The "Jimbo Plan" Edition

If LSU wants to pull off a coup, Swanny has a plan that could change the way ADs in college football think about contracts. 

Episode Transcript

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

(00:42):
finally Clemson Sports Talk has come back two drive time.
Hello everybody, Low and Swan back in the saddle once again.
It is the show that shakes the south Land. Clemson
Sports Talk for you each every afternoon as you make
your way around the great state of South Carolina and beyond,

(01:04):
listening to us on incredible radio stations like Fox Sports
Radio fourteen hundred and the Midlands heard around the world
on the iHeart Radio application. Download today, It's free the website.
Put the dot com on a dog gun it that's
Clemson Sports tu dot com. And as always to show
the shakespare south Land. Brought to you in part by

(01:24):
our good friends over at mets Plumbing mets plumb dot com.
Two two six seven one o eight. That's two two
six seven to one zero eight. All right out of
the gates here on a Tuesday afternoon, the coaching search
at LSU, and I've got the solution and it is

(01:46):
bang up and it is incredible, and it would be
the story you know I have talked about for a while,
a coach taking a job for a very small salary
and utilizing that money to pay his players. And as
I was driving home today, I thought about the perfect

(02:07):
scenario because it was Texas A and M that Waltston
and waxed LSU. And then that meant that LSU whacked,
not waxed, but whacked Brian Kelly out the door. Well,

(02:27):
who did Texas A and M just pay seventy five
seventy six million dollars to go away? Jimbo Fisher. Fisher
was the offensive coordinator at LSU from two thousand to
two thousand and six before going to Florida State and
then ascending to that Florida State job. And it's it's

(02:49):
not to say that Mike Norvelle won't get fired at
Florida State and that could become a potential destination for
the former Clemson Tiger baseball player. You heard it, Jimbo Fisher.
But what if Jimbo We're going to be offered the

(03:11):
job at LSU because he's got a tie to LSU
athletic director Scott Woodward. Because Woodward is the guy that
gave him the contract at Texas A and M. A
and m's paid that money or paying in part, and

(03:31):
Woodward is responsible for the bad buyout that Brian Kelly
has currently at LSU, meaning that if Jimbo were to
look at the LSU faithful and say, hey, look, I'll
take one dollar whatever the minimum you have to pay
me to make me an employee. I'll take one dollar
and you take whatever you are going to pay me,

(03:52):
and we're going to put that into our roster for
the first five years of my contract. That means you'll
pay off to Brian Kelly. Doesn't have to hurt so much.
We invest in our program. I make the minimum, sure
I have to have a staff, but will reinvest to

(04:13):
hopefully have success and be at the top of the
Southeastern Conference. In a blink, could it work? Let me
know what you think if you're watching on TikTok. Let
me know what you think if you're listening on Fox
Sports Radio fourteen hundred or on the iHeartRadio app. This
is a perfect get out for Scott Wioward. He punishes

(04:35):
Texas A and m the team again that put him
in this situation where he needed to get rid of
Brian Kelly, and he rewards LSU. Now, I don't know
enough about the relationship between Jimbo Fisher and Scott Wilward,
but to me, this is a win win for all parties. Well,

(04:58):
I guess all parties except for maybe Texas A and
M fans, who would feel like in a situation like
that they were directly funding the nil at LSU, which
I think is spectacular. Now, did Jimbo Fisher this is

(05:19):
what I don't know. Did you get a lump su? Yes,
a lump sum payout twenty five percent of the seventy
seven point five million. The lump sum was approximately nineteen
pointy three million, was paid within sixty days. The remaining

(05:39):
balance will be paid in annual installments. So there you go.
So essentially A and M through twenty thirty one would
be paying Jimbo Fisher seven point two million annually to
coach at LSU. In l LSU could run that money

(06:05):
into their athletic department. I think this is genius. I
really do. Again, if you're just joining us, here's what
I'm thinking. So Scott Woodward, who was the athletic director

(06:27):
at LSU, was the guy that hired Jimbo Fisher that
crazy contract at Texas A and M. Texas A and
M owed Jimbo Fisher seventy seven point five million they
had to pay twenty five percent up front nineteen point
three million, and they will pay him seven point two
million dollars annually through twenty thirty one. That's six years.

(06:49):
Jimbo Fisher, who was the offensive coordinator at LSU, should
say to the Byou Bengals, I will coach you for
a dollar and I want you to take whatever you
would pay me. Put it in nil, let's bring in players,
and for the next six years, Texas A and M
will pay me seven point two million dollars to be
your head coach, and then we'll go from there. Now,

(07:12):
there might be some sort of mitigation that's built into that,
but this is a perfect scenario for a coach to
take advantage of something I have talked about quite a
bit in this new overbloated, overpaid contract era where coaches
are getting big time buyouts. That is, I don't need anything.
I'm making plenty from A and M. They're one of

(07:32):
our rivals. Let's go kick their tail. Let's put our
money into investing in this team. That saves you want
paying Brian Kelly off and here we are to win
and by twenty thirty one we'll be on top, and
I'll take the money and we can build it up
and we can continue to run with it. I think
it makes perfect sense. I think it's a brilliant thought,

(07:54):
maybe the smartest thought in the history of mankind. I'm
just saying, well, maybe that's going a little bit too far.
A three four or five zero zero zero eighty six
text line phone line be a part of the program.
Let me know what you think I mean. Is that
is that something people are talking about or is that
just me? Did I just come up with the most

(08:15):
brilliant concept in the history of college football and coaching.
There's no way Texas A and M fans haven't thought
about that and thought of it in the negative sense
of they're seven point two million going to LSU and

(08:42):
paying LSU's next head coach. But who knows, Maybe maybe
they haven't. Maybe they're just living high on the Hogs,
sitting there as one of the top three teams in
the country and playing exceptionally well. They are. They have
been very fun to watch, and they are a team.

(09:02):
They It was hard to root for them at all
when Jimbo Fisher was there because to me of the
way Jimbo Fisher, the way Jimbo Fisher's career at Florida
State went the things and the way he handled Jamis
Winston like I was almost too close to that and

(09:25):
just was very bothered by how that all played out.
And now with him gone from A and M and
Mike Elko being there, I can't kind of root for
those guys. I don't have a tough time rooting for
Texas A and M quite frankly A zero three four five,

(09:46):
zero zero eighty six texta line, phone line. And I
have had cousins go to school there, so I do
have connections. I do have connections to that program as well.
All right, little news nugget here. You recall a couple
of days ago when the NCAA came out and said

(10:13):
that it was going to be okay for student athletes
to bet on professional sports beginning November first, And this
was basically the day that the NBA scandal came out
that embroiled former players and coaches in the league and

(10:34):
scandal's behavior. And I and I said, here's the thing.
You have friends of these high schools, excuse me, of
these college athletes playing professionally, and they can easily get
them the intel that would help them to win in
betting and the feeling that it was easy to grab

(10:59):
some extra money would certainly be enticing the players that
have money available to them. And maybe it's not the
quarterback who's making two three million dollars a year, but
maybe it's the offensive lineman that's making one hundred grand
and he thinks he could turn one hundred into two
fifty or more with a quick bet because he knows something,

(11:24):
and then down the spiraling toilet he goes, much like
these players that were arrested and coaches that were arrested
by the FBI. Well Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg sank sent
a letter to the NCAA stating that the message of
our presidents and chancellors was clear and united. This policy

(11:45):
change represents a major step in the wrong direction, and
that was during a conference meeting on October thirteenth. But
because last week the NCAA's Division One Cabinet approved a
rule change it allows betting in professional sports, NCAA athletes
would then be able to bet on professional athletics. They

(12:09):
cannot bet on college sports. They can't share information about
college sports with betters. This is what Sankie wrote on
behalf of our universities. I write to urge action by
the NCAA one Board of Directors to rescind this change

(12:29):
and reaffirm the association's commitment to maintaining strong national standards
that keep collegiate participants separated from sports wagering activities at
every level. If there are legal or practical concerns about
the prior policy, those should be addressed through careful refinement,
not through wholesale removal of the guardrails that have long

(12:51):
supported the integrity of games and the well being of
those who participate. And I agree one hundred one. I'm
tired of living in this world where rules and guidelines

(13:13):
and norms are just ignored. This is bad for business
on all fronts. It's bad for the student athlete. It's
bad for the fan. It's bad for the NIL the
the the nil product that exists, because now, all of

(13:35):
a sudden, fans would feel like, well, we're supporting nil
and these players are just gambling our money away. And
you've already had the NCAA investigating thirteen players from six
schools regarding potential gambling violations. And a lot of that

(13:55):
stems from the fact that draft kings and fan Duel
and even ESPN now all have these betting apps that
allow you to quickly wager and and you can bet
on all kinds of things. It's all live, it's all
well and good. You don't have to have your little
bookie from down the block that nobody knows about that's
under the you know, under the cover, the cloak of darkness.

(14:19):
This is in your pocket. It's instantaneous, it's addicting, and
a ton of people do it. And I'm not telling
you you are wrong for betting and gambling. I do not.
I'll do a NCAA tournament pool that kind of wagering.
I'll do a year long pick them that kind of wagering.

(14:44):
But I've never gone in and said, oh man, middle
of the game and clipses up by ten and now
I can take this team getting plus thirteen. Should I
do it? Not once in my life. I don't really
find that or fantasy football all that intriguing. It just
it's never intrigued me. Quite frankly, and from Greg Sanke's

(15:09):
perspective and from coaches at the highest level, whether it's football, baseball, basketball,
or whatever, I understand where they are coming from. Because
what this seems to perpetuate is the opportunity for a

(15:32):
huge mistake, and a huge mistake that could potentially cost
a student athlete their career playing professionally or collegiately. And
you could say, well, alcoholism's the same swanny. They can
go out and get in a car wreck and kill
somebody and that's it. That's the end of their career.

(15:55):
And I don't deny that fact. But this would be
something that's a little bit I think more enticing, easier
to kind of shove under the radar, and also something
that players would believe they would be able to pull off.

(16:16):
I think players would believe that they could somehow game
the system to make more money, and I think avoiding
that at all costs is of the utmost importance given
where we are right now in college sports, where there
doesn't seem to be a guardrail, and this, to me

(16:37):
is adding an exit ramp towards bad news. I can't
see a lot of good news coming out of this.
I just I don't think that student athletes should be

(16:58):
in that realm because there's also this other potential that hey,
i'll give you a tip on this professional football game,
but I'm gonna need you to make sure that you
know you don't rush for over fifty seven yards because

(17:22):
that's the over under. And so now a kid's banking
on a tip and making money, and then helping the
informant or the individual who's giving them some tips make
money by not rushing for more yards than necessary. I

(17:46):
just think you open up a web of bad possibilities
and very few good possibilities. And I think that's what
Greg Sankee understands about it, and he understands it much
deeper than I do. I mean, I have no doubt

(18:08):
Greg Sanki and his team at the Southeastern Conference and
the conference commissioners around the country have thought about all
the negative aspects of what of what this change could produce,

(18:29):
and really what are the positives. It feels to me
like changes that are made by the NCAA should be
positive for players, and the negatives that could come along
with this are immense, and the positives are miniscule eight

(18:57):
zero three four or five zero zero eighty six. That
is detect in the phone line. And again, Clemson Sports
Talk right here for you each and every afternoon on
Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred. The Middland turned around the
world on the iHeartRadio app. It was a talking Tuesday
up in Tigertown. Dablosweeney also had this coaches show yesterday evening.

(19:18):
We'll talk a little bit about what he had to say.
They're articles up on clemsonsports talk dot com as well.
And we had an unbelievable game last night, Game three
of the World Series last night or this morning, I

(19:39):
mean both. Really. I finally bailed on that game in
the thirteenth inning. It went eighteen in the former Atlanta
Brave Freddie Freeman with the game winning walk off home
run to end it a late night and they are
back at it this evening. We'll talk about it in
just a little bit. Stay with us, rocking and rolling

(20:01):
along with you on a Tuesday afternoon Clemson Sports Talk again.
This matchup against the Duke Blue Devils an interesting one
just from the standpoint of the history of this series
and how dominant Clemson has been in it. Obviously, the
last time these two teams met two years ago up

(20:23):
in Durham, it was a shocking result. Most people thought
that the Tigers were gonna waltz in there and cruise
to victory. Instead, Clemson couldn't get out of their own
way k Klebnick with some turnovers, and it's just an
ugly way to start the season. Clemson never really rebounded.
You lose twenty eight to seven. But you know, each
and every week Clemson sends out their their the game notes, right,

(20:49):
and so before that, I typically go through and look
at the last ten games with any team where we've
played ten players and put together a graphic that kind
of lays out, you know, what the last ten looks like.
And Clemson has won a significant amount of games, not
just in the last ten but in the history. Clemson
with eight out of the last ten victories in this series.

(21:10):
But the nugget, the stat the number, whatever you want
to call it, that really stood out to me, was
the last time Duke won at Clemson, right, And that's
legitimately November first, twenty twenty six is on the line,

(21:31):
and it feels like it's really on the line for
the first time in a long time. Duke now four
and three, three and one in the ACC Clemson three
and four, two and three. The Tigers are favored at
home by three and a half, but Clempson has been
favored in pretty much every game this season, and the
performances have not been worthy, quite frankly, of being favored
really the following week, especially now this late in the season,

(21:52):
to be favored against the Duke Blue Devils quite surprising. Nonetheless,
we can get into the stats here momentarily. The over
under on this game fifty five and a half. But
the last time, I'll let you just kind of put
together a mental note on this. When do you believe
the last time Duke beat Clemson in Clemson was? I mean,

(22:17):
you're gonna have to do some thinking, all right, any idea,
how about nineteen eighty? Can you believe that now? You
haven't played them as often in recent memory as you
used to, especially when the ACC was smaller and you
played him every year. But the last time Clemson lost

(22:39):
to the Duke Blue Devils at home nineteen eighty and
there was a stretch of games back in the day.
I can't remember exactly how many, but Clemson would play
these games at Death Valley. I think it was somewhere
in like eighty six, eighty seven, and eighty eight. Maybe
Clemson bought a home Gamebviously, they played Duke at one point,

(23:01):
I think over in Tokyo, the Coca Cola Classic in
nineteen ninety one. That was a thirty three twenty one victory.
But the last time they came into Clemson and won
a game thirty four seventeen. I think, let me double
check that you have thirty four seventeen was the final score.

(23:21):
Nineteen eighty Duke beats Clemson. I mean, that's a stunner
that you have to go all that way back and
talking about how the series has kind of shifted in
terms of the number of times you played them. Obviously,
you played him in twenty twenty three, two years ago.
You played him in twenty eighteen, twenty twelve, two thousand

(23:45):
and eight, two thousand and seven, two thousand and five,
four and three before the acc expanded. Obviously that's when
that street kind of snapped. But you know, over the
past twenty five years, I think this will only be
the twelfth time you've played them, So you play them
about once every two seasons and change. Now, the all

(24:05):
time series between these two teams is thirty seven seventeen
and one. Clemson leads it. But what you might not
know is back in the thirties when this game was played,
Duke was a really solid team. You think about coach
Wallace Wade. You think about during the Rose Bowl, excuse me,

(24:30):
during World War Two. The Rose Bowl was played there
in Durham. I think maybe a couple of seasons, if
my memory serves me correctly. But Duke owned this rivalry
against Clemson in the early goings. As a matter of fact,
they started off with a five game winning streak in
the series that take a five zero series lead. Clemson

(24:53):
did not win a game against the Blue Devils until
nineteen fifty nine, and the series then stood at five
and one. Duke would win the following season to make
it six and one. Clemson would win the next year
to make it six and three. Then the Tigers would
lose I think two maybe three more after that, two
more to go down eight to three. But then the

(25:14):
momentum really turned. As a matter of fact, Clemson had
a stretch from nineteen eighty one to nineteen eighty eight
where they won every game, and really since nineteen eighty
one when Clempson won that national championship, and since the
eighty season, the last time Duke beat Clemson in Death Valley,
I mean, this thing has been absolutely dominated by the Tigers.
I hate to say that I was actually at the

(25:36):
nineteen eighty nine game, that twenty one to seventeen loss,
where you had Steve Spurrier coaching for the Duke Blue Devils. Yep,
I was there for that one, meaning that Clemson has
won I think twenty five of the last thirty in
this series, and there was a game back in nineteen
ninety seven. This is a little nugget that you might
not know. Clemson and Duke met in the first overtime

(25:58):
game between two ACC schools, but looking at the score,
you wouldn't think that it was an overtime game because
Clemson won twenty nine to twenty. David Richardson kicked a
field goal from the Tigers to put them up twenty
three twenty. Then on Duke's possession, Clemson linebacker Raheem Abdullah,

(26:19):
who had a cup of coffee in the NFL, intercepted
a pass and returned at sixty three yards for a touchdown.
But because the game was over, you don't get to
attempt the extra point, delivering Clemson with what is certainly
in the history of college football a rare nine point

(26:40):
overtime win. So the series, recently dominated by Clemson in
the beginning, dominated by Duke, and for the first time
in a long time, I think you legitimately have to
be worried that the Duke Blue Devils are going to
come into Death Valley and put the Tigers back in

(27:04):
the corner and take a dub for the first time
since nineteen eighty I was three years old the last
time Duke won in Clemson all time at Clemson. The
Tigers lead at twenty four and one. Can the Blue
Devils crack through with victory number five on the road
against the Tigers. We'll find out this weekend, and I

(27:26):
know a lot of people not feeling great about it,
giving the way Clemson has played this entire season. All right,
quick break, we'll come back. We'll hear some from Tigertown
right after this. Stay with us. Lawton Swam back with
the Clemson Sports Talk on a Tuesday. Don't forgive our
friends in Alumni Hall right there across from Bowmanfield where
they're building the floats for homecoming as the Duke Blue

(27:47):
Devils come to town this weekend. It's Alumni Haull for
all your officially licensed Clemson merchandise has T shirts, Telgate gearmore,
go check them out today in store right there downtown
Clemson on College Avenue. Online at Alumni Hall dot com.
It's Alumni Hall where Tiger fans shop. All right. Talking Tuesday, Tigertown,
Dabos Sweeney speaking of the Blue Devils meeting with the media.

(28:11):
Here's some of Dabos Sweeny's opening comments, as we really
get our first chance to hear from him in a
couple of weeks. As Clemson was on the by last week.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
We're ready to get back into fight around here. Been
a good open day for us. Last week was a
great week, great prep for out of the guys, how
they responded, got back to work.

Speaker 3 (28:29):
Also had an opportunity to go serve last week.

Speaker 2 (28:32):
We went and spent a day, you know, helping build
the habitat home that's that's over on Bowmafield there. So
that was a great thing for our guys to be
able to experience and got to meet.

Speaker 3 (28:43):
The homeowner as well.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
So that was a cool a cool again opportunity for
everyone to just go serve. But a good week, a
good weekend, and you know, we got some guys. We're
definitely in a better spot today than we were would
have been had we played this past weekend. From an
injury standpoint, I know you guys are going to ask

(29:05):
about a lot of people, but we'll we'll put out
a report on Thursday and kind of see where we are.

Speaker 3 (29:10):
We obviously are just coming off one one.

Speaker 2 (29:12):
Day of practice so far this week, but today and
tomorrow we'll ramp it up and you know, really you'll
see who's who's game ready and and who's still got
some work to do, and and then we'll report that
on on Thursday. But you know, again, proud of our guys.
There's there's been some certainly some disappointment this season, but

(29:33):
also a lot of good.

Speaker 3 (29:34):
A lot of positives and things that I've seen within
our team. T J.

Speaker 2 (29:38):
Parker got married last week, so you know, that's an
awesome thing. And uh, you know, again the season hasn't
gone the way we wanted it to go this year.
But if he doesn't come to Clemson, he doesn't meet
his precious wife Asia, So a cool moment for him,
and congratulations to them. But again, proud of how the
guys have gotten back to work. Homecoming this week. I

(29:59):
know there's a lot going on there and we'll we'll
we'll go and participate with Taiger rama like we always
have this week, so hopefully we'll have a good, good
crowd for that. I know it's we've got a lot
of rain this week, so I'm not sure how that's
going to impact some of the things going on campus.
But I know the students are resilient and they'll they'll
figure out a way to make it a great week.
But it looks like the weekend is going to be

(30:20):
is going to be beautiful, so it should be a
great day for some football.

Speaker 1 (30:26):
That's Dabo swinging with some opening comments again ahead of
Clemson's matchup with Duke this weekend. In Depth Valley Dabos
Sweeney got a little further into the football side of
things today as well. Back behind the mic.

Speaker 2 (30:38):
You know, we we've got, I guess about thirty three
days left in our season. So it's crazy, you know,
it's it's it's flown by and thankful that we still got,
you know, opportunity to go compete.

Speaker 3 (30:51):
Thankful that we have an.

Speaker 2 (30:52):
Opportunity to uh still you know, work to be the
best version of ourselves, uh and have an opportunity to
go have the best possible will finish that we can have.

Speaker 3 (31:01):
And but it doesn't get easier.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
We've We've got another great opponent coming in here in
Duke this weekend. I think one of the best executing
offenses in the country for sure. They really execute at
a high level. They play well together. It starts with
this quarterback.

Speaker 3 (31:17):
I mean, he's elite. He is an elite player.

Speaker 2 (31:20):
I did not know much about him prior to him
coming to Duke, just hadn't seen him very much on tape,
but he is, he's he's a special player.

Speaker 3 (31:28):
They do a nice job.

Speaker 2 (31:29):
Again, they're well coordinated and they execute at a very
high level.

Speaker 3 (31:34):
You give him a patch of grass, they take it.
You know.

Speaker 2 (31:37):
They pretty much got an RPO built in about everything
they do. They do a nice job of moving moving him,
you know, different launch points, whether it be in the pocket,
sprint outs, you know, boots off of play action, five six,
seven shots a game.

Speaker 3 (31:52):
Uh, you know.

Speaker 2 (31:53):
So they're an aggressive offense and an aggressive defense. But
just very impressed with with you know, how they've played
this year, coming off with tough loss against Georgia Tech
where they turned it over going in on the one
and then had another goal line stop on the one
they had to settle for a field goal. I know
they feel like they've maybe missed an opportunity there, but

(32:14):
this is again really good offense.

Speaker 3 (32:16):
They play well together.

Speaker 2 (32:17):
Up front, receivers are very good players, very good skill,
good backs. Number eighteen for them is probably one of
the better receivers that I've seen, an elite route runner.
He's got great ball skills, you know, seven and two
outstanding players. Their tighty end eighty five is a guy
that's very crafty, whether it be you know, setting the

(32:37):
edge first quarterback to get out or you know how
they use him in the play action game.

Speaker 3 (32:43):
You know.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
So just again really good offense. Four hundred and sixty
something yards a game. They're eighteenth in the nation and
they're overall third and passing. I think MENSA is second
in the nation in passing. So we got our hands
full with this group. We got to play, we got
to play well.

Speaker 3 (32:58):
We got to.

Speaker 2 (32:58):
Execute at a high level. We've kind of eliminate the
big play bus that we had in our last outing.
We really have not done that. That's something that we've
got to get back on track. We've got to find
a way to take the ball away, you know, win
the line of scrimmage and do a good job out
on the perimeter against these guys because they do a
nice job of attacking those areas.

Speaker 1 (33:19):
That's Dabo Sweeney talking about this Duke offense. Here's what
he had to say about the Blue Devil defense. And
then we'll hit a quick break.

Speaker 2 (33:28):
Very aggressive defense, four down group, downhill linebackers, a lot
of man coverage, a lot of tight coverage. They will
mix it up, but from an identity standpoint, you know,
they're a group that wants to force the issue. So
you know this will be a team that's coming in
here with a really good front. I think ninety seven
and seven or two of the better ends that we've

(33:49):
that we've seen. They can get after the passer for inside.
One of the bigger, twitchy guys that we've played against.
I really like this linebacker group. They got an All
American at corner in Rivers. He's an excellent player.

Speaker 3 (34:02):
You know.

Speaker 2 (34:02):
Just just a well coached group, so aggressive all across
the board, all three phases, and a team that will
have to execute at a high level and play complementary football.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
So there you go. That's some of the opening comments
from Dabo Sweeney. Here we'll hear a story that he
told and I put it out on social media a
little earlier. Today. You know this team, this Clemson team,
where they sit right now, and how disappointed people certainly
are in this season kind of flashes back for Dabo

(34:35):
to a year that I think for a lot of
you turned out to be quite a shocker. And I
think Dabo Sweeney is hoping that this Clemson entire team
can somehow miraculously pull a Harry Houdini act for you
and pull a rabbit al of a hat and somehow

(34:57):
turn this bitter disappointment that you currently feel on October
the twenty eighth into a potential exciting finish. We'll tell
you about it when we get back. Final segment of
our number one Clemson Sports Tallau and Swan hanging out
with you. Jack Veltree from gamecockcentral dot com set to

(35:20):
join the program in our number two A zero three
four five zero zero eighty six. That is the text
line in the phone line we were listening to some
of Dabosweeney's comments earlier. We'll jump back into that here momentarily,
but Sweeney brought up reference to one of the great

(35:42):
years in Clemson football history. They started five and four
and many of you remember it well because we the
price of our website for one year at minutes is
sixty three seventeen. That sixty three seventeen season, though, had
a bigger and broader story to it than rolling into
Williams Stadium in Walloping, South Carolina. Here's DABOSWEENI give us

(36:05):
some insight into the two thousand and three Tigers and
the turnaround that they had.

Speaker 2 (36:11):
This is one of those We hadn't had many of
these opportunities. I mean, we've had some, you know, and
and just in my time at Clemson, so twenty three years,
I mean, we were we talked about we need a
great we need a great November, like like, we got
to find a way to have a good November around here,
you know.

Speaker 3 (36:29):
And then we start over.

Speaker 2 (36:31):
Every year, we start over, we count them up, we
start over, we attack the next year and let's rally
the troops and charge back up the hill.

Speaker 3 (36:38):
That's what's what we do. It's what we've done forever,
and we'll do that again.

Speaker 2 (36:41):
But right now, man, we got to find a way
to We got to find a way to win Tuesday.
We got to find a way to beat Duke. You know,
we got to find a way to go finish. But man,
I mean my first year here, you know, three, I
mean we lost forty five to seventeen at Wake.

Speaker 3 (36:59):
I mean that was a long right.

Speaker 2 (37:02):
And I remember specifically because I drove Tath, drove up,
had all the boys in the car seats, drove up
to West I'd never been to wait for us, and
we drive up there, and I mean, Tim.

Speaker 3 (37:15):
You remember that. I was like, this ain't good.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
We're five and four. We get destroyed on Thursday night.
We think we're getting fired. Friday came me and Billy.
I'll never forget it because I'm like, me and Billy
were supposed to go recruiting that day, and I'm like,
I guess we're going recruiting.

Speaker 3 (37:34):
You know, I don't know. It wasn't good. It wasn't good.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
And but Billy and I went up and we're recruiting
a kid up in North Carolina. Walking around it was
kind of like, you know, we came back, We're like, Okay,
I guess we're good. Saturday we didn't have anything on Saturday,
which was kind of a cool day for me because
I went and both Will and Drew got baptized that Saturday.

Speaker 3 (37:59):
And then Sunday, we're back over in the office, and.

Speaker 2 (38:03):
You know, like I think we're good, you know, and
then Monday comes and seven am staff meeting and.

Speaker 3 (38:11):
I actually had the devotion that day.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
But then we and then about ten thirty that day
it's a coaching change, right Like It's like and nobody
saw it coming, not from US US coaches.

Speaker 3 (38:22):
We're just kind of owned about our business. And I
think we're good.

Speaker 2 (38:25):
But you know, kind of the backstory, you know, of
all that stuff. I mean, we lose forty five, say
it ain't good, and honestly, we probably we probably wouldn't
have made it if we weren't playing Florida State the
next week, you know, and it was the ball and
Bowl and all that stuff. But we're playing what were they,

(38:46):
number two or three in the country, undefeated nine to
zero on their way to a national championship. We just
lost forty five to seventeen to Wake Force. No way
we're winning that game, right, Like, let's just kind of,
you know, go play this game.

Speaker 3 (39:03):
But guess what happened. Guess what happened. We had a
group of people that didn't quit.

Speaker 2 (39:09):
We had a group of people that continued to believe
we had a group of people that came together and
still had faith in the end of the story, and
we won twenty seven to ten, and it was like
one of the greatest moments I've been a part of
ever in this still because nowhere were supposed to win

(39:31):
that game, but man, Charlie Whitehurst went off right. We
got Tommy Sharp, He's like two hundred and sixty pounds
center this tall, and we we're blocking freaking Darnell Docky.

Speaker 3 (39:43):
I don't even know who these guys were. I mean,
they had just dudes everywhere.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
I mean, Derek Hamilton, Kevin Youngblood, Aries, Tony, Chad Jasmine.
I mean, we just got hot, right, Like that's why
it ain't ever too late to become the best version
of you.

Speaker 3 (39:58):
And we just got hot in that one moment all
of a sudden.

Speaker 2 (40:02):
Now we played Duke the next week and I think
we beat them forty to six, and now it's like, well, okay,
we went from five and four or seven and four,
and now we got to go play the game Cocks.
And that was the sixty three to seventeen my first
Carolina game. Next thing, you know, you go from getting fired,
you're in the peach Bowl and we're playing what was
Tennessee number six, seven, eight, and we smoke them.

Speaker 3 (40:25):
So we go from five and four getting fired to
nine and four.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
Coach Bowden gets Coach of the Year and a new
five year contract, and I got to stay at Clemson.
I got to move in my house, you know, all
because a group of people finished and they hung in
there and they didn't let you know, the failure define
them or destroy them.

Speaker 3 (40:45):
We let it develop us and we kept hanging in there.
And that's that's life. That's life. That's the lessons that
you get from this game. That was three and then
and eight.

Speaker 2 (40:53):
I had a three and four football team with five
games to play in November, and we went four and
one somehow some way and got the job. And then
in a couple of years ago, what were we four
and for in twenty three and we went four to
oh in November and had a five game winning streak
and that kind of gave us some juice into last
year's championship run. So you just got to keep going, man,
You keep the faith, keep believing, you focus on what

(41:15):
you control, and you just battle.

Speaker 3 (41:17):
You just battle.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
That's Davosweeny talking about the turnaround that Clemson had in
twenty thirteen, and that was the heck of a run.

Speaker 3 (41:28):
Man.

Speaker 1 (41:30):
I was in the I was in the press box,
not in the press box. I was in a suite
for that Florida State game with Radio who Ran down
the Hill? My wife and I we were just dating,
but yep, we were there for that. Then we were
in Colombia for that sixty three seventeen beat down and

(41:57):
I remember that game because before I down game countrare
already exiting Williams. Brice Stadium. That was insane. And then
I went to Tennessee, miss you me. I went to
out Atlanta for that Peach Ball game with my wife.
We were dating back then as well. And that was
a heck of a year. Three And what's lost in
that heck of a year was the struggles at the

(42:20):
beginning and maybe that's what can happen this year as well.
Stay with us each time for Clipson Sports Talk with
Lawton Schwan. It is our number two. That's drivetime right

(43:11):
here on the show, The Shakes of Southla and Clemsones,
Sports Salon and Swan hanging out with you, Jackveltrigamecoccentral dot
Com Com Up around the Bend. Our number two brought
to you in part by our good friends over at
METS Plumbing Mett's Plumbing dot Com. Two two six seven
one o eight. That's Mets Plumbing two to six seven,
one zero eight. All right, out of the gates our two,

(43:33):
Jack Veltrie, Gamecoccentral dot Com. Jack, Welcome in, buddy. How
is your week?

Speaker 4 (43:38):
Ah?

Speaker 1 (43:39):
Doing good?

Speaker 4 (43:39):
Man doing good. Another tough loss for the game Cocks.
But the weather's getting cooler and I'm definitely excited about that.
Just want this rain to go away. And uh yeah, man,
but I'm doing good. I hope you're doing well.

Speaker 1 (43:50):
Yeah, I'll tell you. You guys from the North, like
you and Mike, You've I guarantee you this is the
the chill in the air that you guys love. I'm
I'm walking around here with like a and a beanie on.
You guys are probably out there with short sleeves on
right now.

Speaker 4 (44:06):
I have shorts on right now, but don't get me wrong,
I gotta sweatshirt and beanie on. So but I definitely
know what you're talking about.

Speaker 1 (44:13):
Man.

Speaker 4 (44:13):
It's definitely a little bit cooler outside, which I can appreciate.

Speaker 1 (44:17):
Well, let's start with the tremendous effort from South Carolina
this past weekend against the Alabama Crimson Todd. Look, Alabama's
been one of the top teams in the country since
that opening weekend lost to Florida State, which you're looking
at it now you just kind of shake your head
at the anomaly that that has become. But for Carolina
to be in the position they were certainly says a

(44:39):
lot about how hard this team is still playing. The
other thing that I took away from it, Jack, if
I'm being honest, man, if Leonora Sellers, it just feels
like if he had a little bit more around him,
Holy smokes, how good is that kid?

Speaker 4 (44:56):
I mean, yeah, I mean he played. You know, I
think people want to criticize the fumble from the end
of the game on Saturday, which is fair. I'm not saying,
you know that it's wrong to criticize him at all
for that, But my take on it is, look at
the whole game. He played pretty well all things considered,
the complete, the most passes in the world, no, but

(45:17):
he was eighteen thirty two fifty six over two hundred yards,
threw a touchdown. The interceptions not on him, So you know,
let's let's get that narrative out of the way that
I've seen some people online, you know, grouping that in
with the rest of his stats because I guess they
just did not watch the game since that was not
all necessarily on him. That ball's gotta be caught. But yeah,

(45:41):
I mean, look, he played pretty well on Saturday. Protection
was much better in this game. Only two sacks uh
in this game, and I think you got to continue
to have more around him. One thing South Carolina did
this past week was they simplified the playbook a little bit.
Where Shane Beamer mentioned it, they're calling their best plays,

(46:04):
getting the ball into their best players hands, and that's
what they were gonna do. And if it's the same
twenty plays or whatever it might be that are working,
they're gonna call them over and over and over again.
And we saw something like this happened similarly back in
twenty twenty two, when notably South Carolina had scored sixty
three points against Tennessee and the offense just looked a

(46:24):
lot better in that game, the Clemson game, in the
Notre Dame game. So I think we're kind of starting
to see a little bit of a similar thing here
and it's you know, Shane said, like it's obviously it's
been Game eight now, but it's something that they're doing
every single week. Yet this is the first time we're
really hearing that that's been the case this season. So yeah,

(46:46):
I think it's gonna help Leonoris in a lot of ways.

Speaker 1 (46:49):
Well. And the other thing too, anytime you're down in
this sport, especially to a team like Alabama, how you
answer in the third and fourth quarter is certainly a
big deal. And for for South Carolina to put up
sixteen unanswered and go from you know, down eight to
up eight, it is pretty remarkable. And I know it's

(47:09):
still painful the way it closed, and we'll get to
that in a minute. But for the South Carolina fans
that thought, man, maybe this team had lost some of
their fight and some of these tough losses that they had, dude,
they stood toe to toe with the Crimson Tide. And
as a somebody that covers Clemson watching, I'm gonna tell
you that South Carolina team that I watched on Saturday
would mop the floor with every Clemson team I've watched

(47:32):
this entire season.

Speaker 4 (47:34):
No, Yeah, I mean Carolina played a lot better on Saturday.
Now was it completely perfect, No, because you lost the
game and could not finish in the fourth quarter of
that game, And there were some mistakes throughout the day.
Where As I briefly mentioned, there was the pick six
at the beginning of the game that went off for
soul Faison's hands. There was a missfield goal, there was

(47:56):
a holding penalty on Tree Babe Lade on a the
Seller's touchdown run in the first athlete. There were a
lot of other mistakes made in this game besides the
fourth quarter kind of meltdown, if you will, where Carolina
had the eight point leads in Alabama storms back to
win it in the final ten minutes. So, needless to say,

(48:18):
Caroline is gonna be in a much better position to
win games if they're playingly. They did on Saturday, clean
up those other little things, and I think you're in
a good spot moving forward. And the offense is still
getting figured out. I'll be honest, I think the offense
was not amazing on Saturday, but I think the play

(48:38):
calling was a lot better. They kind of realized, as
I said, that they needed to just go with their
best plays, go with their best players, and that's that
and That's a mentality that has worked before under Sanebeamer.
And I think you got some tough games coming up,
but you can at least look much more competitive with
that type of mindset.

Speaker 1 (48:59):
He's on Twitter, Jack t Veltree joining us here today
to talk about the South Carolina game. Cocks. Jack, here's
the other thing.

Speaker 3 (49:07):
You know.

Speaker 1 (49:08):
Late in that game, Alabama's got the ball. They put
together a fourteen play, seventy nine yard drive, eating up
seven forty four off the clock, and I'm watching the
time tick away. I'm sure you're doing the same thing,
going is Alabama gonna leave like no time? Or are
they just playing for ot? And obviously they get the touchdown,
a crafty two point conversion and then that strip you

(49:31):
talked about, but before South Carolina's final possession, I mean,
were you like me watching this thing play out and going,
Holy cow? I mean, is Alabama about to just be
willing to take this thing to overtime? Did you get
that impression a little bit?

Speaker 3 (49:45):
A little bit?

Speaker 4 (49:46):
There was that drive started, so Sellers scored on a
ten yard touchdown und with about ten minutes to go,
And not very often do you see drives that go
ten minutes and show off the entire rest of the
game clock. It's possible. That's how good South, that's how
good Alabama's drive was during that stretch. But I think

(50:08):
at some point Carolina just realized like they were not well.
I shouldn't say that I was. I kind of had
it mixed up in my head where they were the
two touchdowns scored in that fourth quarter. I was thinking
a little bit more of the one that put them ahead,
but that first one to tie the game was just
remarkable by Alabama. And you know, that's a tough place

(50:31):
to go play, obviously at Willie B. And Alabama's had
some struggles on the road before under Kalin de Boar,
But that's the drive of a championship team right there,
where they were able to go down the field score
and not just to score a touchdown, but have to
go for two and get it on a really nice
play there called on fake reverse. It worked out really well.

Speaker 1 (50:54):
Yeah, quite the quite the play call, and obviously the
big strip you mentioned that earlier, and then just a
gut punch with the late touchdown and obviously fans saying, hey,
should he or shouldn't he have? You know, made the
play and enforced Alabama to kick a field goal, and
you know, I get it. You want to have the
ball in your quarterback's hands at the end of a

(51:14):
ball game. I would probably let the person score there,
given what I've learned from watching sports. What was your
take on it?

Speaker 4 (51:23):
Yeah, I think there's been a lot of different opinions
on it. It's either let him score there and give
your quarterback and your offense, which hasn't been great this year,
a chance to go down and win the game potentially
or tie the game. And at that point, there's like

(51:43):
less than thirty seconds to go, no timeouts, So you're
putting your offense in a real tough spot, especially since
you started at the dying yard line on that drive.
Right that's a lose spot right there. The flip side
to it that I've seen a lot he'll talk about is, oh,
well South Carolina should have, you know, like not let

(52:05):
them score, so that way Alabama has to kick a
field goal, and that'll be tough and everything. I think
what people forget about that is at that point, Alabama
had just converted on third down with Bernard running to
the right, and if he gets pushed out of bounds
by Deeq Smith, which certainly he could have done. You're
at the ten yard line and you're talking about a

(52:26):
chip shot round goal for about twenty yards. I think
that's what people forget when they say, oh, well, if
he's kicking on the road in an sec environment, then
he might miss it.

Speaker 1 (52:36):
You never know, like this is.

Speaker 4 (52:38):
It's different with a forty yard kick, but it's from
twenty plus yards. So I don't hate the idea of
letting Bernard score on that play. I felt like it
was the right decision. The only thing I will say
that I do wish South Carolina had a little bit
more time on the clock to make something of it,
just because you're left with twenty plus seconds left. Then

(53:00):
you have to go ninety one yards. That's nearly impossible
in my opinion.

Speaker 1 (53:05):
Yeah, no doubt. Look, once he turned the corner and
got the first down, that's what I'm like. You just
lay him score and you get the ball back and
you hope, you know, you hope something miraculous happens. I
mean for South Carolina fans that maybe watched Clemson and
SMU a year ago, when like Clempson let SMU score
in the ACC Championship game, but Clempson got a forty
five yard kickoff return that got the ball out towards midfield.

(53:27):
One play they were in field goal range and the
kick a game winner from fifty you know, fifty six
yards out. So like in that moment, I know there's
a lot that has to be done, But I'll tell
you where you're not gonna win. It is probably on defense.
In that moment, you're only gonna go to overtime. So
Shane beamerroll at the dice. It didn't pay off, and
it doesn't get any easier. Jack Man, South Carolina, I'll

(53:50):
tell you we talked about this when you first joined
us after Mike you'va went over to Coastal Carolina. Just
the stretch of games that the game Cocks are gonna
go through, and boy, it feels like these numbers of
the teams that they're playing just get lower each and
every week. Old Miss now ranked number seven in the country.
A seven o'clock start this weekend on the road in Oxford.
It's a beautiful town for college football. Now at the grove,

(54:13):
what's your what are your thoughts on this matchup? And
not to mention just how good the Rebels have been playing.

Speaker 4 (54:19):
Oh Man, they've been playing a lot better as of late.

Speaker 3 (54:23):
Now.

Speaker 4 (54:24):
I say that they did lose to Georgia. They did
have a tight knit game against Suazoo, but they are
coming off a pretty big win here and I think
Ole Miss is going to be a big challenge for
South Carolina this weekend. This is a team that is
I think you argue that could be better than last year,

(54:45):
even with all the talent that they brought in from
the transfer portal for last season and they had Jackson, Dark,
Juice Well's, you know the names, and they college FORFF,
which is still occer to me. Because of all that
talent they have in the field. You can argue they're
more talented this year because of just the way they're playing.
And they've proven now that. I mean, they went into Norman,

(55:06):
a tough place to go play, and they won, and
they hung around in Georgia and had a big lead
at the end of the game which they did below
so well. Miss Night game Oxford. I've never been out
there before. Looking forward to checking that one off the
list this weekend. I don't want to say I don't
like South Carolina's chances at all. There's a part of

(55:28):
me that holds out a little bit of hope because
Carolina did play a bit better on Saturday against Alabama,
but winning on the road is tough in the SEC.
And these next two games, I mean, your back is
up against the wall. And I know Shane Beamers squads
have played pretty good in the month of November, but
you've lost five of your last six games, and this

(55:50):
is all still part of that gauntlet of a stretch
against top ten teams. These two games are probably the
next two toughest that you'll have on your schedule all season.

Speaker 1 (55:58):
Oh yeah, no doubt, no doubt about that. And the
more I watched Texas A and M, the more I
look at that team and think, man, that is a
heck of a ball club as well. And that's who's
South Carolina'll face up next again. Jack Veltrie's on Twitter
at Jack T. Veltrie. Make sure you give him a
follow over there, and of course he covers the game
Cocks for game Cock Central, part of the on three network.

(56:20):
All right, final couple of things for you, Jack, here
on a Tuesday afternoon. Obviously, we've got now what ten
openings at the Power five level, I think in college
football after Brian Kelly was fired this past week from LSU,
and I came up with this idea. Hear me out
on this because it was A and M that directly

(56:42):
led to the firing with the shellacking that they put
on the Bayou Bengals in the second half this weekend.
But A and M is currently paying Jimbo Fisher still
annually seven point two million dollars a year. Fisher was
the offensive coordinator at LSU from two thousand to two
thousand and six and did a jam up job there.

(57:02):
His former ad Scott Woodward, is the athletic director at LSU,
and maybe they have a little rough tie. But if
I'm a coach and I'm being paid by a rival,
and I can go there and say I'll take a
dollar to be the head coach, you can put whatever
you're gonna pay me into the you know, into the roster.
And A and M is technically footing the bill for me.

(57:26):
Let's go at it for six years, because I think
they owe him that money till twenty thirty one. What
do you think of my scenario where LSU absolutely flips
the script on A and M and hires Jimbo Fisher
and the Aggies are paying LSU's head coach.

Speaker 4 (57:42):
I think you'd be getting him for sheep, right. I
mean he would be getting a bowload of money, as
you said, man, And I mean, look, there's the connection
with with Scott Woodward, the ad that hired Jimbo Fisher
and would not be the craziest thing in the world.
I think they're gonna be. I don't know what elis

(58:05):
you's gonna do. It's the best job on the market
right now in my opinion. And then you got Penn
State and Florida right behind it. But you know, Jimbo's
been there before, He's coached es yeah, under nixt six.
So there's the connections, and I think you could. I
would be interested in how they would structure a deal
with him, because I think you got to start avoiding

(58:27):
I think coaches, and I think colleges in general need
to avoid these steep buyouts because you're firing coaches three
four years in and then you're having to pay you
know what, Brian like fifty four million dollars and you're
trying to negotiate a buy a lesser buyout, which is
nearly impossible since Kelly and his his team have all
the leverage. I mean, I think with Fisher you probably

(58:51):
you probably could bring him in. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (58:53):
And that's another reason, right, Like if if you're Jimbo
Fisher and you want that job, Jack, you just look
at him and say, guys, what you were gonna pay me? Anyway?
Put that towards what you've got to pay Brian Kelly
to go away, help us on the back end with
the recruiting, and for six years, A and M will
pay me for seven point two million to be your
head coach. I mean, it's a win win for everybody

(59:15):
except for A and M in my opinion.

Speaker 4 (59:18):
I think so. I think you're right on that one.
I think it definitely is a win for l shoot
if they weren't good Ale Ro, I don't know what
they're gonna do, quite honestly, I don't. I think they
gotta hire somebody that's proven. I don't think you can
necessarily hire one of these young bucks to come and
be your coach, right especially if you get you get
ran out of town in three years if things aren't
going well, there's no patien in the sec. So point being,

(59:44):
I don't know if they'll hire Jimbo. But it would
make sense from a lot of the standpoints that we
just talked about there.

Speaker 1 (59:50):
Well, and there's no doubt he wants to get back
into coaching. And I think most people felt like, and
you might can speak to this a little bit, that
that Brian Kelly people didn't feel it was a real
culture fit. You know, he's a guy from the north,
he's down in Louisiana. When you threw out that fake
family that time, I thought I was gonna die in
his first appearance. Uh, just real quick before we get

(01:00:12):
you out of here, Jack, what do you think about
like culture and how you fit in and maybe some
guys that you think might fit what LSU's looking for.

Speaker 4 (01:00:24):
Yeah, I you know, as I briefly mentioned there in
your last question, I think that they're gonna go down
the route of hire a coach as a proven track
record can win turn programs around. Maybe in some cases,
I don't think you necessarily hire the younger coach who's

(01:00:45):
the hot shot coordinated. That's not the route LSU needs
to go down. Whether it's Jimbo, whether it's Clark Leet
at Vanderbilt. I think the popular name is run around
in this cycle. You know, But would he be willing
to leave that's alma mater. Would he be able to.

Speaker 3 (01:01:03):
Leave there?

Speaker 4 (01:01:04):
If it came down to it. I think they're gonna
have to go for somebody that's that's proven they can
get the job done. And you know they've had that
with Nick Sabe and its Less Smiles and ed orz
are On. Like all those guys won national championships. Brian
Kelly didn't do anything in his time at LSU, so
I think the bar is going to be set pretty

(01:01:25):
high for whoever comes in, But I don't think it'd
be that hard to surpass what Kelly did in his
short time there in.

Speaker 1 (01:01:32):
Bat Verge Jack, have a great week, have a safe
trip down to Oxford, and we certainly look forward to
chatting with you next week as the game Cocks will
be gearing up for another big time matchup with Texas
A and M looming after this road game at Ole.

Speaker 4 (01:01:48):
Miss all right man, looking forward to it.

Speaker 3 (01:01:51):
Have a good week.

Speaker 1 (01:01:53):
There you go, Jack Veltrie, Gamecockcentral dot Com, on Twitter
at Jack T. Veltrie and game Cock Central Park of
the on three network eight zero three four five oh
zero zero eighty six. That is the text line in
the phone line. Interesting conversation there about the South Carolina
game Cocks with Jack. We'll come back with more. Keep

(01:02:15):
it locked right here on the show that Shakes the
south Land. On a crisp and rainy Tuesday afternoon, Lowdon
Swan backway the Clemson Sports Talk on a Tuesday afternoon
again a talking Tuesday. AH three four five oh zero
zero eighty six. Text line, phone line. That's the way

(01:02:38):
for you to be a part of the program, twenty
four hours a day, seven days a week, and on
our website. But first, if you say, what do you
mean twenty four hours a day, seven days a week,
twenty that's exactly what I mean. Call text, it doesn't matter.
Hit me up anytime. I might not answer. I might
be in bed, but you can leave us a voicemail.
Remember Mark Packer back in the day with the old

(01:02:58):
winer line. Yeah, just make this the modern day winer line.
I mean that suits me. Lots of whining about this
Clemson Tiger offense. Lots of questions, obviously about the situation
at quarterback. How you know how you gonna split the
job between k Klubnick and Christopher Vizena. And and look,

(01:03:20):
I think there's no doubt that that's got to be
a big part of the conversation moving forward. We'll hear
from Garrett Riley now on the program as he met
as he met with the media earlier today as well.
He was asking about self scouting the offense during the

(01:03:40):
open week.

Speaker 3 (01:03:42):
Since the two bye weeks.

Speaker 5 (01:03:43):
Now you're kind of really cross referencing the self scouts
from both of those time periods, you know, kind of
comparing both of those that we did during each of
the bye weeks. So that's been great for us. I mean,
you know, came out of the first bye week and
you're two and one, and and I thought that we
improved in some areas that we needed to on offense

(01:04:04):
in that three week span. But obviously the biggest thing
is is is running efficiently and effectively. We did that
in spurts in that three game stretch. You know, certainly
against Boston College had a really good day and was
efficient running the football that day. So we just got
to really just got a manufacture and kind of you know,

(01:04:25):
compound that as we move forward. But you know, like
I said, a lot of it was really just trying
to cross reference from the two from any tendencies, but
then exactly what you're saying, like what do we need
to get better at or what are we doing well?
And then how can we how can we manufacture more
of that? So I think that's some of the as
coaches kind of the big takeaways of trying to manufacture

(01:04:46):
more of what we are doing well.

Speaker 1 (01:04:48):
That's Garrett Riley talked about what Clipson did during the
off week or the bye week in terms of self scouting.
He was asked about how the Tigers can maybe get
better offensive line play so that the run game could
be more successful. I mean, the last time you saw
this team thirty five rushing yards. I mean that's abysmal.
Here's Riley talking about that earlier today up in Tigertown.

Speaker 5 (01:05:11):
Yeah, I mean it's it's man. We got to be
consistent that way, right, And I mean, like I said,
we've had We've had flashes where we've been pretty good
up there and have been solid, and we've had other
flashes like any other position on our team where we've
you know, we got to just be more consistent that way.

Speaker 3 (01:05:27):
So I think it's just.

Speaker 5 (01:05:28):
Continuing to grind, continuing to let the front know, like
our offensive line tight ends backs everybody understand like, hey guys,
we want to be successful, like we have to get
this done, and so I think it's just emphasis on
that as we move forward, and I think they can
certainly feel that from us.

Speaker 1 (01:05:45):
Garrett Riley was also asking about what he felt calls
the slow start on the offense against SMU, and before
we get to his answer, I'm going to tell you
I thought it was Garrett Riley, like, I didn't think
Clemson really put Christopher Zena in position to make plays,
and I thought they were very hesitant until Clemson got
down to nothing. Here's Garrett Riley's explanation of the slow

(01:06:10):
start to that ball game against SMU.

Speaker 3 (01:06:14):
Yeah, it just kind of was frustrating, you know.

Speaker 5 (01:06:16):
I mean it was kind of like we had to
weather our own storm a little bit early in that game,
and and you know, you've got CV in there and
kind of looking at it like, well, he didn't play
very good early. Well a lot of it was kind
of just things around him, to be quite honest. So
you know, once we kind of weathered our own storm there,
we kind of got going and got back in the

(01:06:37):
game and was able to create some momentum for our
team and so yeah, I mean that that was a
frustrating deal because I thought a lot of it was
self inflicted, you know, which certainly can't happen where you.

Speaker 3 (01:06:48):
Have to be better.

Speaker 1 (01:06:50):
Here he is talking about what he felt like went
wrong in that first quarter.

Speaker 5 (01:06:54):
Yeah, I mean, we had a couple of short yardage
situations that we needed to convert just running the football,
and we just didn't.

Speaker 3 (01:07:00):
The next to you didn't get it done.

Speaker 5 (01:07:02):
And I know we had a big Bitz pickup that
we needed to have happened where we had the you know,
it was close with his arm going forward where they
called it a fumble. So obviously that was a big
play early in that game. And you know, I know defense,
I believe did a great job and held him to
a field goal after that, but you know, it was
took us off the field and where we had a

(01:07:22):
couple of things going, had a first down or two
and was moving to football and that certainly kills your
offensive momentum early.

Speaker 6 (01:07:28):
In that game.

Speaker 3 (01:07:29):
So just had to overcome that.

Speaker 5 (01:07:31):
And like I said, I thought CV specifically did a
good job of hanging in there and bouncing back and
ultimately giving us a chance to win.

Speaker 1 (01:07:41):
All Right, that's Garret Riley, Clemson offensive coordinator again as
he met with the media earlier today. Talking Tuesday up
at Tiger Town. We heard from Daboswiney a little bit
earlier speaking of Christopher of Azina. Riley was asked about
what he felt the SMU game did for Christopher of
Asina's confidence and really how Bazina kind of took things

(01:08:02):
after the game. Was he too hard on himself? Was
he hard on himself? Here's here Here are Garret Riley's
thoughts on that.

Speaker 5 (01:08:10):
Well, I mean, quarterbacks are just always going to be
their own probably hardest critic. I mean that's just that's
the nature of this position and in their position, and
and certainly with with him and as an individual, you know,
he wants to win and he's a you know, you
saw toughness with with him. I mean he will hang
in the pocket, He'll he'll get hit, he'll try and

(01:08:31):
stand in there and deliver.

Speaker 3 (01:08:33):
So, I mean you saw a lot of great things.

Speaker 5 (01:08:35):
And some good attributes with CV in that game, and
his ability to bounce back, you know, so those were
certainly some things that was great to see him with
meaningful snaps and playing a full game of him having
to go through that. So I mean, that'll be experience
that he's going to carry as long as he plays football.
I mean, it's just going to be such a great

(01:08:56):
thing for him to draw back on and and he should.
He should have some confidence. It's coming away from from
from his play, you know. I mean, certainly there's a
lot of things that we and he could have done better,
but he should. He should really have a lot of
confidence moving forward from that. And you know, and I've
seen him just in practice, like just with some of

(01:09:17):
the execution part of it, like some of just the
urgency too, Like I've seen that improve and just pick
up the more that he's had those reps. And now
that he has true game experience, like you can really
kind of see I think even his practice play elevate.

Speaker 3 (01:09:33):
So I'm certainly happy about that.

Speaker 1 (01:09:36):
There you go, that's Garrett Riley talk. We'll talk a
little bit about some of what he had to say
when we get back, and you know, listening to him,
it's such a weird spot, but it does make me
wonder and I know you guys want to fire him.
It feels like changes have to be made, But does
he have to be the guy that goes. I think
that's a legit question. Stay with us longdon swa with

(01:10:00):
you on a Tuesday afternoon. We heard from Garrett Riley earlier.
You know, I listened to him, and obviously you have
to feel the pressure and get the buzz about being fired,
and everybody's on eggshells, like there's a lot that is

(01:10:20):
likely going on behind closed doors. And you do wonder,
given how much these guys make, is that easier to
go out there and tow up the camera and give
your thoughts. I would think it would be. I would
think if I was making a couple of million dollars
a year or whatever the contracts are for some of
these coaches, excuse me, assistant coaches out there that get

(01:10:42):
in front of that podium, regardless of how much pressure
I felt I was under, wouldn't be too bad. And Garrett,
Garrett Riley sounded smooth. He didn't come across to me
as a guy that feels worried about his job or
looks worried about his job. And maybe he doesn't care
because he's going to make a lot of money one
way or the other. But it did make me begin

(01:11:03):
to think, okay, is there a chance that this doesn't
end up falling on his shoulders, that this ends up
being running back coach CJ. Spiller getting elevated so a
new running back coach can come in. Is this Kyle
Richardson at tight ends possibly being out? And then also

(01:11:25):
Tyler Grisham, even though I think on the offensive side
of the ball, the best unit's been the wide receivers
fairly consistently. And how would you feel about that? Like
if dabos when you just hunkered down in the bunker
and said, Nope, Garrett's the offensive mind. Garrett's the dude.
I like what he did. We've just had lackluster performances

(01:11:50):
or lackluster effort or whatever you want to put it
on from these other guys. I mean, I don't think
that's all that far fetched, quite frankly. And I know
people are disappointed in the offense. But is it possible
that Garrett Riley is back and those three guys kind

(01:12:13):
of go down as the issue? I really, Oh man,
It's tough to say because I like CJ. Spiller. I've
helped him in the past with you know, his Instagram stuff,
and and but these guys make a lot of money.
They make a lot of money, and and and I
don't make what they make. And I'm not saying it's

(01:12:34):
right for you to criticize people that make more money
than you, but it's my job to criticize and to
be honest and open. And I just don't think CJ.
Spiller's cutting the mustard as a running backs coach from
the standpoint of recruiting. And I don't see running back development,
you know. I think we live in this world where
we feel like, well, if your father was a cobbler,

(01:12:56):
then you should be a cobbler and a good one
at Just because c J. Spiller was a great running
back doesn't mean he's a great running backs coach, doesn't
mean he's a great recruiter. Just because he was a
great recruit. And none of that means he's a bad person,

(01:13:16):
none of it. You can be a great person and
be a terrible recruiter and a terrible coach. And like
I said, I've pointed out again, I think that Kyle
Richardson's in trouble. The tight end position has been lack
luster year in and year out. It just hasn't performed

(01:13:38):
to the level that modern tight ends performed to and
I don't know another way to put it, but is
there a chance to that Garrett Riley's back next year?
Watching that interview today, I didn't couple cross feeling like, yeah,
he gotta go. He still seems pretty dialed into me.

(01:14:01):
And given what you pay, what he's paid, he should
be dialed in and he still might get fired. But
I'm not. I'm not raising a stink about it. I
don't think if they gave him one more year, if
they felt like you know, twenty twenty three was about
Thomas Austen and they're still adjusting to bring it in
guys and shifting things up and maybe even allowing him.

(01:14:22):
Dare I say to go get some more portal athletes
in who knows A three four five zero zero eighty six.
That is the text line in the phone line if
you want to hit us up, and don't forget about
our friends at Alumni Hall right there on the corner
at campus on College Avenue in downtown Clemson, the stones
throw away from historic Riggs Field, right there near Bowman

(01:14:45):
where the students are currently putting up the floats in
preparation for homecoming in Tigertown. Speaking of that, those floats
on Bowman Field. Is Clemson the the only school that
does that. I have no idea. I have no idea.
But you can go look at the floats and go

(01:15:06):
visit Alumni Hall right there downtown Clemson for all your
officially licensed Clemson merchandise hats, t shirts, tailgate gear, moore
go check them out today online at Alumni Hall dot com.
Or if you're in store and you're a Clemson student,
faculty member, or in the military, you get ten percent
off when shopping in store. So save yourself a little

(01:15:28):
money the next time you're in Tigertown and stop in
at Alumni Hall where Tiger fans shop. All right, so
we heard from Davos, when we heard from Garrett Riley again,
I gave you my thoughts on it. Well, one final
little news item here before we get to the final
segment of the show today, sean poppy Poppy era. Poppy

(01:15:56):
era is legit. If you're going, what what are you
talking about? Swanee? Did you hit your head? Sewn poppy.
Clempson women's basketball coach Landed Trinity Jones, a six foot
one guard who can dunk. Yeah, you heard from bowling

(01:16:17):
Brook High School in Illinois. She committed to Clemson over LSU, TCU, Tennessee,
and UCLA. She is a unanimous top ten guard in
the twenty twenty sixth class and ranked as the number
two shooting guard in the nation. And I'm not here
to tell you that Clempson is about to surpassed South Carolina.

(01:16:38):
But I thought when Clemson got sewn Poppy, they would
start to compete. Her commitment boosts Clemson's twenty twenty six
recruiting class, which already ranks fifth nationally. She is joining
Julia Scott, who's the thirty ninth best player in the country,
a six to two power forward, six foot forward key
Moria Feels, who's the four fifth best player in the class,

(01:17:01):
and five foot nine guard Mia Green, who is fifty
ninth in the class. And then they got a six
foot five center named Daria Braddock. The Tigers are building
a mammoth women's basketball team and I'm here for it.
That team has been bad since I was in school.
They won two ACC titles when I was in school,

(01:17:22):
best group everyon after that n A nilch zip zero.
Not now though Poppy era baby, I am all in
on the Popierra final segment flip side.

Speaker 6 (01:17:37):
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 (01:18:50):
Final segment on a Tuesday, Clemson Sports with you again.
Tons of coaching jobs open in the world of college football.
We will certainly continue to keep our eyes on that
Chad Morris will join the program. That are always looking
forward to talking with him. Didn't even mention really last

(01:19:11):
night's baseball game. I mean that that was insane, Like
I went to bed at the thirteenth inning and they're
back out there tonight. That thing went eighteen innings. The
Dodgers now lead the series two games to one. They
went in last night six to one.

Speaker 3 (01:19:30):
It was a.

Speaker 1 (01:19:32):
Remarkable performance once again from shohe Atani. Atani had two
home runs in the ballgame, four multi base hits, got
on base nine times these two teams. Because they went

(01:19:56):
eighteen innings and it closed out on a former Atlanta
Breve Freddie Freeman and walk off home run. Remember Freeman
hit a walk off home run a year ago, a
Grand Slam against the New York Yankees twelve months and
three days ago. And this thing is eighteen innings long.
It was like eleven fifty West Coast, almost three am

(01:20:18):
before the six to five victory came to a conclusion
Tuesday morning, not Monday night. And now these two teams
will be back out there and it'll be shohe a
Tani who set a postseason record getting on base nine times.
He will come in and we'll pitch tonight. And this

(01:20:45):
is where his story book could certainly be written, because
after an eighteen inning affair where the teams lost a
lot of arms. I mean, here's a guy who did
not have to pitch yesterday and is capable of going
the distance if necessary, and doesn't really hurt their rotation

(01:21:10):
because he's not a regular guy in their rotation.

Speaker 3 (01:21:14):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:21:15):
The only concern I have about Outani at all, if
I'm being frank, is the fact that O'tani had some
cramps in the game last night. I mean, it was
a game for the ages late with opportunities bases loaded.

(01:21:38):
Clayton Kershaw comes in, gets one out and ends an inning,
and the future Hall of Famer one batter faced and
got him out on a full count strikeout on a
ball down and away probably shouldn't have been swung at,

(01:21:58):
but in that moment, man the pressure to put the
ball in play. Dave Roberts, the Dodgers manager, called it
one of the greatest World Series games of all time,
and most of the East Coast slept through it. But
they would have had to start that game at about
four o'clock yesterday afternoon from most of the East Coast

(01:22:19):
to make their way through at eighteen innings. Seven years ago,
Roberts managed the longest World Series game in baseball history,
which was an eighteen game affair against the Red Sox
that ended with a walk off home run. This one
with the Blue Jayson the Dodgers combining for ten runs

(01:22:41):
in the first seven innings and zero runs for the
next ten against two of the worst bullprint two of
the worst bullpins in Major League Baseball. You had a
couple of incressive, impressive plays just from guys in the field. Man,

(01:23:08):
there was one. There was one play. I really can't
remember who who who did it? I can't even remember
what team it was. I mean, I was I was
kind of loopy watching it late, the ball hits off
and so it was. It was definitely the Dodgers because
I remember the thing I remember about the plays. The
ball hit off of Freddy Freeman's glove and looked like

(01:23:30):
it was gonna dribble, and second baseman got over there,
did a little slide pop up throw back to third
base to gun down the runner. Oh my gosh, it
was insane. You had vlad Carrero cutting off a throw
to get to scare her Nandez attempting to take third,

(01:23:50):
and the sixth inning, I mean, it was just one
play after the other. I hope tonight can can deliver.
I'm sure the players are just worn out. And again
I know it was midnight their time. I'm sure they
get in the bed around three am. That's if you
can get your adrenaline down, like after something like that,
especially if you're the winning team, can you get your

(01:24:12):
adrenaline down? And if you're a losing team, can you
put it in the rear view. At least they had
all day to get ready, Otani saying after the game,
I want to go to sleep as soon as possible.
What a game. Otani the first player since nineteen hundred
with four extra base hits and five walks in any game,
and the first player ever with three multi homer games

(01:24:34):
in a single postseason. The dude is a machine. He
is unbelievable. He is He is Ivan Drago of baseball.
We'll talk more about tomorrow four o'clock. Keep it locked
right here on Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred until then.
As always, y'all take care now and go Tigers.