The "How to Fix Clemson" Edition

What would you do to fix the 2025 Clemson Tigers? We hear from listeners, plus Swanny gives his thoughts. Also, Tim Bourret joins the show in the second hour.

Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Now finally.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Clemson Sports Talk has come back. Two drive time. Hell everybody,
Lawton Swan back in the saddle once again. It is
the Show that Shakes the South playing Clempsones Sports Salt
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(01:06):
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but the dot com on it's all gone at that's
Clemson Sports Salt dot Com A No. Three four five
oh zero zero eighty six. That is the text line

(01:28):
in the phone line. And again the Show that Shakes
of South Lane brought you in part by our good
friends over at Mets Plumbing Mets Plumbing dot Com two
two six seven one eight give him a call today
two to six seven one o eight. That's Mets Plumbing
all right out of the gates. You know a lot

(01:50):
of people have talked about this Clemson Tiger team at
one in three and what should happened or how we
got here? I mean, there's a lot to it, and
I think for fans, the best thing that can happen

(02:11):
is you have a little time away from the loss,
a little time away from the bad weekend, and I
hope that you've gained a little perspective. And I certainly
feel like when we talk about this Clemson Tiger team

(02:35):
that with the time of you know, the ten years
that Clemson was just running rough shot really over the
Atlantic Coast Conference being one of the preeminent teams in
college football. I hope, at least in this moment, as

(02:57):
it sort of teeters just a little bit, if you
can at least appreciate what maybe you failed to appreciate
while it was happening. Like that is a bright spot
in this moment. In my opinion, it is that if

(03:18):
you are wise, you will take a few minutes and
just I don't know if it's over a cold beverage
of choice. I don't know if it's just sitting at
the dinner table, maybe while it's mowing the yard, you're
mowing the yard, maybe you're just sitting around doing nothing.
But I hope you will bask in what those ten

(03:40):
years were because I do think in fairness and yeah,
it has not been as great as it was since
really twenty twenty, right like like five of these ten
years that we're talking about. But I think this is
the first time that the majority of you have thought

(04:04):
to yourself, maybe this isn't a fixable situation under Dabo Sweeney.
And I think that's where this current Clemson team makes
you feel a little bit differently about your expectations for
the future. So I hope you'll bask in the memories

(04:25):
of how good it was. There is still certainly the
hope that it could get back to that, and there
is still the off chance, albeit a slim one, that
this season takes a tick in the right direction, and
who knows what happens from there. Again, I don't think
this is going to be a college football playoff team,
which is a far cry from what we were talking

(04:46):
about a month ago with this group. But I do
acknowledge the fact that while teetering and feeling more than
ever like it's about the fall off a cliff, you
still have to give the benefit of the doubt to
Dabosweeny that he's got the chance to turn it around.
But it is unequivocally the first time that I think

(05:06):
the majority of you have thought to yourself, maybe Dabo's
not the guy to take us forward any longer. And
that's a weird place to be, especially given how good
he's been. And I certainly grant him the leeway to
stick it out as long as he wants. I don't
think just because you don't think he's gonna be able
to do it, that he can't actually do it right,

(05:29):
Like I mean, there's still that chance even if you
don't believe that he still could. But I think for
some of you it's the first time that you really
thought yourself, maybe this is not gonna work out for
Daboswheney this time around eight zero three four five h
zero zero eighty six. That is the text line and
the phone line. And again, you can be a part

(05:50):
of the program anytime, any places, anywhere on our website,
Clemson sports Talk dot com. So with that being said,
if I were to make you the general manager, if
I were to make you the head coach, if I
were to make you the person that pulls the strings
in Tigertown, how would you not only you know, fix

(06:15):
the program, but I think even more importantly, how do
you salvage the twenty twenty five season, because it's two
different things. It's two completely different things, fixing the program

(06:36):
and salvaging this year. And I've seen a lot of
people talking about it ironically and maybe fortunately for Clemson,
you find yourself in a bye week, which allows a
little more time to think and try to potentially react

(06:57):
to that. Right, So what I would do in the instant,
you know, like and it would have already happened if
I was the head coach. We would not have anyone
that has designated a starter. There are no guaranteed spots today. Like,

(07:22):
I get it, Kay, you were expected to be the guy,
but you haven't played like the guy. And tragically for
Kate Clubnick, the more film I've watched of his play
this season, I really think the worse he's been. And
that's a pretty tough place to be if you are

(07:42):
a guy that was projected to be in the Heisman race,
and you were projected to be one of the top
picks in the NFL draft, and you were thought of
to be one of the top quarterbacks in the country.
I legitimately have gone back and watched him play, and
I think it's worse than it was when I watched
it in person. And what makes me really nervous about

(08:04):
that is that this coaching staff doesn't trust Christopher Vezina
to have a drive, to have an opportunity to spark
this Clemson team. And I know Larry Williams of Tiger
Illustrated has asked some great questions about the miss layups,
and he's right, there are a ton of mislayups. But

(08:26):
why don't you believe that Vzena couldn't complete those layups.
It's not as if Zina's a freshman who just arrived
on campus. This guy's been at Clemson for three years.
There's no reason that he shouldn't be ready. We didn't
mind rolling Deshaun Watson out there as a freshman or sophomore.

(08:46):
We didn't mind rolling Big trev the Giant Killer, Trevor
Lawrence out there as a true freshman when he was
competing with a guy in Kelly Bryant who took Clemson
to the College Football Playoff and the number one national
sea the year prior. But the Zena can't scratch the field.
That makes me concerned about the future at quarterback as

(09:09):
much as it makes me concerned about how the quarterback
situation could potentially be turned around this year, because it
feels like to me at this point you're riding with
K Clubnick regardless based off of the way things have
gone so far. Nonetheless, what are some other areas that
I would attempt to change or improve this Clems entire

(09:32):
team this season? Well, again, all jobs up for grabs,
that includes K Clubnick. And it was a message that
we read yesterday. I can't remember where I saw it.
I think it was somebody had tweeted or it was
retweeted by facts and Childress. But I would rather have

(09:55):
guys that were playing with hart and the guys that
I really felt like were given me everything. And if
that meant we lost the games, but I felt like
the guys were playing and giving me everything, I can
live with that too. I don't need to watch five
stars give three star effort. I'd rather watch three stars

(10:19):
give five star effort. Quite frankly, it probably all comes
out in the wash in terms of your record, but
your enjoyment value of watching those five stars just flail
around versus watching three stars really battle. I think we
all like the underdog. I think we all like to

(10:41):
watch the battle. And so even as you sort of
you know, try to reconcile how all of this is
playing out. I think that's Number one for me. Number Two,
I would encourage I know he's more comfortable in the
press box, but I would encourage Tom Allen to come

(11:05):
down to the field. And the reason I would encourage
Tom Allen to come down to the field is because
I think that Brent Venables being on the field and
being in the face of those guys was beneficial. And
I think when your defensive coordinator is not on the sidelines,

(11:29):
I think that that is a situation that lacks the
opportunity to motivate, to inspire, to drive those guys, etc.
And I kind of feel the opposite about the offensive coordinator.
And I know that we've had Chad Morris on the

(11:50):
program and he's talked about calling plays from the sidelines,
but I almost would like to see Garrett Riley go
up into the box. And let's think about this for
a minute. Number one, Garrett Garrett Riley is the quarterbacks
coach as well, and maybe Kay Klubnick doesn't respond to

(12:15):
being coached all that well, you know, face to face,
not to mention. I think Garrett Riley would get a
better feel of the field and the play calling from
up in the box, So I would reverse where those
two guys are more motivation for the defense. In my opinion,
I don't think it's nearly as important that your defensive

(12:38):
coordinator be in the box as it is for your
offensive coordinator or your main play caller. Now, if Garrett
Riley wants to turn over play calling duties to somebody
else and have them up in the box calling plays,
I'm okay with that. But I'm sure that he wants
to be the play caller. But I'm not so certain

(12:58):
it wouldn't be better if he y they better view
of the field. Because here's one thing that I do
believe that if you are relying on someone else to
communicate what they are seeing to you, if that individual
doesn't see it well or understand it well enough, or
is making some sort of missteps in what they are

(13:19):
seeing and trying and how they're trying to explain it
to you, then even if they had the right answers
but they are lost in translation, it doesn't help you
become more successful. Now, granted, I mentioned watching some Accage's film,
there are a lot of open you know, it's a

(13:39):
lot of the struggles. I don't think they're necessarily on
Garrett Riley. Some of it certainly is. I don't think
I really agree. After listening to Chad Morris and his
explanation of why Clemson used window dressing and eye candy,

(13:59):
I don't think I agree with Garrett Riley's reasoning of
not using it, especially at this point when your offense
has really struggled to get out of its own way.
Not to mention it's not it would be one thing
if your offensive line we're doing such a jam up

(14:19):
job that you felt like, man, you know what. We
don't want to mess these guys up. They're doing great.
The offensive line has not been great, So I don't
really see how the catch twenty two is much of
a catch twenty two. They're already not doing a good job.
So why don't we do some things that maybe give

(14:44):
us some advantages to hold linebackers, to make safeties respect
something different, and maybe that opens things up a little
bit more, with the possibility at some point along the
way that maybe once k klub starts heating up a
little bit, that we get the old kde bat. Those

(15:10):
would be a couple of things that I think I
would do. And lastly, I think if I were Dabo Sweeney,
you know, I don't think it's necessary to make staff
changes at this point. I think fans would love that,

(15:31):
but I think you do have to consider at the
end of this season your situation at wide receivers coach
with Tyler Grisham. We kind of knew that coming into
the year that this might be an important year for him.
Last season, those two guys Bryant Westcoat TG Moore really

(15:51):
elevated that room. This year, You're not seeing so much
of that from TJ. It's hard for me to fathom
that Tristan Smith isn't better than Cole Turner. And then
I think the other one that is even more obvious
to me on the offensive side of the ball of
any I think it's probably CJ. Spiller, and we did

(16:15):
write about that on our website.

Speaker 3 (16:19):
I just.

Speaker 1 (16:25):
Like, your best running back is a guy that was
a wide receiver, and I know people believe in Gideon Davidson.
I know people hope about david is in Mumey and
if Jay Haynes was healthy, maybe he would be the
guy right now. But the story is the best running

(16:46):
back that you've had at Clemson in terms of yards
per carry, you got to go all the way back
to Kobe Pace when you're talking about I think that
season was coordinated Tony Elliott. I don't even know if
if CJ. Spiller was on the staff, And that I

(17:08):
think is, you know, again, a situation that's it's one
you can navigate without making it look too bad for CJ.
You could say, hey, Bud, look, we're gonna make you
an ambassador for the program. We want you to meet
with recruits and do those things, but we're gonna pull

(17:28):
you off the field because I think it's fair. Running
back recruiting at this point seems lackluster because the guys
that you're bringing in don't seem to be developing. And
that's either a you missed on the guys, You got
guys who didn't have much room to grow, or be

(17:51):
that room is not growing, and that I think is
probably something more for the twenty twenty six season, right
Like I mean, my question is really what can you
do for twenty twenty five, which is this year, But
that would be something at the end I think you'd

(18:12):
have to consider. I mean, look at the carries from
the running backs Adam Randall has fifty seven carries. Gideon
Davidson has three through four games. Tyler Brown, a wide receiver,
has more carries than Gideon Davidson. David Izia Mume has three.

(18:40):
I don't know what to tell you. I mean, those
two guys have six total carries at this point, and honestly,
if I was those guys, I don't know if they've
played in all four games, I'd be like, man, I
don't know if I want to play. I think I
want a red shirt. I don't want to burn my

(19:01):
season for this one in three garbage A zero three
four or five zero zero eighty six. Let me know
what you think? Am I crazy on that? I mean,
Dados when you said guys hadn't talked about the red
shirt year, but I mean at this point three games in,
I mean, if you're Gideon Davidson, is this what you

(19:23):
want your first season to be? I'd say, coach, can
you hold me until the postseason? I don't want to
burn things right now? A zero three four or five
h zero zero eighty six. You could text us your
thoughts on it as well. What would you do? We've
got people on Facebook commenting we can dive into that.

(19:44):
Oh yeah, and don't forget hey, hour number two. I
cannot believe we're talking about one and three Clempson team.
But longtime in legendary Clemson sid Clemson Hall of Famer
Tim Bray joins us. Keep it a lot right here
on Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred, Lawton Swan, Clemson Sports
Talk eight three four five zero zero eighty six. All right,

(20:05):
so we were talking about ways to improve this Clemson
Tiger team. Couple of quick texts and we'll also read
some stuff from social media. Davy D twenty three hits
us up. Long time no here, davy D, where you've

(20:30):
been Boba? Looks like you had in texted the show
since April eighth, twenty twenty four. Whether we got get
in a rut before davy D's phone works. David D says,
might be a good idea to work the younger running
backs into the rotation more so we don't run into
a situation like last year when MafA had to play hurt. Right,

(20:51):
that's a that is another valid point on top of
what I was saying earlier about the whole situation. Like,
I get it, you haven't had a ton of offensive plays.
You haven't had a ton of rhythm, but what you've
done to these running backs seems very discouraging David. He

(21:16):
also says, as for quarterback, if any other player misses
assignments or is not performing well, they are replaced by
the next man up. Why not the same for club Nick?
Go Tigers, that's our buddy, dav D twenty three. I mean, yeah, yes,

(21:43):
I mean I sort of talked about that at the beginning, Like,
I'm not saying, kay, club Nick is solely the problem.
He is not. There's more than enough problem to go around.
But yeah, give like here, what's the worst? Okay, let's
just talk about it. With the way this team has
played so far, what is the worst that could happen

(22:09):
with Christopher Vizina a turnover? I mean maybe maybe like
a pick six or something. But what's the best that
could happen? I mean, to me, the best that could
happen is he comes in and he's fired up and
he's got a lot of energy. Kind of what happened.
Remember when Cade used to go in the game when

(22:30):
Djui Ungeloe was struggling. You're just a little change of pace.
Just give the defense something else to worry about and
what if what if he just plays good? I mean,
you do expect him to be your starting quarterback next year.
If not, you better start warming up the portal. And

(22:56):
and that might be an off season thing too. I
know we're talking about what you could do now. You
can't use the portal now, but I think Clemson's got
to invest more in the portal. I mean, you got
three guys that you brought in, and really the only
one that you've played a whole lot is will help.
And he's been the best defensive lineman you've had, so

(23:17):
you know, you think about other positions. Maybe if you
went out and brought in some offensive linemen. Maybe if
you went out and brought in some you know, some
corners or safeties or any you know, you just you
make guys feel comfortable. What do I gotta work for?
Dad was not gonna go out and over recruit my position.
Like maybe that's the change because for years, I think

(23:40):
Sweeney protected his guys that were loyal to him. But
loyalty goes both ways. And if you're gonna go out
on the field and not fight for every inch of
grass in front of you, then Coach Swinney doesn't have
a reason to stick by his loyalty to you when
it comes down to protecting your spot. I mean, he

(24:04):
could easily look at those guys next season if he
goes out to the portal and players are like coach,
I can't believe he went to the portal and brought
somebody in. Dude, you had a year to prove it,
and you consistently messed it up. Sorry, all right, let's
see Josh, and easily says Swaney. To fix is simple.

(24:30):
Established the run. Garrett Riley's offense looks allergic to pounding
the rock, get the backs downhill so the kid can
play off of play action. Yeah, that's kind of something
we alluded to a little bit yesterday, right, Josh. When

(24:51):
it comes down to the uh, the third one, fourth
and one situation, the fourth the one really killed me.
And the thing that killed me about that fourth and
one was that play became a dead play. And what
I mean by a dead play is k Klubnick is
going to the ground. He knows it's a turnover on downs,

(25:13):
and he didn't have the games been shipped between his
ears to pitch that ball out to the side when
he knew he had an open Anam Randall, and he
can see that there's nobody near Adam. If you make
that pitch, Adam runs for fifteen maybe twenty yards, maybe
a touchdown. But to eat that ball and just take
it he roball style to the ground short of the thing.

(25:35):
That's just dumb. That was the dumbest That was one
of the dumbest plays I've seen Kay club that make.
He's made some dumb plays during his tenure. I put
that one in that situation this past weekend at or
near the top, and he has had some truly dumb plays.
I will say that, no doubt about it. Let's see

(25:57):
Adam and Anderson boy the Upstate checking in today. Appreciate
y'all said, give a zena a real shot. I'm not
saying bench cage forever, spark the offense. Sometimes a fresh
voice in the huddle changes everything. That that too, That too,

(26:21):
it's a different take on it, right, Like I kind
of talked about the pep in the the feel during play,
but the presidence like and it's not like Clemson is huggling,
but just the voice, right, the confidence that a different
guy can bring. So I'm gonna agree with Adam and

(26:42):
Josh on both of those takes, and we got more
texts coming in. Thanks guys eight zero three four or
five zero zero eighty six? Oh man, No, I see
what just came in from Tyler. Not Tyler and Spartanburg,
Tyler and Columbia Gamecock fan. We'll hear what Tyler had
to say when we get back. Keep it locked right

(27:03):
here on the show The Shakes ofa south Land Well
Fox Sports Radio fourteen under the Midlands and of course
heard around the world on the iHeart Radio application. All right,
so again, what would you do? I didn't even get
to the Facebook comments? How would you fix Clemson this season?
We'll take a look at those Facebook comments and get
to Tyler's text. Where's out here? We go?

Speaker 3 (27:27):
Hey, Tyler, I've listened to enough for you.

Speaker 1 (27:30):
Yeah, Tyler, we've listened to enough of you. I hadn't
even read it yet. Stay with us, Welcome back, Clempson, Sports,
tal Lawt and Swan. Don't forget about our friend's alumni
hall right there on the corner of Campus and College Avenue,
right across from my old Stompa grounds at TDS. It's
alumni Hall for your officially licensed Clemson merchandise. Those incredible
Nike drive fit polos that I love so much are there,

(27:54):
upgrade your tailgate gear, all of that. Don't forget when
you're in store. If your clips is student, faculty, member,
or in the military, you get ten percent off when
you're shopping there, or shop online at alumni Hall dot com.
It's Alumni Hall where Tiger fans shop. All right, Tyler

(28:17):
has become Tyler is the Gamecock version at this point.
With the number of texts we've gotten from him lately,
he's becoming the Gamecock version of double O, always checking
into the program. Nonetheless, we were talking about ways to
fix Clemson in twenty twenty five, and I am going

(28:39):
to go to social media, to our Facebook page where
you can follow us right now, join the nearly nineteen
thousand Clemson Tiger fans and follow us there. Our goal
is to drive that to twenty five and when we
hit twenty five, we're going to fifty. This is not
some Garrett Riley offense. We're going to the moon with
this thing. Anyway. Oh, Swany, Swanti, why you gotta be

(29:03):
why you gotta do that? Yeah? Sorry, let's see Tyler
and Columbia. Swanny you want to fix Clemson, admitt the
dynasty has done. Okay, y'all look like a middle of
the pack ACC team right now. Hey, that's what I Tyler,

(29:25):
that's what I called Syracuse. Man. I think I said
middle of the road. Maybe I said mill of the pack.
I don't know. Look, Bud, here's the thing. I appreciate
you peeking over the fence and hanging out with us today,
so you.

Speaker 4 (29:41):
Could continue to peek over the fence at the best
radial showing the nation.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
But I would say that the only good thing that's
happened for Clemson this season is the fact that South
Carolina has also struggled. Because some of the Gamecock friends
that I work with, that's kind of been their thing.
They're like, man, we've watched y'all lose a couple of
weekends in a row, and we thought, yes, we're gonna

(30:10):
go out there and get a victory. You know, Clemson
loses at Georgia Tech. South Carolina fans are like, all right,
we're gonna beat Vandy. We're gonna rub it in Clemson
fans the faces of our Clemson friends and fans on
Monday at work, only to find out then the next weekend,

(30:34):
Clemson gets just pounded by Syracuse South Carolina fans they
find out that they've gotten the Norse Sellers. They were
like thirteen and a half and work this way down
to like what nine and a half point underdogs at Missouri.
The game Cocks are like, yes, with the North Sellers,

(30:55):
we're going out to the missoo, we're gonna bring home
the top twenty five when and we're gonna swing the
momentum on the season. And so my Gamecock friends at
work they were all like, so, I think they were
more frustrated than I was for a couple of reasons. One,

(31:16):
they've seen Clempson have so much success recently that they
just still love it when Clipson doesn't have any success.
And number two, with opportunities to take a step forward
while Clemson takes a step backwards, South Carolina is just

(31:36):
right there in lockstep with the Tigers stumbling and bumbling
to start the season, Clemson has played much worse, though
much worse in South Carolina. So for the game Cocks
out there listening, here's the truth. At this point, if

(31:56):
Clempson in South Carolina played, I would pick you to
win this game.

Speaker 3 (32:02):
Well, sir.

Speaker 5 (32:03):
While I may not agree with what you say, I'll
defend to the death you're right to say it.

Speaker 1 (32:07):
I don't know if that was Clemson fans thinking that
way or South Carolina fans thinking that way, but I'm
sure there were some people out there thinking that way.
All right, So how would you fix Clemson this season?
Tim on Facebook says, prepare for each game just like
you would if you're four and zero, And Tim, you

(32:29):
know that is sort of what was said by Peter
Woods yesterday up in Clemson. You know, Peter Woods. I
can't remember if I ran the audio here or not,
but I know I mentioned I definitely read the quote
when when we had Faction Childress on the show where

(32:54):
Peter would say, look, if I had ten sacks and
fifteen tackles for loss, we'd still be one in three
and I'd still be in here telling you I gotta
be better. So I think you do make a valid point,
like you just you can't go back. And this is
where that windshield mentality that Davilosweene loves to talk about
really comes to comes to light, and that's you can't

(33:19):
just sit there and focus on what you did earlier
in the season, you can only focus on moving forward,
and so I think that's a very fair point.

Speaker 3 (33:33):
Tim.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
Let's see Michael on Facebook says, after three failed drives,
it's time to try the backups. Let's see if they
have that hunger that's missing. And that's not uncommon Michael
in basketball, right, Like you see basketball teams come out

(33:55):
and and play terrible and the coach benches all five starters.
We're bringing it, and you do it all at once,
Like you don't just take out one guy and then
take out the other guy. It's a wholesale pit crew.
Like can you imagine? I kind of like where your

(34:17):
head's int on this, Michael, Except I don't know that
you need to do three drives. I'm gonna be honest
with you. I'd like to see you do it at
some point in the middle of a drive. How cool
would that be? You just kind of watch the offense go.
They're kind of sputtering a little bit. Now they you know,
quarterback takes a sack and it's first in fourteen or
second and fourteen. Now you take a little four yard

(34:38):
sack and so you run eleven guys on you say,
you you yahoos, get off the field. You look terrible,
You're run like a broken sewing machine. And then maybe
those dudes pick up the first down even though they're
kind of starting in a little bit of Behold. Now,
that's the other argument. People would say, why do you
want to put those guys in the second in fourteen?

(34:59):
I don't know. Let's see a spark. Let's throw the
starters a little bit under the bus. All right, quick break,
we'll put a bowl in hour number one, Tim Bray
an hour two, stay with us, final segment of our one,
gonna pull a little curveball. We're gonna hear some of
Peter Woods. I mentioned his comments during his press conference.
I guess that was Tuesday, a couple of days ago.

(35:22):
I want to play some of Peter Woods there for you.
We'll have Tim Berray. Then we'll get back to because
people are still filling in their thoughts on how to
fix Clemson football this season. But Peter Woods opened up
with a question. He was asked about the team meeting
that Clemson had, and just you know what that was

(35:44):
like as the Tigers really struggled at one and three
heading into the bye week.

Speaker 3 (35:53):
It was great, it was needed, you know, it was
just about responding. I mean, I just put it this
way too. I Mean, nobody's expected us to start the
season off like this. I'm sure this is not what
y'all thought. This is not wasn't in coach twenty notes
for du Bae Week. But you know, it's all about
how you how you respond, you know, and it just
it kind of where we're at now just kind of
takes me back to when I was in high school

(36:16):
and you know, everybody talked about how how my team
in high school, Timpson High School. You know, we won
four state champions uh state championships, and nobody really talked
about how we started owing to my senior year, you know,
and and the reason for that is because how we responded.
So I mean, so, I mean, what you think we're
gonna do now? Respond? I mean, I've been here before.
I know, Coach Tweny's been here before, and and some

(36:38):
of our leadership has been here before. So you know,
we're not gonna flinch. And that's kind of what the
message was.

Speaker 1 (36:43):
Don't flinch. Peter woods Is also asked about the level
of emotion that was shared during that meeting.

Speaker 3 (36:50):
I mean, you lose some games, you know, guys are
guys are hurting, but everybody was on the same page
as far as I know, you know, just being in
there and you know, hearing some of those guys express themselves,
and Colin and Walker, Parks and Antonio and I mean,
everybody's you know, looking forward and you know what we
can do to be better, and you know, you know,
we owe it to ourselves, we ow it to those seniors,

(37:12):
our fans and just everybody just to be better all
across the board, and it all just comes down to
a response. So that's that's what we plan on doing.

Speaker 1 (37:20):
Peter Woods was asked about his performance so far this
season and the perception that he and TJ. Parker have
not played up to the expectations or the standards that
are expected.

Speaker 3 (37:32):
I mean, if I came here and I was talking
to y'all with ten sacks and fifteen TFLs, I mean,
we still one to three, and I'm still gonna come
here and tell you that I got to get better
every day and got to do better for my team.
And so that's just kind of my mindset with that.
You know, schemes and game plans, you know, as far
as the other team, they vary. You know what I'm saying.

(37:53):
One thing that doesn't vary is you know, hard work, dedication,
and then a response. And so, like I said, I
if I was in here and I had the status
that y'all have written down for me, you know, whatever
you've had in your head, we're still one and three,
you know what I'm saying. And so for me as
a leader of the team, I just see myself as
trying to get better and trying to influence that mindset

(38:14):
on people every day.

Speaker 1 (38:15):
Peter Woods was also asked if will Help's mindset and
his philosophy, the way he plays could be taken away
for some of the other guys.

Speaker 3 (38:23):
I told you that. I mean, that's that's who he is.
That's that's who he's been. He's a robot, you know,
And so I hope he continues to play at a
high level, and you know, we can get everybody, you know,
just kind of rally around. You know, a guy like
like will help with just the mentality. And we know
he's been here before, you know what I'm saying, coming
for Purdue, and so I know he'll he'll provide us
great leadership in the future moving forward.

Speaker 1 (38:45):
Woods was asked to elaborate further on whether or not
he feels like he and Parker have underperformed.

Speaker 3 (38:51):
I agree with what I said to him. I'll give
you the same asterer if I had ten sacks fifteen TFLs,
I come in here and say I gotta get better.
So so my answer to you ask questions that I
have to get better, and you know I take for
account accountability for that. I'm sure TJ will say the same.
I mean, at the end of day, you know, we're
one of three football team. It's all about what we

(39:13):
do in this next coming week.

Speaker 1 (39:15):
Woods was also asked to give his thoughts on what
he feels like was missing defensively against Syracuse that allowed
them to rush the ball.

Speaker 3 (39:23):
So well, just little things, you know, just like gap integrity, Uh,
just midfits, stuff that's easily fixable. That that that we're
looking at this week to correct.

Speaker 1 (39:34):
Peter Woods was also asking if you felt like it
was the schemes or what was causing the issues that
Clemson had, you.

Speaker 3 (39:40):
Know, I mean you can't can't explain it for everybody,
but I mean just just misfits, you know, gap integrity things,
just stuff that's easily fixable. Just mistakes that that cost
us big plays in the game, and uh, you know,
you go back and you look at your mistakes, just
like in life. I mean, everybody, everybody in life will
make a mistake. You go back and you look at it.

(40:01):
Most of the times you don't make the same mistake again,
you know, especially in football. So I think that's our
plan with that.

Speaker 1 (40:07):
Woods was also asked about where Clempson was sort of
in the preparation again, this was on Tuesday for their
matchup coming up next weekend against North Carolina.

Speaker 3 (40:16):
Now, it's just a lot of you know, just trying
to trying to focus on ourselves and how we can
get better. Like I said, like I'm just trying to
get better personally as a player, trying to influence that
mindset on everybody else on the team. And you know,
we'll start to sprinkle some U and C stuff in,
you know, throughout the week, you know, because we got
an extra week to kind of prepare. But right now,

(40:37):
just early on in the week, it's just about Clemson
and how Clemson can be better and respond.

Speaker 1 (40:43):
So there you go. That's Peter Woods spending some time
with the media up in Tigertown yesterday as Clemson gets
ready or excuse me Tuesday, as Clemson gets ready for
their matchup next weekend against North Carolina. Speaking of college
football matchups, Man, this weekend, we're back in the mix

(41:05):
of having some really good football games. Florida State's at
Virginia on Friday seven o'clock on ESPN. That should be
a good one. TCU is at Arizona State on Friday
at nine o'clock on Fox. That should be a good one.
Southern calin Illinois could potentially be a good one at noon.

(41:28):
You've also got a great matchup over in Athens, Georgia,
the Classic City as number five Georgia hosts Alabama. That's
that night game at seven thirty on ABC. That should
be a great one. You've also got number four LSU
at number thirteen Old Miss on ABC at three thirty.

(41:49):
So grab your chips, a drink of some description. Oh yeah,
by the way, don't forget this one. Number three Penn
State hosting number six Oregon at seven point thirty on NBC,
and Peacock. So top matchups galore this weekend. All right, Well,
in a quick break, will we come back. Longtime Clemson

(42:11):
sid Tim Burrat joins the program right here on Fox
Sports Radio fourteen hundred and of course heard around the
world on the iHeartRadio app. It is the show that
shakes the south Land each time Clipson Sports Talk with
Lawton Swan Swanny, it is our number two that's drivetime

(43:10):
right on the show The Shakespare south Land Clemson Sports,
Saltlat and Swan hang out with you on a Thursday,
Long time in legendary Clemson s Id. Timber Ray coming
up around the bend. Don't forget the show that shakes
the south Lane. Brought to you in part by our
good friends over at mets Plumbing mets plumb dot com.
Two two six seven one o eight call him today,

(43:33):
Mets Plumbing. That's two two six seven to.

Speaker 3 (43:35):
One oh eight.

Speaker 1 (43:39):
Tim b Ray on a Thursday. Tim welcome in. Huh
one and three. Certainly did not have this one on
the Bengo Carb.

Speaker 5 (43:51):
No, I don't think anybody did. Quite Frankly. Yeah, it's
been been disappointing. There's no other way to, uh to
look at it. And you know, people have asked me
what's wrong with the Tigers, and you know, I really
can't put a specific one, you know, one area that
that's the issue. We've had some problems on defense, We've

(44:12):
had some problems on offense. We've had some guys who've
played well, but you know, there's more than haven't and
that's why you're one in three. So it'll be interesting
to see what the Davos. As I talked to him
after the game for the post game show, we thought
this was a good time. They're going to need two

(44:33):
weeks to figure this out and and so I'm sure
that's what they're in the process are doing right now.

Speaker 1 (44:40):
Here's here's the thing. And I know this is a
little maybe this might be one of the tougher questions
I've ever had to ask you, because for all the
years we've been doing this, Clemson has kind of been
cruising and it's a unique spot for everybody to be in.
Tim You get beat some games because you get out
coached or out schemed. But I just felt like Clemson

(45:03):
got out played, and that's something that has happened rarely,
if ever, that I recall really in Dabo Sweeney's tenure,
Meaning I didn't feel like I saw the fight and
things that I have seen for years. And I don't
think you have to be the most brilliant football mind

(45:24):
or observer of a game to look at it and
go they just didn't look in it. Now, maybe I'm wrong,
but that's the way I think it felt for a
lot of people watching it. And I think that might
be in some ways the reason that Dabo Sweeney was
so emotional, because I think he might have felt some
of that too, And I hate that because I don't

(45:45):
know how you fix that if that's the case. And
I don't know if you agree, but that's kind of
what I thought.

Speaker 5 (45:50):
Now I disagree with you, And where I'm coming from
is when I'm after the game, when I'm with them alone,
before I do the the the interview, I could tell
he didn't think effort was the issue. I think he
thinks and I think the same thing that decision making

(46:12):
is the issue. Uh, you know, going back to the
first game, and I just picked example. I don't want
to pick on Kate and all these examples, but right
you know, the LSU game we lost because he decided
to go somewhere else other than Tyler Brown, who was
wide open over the middle for a touchdown. They would
have tied the LSU game. There have been other you

(46:37):
know situations where where on the fourth down play against
Syracuse where Cad you know, kept the ball and people
looked at Cads. You know, we got tackled and got stopped.
That was the wrong decision by our guard. He went

(46:57):
and blocked to block the wrong guy. And I mean
kated nobody to pitch too. I mean the guy in
the wing was going to be tackled for a loss too.
So I just and now, defensively with the defensive backs,
are they not in tune with the scheme it I

(47:20):
just don't think it's effort. I think it's decision making
that has been the problem man. And you know a
lot of times with decision making, you say, well, it's
because the guy doesn't have the experience, so he's not
making the split second decisions that you need to make.

Speaker 3 (47:35):
You know.

Speaker 5 (47:35):
With Kate, I mean these I mean the games as
he started, thirty four, thirty five something like that. So
that's that's kind of a bit surprising. He didn't have
decision making problems last year when he through thirty six
touchdown passes and only had six interceptions. But I just think,
you know, defensively, again, I don't think it. I mean,

(47:57):
you know, Sammy Brown has given all these sad way
would as is given and all he's got he has.
He made this wrong decisions on the angles on some plays.
Have our defensive players made some decisions, some incorrect decisions
on their angles to try to make, especially on plays
they go to the perimeter. I mean, we just haven't

(48:18):
defended the perimeter very well. Yeah, and defending the perimeter
is all about decision making when it comes to angles.
So I I and I don't. I swear, I seriously
don't think Davil thinks it's an effort deal. I don't
think it's an effort deal. I think it's I think
it's decision making.

Speaker 1 (48:37):
Well that's good because I mean he said he doesn't
think it's effort. He feels like the guys are playing hard.
But man, watching it, it just it feels a little bit
lifeless from my perspective. But you know, maybe I'm just
accustomed to Clemson jumping on a team and kind of
taking their will. Instead, you're kind of watching Clemson get
jumped on a little bit and maybe not having that
same fire to battle back that you'd like to see.

(48:59):
But either way, either way, I think the other time
I say.

Speaker 5 (49:03):
One other thing, let me just sure, jump in here
a perfect example of what you know. I think we
do have to give some of the other teams or
coaching staffs some credits. So you're facing a team that's
throwing more passes than any other team in the country
in Syracuse, and so I think a lot of our
prep was geared that way. What did Syracuse do?

Speaker 3 (49:26):
They ran the.

Speaker 5 (49:27):
Ball the first five plays of the game, and I
just think that caught us off guard and it led
to some doubt and decision and the decision making process.

Speaker 1 (49:40):
That's a good point in that second play from scrimmage
was a big one. Yeah, what thirty some iideyard carry,
I mean, and yeah, I think there are a lot
of people looking at that play and blaming TJ. Parker
had a chance to get the guy, But I mean
tackling the bag that's running full speed. I mean, that's
that's tough to do. And you know, either way, you know,

(50:00):
I think the other thing people wonder about and kind
of raises some concern for them is, Okay, let's say
that Cade's not having a good day, that there hasn't
been really that trust to even really go to Christopher
Vezina doesn't necessarily raise questions about maybe this season in Zina.
But I think people are going, well, wait a second,

(50:22):
when DJ struggled, you know, Clemson went to Kye Club Nick,
when Trevor Lawrence came in and you had Kelly Bryant
who led Climpson to the College Football Playoff, Trevor got opportunities.
And this is a guy in Zena who's been in
the system for three years. And I think people are
like a little bit concerned that your quarterback can have
all these off games, but the backup hasn't really gotten

(50:45):
an opportunity to even show if he could lead a
scoring drive. Like I think people would be all right
if Vezina went out there and went three and out
and punted, But the thing people would say, hey, at
least we're trying something different to maybe spark something.

Speaker 5 (51:00):
Yeah, I think the first three games, I don't know
if there was a time to do that, but a
Syracuse game when you're down seventeen points said that that
might have been something that crossed their mind. But uh,
you know we I think we go back to the
to the LSU game and and you know, when you

(51:22):
don't get off to a good start, it can sap
your confidence. And I think perhaps that Dabbo was concerned about,
you know, putting Facina in at least in Game four.
You know, maybe if, if, if if we look at
Cage and figured that the confidence isn't what it was
last year, maybe Dabble figured taking him out of the

(51:45):
game was going to miss make it worse.

Speaker 1 (51:49):
Now that now, that might be a fair point for sure. Again,
follow him on Twitter at tim Beray Tim Ray the
longtime clips in SI D Clipson Hall of Famer, hanging
out with this year today talking about your Clemson Tigers
as they enter a bye week. And I don't think
the bye week could have come at a better time
for this team. I mean the real it really does
feel like tim from top to bottom. This is kind

(52:12):
of like you know, you watch those television shows where
they reorganize a house or something. I mean that's a
little bit like what this feels like. They got to
get things in order and to have these extra days
to get ready for really not good if you look
at them against Power five competition or Power four competition
North Carolina team. But yeah, I think it couldn't have
come in a better time for this group kind of

(52:33):
given the way they were reeling. Would you agree with that?

Speaker 5 (52:36):
Yeah, I mean I think I mean Dabo basically said
that on the post game when I when I talked
to him, and I did ask him a question is
if this comes at a good time, and he said, yeah,
we need you know, we're gonna need two weeks to
evaluate everything that's happened here in the first four games
and try to, you know, figure out how to solve

(52:58):
these you know, the problem, which you know he's done
in the past is thousand nine, we started out two
and three and played in the ACEC Championship game, you know,
and so that's it. You know, it can be done,
and he is. He is a person that'll be honest
in his evaluation of things, and I think he's in

(53:20):
the process of doing that this week.

Speaker 1 (53:23):
The other thing that I would kind of wonder about,
you know, obviously now the staffs are bigger, and I
was talking with Chad Morrise other day and he was
talking about playbooks and how playbooks can almost get too bloated,
and I forget he had a word for it, but

(53:43):
nonetheless I started thinking about like staff right, like can
you have too many minds in the room? Can you
have too many ideas. And I'm not saying that you
know the traditional nine ten coaches that everybody knows, sure,
but like, can you have too many analysts too much?
Can there be too much information? If you will, they

(54:04):
kind of clogs up the system a little bit in
terms of preparation. I think I'll tell you where, I'll
tell you. When Coach Morris brought this up, I asked
him about self scouting and he said that you kind
of wanted to keep it a little bit minimized in
terms of the feedback because too much of it, you know,
and maybe looking at your playbook too much could kind
of clog things up. What do you think about the

(54:28):
numbers in terms of staffers.

Speaker 5 (54:30):
Well, yeah, I mean, I guess it can get that
way if you if you let it. But I got
to believe that you know the nine guy the nine coaches,
who are you know, designated as the primary guys.

Speaker 6 (54:44):
You know.

Speaker 5 (54:46):
You sound like you're coming from a from a from
an angle that well, taj Boyd is is in a
quarterback room and he's he's making too many comments that
are screwing up acade. Well that's not the case. I mean,
Coach Riley is in charge and I mean, I'm sure
if if if you know, Taj wants to make suggestion,

(55:09):
that's you.

Speaker 3 (55:10):
Know, that's fine.

Speaker 5 (55:11):
I mean, Clemson got how to put this. Clemson got
good when Dabo looked at what Nick Saban was doing
and said, man, he's adding all these analysts and everything.
We're gonna do the same thing. And that's when we
started our run of six straight final fours and two
national championships. So, you know, I just I just don't

(55:34):
think that's the case. I mean, I think the nine
coaches are still uh, you know, in charge. I don't
think I don't think Ben bull whar is meddling with
what Tom Allen wants to do. I just don't, you know,
I just don't believe that.

Speaker 1 (55:52):
There you go, Tim Ray giving us the inside scoop
on that aspect. For those people that are kind of wondering,
if I guess the the ill forra it would be
what too many cooks spoils the souper something like that.
Maybe that's kind of the thought process.

Speaker 5 (56:05):
All yeah, I you know, I know, but I mean
you look at you look at the staffs, and I'm
the higher you know, you know, the top teams in
the country and you know, they've all got big staffs too.

Speaker 1 (56:18):
Yeah, and I've said that a lot here on the
program because a lot of people, you know, obviously, I
think the low hanging fruit is in IL.

Speaker 5 (56:25):
Right.

Speaker 1 (56:26):
These players are getting paid YadA, YadA, YadA, but Clyps
is not in a vacuum. I mean players are being
paid all over the country.

Speaker 5 (56:34):
So yeah, I think they're different anywhere anywhere else. I
mean it's I mean college football is more of a
crap shoot and and and just because of the nil
and the turnover of people and all and all that,
so it can be it can be difficult, you know,

(56:55):
just you know one other thing. You know, everybody's looking
for a reason. Sometimes coaches just you know, programs just
have a bad year. And I'm not saying that we're
gonna end up that way because we've had good I
remember I remember in nineteen eighty two and eighty three,
both years we started out one to one and one
and weren't ranked, and you know, we won the rest

(57:17):
of our games both year. I'm not say we're going
to win the rest of our games, but you know,
there can be turnarounds. And also look at you know,
great coaches over the years, even lengthy times into their career.
You know, look, the winning his coach in college football
history is not Newte Rockney. He is eleventh year at

(57:38):
Notre Dame. He was five and four. The second winning
his coach in college football history is Frank Leahy his
ninth year, he was four four and one. Bud Wilkinson's
fourteenth year at Oklahoma, he was three, six and one.
Bear Bryant's twelfth and thirteenth years he was six and
five at Alabama. So I mean, you know, you know,

(58:00):
it's almost impossible to do what Dabbo has done in
these last fourteen years to keep it going over a
twenty five year stretch. I mean, the other guy's close
to it that I've seen is Tom Osborne. Tom Oisbourne
and his entire time at Nebraska, well of twenty five years,
never lost more than three games.

Speaker 4 (58:21):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (58:22):
But really he's he's only he's the only guy that
ever seen that's had that type of consistency.

Speaker 1 (58:28):
Again, that's why we bring him on. Tim Burray, All right,
final couple of things. Timli's flip our attention away from
football for a minute and talk about Clemson basketball. I
know that stuff's getting underway and getting geared up. They
put out a photo of the new team and you
kind of look through it. You feel like you just
woke up from you being asleep for five years. You

(58:49):
look at you go, I don't know any of these guys.
So have you been over to watch him practiceer? You know,
it's like a time war.

Speaker 5 (58:57):
Probably over the summer. Probably been to five practice and
I went to the first practice full you know, full
scale practice yesterday. They went almost two hours yesterday, and
uh yeah, I mean it's uh you you recognize Hunter
and and of course, but really he's the only one

(59:18):
who played last year.

Speaker 3 (59:20):
R J.

Speaker 5 (59:21):
Godfrey's back, so we recognize him, and uh then Ace
Buckner and and uh Dallas who were a Red Shirts
last year. But the rest of the guys, you really
got to look at those bios and read up on
them and and see what they did and see where
they you know, came from. So it's interesting. I was
I was talking to somebody, man Ben Winter out of

(59:43):
the basketball said, he said, I look at this team
and I just wonder who is Who's going to be
the lead scorer. You know, a lot of usually come
back to teams. Well, you know, Chase Hunder's coming, you
know PG Holli's probably you know Hunter Tyson's, but but
coming into this year, I I I don't know, know
we've transfers coming into average fifteen points a game at
their respective schools. You just don't know, you know, I

(01:00:08):
can't tell you who's gonna start. I mean, it certainly
looks like a Godfrey and Chase Hunter are going to
be two of the starters. But other than that, I
don't know. We've got a lot of you know, a
lot of new guys who you know, look like they
got a chance to and so we we've got some
big guys. We've got a good minute six ten guys

(01:00:28):
and they're all working on outside shots. So that's good
to see that Davidson Kidd transferred from Nevada. It was
a fifteen point scorer last year and he had a
lot of games he had multiple threes. So I know
that's something that that's kind of been a part of
our offense now the last couple of years, a big
guy shooting threes. So hopefully he can pick that up.

Speaker 1 (01:00:51):
Yeah, it's gonna be so unique, is because it's gonna
look so different. And again, I don't know how you
project anything about this team. Like I like most seasons,
I can kind of talk about what they've got. I'm
just gonna have to go into this season blind to
make a guess at what I think. But that's the
era we're living in, Tim, and we do appreciate your insight.

(01:01:14):
And then not only the Clemson football team, but the
basketball team. I've texted several people about him, and a
lot of people really like the pieces Brad Brunnell's got
in place. Now the question becomes, Kenny get him to
play well together. He's proven over the years he's been
really good at that. We'll see how it goes for
the Tigers on the hardwood. Timbray on Twitter at Tim Berray,
Tim will talk to you next Thursday.

Speaker 5 (01:01:35):
Sounds good, lud, there go.

Speaker 1 (01:01:37):
Tim Berray says it's not effort. He says, I guess
I think Tim did say he didn't think that, But
he also said Dabo doesn't think that, And that's some
of that talking with Dabo when they're you know, maybe
not necessarily even on the air. I'm just you know,

(01:01:57):
I what I watched felt like a lack of effort.
I mean it really did. I think Tim does make
a valid point about Syracuse coming out running the ball,
maybe surprising Clemson. It did make me maybe evaluate the
mistackle by TJ. Parker. I was probably too harsh given
how early that was in the game. But still those
are huge moments and your biggest name players aren't making

(01:02:20):
big name plays, so to speak. Stay with us, Clemson
Sports Salt and Swine back with you on a Thursday afternoon.
That was Tim Brady before the break eight O three
four five zero zero eighty six text line, phone line,
and again, be a part of the program anytime, any place,
anywhere on our website, Clemsonsports Salt dot com. All right,

(01:02:44):
so we posed the question how do you face Clempson
football this season? A lot of people are applying a
lot of people. Ben says, do not simplify the offense.
Add more plays, especially diverse run sets, run the ball. Well,
you didn't say it quite like that, but that's that's

(01:03:07):
Brent Key at George Tech last season. He says clips
is averaging eight yards per carry. Run the dad gum ball.
He says, defense, stem, move, blitz attack. I gotta admit
the dad gum in there reminds me of Bobby blbum,

(01:03:38):
dad gummet I gotta work dad gum into my my,
my vocabulary. Let's see what else do we got here? Michael, No,
that was I read Michael's to you earlier. Jerry says,

(01:03:59):
this is all one. Everything's pretty well set in concrete.
First two man running back offense, use of a tight
end as well, receivers as well as blockers. So I
guess Jerry wants to go to first two man running
back offense. Now, I don't know if he's talking about

(01:04:23):
like an I formation with A I'm not one hundred
percent sure where Jerry's headed with that. John says, there's
no fixing it. It's about the players coming together and
every individual stepping up and doing their job at the
highest level. Ooh, Robert thinks, since the coach is not

(01:04:46):
developing players. Ron says, new quarterback, that's it. Boom problem
solved on that side of the ball. Mm So a

(01:05:06):
lot of people putting it on CABE. Some people talk
about you gotta you gotta hit eighty eighty eight miles
an hour in the Deloreans. So the the number of

(01:05:27):
people that have responded through the roof over on our
social media page. Robert says this year it cannot be fixed.
I think that might be a different Robert. Anyway, Let's
check the text line real quick. Ben in Aiken says,

(01:05:48):
bring back the edge. This team doesn't look like the
Clemson of old. No swagger, no nastiness. Dabbo needs to
light a fire in that locker room. You know what's
crazy is I can't imagine I just can't. I cannot
imagine that that Dabbo's like any different.

Speaker 5 (01:06:09):
Ben.

Speaker 1 (01:06:10):
I had to look back, Ben, I think that Dabo is,
you know, probably still getting these guys as fired up
or trying to fire them up as much as he can. Like,
it's hard for me to think that Dabbo's in the
locker room going well. Boys. I guess we'll see whether
we do or we don't. We'll see how it goes.

(01:06:30):
We're just gonna roll it out there and find out
what happens. Like, I think Dabo is certainly trying to
fire these guys up, especially after your first two losses.
And I think that's probably what's tipped so many of
you over the edge with this team, is that when

(01:06:52):
you lose that game in Atlanta, you're not out of
the ACC hunt. I mean, you're still squarely in the mix.
So you can reconcile road loss. You can reconcile Prank.
He's a good coach. He's winning games like that. You know,
it's a walk off field goal.

Speaker 5 (01:07:14):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:07:15):
You can argue about the way Clempson should have handled
the waning moments, and I have. I thought they handled
it wrong, which would go back to coaching being a
big issue perhaps this year. But like, if we're just
being fair about the whole thing, I think most of

(01:07:40):
us have to acknowledge that once you got pushed around
by Syracuse, the tenor of how you felt about this
group changed. Like you could lose to Georgia Tech, and

(01:08:01):
if you had won this past weekend against Syracuse, you'd
look ahead at your schedule. You go, all right, now
we're two and two. We're gonna go win against North Carolina.
We're gonna go win against Boston College and can get
to four and two, and we're gonna just assume that
that Georgia Tech's not gonna run the table even with
an easier schedule, and uh, there's gonna be it. You know,

(01:08:25):
something's gonna open up for US, Florida State and Miami
have to play like there were a lot of things
to look at a week ago that you had a
chance to be pretty positive on your outcome in the ACC.
And I think maybe some of the main concern comes
from now you look at it and go, you got
to have like a Christmas miracle happen in order to

(01:08:48):
get yourself in a situation where you can legitimately believe
that you're gonna be playing for something meaningful in the postseason,
whether that's an ACC championship or somehow worming your way
into the Collage Football playoff. Like it's not even just
about you. You can play great the rest of the season.

(01:09:12):
You can you could come out and be that number
five looking team the rest of the year. And the
problem is, now, even if you do that, you don't
control whether or not you even get into the ACC Championship,
whether you get into the postseason, like you'll control any

(01:09:33):
of that. You've got yourself so far out of bounds.
You've got yourself so far out of bounds that there's job,
there's not a good way to get back in play.
Even if you play perfectly the rest of the way,
you're probably not getting back in the mix, all right,
quick break Christian bettencore freshman tight end. We'll hear from

(01:09:57):
him right after this. Welcome back Club Sports talka Thursday,
Timbray earlier. Looking forward to Friday, Tommy Bowden, Will Van
der Wart gonna be joining us as we talk about
the Clemson Tigers and what we've seen so far as
they are in the bye week. Lots of great football
action coming up this weekend, even a little college football

(01:10:19):
tonight seven point thirty on ESPN East Carolina host Army.
And we've also got some NFL action coming up this
evening as well, which again I hate that the NFL
has encroached on college football the way it has over

(01:10:41):
the years. That's kind of the reason that some college
football has obviously moved over to Friday night games, but
which is bad because you can't have recruits come in
on a Friday night. Seattle at Arizona eight point fifteen tonight,
that's going to be on prime video. And we haven't

(01:11:02):
talked much about the NFL here on the program, but
real quick, obviously I'm keeping up with him following the
Jacksonville Jaguars. They're two and one, and I would argue
probably should be three and Oh the way. They kind
of let that game slip away from them against the

(01:11:25):
Cincinnati Bengals, you know, not taking not taking points.

Speaker 3 (01:11:35):
In the red zone.

Speaker 1 (01:11:36):
Yeah, that's frustrating. Trevor throwing an interception in the end zone,
something that's become all too familiar with his career. But
the Jaguars are two and oh they're at the forty
nine ers this weekend, and that is a four to
five start on Fox. So I would definitely be locked

(01:12:00):
in on that one and pulling hard for Jacksonville. I
thought this would be a bad season for them, and
it may still be. This is a San Francisco team
though this's three and zero. I'm not sure who's going
to be quarterbacking San Francisco this weekend. I don't know
what they're what their roster currently looks like. But Mac

(01:12:25):
Jones I think, has been quarterbacking them while Rock purties out.
I just don't know how long that will be. So
maybe a chance for Big Trevan Jacksonville this weekend. We'll
see four or five on Sunday. And oh yeah, before
we get to Christian Bettencore, I do need to remind

(01:12:47):
you about our friends at Alumni Hall on the corner
of Campus College Avenue, downtown Clemson. Alumni Hall for all
your officially licensed Clemson merchandise. When you're in there, check
out the incredible hat wall. All of that plus those
dry fit Nike polos that I love so much. And
Alumni Hall online at Alumni Hall dot comedy not just

(01:13:07):
for Clemson fans, they got Alumni Hall has websites for
tons of schools. Now, if you want to get to
the Clemson site, you can go through our website and
we have a like a link in at the bottom
of most of our posts. Go click that link and
it will take you to Alumni Hall's Clemson site. But

(01:13:28):
if you have a friend that pulls for another team,
they've got a store for you. Alumni Hall where Tiger
fans shop all right, Christian Bencore Freshman tight End. You know, Look,
I've said for years that tight End is as a
spot where Clemson has got to be better, and I

(01:13:54):
certainly hold the Tigers to that standard every single year
that the tie Ends have to do more. That's when
Clympson has been at their best over the years. This
season so far, Josh Sapp with three receptions for fifty
one yards. Olsen pat Henry with five receptions for forty

(01:14:16):
one yards and Christian Bettencore with four receptions for thirty
eight yards. No touchdowns for the tight ends. Now, it's
a little indicative of just this team in general, right
and the way those guys have played, which is underwhelmingly Nonetheless,

(01:14:40):
here's Christian Bettencore, and he was asked about whether or
not he's sort of seen his hard work in the
off season come to fruition as he's gotten more playing
time this year.

Speaker 6 (01:14:55):
It's been exciting put a lot of work in the offseason,
so I'm happy to see I find starting to playoff.

Speaker 1 (01:15:01):
He was also asked to evaluate his play and how
he thinks he's done so far.

Speaker 6 (01:15:06):
Yeah. Uh, I've said pretty done, pretty good. You know,
We've got a great room with me, Sappanolsen and and
even even Shefflin playing a little bit, and I'm excited
to see where it goes. But yeah, I mean this
has been my dream all my life. So happy to
get out there and start playing.

Speaker 1 (01:15:24):
Benncoor was also asked about what he's kind of dealt
with in terms of feeling like he had to prove
himself perhaps among the offense.

Speaker 6 (01:15:32):
It's all about getting trust, and we've shown slowly more
and more that we could make put a role for
ourselves in this offense. So we just got to keep
going and keep keep working hard and and I think
good things will happen.

Speaker 1 (01:15:48):
The Clemson freshman Tighty was asked about his chemistry with
Kay Klubnick.

Speaker 3 (01:15:52):
It's great. I mean, on and off the field.

Speaker 6 (01:15:54):
Me and Kate have a great relationship, and it's just
building building more us with him on the field and.

Speaker 3 (01:16:04):
Just keeping going.

Speaker 1 (01:16:06):
He was also asked to elaborate about Clemson's meeting this
week that a lot of the players talked about just
from the standpoint of how that went.

Speaker 6 (01:16:16):
I mean, obviously not the start we wanted to, but
it was great to see the leaders on our team
really step up and have encouragement for us in this time.

Speaker 1 (01:16:26):
Christian bentencore Clemson tight end, was also asked to give
some insight into Dabo's scripture that he read.

Speaker 6 (01:16:32):
Yeah, I mean, media faith is I'm really I put
all my trust in God and all my faith in God.
And to hear our head coach preach a little bit
about the scripture in the Bible, it's it's really I
love it, and that's one of the reasons I came
here is to view with coach Sweeney, and I have
his back there and through.

Speaker 1 (01:16:53):
So they go just a little bit from Christian Benten
Core have his back through and through, he said there
about Dabo Sweeney. Obviously, the Clemson Tigers in a rut
right now, trying to figure out how to turn the momentum,
how to get this thing back in the right direction
and get some positives. We've talked a lot about that
here today on the program. We've read some of your thoughts,

(01:17:13):
We've given you some of our thoughts. We talked with
Timberray about it. There's no I know this, there's no
simple answer. I think the best I'll tell you what.
We got a break coming up. I'll tell you I
think what the best thing you can hope for about
the turnaround is when we get back stay with us.

Speaker 3 (01:17:34):
What have you done for me lately? It's a fair question.

Speaker 4 (01:17:39):
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?

Speaker 3 (01:17:52):
And what have you done? Always are the same. We win.

Speaker 1 (01:18:46):
Final segment on Thursday, Clipses Sports talk. All right, So
I told you before the break, maybe maybe I could
give you how this thing could get fixed. Rick says
Clemson fix isn't just one thing, Swanee. It's offensive line,

(01:19:07):
pass rush, finding a rhythmic quarterback. They've got talent, but
they need to simplify and get confidence back. I think
we've heard simplify from a few people. Anyway, I'm just
gonna say this probably not gonna resonate well with some

(01:19:30):
of you. That's all right, part of the gig. I
mean I get to spit fire and brimstone after a loss,
but I also have to also at some point during
the healing process. What are the what are the stages
of grief?

Speaker 3 (01:19:51):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (01:19:51):
Let me see stages of arthritis? Is that how old
I am? I put in stages of all right, there's denial, anger, bargaining, depression,
and acceptance. All right, So I think denial was probably

(01:20:16):
after Georgia tech anger was definitely Monday. I'm not really
sure how to define bargaining. Is that, like, because I
mean grief, I guess you're talking about like maybe with
with God or something where you're saying, Lord, if if
I do this, when you do that, I don't know. Depression.

(01:20:41):
Maybe maybe that's where we were yesterday and now acceptance.
But here's what I'm gonna say about it. Here's what
I'll say. I know this is going to be hard
for some of you to accept. Maybe they're still a

(01:21:02):
good team in there, and maybe that good team comes
to light and plays well and does so good. Okay,
hear me out now that Clemson is capable of beating
everybody on their schedule, that that's not a reach. When

(01:21:24):
I say it, now, understand, I get what you've watched.
I've watched it too. It feels impossible to imagine that
the good team that everybody projected was here is still here.

(01:21:47):
But just for a moment, you know, come down this
path of imagination with me for a moment, and let's
say that it is. Then if we agree that it
is still here and that they've just made some bad
decisions along the way that have cost them games. Like

(01:22:08):
timber Ray mentioned, maybe they could win out. I mean,
I don't think it's unfair when I say I think
Clempson has got a better roster than the teams that
they are going to be playing the rest of the way.
That might still be true. Maybe Florida State, maybe South Carolina,

(01:22:29):
but they should have a better roster. I mean, the
roster's gotta play, though, but maybe if they get up
to playing the way they were expected to, then maybe
come November, going into that South Carolina game, we're thinking, man,
can you believe the way we felt about this Clemson

(01:22:52):
team in September? Like, I don't think that's completely impossible.
I don't think it's more likely though. It's just because
I think you've gotten a pretty good track record here
the first four weeks, and maybe most concerning is being
down sixteen to nothing to Troy. And I know Dabo

(01:23:15):
tried to write that off as a you know, little
thing here, little thing there, YadA, YadA, YadA. You know,
the dumb luck pick six interception all that, But you
know what I want to say, where's the dumb luck
for our for Clemson? Where's the pick six interception? Where's
the scoop and score? Where's the fumble that changes the game? Like,
you know, great teams make things happen, And honestly, if

(01:23:42):
you had to list the number of plays where somebody
made something happen for Clemson this year that you just
felt like, man, that was awesome, what a play. That
is a very small number and it's not enough to
mount to a hill of beans. So now you have

(01:24:04):
to question, Okay, well, can they play the way you expected?
If they can, then I will say maybe. But if
they go up to North Carolina, which is not a
very good football team, and it's a battle. If Clemson
is in a fight at North Carolina, I don't know. Man,

(01:24:27):
that doesn't seem like that's a good sign for the
rest of the year. I'll tell you that much. All Right,
we gotta get out here. Thank you again for being
a part of the program until tomorrow is always. You'll
take care now and go Tigers.