The "Effort or Misevaluation" Edition

Was Clemson's 1-3 start due to a lack of effort or a misevaluation? Plus, Tim Bourret joins the show on a Thursday afternoon.

Episode Transcript

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

(00:44):
Clemson Sports Talk has come back to the drive time.
Hell everybody and Swan back in the saddle once again.
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(01:05):
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(01:29):
five O zero zero eighty six. That's the text line
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one oh eight. All right out of the gates here

(01:51):
on a Thursday, timber A coming up an hour two
was kind of hoping hook up with David Hood senior
writer from Tiger Net. I don't know if he'll be
able to are not still a waiting word on that.
If we do hear word from David, will slot him in.
He was the surprised guest that I mentioned yesterday. Haven't
caught up with him since the ACC kickoff. Would love

(02:13):
to see his thoughts or hear his thoughts on this
Clemson Tiger team as they currently sit at two and
three heading up to a matchup against a one in
four Boston College team. Both coaches Dabosweeney and Bill O'Brien
throwing the love fest towards each other. No locker room

(02:35):
material really available, as both coaches were extremely complimentary about
a team that is under five hundred for the season,
and speaking of a Clemson being under five hundred for
the season, you know, one of my one of the
things that I think frustrates me about this year in particular,

(03:00):
at least at this point, I think it's what frustrates you,
regardless of whether you believe this team is actually good
enough right to compete for a national championship, which people
thought at the beginning of the year. They were, it's
the same team as it would be if they were

(03:21):
five and oh, right, Like, it's not as if, Oh,
you've had this tremendous blow, you've lost kid club Nick,
You've lost TJ. Parker, You've had some injuries that have
put you in this situation, Like, injuries are not the
cause of this. So consequently, I mean, this is the

(03:44):
same team that people projected could be worthy of playing
for a national championship and climbing that mountain back to
the College Football Playoff and YadA, YadA, YadA. And it
got me thinking about, like where how would this team
be right now if they were undefeated, right Like if

(04:10):
Clemson right now was five and oh, where would they
be sitting in the pecking order of college football today?
I mean, based off of the AP top five, and
we'll only look at the AP currently it's Ohio State one,

(04:30):
five and oh forty first place votes. Miami is number two.
They are five and oh with twenty one first place votes.
Oregon is number three. They are five and oh Ole
miss is number four, also undefeated, and Texas A and

(04:52):
M is number five. They are undefeated. Oklahoma, Indiana, Texas Tech,
Georgia Tech, Missouri by you and Memphis. The other remaining
unbeatens in the world of college football. But if Clemson
were hypothetically undefeated given the starting spot of the AP

(05:18):
Poll with Texas one, Penn State two, Ohio State three,
and Clemson four, right now, I think unequivocally an undefeated
Clemson team is number two behind Ohio State, And even
when the Tigers lost the opener to LSU, they only

(05:45):
dropped back to number eight, meaning that currently the only
teams ahead of Clemson that were ahead of them after
they lost to LSU are Ohio Miami in Oregon, meaning

(06:10):
I think with one loss at worst, Clemson's probably fourth
even with a loss. At this point you look at
the teams with one loss. Currently the highest ranked one
loss team is Alabama at four and one. But had

(06:32):
that loss for Clemson come to LSU, who at the
time was ranked Let's see, in the preseason, LSU was
ranked number nine, and LSU has since lost along the
way as well, I think Clemson would be ahead of LSU,

(06:54):
even though you could argue about the head to head,
But at four and one and the way the season
has played out, far be it from me to believe
that Old Miss and Texas A and M would have
jumped the Tigers I mean it's possible, it's possible, but

(07:15):
I don't think the trend has really been there that
we've seen. You know, one loss teams get jumped. I mean,
one lost teams have lost, like when Texas, Clemson, and
Notre Dame all lost the openers. They all since lost again, right,
and that allowed teams to vault past them. But if

(07:39):
a team who lost in the opening weekends had continued
to win, and if it had been one of those
teams at or near the top like Clemson was at
the time, I mean, I do I think the Tigers
would probably be ahead of a couple of five and
zero teams. Now you might say, swat, why you want

(08:00):
to bring up those harsh memories here? Why are you
hashing that information out with this here on the airwaves. Well,
more than anything, I think it's the fact that, again,
this is not a team that has been injured. This
is not a team that has lost their starting quarterback
or they're starting running back. One of two things either happened,

(08:27):
and this is why I bring this up. Either A
they were misevaluated out of the gates or b they
simply underperformed, And you have to align yourselves with one
of those camps, and you could argue maybe it's a

(08:49):
little bit of both, and I will certainly grant you
that leeway. But if you take a step back and
presume that it was not a misevaluation of talent, that
it was an underperformance out of the gates and a

(09:13):
head scratching, mind you underperformance, then the situation with the
remaining games on this schedule, if that's what you want
to believe, and I honestly can't tell you, I think
Dabosun you would tell you he thinks it's underperformance. I mean,

(09:35):
I think so. But if that's what it truly is,
that's correctable, Like that's fixable. And I don't say that
to make you believe that it's been fixed all because
Clemson beat North Carolina. And I don't say that because

(09:59):
it's been fix because I think Clempson is gonna go
up and win at Boston College this weekend. But if
it's fixed, as a hypothetical, then I think it would
beg the question what teams remaining? What teams remaining would

(10:22):
you feel supremely threatened by, again, not assuming it's what
you've seen, assuming that it's fixed, assuming that this team
is capable of playing like one of the top five
teams in the country. All of a sudden, the schedule
feels a lot different. This game against Boston College feels

(10:46):
like one you should walk through. SMU is three and two.
They haven't lived up to the billing that people expect
to them. Duke is four and two overall, certainly three
and in the ACC. I do like their quarterback Darien Mensa. Man,
he's looked really good, but you got him at home.
Florida State's three and two. They're not what you thought

(11:10):
they were going to be the way the season started
with their victory over Alabama. Louisville's four and one. Tony
Elliott clipped them in overtime. Now that does not mean
that that's not the best team remaining on your schedule.
They may very well be. Then you've got Furman in

(11:31):
South Carolina, and I don't deny the game Cocks have
a chance to be a really good football team. I
believe that, But they, like Clemson, have truly underperformed, especially
on the offensive side of the ball, and without the

(11:52):
incredible kick return play that they've had. And look, those count,
But like those plays count, they don't not count. Just
because they're special teams plays. But without the special teams
plays and the defensive touchdowns and the opportunities that the

(12:16):
game cops have created, the stats and what this team
looks like would probably be worse than three and two.
And as we mentioned, they're entering what could be a
disheartening portion of their schedule. I mean, they play number
eleven LSU this weekend, seven forty five on the SEC Network,

(12:39):
Number six Oklahoma next weekend, number eight Alabama, number four
Old missed, number five A and M Coastal, and Clemson.
So if this Clemson Tiger team is indeed the team
that underperformed, if that was the case and it wasn't

(13:02):
a misevaluation of talent, if it was just underperformance, and
they get it back on track, the schedule looks more
than manageable. But I can remember sitting here a couple
of weeks ago, fresh off of the heels of that
loss to Syracuse, kind of wondering what this team would
look like the rest of the year and did they

(13:22):
have the moxy to bounce back. And I think a
lot of the issues with North Carolina, or certainly North Carolina,
I've openly stated that over and over and over. But
if we go with the hypothetical, which I don't do
often here, but if we go with the hypothetical of
what was the issue, misevaluation of talent or underperformance of talent,

(13:43):
I mean, if it was truly underperformance and that's more
than correctable, maybe you make a little bit of a run.
And I certainly think Clemson'll win this week against Boston College.
It's just I think it comes to the point after
that where you have to really start wondering because you've

(14:07):
underperformed the SMU, the Duke, the Florida State, the Louisville
and the South Carolina game or question marks. But if
you stack another solid performance together this week, if you
go and put another one together next week against SMU,
maybe the momentum begins to shift a little bit on
how Clemson feels about itself and maybe it already has

(14:31):
in the locker room. And that would be great, Like
that would be ideal, because like I said, even if
the one loss was LSU, if that was the one loss,
I think you're probably in the top five right now. Anyway.
I think most of the unraveling of this season mentally

(14:51):
came down to that Georgia Tech game, and even though
the Tigers had not played well up until the final
kick went through the uprights to give Georgia take a
walk off twenty four to twenty one win. I think
the mismanagement of that in not calling a time out

(15:16):
making that kick a tougher kick. You know, coaches will
tell you that teams practice that fire drill field goal
every practice. I mean, that's very routine. And to think
that a team can't pull that off with the amount

(15:36):
of time that Georgie tak had left, which was over
twenty four maybe twenty five seconds, that's that's way too
much time. Now, if it's ten seconds, eight seconds and
it's real scramble, then maybe I don't call time out.
But I felt from the moment I watched it, you
call a timeout. And my theory on it was and

(15:57):
will continue to be that if you called that time out,
now that kicker's got to think about that kick, and
not necessarily think about it in the sense of can
I make this big kick, but realizing that you're gonna
if you miss it, you're gonna leave time on the clock.
You're gonna leave time on the clock for the Tigers

(16:17):
to go down and get a field goal, and when
they walked it off, I think it broke their hearts.
I think it broke their spirit. They'd already been gut
punched by the loss to LSU. I don't think they
were covered when they got down sixteen to nothing against Troy,
and I think that Georgia Tech game probably beat this

(16:38):
team twice. I just think that they in that moment,
it is like it was like getting punched in the
stomach and it's hard to catch your breath. But eventually
you do catch your breath. And whether or not thirty

(17:01):
eight to ten at North Carolina counts for catching Clemson's
breath or not, I'm not certain. But again, you go out,
you play another good game this weekend against Boston College,
and maybe you do catch your breath, and maybe you
do get back on your feet. And if that's the case,

(17:23):
I'm telling you, as much as I've criticized this group,
I think if they get back on their feet and
gain some confidence, I think they have a chance to
be a pretty tough out. And I think Davos, when
you said the same thing about kid Club Nick and

(17:46):
much of it does hinge on Cade. I don't put
it all on him because I still believe that the
defensive line has to be more disruptive. But I'm pretty
sure that was the quote from Sweeney this week. And
as much as it's felt like Caid's been off this season,

(18:07):
you know, when he's twenty two or twenty four, when
he's feeling comfortable and confident, he's a different ballplayer. Somebody
said to me a few weeks ago, k Club makes
like a shooter in basketball. You get him a couple
of you know, a couple of layups, a couple of bunnies,

(18:31):
a couple of free throws, and then all of a sudden,
you know he's not thinking anymore. But if kid comes
out and misses on this first opportunity, on this second opportunity,

(18:51):
it's kind of magnified. And there are plenty of players
out there in the world of sports where when they're
having an off night, they just can't get on, and
CAD's a little bit like that. It feels like in football. Yes,
he's certainly had his issues over the years with being

(19:14):
a little bit herky, jerky, whatever you want to call it,
but when he's on, as we saw this past week,
this offense can look really good. But if this has
been totally about how this team's played and not about
being misevaluated, they could still be a really good team

(19:37):
this year. A glimmer, I'll be it, a small one,
a glimmer of hope after what we saw last weekend,
even though I think a lot of that, again had
to do with North Carolina. Speaking of the tar Heels.
Is Bill Belichick in trouble. Let's discuss it on the
flip side, rocking and rolling along with you on a

(19:58):
Thursday afternoon clemsus. I saw a three four, five zero
zero zero eighty six again last weekend up at North Carolina.
I mean, Clemson jumped out to a twenty eight nothing lead,
and excuse me, a twenty eight three lead, and it
was it was hard to watch. I mean, North Carolina

(20:20):
was so bad, and as I said about this Clemson team,
like you'd like to believe that they turned the proverbial
corner for sure, but maybe the bigger part of that
was the fact that North Carolina is just not really good.
All that being said, some of the things that have

(20:44):
come out yesterday we talked about the fact that the
apparent from North Carolina, a player's parent from North Carolina's
but with wral and said that it was a toxic culture.

(21:05):
Toxic And just after that report came out, there were
multiple stories, and you know, trying the way what's what's
true and what's not is difficult. But Zagbarnett, who is

(21:31):
a football writer for a Football Scoop and has twenty
five thousand followers, tweeted an article out that said that
North Carolina has held preliminary conversations about an exit policy

(21:53):
or an exit strategy for Bill Belichick. That news actually
came out from Andrew Jones at tar Hill two for seven,
and so after that news sort of started to circulate

(22:16):
a little bit, then kind of the counter offer came
back where it sounded like no, no, no, Bill Belichick
is prepared to kind of see this thing through. But
there are multiple people out there, including Paul Feinbach, who

(22:39):
he of Hot Take Fame did say Bill Belichick would
be wise to walk out now before the humiliation gets
any worse. And it wasn't just about Clemson and the
Tigers really beating North Carolina down in the first half. This,
I think is a about the effort that we've seen.

(23:03):
This is about the attention to detail and the things
that I think we all sort of felt made Bill
Belichick's teams special, But now it feels like the players

(23:25):
aren't bought in now. Bleacher Report put out a statement
from Bill Belichick saying, quote, I'm fully committed to you
and see football and the program we're building here. But
if it were up to me, when I look at
the fans support and the jobs that are open, and
this is the thing, the jobs that are open in

(23:48):
the NFL, it's hard for me to think that he's
still going to be in Chapel Hill this time next season.
The only thing that we'll keep him there, I'll tell
you that the only thing that will keep him there
is if he truly wants to stay and he wants

(24:11):
to prove to everybody that guys like me and Paul
Feinbaum and other people who think he would be best
suited to go ahead and leave college coaching, you know,
unless he just wants to prove us wrong, because you
can't dispute his resume professionally, and nothing that he can

(24:39):
do collegiately can besmirch that history either. But when you
think about jobs in the NFL, I think less criticism
for sure, but to just prove people wrong, Like that's

(25:03):
the one thing that could motivate this guy to stick
it out, because these guys have egos. And I even
thought at one point, like last night, when I saw
some of those articles that came out, you know, I
even thought to myself, I thought, I wonder if is

(25:24):
it possible that North Carolina is so bad that the
people that support them want to get out into the ether,
that we would fire Bill Belichick, that we would be
willing to move on from him, Like you put that
into the into the news cycle to try to motivate,

(25:50):
maybe to try to squeeze a little more juice out
of the old guy. I don't I don't know. It's
it's a strange dynamic for sure. I mean, I think
from the standpoint of the Atlantic Coast Conference, I mean,

(26:14):
it's great to have a coach like with a name
like that in your league, and this league has some
really good coaches. And I think North Carolina thought that
going from Mac Brown to Bill Belichick was going to
make them a more relevant program, make them a more
desirable destination. And I think, certainly with this being kind

(26:42):
of an NFL model to a degree, with the way
players are paid, that they thought players would want to
come play for Bill Belichick too, and it may still happen,
but the fact is Belichick has not worked out. They've
been terrible, And Bubba Cunningham, the athletics director, did say

(27:08):
Coach Belichick has the full support of the Department of
Athletics and the university. But how much more can fans
watch of those empty seats, no support, no effort, just
getting blistered. How long will they know? How long until
Bill Belichick to North Carolina becomes a punchline and not
a headline? Stay with us Lawton Swan Clemson's sports Talk

(27:31):
Welcome Back on a Wednesday afternoon. Tim Beray set to
join the program in our number two A three four
five zero zero eighty six. That is the text line
and the phone line. And hey, don't forget about our
friends at Alumni Hall on the corner of campus on
College Avenue, right there in downtown Clemson. It's Alumni Hall

(27:52):
for all your officially licensed Clemson merchandise, those sweet Nike
dri Fit polos that you know I love. And if
you're lucky, maybe you'll catch me in there next time
I'm up in Clemson shopping around. Go check him out today.
Right there across from TD's just the stones throwaway from
historic Riggs Field. It's Alumni Hall where Tiger fans shop.

(28:14):
All right, real quick, Bobby listening to us in New Jersey,
send us a text message with a question he wants
us to ask Coach Morris. Bobby says, Swanny, I have
a question for coach Morris. What would it take for
him to come back to Clemson as the offensive coordinator

(28:37):
next season? Yeah, Bobby, I think that might be a
little much to ask him, just being honest, especially since
that job's not available. But I will ask him. How
about this, Bobby, I will ask him what his plans are,
you know, for the future. So I'd love I mean, listen,

(29:01):
that'd be a great question.

Speaker 2 (29:04):
You know.

Speaker 1 (29:04):
I think everybody though, including you, Bobby, and all the
Tigers listening, I think we should. I think you should
root and I think you do. I think I think
you do. But I think you should root the Garrett
Riley successful. I think you should root that everything that
you've seen and the issues and this is probably something

(29:28):
I should have brought up out of the gates, maybe
some of us coaching. But you should hope that that's
not the case right, overestimation of talent, underperformance of talent,
and coaching those might have been I probably should have
gone with three three options at the beginning, because you could,
you could put some of it on coaching, and I would.

(29:50):
I would definitely put like the end of that Georgia
Tech game on Dabo Sweeney one hundred fort about you know,
his equips that he'll have about well, you know, we're
four plays away from being undefeated or whatever. Yeah, you
know what, I'm about nine hundred nine ninety nine dollars

(30:13):
and ninety nine cents away from being a millionaire. Like,
come on, what are we talking about here? Uh yeah,
a player two here and there, maybe a game changes,
but you know what, a coaching decision or two. Also,
it's not always about making plays. Sometimes it's about putting

(30:33):
your players in position to make the plays. Sometimes it's
about creating adverse circumstances for your opponents, making things more
difficult on the team that you're trying to beat. And
I thought the late game field goal. I thought the

(30:54):
late game field goal by Georgia Tech was actually easier
for the kicker because he he couldn't lose the game.
He knew he couldn't lose the game. The worst thing
that happened when that kid kicked the ball, or the
worst thing that could have happened when that kid kicks
the ball, is he misses and we go to overtime.

(31:16):
If you call a time out with twenty four seconds
or whatever, what was left all of a sudden, the
worst thing that can happen becomes Clemson gets the ball
after my miss, drives twenty yards and scores and wins
the game. Now that's all. That's a tougher kick. Like
there's no person in the world that would say the

(31:38):
other just walk off in boom it kick was the
more difficult of the two.

Speaker 3 (31:46):
Are we clear?

Speaker 4 (31:47):
Yes, sir? Are we clear?

Speaker 1 (31:49):
Crystal one, you can't lose. You don't necessarily win, but
you can't lose. All right, Well, I'll just kick the
mess out of it. We'll see what happens in the
other circumstance. There is a chance that you could lose.

(32:11):
And if you have to go into you know that
that part of the game thinking, man, we could lose
if I miss this, that kick becomes a lot tougher,
and that, you know, could mean that it's a miss.
And if it's a miss. It doesn't necessarily mean it's
a win for Clemson either, but you know what it

(32:35):
does mean, it's not a loss. At that point, you're
still in it. You're still battling. So you know, there's
absolutely frustration and all that that comes along with all
of these topics. But you know, Bobby, I know, you
know when we got Chad Morris on the program, and

(32:57):
this is what's been weird about it. I mean, I
totally didn't think we were gonna be talking about Clemson's
offense stinking up the joint. Like I thought, no doubt,
we're gonna be talking about this team throwing up forty two,
forty five points a game. Hey, coach, what do you see?
You know, when Clempson is doing this, why are they
being successful? Like I brought him on thinking that we

(33:20):
were gonna be talking about all the positive things because
I knew he wasn't coaching, and I thought, man, what
a great mind to teach us about what's happening on
Saturday and why this stuff's working for Clempson. He was
just a part of the staff a couple of years
ago when Garrett Riley was there as well as an

(33:41):
offensive analyst. I mean, he knows these guys. I thought, man,
what a great person to have on And it's been
great for sure. It's just been odd because of the
way things have worked out to the point of where
we're sitting here looking at you know, a two and
three clips of team where the offense has been the issue.

(34:05):
In eighty percent of the time Clips has been on
the field, the offense has been an issue. I mean,
I don't think they've been exciting to watch hardly at all.
At times, they've been painful to watch. I mean painful.

(34:28):
And you know that's been the crazy part of doing
this this season is that we've actually had to be
a little more like, you know, why is the tight
end not more involved or whatever we've been talking about
with coach morrise right, Like it's really changed it. But
I think you still got a route that Garrett Riley
can do the job. I mean, he's so young. I mean,

(34:50):
if he figures it out and sticks around for a while,
I mean, this guy, this guy's got a ton of potential.
It's just frustrating and I get it, Bobby one hundred
percent totally. But I will ask Coach Morris about what
it's playing. Is our for next season. Stay with us
Clempson's sports start right here on Fox Sports Radio fourteen
hundred to Lawton and swan with you all right, way,
what ass Clemson linebacker met with the media earlier this week.

(35:12):
He was asking about Dabo between these Batman comments, I'm
not playing that. I don't really know why that's gotten
so much rhyme. I really don't. I mean, it's a
good comment. We certainly used it, but I mean, I
guess there's going to be a piece written on it.
That's the only thing I can figure. I know I'm

(35:33):
not writing on it. I used to quote that's it anyway.
Wood As was asked about Clemson's confidence level after their
one and three start before last weekend's victory at North Carolina.

Speaker 5 (35:49):
Expect to start one and three, especially with everybody we
had returning.

Speaker 3 (35:54):
It's very frustrating.

Speaker 5 (35:56):
So yeah, we were all obviously down, but good to
respond last week.

Speaker 3 (36:03):
So let's just keep it.

Speaker 1 (36:06):
Wade. Wood As was also asked about Tom Allen's move.
I do like this one, and we actually I have
an article on the website right now about it, about
Tom Allen moving from the press box to the sideline.
And here's Wade wood Ass talking about his thoughts on it.

Speaker 5 (36:25):
It's great having like especially because I haven't been on
the field with him before, so having him there and
being like the leader on the I mean, he is
the leader of our defense, and then having him on
the sideline is always there's someone to look to.

Speaker 1 (36:45):
That's Wade wood Ass talking about Tom Allen. Wood As
was also asked about Antonio Williams touchdown pass on that
double pass to open the game and how he felt
maybe that pass helped set the tone for the rest
of Clemson's thirty eight to ten victory over North Carolina.

Speaker 3 (37:09):
For sure.

Speaker 2 (37:10):
I mean.

Speaker 5 (37:12):
I remember Clay told me on the sideline. He's like, yeah,
we're running a double pass first play, and I was like.

Speaker 3 (37:19):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (37:21):
And then next thing, you know, seven yard touchdown or
whatever it was. That was a pretty good momentum. Man,
it kind of hushed the crowd off the rip.

Speaker 1 (37:30):
Yeah, and I'll give Antonio Williams credit right like that,
that's a pretty tough throw to make the way he's
running to his right, I mean, he doesn't really set
his feet, but it was a beautiful toss. I mean
it was a beautiful, beautiful pass. Here is way, what

(37:51):
ass talking about the Clemson defense's performance in that game
against North Carolina.

Speaker 3 (38:00):
There was never any doubt.

Speaker 5 (38:02):
I obviously I got the first play, the penalty, which
it's kind of a judgment call or whatever.

Speaker 3 (38:09):
We flipped the front.

Speaker 5 (38:11):
And then they got the tip pass over the middle
that ends up in his hands. That was their biggest
play of the game. And then obviously we settled in
held him to a field goal. But other than that,
they didn't do anything all day.

Speaker 3 (38:26):
So that was a good confidence builder for us.

Speaker 1 (38:30):
And that may be the more significant part of that
game against North Carolina. You know, we talk about how
it just felt like such a dominating performance by Clemson,
even defensively. I mean, North Carolina was you know, we
talked about the effort. It was hard to watch. I
can't imagine being a North Carolina fan, and I can
almost understand why so many of those fans left the game.

(38:55):
Here's way what I was talking about what he's seen
from Clemson's upcoming opponent in Boston College. On the offensive
side of the ball.

Speaker 5 (39:02):
Their quarterbacks are really good. Their running backs are legit.
I mean, his name's Turbo for a reason. Their tight
ends are really good too, and then they got some
big time receivers also, and then they're O line.

Speaker 3 (39:18):
I really don't know how they're wanting for it. Like
they're on tape, they're really good.

Speaker 5 (39:22):
If you watch that Michigan State game, they're really good.
So yeah, it's a big challenge for sure, and they
get in a lot of twelve personnel, so we're gonna
have to be disciplined and communicate.

Speaker 1 (39:33):
Way Wood has also talked about running hannefin and the
fact that he's returning, you know, up to his neck
of the woods. Hannefan's brother Shane is a backup quarterback
for Boston College, and you would know that if you
read the articles that we put out on Clemson Sports

(39:54):
dot dot com. But here's here's way Wood as talking
about Hanneffin getting a chance to return basically to his
hometown for this matchup, and he's definitely excited.

Speaker 3 (40:07):
Well, i'd say he's locked in too.

Speaker 5 (40:09):
He's I mean, hasn't shown anything different from any other game,
so I think it's a good sign.

Speaker 3 (40:18):
Yeah, he's definitely excited.

Speaker 1 (40:21):
What As was also asked about Tom Allen's moved to
the sideline and whether or not he'd like to see
that be the same thing for every game now. Dabosweeney
was asked about that. Sweeney's remarked basically was, Hey, I
don't want to make micromans these guys. These guys are
pros and that if it ain't broke, don't fix it,

(40:44):
and seemingly to say to me, why would he leave
the sideline. Here's way Wood has in his thoughts.

Speaker 5 (40:50):
On it, juice, So I'm I'm happy he's gonna be
on the sideline for the rest of the year. There's
definitely a difference just because like against UNC when we
made mistakes, he's the defensive coordinator. He's the one who
built the defense. So when we make a mistake, we

(41:10):
look to him because he knows all the answers and
nothing against his son Thomas Allen, but it's different having
the headman on the sideline versus TA and coach Allen
talks to us every day. He gets in front of
the defense every single day, so you know, just having
that leader the guy to look to on the sideline

(41:33):
is great for US players.

Speaker 1 (41:35):
There you go, Wave Wood ass talking about Tom Allen
and to move to the press box or the move
from the press box to the field. Speaking of the
press box. So Tim Bray joins us in just a
minute and we'll ask him about that move. Tom Allen
coming out of the box and we'll get his thoughts
on what he saw with Clemson at North Carolina and

(41:58):
also his thoughts on Clemson and Boston College. You can't
keep it a lot right here on Fox Sports Radio
fourteen hundred. Support us by following us on all our
social channels Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. We are where you
are again Clemson's Sports Talk with a break, We'll come back.
Tim Bray joins us. After this, it's time for Clipson

(42:21):
Sports Talk with Lawton Swan Swanny. It is our number two.

(43:04):
That's drivetime ready on the show that shakes the south Land,
Clemson Sports Tall on Swanne't know with you, legendary Clypson
sid Tim Bray said to join the program momentarily and
Clempson's Sports Salt always brought you, in part by our
difference over at Mets Plumbing mets Plumbing dot com two
two six seven one oh eight. That's Mets Plumbing two

(43:25):
two six seven one oh eight. All right out of
the gates our two, Tim Bray, Tim, welcome in. Thanks
for being a part of the program. Well, good to
be with you, lot hey talking about a Tiger win
thirty eight to ten on the road in Chapel Hill.
We could certainly get into a lot of aspects of that,
but we were listening to some audio before the break

(43:47):
with Wave Wood Ass and what Ass was asked about
Tom Allen's move from the press box to the field,
and he talked about how he thought it was so
important and the fact that you know, this is the
guy that taught, talks to us, he's in front of
us every day. He certainly seemed to indicate that Tom

(44:07):
Allen's gonna stay on the field for the rest of
the year. Dabosweeney, I think said, if it ain't broke,
don't fix it. What were your thoughts on that move
and the way it played out?

Speaker 4 (44:20):
Yeah, well, I've you know, most of the defensive coordinators
for recent years have been on the field, and I
guess we go back to Ellis Johnson. The last time
we had a defensive coordinator was in the press box
in the mid nineties. And you know, as I'm as
I go to practice, you know, Tom Allen, he's he's

(44:41):
got you know, Davill's got a microphone on one field,
and Tom Allen's got a microphone on the other. And
of course Tom Allen doesn't because I think if he
yelled and scream you could tell his voice is always
a little bit of horse anyway, So you know, I
think that's how that started. But since you know, since
he's on the field so much during practice talking into
the microphone, I could see how it'd be kind of

(45:03):
drastically different for the defensive coordinators, I mean, defensive players
on on game day. So yeah, I mean, I you know,
he came up with the idea to switch it.

Speaker 2 (45:14):
Now.

Speaker 4 (45:14):
I don't know what he did at Penn State last
year whether obviously they were really good all year on defense,
so he was probably up in the breast box last
year and it you know, didn't make any difference, but
you know, all teams are different, different personalities, and so yeah,
I think it was the right move. Obviously, we only
gave up ten points unless three hundred yards, so I

(45:36):
think we'll continue with this week.

Speaker 1 (45:38):
Well. And and the other thing too that I noticed,
you know, he reminded me more of Brent Vinnables the
way he was kind of shifting up and down the sidelines,
and maybe that's you know, maybe that's habit for defensive
coordinators across the country. But it did feel nice to

(45:59):
kind of see him being to slap those guys on
the side of the helmet, to be able to pat
him on the back and say, hey, great job.

Speaker 2 (46:05):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (46:05):
I can see, just as somebody that played sports, and
I'm sure you can't as well, somebody that played sports,
how that would seemingly be very beneficial to the defensive
side of the ball.

Speaker 4 (46:17):
Yeah, no, absolutely, I mean, you know, I've heard, You've
heard probably many people say football is a game of emotion,
and probably even more so on the defensive side. So
you know, when you look at it from that standpoint,
you can you can see how that most proximity to
your coaches is can can have a positive effect. So yeah,

(46:38):
I mean, I'm sure you know, obviously he started out
or did all last year at Penn State up in
the booths for a reason, and I guess he likes
to be able to see what, you know, the offenses
are doing, how they're lining up, whatever. You can certainly
can see what your defensive line and linebackers are doing

(47:00):
that are from up with the press box, so you
could see that. But like I say, it's a game
of emotion, and so I.

Speaker 1 (47:07):
Think it's been a good move Tim Bray with this
year on the program on a Thursday afternoon, off the
heels of Clemson's thirty eight to ten win against North Carolina,
and of course because they're facing Boston College this week,
it means back to back weekends, Dabosweeny will be coaching
against former NFL coaches Bill O'Brien of course, and quite

(47:27):
frankly two guys that coach together, right Bill O'Brien was
with the Patriots at one point along with Bill Belichick.
But just kind of thinking about that nuance of it
all as well as pretty neat and from the standpoint
of I guess Bill Belichick, that's kind of been the
storyline over the past week. Like the way Clemson beat them,
just I think really let the air out of the balloon.

(47:49):
That stadium. You were there, I mean it was empty
by halftime. It was kind of wild. I mean, what
do you think about his tenure so far and how
much trouble do you think he might actually be in?

Speaker 4 (48:02):
Yeah, I mean, obviously we got off to a great
start and you know, carried on from from there, and yeah,
the fans didn't stay long, although you know, I've seen
somebody some people say that, well they're only fifteen or
twenty thousand people and they when it started. No, there
were the place holds over fifty. There were forty thousand
people in there when it started. And you know, but

(48:25):
but obviously, you know when we got twenty eight quick
points there in the first quarter, that that made things,
that made things different. But yeah, you know, I don't
I don't know that they they've so they're two and three,
I guess, and you know, the three good teams they've played,
they've gotten beat rather soundly. So yeah, I don't know.

(48:49):
And I just don't think he's got a lot of
players that he can turn to. I mean, he's he
they brought in forty players from the transfer portal and
thirty freshman and you just didn't hear that much about
It wasn't a big splash on anybody that they brought in. So,
you know, I just don't know that they've they've got

(49:10):
great players right now in that roster. They supposedly have
a pretty good recruiting year going.

Speaker 1 (49:16):
So we just have to say, amazing the frustrations that
North Carolina fans are having just ten months or so
after maybe a little maybe a little less than that,
after finding out they were going to be bringing in
coach Belichick to run the team. Now Clumpson turns their
attention to BC. They'll head up to Boston College. I'm
sure you're gonna be leaving shortly for that one. That's

(49:36):
a long road trip to make, tim But a beautiful site,
beautiful venue, and kind of a strange atmosphere. I would
kind of equate it maybe a little bit to what
it was like at one point and maybe still during
some years at playing at Duke. It can it can
kind of lack atmosphere, which for whatever reason, it can
kind of lead to a team playing a little bit flat,

(49:58):
you know, the road team even visiting a venue like that.
What's your take on Chestnut Hill and Boston College, just
in terms of the venue after all the years you've
been up there, Yeah, I.

Speaker 4 (50:10):
Think it's a little bit better than than you know,
sometimes i've been a Duke. You're right, the Cam Wallas
Waite Stadium, it's a little bit more. There's more distance
between the stands because remember they fit a track in there.
Right at Duke and so I think that has a
lot to do with it. Sometimes the atmosphere, you get it,

(50:34):
you get a duke. The stands a little bit closer
up at Boston College. So I come away with that
type of feeling. Now, you know, obviously with BC was
that's so good the only winners against Fordham. So I
don't know how, you know, fired up they'll be for this,
you know game, they won some games last year. So,

(50:57):
but it is an unusual setup. You know, the this
football stadium is attached to the basketball.

Speaker 3 (51:05):
Arena.

Speaker 4 (51:06):
Uh So when I and Shefflin makes the trip, he
may be in the same you know, they divide the
locker room up, but part of the locker room in
the football is also the same locker room used for basketball.
I remember that in two thousand and eight oh nine
we went up there, and I believe it or not,
this is true. So that year C J. Spiller in

(51:29):
the football season, when Davia won his first game, he
had the same locker that Terrence ogos By used, uh
in the in the in the winter, the same locker.
So so yeah, maybe Shefflin will got the same locker
that he had for basketball. He probably won't even remember,

(51:52):
but anyway, it is, it is. It is a you
get lost in the in the outskirts of that that state,
without a doubt. But I think it's a little bit
better atmosphere than in Duke, just because of the proximity
of the stands. Well.

Speaker 1 (52:07):
I haven't checked the forecast, but I would imagine it's
going to feel more like fall than any other game
that you guys have been a part of this year traveling.
And I did hear you on the call after the
North Carolina game make the point that Ian Shefflin became
the first Clemson athlete to defeat North Carolina in Chapel
Hill in both football and basketball. Is that correct? The

(52:30):
is that what the statis gave play?

Speaker 4 (52:32):
That's correct? And you know it's it's not. It doesn't
take long to research that, Lawton, because all you got
to do is look at two basketball box scores and
see who played for Clemson in North Carolina in twenty
nineteen and who played in two thousand and twenty four,
and the only the only guys, the only guy in
the box scorer who also played on the football team
is Ian Shevlin.

Speaker 1 (52:54):
Unbelievable. Tim Bray here with us on the program for
a few more minutes now, Tim. One of the other
bright spots I thought on Saturday was Christian Bettencore, and
I actually wrote a story on him because Dabo called
him Baby Gronk, And obviously, I know that's a reach
in terms of where you know Rob Gronkowski's success and

(53:15):
where we are with Bettencore. But I had Chad Morris
on the program yesterday and I talked to him about
the tight ends, and Clemson's had some talented tight ends,
but when when Chad Morse got there, they had Dwayne
Allen and then you had Jordan Leggett, and both of
those guys were really really productive. And the production numbers
even last year with Brenning stool By comparison to maybe

(53:38):
impactful plays, you know, the tight end position hasn't necessarily
delivered what I would call impactful plays in quite a
long time at Clemson. But this kid, Christian Bettencore, looks
like he's the part. Like he looks like the brock Bowers.
He looks like that prototypical tight end. Do you think

(53:59):
he's got the ability to be that guy for Clemson?
Maybe not this year, but in future seasons, could he
be like an elite tight end collegiately.

Speaker 4 (54:10):
Yeah, I think I really think so. And uh, you know,
I was impressed with him coming out of high school.
You know, Dad was big on guys who are two
sport athletes. And you know, he's the only athlete in
the history of the state of Illinois to have two
hundred receptions and two thousand points in basketball over his

(54:31):
uh over his career. So you know, he's he's he's
he's got the all around athletic ability and we certainly
saw that on on on Saturday. And you know what,
what a tight end's production could be can be a
function of of you know, what the offensive coordinator thinks.
I mean, you know, Chad always believed in throwing to

(54:54):
the tight end. Maybe Riley doesn't throw to the tight
end quite as much. I you know, Britney still had
a pretty good year last year, and but I think
Bencourt certainly certainly can and I think Garrett's going to
use him.

Speaker 3 (55:10):
More and more.

Speaker 4 (55:11):
It was I believe Saturday was the first game ever
we had a tight end with two touchdown receptions and
a running back with two touchdown receptions in the same game.
It's pretty rare for a running back to catch two
touchdown passes.

Speaker 1 (55:25):
I actually I actually wondered that when I when you know,
watching the game play out, I started to wonder about
that stat because obviously it was a big deal with
Adam randall right and me being a converted wide receiver
making those catches. But then two and two, So you say,
it's pretty rare. Do you know, has it happened or
you're not sure?

Speaker 4 (55:44):
I don't know for sure, but I'm pretty sure that
that's the case. I mean, we've only had maybe eight times,
maybe seven times were a running backs called two touchdown
passes in a game?

Speaker 1 (55:56):
Oh wow?

Speaker 4 (55:56):
Probably the same thing for it, you know, for a
tight end, we went, you know, the beginning of from
the end of Coach West to the beginning of Coach Bowden.
I want to say we went. I think we went
five or six years without a touch without a tight
end catching a single touchdown pass. There were years years
we didn't even use the tight end. So, you know,

(56:19):
even as great as Benny Cunningham was, ut I'm not
sure he ever caught two in a game. I know,
nobody's ever caught three, and nobody, no running backs ever
caught three. So both of those players tied the single
game record in the same game.

Speaker 1 (56:36):
The other thing that I was really impressed was his speed.
I mean, you could really tell that he had played
wide receiver in high school just his speed. Tim was impressive.
To be that big and to accelerate the way he did.
I was like, Hey, that felt like a piece this
offense has been missing.

Speaker 4 (57:00):
Yeah, no, I agree. It'll be interesting to see if
we go to him more. And a lot of it
is a function of what the other team to defense
in a plays, But yeah, I know, I'm optimistic that
we'll we'll see him more and more. And I think,
you know, SAP's made some pretty good catches over the
last couple of years. And Pat, actually Pat Henry was

(57:23):
the last tight end to catch two touchdown passes in
the game before Saturday. He caught to TVs in the
game last year.

Speaker 1 (57:31):
Well, And and all of those guys certainly athletic in
the passing game and dabos when he wants them to
be sharp in the run blocking and pass protection aspect
of it as well, and seem to be doing a
pretty good job there. Tim Bray again on Twitter at
Tim Berray, We've got him for a few more minutes
as Clemson and Boston College get ready to face off.

(57:51):
The funniest thing about this game, Tim is both head
coaches Dabos, when you're making a one to four Boston
College teams sound like a four to one team, and
then Boston College Bill O'Brien making Clypson sound like they're
five and oh coming in. Uh, there's not much boltin
board material being put out there by either of these

(58:12):
coaches as we get ready for this game Saturday night.

Speaker 4 (58:18):
Well, no, they're you know, they're veteran coaches. They've been
around of the block. I will say this about Boston College.
They they've got three close losses. I mean you talk
about games that came down to one or two plays.
That Michigan State game was forty two to forty, very
entertaining game, but that was an overtime game. That was

(58:39):
a close loss by BC to California, and then they
had a six point loss in their other games. So
they've had close games except for this past Saturday, when
you know it was tied. For the pregame show today
with Davo, we really didn't know who's going to play
for Boston College. I guess we'll know tonight at eight

(59:00):
o'clock when they release the injury report. But they Davil
told me they had ten guys, ten guys who would
play who were out then a week for Boston College
against Pittsburgh. So be interested to see how many those
guys are back.

Speaker 1 (59:16):
Final thing, Virginia Tony Elliott three and zero in the ACC.
They do have a lost NC State, but that was
an out of conference game. Looking at their schedule, Tim,
I think at the beginning when they knocked off Florida State,
clubs and fans were like, wait to go, Tony. And
then when they went to Louisville won last weekend overtime,
they were like, all right, Tony. And then clips of

(59:37):
people looked at the schedule and went, wait, wait, Tony,
we need help from you. But we don't need this
much help. Tony Elliott might be favored in the remaining
Atlantic Coast Conference games that they have, and they might
be the team that ends up getting into the a
SEC Championship. What do you think about the job that
Tony's done?

Speaker 4 (59:58):
Yeah, no, Ben, it's been terrific. Their offenses obviously, what's
driving his play? I mean they still give up a
lot of yards and a lot of points on defense.
But you know, Morris the quarterback has done great. You know,
they lost their best arguably not even arguably their best
receiver from last year. Now the Toper seat, Well, he's

(01:00:20):
the second leading receiver for Notre Dame so far this year,
but I bet he's going to be number one by
the time the season ends. I think would they be
if they had Malachi Field. So I just got to
be impressed with what he's done, like I said, especially
in offensive and and you know, really his toughest back

(01:00:41):
to back stretch. He's already accomplished being Florida Styton and
going to LSU. I think that's the toughest back to
back games he's got for all year. So it's going
to be interesting to see where they end up. With
so many teams in the league, now, you got to
go through a long ways of the season really know
how things are gonna shake up. I mean, there's still

(01:01:02):
a lot of teams that are uh that are in
the hunt for the ACC Championship.

Speaker 1 (01:01:06):
Yeah, Listen, if Clemson is fortunate enough to finish six
and two, but they get beat out for right at
the ACC Championship. By Tony Elliot in Virginia. I can
live with that. I can live with that story. I
prefer Clemson to be there. But good for Tony, Good
for Tony. All right, timber Ray. Folks following on Twitter
at timb Erray, Tim, we will talk to you next
Thursday afternoon. Appreciate you. My man sounds good lawdin There

(01:01:31):
you go, timber Ray, it happened. Oh my gosh, did
y'all hear it? Did you hear? Did you hear what happened?
Or did you miss it? You missed it? Didn't you?
I will?

Speaker 2 (01:01:44):
I want?

Speaker 1 (01:01:45):
All right, we got a break coming up. Tim Bray
said something that I do a lot on accident. Lowell,
the producer extraordinary, used to give me so much grief
about it. I will tell you what it was when
we get back. So if you're thinking Tim misspoke, he

(01:02:06):
did not. It's gotta be something in the brain. Man,
It's gotta be something in the brain. I'll tell you
what it is when we get back. Stay with us,
rocking and rolling Clemson sports Talk. That was Tim Bray
before the break. Great catching up with him. All right,
So some of you probably called it and you thought, man,

(01:02:29):
Tim Ray, a little slip up there. When Tim was
talking about the tough stretch for Virginia, he said they
faced Florida State in LSU. Now, there's multiple times in

(01:02:50):
the history of this program that I mixed that up
multiple Now have a little theory on part of it.
One is that he said f SU or Florida State
either way. You know the old thing when you were

(01:03:11):
a kid and you say, uh, say roast five times, right,
and your parents like roast, roast, roast, roast, roast, and
you're like, what are you putting a toaster? And some
people can toast, you know, you put bread in the toaster,
you get toast out of it. You put bread in, right.
I think it might kind of be that thing going on,

(01:03:35):
you know, like say silk ten times, silk, silk, silk, silk, silk, silk, silk, silk, silk, silk, silk, silk, silk, whatever.
What do cows drink? A lot of people say milk. Nope, water,
they make milk. I'm sure a cow could drink milk.
But anyway, I'm wondering if because you say Florida State,

(01:03:57):
you think FSU, and then you get to Louisville and
thing Louisiana State anything LSU and you just say it.
I mean, I really don't know now, I looked it
up during the break. When you mix up a name
like Louisville and LSU, it's not because you don't know

(01:04:19):
the difference. It's your brain mechanics, and it's called a
speech production slip, and it says, here's why it happens,
especially on the radio, and these kind of things happen
to me. And I hope that you understand that if
I have one of those, like if I was talking
the other day about Trevor Lawrence and accidentally called him

(01:04:41):
kay klubnick, that it's not that I don't know the difference.
I do know the difference. I know the difference in
Louisville and LSU. But here are a few reasons that
it might happen. Number one is something called mental buckets.
Teams like Louisville and LSU live in the same semantic

(01:05:05):
neighborhood in your brain, so because their names have a
similar structure Louisville and Louisiana State or LSU and the
tie back to Louisville, et cetera. When you're speaking fast,
your brain pulls from the right category, but it receives

(01:05:27):
the wrong label. All right, stuff it.

Speaker 3 (01:05:29):
That's enough. I can't take it anymore. You're not even
making sense. You're just saying words.

Speaker 1 (01:05:33):
Now, doing that live like we do, hiir energy conversations
and interviews. That can also be about the fact that
your mouth moves faster than your memory, you know, cognitive load.
Both of the two teams start with L. They sound
fairly similar. And the reason that you don't notice in
a lot of times as the host, okay, and this

(01:05:58):
is kind of wild. The reason that I don't notice
it if I do it, and the reason Tim Braid
didn't notice it when he did it is because when
you're in the flow and you're talking and going through
all this stuff, you subconsciously fix it in real time,

(01:06:23):
even though you may not catch it until you play
it back and listen to it again. Your mind heard
what it meant to say and not what you said.
And then, lastly, there's something apparently called the radio brain effect.

Speaker 3 (01:06:41):
Holy crap, I am freaking out.

Speaker 1 (01:06:43):
Where host and guests are also thinking one sentence ahead.
We're thinking about the next stat the next joke, the
next transition, and because of the forward thinking process, it
can cause a backfill error where your mouth uses a
placeholder name while your thoughts are already moving forward. Now

(01:07:11):
they do pat me on the back and say that
it happens to the veterans the best Herb Street, Fine Bomb,
Rhys Davis. They'll say Florida when they mean Florida State.
They know instantly is wrong, and the show goes on.
The conversational rhythm and audience context makes the slip nearly
invisible in real time. Yep, you got some of you

(01:07:32):
noticed it. I am sure I definitely noticed it, and
I'm not doing I did not do this segment to
rag on Tim Murray. Quite the contrary. That is the
slip up that I had for years and years and
years and years. I would constantly mix those two teams
up and interchangeable. I think that one's really more to

(01:07:54):
do with Louisville and Louisiana State than some of this
other stuff radio Brain and all that that they're talking about.
But I did that, like Lowell. Lowell would kill me
on that. I'd be doing a segment blobby blah blah blah.
Lsu that is ridiculous, Swanny, you're talking about Louisville. Yeah, right,

(01:08:19):
that's That's what I meant. And as far as I know,
Timsey the only other person that's ever flip flopped those
two teams. So I'm proud. I mean, I feel like
I'm in like an elite category here quite frankly. So
what was that called again, not radio brain effect? What
was it called? Yeah, similar buckets, speech production slip. It's

(01:08:51):
a speech production slip. Well, now you know, now you know,
good day, and now you know the rest of the story.
Good Day. Paul Harvey talked about that a couple of
years ago. Dude, that was not as long of a

(01:09:15):
program as I thought. Like you can find little snippets
of Paul Harvey on TikTok now they're at most five
minutes long. I thought it was like a thirty minute
radio show when I was a kid. No kidding you.
Good Day, all right, we'll in a quick break. We'll
come back. We'll jump back into the world of college
sports here on a Thursday afternoon. We'll take a look

(01:09:38):
at some of the big road matchups for top twenty
five teams coming up this weekend. When we get back,
keep it a lot for more of the show that
shakes the south Land. Clemson's sports sald Swan. It is
a Thursday. Don't forget about our friends at Alumni Hall

(01:10:00):
on the corner of campus on College Avenue in downtown Clemson.
It's Alumni Hall for you're officially licensed Clemson merchandise, get hats,
t shirts, Telgate Gear, and Moore. Don't forget to ask
them about their Alumni Hall rewards program, and we certainly
appreciate them being a part of the program. So support

(01:10:21):
them by going to their website or in store where
Clemson students, faculty, and military get ten percent off. When
you're shopping there downtown Clemson, look for those sweet Nike
dry Fit polos, the ones that you know I love
at Alumni Hall where Tiger fans shop. All right, So

(01:10:42):
top twenty five teams on the road this weekend. You know,
Clemson and South Carolina both would have loved to have
been in that conversation. I mean, these were two teams
we talk about Texas and Penn State and how they've fallen,

(01:11:03):
and Clemson as well, but I mean South Carolina too,
Like both teams in the state of South Carolina this
year thought that they were in line to make a
run to the College Football Playoff. But but the college
football gods had other thoughts for both teams at this point. Now.

(01:11:26):
Last night we did have a couple of games. Middle
Tennessee got beat by Missouri State twenty two twenty Liberty
top UTEP nineteen to eight. There are four games tonight,
Knnessas State hosts Louisiana Tech at seven o'clock on ESPNU,

(01:11:48):
Tulane host East Carolina at seven thirty on ESPN, SAM
Houston hosts Jacksonville State at eight o'clock on the CBS
Sports Network, and Georgia Southern hosts Southern miss at eight
pm on ESPN. Two Southern miss favored by three and

(01:12:08):
a half over Georgia Southern. That's a battle of eagles,
isn't it? I think so. Tomorrow night, number twenty four
South Florida goes on the road to Denton, Texas to
take on North Texas to Mean Green at seven point
thirty on ESPN two. North Texas actually favored in this

(01:12:33):
game by one and a half. And again, that is
a top twenty five ranked South Florida team. Other top
twenty five teams on the road this weekend. Top ranked
Ohio State is on the road at Illinois. That's a
noon kickoff on Fox. Ohio State favored by fourteen and

(01:12:54):
a half in that one Ryan Day and the Buck
guys looking to make a run to the College Football
playf and then maybe to back to back national championships.
Alabama the number eight team in the country. They are
also on the road this weekend as they go to Missouri.
That's a noon kickoff as well out in Columbia, Missouri's

(01:13:17):
Memorial Stadium. Alabama favored by two and a half over
the Missouri Tigers, who are still undefeated. Also on the road.
Number seven Indiana going to number three Oregon. That's three
point thirty on CBS. Oregon's only favored. This was kind
of surprising to me. Only favored by six and a

(01:13:37):
half at home. And Kurt Signetti, the head coach of Indiana,
very complementary of Oregon, did not want to give Dan
Lanning and the Ducks any bulletin board material at all.
Now Number six Oklahoma is technically the away team, but
this is a neutral site game at the Cotton Bowl

(01:13:58):
in Dallas. We'll throw them in the mix anyway. I
love the way they do that stadium. I love the
way they split it right down the fifty yard line
really awesome when you tune in to watch that. That's
a three thirty start on ABC from the Cotton Bawl
in Dallas. Number six Oklahoma versus Texas. Not technically a
road game, but still pretty close to a road game

(01:14:21):
when you're talking about that neutral site matchup for sure.
Number twenty two Iowa State is at Colorado. That's a
three thirty start on ESPN. And then a little later
in the day you've got the Georgia Bulldogs, number ten
in the country, going on the road to Auburn old
school rivalry Jordenhare Stadium. Georgia only favored by three and

(01:14:42):
a half. A little bit surprising there. That's seven thirty
on ABC. And number fifteen Michigan going on the road
to Southern cal That's a seven thirty start on NBC
because Notre Dame obviously is playing a road game this weekend.
When No. Dar Dame plays a road game, typically you

(01:15:05):
now end up with a big ten matchup on that
seven thirty or in that seven thirty timeslot on NBC.
BYU is also on the road this weekend. They're eighteenth.
They are at Arizona BYU favored by two and a
half on the road. That game is eight o'clock started
on ESPN two, and then finally number twenty one Arizona

(01:15:27):
State on the road at Utah. Utah is favored at
home by five and a half over number twenty one
Arizona State. So Clemson in South Carolina, both playing in
the evening, the Tigers kicking off at seven thirty on
the ACC network, South Carolina at seven forty five on

(01:15:48):
the SEC network, both teams on the road. Neither team
though listed as a top twenty five team on the road,
which has gotta be a gut punch give where I
think both Clemson and South Carolina fans thought they would
be today. I mean a shocking start I think to

(01:16:12):
the season for Clemson. You know, I think it's an
opportunity here this weekend to get to five hundred. And
I'm not saying that LSU has looked as good as
we thought they were when they beat Clemson. I think

(01:16:36):
based off the way Clemson plays, you might could say
the LSU sort of backed up a little bit, but
they are still favored by nine and a half over
South Carolina nine and a half. To put that into perspective,

(01:16:59):
Tech's a and m who is the number five team
in the country, is only seven and a half point
favorites over Florida. I mean, the Vegas does not like
South Carolina. Vegas just does not like this game Cock team.

(01:17:21):
All right, quick, breat we'll come back. We'll put a
bow on the show that shakes THEA so out lane
right here on day Thursday afternoon.

Speaker 2 (01:17:30):
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? What have you done?

Speaker 1 (01:17:49):
Always are the same. We win final segment on a Thursday.

(01:18:46):
All right. So I mentioned before the break how I
feel like Vegas just does not like South Carolina. I
really don't. I mean, I think part of it is
because they've scored so much defensively and via the special

(01:19:07):
teams punt return game. I feel like because of that fact,
they're kind of getting oh, what's the right word. The
spreads on their games are a little bit off. I mean,
I do I think the what nine and a half

(01:19:31):
number on that LSU game that seems huge to me.
Let's see, ESPN gives LSU a seventy three percent chance
to win that game. But the thing I kind of
wondered is if we go through the remaining games for
our fine feathered friends hanging out with us.

Speaker 4 (01:19:52):
So you could continue to peek over the fence at
the best radio showing the nation.

Speaker 1 (01:19:58):
I'm intrigued to see, because we know how difficult these
games are. How does Clemson compare to the other teams
that South Carolina supposed to face? So the game Cocks
have Oklahoma up next. ESPN's matchup predictor projects Oklahoma to

(01:20:21):
win that game nearly sixty percent of the time. After that,
South Carolina faces Alabama. The matchup predictor projects Alabama to
win that game eighty percent of the time. South Carolina
goes to Ole Miss, the matchup predictor projects Old Miss

(01:20:43):
to win that game eighty one percent of the time.
An M seventy three point five percent of the time
projected to beat South Carolina. Now, the Game Cocks are
projected to beat Coastal ninety six point six percent of
the time and projected to beat Clemson sixty three point

(01:21:05):
four percent of the time. At this point, seventy three
percent eighty. I mean the numbers here over the next
few weeks one, two, three, four, five, five games, right,

(01:21:26):
I mean the odds at South Carolina goes two and
three through these five games is like slim to none.
And if they go one in four that's not good enough.
You're not going to a bowl game. You're If you're
one in four, that's three wins going into the Coastal game,

(01:21:52):
and if you beat Coastal Line Clemson, that's five wins.
You gotta have six. South Carolina's legitimately gotta win two
of these five games. Can they pull it off? This
game this weekend for Carolina might be might be the game. Seriously,

(01:22:18):
this is the one they gotta win. And then just
I you know, Oklahoma's probably vulnerable if Materia doesn't play,
but it sounds like they're trending towards getting him back,
and by the time next week rolls around, I'd be
shocked if he doesn't play this week. I'd be shocked
if he doesn't play next week. With the way they
pushed him forward this week. I mean, as long as
he doesn't get re injured. I think if you're the

(01:22:40):
game cock, you gotta be rooting for that. You gotta
be rooting for injuries. Ty Simpson, you gotta be rooting
for injuries. John Mattier, I mean, you need guys out,
You need quarterbacks injured. Because the way South Carolina survived,
I'm gonna say it, sur i'ved Virginia Tech with the

(01:23:02):
punt return game. You know, the stunning just being down
late in the first half, againt s state punt return
spark you. Those things aren't going to continue to happen.
As a matter of fact, I would go as far
as to say this, if South Carolina returned another punt,

(01:23:22):
I wouldn't punt to them anymore. I would just punt
them all out of bounds every time. Make him drive
the field, like, don't give away free points. That's one
thing coaches I really don't understand. I mean, I know
the player can't always punt it out of bounds, but
you could try the old Coffin corner. That was a
thing when I was growing up, where you punted towards

(01:23:43):
the corner. Additionally, another thing I don't understand about coaches
is late in a game. Okay, late in a game,
coaches will have a guy back to field a punt.
What do you do for this is doing? You get

(01:24:05):
paid millions of dollars. Do you know the one thing
that creates a live ball turnover on a punt the
ball touching one of your players. I mean, I might
put a guy back there, but I would tell him
as soon as that ball is kicked run forward. None
of our guys are gonna get closed. That ball is

(01:24:25):
not gonna hit any of us. Yet, coaches making a
lot more money than I do continue to put a
guy back in some of the weirdest circumstances. All right,
we'll talk to you out tomorrow at four o'clock. Until
there is always y'all take care now and CoA Tigers