The "Gundy Gone" Edition

As Swanny projected in the offseason, Mike Gundy's time in Stillwater has concluded. Plus we take a closer look at South Carolina as the Gamecocks are now 0-2 in SEC play.

Episode Transcript

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

(00:44):
Clemson Sports Talk has come back to drive time. Hell everybody,
Lawton Swan back in the saddle once again. It is
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(01:06):
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Show that shakesa Southland to Mets Plumbing. All right, So
today is interesting because something we talked about this summer

(01:52):
that we thought Mike could happen did indeed happen. Mike Gundy,
the second longest tenured head coaching football, was relieved of
his services at Oklahoma State following what was an abysmal
performance against Tulsa, after just getting run off the field

(02:13):
on the road at Oregon. Uh my, how the Cowboys
have fallen. If you will come after me, I'm a man,
I'm forty, I'm not a kid. And I think there's
perspective to be had for the Clemson Diger faithful among
us when you consider Mike Gundy's career and you put

(02:40):
it beside Dabo Sweeney. And I bring that up because
I think it is important to think about context when
we talk about a team plateauing and then the downslide.
And the difference to me in Clemson in Oklahoma State

(03:04):
is that Mike Gundy and that Cowboy program never reached
the level that Dabo Sweeney did. They came close. Back
in twenty eleven, they finished third overall, they were twelve
and one, and they won the Fiesta Bawl. And they
had I think another top ten finished during his time there,
back in twenty twenty one when they went twelve and
two and finished seventh. Also went in the Fiesta Bowl

(03:26):
that season, And there have been some really good years
in Stillwater and their fans recognize that fact. But to me,
the difference is, and I know he's been at Oklahoma
State longer than dabos Sweeney's been at Clemson, But when
you win multiple national titles in a program that only

(03:49):
had a singular one national title before you arrive, I
think Dabo Sweeney gets the right to decide when he
wants to go. I think he gets the right to say, hey,
I'm gonna hang this thing up. And from that standpoint,
I know people are pounding this, say Swanny, there's got

(04:09):
to be changes, even if that is Dabo, But I
don't think that you do the things that Dabo's done
and deserve not to have the chance to ride off
into the sunset when you want to. If Dabo Sweeney
wants to attempt to rebuild this thing, you can. And
if we talk about like the trends that we mentioned

(04:31):
yesterday with losses and the way those losses went from
no losses back in twenty eighteen to a loss in
twenty nineteen, to a couple of losses in twenty twenty,
and then how it's progressed up to four losses a
year ago, in the year prior and now sitting on
three just four games in the projection would certainly be

(04:51):
that that four is going to five. And look, Dabo
Sweny said earlier this year, we might be a six
and six team, but I don't think so. I bet
he's thinking differently about that statement today. But this team
still has a lot left in front of them, and

(05:12):
they get a week off to ponder it. We'll hear
some of Dabo Sweeney's conversation with the media yesterday as
he held his typical Sunday press conference on Monday because
of the bye week, and I'll let you hear some
of what he had to say ahead of this bye
week and just kind of getting themselves right in between

(05:36):
the years. I mean, this is as out of sorts
as I can recall really seeing and feeling like I've
seen a Clemson team in a long, long time. And
it's not a comfortable place for the coaching staff. It's
certainly not a comfortable place for Dabosweeney. And while the

(05:58):
fall is somewhat in conjunction with Oklahoma State, it is
not nearly what befell Oklahoma State. You know, two years ago,
back in twenty twenty three, Gundhy's ball club was ten
and four seven to two in the Big Twelve and
won the Texas Ball to finish sixteenth in the country.

(06:21):
They followed it up last year, going three to nine,
losing nine consecutive games oh to nine in the Big Twelve,
and then this year starting one and two and again
none of these games conference games. But when you get
beat at home by Tulsa nineteen to twelve, the first

(06:44):
time I think that Tulsa had won against Oklahoma State
since the fifties on the road, Yeah, that's not gonna
do it. Athletic director Chad Weiberg saying Cowboy football reached
an unprecedented level of success in national promidence under coach
Gundhy's leadership. I believe I speak for all Oklahoma State

(07:05):
fans everywhere when I say that we are grateful for
all he did to raise the standard and show us
all what is possible for Oklahoma State football. Gundy, in
his twenty first year leading the Cowboys, is just fifty
eight years old, Trail's only Kirk Farnce at Iowa, who

(07:25):
has coached since nineteen ninety nine with the Hawkeys. Gundy's
exit just four days after that nineteen to twelve lost
to Tulsa in less than twenty four hours after Gundy
on Monday coach practice and publicly stated his one hundred
percent intention to remain with the program beyond the twenty

(07:51):
twenty five season. Gundy sent on Monday, quote, I'm under
contract here for I think three and a half years
when I was hired here to take the job. Ever
since that day, ever since that day, I put my
heart and soul into this, and I will continue to
do that until at some point if I say I
don't want to do it, or somebody else says we

(08:11):
don't want you to do it. Gundy set to make
six point seventy five million and twenty twenty five per
his contract. He's owed fifteen million by the university upon
his departure. Oklahoma State University President Jim Hess said in

(08:32):
a statement, quote, this is a decision about what's best
for our football program, our student athletes, and Oklahoma State University,
and it reflects our unwavering commitment to championship level football
and competing for national success. And again that's the university
president there, Jim Hess. He also said coach Gundy's dedicated

(08:55):
decades of his life to OSU, achieving significant success and
positively backing hundreds of young men who wore the o
ISSU uniform. His contributions to our university, both as a
player and coach, deserve our profound respect and will not
be forgotten. We're grateful for his service and wish him
and his family the very best. That's Oklahoma State University

(09:20):
president again. Jim Hess. Offensive coordinator Doug Meacham has been
named the interim head coach. A source told ESPN it's tough.
I mean, I don't know if this is nil. I
don't know if this is the time just passing him by.
I don't know if that's similar for Dabo Sweeney, but

(09:41):
I do think the major difference is with all of
the success and everything that Mike Gundy had at Oklahoma State,
I think Dabo Sweeney Farley Farley? Would that be? Would
that be the right way to say it? Farley exceeds
furtherly exceeds. I'm not even sure how you would say

(10:05):
that what Dabosweeny has done far exceeds. There. I think
I got it right, all right, stuff it. That's enough.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
I can't take it anymore. You're not even making sense.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
You're just saying words far exceeds what Mike Gundhy achieved
at Oklahoma State, and that's why I think, regardless of
your concerns about Clemson and where this program is today,
I think you have to take a page out of

(10:37):
the recognition handbook that guys who have the success that
Dabosweny has had are so few and far between. And
it doesn't mean that you have to wallow in one
in three starts for the rest of eternity. But I

(10:58):
do think it's suggest YESK, that you at least have
to have a modicum of recognition to give this individual
some time to get things back to good. Now. Granted,
you will say, Swanny, it has not been great since

(11:21):
twenty twenty under Dabosweeney, and I will accept that it
has not been elite since twenty twenty, and that is
five years of hoping that you could climb your way
back into the elite status of college football. But let's

(11:41):
not forget his emergence into elite status was something that
was gradual, and he went from a three loss team
into the College Football Playoff. And I bring that up

(12:01):
because this is a three loss team and I am
not implying that they are going to make it into
the College Football Playoff this season. But the jump back
in or at that time, just the jump in went
from ten to three to fourteen and one. So while

(12:22):
these past few years have not been that seventy nine
and seven incredible run that he had from twenty fifteen
to twenty to the end of twenty twenty, I believe
is when that run, you know, bared out, I mean
for crying out a loud, Dabos Wingey has lost more games.

(12:43):
This is kind of crazy. Dabos Wingy has lost more
games since falling to South Carolina back in November. Okay,
so you lost that South Carolina game, You lost the
game against Texas, you lost the game against LSU, Georgia Tech,
and Syracuse. Right, you've lost five games. There was a

(13:07):
stretch where I was on the radio here at Fox
Sports Radio fourteen hundred from twenty to fifteen until the
last game of twenty nineteen that Clemson lost five games.

(13:29):
Think about that. Since last November when Clemson lost to
South Carolina, they've lost a total of five football games
in less than a calendar year. They did not lose
five football games in five calendar years combined. And I'd

(13:57):
even have to go look at that twenty twenty season
to see when their first loss came. That twenty twenty season.
That first loss didn't come until November. That was the
dj Uiunglole forty seven to forty overtime loss to not
their Dame. I mean, it's absurd the success that dabos

(14:19):
Wweny's had and his success squashes squashes the success that
Mike Gundy had at Oklahoma State. I'll be interested to
see Mike Gundy twenty one years, one hundred and seventy

(14:42):
wins in his twenty one seasons coaching. Dabo Sweeney one
hundred and eighty one. Dabo is one eighty one and fifty.
Mike Gundy was won seventy and ninety and Dabo Sweeney's
been coaching for what fourteen seasons? Really fourteen full Gundy's

(15:08):
been coaching for twenty one. I mean, the success Sweeney's
had squashes absolutely obliterates Mike Gundy's numbers. If Mike Gundy,
I'll put it this way, if Mike Gundy had Dabo
Sweeney's success at Oklahoma State, even with the year they

(15:29):
had last season and with the way things have started
this year, I don't think you can fire him but
they have not had they have not had that kind
of success. They've been good, they've been good. They've had seasons,
not many, but seasons where they were great. And I'm

(15:52):
sure for their fans they've had what feels like great
moments in great years that maybe weren't elite. Clemson has
been elite for a while and now they're not right now.
And you'll hear that when we hear from Dabos Sweeney
coming up in about four minutes, well eight minutes with

(16:12):
the commercial break, but when we come back in just
a little bit, I'm gonna play you a portion of
Dabos Sweeney's conversation with the media during his Monday press
conference teleconference, and all that is is where we dial
in and get the chance to ask him some questions.
It's it's not as formal as a press conference. It's

(16:36):
much shorter. Dabos Sweeney, obviously, when he's in front of
the cameras has been known to kind of spend some
time spending yarns and talking. But man, what a struggling

(16:57):
start for Clemson and what a struggling couple of years
for Oklahoma State. Againness they part ways with Mike Gundy
we also lost a major, major coach in basketball, maybe
lost in the right word, and he didn't die. He's
retiring and gonna hand the keys to the Auburn program.

(17:20):
Bruce Pearl gonna hand the Auburn keys to his son
as he's stepping away just a few weeks, for four
weeks or so, five weeks whatever it is, before basketball
season really gets going. He's gonna leave the planes. Well,
he'll probably stay on the planes. He's turned that program. Uh,

(17:42):
they've reached heights that they have not reached since the
early nineties when cliff Ellis was there. Funny how that
is for cliff Ellis at Clemson, cliff Ellis reached heights
nobody was able to reach until recently. I mean, Rick
Barnes had a little run, but Brad Brownell obviously outperformed

(18:05):
cliff Ellis in terms of the success that he's had.
Flipped that further to Auburn, where cliff Ellis had tons
of tons of success as well. And now Bruce Pearl,
who took them to a couple of final fours, will
step away from the Auburn basketball program effective immediately. His son,

(18:30):
Steven will be taken over as the new head coach
for the Auburn Tigers, and we'll see if that changing
of the guard has a huge impact or not. Steven
got a five year deal. This is not just a
simple handoff. This is a passing of the torch to

(18:50):
the next generation out at Auburn. So we'll see how
that all shakes out. But very surprising. We've seen this before.
We saw this a year ago up in Charlottesville with
Tony Bennett deciding to retire just before the season, and
the thought process there was that, you know, it was

(19:13):
all about giving the assistant coach an opportunity to prove that,
you know, they could cut the mustard, that they were
worth the opportunity. And unfortunately for Tony Bennett, that did
not work out, as Ron Sanchez went fifteen and seventeen,

(19:39):
eight and twelve overaw and was let go or I
guess not extended might be the best term for it.
And they've hired Ryan Odom, who was in his first
year after spending a couple of seasons at VCU, taking
over in Charlottesville. Quick break, we'll hear from Dabos when
you were after this Clemson Sports talt Lot and Swann

(20:02):
on a Tuesday again no game this week. Dabosweeny, though,
met with the media yesterday during a teleconference. We jump
into some of what he had to say after having
a chance to kind of watch that loss against Syracuse.
Poor guy, I had to go back through and watch
that thing again, so did I awful I might even

(20:23):
watch a third time. Just a glutton for punishment. Here's
Dabos Sweeney during his time with the media yesterday.

Speaker 3 (20:30):
Just a quick recap from the game. Obviously incredibly disappointing
and from a big picture standpoint, just just can't seem
to play complimentary football. First half defense, he struggled offensively,
We really were rolling pretty good with limited opportunities, and

(20:55):
then you know, just got too much of a hole
and again a slow start, and then I can half
uh just again, just can't put it all together right now.

Speaker 4 (21:03):
But there are some positives, for sure.

Speaker 3 (21:06):
I know everybody looks at the record and that's all
anybody thinks about, But there are.

Speaker 4 (21:10):
Still some positives We've got.

Speaker 3 (21:12):
We've got a great group of young men, and you know,
certainly not the not the record that we wanted or
envisioned or worked for, and a lot of disappointment, but
you know, Uh, I'm really proud of these guys for
how they've hung in there. Uh, this is certainly a

(21:34):
tough moment for us, but but yeah, it'll make us
better and uh, I just uh really like the response
from our guys. Again, this is I really believe this.
This is not what we expected. But I don't think
it caught God by surprise. That's just what I believe.
And so we'll, uh, we'll rally. The open dates come

(22:00):
had a really good time for us, and uh.

Speaker 4 (22:05):
Game wise, we came through pretty healthy.

Speaker 3 (22:08):
We'll have some guys that will be a little limited
this week, but you know, we we came out of
it pretty pretty good shape. Big picture wise, So big
week for us as we as we really reset.

Speaker 4 (22:20):
On on on what what's in front of us.

Speaker 3 (22:23):
Again, that's what our focus is going to be on
what's what's in front of us and just continue to
help these players, you know, transform their lives. And again,
I don't really know, you know, God's big picture plan,
but I do know that.

Speaker 4 (22:40):
He'll use this for.

Speaker 3 (22:41):
Good and I don't really I don't have any doubt
about that. It might be twenty years from now, you know,
one of these players just saying that he you know, Hey,
here's what happened, and it was the best thing that
happened to me, and here's what it taught me.

Speaker 4 (22:54):
So I don't know, but I do.

Speaker 3 (22:56):
Know that that you know, you know, God is is
uh is at work here and we'll use this opportunity
to glorify him through it. So I just continue to, uh,
you know, help these guys. Man Again. We got a
great group of young men, just tremendous uh, you know,

(23:19):
seniors and great leaders that have poured everything into concent
and my focus is is really just to do what
I think I do best, and that's coach, teaching, mentor
young men and help them, help them flush this and
and move forward and focus on what's in.

Speaker 4 (23:35):
Front of us.

Speaker 3 (23:36):
You know, we we we're not gonna win the national
championship this year. We won three in one hundred and
thirty years. But that doesn't mean we can't win the season,
doesn't mean we can't finish well and uh and doesn't
mean that we can't enjoy the journey, because that's what
this is. It's part of it's a part of the journey.
And this is a tough time, but you know, a

(23:57):
lot of great days ahead. And you know, the tough
time make you appreciate the good ones even more. There
will be a lot of good ones, uh, you know,
but and I don't have any doubt again this will
make us all better. But from a football standpoint, you know,
we gotta we gotta, we gotta find a way to
put it all together. I mean, we just we just do.

(24:18):
I mean there's a lot of good things and some things,
but just consistently getting it all put together has been hard.
And football is hard, you know, it's the greatest team
sport out there. And getting eleven guys, you know, you know,
giving it all they got and getting their job done consistently,

(24:38):
that's where it starts. And we've got a lot of
guys that have absolutely done the very best they can do.
And sometimes our best isn't good enough. But I believe
you should do your best.

Speaker 1 (24:49):
Anyway best Stabo Swiney, And he's right, like, look, sometimes
your best isn't good enough. But I just I disagree
with him, and I think you do too, Like I
don't think this team collectively is giving their best. I
really don't. Here's some more from Dabo Sweeny. See you
talked about, you know, just how this team feels right now.

Speaker 4 (25:11):
But again, UH got a team that's hurting.

Speaker 3 (25:15):
But I just I cannot I can't even begin to
express how proud I am of them for how they've
responded today. And you know, probably one of the best
team meetings I've ever been a part of. And uh,
you know, tough times to bring out you know, good
and bad in people, and just really proud of these

(25:36):
young men for how they've responded today and their enthusiasm
to get back to work tonight and uh to focus
on what we can what we can do, and you know,
to learn from what we've already been through and applied
as we move forward.

Speaker 4 (25:51):
Uh. So again, know a lot of disappointment and things
like that, but uh.

Speaker 3 (25:56):
You know we'll uh well we'll build and uh for
me personally, you know, just hurt for everyone and wish
I could, wish I could everything would go exactly the
way we want, but that's rarely the case. But you know,
I absolutely believe that, you know, God will use this

(26:18):
to make us all better. And so again, Andrew wise,
we're in a good spot.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
So that's a portion of Dabos swingya. That's his opening statement,
basically after getting a chance to watch the game, and
again we've got some Q and A with him coming up.
You can read through most of it over on our website,
clympsessupports sub dot com, but we will certainly put this
out there for you on the show when we come back.

(26:46):
We'll hit a quick break. Hey, our number two get this.
It's a Tuesday. You know what that means for all
of our fine feathered friends that are out there.

Speaker 2 (26:55):
Who you could continue to peek over the fence at
the best radio showing the nation.

Speaker 1 (27:00):
We will peek over the fence into the backyard of
the South Carolina game Cocks Jackveltree Gamecockcentral dot Com part
the on three network, a new guest on the program,
taking Mike. You have a spot, Mike, you say, what
happened to Mike? Swanni? Where's Mike? Dude? Mike is a
Schanta Clear?

Speaker 4 (27:17):
Everybody say it with me.

Speaker 1 (27:19):
Shanta clears.

Speaker 3 (27:20):
Shanta clears, Not Shanta Clear, Shanta.

Speaker 1 (27:24):
Clears working in the athletic department over in Myrtle Beach.
Pretty awesome for Mike, you or Conway, Conway, excuse me,
quick break. We'll be right back London. Swan back with
you on a Tuesday afternoon, the show that SHAKESPA Southland.
And don't forget about our friends in Alumni Hall on
the corner of campus on College Avenue of downtown Clemson.

(27:45):
It's Alumni Hall for all your officially licensed Clemson merchandise, hats,
t shirts, tailgate, gearymore. Go check them out today. Let
them know Swane Saints you had Alumni Hall or online
at alumni Hall dot com. It's Alumni Hall where Tiger
fans shop. All right. We heard some of dabos Sweeney's
teleconference yesterday and he was asked about the potential of

(28:10):
in season staff changes. And here's what Dabosweeny had to
say about And now I will tell you today Garrett
Riley did meet with the media. But here's dabos Sweeney's
thoughts yesterday about that.

Speaker 4 (28:25):
I don't anticipate that, you know.

Speaker 3 (28:28):
Again, my focus is just on trying to have a
great open date and try to kind of reset our goals.
And we've got a we got an eight game season.
That's kind of how we have to look at it
and reset our goals and what we need to do.
And but we got a bunch of good people here,
got a bunch of great people, honestly that have worked

(28:48):
their tails off. Again, it's frustrating when you don't get
the results that you feel like you've worked for. But
that's life and that's and that's football. But we also
have accountability and we all know that that. You know,
we've got a job to do and uh it's my
job to make sure that that we're better. I mean
we we certainly uh uh have not have not achieved

(29:13):
what we expected to achieve. And again I don't want
to take anything away from opponents, uh but uh, you
know it's it's not been you know, what we've worked for.
But again, uh, I think everybody here is has responded
the right way. And we'll lock in and focused on
just trying to have a great couple of weeks here

(29:35):
and and uh see if we can go find a
way to win a game and we'll go from there.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
Dabo Sweeney was also asked about like having the bye
week and how do you go about making adjustments in
order to improve your situation.

Speaker 3 (29:50):
I mean, I got to find a way to get
our team playing better, start and faster playing our potential.
There's there's you know, nobody wants to hear. We're a
couple of plays away here or there. But you know,
momentum is a big thing, and and uh, just confidence
and and just you know a lot of disappointment and

(30:13):
all those things.

Speaker 4 (30:14):
Those are those are all all factors.

Speaker 3 (30:16):
But we just gotta we just got to focus on
doing some little things better and putting these guys in
position to execute with with a little more precision we've not,
and then just finding a way to play complimentary football.
You got to do what what winning takes. I mean,
we we've lost the turnover margin to two games in
a row and not turn it over again. Really poor

(30:36):
first half defensively, couldn't get the ball. By the time
offense got the ball, we were down ten to nothing.
So we've we've played from behind just about every game
except for the LSU game, which was probably our that half,
that first half and the second half of Troy's best
complimentary stretches we've had. So just trying to get these

(30:57):
guys to to play better, that's what our folk.

Speaker 4 (31:00):
This has got to be.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
And it starts with us and coaching them and again
using this as an opportunity to to develop them. And
there's some definite adversity, but there's also opportunity to teach
these guys and you know, equip them as they move
forward with their lives beyond Clemson, and so I think
that's important too. So there's opportunity and everything, and you know,

(31:21):
mostly I just I really feel like God's that work
with this team, and I'm excited about that. I mean,
for me personally, I just I just I just lean
on my fundamentals, man. I mean, I just stick to
the fundamentals and you know, keep my eyes on the
Lord if I believe no matter what, even when it
don't make sense, and then I don't. I just I

(31:43):
just don't quit when when things don't go the way
I want them to go. I know, God never says oops.
And I've lived that way since I was sixteen years
old and a record doesn't make me flinch or doubt
that now. But for our football team, you know, we've
just got to We've just got to find a way
to execute our plan to win at a much higher level.

Speaker 4 (32:02):
And that's on all of us.

Speaker 3 (32:03):
So, I mean, it's a it's a frustrating thing because
we are a talented football team that we have underchief,
and that's that falls on me. That's just bottom line,
like I've let a lot of people down, especially these seniors.
We all got a job to do, and this accountability
for all of us, and so we're just gonna flush this, man.
I mean, that's all we can do right now is
completely flush it, bury it, and you know, focus on

(32:27):
what's in front of us and and the and the
opportunities that we still have. So I don't have any
doubt these guys will will respond and and I really
believe God will use it in a mighty way. And again,
I don't know what it'll be again, it might be
one of these guys twenty years from now dealing with
their family or dealing with their business, whatever, but they
can look back and say, hey, this was a bad moment.

(32:49):
Here's what I learned from it. That's just my perspective
on it. And you know, it's just a part of
our journey, just Clemson story. It's a pruning season.

Speaker 4 (32:56):
I mean, that's just what it is. And we got
to we'll come back stronger than ever.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
And as I've told our players today, you know, any
anybody can navigate the wins and victories, but you know,
true leaders have to be able to navigate the ballots
and We're definitely in a valley of disappointment right now,
but we'll work our way through it. And there's no
one thing I can tell you. There's no quitting these guys,
and there's no quitting this staff, and certainly hadn't gotten

(33:22):
the results we want, but we absolutely everything that that
we need to do better.

Speaker 4 (33:28):
We can do better.

Speaker 3 (33:30):
But we got to get We got to get, you know,
eleven guys on the same page more consistently, and we've
got to find a way to play complimentary football and
get everybody pulling on the same side of the rope
as opposed to pulling against each other. We've not really
been able to do that consistently, and that's been the
frustrating part.

Speaker 1 (33:50):
That's Clipson, Hey, coach Dabo Sweeney talking about the Tigers,
just trying to get it back to good. We'll hear
some more from him in our number two Jack Veltree,
as I mentioned earlier from Gamecockcentral dot Com, also going
to be a part of the program here today as
we get you geared up. But I've got something I
want to talk about and it pops up a lot
on our social media feed when I put anything out

(34:12):
about Dabo Sweeney. Whenever I post anything about Dabosweeney, this
pops up, and I just wonder, doesn't matter? Does it matter?

Speaker 4 (34:23):
What? You know?

Speaker 1 (34:24):
It's this talking point, this issue that people have with
Dabo Sweeney that I don't think should be a talking point.
I don't think it should matter. And I'll tell you
what that is when we get back. All right, So
you want to keep a lot final segment of our

(34:46):
number one coming up? Jack Veltrie, new guest from Gamecockcentral
dot Com, going to be a part of the program
in our number two. But I've got to take about
I've got something to say. I've got a hot take
about something that you guys talk about a lot in
our comments on social media. I'll tell you what that
is when we get back. Keep it a lot right here, well,

(35:08):
Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred and on the iHeartRadio app.
Final segment of our number one, the show The Shakespare
south Land. All right, Clemson Sports Talk. That's the website
as well. So I've got something I gotta say that
I just got to get it out there about this
whole Dabo Sweeney Clemson thing, because, like you, I am
not satisfied with where Clemson currently sits in terms of

(35:32):
their play this season. I have to look at it
sometimes a little bit differently than you. I openly share
that I take these wins and losses differently than you do.
But one thing that you guys say a lot that
drives me crazy is this anytime we've post a quote,
a positive thing that Dabo Sweeney has to say about

(35:54):
this season and how Clemson's going to, you know, attempt
to turn this thing around, right. I mean, first and foremost,
he's a coach. He's a coach. The things that he
says aren't said necessarily for you. They might make you

(36:14):
feel better, but some of you just take those things
and you run them right into the ground. Yesterday, during
some of the comments we heard, he said everybody gets
knocked down in life, but not everybody gets back up.
And responses to that on social media are things like,
well for eleven million dollars, y'all to get back up.

(36:37):
I don't understand why everyone ties how much money Dabosweeney
makes into why you aren't happy about Clemson's situation at
one and three, and you'll say, what what do you mean?
You don't understand it? It's eleven million dollars. I'll ask

(36:57):
you this, Should you feel any differently if dabos when
you were coaching for free? Of course not. You should
feel the exact same way regardless of how much he's making.
So to use how much he's making as a catalyst
to your argument for wanting more success for Clemson, to me,

(37:20):
it doesn't make any sense. You could talk about the
product that you see on the field and how poor
it is, and why aren't these guys motivated and why
does it seem like they're not playing as hard as
they can play, and you can you can comment when
Dabo Sweeney says things like these guys are given all
their heart and effort. If you don't believe that, that's fine.

(37:40):
But it doesn't matter to me about how much he's making,
whether it's two million or twenty million. What matters to
me is what the product on the field looks like,
regardless of how much he makes. Like if you're a
reason and the only reason that you're disappointed in the
way Clemson looks is because of how much Dabosweeney makes,

(38:02):
you're mad about the wrong thing. You're mad because you
don't make the type money that he makes, and you
don't make the money that he makes, especially if you're
not having success. But I've thought about this a little
bit lately as a coach, and I would love to

(38:23):
hear what the coach thinks on this, because I'm not
a coach. But are you paid, in your opinion, if
you were a coach or or a coach, based off
of hope for the future or what you accomplished previously,
Because I think once you've had a little track record,

(38:44):
you're paid by what you have achieved previously. Dabosweeney is
paid what he has paid, not because of the hope
of what's to come, but because of what he's already delivered. Now,
you might disagree with the eleven million dollars that he makes,
but he generates way more than that for Clemson, way

(39:07):
more than that for the community. Like Dabo Sweeney, you
might say, oh, man, coach is making eleven million dollars
is overpaid. But the dollars that he's driving into town,
the dollars that he's pulling in to the university, more
than off set what he makes. And not everybody that
makes a lot of money can say that, at least

(39:28):
I don't think. Conversely, I would say if you kind
of look at it the other way too, from the
standpoint of, okay, well, what happens if Clemson stays on
this track record and they're not doing as well? Swanee?
Is he going to take less? I think he will.

(39:50):
I think Dabo Sweeney's the kind of guy, especially now
after all the money that he's made that I think
if he if this thing continues down this track record
or you know, this track that this on, I think
he'll give back more. I think he'll take less in
hopes that that money can drive success for the program
by benefiting the players. One thing Dabosweeney has that a

(40:13):
lot of coaches don't have at this point in the
world of college football is he's made enough during his
long tenure and his great success that he can pull
back the rains a little bit and not really hurt
all that much in terms of the future finances of
his family. I mean, if Davosweeny made three million a

(40:33):
year and gave eight million to bring in players, he'd
be fine. He's got enough in the bank. I'm sure
he's been putting money away. I'm sure he's invested in
bought properties and this, that and the other. So to
complain about what he makes today as the reason you're
unhappy with the results, to me is wrong. You should

(40:57):
be unhappy with the results if he was making nothing,
because that's not what Clemson football is. And it doesn't
matter how much the guy is being paid to lead
the team. Either your standard is about Clemson football or
your standard is about how much you're paying the coach.
And I look at it from the standard of what
Clemson football is and I don't care if the guy's

(41:17):
getting paid peanuts or eleven million dollars. The product I've
seen is not good, and I don't need to talk
about how much he's making in order to justify the
poor performances that I've witnessed. Does that make sense? I mean?
Am I am I crazy? Let me know what you
think in the comments. If you're watching on TikTok, I'd

(41:38):
love to hear from you a zero three four or
five zero zero eighty six. That is the text line
and the phone line as well if you want to
chime in if you're watching the show. Would love to
hear from you guys too, as we talk about your
Clemson Tigers here on a Tuesday afternoon, all right, game
Cocks lock in Jack Veltrie. I don't know Jack. I've

(42:03):
only texted Jack a few times, but Jack Veltri will
join us. Gamecoccentral dot Com is the website part of
the A three network as he becomes our new Gamecock
insider to hang out with us here each and every
Tuesday to give us the scoop and the skinny on

(42:24):
the South Carolina game Cock. Stay with us each time
for clips and sports talk with Luwton Schwan. It is

(43:10):
our number two that's drivetime writer on the show The Shakes,
the South Land, Clympsones, the Sports Salt Lo and Swan
hain't out with you on a Tuesday afternoon, of course.
The Show The Shakes the South lamb brought to you
in part by our good friends over at Mets Plumbing
mets plumb dot com two six seven one o eight

(43:31):
that's Mets Plumbing two two six seven to one eight
call them today and again. Glad to be back with
you all here on a Tuesday afternoon as we get
your rolling along towards another weekend of college football. Now
for your Clympson Tigers, of course, they are on the
sidelines taking a little respite after stumbling and bumbling and

(43:55):
fumbling their way out of the gates. Oh man, talk
about talk about tough time to be a Tiger. I
know you Tiger fans are out there licking your wounds, man,
licking your wounds. But today Game Cognation also licking their wounds.
And we got a new guest from gamecoccentral dot com,

(44:16):
the on three site or South Carolina Gamecock fans, Jack Veltree,
joins us here on the program.

Speaker 4 (44:24):
Jack.

Speaker 1 (44:24):
What's up man? How are you a man?

Speaker 5 (44:26):
I appreciate you having me on and looking forward to
talking with you today.

Speaker 1 (44:30):
Well, hey, it's too bad neither one of us is
really talking about a team that's trending towards the college
football playoff. With the way this thing has started from
both South Carolina and Clipson, I know Tiger fans are
absolutely floored at their one in three start. Where are
game Cock fans right now in your mind after the
way things have gone specifically in SEC play, but now

(44:53):
sitting there at two and two, Yeah.

Speaker 5 (44:55):
They're not too far behind, I would say, and feeling
like the the the sky is falling and that things
are couldn't be going worse. And you know, it's it's
tough to find many positives when you're zeroing to to
start conference play. You have high expectations coming into the season,
but those have definitely feel like they've been lowered ever
since South Carolina lost to Vanderbilt two weeks ago. Now,

(45:18):
then you lost in Missouri on the road in the
game that I feel like you should have won. I
think that's how a lot of people around here feel,
is that you let that game slip away. You made
too many mistakes for the second week in a row,
and you pay the price for it.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
So you move on.

Speaker 5 (45:31):
But obviously there's a lot to clean up. And that's
kind of the thing that I think Gamecock fans have
been most adamant and frustrated.

Speaker 1 (45:38):
About Jack Veltrie with this year on the program, making
his debut. So for our listeners, Jack, just a brief introduction.
I guess of you know your background and how you
kind of came into covering South Carolina over at Gamecock Central.

Speaker 5 (45:53):
Yeah, So I went to South Carolina, graduated about coming
up on three years ago now, and I been with
game Pack Central full time since October twenty twenty twenty three,
been interning there before that, since summer of twenty twenty two.
So I've been around with GC for a little while now,
and I cover South Carolina football, men's basketball, and baseball

(46:16):
and love doing it. It's obviously a busy time of
year right now with the football team getting going and
basketball starting today in baseball for fall starting here in
a few weeks. But it's never a dull day here
in Gamecrack Country.

Speaker 1 (46:31):
No, I guarantee you that. And so where did you
where'd you grow up?

Speaker 5 (46:36):
Well? I am originally from New York, born and raised
in Long Island, New York. Are on Long Island.

Speaker 1 (46:42):
Okay, so we've gone from We've gone from Boston to
Long Island. Okay, this fitty Yeah, so I'm not.

Speaker 5 (46:49):
Too far off from where Yva is. I still have
that accent and all of that. But yeah, no, I
grew up in Fort Mill. I moved to South Carolina
when I was at eleven, I think, I want to say,
And yeah, man, it's I definitely enjoyed being in South
Carolina a lot more compared to the cold and you

(47:11):
know nastiness that is part of New York.

Speaker 1 (47:14):
Oh man, Well, now now we've got a little connection
since you're from the Fort Miller area. That's where my
sister and her family lived. My niece is just a
little bit older than you. What high school did you
go to.

Speaker 5 (47:27):
I went to Fort Mille Heights School.

Speaker 1 (47:29):
Okay, so yep, she went to Fort Mill too, but
she went to Clemson. So you know, she's on the
other side of where half of the Fort Mill students
I think go in this date age, either the Clemson
or South Carolina. All right, Jack, let's talk a little
more about what the game Cocks have coming up this weekend. Look,
I'm gonna be honest with you, Okay. My prediction for
South Carolina season this year was I thought they had

(47:51):
a great chance to go five and oh out of
the gates, and then I thought they were gonna hit
like murderers row the Clemson games looking a lot better
at the back end of the schedule, for sure, sure
for South Carolina. But man, how big is this game
this weekend seven forty five Williams Brice Stadium on the
SEC Network against Kentucky. Because I said this yesterday and

(48:14):
I got Game Cocks will tell you this program is
fair and pallas when it comes to South Carolina. If
they don't win that game, Okay, Jack, I'm not sure
if there's a Southeastern Conference win on the schedule looking
at what I've seen so far.

Speaker 5 (48:29):
Yeah, I would have to agree with you. It's definitely
gonna be tricky if you don't win this game. I
mean it's it's tricky in general, just because you play
Kentucky this week as a team that looked pretty good
against Ole Miss. Gave them a good fight, but obviously
Carolina has had their number over the last few years.
The main thing is that after this game, your next
five SEC games are all against ranked opponents, so there's

(48:52):
really not much time to you know, you gotta get
things right fast. I mean, that's that's the main thing
moving forward here. So I mean, you have to win
this game because you also have your bye week coming up, right.
You want to have a good positive vibe going into
the buy and then you get ready for LSU here
two weeks after that. So the importance of this game

(49:14):
is huge. I mean, you don't want to start off
zero to three in conference play, and if you were
to lose this game to Kentucky won a team that
many of you as being one of the worst, if
not the worst, in the SEC this season. I feel
like that would be rock bottom for a lot of
Game Tac fans in terms of the expectations they had
for this team.

Speaker 1 (49:32):
Jack, how surprised, I guess are you with just the
way things have gone offensively? I know Sellers got hurt
in that Vanderbilt game, but even watching it, I'm not
sure that South Carolina could have kept up with Vandy
even if Sellers was out there. Do you do you
feel much like maybe the Clemson people feel watching the

(49:53):
Tigers offense, it's kind of surprising the fact that there
hasn't been more productivity. I mean, even if you go
back to the Junior Tech game, right you're talking about
the punt return in that volume that was so big.
The South Carolina State game was It's like you're down
by three in the final five minutes and you get
a couple of punt returns. I mean, minus the punt returns,

(50:16):
this team has not been an offensive juggernaut this season
at all.

Speaker 5 (50:21):
Yeah, it's a little surprising, I would say, just because
you have, like you said, Leonoris Sellers is back for
another year under center. Now, you have some really good
receivers that are returning on the outside, some freshmen that
we've heard a lot about at receiver, your offensive line.
You had to replace your your two interior guys and
your center. But you feel pretty good about those guys

(50:43):
because they've recruited pretty well out of the transfer portal
in high school. But for whatever reason, it just has
not fully come together. Now, let me say this the offense.
The numbers are not good overall, okay, but I will
say the first steps in the right direction. On Saturday,
Sellers throw for three hundred yards passing. You know, he
had two touchdowns. There were some throws he missed, there

(51:05):
were some balls that probably should have been picked off
by Missouri, but you know, there's no doubt in the
passing game they looked a lot better. There were issues though,
with the sacks, some of the Sellers' decision making, some
of the play calls at times. There was the first
in goal at the two yard line where they decide
to do an I formation play action pass and Sellers

(51:26):
get sacked on it. You know, if there's some moments
like that that have fans really frustrated, and the fact
that they couldn't run the ball at all in this
game with not with negative nine rushing yards. So there's
some good there's probably more bad than good, obviously, but
I think Saturday was definitely in the slightest way step
in the right direction.

Speaker 1 (51:45):
He's on Twitter at jack veltrie go following today as
he covers the South Carolina game Cocks for Gamecockcentral dot Com,
part of the A three Network, and he'll be filling
in in, Mike, You've a spot here on the program
and giving us the insight into what's going on as
we peek over the fence into the backyard of the
South Carolina game Cocks. Now, the other side of I

(52:07):
guess this thing is on the defensive side of the
ball for South Carolina. And you know, look when you're
playing in the Southeastern Conference. Back when I was growing up,
that's what it was all about. Like those dudes, they
didn't really care about the offensive side. It was all
about being defensive minded. Well, now, I mean, these offenses
can score left and right, and if your defense has
any weaknesses or holes, it gets exploited pretty quickly. How

(52:31):
would you say, through four games, you feel this South
Carolina team has been defensively maybe by comparison to preseason expectations.

Speaker 5 (52:42):
Up and down. I think we had to you know,
I think people need to temper their expectations a little
bit with this defense. I think that's been the case
all along because of look at all you lost after
last season. That was always going to be tricky to replace.
And if they took a step back, which spoiler have
you know, it wasn't going to be a huge, huge surprise.

(53:04):
And yeah, I mean, look, the defense was pretty good
through two games so far. The ship that they played
really well against Virginia Tech. They played pretty solid against
SC State, But then you had the last two weeks
where you've given up you know, thirty one points against
Vanderbilt in twenty nine this past weekend against Missouri, it's
not good. And the bigger issue is that the mistackles
have been racked like highling up. I mean, you had

(53:26):
ten against Vanderbilt, sixteen this past weekend against Missouri. Mistackles
were one of the biggest issues in this game and
it ultimately led to Missouri scoring to go ahead touchdown
because of mistackles that you just couldn't wrap up on
any play. But also, you know, you're allowing teams to
convert on third downs at a high rate. You just
you have a lot of issues right now on defense,

(53:47):
and I think you're kind of missing the veterans that
you had on that defense last year. I mean, you
lost three starters on the defensive line. You lost you know,
all your line back, right, you lost Nicky Fo, you
lost do Don Fortune. You know, that's a lot of names.
I'm just mentioning right there. So the defense has to

(54:08):
really figure it out. I think it's just simply coming
down to the fact that they need to wrap up better,
and if they do, I think that's gonna lead to
a lot more success on the field. I mean, they're
not bad, but they just need to be a lot better.

Speaker 1 (54:19):
I think the other thing too, watching that South Carolina
Missouri game this past weekend that really, I'm gonna be honest,
Jacket made me look at Clemson a little bit and go, go,
where's the effort? But I'm watching Missouri and just so
impressed with mad Hardy and just how hard that kid
ran the football. And you know, then conversely, you look

(54:41):
at South Carolina's numbers rushing, and I know that Faison's
story was sort of unique when you know whether or
not he was gonna be able to play, and then
he got back, and I think everybody kind of had
high expectations, but the game Cocks just you know, negative
nine yards rushing on twenty two carries, and I know
Sellers is twenty eight with the sacks and everything goes
in that. But were you surprised that South Carolina didn't

(55:03):
have maybe a little more luck running the ball, because
I would imagine most people probably were pretty stunned at
those numbers when they were finalized after the game.

Speaker 5 (55:15):
Yeah, I'm a little surprised by how I think poor
might be the right way to put some of the
Russian numbers of this season. I think Faison has definitely
not lived up to that billing that many has them. Yeah,
keep in mind, if there's a guy that you didn't
know if you were going to have him, you know,
ready to go heading into game week, and that changed.

Speaker 1 (55:35):
That's so dumb. Can you believe the NC double? I mean,
it's just ridiculous that whole situation.

Speaker 5 (55:40):
Yeah, I mean you had to wait eight months for
him to be cleared, which was ridiculous in and of itself,
But I bring that up because you waited so long
for him to be cleared. You had so much hope,
so much optimism he was going to be great. And
I feel like the return on investment hasn't really been
so far. From being honest to me, Yeah, he had

(56:02):
seventy four yards and a touchdown against Vanderbilt, but he
had five yards this past weekend. And also he's been
receiving a lot of heat on on social media for
that miss block he had first in goal that led
to Lenora Seller's being sacked. So, look, there's some good
with Faizon, there's also a lot of bad so far

(56:23):
this year. We know what he can be, but we're
just not seeing right now. Maybe a lot of that
does have to do with the offensive line and the
blocking up front, but also, Faizon's a guy that he's
not the quickest guy, but he's very shifty, can make
moves and find ways to run through even the smallest souls.
So you know, he's the leader of this running back room.
Got to be better and it just has not been

(56:45):
so far.

Speaker 1 (56:45):
Jack Veltrie from game Cock Central with us here on
the program for a few more minutes as we continue
to talk about the South Carolina game Cocks. Now, the
other story that sort of touched on South Carolina over
the past week or so was the fact that Brent
Pryor was fired up at Virginia Tech, and obviously the
connections with Shane Biemer to Virginia Tech. I know Biemer

(57:06):
was born here in the state of South Carolina when
his dad was coaching down at the Citadel. I know
that he loves being in Columbia. But after watching what
happened with Virginia Tech and Brent Prye, I got to
imagine somebody in Blacksburg's going, guys, we gotta press Shane.
We gotta press Shane even more. And I'm not saying
that he's gonna leave, but the people in Blacksburg can't

(57:29):
be foolish enough to not push the envelope with Shane Biember,
just giving what we've all seen from his success at
South Carolina. What sort of the buzz around that. I
know Shane has talked about it as well, But what
do you think about that situation? Because I've always said,
and game Cocks will agree with me as well, the

(57:49):
path to the playoff is much easier through the Atlantic
Coast Conference. It's a lot easier through Blacksburg than it
is through Columbia. What do you say about it?

Speaker 5 (58:00):
Sure? I mean, I agree with you, It definitely is,
But I'll also say this VT is in a much
different spot right now compared to most of your power
for programs. I mean, this is a team that got
beaten pretty badly by old dominion. I mean, that's that's
not it's not a good look Virginia Tech. And I'll
say this about the whole Beamer VT situation. Yes there's there,

(58:23):
there's the connection there. But Beemer's obviously spoken publicly about
how he feels about South Carolina plenty of times, that
he's got his family here, he loves it here. I'm like,
I would be stunned if he went to Virginia's like
number one, because unless I'm misremembering, I'm pretty sure he
has to pay, you know, the buyout to leave South
Carolina to go to VT, which I think is five

(58:46):
million dollars. So I don't think he's gonna want to
do that. But also, he's making much more money here
at South Carolina than I think he would at Virginia Tech.
Since they just fired their coach, I mean, I think
they're gonna be probably looking to hire maybe a group
of six head coach, somebody, maybe a coordinator or something.
I just don't see them hiring somebody like Beemer, Well

(59:08):
they call, I'm sure they will will be or accepted,
probably not. You also gotta remember, I mean, in any
given Saturday, the SEC documentary on Netflix that came out
last month, you know, Beemer was talking about the fact that,
you know, when he goes back to Blacksburg, he's Frank's
son and he wants to build his home legacy in
all that. So look, I think Shane, just hearing what

(59:30):
he's had to say, I just don't think there's any
interest in that job. I mean, money can always change things,
but I think he's happy at South Carolina.

Speaker 1 (59:38):
You know what's wild about about it though, now versus
when we were younger watching the sport, Like the roster
doesn't matter, you know what I'm saying, Like he could
take every player that wants to go with him from
South Carolina. Like that's the bizarre era that we live in.
I don't think it's gonna happen either, But man, what
a story for Game Cup fans have to follow, especially

(01:00:01):
if this year doesn't go well, Like if they don't
win this game this weekend, I don't know what the
conversations will be about Shane Biemer over at Williams. Brice
Stadium in the parking lot after that Clemson game win
loser draw in November. But man, they got a ways
to go in the Southeastern Conference. Tough sledding remaining for
South Carolina again. That's Jackveltrie, Gamecockcentral dot Com, part of

(01:00:24):
the ON three network, gonna be hanging out with us
every single week on this Tuesday. That let us peek
over the fence, Jack Man, great stuff. Appreciate you and
definitely look forward to having to having you back on
the show again soon.

Speaker 5 (01:00:38):
All right, thanks so much, man, appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:40):
There you go, Jack Veltree, how about that? Yes, South Carolina,
I don't know, man, I I get it. I'm the
Clemson guy. I need to hear from some game Cocks though,
shoot me a text eight three four five O zero

(01:01:03):
zero eighty six. I mean, am I wrong about the schedule?
Like if I had to rank those games the rest
of the way for South Carolina not Kentucky. Most light
games on the schedule most likely to win Coastal Clemson, Alabama, Ole, Miss, Oklahoma.

Speaker 5 (01:01:32):
A and m.

Speaker 1 (01:01:35):
LSU or some maybe flip flop Oklahoma and Texas A
and m Now LSU has not looked as good as
everybody thought they were when they beat Clemson, Because one,
Clemson hasn't been all that good, like LSU has not

(01:01:57):
been nearly as daunting as maybe people thought when everybody
was leeve. Clemson was really good too, So that is
maybe that game should be lower. Maybe maybe it should
be LSU, Oklahoma A and M. Either way, man, that's
tough sledding after this week, Carolina. Man, they got a
schedule and to go zero to two to start in
the conference. Oh wee, that's tough. Quick break. We'll hear

(01:02:21):
more from dabos when you read after this. Lawton swam
back with you on a Tuesday, thanking Jack Veltree for
joining us from Gamecockcentral dot com to talk about the
game Cocks. And again, look, I was thinking during the break.
I was thinking during the break, and I did get
some text a couple of techs from game Cock, so
we'll get to those. But even though I think if

(01:02:43):
Carolina loses this game to Kentucky this weekend that they
likely don't win a game in the Southeastern Conference, I
at least have to yield and give credit to Shane
Beamer for the job that he's done and the fact
that a year ago the game Cox did what they did,
and so you don't do that, I think without Shane Biemer,
and obviously you don't do that without a guy like

(01:03:05):
Leonora Sellers. Let's see, Corey says Swannee. Come on now,
we're not going winless in the SEC. Sellers is young,
but he's the real deal. Beamer. We will get this
team back on track. Kentucky at home is where it starts. Yeah, no, no,
I listen, Corey. I agree with that You're not gonna
go winless in the conference. If you beat Kentucky this weekend.

(01:03:27):
It's after That's what I'm talking about. That's what I'm saying.
If you don't win this game. Sorry, I don't know
if I may have misspoke Corey. That could be on me.
Dan says, I hate to say you. I hate to
say it, but you might be right. The schedule only
gets tougher if we don't beat Kentucky. I don't see

(01:03:50):
where that SEC win comes from. And I understand that logic.
Dan's listening to us, by the way in Chuck City, Charleston.
So I want to go back to what I just
said of men and Ago. Though Dan Beamer is a
coach that motivates his players and he gets guys ready

(01:04:11):
to play. And I really feel like.

Speaker 6 (01:04:17):
That.

Speaker 1 (01:04:18):
It's hard to imagine that Carolina wins a game in
the conference if they don't beat Kentucky. But if and
when they do, it is because of Beamer, and that's
why you should be optimistic. That's why you should be optimistic. Finally,
this one just came through Randy and Lexington says, Swannie,

(01:04:40):
even if we go oh for the SEC, as long
as we beat Clemson at the end, a lot of
game cock fans will live with that. That's just the truth.
I don't know if Randy's a game cock well he
says we or is it? But I guess it could
be a tiger that's trolling a little bit. If we
go oh for the SEC as long as we beat Clemson, yeah,

(01:05:05):
you might be right. All right. Well, anyway, thanks, thanks
for all the text, all right. Davos Sweeney met with
the media yesterday and he was asked about Kate klubnicks
lacked luster play and whether or not he feels like
Kate's just not seeing the field well right now and
missing the layups. As Davos Sweety might say, and he
was asked, you know what about Christopher Zena, can he

(01:05:27):
not make those layups? Here's what Sweeney had to say.

Speaker 3 (01:05:30):
Yeah, the other's confidence there is, and there's confidence in
Kate and you know, uh, he's still our starter. And
everybody's got to be better. Everybody's got to be better.
Coaches have to be better, Kate's got to be better,
defense has got to be better, receiver's got everybody's got
to be better.

Speaker 4 (01:05:46):
Uh so we got to all we gotta all be better.
But I definitely have.

Speaker 3 (01:05:50):
Confidence in CV and uh, you know, again, who knows
what the future holds, but where we are right now,
we feel like, you know, Kate is still our starter.
How much confidence do you have in Garrett as the
play caller.

Speaker 2 (01:06:06):
I'm just curious for your evaluation of him.

Speaker 3 (01:06:09):
Yeah, you know, those are things you evaluated as you
go through the course of the season and certainly the
end of the year. And there's definitely things that everybody
can do better on both sides of the ball. But
you know, there's also been a lot of things that
have been there that we haven't executed well, and so
it's a it's a lot that goes into it, but
we got good people, and you know, we're going we've

(01:06:30):
got to all be better. And I love the people
that we have and it's my job to help them
be better, find a way to go finish strong, and
that's what that's.

Speaker 4 (01:06:39):
What our focus is going to be on.

Speaker 1 (01:06:41):
Sweeten was also asked, given the start of the season
and the landscape of college football and the fact the
players can sit out in red shirt, does he have
any indication that any players are going to do that
at this point.

Speaker 3 (01:06:53):
Yeah, I have no idea, but I haven't seen that.
I mean, our guys, like I said, we probably had
one of the best team meetings I've ever been a
part of ever. Like I said, guy works in my
serious ways. There's always there's already been a lot of
positives that have come from a really crappy situation in
a really disappointing time. There's been a lot of positives
come from that already that I've seen, But I haven't

(01:07:13):
seen that.

Speaker 4 (01:07:14):
I mean, who knows, but I have not seen that
in any of these guys to this point.

Speaker 1 (01:07:19):
Sweeny was also asked why he thinks the practice results
that they talk about being positive have not translated to
the field.

Speaker 4 (01:07:25):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:07:26):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:07:27):
This hadn't hadn't quite translated just yet.

Speaker 3 (01:07:30):
But we've got a lot of games to play, so hopefully,
hopefully we can play our way out of it. But
again I would say execution and uh, you know, disappointment.
I think maybe in a little bit of failure early,
maybe some guys not handling the noise, well, maybe that

(01:07:50):
has affected him a little bit, playing tight whatever, But
just hadn't just hadn't, just hadn't worked like any of
us wanted.

Speaker 1 (01:07:58):
Dabo Sweety saying it just hasn't worked like any of
us wanted. And there's no doubt about that. I mean,
it has been tough sledding, all right, Aaron via the
text line, So Swanny, I know folks are down, but
actually respect what Dabo said. He's right, this isn't the
season we wanted, but there's still something to play for.
We've got a rally after the bye, so appreciate. Aaron

(01:08:22):
also had a couple of texts come in over the weekend.
I apologize Bobby in New Jersey, Swanny total dumpster fire.
I'm not sure what we see in Riley and Allen.
We need to get players in the portal. Sorry, culture
is not getting it done anymore. Never thought I'd say this,
but Dabbo needs to make major changes or it's time

(01:08:44):
for a new coach. I saw this stat Bobby on
social media. Let me see if I can dig it
up real quick. I know, I got about a minute here.
It was about Okay, it's the top seven transfer portal schools, Bobby.
According to the ranking, LSU is the number one transfer

(01:09:07):
portal school in terms of players they brought in. They
are undefeated. Texas Tech was number two. They are undefeated.
Miami was number three. They are undefeated. Ole miss was
number four. They are undefeated. Oregon was number five. They
are undefeated. Florida State number six. They are undefeated in
Missouri the seventh best portal class. Also undefeated. Those top

(01:09:33):
schools in the portal twenty seven to zero to start
the year. Now, competition is one thing. Competition is one thing.
But yeah, it's uh, it's been weird. It's been weird
in Tigertown for sure. All right, Wait, a quick brank
will come out. We got more techs to get to

(01:09:55):
and a lot more here. On a Tuesday afternoon, Lawton
Swan Clemsons Sports saw the show that shakespea south Land
on a Tuesday afternoon. All right, I do have a
couple of more texts that came through. JR. In Florence says,
Hopefully this week someone in the media will tell Dabbo
we're not tired of winning, just tired of losing at

(01:10:18):
home to lesser talented teams. That's JR. Thanks JR. For
tuning in over in Florence, and I apologize for not
getting that up to you sooner. Texter from the eight
sixty four with no name. I might actually have it
in my phone, but not in this text thread says,
last time I felt this bad about the Tigers in

(01:10:40):
South Florida beat us in the Belt Bowl. Taj Boyd
nearly let a little come back in that game. Billy,
listening to us in the Midlands says, definitely not how
I thought this game would go. That game to me
midway through midway through the Syracuse game, Sorry, Billy. Billy's
a loyal listener, you know. Billy. Billy is associate podcast

(01:11:04):
producer Et Shordinaire. Whenever the podcast don't come out of
the time, Billy's like Swane, where's the podcast, Billy? I've
been trying to do better. Man, I'm working on my
I've always told you guys, I really do think I'm
a efficiency expert. I probably could quit my day job.

(01:11:26):
By the way, for those of you that don't know,
my day job is not radio. But I could probably
quit my day job and be an efficiency expert for
businesses based off of what I've managed to accomplish as
a one man band. I'm like that dude at the
Charleston market down there. But yeah, I try to be

(01:11:46):
as efficient as I can. And unfortunately for the Texters,
I snoozed there. I snowed there, snoozed their messages and
didn't get back to him until today. So that's my bad.
And I will say this our buddy Jamal that loves

(01:12:09):
to call and look, I would encourage you all to
do like Jamal and give us a buzz and leave
us a message. He calls us at any hour. It
does not matter to me what hour you call eight
oh three four or five h zero zero eighty six.
But Jamal was hot and bothered on Saturday. Here's Jamal's
phone call.

Speaker 6 (01:12:30):
Say, Swanny, I'm done with this constant team man, I'm
dumb diss the team I'm done with dumb Dabba. I'm
done with Gary Roy, I'm done with Kay club Nick.
I'm just done man, and.

Speaker 1 (01:12:42):
He's done. Done with Dabo, done with Kate, done with
Garrett Riley.

Speaker 6 (01:12:49):
I'm going to my late uncle sema elision Will Greens.
I'm also woobleen thing because of my late uncle Saul.
I'm done man for those season, at least, I'm guying.
I'm rolling with the Wolverines. I want row. It's just
not waking man, It's just a man.

Speaker 1 (01:13:09):
Yeah, it's pretty pathetic. I'm shocked you're roll with the Wolverines,
but hey, you gotta roll with who you want to
roll with. You know how I feel about the Wolverines.
I'm not I'm not in on that boat, but I
respect the fact that your uncle's a Wolverine fan, Jamal,
So you want to be a Wolverine this year as well?
It's pretty easy to bail. It's pretty easy to bail.
Bailing on Clemson right now? Is about like the people

(01:13:31):
that were trying to get on the lifeboats on the Titanic.
Am I right?

Speaker 4 (01:13:34):
Like?

Speaker 1 (01:13:34):
It's a pretty simple decision. Speaking of pretty easy decisions,
how about Alumni Hall? Right there? On the corner of
campus on College Avenue in downtown Clemson. For all your
officially licensed Clemson merchandise, hats, t shirts, Heilgate, garymore go
check them out today or online at Alumni Hall dot com.
It's Alumni Hall where Tiger fans shop. And when you're

(01:13:54):
in store. By the way, don't forget this. Clypson Students,
Faculty of Military temperson off at Alumni Hall and they
got those sweet Nike dry Fit polos and I love
Go check them out next time you're in town or online.
Get to Alumni Hall site through our website. Hey, if
you sign up for our site, we send out newsletters
and they got links in there. They'll help you get
to it. It's Alumni Hall where Tiger fans shop. All right,

(01:14:19):
let's see here. I think I'm caught up on text. Yeah,
looks like it. Travis Travis again game Cock. So Damo's
already waving the white flag on the playoff. Love to
hear it. Maybe he's finally realizing Clemson is an elite anymore.

Speaker 3 (01:14:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:14:43):
I did notice that too, Travis. And far be it
from me to try to sit here and calculate what
it would take for Clemson to get to the ACC
Championship game at this point. But I will say, Travis,
you make a you make a fair point. I wonder

(01:15:05):
how many years a two lost team has been in
the ACC Championship. Now it's a little different with the
structure of the conference. I can almost I can almost
feel Tiger Chuck. I can almost feel Tiger Chuck right
now going, swatty, don't do it, swatty, don't walk, don't

(01:15:25):
walk down this path. Please not with me listening, Sorry,
Tiger Chuck. I'm I'm just gonna do I'm just gonna
do one thing briefly here and and this will be it.
All right. So, I think the fact that there aren't
divisions actually helps in this scenario because you the tiebreaker teams.

(01:15:54):
In the olden days, when you had two divisions, it
was like so difficult to surpass that team. Now because
you have two losses, you don't need everybody to have
two or more losses. Just really Georgia Tech in Syracuse.

(01:16:19):
There could be some tiebreaker scenarios if don't say it,
don't say it, swaddie. If if somehow Clemson were to
finish six and two in the league, if that happened,

(01:16:40):
who There might be some ways, you know, Miami goes undefeated,
maybe Florida State loses another game somewhere, and then you
beat Florida State, which Varsitate and Miami play each other.
So I mean the scenario, the key would be to

(01:17:01):
somehow get in front of Florida State, which could happen
still because you would own the tiebreaker over them, and
you just have to have Syracuse and Georgia Tech lose
more than two games. And Dabbo did make it sound like, man,
this is it. We're done, Like we're cooked, and I
agree like the way they played they're cooked, but they're

(01:17:25):
technically still early final segment, Final segment around the bend.

Speaker 2 (01:17:36):
What have you done for me lately? It's a fair question.
Just don't lose sight of the bigger picture. Don't forget history.
Lucky for us at Clemson, the answer to the questions
what have you done for me lately? And what have
you done? Always are the same. We win.

Speaker 1 (01:18:49):
Final segment on a Tuesday Clips of sports talt Swan Again.
Thank you to our new game cock insider from gamecccenter
dot com. Jack Veltree by way of Long Island through
Fort Mill. He arrived in Columbia and now delivers the

(01:19:13):
scoop to you here on the show The Shakespare South Plaine,
Clemses Sports Talk. All right, Oh man, you know, I
did start thinking about, like what I was saying before
the break is absurd, and we'll hear from Garrett Riley tomorrow.
I got a lot of content to put out on
social media because of the guys that met with the
media today. Make sure you follow us on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube,

(01:19:39):
we are where you are Peter Woods today, Khalil Barnes,
Christian Bettencore. I think those were the four, the three
players along with Garrett Riley that met with the media.
But I mean I legitimately started thinking more and more
about how bad this team has been, but how early

(01:20:03):
it still is during the break and I don't have
the full Atlantic Coast conference schedule in front of me.
But the thing that you resign yourself to based off
of what you've seen is that there are more losses
to come. There are more losses to come, And for

(01:20:27):
everybody that recognizes that, kudos because you're correct. More losses looming.
All that being said, however, you get a week to

(01:20:50):
write the ship you go play North Carolina. Like, if
you can't beat North Carolina, these conversations are done, all right,
But we know Syracuse has a tough schedule. Georgia Tech's
the fly in the ointment. Still they were going into
this weekend. Now you just need them to lose a

(01:21:10):
couple of games, and I don't think they will. I
just have you looked, like if you guys looked at
Georgia Tech's schedule, I don't like playing this game. I
like it barrel when Clempses at the top has said
the bottom and we can go yeah, just keep winning.
Just went out. That's all you can do. Now though,

(01:21:32):
just went out. That's all you can do. Georgia Tech's
at wake Force this weekend. Then they got Virginia Tech
at Duke. Okay, that's a tricky one. Maybe Syracuse beats them.
That would be ideal. At NC State at Boston College
versus Pitt and then versus Georgia. Maybe they stumbled in

(01:21:54):
that Duke Syracuse NC State stretch. You just never know.
I mean, heck, just a little bit ago, the news
came out Oklahoma quarterback John Matteir will undergo hand surgery.
The Heisman front runner right now. Suffered the injury on

(01:22:16):
this throwing hand in the first quarter of Oklahoma's twenty
four to seventeen win over Auburn. Mattier has a broken
bone in his hand. Brent Venable's former Clemson defensive coordinator
and head coach now at Oklahoma, didn't give a specific timetable,
but sources say that the estimated timeline is expected to

(01:22:38):
be about a month. Now. That plays right into our
conversation about South Carolina and their schedule and the difficulty
of their schedule, because that for the game Cocks, like

(01:23:03):
we talk about finding a win in the Southeastern Conference,
if they don't win this weekend, they faced Oklahoma on
October the eighteenth, which is less than a month away,
which means Matier would be out for that South Carolina
Oklahoma game on October the eighteenth. Bright a bright flicker

(01:23:27):
of light for South Carolina's chances in that ballgame. I mean,
Matiers the reason I would have picked Oklahoma to win it,
even though Brent Minnible's defense signed me up ten sackses
past weekend. I think I mentioned that yesterday ten ten sacks.

(01:23:50):
Good gracious, and here you sit Tiger fans piddling around
hoping that TJ. Parker is gonna make a play and
get off a block. I can make a tackle while
Brent Vinnables is out there dialing up a ten sack
hurricane out in Oklahoma. Ten sacks man alive. Oh well,

(01:24:20):
here's what it is at this point, sadly A three
four five zero zero eighty six. That is the text
line in the phone line. Again, appreciate each and every
one of you being a part of the program, and
again thank you again for supporting us. Check out our
work on our website clemsonsports talk dot com and we
will talk to you all tomorrow at four o'clock. Until then,

(01:24:44):
as always, you all take care now and go Tigers.