The "Good to be Back Home" Edition

Clemson's social media team drops an elbow off the top rope on South Carolina.

Episode Transcript

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

(00:44):
Clemson Sports Talk has come back to drive time. Hell everybody,
Lowton Swan back in the saddle once again. It is
the show that shakes the south Land. Clemson Sports Talk
for you each and every afternoon as you make your
way around the great state of South Carolina and beyond,
listening to us on incredible radio stations like Fox Sports

(01:05):
Radio fourteen hundred and the Midlands heard around the world
on the iHeartRadio application. Download today, it's free. The website.
Put the dot com on a dog on it. That's
Clemson Sports dot dot com. They know three four five
O zero zero eighty six. That is the text line
in the phone line. And again I appreciate each and

(01:26):
every one of you being a part of the program.
As of course, to show the shakespare south Land is
brought to you in part by our difference over at
mets Plumbing mets plumbing dot com two two six seven
one o eight. That's Mets Plumbing two two six seven
to one zero eight. Check them out online today at
mets plumbing dot com. All right out of the gates

(01:48):
on a Tuesday afternoon, the Clemson Tigers, still off the
heels of their twenty eight fourteen victory k Club Nick
riding into Columbia all black, leaving the game Cocks blue
and really for Clemson like, Look, there is no doubt
that seven to five at this point is incredibly disappointing

(02:13):
by comparison to the expectations. I mean, it's a team.
When we did the over unders, they were one of
the few teams that I thought could go undefeated this
year given their schedule. It all sort of hinged on
I thought beating LSU and the opener back in August,
and the Tigers were right there in the mix in
that game. Obviously disappointing performance on the offensive side of

(02:34):
the ball seventeen to ten to the final score, then
getting down sixteen to nothing against Troy did not leave
you feeling better about where the team was in the
early stages of the season. But you turned it around
and came away with a twenty seven to sixteen victory,
and then the gut wrenching loss at Georgia Tech. Multiple

(02:55):
opportunities lost in that game, including a turnover in the
red zone when the Tigers points and then giving up
a walk off field goal I questioned the way Clemson
played that last second field goal out. Remember I mean
the thing about the way that all played out is
I thought Clempson should take a time out, meaning that
the Georgia Tech kicker couldn't just hit it and say, well,

(03:17):
if I make it great. If I miss it, oh, well, overtime,
you know, in a scenario where you call time out
a little bit earlier and don't allow him to walk
it off. If you make it great, if you miss it,
uh oh, Clemson might have a chance to win the
game with a field goal of their own, like I

(03:39):
thought Clemson back in September relieved the pressure for Georgia
Tech's kicker in that twenty four to twenty one loss,
and then the Syracuse game inexplicable, disappointing, just awful, and
quite frankly, I don't really care that Syracuse lost their
starting quarterback in that game, and that's probably the reason

(03:59):
they were as bad as they were this year. I
don't really care why they were as bad as he
ended up being. You got bullied. You got bullied by
Syracuse at home, a place where Clemson has not been bullied.
You got bullied by a team that certainly should not

(04:19):
be doing any bullying of the Tigers. And so from
a one in three start to where Clemson currently sits
at seven and five and four and four in the
ACC winning their final four games of the regular season,
I think you do feel better about things if there
is a concern that I see, it's with this trend

(04:45):
twenty four points against Florida State, twenty points against Louisville,
and just twenty eight points against South Carolina, and remember
pick six defensive points against South Carolina. So against power
or for competition, in the final three Power four games

(05:07):
of the regular season, Clemson's offense scoring just twenty four,
twenty and twenty one total points. Like that's not good enough.
And I know there's concern about the situation on the
offensive side of the ball with Garrett Riley. Will he
still be back in Tigertown. I mean, that is a

(05:28):
huge question that a lot of people have about this
Clemson Tiger football team. And I understand that, and I
know that people want to believe that Garrett Riley is
going to be gone. I'm not so sure that that's
the case. And here's why I do think that there's

(05:52):
a chance that Riley could leave for another job. I
don't know that it would be one where he gets
fired convert. And I can't remember if I mentioned this
yet yesterday or not, but I have wondered if the
fact that you've only seen Garrett Riley running the offense

(06:16):
with k Clubnik at quarterback. You know, Dabo Sweeney seems
like an analytical guy right in science and things like that,
you're talking about variables. If if Garrett Riley had had
a couple of quarterbacks and the results were what we've seen,

(06:40):
then I think you could say, yeah, you know what,
you probably put most of that on Garrett Riley. And
I brought this up, I know last week Dabo Sweeney
saying that Kay Clubnick had a brain fart. K club
made just a dumb play. I mean, this is a
man that all protected Djuyungla La to the nth degree,

(07:04):
and I think he's given himself at this point some
wiggle room to justify keeping Garrett Riley if he chooses
to by essentially saying that, you know what, I haven't
seen Garrett really with another quarterback at Clemson, and I

(07:27):
want to give him another year to, you know, to
really prove that he can win at this level, especially
if we have a different quarterback, and and look in
this era, this transfer portal era, that new quarterback could

(07:49):
be someone that's hand picked. You know, Garrett, you get
to pick your guy. If you don't believe it's Zina,
if you don't think it's you know, Chris Denson or
any on the roster, Tate Reynolds coming in, you get
to pick it, and you get to showcase the player

(08:13):
of your choice. And so again, I don't know what
will happen. I don't know if it will be a
situation where Clemson will fire Garrett Riley or a situation
where Riley is pursued or takes a job as a
coach at a smaller school. You just don't know. There's

(08:34):
way too many what's the word, I guess, variable variables
for this too. There's just way too many variables at
this point from the coaching side of things to really
say one way, one way or another. Now, would I
be bitterly disappointed if Garrett Riley is back coaching Clemson

(09:01):
this season this coming year. I would not, because I
think I fall in the category of being an individual
who thinks that it might be best to see what
he can do with a different quarterback. Not to take

(09:23):
away from Kate Clubding, but I think it's pretty obvious
based off of what we saw this year that he's
not the number one overall draft pick. He's not Trevor Lawrence,
he's not Deshaun Watson. I'm not even I don't even
know that he's if I'm being honest, that he's Taj Boyd.

(09:45):
Like Taj Boyd takes a little bump from people because
of not winning over South Carolina. But I would be
lying if I said those weren't the best South Carolina
teams that have ever existed. And so now we look
to see if this Sweeney Riley partnership well will continue

(10:05):
or will Clemson ultimately make a move. If it were me,
I would give him one more run, and I would say, look,
we're gonna get the quarterback that you want, that you
think could run this offense, and we're gonna run this offense.
And if you feel like there needs to be more

(10:28):
commitment on the ground, then that's something that you can
work out with Garrett Riley, because I don't think you
have to run the offense that air raid. You know
that Garrett Riley wants to run and you can't be
flexible enough to be able to run the football like
this is a modern era. Offenses are tangible and there

(10:55):
are a lot of variants of different offenses. And it
just because an offense is seen as being one thing
or more traditionally done this way doesn't mean that you
can't the brain trust and the coaching staff can't figure
out how to make it work if you can get
the right piece. So from that standpoint, I think you

(11:17):
know when you're Clemson if if you're a Tiger fan
that just thinks the only problem this year, even with
those offensive numbers was Garret Riley, I would pump the brakes.
I think there was much more to it. The offensive
line certainly an issue. I've been losing. Bryant westco you know,
has to be taken into account. And again, you know,

(11:39):
running backs coach CJ. Spiller is a whole different ball
of wax, just with the situation that we've kind of
seen the fact that you haven't really had anyone that
he's brought in emerge as a top talent. And I
think that you know what we saw with Adam Randall's

(11:59):
he should get credit for. I don't think there's any
denying that fact. He should get credit for that. And
maybe next year if he's back, Gideon Davison has an
explosive season that rewrites the chapter on CJ. Spiller's career
as a you know, running back coach. But like I said,
I thought this was the money year for Speller. We'll

(12:21):
see how it all shakes out. And again, you know,
several other coaches certainly potentially on the chopping block given
what we see in the struggles of Clemson's secondary with
Mickey Kahn. And then you know, obviously the cornerbacks have
played pretty well. I mean, maybe Ontorell's had a really
good career. But just Mike Reid's name continues to come up,
and it used to come up as a guy that

(12:41):
was destined to be a head coach or or destined
to be a coordinator at some point, and more and
more the conversations seem to be that Mike Reid just
doesn't enjoy this kind of era of college sports and
college athletics. But anyway, a zero three, four five, zero

(13:02):
zero eighty six, that's that's the text line of the
phone line. If you want to be a part of
the conversation, and I will say, you know, it's just
kind of thinking it all through and talking about college
sports and college football and your Clemson Tigers.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
Man.

Speaker 1 (13:17):
Today they put out a video. You know, I get it.
This is a rivalry and Dabosweeney talked about the fact
that after the game he didn't want to see the
guys planting a flag. Well, I'll tell you this, the
Clemson University media department planted a flag. I mean they

(13:44):
planted a flag. They posted a video about five hours
ago on social media of a trophy and then a
quote that said so good to be back home. And
in this video that the Clemson Tiger Athletic Department released

(14:04):
through the Clemson football account. So they videoed. They've got
a video riding down you know I twenty six heading
into downtown Columbia. Then there's a picture of a crane
and then a port a potty by like some construction,
a Gamecock flag, a bunch of traffic and power lines.

(14:27):
Then there's just this random rooster at a tailgate, some
police lights, the Gamecock logo on the side of Williams.
Brice Stadium, the fans twirling their you know, their they're
what do you call it rags? Or whatever those gamecock
rags they've got. Then a couple of shots of fans

(14:50):
shooting the bird at Clemson, and then it flashes immediately
to the Palmetto Bowl trophy sitting on a dock by
a lake in Clemson with a little dirt around it,
and then a backpack blower like a leaf blower comes

(15:11):
up and blows it off, so that the trophy is
just sitting there, pristine and clean, on a dock in
the upstate, enjoying the views. So yeah, Clemson may have
played in the proverbial flag with the way they came
in and took over Williams. Brice Stadium and played in
that ballgame. By the way, we'll talk with Jack Veltree

(15:34):
about it to get his thoughts on the Clemson South
Carolina game again. A twenty eight fourteen victory for your Tigers.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
But.

Speaker 1 (15:44):
That video. I don't know what South Carolina did a
year ago, if they did anything to rile up Clemson's
social media team. If you're a South Carolina fan, you
know that your video team didn't do anything a year ago.

(16:04):
I would expect them to do something substantial the next
time they win a game in this series. I mean,
unless they did it first, right, like if if when
South Carolina won a year ago, they did some sort
of obnoxious, over the top type video and this was
Clemson's response to that video, basically the make good in wrestling.

(16:30):
In wrestling, they would they would call that a receipt.

Speaker 3 (16:34):
Whoa, I've got to stop and profile like never before.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
But for whatever reason or whatever it is, I just
know this, Clemson hit them hard with that one. And
I don't know, like I followed Clemson's football account. By
the way, if you want to see that, it's at Clemson
f B. I did not retweet it. I don't need to,
doesn't really matter. But if you have not seen it,

(17:07):
I'd love to hear your feedback on it. And did
you recall or do you remember did South Carolina have
something a year ago that would have what's the right word,
would have inspired? I would have inspired Clemson to come

(17:27):
off the top rope.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
Man.

Speaker 1 (17:29):
I truly don't know. I really don't, But yeah, that
video is out there and Clemson has now led the
all time series forty six thousand, four hundred days. The
Tigers have been on top of this series since the
eighteen hundreds, and you know, the fun thing that Clemson

(17:52):
fans will do at this time of the year. They'll
start to like calculate, Okay, if South Carolina won every
game for X amount of years, So if Clemson, you know,
who's plus thirty in the series seventy four, forty four
and four. If the Game Cocks were to start winning
two out of every three against Clemson, it would take

(18:14):
them another ninety years to even the record. So you're
pretty safe, You're pretty safe that you're gonna you're never
gonna live to see South Carolina with a lead in
the series. The last Game Cocks who saw South Carolina

(18:34):
with a lead in this the all time series against Clemson,
would have been born in eighteen ninety six. To be
old enough to remember it, you probably would have had
to have been born in like eighteen eighty six. So
it's been a while since any Game Cock remembers that.

(18:56):
And like I said yesterday, Clemson has won six consecutive
games in colo Umbia. South Carolina has only won six
games in Columbia since nineteen seventy nine. Nineteen seventy nine
at home, the Game Cocks have won just six games
against Clemson. Tiger fans who are ten years old have

(19:21):
now seen Clemson win six times in this rivalry. It's
kind of wild, all right. Eight zero three four five
zero zero eighty six. That is the text line in
the phone line. And hey, don't forget Jack Veltrie from
Gamecockcentral Dot Comm gonna join us at hour number two.
We'll get his thoughts on the game. What did he
see and how does he see South Carolina's future unfolding?

(19:44):
Is Shane Beemer made it sound like South Carolina's gonna
be right back in the mix next season for a
college football playoff Berth. We'll talk with Jack Beltrie in
hour number two. Keep it a lot right here on
Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred London, SWAD Clemson Sports Talk
on on a Tuesday afternoon, again off the heels of

(20:04):
Clemson's twenty eight to fourteen victory over South Carolina. Here's
the highlight package put together by the Clemson Tiger Sports Network.

Speaker 4 (20:15):
They go empty on first down and ten, and South
Colina comes with a bliss and they're gonna.

Speaker 5 (20:19):
Throw and have it complate curse down across the forty
forty five and all the way out of the fifty
on the numbers left side is more that wasn't a
zip throw either.

Speaker 4 (20:28):
That was a little soft toss up and over top
of the defender.

Speaker 1 (20:31):
Really nice rope.

Speaker 4 (20:34):
Sellers takes a shotgun snapball play actually wants to throw
kind of man been breaking open and he makes.

Speaker 5 (20:39):
A rap at the thirty five ahead quick car by
Clemson at the forty five yard line, so they knocked
the ball loose.

Speaker 1 (20:49):
It was TJ.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
Parker that came up with the football recovering at the
south coline of forty five.

Speaker 1 (20:55):
There's your first turnover. Sellers takes a snap, they run score.
Seller steps up with the pocket. Now gets dead and
it's gonna be drunk. They'll sack him back of the
thirty one yard line. Help he's working to tackle.

Speaker 4 (21:09):
Absolutely great coverage down field and good work by help
hands and off Randill trying to bounce back.

Speaker 5 (21:16):
Side touch so it's like a fine head up for
the indside touchdown.

Speaker 1 (21:21):
Buffetick takes out. We're gonna take it it.

Speaker 5 (21:23):
Try to throw a word's the rush come on it?
Picks it back up, comes left side with it. Does
he have a speeding in the inside?

Speaker 1 (21:30):
Got the NS touchdown?

Speaker 5 (21:33):
Keep going to that picked it up, came let's sign
it out brand a defender.

Speaker 1 (21:38):
Wow, Casperson snaps.

Speaker 6 (21:41):
Sweetie's hole and the kick by a hooser is on
its way, and it is good. So seventeen fourteen in
biebra Plempson with fifty six seconds to go second quarter,
snap full kick on its way.

Speaker 5 (21:57):
The kick is good.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
He hadn't hit it very well, but it got just
enough of it to get it there.

Speaker 1 (22:06):
Seller seexy snap back and throw. Pressure coming and I
conna get him in.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
Sack and Parke was the man that got through initially
and put the hit and stood filing Green also there
to help out.

Speaker 4 (22:18):
Clemson's only gonna rush. Three Sellers back to throw, looking for.

Speaker 1 (22:22):
You and what's Greg pecked its? Ricardo Jones cut it
in the end zone.

Speaker 4 (22:30):
Snap the Cellars wants to throw, looking goes across the
middle ball batting.

Speaker 5 (22:34):
Up there, pack Riccardo johnes of the tent, but take
it in the old zone.

Speaker 1 (22:39):
Touchdown, Holy Holy.

Speaker 4 (22:42):
Sellers shotgun up the left, Hash takes a snap, looks
right side, throws on the slap.

Speaker 1 (22:47):
Harbor makes the catch for first down across the three ball,
batting on it and recovering it. Simmy Brown at the
forty one. That's the fourth turnover Sellers to throw over Cam.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
Sacks again, Parker got him again, joined by Woods.

Speaker 1 (23:06):
They sacking back at the forty.

Speaker 4 (23:08):
Nineteen eighteen seventeen seconds.

Speaker 1 (23:12):
And that would essentially do it from Williams Brice Stadium.
Appreciate the folks over at the Clemson Tiger Sports Network
for that fantastic, fantastic cut up there of some of
the highlights, some of the big plays as Clemson controlled
that game in Williams Brice Stadium so much so. Get
this stat. Larry Williams I saw Ross Taylor actually tweeted

(23:36):
out some information saying that a cumulative game control breakdown
in the six game winning streak the Clemson currently has
in Williams Brice Stadium, Clemson has trailed during those six
games for zero minutes zero that's dating back to two

(24:02):
thousand and fifteen. So if your child is ten, they've
never seen Clemson trailing in Williams Bryce Stadium ever in
their life. If they're ten, they've seen the Tigers tied
seventy one minutes and thirty nine seconds, which all of

(24:25):
six games is nineteen zero point nine percent of the time.
The other eighty point one percent of the time or
two hundred and eighty eight minutes in twenty one seconds.
That's been Clemson leading in six trips to Williams Bryce Stadium.

(24:51):
It's wild dating back to twenty thirteen, obviously the last
loss in Colombia. But here's what Larry added to that,
and this makes no sense at all. In the last
five home games against Clemson, not six in the last five,
the game Cocks have snapped the ball. Okay, so this

(25:12):
does not include that twenty fifteen season. The Gamecocks have
snapped the ball just eight times inside Clemson's twenty yard line,
eight times in the red zone, and two of those plays.
Two of those eight took place, according to Larry Williams
in the thirty to Zhering beat down in twenty twenty one,

(25:37):
in the last two plays of the game for South Carolina.
They had zero snaps in the red zone this season
twenty fifteen. They had zero snaps in the red zone
in twenty nineteen, and zero snaps in the red zone
against Clemson in twenty seventeen. I don't know how you

(26:00):
you know, I don't know how you quantify that, Like
I don't know what rivalry games look like nationally, but
it is hard for me to imagine that in Clemson.
In fairness, okay, in fairness to all of our fine
feathered friends hanging out with us today, so.

Speaker 7 (26:21):
You could continue to peek over the fence at the
best radio showing the nation.

Speaker 1 (26:26):
Clemson was a Clemson was a little different for a while. Okay,
let's let's just be honest. Clemson was a little different
for a while, but they've been a lot more normal recently. Thus,
I would say South Carolina beating them twice in Death Valley,

(26:47):
but that's neither That's neither here nor there for this conversation.
What Clemson has done in Williams Brice Stadium to the
South Carolina game Cocks for half a decade is pretty
pretty incredible, pretty incredible dominating. Dare I say, seventy four

(27:09):
forty four and four the all time record, all right?
Eight zero three four five zero zero eighty six. You know,
we haven't talked much about some of the other games
that went down this past weekend, including the Iron Bowl,
which delivers as always. We'll talk about that and more
when we get back. Keep it a lot right here
on the show The SHAKESPA South Plantic Clempson Sports Talk
called Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred Clemson Sports Salt, Lowt

(27:32):
and Swan again just relishing in the rivalry week And honestly,
I kind of just say. I just say to our
fine feathered friends who are hanging out with us that
for many many years, when Clempson was just drubbing Carolina
on the regular and Clemson was going to the College

(27:53):
Football Playoff and was the number one team in the country,
I did not come in here and say a whole
lot about Clemson beating South Carolina. Are we clear, yes, sir?

Speaker 7 (28:03):
Are we clear, Crystal?

Speaker 1 (28:06):
But when the game Gogs beat the Tigers last year,
you know, I take your drubbings, I take your comments
and texts and tweets and YadA, YadA, YadA, and uh,
I'm gonna come back just like I would if you
were my buddy at the bar, and we're gonna sit
down and I'm gonna talk about what happened in that
ball game, and it's gonna bother some of you. You're

(28:28):
gonna go to your buddies at work and you're gonna go, oh,
I can't believe that. Range Shad and orange kool Aid
drinking Clemson marts. Tall guy I've been wrong. I'm just
telling you the stats and facts. I still can't get
over looking at the statistics of that game and how

(28:48):
it felt that Clemson didn't dominate. That that game wasn't
thirty five fourteen. Maybe it should have been with that
touchdown run that was called back off of a hole,
but I don't I don't really care about that right now.
The point is like, there was no moment, no moment
in that game where I felt like legit concern outside

(29:09):
of one second. That was when South Carolina had the
ball down six and I thought, all right, well, you know,
teams get aggressive at this point. They don't typically punt
the ball. You're under four minutes, They're gonna go for
it on fourth down. You gotta get little nor Sellers
off the field, Like I think game cock fans will say, yo,

(29:30):
we the script was writing up to be perfect. It
was writing up to be what we saw essentially last year.
And the other thing that's forgotten about last year's game,
if I may, is that if Kate Klubnick just eats
the football there on the final play of Clempson's offensive
play instead of forcing the ball to fill MafA, Clemson

(29:51):
probably kicks the game tying field goal. Right there. You
fill my head with such some propaganda, and I'm I mean,
I don't know who wins it. I don't know w
wins it in overtime, but I would have liked to
have taken my chances there anyway, aight, oh three four
five zeros, you were eighty six. That is the text
line in the phone line. And it wasn't just rivalry

(30:12):
week in the state of South Carolina. It was rivalry
week in the Yellahammer state. It was rivalry rivalry week.
I got me, but it didn't get me during rivalry week.
So take that. Take that rivalry week. You didn't get

(30:32):
me until Monday the following week with the old tongue twister.
But things got started on Friday when third rank Texas
A and M got beat twenty seven to seventeen by
in state rival Texas. And honestly, like, I'm not surprised
that A and M dropped a game. I actually had

(30:53):
somebody tell me the other day they thought that was
probably good for A and M to lose a game.
They want to have to go to the Sea see championship.
You don't have the burden of caring perhaps an undefeated
record into the postseason, you get a little more time
to get you know, rested, like it's not all bad
it was to your rival. And for arch Manning it

(31:16):
was certainly a big game for him, not necessarily statistically,
but for historical significance for him this season. Certainly a good,
good victory for Texas. And you know, Steve Sarkisian made
his pitch about why Texas should be in the College
Fotball playoff, and I'll make my pitch for my scenario.

(31:41):
We're the top four teams in the top four leagues
all get in and that's it. Notre Dames in the ACC.
We don't have this argument about well where're this where that?
Are you a top four team in your conference? Because
if you are, guess what you're in, and if you're not,

(32:01):
guess what you're out. And we draw the line and
guess what Texas you're not. Because currently the top four
in the SEC would be Alabama, Georgia, Old Misson, Texas,
A and M. So it wouldn't be any arguing, wouldn't
be any of this nonsense that we deal with right now,

(32:22):
Beauty Paget, Well, look who we played. I don't care,
don't care, go to my model, don't have to worry
about it. Dying on this hill, definitely dying on this hill.
But that's the way that we can got started. Then
you had Georgia Tech and Georgia in a very tight
game for the second straight season. No overtime, not eight

(32:44):
of them, not you know, nothing like that, but sixteen
to nine Georgia Tech more than hell their own against
the Georgia Bulldogs. Really good ballgame there. And then of
course you had Lane keppin an old miss stomping Mississippi
State eight to nineteen. The game was tight, a little
tight early, then a huge one at noon on Saturday

(33:08):
when Ohio State and Ryan Day finally topped Michigan twenty
seven to nine. That game was actually close early. Michigan
actually had the lead and I thought, all not this.
I was like, this is not happening again. You also
had a huge finish for the Oklahoma Sooners and Brent
Bnnables coming from behind to beat LSU seventeen thirteen and

(33:32):
essentially securing a college football playoff birth a Notre Dame
cruise pass Stanford forty nine to twenty. And then Alabama
scored late to knockoff Auburn twenty seven to twenty. Man.
Give the Auburn Tigers credit in the Iron Bowl, because
that's a game that probably shouldn't have been close, and

(33:55):
yet in the fourth quarter with eleven forty three left,
the Tigers tie at twenty and they battled down until
the final three p fifty when Ty Simpson hit Isaiah
Horton for a six yard touchdown, capping a fifteen play
seventy five yard drive to win it in Jurdenhair Stadium.

(34:15):
And get this, Auburn four hundred and eleven total yards
compared to just two hundred and eighty for the Crimson
Todde who will play in the SEC Championship Game. What
a weekend though in the world of college football, rivalry
games abound, just a lot of fun the entire weekend,

(34:37):
and that leads us into championship games on Friday and Saturday.
We got a break coming up. When we come back,
we'll give you a rundown of what those look like.
And we still have one more regular season game remaining,
as the Army Navy Game takes place on December thirteenth

(34:57):
at three o'clock on CBS so A rundown of the
conference championship games when we return Lawton Swan Clemson Sports Tall.
Let me tell you about our friends at Alumni Hall
on the corner of campus on College Avenue of downtown Clemson.
It's Alumni Hall for all your officially licensed Clemson merchandise, hats,
T shirts, Tailgate, Gary Moore. Go check them out today

(35:18):
or online at alumni haul dot com. It's Alumni Hall
where Tiger fans shop. By the way, it's where Virginia
fans can shop. I have the ACC Championship game, which
will be played this Saturday at eight o'clock on ABC,
the eighteenth ranked Cavaliers earning their way to the ACC
Championship the Duke Blue Devils seven and five overall, falling

(35:42):
into the ACC Championship by virtue of a tiebreaker that,
hopefully the Atlantic Coast Conference will examine and potentially say, Hey,
doesn't matter about your conference. What's the right word I'm
looking for here, win loss record. If you're tied, we're

(36:02):
gonna go with the highest ranked team. That would put
the better teams in. That would put the better teams
in again. My college football playoff solution would have conference
championship games go bye bye, you wouldn't even have to
worry about it anymore. Nonetheless, Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte,
Tony Elliott a chance to win an ACC championship. I

(36:24):
really hope they do. Chandler Morris, you know his father,
Chad Morris, comes on the show every week throughout the season.
That's spent a lot of fun. I am not looking forward.
I'm gonna tell you, I'm sure Chad Morris is looking
forward to getting back into coaching. I am not looking
forward to Chad Morris getting back into coaching because we're
gonna lose a great guest. Maybe we can figure out

(36:44):
a way to get him on from Tom to Tom,
depending on where he ends up once he gets back
into the saddle. Lots of coaching jobs available out there
with all the changes that we've seen. But at eight
o'clock on Saturday night as well on Fox, that Virginia
Duke Game will go heads up against number one Ohio
State versus number two Indiana in the Big Ten Championship

(37:05):
game from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. That day, though,
Saturday kicks off with the Big Twelve Championship as Texas
Tech will face BYU in Arlington Stadium at noon, and
then at four o'clock you've got the SCC the Southeastern

(37:26):
Conference Championship at the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta on
ABC as number ten Alabama and number four Georgia faceoff.
Kind of fitting to have those teams facing off in
that venue given how good some of the games have
been between the two teams in that very same site
for SEC championships, national Championships. I mean, it's just a

(37:50):
historical matchup as Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs will
be facing off with the Alabama Crimson time not Nick Saban,
that's gonna be I guess that'll be the big difference,
is no Nick Saban in this one. But all that
being said, it's still Alabama and Georgia. And then of

(38:14):
course you have your group of five championship games. Kennessas
State at Jacksonville State. That's a seven o'clock kickoff on Friday.
Troy at James Madison that's a seven o'clock kickoff as
well on ESPN Friday. North Texas at TWU Lane that's
an eight o'clock kickoff on Friday on ABC and then
UNLV at Boise State. That's an eight o'clock kickoff on Fox.

(38:38):
Can't hardly see Boise State on Fox and not think
about that game against Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl back
in the early two thousands of what a game that was.
And then there is another game on Saturday. Let's see
Western Michigan and Miami facing off at twelve o'clock. Miami

(39:02):
of Ohio, excuse me, Western Michigan Miami of Ohio facing
off at twelve o'clock on ESPN from Ford Field in Detroit.
That's the MAC Championship game. A little match for you
in the midst of a big day for the power
for as the Power four leagues dominate. Next Saturday's slate

(39:24):
again getting going at noon with number five Texas Tech
and BYU out of the AT and T Stadium for
the Big twelve championship game. And so again, how this
whole thing shapes up, shakes out, and how it all
ends up, you know, turning out no one knows. We've

(39:45):
got the College Football Playoff rankings coming out tonight and
then you'll get an updated set of rankings after. So
this is what they the way you call this the
penultimate rankings, and then after the conference championship games, we'll
get the final rankings. And look, I really don't know
who should be there. I really, I truly don't know

(40:08):
the answer to that question. In this twelve team playoff era,
even if we imagined it as a four team playoff era,
I mean it would be this would be about as
tight as it could get. I mean, honestly, in the
four team playoff era, can you imagine I don't know

(40:31):
that we've had anything like this where you've got two
undefeated teams from the Power four. I think you've got
six one loss teams when you include BYU in there.
And then if you include the two loss teams from

(40:56):
the Power four, I think you're looking at let's see
three seven Power four teams with two losses. I mean,
that's a ton of teams. It's just a logjam at
the top, and it's a twelve team playoff, and so
you start to get that cut line and you start

(41:16):
to figure out who you're gonna cut. You know, there's
a three lost Texas team. Need to begin and say, well,
we played Ohio State out of the gates, and you
want us playing tough teams don't you are we gonna
be penalized for losing to Ohio State. And other people
would answer that question with because Steve Sarkisian made his pitch.

(41:37):
I'm sure y'all heard him after the game on Saturday
after they beat Texas A and M. But those people
would say, don't lose to Florida. You'd be in if
you'd only lost to Ohio State in Georgia and you
gotta beat by twenty five by Georgia. Don't lose to

(41:57):
a Florida team this four and eight. Not going to
a ball like. You're not out of the college football
playoff because you lost to Ohio State. Duh. Here, you're
out because you lost to Florida. I mean that's the
truth of the matter. All right, Quick Break Hour number
two Around the Band. Jack Veltrie joins the show Stay
with us. It's time for Clipson Sports Talk with Luwton Swan.

(42:59):
It is our number two. That's a drive time right
here on the show, The Shakes, the South Lay and
Clemson Sports, Taltlat and Swaney. You know with you on
a Tuesday afternoon. Jack Veltrie, Gamecockcentral dot Com, part of
the All Three Network, joins us here on a Tuesday afternoon,
and of course the show The Shakes of south Land,
brought to you in part by our good friends over

(43:20):
at METS Plumbing mets Plumbing dot com. Two six seven
one O eight that's mets Plumbing. That's too, two six
seven ones you were eight? All right, Jack Veltree joins us. Jack,
Welcome in, buddy. You hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

Speaker 7 (43:33):
Yeah, man, had a very good thanks you having seen
my family and yeah, just uh gonna be honre with you.

Speaker 1 (43:40):
So does does does your family come down? How's how's
that work?

Speaker 7 (43:44):
Yeah? Yeah, so we we Yeah, we typically all come
together and you know, my brother and sister will go
to Clemson. I'm here in Columbia and my family is
in Port Mill, So yeah, we all come together and
it's it's always nice.

Speaker 1 (43:59):
Okay, So the truth comes out. This is like the
day people found out I had a master's degree from
South Carolina. So you have a brother and sister enrolled
at Clemson. That's wild man.

Speaker 7 (44:13):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's kind of unique, it's kind of interesting.
It's always a little bit of fun.

Speaker 1 (44:18):
But yeah, I okay, So let's first talk about the
Clemson South Carolina game. Obviously that's the topic of the week.
It's a weird game in a lot of respects, and
I was there just like you were, and I don't
know if you feel the same way I did. But
there was never really a moment outside of maybe the

(44:39):
final offensive competitive I would say, offensive snap when lenor
Sellis turns the ball over where I'm really concerned that
South Carolina is gonna win that game because I'm thinking
maybe pieces together a ninety five yard drive, right, It's
tough to get a team off the field late. But
then it also was a game that felt like Clemson
was just in control of but the stats outside of the

(45:01):
time of possession kind of tell a different story. Man,
what a weird game. That's the best way I could
describe it. It was just strange.

Speaker 7 (45:09):
Yeah, no, I would agree. I mean the stats would
tell you this was a very close game, which, to
be fair, was Clemson only led by six points going
in the fourth quarter. But I will say this, I
mean South Carolina never really had control in that game,
never led, so they were always playing from behind or
were tied, and they just could not get it going

(45:30):
in the second half offense. But I think that was
the main thing was just that Clemson really outplayed South
Carolina in the key moments and also just out coach
South Carolina. So you gotta give a lot of credit
whord to do. I was not high on Clemson knowing
that game, but I could certainly see why they played
a lot better as.

Speaker 1 (45:49):
A play well. And it's so weird because now Clemson
has won six consecutive games in Williams Brice Stadium and
dating back to twenty fifty teen. Clypson I don't think
is trailed in Williams Brice Stadium in this game, which
is also just incredibly bizarre. You know, for South Carolina fans,

(46:12):
that has to be the frustrating thing because the Game
Cocks have battled during those ten years against team after
team in the Southeastern Conference Conference, tooth and nail at
Williams Bryce Stadium. I mean, They've made that place difficult
for everybody to come in and win, and somehow, some way,
Clipson just continues to find a way to win. I mean,

(46:34):
that's got to be incredibly frustrating. Is that sort of
the sentiment of the fan base at this point.

Speaker 7 (46:40):
Yeah, I would say so that there is a level
of frustration, and I think it all kind of just
stems from this season in general. Really, I don't think
people are too overly concerned, or at least I haven't
see people freaking out about the fact that South Carolina.
I mean, yeah, people aren't half South downs Clems at

(47:01):
home since twenty thirteen. But I think more so the
frustrations just stemmed from this season and underperforming to a
significant degree. So yeah, I mean, look, you can be
upset about losing the Clemson and the rivalry and all that,
but you know, South john has done better in this
rivalry as a late I think more fans are concerned

(47:22):
about just the fact that how bad this season went
in general.

Speaker 1 (47:26):
Jack Peltrie with us here gamecayic Central dot Com part
of the On three network Big Day tomorrow National Signing Day.
Keep up with all your game cut coverage over there
throughout the day as they will have you locked down.
And speaking of Shane Biemer and Davos Sweeney, I mean
they have a very interesting relationship. The second I'm walking
out of the press conference with Dabo Sweeney post game,

(47:46):
there's Hunter Beemer, Shane's son, and his wife Emily, and
you know, Dabos hugging Hunter and talking to him, talk
to him obviously before the game. Kathleen kind of leans in,
gives like a little I would say a little on
the cheek of Emily and says love you guys. How
is that? How is that kind of absorbed for the

(48:07):
South Carolina faithful? I mean, is it something that they
absolutely hate or do they also understand how similar in
a lot of respects Dabo Sweeney and Shane Beamer are.

Speaker 7 (48:19):
Yeah, it's a good question. I think some folks are
definitely all just frustrated with that that the you know,
they want to see the rival be treated like a rival,
not like a friend, right, But I honestly, I think
I've also seen some people, including myself, just kind of
feeling different to it, Like I think it's fine, Like, like,

(48:43):
I don't think it's that big of a deal if
Dabo and Shane are friends now when it comes to
the game being played, Yeah, their enemies, but like, you know,
it's it's fine to have that sort of connection. Also
because you know, Davos coached against Frank for a bit
too years in his earlier years of Clemson, So out look,

(49:03):
I have no issue with it, and I think it's
not a big deal like some people make it out
to be.

Speaker 1 (49:10):
Again, that's Jack Veltrie from gamecccentral dot com and Jack
Chris Clark over there at game coc Central put up
the story on your boards. And obviously he got passed
around because Dabosweeney talked about this young man named Tron
who he met before the game, and tragically Tron passed

(49:32):
away just after the ballgame on Saturday, but got a
chance to meet Dabo Sweeney, actually got a chance to
hear Coach Sweeney talk about him in his postgame conversations.
You and I just now talking about this rivalry, but
here's a situation, and Chris put it best. He said,
it's much bigger than football. And what a cool moment

(49:53):
for both fan bases in the middle of this heated
rivalry to be able to celebrate this young man and
his life and the fact that as much as we
can agree to disagree on who's the best team in
the state or the team that we love, that it's
much bigger than college football, this sport that we love.

Speaker 7 (50:14):
Yeah, now, this is a rivalry that runs deep, and
you got a lot of people that feel one way
about each other. But yeah, ultimately, look, I saw a
post that Chris made too, and it's it's thinks to
see that that kid, Tron pass away so young, and
you know, my thoughts go out to his family and

(50:35):
friends and close ones and everybody in the Clemson community
as well. But yet it's a sad situation then.

Speaker 1 (50:41):
Yeah, no doubt in those those individuals, Clyde Wren over
at South Carolina who's been at Clemson back in the day,
helping out with I think a game cock named Russ
Lloyd to make that all take place, to help Tron
Foster who is just twenty three years old and hip
been dealing with cancer since childhood, since his childhood and
tragically passed away after that game on Saturday again hanging

(51:02):
out with Jack Veltri here on the program from game
con Central on Twitter at Jack T Veltrie. Make sure
you go give him a follow now. After the game,
you know, Shane Beemer was bullish on South Carolina's future
for sure. What was kind of the tenor of that
conversation and maybe not necessarily from what Shane had to say,

(51:24):
but how was it received by the media members in
the room.

Speaker 7 (51:28):
Yeah, Look, he's been kind of adamant about it for
a few weeks now that South Carolina next year is
going to be a lot better, contending for a chance
to go to college football playoff. He feels pretty good
saying that. I mean, he's spoken about a few times now,
and you know, look, he's said it for weeks now
that he's going to get this thing right, that he

(51:50):
has vowed to fix things and change things for the
better heading into twenty twenty six. And I think he
got to kind of words only mean so much in
the standard to think he had to go out there
and prove it. And there's a big off season for Shane.
He's got a lot of work to do with hiring
new staff members, going into the portal, signing this recruiting

(52:13):
class that they have, you know, throughout the rest of
this week, and there's a lot of tasks that are
at hand. But you know, Shane has made it clear
that he's going to get this thing right and things
will look so much different next year.

Speaker 1 (52:27):
One of the other things that I think it's weird
this era we are in because you know, a guy
like Leonora Sellers, who in the old days you'd say, man,
he's absolutely going to be back in Colombia. He's absolutely
going to finish it, you know, has to be asked
about his future. And on Saturday, I think you'll agree
it probably didn't leave a lot of Gamecock fans feeling

(52:48):
great with some of the comments he made. But then
he was at an event I think maybe yesterday and
talked about the fact that you know, he was I
think he said that he get ready and be prepared
for next year, is what's been reported. And so from
that standpoint, I mean, how do fans feel about Lenora

(53:09):
Sellers at this point, maybe given his comments after the
game and our South Carolina fans excited about the opportunity
to have him back as well.

Speaker 7 (53:18):
Yeah, so it's interesting because you know, I think a
lot of this season's struggles do have to do with
the fact that I think Mike Schuller, I mean, there's
a reason he got fired, right, He did not do
the best job calling plays, and I think you can
say that a lot of people feel that he ruined
Leonora's Sellers this season. And you know, look, Leonori's has

(53:40):
not had a great year. His numbers have been a
lot lower than they were last year, and he's gonna
have a big decision to make. I think a lot
of people have been critical of him because of what
his mannerisms and press conferences and you see that clip
out there him, which I don't even think it's fair
to even judge him off of when he's seen like
smiling or something right or right, and people are taking

(54:03):
things so crazy and out of abortion. Look, I think
some bands would like to have him back. I've seen
others that are just like, Okay, Leaves like, I don't
know how to feel about it, you know, I think
it depends on who you get for your offensive coordinator.
I think if you get a good OC, maybe there's

(54:23):
a good quarterback that is at that school that you
plug that guy in from, maybe you bring him with you.
I mean, I'm not sure. I think you hope that
this year is an anomaly for sellers. I think NFL
scouts probably still view him fairly high. If he's getting
first round draft projections. I don't see why he wouldn't
go to the NFL. But I think it's either that

(54:44):
or he stayed in South Carolina.

Speaker 1 (54:46):
A couple more questions here with Jack Veltrie on a
Tuesday afternoon following Clemsons twenty eight fourteen victory over South Carolina.
Jack what was probably, from your standpoint, the most surprising
aspect of the game. Kind of looking at Clemson and
the team that you saw coming into that game, what
surprised you from the Tigers.

Speaker 7 (55:09):
Yeah, I think just so, I don't know if I
was surprised, I think would just be that, you know,
I said coming into the game that it wasn't really
so much about what Clemson did, but rather how South
Carolina played. I think that kind of still held true
to where Cleinson didn't play a great game, but they

(55:33):
kind of capitalized off of South caroln As mistakes. Right,
South Carolina turned the ball over four times in this game.
Clemson only turned it over once. South Caroln and did
nothing on third and fourth downs, and Clemson took advantage
of that. Right, So I think give craig to Clemson's defense.
I think they were really good. I think Clemson's receivers
and club Nick kind of stepped up and had some

(55:53):
big plays at times on offense. But you know, I
wasn't like wowed by Clemson. But it's also like South
bron just didn't play a great game. I mean, it's
the simple fact of the matter in this case, and
that's ultimately why they lost by two scores.

Speaker 1 (56:07):
Yeah, I think the you know, the story probably was
the fact that it wasn't a larger margin, which probably,
like you said, had to do with Clemson maybe not
playing as well as they could have. And you know,
they had the one touchdown that got called back, the
long touchdown run. But that's neither here nor there at
this point. I mean, to me, what told the story

(56:29):
was holding Leonora Seller's you know, minus's sackyards to just
two yards rushing and maybe more specifically the time of possession.
You know, I don't know that way would as if
I'm being honest with you, Jack, I don't know that
way would as mix that tackle in the open field
if Clemson had been on the field twenty five to
thirty minutes instead they had been on the field at
that point like sixteen, and you know, he's got pretty

(56:53):
fresh legs. I would say that was a big part
of it too. But anyway, followed full coverage of South
Carolina and recruiting on game Central dot Com, party all
three detwork with Jack Veltrie and Jack I'll get you
out of here on one final thing, sort of outside
of the scope of Clemson in South Carolina, just your
thoughts on the soap opera that was Lane Kiffin moving

(57:15):
to LSU from Ole Miss.

Speaker 7 (57:19):
Yeah, I think that was quite crazy, to be honest,
that he I mean, that whole saga was just kind
of nuts. I'm being quite honest. I think it was
just pretty crazy. And I thought, honestly, he was gonna
stay at Old Miss, But you know, it's it's kind
of crazy that he ended up going to LSU, and

(57:41):
I think, I'm I'm kind of glad it's over, and
you know, I think, you know, I can't even imagine
covering it, being on the LSU or full Miss Beat
or national reporter doing that. I mean, it's probably be
such a headache, to be honest, but you know, I
think everyone's kind of you know, we haven't seen anything
like that really before, and I don't hope we will again.

(58:02):
But yeah, it's just kind of crazy, to be honest.

Speaker 1 (58:05):
Yeah, I hope we can get the calendar fixed and
eliminate things like this from happening. There's no reason that
any team's head coach who's in the hunt for a
spot in the playoffs should be concerned about losing their
coach to a program, let alone a rival program. Like LSU,

(58:25):
So what a weird situation again. Full coverage tomorrow on
game cock Central for recruiting. Man, I'm sure you guys
will be what crack of dawn tomorrow probably over there.

Speaker 7 (58:36):
Yeah, I mean it's gonna be busy over here. And yeah,
I mean head on over a game paccentral dot com.
We'll have full updates on everything going on with National
Signing Day or Early Signing Day over these next three days.
So definitely gonna be busy over that.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
Yeah, another part of the calendar. I wish we could
change and go back. Let's just go back to that
February signing Day. Let's make it mean something again. It's
it's it's just a weird, weird sport we're in right
now in college football. All right, Jack, have a great
week again. Follow him on Twitter at Jack t Veltree
gamecockcentral dot Com. Thanks Jack, I appreciate it. So there
you go. That's Jack giving us the scoop on South

(59:13):
Carolina coming off the heels of they're lost to Clemson
on Saturday. Again, I mentioned it earlier if you're just
joining us, like Clemson's offensive performances over the final four
games of the regular season, but three against Power four

(59:34):
opponents Florida State, Louisville, and South Carolina. Not great. I mean,
twenty four points against Florida State, twenty points against Louisville,
and just twenty one offensive points against South Carolina. I did, however,
think in you know, like I feel like if I

(59:58):
watched Clemson for the first time, if I'll was a
South Carolina person and maybe you even watched them on
you know, a couple of games kind of like I've
watched South Carolina this year, I think the thing that
would have impressed me is just how good Clemson's defense
played against South Carolina. And the final stats, weirdly because

(01:00:25):
of the passing numbers, look like Clemson was terrible against
South Carolina in that regard. I mean really, I mean,
I really think they do. Like the fact that you
give up what three hundred and eighty one passing yards
till the North sellers. Now two of those plays back

(01:00:49):
to back for about one hundred and thirty of those,
but those those stats count. But it was kind of
the way Clemson contained the game Cocks. The way that
Clemson never sort of presented the opportunity for South Carolina

(01:01:12):
to win that game was probably the bigger story, and
the fact that South Carolina hasn't led in that venue
in so many years is bizarre. But taking a look
back to talking about Lenora Sellers in three hundred and

(01:01:35):
eighty one passing yards, when we come back, I'll let
you know how that number, cause again I think we
all felt like Clemson played really well. I'll let you
know how that number stacks up by comparison to his
passing stats throughout the season. All right, So with a

(01:01:59):
quick break, we'll come back with more Clemson's sports stall
right here on Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred and of
course you could catch the show the Chasa Southland on
the iHeart Radio application. We'll be right back long and
swine back with you again, thinking to Jack Veltree for
joining us before the break. All right, So, three hundred

(01:02:22):
and eighty one passing yards for Leonora Sellers in that
ballgame against Clemson. And I do want to preface this
by saying that there was obviously the final drive for
South Carolina that put seventy four yards on the board,

(01:02:48):
and I could go back and tabulate how much of
that drive was passing yardage, but that's not really either
here nor there, because in my opinion, like in every
game that you lose, and South Carolina lost a lot,
there might be a drive that sort of has that

(01:03:10):
same in that same kind of result, Like late in
the game, you're throwing the ball, you're just trying to
do what you can. Now, two plays in that game,
the seventy four yard touchdown in the fifty three yard
touchdown back to back plays totaled one hundred and twenty

(01:03:32):
seven yards of the three hundred and eighty one that
South Carolina gained. Now, if we take that out of
the equation, it's still two hundred and forty four passing
yards for the North Sellers. But with those two big

(01:03:57):
plays included, which they absolutely should be, the three hundred
and eighty one yards that Clemson gave up against Lenora
Sellers in South Carolina was by far the most passing
yards Sellers had all season by far. Sellers threw for

(01:04:18):
two hundred and seventy four yards against Coastal, two hundred
and forty six against A and M, one hundred and
eighty against Old Miss, to twenty two against Alabama, one
twenty four against Oklahoma, one twenty four against LSU, one
fifty three against Kentucky. He did eclipse three hundred yards

(01:04:42):
passing against Missouri three hundred and two, but still seventy
nine more passing yards against the Tigers, one twenty eight
against SC State, and just two hundred and nine against
Virginia Tech. Meaning even if you took those two big
chunk plays off of it, he still passed for two

(01:05:05):
forty four, which teams who held him to less than
two forty four on his schedule would still be Old
miss Alabama, Oklahoma, LSU, Kentucky in South Carolina State No.
And Virginia Tech too. I mean, think about that. How

(01:05:29):
bad that three eighty one is, you know, by comparison.
I mean that's another you know, we talked earlier about
Mickey Kahn and Mike Reid and what their situation is.

(01:05:50):
That cannot help it the way those stats against Laura
Sellers stacked up, because he's not at this point a
great deep ball passer, and he hit on the one
big deep ball and then the other one was Lord,

(01:06:13):
I don't know how you break that one. I'm not
even sure what that play was. I know this, it
was ugly. The second touchdown where that guy catches the
ball in traffic and those two Climpson defensive backs looked
like they didn't know come here from Sickham and they
didn't know what they were doing. Nobody made the tackle

(01:06:37):
cost you six points in a ton of yardage, you know,
and maybe the way the game feels and stats feel
is much different if you made that tackle and you
continue to play the way you had played, which is,
you know, Clemson really controlled that game from the outset.

(01:06:57):
But yeah, I think for anybody looking at the woes
in that game of why you sit here with a
twenty eight fourteen victory and still very much feel like
it was a strange game where South Carolina was really
in it, but not look no further than those passing stats,

(01:07:22):
and everybody knows who the individuals are coaching that room,
and it hadn't been good this year. It certainly needs
to get better. Some of that is because obviously the
defensive line had not been maybe as threatening as they

(01:07:47):
could have been. But either way, in that South Carolina game,
those dudes were menacing. And yet you still allowed a
not so great passer to throw for three hundred and
eighty one yards nearly four bills in passing. Yeah, that's

(01:08:11):
not gonna go over well, so hard to believe that
the game felt the way it felt. Sellers twenty three
or forty two for three hundred and eighty one yards,
two touchdowns at two interceptions. The game Cocks on the ground, however,

(01:08:37):
Rashel Fason just five attempts for thirty seven yards. Sellers
had twelve attempts for two yards. You know, Tiger fans
complained and complained and complained about Clemson, you know, getting
away from the run too early. The game Cocks rushed
the ball nineteen times for forty one yards. Clemson rushed

(01:08:58):
at forty times forty for one hundred and forty seven yards.
Clemson was balanced thirty nine passes, forty rushes. I mean,
like I was talking about earlier with Garrett Riley, Like
if you can get Garrett Riley to stick to the
ground game and be more consistent with it, you know.

(01:09:23):
He that was kind of Tony Elliot's thing, right, It
was always balanced. If Clems could be balanced and success
successful in the run game. I don't know what you
have to make a change at the offensive coordinator position.
All right, we'll hit a quick break, we'll come back.
We'll talk about some of the weird out of Oxford

(01:09:43):
over the past few days, in the situation with Link Kiffin,
stay with Us, Clemson Sports, Salt, Lawt and Swan, the
show that shakes the south Land on a Tuesday again
Clemson beating South Carolina over the weekend twenty eight fourteen.
We could certainly continue to talk about that, But the
story that sort of stole the day and a half,

(01:10:07):
maybe three days of the weekend was the situation with
Lane Kiffen and would he or would he not end
up leaving Old Miss to go to LSU. I didn't
think it was a wise move for a multitude of reasons,
Most notably I didn't think it was a good move

(01:10:28):
because I felt like at Old Miss, given what he's built,
regardless of where you see Old Miss by comparison to LSU,
given what he's built, in my opinion, people were going
to see him as Old Miss, like Clemson fans see

(01:10:53):
dabos when he has Clemson and Georgia fans now see
Kirby Smart as Georgia. Firing that guy would be almost impossible,
Like it's incredibly difficult to imagine Clemson firing Dabo Sweeney.

(01:11:14):
Dabosweeney walking away much easier, much easier to believe, but
firing him no. And I think Kiffen had that And
I tweeted it and a lot of people came at
me about it because I said, I thought Keivin could
be what Clemson has in Sweeney and what Georgia, what

(01:11:36):
Georgia has in Kirby Smart. And I think if you're LSU,
the thing that you risk is you bring this guy
in and in a couple of years does he do
he bolts and now he's the coach of the New
Orleans Saints or you know something like that, like over
and over and over. It feels like with Lane Kiffin,

(01:11:57):
he's always going to go take the next and the
next job will come and maybe it's Alabama, right. You
think he wouldn't leave LSU for Alabama. I think he would,
especially given the fact that he just left Old Miss
for LSU. And not to say that LSU had in
a better job, like I get that, But when it's

(01:12:21):
all said and done, you know what's your legacy and
how do people remember you? And it Ole Miss had
he stayed, this guy would have been revered, absolutely revered.
And so now you've got some other weird things that

(01:12:46):
have come out of all of this, including the fact
that apparently the dog Juice Kiffin, who kind of became
this social media star, but the dog belongs to the
university and not Lane Kiffin. Juice Kiffen was not the dog.

(01:13:16):
It was not Lane's dog. It was like a ruse,
I guess. So there's that aspect of the whole situation,
which I think you will agree, Like, would you if
it came out today that Kirk Herbstreet's dog wasn't his dog,

(01:13:37):
it belonged to ESPN. Would that not shock you? Of
course it would. And that's how people feel when they
found out that Juice Kiffin didn't belong to Lane Kiffin. Now,
Kiffin also held his coaching staff to standards, so he
would not hold himself essentially as I understand, and that's saying, hey,

(01:14:00):
you're either on the plane to LSU with me or
you're not coming. And they sattled up the ones that
wanted to go with him. We get this. All of
that was about money, right, The whole thing was about money.
Here's Lady Kippen during his press conference.

Speaker 3 (01:14:20):
I said, through the process, Okay, I'm I'm never gonna
make a decision on money, and I'm telling you right now,
I don't know what my contract is here. That's not
very financially responsible. Okay, I'm sure it's really good. Okay,
I don't know what it is, nor did I know
what the other places what the numbers were, because I

(01:14:42):
said in the beginning, I told Jimmy Sexton, don't tell
me the numbers. Okay, I want to make a decision.
It has nothing to do with money for me. Now
tell me the numbers in the plan for what the
money is for the players, because that's everything in that area.

Speaker 1 (01:15:01):
To me, I don't believe that. I don't believe that.
I don't believe that he would sign a contract or
that he would agree to go somewhere and not know
the money. And right now LSU is currently paying three

(01:15:24):
head coaches. They had to pay at Ordron a seventeen
million dollar buyout back in twenty twenty one. They are
paying Brian Kelly's full buyout fifty four million dollars, and
they are now paying Lane Kiffen his ninety one million

(01:15:49):
dollar contract. And oddly, Lane Kiffin has just run the
at Ordron am of coaching. He's been the head coach
at Southern cal He's been the head coach at Ole Miss,
and the head coach at LSU. All three spots at

(01:16:13):
Orgeron also coached. So I think when Clemson goes to
LSU next season open the year, I think that it's
going to be a huge story. First off, I mean
for Dabosweeney and Clemson, you want to talk about a
chance for redemption from this past season, how about go

(01:16:38):
out there and win that game against LSU and Lane
Kiffin in Week one when the eyes of college football
are on you on the road. You talk about turning
like what happened this past year into a positive. Go
win that game with Lane Kiffin there. I mean, Brian
Kelly's here. It's a big game now that's magnified to

(01:17:02):
the nth degree. And so Clemson will go to LSU
and face off with Lane Kiffin and his squad in
the bankrolled squad clearly, and we'll see how it goes.
But awesome chance for the Tigers in the opener next year.
All right, final segment, flip side, stay with us? What

(01:17:25):
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 answers to the questions
what have you done for me lately? And what have
you done? Always are the same.

Speaker 2 (01:17:51):
We win.

Speaker 1 (01:18:00):
Friends. Final segment on a Tuesday, Clemson Sports Salon just

(01:18:41):
want to get thank you to our friends at Alumni
Hall for being a sponsor of the program. Remember on
our website, if you go to Alumni Hall site, you
can make your purchases, whether it's for Clemson gear or
Virginia gear for the ACC Championship, whatever team you support.

(01:19:03):
If you see on Alumni Hall dot com that that
school is supported or has a store, you make your purchases.
As long as you went through our link over on
our website, We'll get credit for that. So you can
buy gifts for your non Clemson friends if you need
to go check them out today online in Alumni haul

(01:19:25):
dot com. All right, so final thing again, Clemson beating
South Carolina Colin Sadler with a reception in the ballgame
off of a tip ball and Dabosweeney saying, hey, that's
kind of the story of the game, right When Colin
Sadler has as many receiving yards as Lenora Sellers has
rushing yards too in the game. You know, it's been

(01:19:47):
a good day. Sadler walking off of the field. Lou
Bejak from the State newspaper took a video of Colin
Sadler coming off the field, and I'm gonna give Sadler
a ten ten for his form a walking like a
chicken as he was leaving the stadium. And in addition
to that, I don't know if you noticed or not,

(01:20:11):
but Clemson, as they ran out in Williams Brice Stadium,
they brought additional tarping, Like an additional they extended the
tunnel so that the players when they came out weren't
right there in the midst of the South Carolina Faithful.

(01:20:32):
Like when Clemson kind of dumped out onto the field,
they were much further out than you would typically be
because Clemson created a makeshift tunnel that helped lead them
out onto the field. I don't know if you saw that.

Speaker 3 (01:20:48):
Or not.

Speaker 1 (01:20:49):
Again, tonight the college football playoff rankings, the penultimate rankings
are coming out, and we'll certainly see where everybody Land ranked. Clempson,
you cowards, No, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, but thinking about
like the way this could all work out, I mean,

(01:21:12):
this will give us a good, you know, a good
metric on it all. I just wonder if we get
down to a situation where the conversation comes down to
Miami and Notre Dame, given the fact that the fighting
Irish got beat by Miami in the opener, and I

(01:21:38):
would argue, I think Notre Dame is the better team,
and I think like to believe that head to head
is the end all be all. It is something that
we always talk about with the playoffs, But do you
really believe that Syracuse is better than Clemson even though

(01:22:04):
you saw them beat the Tigers. I mean, that's the
thing in sports, we say any body can beat anyone
on any given day, but then when it comes down
to okay that happened, we go, well, that's how it was,
and that's the way it will always be. Do I
think Notre Dame beats Miami nine out of ten times? No?

(01:22:30):
Do I think they beat them seven out of ten? Maybe?
But I know Miami beat them one out of one.
And so like, as you go around and try to
digest how you're gonna put, you know, what team in
and what team out. Until we significantly change the way

(01:22:53):
we do it, this is gonna always happen, and it's
gonna be your team, or it's going to be the
team you hate, or it's gonna be a team you
don't care about. But that's why, you know, the system
that I've talked about with you for several weeks now
several months even is so much better for the fans

(01:23:19):
and the sport because discussions about team A beating Team
B don't exist in the NFL, They don't think about it,
they don't exist in any pro sport. Why do we
continue and again we'll get the numbers tonight and we'll

(01:23:42):
talk about tomorrow. But why do we continue to look
at college sports and college athletics as beauty pageants? We
do it with the NCAA tournament. You have a horror evidence,

(01:24:02):
you have conference records, you have and look, this one
team play a tougher schedule than the next. Yeah, but
that's I mean, the NFL does a good job of
trying to make the competitive balance in the scheduling, and
I respect that, but college sports has to get out

(01:24:23):
of this beauty pageant mode. It's just it's not It's
not great for anyone, the players, the coaches, the fans, nobody.
But we'll see how it all looks tonight. Until then,
as always, y'all take care now and goat tigers.