we'll be on the

(01:05:08):
twenty third, We're off the twenty fourth, twenty fifth, twenty sixth,
and twenty seventh. We're on the thirtieth and thirty first,
we're off on the first because it's a holiday. Then
we're gonna be on the second to recap those games.
It will take the third off and we'll be back
on the sixth. And might say, well, why wouldn't you
just do a show on the third, Swanee, Well, you

(01:05:29):
gotta remember because the first is a holiday, the second
is a Thursday. It's like, you know, you come in
recap those games, not a whole lot else to get
into that next day. So just take that off and
enjoy the extended break as much as we can. Because
I'm rarely I think you guys will agree on rarely
off the air. But anyway, what was I saying. I

(01:05:53):
was talking about my dad. My train of thought has
gone off the track can bring it back. I think
I was talking about TikTok, and what I was gonna
say is part of the reason I haven't gone live
on TikTok lately to do the show is because I
can run in at a little slower, a little turtle's pace.

(01:06:16):
You know, when I'm on TikTok Live, I feel like
I have to be a little more amped up, a
little more engaged, and like right now where I'm at
with it is, I just need to be able to
do my segments in you know, at my pace and
not feel like I gotta be rushed and I'm rushing
Brody who's putting the show in for us over Dieheart,

(01:06:37):
et cetera. Anyway, we were talking about getting to Garrett Riley,
so we've got some time for that. Garrett Riley was
asked about the lessons he's able to take from his
experience in the college football Playoff as the offensive coordinator
a few years ago at TCU.

Speaker 4 (01:06:53):
Yeah, that's a great question.

Speaker 6 (01:06:54):
I mean, with anything, I mean, when you have experience
with something that's you're always gonna kind of draw from that,
and you know, trying to trying to expose our players
as much as possible with the things that I have learned,
you know, and I think ultimately what we've challenged our
guys with, what Coach Sweeney's challenged our team with, as
he's been in a lot of these as well, you know,

(01:07:15):
is at the end of the day, it just it's
always going to come back to the fundamental things that
we're about. It really is, and as boring as that sounds,
so we're really trying to hammer that home with our guys. Obviously,
they're gonna be excited, it's gonna be a great environment,
you know, But at the end of the day, it's
going to be about how we play in our mentality
and all the things that's led.

Speaker 4 (01:07:35):
Us up to this point. We just got to do
it at.

Speaker 6 (01:07:37):
A high rate and and have high execution with so
just trying to instill that into our guys as much
as possible going into this week.

Speaker 2 (01:07:45):
That's Garrett Riley, Clempson offensive coordinator. Ahead of this matchup
against Texas, Riley was asked about how much more prepared
Kay Klebnick is now than he was last season. I
kind of talked about that earlier. Here's what Riley thinks.

Speaker 6 (01:08:01):
Yeah, I mean, he's just everybody right, I mean, everybody
just feel like we're in a much better spot.

Speaker 4 (01:08:07):
He's got a ton of experience as opposed to what.

Speaker 6 (01:08:12):
He had a year ago, and he's been through a lot.

Speaker 4 (01:08:15):
Our team has been through a lot, so yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:08:17):
I mean he's gonna be able to draw on his
own experiences thus far in the games that he's been
in and decide to play through and had success, had failure,
and so I think he's just gonna be able to
rely on his preparation and the experience he has up
to this point.

Speaker 2 (01:08:33):
Final thing from Garret Riley in this segment, and we'll
come back to him in the next segment. He was
asked about the missed opportunities that this Clemson offense has
had to maybe put games away. You think about that throw,
that deep ball throw of the k Clubney had it
was just a bit too far to the inside, maybe
just a little too long out out of the reach

(01:08:53):
of Westco's hands. Or maybe Bryant Westc's racing to the
end zoe for his third score of the ball game
against SMU. I believe that was Westco. Anyway, here's Riley
being asked about those missed opportunities.

Speaker 6 (01:09:05):
I mean, we had some chances really in both games
to probably put them away, honestly in the first half,
you know, and.

Speaker 4 (01:09:12):
You know, just didn't make the play here or there.

Speaker 6 (01:09:14):
And then just the way the games have gone, you know,
we've we probably didn't stay on the gus as much
as I'd like to, you know, and that's always Hindsight's
twenty twenty, you know, when you come off of the game.
But you know that's trying to draw off for the
last two weeks for sure, on how we can hopefully

(01:09:36):
close a little bit better and keep the momentum going
a little bit longer.

Speaker 4 (01:09:39):
With what we've had offensively last couple of games.

Speaker 2 (01:09:42):
All Right, I want to come back to that. I
want to come back to that about keeping your foot
on the gas. So keep it a lot right here
on Fox Sports Radio fourteen under the Midlands and around
the world on the iHeartRadio app. Again. That was Garrett Riley,
Clempson offensive coordinator. Stay with us, Lawton Swan, Clemson sports
Talk on Twitter, at Clemson's sports TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube. Man,

(01:10:08):
we are where you are, follow us everywhere so you
can be a part of what we do. Okay, So
Garrett Riley was asked about Clemson not being able to
put teams away. We played this clip just a minute ago,
or missed opportunities of putting teams away like the South
Carolina game having the ball with six minutes left not

(01:10:29):
being able to put them away. SMU six minutes left
not being able to put them away. He was asked
about that. Here's what he said.

Speaker 6 (01:10:36):
I mean, we had some chances really in both games
to probably put them away honestly in the first half,
you know, and.

Speaker 4 (01:10:43):
You know, just didn't make the play here or there.

Speaker 6 (01:10:45):
And then just the way the games have gone, you know,
we've we probably didn't stay on the gas as much
as I'd like to, you know, And that's always hindsight's
twenty twenty, you know, when.

Speaker 4 (01:10:59):
You come off with the game.

Speaker 6 (01:11:00):
But you know that's uh, trying to draw off for
the last two weeks for sure, on how we can
hopefully close a little bit better and keep the momentum
going a little bit longer with what we've had offensively
last couple of games.

Speaker 2 (01:11:13):
And the part I want to go back to is
we probably didn't stay on the gas as much as
I would have liked to. Wait, I don't get that,
Like you are the offensive coordinator, it's your job to
keep your foot on the gas, and so that I
just don't understand. Like that makes it sound like, you know,

(01:11:34):
people often want to talk about Dabo Sweeney and how
they think he medals in the play calling. When you
say that, it does make it seem as if, why
are you off the gas? Again, Here's exactly how he said.

Speaker 6 (01:11:52):
It probably didn't stay on the gas as much as
I'd like to.

Speaker 2 (01:11:57):
Well, coach, stay on the gas. Then you're the offense.
It's a coordinator, dude, stay on the gas. That's what
I thought. I thought when you came to Clemson that
our foot was going to be on the gas. And
I did think that. Again, that pass that Kay Clubney had,
I believe that was in the first half. Maybe it
was the second half when he kind of felt like

(01:12:18):
they could have It was a second half they could
have gone up thirty one, like thirty one seven or something.
It felt like they would have put the game away,
and Kate Clubney just missed on the throw anyway. In
fairness to Garret Riley, he was asking a follow up
question about that about the balance as an offense of
keeping his foot on the gas versus being conservative. Here's

(01:12:38):
what he said about that.

Speaker 6 (01:12:40):
I think it's always kind of back to the feeld
of the game and kind of where your players are at. Like,
I think it always kind of comes back to that
you know what what you're doing. Well, who's hot at
that point? You know what they're going to be doing
in those situations. I mean, it always changes to later
you get in the game. It probably it's the other
teams down that could change some things and some different

(01:13:02):
variables for you offensively.

Speaker 4 (01:13:03):
So it's just a lot of that.

Speaker 6 (01:13:04):
But I think short answer is probably just more field
than anything.

Speaker 2 (01:13:09):
The other thing too, you got to remember, you've already
got Phil Maffa banged up. You now know that Jay
Haynes is out with an ACL injury, and that happened
however before that was the kickoff of the second half
against SMU and when he got injured, and so you

(01:13:30):
can kind of look at it and go, Okay, well,
maybe maybe a big part of Clemson's offense slowing down
in that game against SMU was that injury. And Garrett
Rile was asked about how Jay Haynes and losing him
impacted the offense in the second half against the Mustangs.

Speaker 6 (01:13:46):
Yeah, I mean it's just affected us just from a
rep standpoint of just kind of how we wrapped a
lot of those running backs last week. Losing him and
some of the packs and stuff that we had for
him in that game. It certainly kind of altered some
of the things we could do late in that second half,
you know. But definitely excited about our guys and their
opportunity this week, you know, with Keith and Easy behind him,

(01:14:10):
and we're gonna need them.

Speaker 2 (01:14:11):
Garrett Riley was also asked about Clemson's offense and how
they'll handle that loud environment. Again, I think this is
the largest crowd Clemson's ever played in front of. Its
gonna be one hundred thousand plus with the sellout. Here's
what Riley said about handling the environment there Darryl K.
Royal Memorials Texas Memorial Stadium. Good.

Speaker 6 (01:14:32):
Yeah, I mean, really, any road game and we know
it's going to be loud, and there will be certain
times where it's extremely loud, but you're always going to
prepare for crowd noise and what you got to do
just from an operational standpoint. But yeah, I mean we're
definitely gonna have to prepare for that.

Speaker 2 (01:14:46):
Additionally, Riley was asked about what he's seen from this
Texas defense and the problems that they present.

Speaker 4 (01:14:54):
I mean, they're a great defense.

Speaker 6 (01:14:56):
I mean I think they're well coached, you know, I
really don't see it weakness on their side of the ball.

Speaker 4 (01:15:01):
I mean, they're big upfront.

Speaker 6 (01:15:04):
I think their linebackers are really productive players, and then
obviously their secondary is is strong. Got some veteran guys,
guys that played a lot of football, and I just
think they're really really good at what they do.

Speaker 4 (01:15:15):
So it's a it's a.

Speaker 6 (01:15:16):
Great challenge for us, one that I know we're excited about.
But yeah, I think, you know, obviously they're playing at
a high level and have played at a high level
for most of the season on defense, so it'll be
it'll be a great challenge for us. I got a
lot of respect for how they play, and you can
just tell how their coach. I got a ton of respect,
you know, watching and and trying to game plan against them.

Speaker 2 (01:15:38):
Texas only has allowed four passing touchdowns this season, and
Garrett Riley was asked if he'd ever seen anything like that.

Speaker 6 (01:15:47):
Well, the one that kind of is off the top
of my head that I can't remember the exact stat
but I think of I was at SMU and we
played Cincinnati as the year Cincinnati went to the College
Football Playoff and they had the Thorpe Award winner at
one corner. I know by the way, Sauce Gardner was
the other corner, and shoot, one of their safeties was

(01:16:08):
a high draft pig. Like, uh, that's kind of what
I see over there. Like it's a really really strong group.
So it will be a fun be a fun opportunity.

Speaker 2 (01:16:15):
Final thing from Garret Riley, he too will be returning
to his home state. He's from Texas, and he was
asked what it's going to be like for him going
back to his home state for this ball game.

Speaker 6 (01:16:27):
I mean, shoot, just playing in a in a college
football game, playoff game, it's a it's awesome and to
do it and your your home state, and and to
do it at dk R. It's gonna be, like I said,
it's gonna be hostile. It's gonna be a great environment.
It's gonna be awesome, you know, but I got to
approach it really like every other game. So I'm sure
we'll have some family and and uh some Texas ties

(01:16:51):
and all that that'll be there, you know in the crowd.

Speaker 4 (01:16:54):
But yeah, just just looking forward to the to the
to the moment.

Speaker 2 (01:16:59):
And again we'll talk with Tim Bray tomorrow on Thursday.
I want to find out about the ticket allignment for
Clemson football players, like, how does that work? Is that
a thing? And I know Clemson fans is going to
be sporadically, you know, sprinkled throughout that venue. But again
a sellout that was announced earlier today out of Texas

(01:17:21):
for this matchup between the Tigers and the Longhorn. So
at least one hundred, one hundred and thirteen people will
watch that game at DKR, as Garrett Riley said, final
segment next.

Speaker 7 (01:17:35):
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?

Speaker 4 (01:17:54):
Always are the same.

Speaker 7 (01:18:01):
We win.

Speaker 2 (01:18:48):
Final segment on a Wednesday afternoon, the show that shakes
the South Yan Clemson Sports on the SWAN. Help us
Erica your only hope. I mean, that's that's that's what
it feels like. It's in baseball. Can you guys please

(01:19:10):
get the job d O n E the job done
versus South Carolina. It's the game. Cocks not only winning
football this year, they won in women's basketball this year
and then last night, the Clemson Tiger basketball team falls
in overtime to South Carolina at the Colonial Life Arena

(01:19:34):
ninety one eighty eight man tough. We heard from Brad
Brown now earlier. Clemson will bounce back this weekend with
a matchup against Wake Forest, their second conference game, looking
to go two to zero in the league. But right now,
the the ACC again, I think if there is obvious

(01:20:00):
the influence of the money that you know, the money gap,
the television money gap that exists, I mean, if that's
a legitimate thing, I think we're seeing it right now
in in in basketball, maybe more than than football. I mean,
I would argue given the history of the two leagues

(01:20:24):
in both both sports in terms of success, and maybe
it's just a one off, maybe it's just a one
year thing for the SEC, but the Southeastern Conference right
now in basketball to me seems further ahead of the
Atlantic Coast Conference. In basketball, then the SEC seems ahead

(01:20:47):
of the ACC and football, especially if we talk about
the historical context. I mean, the Atlantic Coast Conference has
historically been dominant by comparison to the SEC, but this year,
far from it. The SEC, in my mind, at this point,
is the best basketball league in the country and not quite. Frankly,

(01:21:13):
I'm not sure it's close. And for South Carolina to
beat Clemson the way they did, and I know it
was over time, and I know that it wasn't you know,
it wasn't just this blowout where they you know, Carolina
won by twenty five or something. But Carolina was firmly
in control of that game against a very good Clemson team.

(01:21:37):
And I know they went I know South Carolina went
to the NCAA Tournament last season, and I know there's
excitement around that program under Lamont Paris. But you know,
we had Mike you'va on to talk about Paris, and
the belief was that last night's game was not likely

(01:22:01):
to be one that played out in South Carolina's favor,
even though it was a whole matchup. But yet they
controlled it. They told the story, and they are eight
and three with a good win over Clemson, and they
are an exciting team to watch. Honestly, man, I found
myself enjoying. I enjoyed watching both teams play last night.

(01:22:24):
But I think if we're being honest, I mean, there
were years and years of South Carolina basketball then every
time he turned it on. I mean, it was just
bad and that team under Lamont Paris game Cock fans,
I know, Look, I understand the name of the show

(01:22:48):
and blazing with the purple and orange of Clemson Tiger Nation.

Speaker 7 (01:22:51):
So you could continue to peek over the fans at
the best radio showing the.

Speaker 2 (01:22:55):
Naked but we do have game Cocks that like the program.

Speaker 7 (01:22:58):
I'm a Carolina fan to your show, and I want
to compliment you on your even handedness between Clemson and Carolina.

Speaker 2 (01:23:05):
Uh, theres do not. However, I listened to the sports
talk radio all over the nation, but the one you
come across makes me sick.

Speaker 5 (01:23:13):
You're gonna find yourself not on the radio.

Speaker 2 (01:23:16):
But the truth is that is a fun basketball team
to watch, and I think it's gonna be a good
basketball team. And I think they're good enough that at
the end of the year, Tiger fans, I don't think
you gotta look at that one and go, man, what
a what a bad loss? Like that's not gonna end
up being a bad loss in my opinion. I don't
know where South Carolina will finish in the SEC, but

(01:23:38):
what I saw on the court last night was an
NC Double A tournament team and Clemson in South Carolina
went toe to toe with a fantastic game. And yeah,
I hate it that, you know, Clemson came out on
the short end of the sticking overtime. But I can

(01:23:58):
also admit when I see a very very good basketball game,
and that's what I thought it was, it wasn't it
wasn't sloppy and ugly. You know, we we've seen those
games before. I think at one point when I was
in college, Clemson and Wake Forest played a basketball game.
I think at the half, I promise you, I think

(01:24:19):
at the half the scores like twelve to nine or
thirteen to eleven. I remember thinking, oh my lord, me
and four guys here on the north floor could score
more points than this. You know, it was a good,
open floor kind of basketball game. I really enjoyed it,
even in a loss. I enjoyed that watching both teams
play yesterday, all right, we gotta get out of here.

(01:24:41):
We'll be back tomorrow. So then, as always, shall take
care now, Andy Co Tigers