The "New Momentum" Edition

Clemson wins their second straight road game in ACC play with a 41-10 win at Boston College. Can the Tigers carry over their momentum into this weekend's game against SMU in Death Valley? 

Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Now finally Clemson Sports Talk has come back. Two drive time.

(00:50):
Hell everybody, Lawton Swan back in the saddle once again.
It is the show that shakes the South. Lay and
Clemson Sports Talk for you each and every afternoon as
you make your way around the great state of South
Carolina and beyond, listening to us on incredible radio stations
like Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred and the Midlands heard
around the world on the iHeart Radio application Download today,

(01:13):
It's free the website. Put the dot com on it,
dog Garnet, that's Clemson Sports TALT dot com eight three
four five zero zero eighty six. That is the text
line in the phone line. And again, appreciate each and
every one of you being a part of the program
on a Monday, off the heels of another Clemson convincing

(01:34):
victory over a team that leaves something certainly to be desired.
I feel like, you know, in the build up to
this game, we talked about North Carolina and how I
thought they were a big part of the reason Clemson
one thirty eight to ten. I don't feel very differently

(01:55):
about Boston College. UH forty one ten the final score.
We had you pretty locked in with our prediction here
on the program on Friday, we gave you a thirty
eight thirteen final score that's kind of right in the range.
This week, though, will present the biggest test that Clemson

(02:18):
has faced since the Georgia Tech matchup, and SMU might
actually be better than Georgia Tech. SMU again at four
and two, but they've never lost a regular season conference game.
So what are the chances that Clemson delivers the first
lost to SMU as a member of the ACC and

(02:40):
the ACC Championship game a year ago in a walk
off fifty six yard Nolan Hoosier win versus the opportunity
to knock them off this weekend in Death Valley. More
on that throughout the week. William Qualkinbush in our number two,
and don't forget to show that the Shakespeare Southland has
brought to and part by our difference over at mets

(03:02):
Plumbing mets plumbing dot com. Two two six seven eight,
that's the number two two six seven oneh eight. That's
mets Plumbing online at mets plumbing dot com. All right,
so let's talk a little bit about this weekend and
we could certainly talk about it from the standpoint of

(03:26):
the Clemson Tigers versus Boston College here out of the gate,
and as we maneuver through the hour, we will certainly
shift to the storylines at large, and those storylines include
head coaches being fired, head coaches of teams. I might

(03:49):
even want to add to that, head coaches of a
team that was ranked in the top five just a
couple of weeks ago, out a head coach that was
in the college football playoff out. And we'll get into
the minutia of the move at Penn State with James

(04:12):
Franklin being fired to buy out and all of that.
We'll hear Dabo Sweeney's comments on it and more coming
up for you in just a little bit, so make
sure you keep it locked. And one final thing before
we get rolling on this Boston College game, don't forget
about our coverage that we have for you on our website.

(04:33):
If you like this show, if you like what we
have to say, if you like what we do, if
you just think I am a handsome man, subscribe to
our website and support us. It's sixty three dollars and
seventeen cents for one year of coverage. That's right, game Cox,
I said it sixty three seventeen.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
So you could continue to peek over the fence at
the best radio showing the nation.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
And some people might say, Swanny, why would I support you? Well,
I think it's important to recognize the work that goes
into running a website, and we don't have as much
time as I would like to focus on the recruiting

(05:20):
aspect occasionally during the season because there's so much coverage
of the team. We still give you the recruiting. But
with everything that I do, you know, I've got the
day job. You know, I've got the radio show. You
know I'm writing consistently over on the website. My window
to talk to recruits has minimized as I've maximized the

(05:41):
opportunity to tell the stories of these players on this
team and what we're witnessing. And so I hope that
you will consider that when you think about supporting us
and just saying, Swanny, I got your back. I've got
your back. And if somebody says you subscribe the Clemson's
Sports Talk, you say, dude, I got Swandy's back. Not

(06:04):
to mention sixty three seventeen always looks pretty sweet on
our seat.

Speaker 4 (06:08):
A all right, game Cock fans. All right.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
So Clemson goes up to Boston College forty one ten
the final score. You know, it's hard to it's hard
to have a whole lot to take away from some
of these games, it really is.

Speaker 4 (06:28):
And the past couple of weeks.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
At times have felt similar to what we've seen in
the past, and that's really been the first half of
these games has felt like what dabos Wingi and Clemson
looked like through the Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence days,
where they're just in control, pretty smooth, thirty four to

(06:53):
ten at the break. Last weekend, it was thirty five
to three at the break, and like you, if you
legitimately think about it, like those scores going to be
like seventy to six, you know what I'm saying, if
you double that score in that production. But then the
second half of both of those games has been almost

(07:16):
in some respects felt like the exact opposite of the
first half. Now, not in the sense of the other
team being successful. Okay, that's a portant. That's an important
dynamic to add to this. Like you could be in
a situation where you played good in the first half
and the other team played good in the second half,

(07:37):
and you have like a close game at the end.

Speaker 4 (07:41):
That's not what we've seen the past two weeks. But
what we have seen is.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
Clemson's offense slowing in the second half of these ball games.
Two weekends ago, at North Carolina, Clemson scores just one
time in the second half, and I remember at one point,
and it was a field goal, by the way, in
the fourth quarter. But I remember at one point as

(08:09):
that game was playing out, like it felt like both
teams wanted to just go home? Can we just go home?
Flip it to this past weekend, Clempson scores just seven points.
That was at the end of the game in the
second half. Now, they didn't give up any points against
Boston College. They gave up a touchdown against North Carolina
in the fourth quarter. So the defense isn't isn't letting up,

(08:36):
but the offense is not finishing these games. The offense
is not finishing drives.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
Now.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
In the North Carolina game, the tar Heels did have
a pretty long drive in the second half that took
a lot of the air out of the football, if
you will. It took a lot of time off the clock.
But when you compare like the first half to the
second half, Let's go to this weekend Boston College, Right,

(09:03):
Clemson totaled three hundred and thirty three yards in the
first half, just one hundred and seventy one in the
second half. Now, they upped the number of rushing attempts
that they had in the second half. They went up
from seventeen to twenty six, but they averaged more yards
per carry, thanks in large part to Keith Adams Junior,

(09:24):
who man the hammerhead, was just getting after it. You know,
I don't know what the pecking order is in that
running back room to be exact, but nobody seems to
run harder than that guy. He runs hard now, first
half passing stats to forty four through the year, just
thirty four passing yards in the second half for Clemson.

(09:47):
They were eighteen of twenty three in the first half.
They were five of ten in the second half passing,
and so just the offense slowed considerably.

Speaker 4 (10:01):
Now in the second half. Look at the defense.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
The first half, they gave up one hundred and seventy
yards and ten points to b C zero points fifty
one yards held them to one point nine yards per
carry in the second half. The Clemson dominated the second
half defensively. They dominated the whole game defensively, but again
I think a lot of that still has to do

(10:26):
with the competition they faced and the inability to keep
up the momentum. The inability to keep up the momentum
offensively is something that concerns me because the offensive issues
have been the issues that have led Clemson, I think,

(10:49):
to have their three losses that they currently have on
their schedule. Like I think it's while the defense has
not been disruptive and the defense certainly did not play
well against Syracuse, this offense was supposed to be good

(11:10):
enough to outscore virtually anybody that you face, Like that
is the frustrating thing about it. Like I know, Dabosweeney
after the game, I think it was in his Sunday
teleconference this week, called Clemson's defensive performance against Syracuse pathetic,
and it was, especially in the first half.

Speaker 4 (11:29):
It was pathetic.

Speaker 2 (11:33):
But the offense is still supposed to be a juggernaut,
and when you have a great offense, you are supposed
to be able to protect your defense. When those guys
maybe have an off day, maybe they're not forcing turnovers

(11:56):
and maybe they've given up some big chunk plays. Offense
is supposed to be there when the offense was as
good as Clemsons was expected to be. The offense is
supposed to protect the defense. They should make up for errors.
This offense couldn't do that. This offense couldn't do that.

(12:18):
And so my concern is just that in the second
half of these games, you haven't put together a complete
game offensively this season, and I worry that if you
don't put together a complete offensive game this weekend against SMU,
you're not gonna beat the Mustangs. I'll put it this way.

(12:39):
Clemson doesn't just need to be as good as they've
been this season. They've got to be their best in
this ballgame. K klubnick this weekend twenty to thirty, two
hundred and eighty yards, a touchdown, and an interception. Christopher
Zena came in after k Clubney got rolled up. That
was late in the third quarter of Zena comes in

(13:00):
the game, he goes one of three for minus two
yards and throws it in an interception. And you know,
I think the thing that was frustrating about it for
a lot of people was that there was a series
where I think Christopher of a Zena, let's see, in the

(13:21):
fourth quarter, carry the ball on first down for a
gain of five, carry the ball on second down for
no gain, and carry the ball on third down for
a yard and the Tigers ended up punting. That didn't
make people feel comfortable about Christopher a Zena again tried
to reach out to Chase Bryce. He made some comments

(13:44):
on social media about it. Other people watching say, well,
if you're just gonna do that, I mean, why even
have a quarterback honestly in the game at that point.
I mean, if you're just gonna do what you did
on that series with Christopher Asena, why not just have
Adam Randall in the backfield and Gideon Davidson and let

(14:06):
those guys run the offense. Run a little wild Tiger,
if you will. Speaking of Adam Randall, Randall led the
team in attempts with ten for just thirty six yards.
But he did score in this ballgame, and that means
he's scored now in six consecutive games. Very few players
in Climpson history have ever done that. Keith Adams Junior

(14:30):
led the team with forty nine yards rushing on seven
attempts and a touchdown. Kay Klebnick had nine carries for
forty eight yards in a score, and the big fella
Peter Woods in Clemson's industrial fridge package. We wrote about
it on our website It's up right now. Clemsonssportstal dot
com had two carries for four yards and a touchdown.

(14:52):
Peter Woods is becoming quite the threat for Clemson in
the short yard of situations on fourth downs at any
spot on the field, third down and short, fourth and
short at any spot on the field, and then down
at the goal line for his touchdown run. I mean
the Tigers went super jumbo three thousand, three hundred and

(15:19):
forty pounds of beef out there. Kate Klubnik weighed two
hundred and ten pounds. He was the lightest player on
the field for Clemson. Next to him two hundred and
ninety five pounds Chapman Pendergrass. Braden Jacobs six seven, three

(15:40):
hundred and forty pounds freshman was leading the way one
of the lead blockers along with Walker Parks for the Tigers,
and business decisions were made by Boston College on that play.
Those dudes, those dudes were monstrous coming at you and

(16:00):
Peter Woods looks pretty nimble with the ball in his hand.
You know, I think this will continue to be something
we'll see. I think it's fun for the fans anytime
he goes out there. Obviously it reminds him of when
Clemson was doing similar packages with Christian Wilkins at running back.
But I think you're going to see a play eventually

(16:21):
where maybe they have either Peter Woods catching a ball
or maybe even Braiden Jacobs, maybe even having Braiden Jacobs,
the big six to seven offensive tackle, trying to make
a grab. So we'll see what develops from all that. Again,

(16:45):
those are the running back numbers essentially for Clemson. Gideon
Davidson with four carries for twenty attempts, David Izzy and
Mume same thing, four for eighteen. You're just not seeing
a whole lot from the younger running backs at Clemson.
And speaking of not seeing a lot, you're not seeing
a lot from TJ.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
Moore.

Speaker 2 (17:06):
One target in the game, he gets eleven yards. I'm
not sure what's going on there. That's that's strange to me.
He should be more productive than he is now. We
could argue that maybe he's getting the bulk of the
attention defensively like people are trying to limit him and

(17:26):
Kate Klebnik's just taking what's available, which is fine. Look,
I want Kate to take what's available. I don't want
him to force the ball in the traffic. Giving his
confidence right now. Antonio Williams leads the way in receptions
with seven for eighty five yards. Bryant Westcook Junior leads
the way in yardage with one hundred and six on
five receptions and a touchdown. His touchdown was beautiful, by

(17:50):
the way. A Cole Turner two receptions for twenty three yards.
I will finally say this about Cole Turner. I think
I that's all why Dabosween he says he's the fastest
guy on the team. He had a little twenty one
yard no screen pass sort of and made him in
miss if I remember correctly, But his acceleration from the

(18:14):
time he made his first cut for about the next
seven or eight yards, I could see that he's the
fastest player on the team. I mean he physically in
that moment, I went, WHOA, that's that's quick. Tristan Smith
had two receptions.

Speaker 4 (18:31):
For nine yards.

Speaker 2 (18:31):
Adam Randall also had a couple of receptions for nine
yards and one that was able to drop for Adam Randall.

Speaker 4 (18:39):
I thought the pass was a little far out, probably.

Speaker 2 (18:41):
Still should have caught it, and like they were really
trying to continue to work him in the passing game.
Bettencre with one reception for two yards, Tyler Brown won
reception for two yards, and Josh Sap had a nice
reception a tight end one reception for thirty two yards.
Four Clemson in there forty one ten victory over Boston

(19:03):
College on Saturday. Now again, they got to play their
best game this weekend, and this will be a tough game.
The advantages obviously, you're playing in death alley. I mean,
that's a huge advantage and I think is disappointing as
the season has been up until this point for Tiger

(19:24):
fans and even dablos Sweeney shifting from some of the norms.
We'll talk more about that in a Minute's kind of
weird how that's going on. You probably notice Clemson wearing
the orange bridges at Boston College. Huh, that's that's not
what Clemson does. Dablosweeney did explain his thoughts on it, though.

(19:46):
When we get back, we'll play some of that for
you as well again as we roll along here on
a Monday afternoon, keep a lot right here on Fox
Sports Radio fourteen hundred the Midlands and around the world
on the iHeartRadio app. We'll hear something from Sweeney after
this long swam back with you on a Monday. Dabos
when you met with the media following Clemson's forty one
ten victory at Boston College, and he talked a lot

(20:08):
about momentum, and that was probably my biggest takeaway from
his time with the media, was the momentum that Clemson needed,
you know, stacking back to back wins. And I wrote
about this on Sunday, stacking back to back wins ahead

(20:29):
of this matchup with SMU. Now, because the Tigers were
on the road of Boston College, I was not there,
did not and there's not great production of these videos,
so this is via zoom. Okay, so you'll have to
be patient with the audio. But here's a portion of

(20:52):
Dabos when he's opening statement following that win at BC.

Speaker 5 (20:57):
Really just proud of our team. Uh back to back games,
they really played well. Uh So it's really good to
see that and starting to you know, play like the
team that I know that they can be h I'm
really proud of that.

Speaker 4 (21:12):
And just now we've got a little momentum, you know.

Speaker 5 (21:15):
It's what we really wanted to get out of this game,
is to try to create some momentum. Have had a
lot so again, back to back games on the road,
two big wins, and man, this is this is a
special place to me, you know, forever grateful for that
team that came up here seventeen years ago, three and
four with a fire staff and because honestly, none of

(21:38):
us are probably here right now in that locker room
outside of maybe a couple of guys where they still
come to clinstant. But uh so you know, just that team,
you know, made a decision to try to finish and
had the will to fight, you know, even though there
wasn't a lot to play for, and uh you know,
so it was great to see these guys come up
here tonight to be honor that.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
So that's Davos when he's opening statements. Now, I mentioned
Braiden Jacobs earlier blocking and being the lead blocker for
Peter Woods, one of the lead blockers for Peter Woods
in that industrial Fridge package. Well, he played most of
the game at tackle, because at left tackle, because Tristan

(22:20):
Lee had a little ankle injury this past week.

Speaker 4 (22:23):
And Sweeney said that that.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
Tristan Lee didn't practice much and really, once they saw
how Braiden Jacobs was playing, they just kind of went
with him. Here's Sweeney gives some insight into the freshman
the giant freshman offensive lineman.

Speaker 5 (22:38):
No, No, Tristan. Tristan didn't practice much this week. He
did battle on a little bit of an anchor as well,
and so he didn't practice a whole lot. But I
was so proud of Braydon you know, I mean because
I didn't notice it. I didn't, you know, that's a
good thing. He played most of the whole game and

(22:59):
I didn't noticing. But uh, you know, Tristan, Tristan was
trying to go and uh but like I said, he
he was very limited at practice this week and working
his way back and I felt like he could go,
but you know, early on, just you know, I think
he realized that, uh, he just he just didn't quite
have it like he wanted. And so we threw Brayton

(23:20):
in there early. In fact, Max to him, I was
gonna put him in the see how it jes right
here and I'm like, we'll keep your out on and
I never noticed it the rest of the night. Uh.

Speaker 4 (23:28):
So I'm really proud of Breton. He grew up tonight
and he needs you know, he needed a game like that.

Speaker 5 (23:34):
He's had a couple of instances where he's kind of
gotten thrown in there and you know he's bit's fast,
but to see him play like that was was awesome.
So really proud of a braid. He did a heck
of a job. Can't wait to watch the tape. He's
a big, big, big man and uh he's a he's
a big age to get around, uh out there, so

(23:54):
brings a lot of link for so it's a good,
good game for a freshman on the road having a
step up like that.

Speaker 2 (24:02):
That's Davos Sweeney talking about Braydon Jacobs.

Speaker 4 (24:04):
All right.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
So here was Sweeney talking about Christopher of a Zena
and Clemson's confidence in Bosia, which I brought up earlier,
like it doesn't look like they're very confident with Zina.
But here's what Dabo Sweeney had to say about CV's
play up at BC and practice every day.

Speaker 5 (24:22):
So you know it's if he had if something like
that were the case and he had to. At least
he's been able to play on his last two weeks,
and it's not like he's that's a blessing. Uh. He
got some really good experience last week, played almost almost
a half or most of the second half, and then
and then got some got a chance to get back
in there again today. So it's practiced well. Every week.

(24:44):
He prepares well again, just hasn't had a ton of
opportunity to play. So these last two weeks had been
big for him, and we trusted, we trust him enter it. Honestly,
we trust both those guys to be able to go
in there and get it done. I mean, uh, you know,
obviously Kate is our so you always want your starter
to be out there, but both of those guys.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
Sweeney was asking if he thought kay Clubney would play
against SMU, and he said, yeah, he doesn't see a
reason that the k Clubney would not be in that game. Now,
my final thing from this weekend was it Clemson was
wearing orange britches and Sweeney changed some of the norms
when he became the head coach. Not in the norms
he didn't. Maybe he created norms. Maybe that's the the

(25:28):
better way to put it. Some of those norms were
that Clemson won't wear orange unless they're playing for a championship. Well,
Clemson wore orange britches. I should say, wouldn't wear orange
bridges unless they're playing for a championship. If people have
grown accustomed to that, the season has been weird though
Clemson didn't wear purple on the road. They wore purple
for Military Appreciation Day, but they wore purple at Georgia
Tech when swen he was trying to spark this team,

(25:50):
and that makes you feel like Sweeney even feels more
about this team, like they aren't what some of these
other teams were.

Speaker 6 (25:58):
Like.

Speaker 4 (25:58):
He's kind of felt like he's got do some gimmicks.

Speaker 2 (26:02):
I guess now they would wear orange bridges for the
state championship game against South Carolina, but Sweeney felt like
because there was a trophy on the line, he felt
like Clemson wasn't gonna get a chance to play for
a whole lot of championships this year, that they should
wear the orange bridges.

Speaker 4 (26:22):
Here's his comments after the game.

Speaker 5 (26:24):
Well, I just want to pass the fun. I mean,
you know, listen, I mean, our season, the way it is.
We were playing for a trophy. You know, we don't
wear the orange pants unless there's some type of trophy
on the lot. You know, that's just our that's just
that's just our rule. And you know, we put ourself
in a hole. And I don't know how many championships
we're gonna get this year. So we said, you know what,

(26:45):
let's bring them out. Let's honor that eighteen that came
up here, uh, seventeen years ago that made a decision,
like I said, to try to have the best possible finish.
And they didn't know anybody anything, didn't know me anything.
Did we have five our staff coaching them. But man,
those kids made a decision to try to fight and

(27:07):
they did.

Speaker 3 (27:08):
And so.

Speaker 5 (27:10):
But that was one we were just having some fun
with them. They're gonna be a trophy. We've got that
trophy for a long time. I pulled it out on
Wednesday and I said, here's the trophy.

Speaker 4 (27:18):
They're gonna hand it out after the game.

Speaker 5 (27:19):
I don't how many opportunities we'll get this year. We
know what people play in South Carolina in the state
championship at some point down the road, So that's another opportunity.
But yeah, I'm just having some fun and just just
bringing a little bit more juice to it.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
There you go ahead, another break here on a Monday,
keep it locked long and swamp back with you on
a Monday, all right, James Franklin out fired. I mean,
think about this for a second. Just a couple of
weeks ago, James Franklin and Penn State.

Speaker 4 (27:52):
Are leading.

Speaker 2 (27:56):
Oregon in overtime. Now fifteen days later or sixteen, but
I guess technically it was fired. Fifteen days later, the
team that was ranked number three in the country, leading
a top ten opponent in Oregon was up by a

(28:20):
touchdown with a white out crowd and eleven one hundred
and eleven thousand fans. Now they are three and three
and their head coach, James Franklin has been fired. It
wasn't just the overtime loss to Oregon. It was the

(28:47):
loss last weekend to UCLA, which was in and of
itself crazy because UCLA had just fired their head coach.
But give Jerry Neuheisel, the offensive coordinator, credit for the
job that they've done in sort of sparking Ucla. As

(29:12):
a matter of fact, this past weekend, the Bruins beat
Michigan State convincingly thirty eight to thirteen, meaning that in
a couple of weekends, this UCLA staff has done more
than they did with their former head coach, Deshaun Foster.

(29:34):
It's wild to see it play out, It really is,
how quickly like you recognize that a coaching change can
make such a difference. And I look at Texas A
and M and Jimbo Fisher, who has the largest buyout
in the history of college football. Now second to that

(29:59):
is James Franklin, who has a buyout of about forty
nine million. Texas A and M paid Jimbo seventy six
million to leave, And I get the feeling with the
way things are going with Texas A and M right
now with Mike Elko as their head coach, I get

(30:21):
the feeling that A and M fans I think they
will take that like I think they look at that
seventy six million dollars that they paid to get rid
of Jimbo Fisher as something that was worth it. The

(30:45):
Aggies are currently six and zero and ranked fourth in
the polls, and I bet their fan base doesn't think
they would be there today if Jimbo Fischer, Jimbo Fisher,
we're still coaching. So you make that move even though
it costs you a ton, because you want success and

(31:05):
you don't want to wait. You could wait and save
the money, but you're probably not having the success. And
so I think in large part the Penn State fan
base looks at some examples like this, and you are
much more willing to lean in on. That's who we're

(31:25):
gonna be. We're gonna be the next Texas A and M.
We're gonna fire our coach, We're gonna pay them a
boatload of money to go away. We're gonna improve immediately,
and we're gonna be back in the conversation and we've got,
you know, kind of fresh curtains, so to speak. And

(31:48):
people don't want to look at Nebraska, right, people don't
want to look at Southern cal.

Speaker 4 (31:58):
I mean, there are plenty of other.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
Schools out there that people do not want to model
themselves after. But you will always point towards, or most
people will always point towards the successful side. Because you
believe you're going to be successful. You're going to point
to Texas A and M. And so we'll see how
it all shakes out for Penn State. But they are
now three and three after being one of the top

(32:21):
teams in the country. I saw a tweet on social media.
I can't remember who put it out, maybe Tiger Commenter,
something along the lines of, thank you for taking the
torch because Penn State was ranked higher than Clemson to
start the season. They may not have had higher expectations

(32:42):
given the conference they are in, but nobody's really talking
about Clemson right now after what happened with James Franklin
up at Penn State. I did see one other person
on social media saying, see, that's what you should do
when you have a three and three team and you
had top five expectations. YadA, YadA, YadA. There's a big difference.

(33:09):
Let me explain something to you. There's a big difference
in James Franklin at Penn State and Dabo Sweeney at Clemson.
I mean, by comparison, James Franklin hasn't done anything compared
to Dabo Sweeney. I mean, Dabo Sweeney is not only
a multi tom national champion, He's played for multiple national

(33:34):
championships in addition to the two he won. Clemson's success.
If you put it side by side to Penn State
during James Franklin. Dabo Sweeney is miles and miles ahead
of James Franklin. So for people to say that's what

(33:57):
you should do, you should fire your coach when you're
three and three and you're underperformed, could pump the breaks
on that action. I'll say it again, what Dabosweeny has
done for Clemson. You might disagree, but what Dabosweeny has
done for Clemson, he deserves to leave when he wants

(34:19):
to leave the only reason to fire Dabosweeney at this
point is some sort of scandal, player abuse, you know,
something that goes down a deep.

Speaker 4 (34:32):
Dark hole, not.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
Oh, we're having a bad season and we didn't reach expectations.
Even if you said, well, it's been five years, dude,
I counter, they were in the playoffs a year ago,
so it really hasn't been five years. It's been five
years since they've played elite football. I give you that,

(34:56):
But how many teams each year are playing elite football?
Two three at most? Quick break, we'll talk about some
of the names that people are mentioning with this Penn
State job. Right after this final segment of our one,
coming to Williamqwalkin Bush in our number two. Hey, don't
forget this weekend when you're up in Tigertown to stop
buy Alumni Hall right there on the corner of campus

(35:17):
on College Avenue and downtown Clemson. I may very well
be there, not one hundred percent sure yet. My son's
got soccer on the road this weekend. The wife and
I are still trying to figure that out. But if
I'm not there, you can still be. They'll still have
the sweet, the sweet Nike drive Fit polos that you
know I love. Don't forget to ask them about their
Alumni Hall rewards program. And while you're in store, if

(35:39):
you're a Clemson student, faculty member, or in the military,
you get ten percent off. Go check them out this weekend.
Like I said, I might be there, might not. I'm
not sure. I gotta figure out what I'm doing. The
wife and I will put together those plans over the
next couple of days, and then I'll decide if I'm
going up to Clemson for this matchup with Sam.

Speaker 4 (35:58):
You or not.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
You can get to Alumni Hall on our website if
you are a subscriber or you've signed up to our website.
You just got a newsletter that came out on Sunday
and the link is there as well. And again check
them out online to alumni haul dot com where Tiger
fans shop. All right, so, who are some of the
names to potentially replace James Franklin at Penn State. Well,

(36:27):
Kirk Signetti, the head coach at Indiana, has to be
at the top of the list. I mean has to be.
First off, He's already shown success in the Big Ten.
If you were not watching this past weekend, Indiana went
on the road to Oregon, the same team that went
on the road to Penn State and Indiana came out of.

Speaker 4 (36:50):
Oregon with a victory.

Speaker 2 (36:51):
The Hoosiers are currently number three in the polls both Poles,
and they are a team that made it to the
God's Football Playoff a year a year ago under Kirk Signetty.
To me, there is no way, no way that guy
is not on your list at the top. Another name

(37:14):
did I like for that job is Brent Key. Brent
Key at Georgia Tech. Now, look, the problem with that
is that Brent Key played for Georgia Tech and it's

(37:35):
it's very hard for me to imagine personally leaving my
alma mater. I don't think I could do it, and
you say, well, what about the money. Well, given the
success that Brent Key's had this year at Georgia Tech,
and he makes about four point one million a year,

(37:56):
my hunch would be, let's say that Penn State comes
in at eight million. I think that's probably high on
Brent Key, but they're gonna be willing to poney up.
I think Brent Key can parlay this to six plus million.
At Georgia Tech. You don't have to move your family,
you get to stay involved with the program that you

(38:19):
are invested in. And he doesn't really have ties to
Penn State. So I think he'll be a name, but
I don't see a reason that he would go. Lane
Kiffin's name is another one that I think is intriguing
for this job for a couple of reasons. In one,
I think Lane Kiffen likes being an old miss. But again,

(38:42):
that path to the college football playoff, the path through
the Southeastern Conference is just incredibly difficult. I mean it is,
and he's still pretty young, He's just fifty. He makes
eight point seventy five million, that'll be in the ballpark

(39:04):
of what Penn State will be offering. I mean, he's
been at Ole Miss for five seasons and if the
life cycle on, how long you can go to school
without achieving the ultimate success, you know, without making the
college football playoff, et cetera, et cetera. It's not an

(39:25):
infinite window. And if they you know, right now, they're
six to zero. But if they don't make the college
football playoff this year, fans will begin to wonder if
not now win. And from that standpoint, you go to

(39:46):
a new school, you get a full refresh on those conversations.
You get to come in a year maybe to be
just outside the college football playoff of people say yep,
there's growth here.

Speaker 4 (39:57):
We come.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
You don't get that luxury any longer at Ole Miss,
in my opinion, And so from that standpoint, I think
Lane Kiffin has to be someone to consider. Another name
that a lot of people are bringing up with this
job is Matt Ruhle Matt Rule at Nebraska, and I

(40:22):
like this take for a lot of reasons. First Off,
Matt Rule played at Penn State. He was a linebacker
for the Nitney Alliance from nineteen ninety four through nineteen
ninety seven. He's been on staff there as a volunteer
assistant following his collegiate career for a short period of

(40:46):
time before eventually becoming a head coach at Temple Baylor,
with the Carolina Panthers and now with Nebraska. I mean
five and seven is first year, seven six a year ago.
There's certainly five and one now that shows that they're building.
But I think the belief would be that if you

(41:10):
can bring Matt Ruhle in and again he's one of
your own, that he will reinvigorate this program. And I
would probably put him at number one on my list.
Now for Nebraska, what they are going to get into
is that situation we talked about just a little bit

(41:30):
ago where they've never recovered. They've really never truly recovered
from firing Frank Solige. And the Frank Solidge firing was
similar to I think the situation at Clemson with Ken Hatfield.
You know, you you followed this legend and nobody's ever happy.

(41:55):
I mean, Frank Solig averaged almost ten wins a season,
was fired after six years. Frank Solich had a Nebraska
team finished second, seventh, seventh, and he's fired after six seasons,
and you could argue Nebraska hasn't been the same since.
And if they lose, Matt Ruhle just sets them back again.

(42:18):
Our two, William Qualkinbus, joins us stay with us.

Speaker 1 (42:22):
Each time for Clipson Sports Talk with Luwton Schwan.

Speaker 2 (43:03):
It is our number two. That's a drive time riter
on the Show That Shakespeare Southland Clemson Sports Talt Lot
Swan hang out with you on a Monday afternoon. William
Qualkinbush set to join the program momentarily and of course,
as always, the Show That Shakespeare South Am brought to
you in part by our good friends over at METS

(43:24):
Plumbing mets plumber dot com two two six seven one
oh eight. That's mets Plumbing two two six seven one eight.
Give them a call today or online at mets plumber
dot com. Find their ads on our website as well.
Make sure you click those links to get the Met's
plumbing through our site so they know we sent you.

(43:44):
Or call two to six seven one oh wait. All right,
William qualkin Bush with us here on a Monday afternoon. Qualt,
welcome in hope. You had a great weekend.

Speaker 6 (43:55):
Swanny had a great weekend. Uh easy postgame, great day
at church. Excited to get back at it. On a
Monday hope you did as well.

Speaker 4 (44:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (44:03):
So one of the things I did qualk. One of
the things I started the show with though, is the
fact that this team is a little bit two faced.
I mean, kind of like Batman. I guess there's this
one side. The first half way they played really well.
In the second half, you're not getting a whole lot
slow play their hand. I don't know, Like, how do

(44:24):
you feel after a couple of victories over in North
Carolina and BC given the way these games have played out, Like,
are you confident about this team offensively going into this
matchup with SMU?

Speaker 6 (44:35):
Well, I feel good about the ones. What you're talking about, basically,
is that the second team. To further the analogy, let's
say like the twenty nineteen second unit took a stick
of dynamite to the side of the face. I mean,
you know, trying to save a girl. You know, whatever
the case is, that's what you're talking about. I see,
I feel good about the ones, and that's the step.

(44:58):
There are people that want listen, you may be in
this camp. I'm not saying it's wrong to be in
this camp, but there are people that want Clemson to
exact dominance like they did in twenty nineteen, there's no
one exacting dominance like they did in twenty nineteen. There's
no one playing the backups that's doing with backups what
Clinton did to people in twenty eighteen twenty nineteen, that
that sort of era. Again, that's not to say that

(45:21):
it's not a noble goal, it's a worthy goal. Shoot,
Penn State is trying to do that right now. They're
trying to build that type of team, and they're trying
to do that with their coach and change. So I
get it. The thing is if Clinton was not did
not lose to Syracuse because their backups didn't perform. So
like this frustration with backups that people are sort of
like putting at the top of their concern lists. I

(45:41):
ain't worried about that. What I wanted to see from
Clinton in the last two weeks. Are your starters good
enough to put North Carolina and Boston College in their place?
And they were. Yes, the second half needs to be better.
Some of that is a product of where Clinton is
as a roster. And let me just say, if Clinton
has significant injuries on the offensive line, the Clemson as
significant injuries in the secondarya Clemson as significant injuries at

(46:04):
running back, even further injuries and they already have at
running back or an injury at quarterback, which we can
talk about later if you want, they are not going
to win. And that is just the bottom line for
like ninety eight percent of the country, Like no one
is able to withstand those things. So it just to
me the yes, you want those backups to get in
you want to build your team. I actually thought the

(46:25):
second unit in the mop of duty and the garbage
time snaps that they got was much better against Boston
College in North Carolina. So I'm choosing to look at
it that way rather than sort of measuring those backups
to a standard of you ever keep scoring, you ver
keep playing. I know they talk about that. I just
wanted to see them execute better than they did against

(46:46):
North Carolina, and I think they did. I think particularly
the defense did. I think Keith Adams junior did. I
think the offensive line was better in those spots, and
so I'm I'm choosing to sort of see that in
this game as evidence that this is a better football
team in program than what we saw three weeks ago
against Syracuse.

Speaker 2 (47:06):
William Qualkin Bush is on Twitter at qualk talk. Let's
talk a little bit about the offense for a minute.
I mean, Bryant Westco is obviously making his name known.

Speaker 4 (47:16):
TJ.

Speaker 2 (47:17):
Moore, however, just gets one target in the game. He
does make a reception with that target. Is this just
an inability of TJ. Moore to get open? Is this
about teams trying to take him out of the scheme
and Socaide's going elsewhere? What do you think is going
on there? Because his development is an interesting, I think

(47:40):
piece to watch because if he were having a monster
year as well as Brian Westco, this team would really
look unstoppable in a lot of respects on offense. But
he's just kind of become an afterthought. What are your
thoughts on where we are with TJ. Moore right now?

Speaker 6 (47:55):
Well, I think that's an interesting point that you make,
because I did think that this was a game where
Bryant Westco needed to get back on the horse. They
certainly did that. I think Antonio Williams getting on the
horse was good. And keep in mind too, like TJ.
Moore against North Carolina had over one hundred yards that
was seventy five of those came courtesy of Antonio Williams.
But he was heavily involved in the game plan two

(48:16):
weeks ago and Brian Wesco only had two catches. So
I do think like, if you isolate this game, I
think it's it's it's it's problematic. And I think in
in you know, in conjunction with the entirety of the season,
and you just throw all that together. It also is
a little bit problematic that Moore's not more of a part.
Here's where I would also point out that Moore has

(48:38):
They've attempted to make TJ. Moore more of a part
of the offense, and going into the North Carolina game,
the average pass to TJ. More. I may have talked
abut ONNY program swaany the average pass to TJ. Moore
in terms of his targets was an incompletion. He was
bringing in like forty three percent of his targets, whereas
Westco was in like the eighty percent range. So like

(48:59):
it was, if you're just talking about where should we
put the ball, where should we throw the ball, It's
sort of like do I want to give it to
the chucker who's going four for twenty, or do I
throw it to the guy who's going nine for twenty.
The four for twenty's gonna help you, And he might
be a really good player, but in the context of
these games, especially games that are tightly contested, you have

(49:19):
to have those catches. And so I'm gonna throw it
to this. You look if somebody used that a lot
of four for twenty swany sometimes you got to go
to the nine for twenty and you can't keep hoping
that that thing's gonna turn around. So t Ga Moore
played better and he had the one. They sort of
threw it behind the line of scrimmage. He had a
good run after the catch. I do think that it's
interesting that they sort of seem to involve different people.

(49:40):
There's a lot of tight ends in the North Carolina
game plan and more it was Williams and Westco and
then just a smattering of other guys in this game.
I like that Kate Klubney isn't just locking on the
one guy. I like that he can have an effective
game where Bryant Westco isn't the focal point, or Antony
Williams isn't the focal point because what did we say
early in the season, Well, and Tony Williams is out,

(50:02):
So kay is basically uh you know, he lost his
Mario start, right, I mean he's like Samson with his haircut,
like he can't do anything. And so uh so getting
Antonio Willias back was supposed to be a big deal.
Well you didn't need Antonio Williams to move the ball
through the air against North Carolina and you didn't need
Bryan Westco to move the ball through the air necessarily
against Boss goll geor TJ. Moore. So uh I I

(50:26):
I appreciate, uh, I appreciate that, uh that that Kate
Klubnick is able to move the ball without those guys. Now,
like people have put TJ. Moore on transfer watch, like
I understand that maybe he is out there. I think
he he feels happy in Clemson. But you know, the
body Lamas concerns early in the season. I'll admit, like
I wasn't focused on it this game. I didn't notice

(50:47):
it like I didn' g at Syracuse and some of
the other games when they're losing, right, So maybe some
of that has been put to bed, but uh yeah,
I would say look for that moving forward, but after after,
you know, a better put for North Carolina. I still
think that Westcoat and Williams are ahead of more on guys.
I want to see targeted in this Clemson offense, and

(51:10):
so I'm not mad when the target share ends up
waning that direction.

Speaker 2 (51:13):
Again on Twitter at qual talk every day noon until
three o'clock. Out of bounds with qualk and be in
one oh five to five de roar. The Tigers come
into this game against SMU. I think it opened at
like eight and a half. It's up to nine and
a half, nearly ten point favorites against the Mustangs, a
team that Clemson got away from in the a SEC
Championship game a year ago with a fifty six yard

(51:36):
walk off kick.

Speaker 4 (51:37):
Are you surprised at that number.

Speaker 6 (51:39):
Quak, I would say a little bit. I mean I
thought it would be sort of between three and seven
because of how Clemson's playmate. If you look at resume,
you look at you look at things like you know,
the sp plus stuff and FPI and some of the
predictive sack grounds clumps, it's better than SMU, But in
my opinion, you look at the types wins that they've

(52:00):
had and the results that they've had, it's kind of similar.
The shine is off the TCU performance from s M
U a little bit, uh Baylor. Uh, SMU loses that game,
should have won that game, and so you know that
that's a that's a missed opportunity. And then SMU and
their wins, they kind of haven't been anybody kind of
like Clemson, you know, they they they sort of had

(52:21):
a methodical win against Stamford over the week over over
last weekend. So uh, I do see these as pretty
similar teams. But we know SMU is quite good. We
know they they probably feel like they were the better
team for the majority of the game. They they really
just stunk it up in the first like twenty minutes

(52:41):
and uh probably won the last forty if you if
you asked Red lastly, you might get debos winning to
admit that in press comments lated this week. I'm not
trying to do that, but yeah, this is to me,
this is like a touchdown game either way, and you know,
a couple of turnovers here and there, maybe a boom
kick is gonna is gonna is gonna tell this, but yeah,
like eight and a half, I was like, that's a

(53:03):
little steep and then it gets met up. I do
think that people look at the margins and they go, Okay,
Tom Allens fixed the defense particularly like a I think
it was almost three hundred yard gap between Clemson's offensive
output and Boston Colleges this weekend. So that's that certainly
is gonna help your calls there when you when you're
just dominating people, and we just haven't seen SMU do

(53:23):
that to anybody yet this year. I like, I'm I'm
like I say, I'm, I'm not surprised that Clemson's got
the edge even like beyond the three to five points.
So you're gonna give a home team, but uh, I'm
a little surprised it's to that extent given given the
fact that I look at these two teams, I see
a lot of similarities and the fact that Clemson has

(53:44):
not played well at home, not just this year, but
go back to the Louisville game last year. Clemton's lost
four home games in two months of work. That is outrageous.
And so maybe Vegas has given a little more credibility
to Death Valley than maybe Clemson is earned the last
few months of home games.

Speaker 4 (54:02):
No, that's a great point. Quote.

Speaker 2 (54:03):
The other point I think I love that you made
there is talking about the defense, because if we're gonna
be fair. I mean, Clemson did hold Boston College is
just fifty one yards in the second half. That second
half issue seems to be more of an offensive thing
at this point to me, more so than a defensive thing.
So I'm glad we got a chance to reset that
for everybody. William Qualkinbush again with us here on the program.
All right, let's talk about kid that ankle got rolled up,

(54:25):
Dabosweeny saying after the game that Kate could have gone
back in, but they decided to go with Christopher Zina.
We could certainly digest the situation with the zena and
some of the play calling while he's in the game,
But let's talk about cad club Nick. I mean, do
you think this is a serious injury. I certainly don't,
especially given what Dabosweeny said on Sunday during his teleconference

(54:45):
with the media as well that you know that they'll
still have to see and obviously anything can happen during
the week, but I would imagine this is just rested
if you have to but uh, probably nothing too serious.

Speaker 6 (54:56):
Yeah, I think it looked worse based on how he
left the field and he went in there Ga Tate
that you know, Dabbo said he was kind of dealing
with it anyway, which is really That's my primary concern
is that the one thing in a game like this,
the one thing that could separate Kevin Jennings from Kid
Klubnick the way they run offense, is Kate Klubnik's decisiveness
with his legs. And you just wonder if not necessarily

(55:18):
the output of the ability to run, but the decisiveness
with which he makes the decision to use his legs,
if this mentally is a little bit of a barrier
for him. I think Kate Club is gonna play. I mean,
I'm not worried about that, but it's he seventy percent?
Is he eighty percent? And you mentioned Christopher Zena. Man,
how far we have come from three weeks ago people

(55:40):
saying where's the Zena? It can't possibly be worse. You
can't possibly downgrade similar to when Kate went in against
Notre Dame. Uh, you know, similar to when we saw
Tyson Pumachhan back in twenty one. It is not necessarily
always the case that different is at least hestays good
or better. It can get worse. And so I don't

(56:03):
think anybody feels good and Christopher Zina is a quarterback.
If that's and me, I don't think anybody feels good
about that. I'm not even sure what kind of game
you call for him. I mean your point that you
just made. It's not like they're giving him the whole
playbooks this late in the game, but they are letting
throw it. I mean they are calling pass plays for him.
I don't think they're giving him anything too exotic, and
he's he's really struggled to execute the passing plays. You

(56:24):
can see the promise with the ball in his hands running. Yeah, yeah,
I wouldn't feel good about that, especially like Kate can
win a quarterback battle with Kevin Jennings, but Christopher Zina cannot.
So I think I number one on clunch the checklist
this week has got to be getting Kate healthy and
able to mentally process. I'm gonna pull the ball down

(56:45):
and run and be confident on this ankle.

Speaker 2 (56:47):
Yeah, I don't recall qualk who they had in the
game with Zena in the second half.

Speaker 4 (56:53):
I mean again, he comes in.

Speaker 2 (56:54):
For those of you that didn't watch the game and
you're listening, he comes in, like with a minute left
in the third quarter, so not much time there, but
I feel like in that moment, like when we talk
about getting a guy reps right, like run, run the
full squad out there, like let him play. And when
they ran those back to back plays where it was

(57:17):
QB carry on first, second, and third down then punt,
I was just mystified by it because you got to
get this guy some opportunity at some point, and that
just felt like they were handcuffing him.

Speaker 6 (57:30):
Well, I would agree, now, my my, uh. The the
devil's advocate in me and the Devil's advocate point there
is maybe they've seen enough of Zena running like the
full range of passing offense. You know, maybe there's listen
with the pulling linemen and things like that, like you know,
it's not all about getting the quarterback reps. Maybe they're
looking to see how the offensive line will react, you know. Okay,

(57:53):
maybe they're trying to see if if backs can get
involved there, or you know, a wide receiver like they
might be looking to evaluate some other people and throwing
some stuff in. Heck, if Cage's hurt, they might be
trying to gauge. Okay, these are some plays that we
think we can use against SMU next week in the
event that Kate doesn't play. So we're just kind of
word shopping some things here, you know, in case we

(58:14):
end up having to in an emergency situation build the
plane while we're flying it with Christopher Vezina in the cockpits.
So I agree with you that I want to see
Zina chuck it down the field. I want to see
him run a full breadth and depth and width of
the offense in terms of the passing game. But I
also understand that it's not just about that, Like there's
some other things that the coaches may have been trying

(58:35):
to get done in that instance that don't have to
do with the quarterback.

Speaker 2 (58:38):
Let's turn our attention nationally. Penn State fires James Franklin
on Sunday. Your thoughts on that situation? Is that too
quick of a trigger given what he has done recently?
I mean, what were your thoughts when you saw that news?

Speaker 6 (58:55):
Well, it reminded me more of like a vut of
no confidence from the shareholders to a quarterly meeting. It's
kind of what I thought. I tweeted that just simply
because from a football standpoint, you still have six games left,
like the last two weeks have been embarrassing. I saw
Josh Pate say, like, fifteen days ago, you know, Penn

(59:16):
State is leading in the top ten game fifth in
the country in overtime against Oregon fifteen days ago, and
their coaches fired. I mean, it just feels it feels
really quick, and I get that. You know, there's frustration
with James Franklin not winning the big game. But here's
what James Franklin has done, literally until last two weeks,
He's beaten all the people that he's not supposed to

(59:37):
beat or that he is supposed to be. He has
recruited and developed a program that is top eight to
ten in the country. He just can't beat Ohio State,
Michigan or Oregon when they're ranked in the top ten.
And you know what that might continue against Indiana in
a couple of weeks. That like, there are some additional pitfalls,
like if you can't beat Northwestern, there's a lot of

(59:58):
games that are on the table. There was a quick
with this team that I think was evident on Saturday.
There was both a quick factor and there was an
over exertion where you kind of saw the same things
that we were seeing from Clemson earlier this year where
like that final Northwestern drive, go back and watch kin State.
You've got guys that are clearly out of position, clearly
trying to overcompensate for people they don't trust to make

(01:00:20):
the play. And you can't play like that, you can't.
That's a poorly coached unit. That's a team that lacks
mental and physical discipline, and James Franklin is responsible for that.
I thought this was a situation where, you know, Florida
could give him a life raft, Virginia Tech could give
him a life raft. I think Maryland makes a lot
of sense if they decided to move on for Mike Wasley.

(01:00:40):
They there were four and oh after September Blue two
fourth quarter leads at home to Washington and Nebraska the
last two weeks, so if that goes bad, they may
want to get Franklin back in there. Remember he was
the coach in waiting when Ralph Frigin got fired. That's
how we ended up at Vanderbilt. So James Franklin has
recruited the DMV almost spitefully after that deal with Maryland
ever since then. So there are some places that would

(01:01:02):
have been soft landing spot. And I just thought at
the end of the year. This was a nice opportunity
for a reset. The fact that they didn't give James
Franklin a chance to turn this around to get them
a nine to three tells me that everybody believed that
this was a do or die year and they know
they're not going to the playoffs, so they pulled the cord.
And like I said that, the football, the football part says,

(01:01:23):
maybe give them the next six games or at least
like give them one more loss to try to turn
this ship around because of what he's done in the
past and what he's done for your program. But the
shareholders definitely were like, yeah, we do. We do not
have faith in this guy right now.

Speaker 2 (01:01:38):
Follow him on Twitter at qualtall quat Man. Always great
catching up.

Speaker 6 (01:01:41):
With you, Thanks Swannie. Always gonna be with you big.

Speaker 2 (01:01:44):
That's William Qualkinbush here on a Monday afternoon, eight O
three four or five oz zeros you or eighty six
text line phone line again. You could be a part
of the program anytime, any place, anywhere on our website,
clympses sports tall dot com. All right, well the quick break,
We'll come back a little pop culture. I was watching well,
scroll on social media, dude, and it delivered me onto

(01:02:06):
a fantastic documentary. I'm not done with it yet, but
if you're a child of the eighties, it might be
worth checking out. I'll tell you what it is when
we get back. Keep it a lot right here on
Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred clumpson sports taw bat with
you on a Monday. That was William Qualkinbush before the break.
All right, so off of the sports topic for a minute.

(01:02:28):
I yeah, social media is. You know, it's great for
a couple of reasons. First off, you find out about
things that maybe you didn't know about. And there is
a John Candy documentary that's on Amazon Prime Video, so

(01:02:49):
if you're an Amazon subscriber, which most people are, you
can watch this for free. They do run like one
ad right at the beginning, but you know a couple
of things about it. And I'm about halfway through and
so far it's really good. But it got me thinking
about like individuals, and most of these celebrities or actors

(01:03:15):
who have have died early are males. I think I
guess in some respects men tend to live a little bit,
a little bit harder lifestyle. In some cases than women.

(01:03:36):
And I think that's probably a part of the reason,
Like we don't have a Chris Farley today or a.

Speaker 4 (01:03:44):
John Belushi River Phoenix.

Speaker 2 (01:03:50):
But John Candy, at least as far as I'm into
this show, wasn't really like that. So there, you know, Yes,
the weight was a part of his issue, and he
knew that, but his father had had a heart attack

(01:04:13):
and died when he was young, you know. But I
started to recognize and I don't know what movies he
would have gone on to make, what roles he would
have gone on to have, but I tell you, I

(01:04:34):
started to realize pretty quickly how big I think John
Candy could have been, because he wasn't just like this
slapstick comedy guy, and he certainly had bit roles that
started his career in the movies that he was making,

(01:04:55):
like Who's Harry Crumb were certainly idiotic in a lot
of respects. They were they were comedies. They were similar
to movies like Tommy Boy or Black Sheep, just over
the top. But you know, I think as your career develops,

(01:05:15):
when you're a comedian, you do eventually morph, and a
lot of these guys shift into roles where you could
eventually become.

Speaker 4 (01:05:23):
Like a leading man.

Speaker 2 (01:05:24):
I mean, look at Tom Hanks, the development in the
arc of his career. And I'm not just here to
say that I think that John Candy would have been
Tom Hanks by any means, but I really did start
to realize just how funny and engaging small parts like

(01:05:44):
his part in Home Alone and in all those movies,
and man, what could have been for that guy. Heath
Ledger is another name to throw out there, like I've
been wanting to watch It's The Dark Knight Rises right
that Heath.

Speaker 4 (01:06:00):
Ledger was in.

Speaker 2 (01:06:03):
Heath Ledger's been dead for seventeen years. Heath Ledger died
in two thousand and eight. That's hard to imagine what
he could have done given the arc of his career
and where he was apparently headed in terms of.

Speaker 4 (01:06:27):
Movies.

Speaker 2 (01:06:28):
I mean, he was gonna be a megastar. I mean, honestly, honestly,
Heath Ledger was probably trending towards being very similar to
Brad Pitt.

Speaker 4 (01:06:43):
I mean, he really was.

Speaker 2 (01:06:44):
He was probably trending that direction. Speaking of Brad Pitt,
this weekend, my son and I watched the old movie
seven from thirty years ago. Nineteen ninety five that movie
came out. That's hard to believe, isn't it that that
movie is that old? Thirty years I mean, Brad Pitt

(01:07:09):
was thirty one back when that movie was made. I
had to look that up last night. I know, the
fact that that dude is sixty one is bizarre, right,
but he is. And I think Heath Ledger, I really

(01:07:29):
think he could have been similar in that respect. I mean,
Heath Ledger would be forty six right now. Can you
imagine the movies that he would be making. Died at
twenty eight years old?

Speaker 4 (01:07:44):
Yeah? Just man, the job he did with The Joker
was wild. He was so amazing in that film.

Speaker 2 (01:07:51):
But yeah, John Candy checked that out on Amazon. If
you get a minute, all right, turn our attention back
to the world of college football. Hey, if you want
to text us a actor, actress, whatever that you think
would have had a huge career, sure thing hit us up.
All right, back to the world of sports. It was
a big weekend for the Clemson Tiger basketball team as

(01:08:17):
Clemson picked up a nice commitment, landing a skilled big
man in Will Stevens six ten, two hundred pounds. He
is the twenty second ranked center in the twenty twenty
six recruiting class according to two four to seven's composite
ratings out of Davidson North Carolina. He chose Clemson over Vanderbilt.

(01:08:42):
South Carolina was also in the mix, but he had
offers from Virginia Wake Forest in C State West Virginia,
but the Tigers made a strong impression on him. As
a junior, Will Stevens averaged twelve points eight excuse me,
six point eight rebounds and two blocks per game. Stevens

(01:09:06):
becomes the first commitment for Brad Brownell in the twenty
twenty six recruiting class. So a big pickup there for
Brad Brownell and the Clemson Tigers as they land Will
Stevens for the twenty twenty six recruiting cycle. All right,
with a quick break, we'll come back. We don't talk

(01:09:28):
much about the World Series. But I can't remember if
we mentioned this. Have you guys been watching Cal Raleigh,
the catcher for the Seattle Mariners. They had a big
win last night in Game one of the nl CS
over Toronto. But when we come back, I'll tell you

(01:09:49):
a little nugget about Raley you may not have known.
Stay with us, back at it on the Monday Clemson
Sports Talk, Little MLB Baseball conversation for you as the
World Series looms. The American League Championship Series between Seattle

(01:10:10):
and Toronto continuing today, and that game underway Seattle, of
course one game won. They won what fifteen innings the
other night just to advance, but Seattle won game one,
three to one. Cal Raley, who led the Majors with

(01:10:30):
sixty home runs this season, hit a home run in
the game. And there are some ties back to Clemson.
You may not realize this, but cal Rally was a
Clemson commit and when the Tigers got rid of Jack Leggett,

(01:10:51):
cal Raley ended up switching his commitment from Clemson actually
to Florida State. Now he's a kid that play this
high school ball up in North Carolina. But after decommitting
from Clemson when they got rid of Jack Legott, he
ended up going to Florida State and playing for the

(01:11:12):
Seminoles and again this season leading the Major sixty plus
I think he had sixty regular season home runs. Signed
a six year, one hundred and five million dollar contract
with the Seattle Mariners. And so that game underway, and
then there's also another game tonight at eight o'clock, the

(01:11:33):
National League Championship Series Game one, as the Los Angeles
Dodgers and the Milwaukee Brewers face off. That game's on
TBS and True TV. Today's Seattle Toronto game is currently
on Fox and FS one. Now the other thing, too,
I feel like I did a bad job of for

(01:11:57):
whatever reason, I didn't even mention. You know, I mentioned
the fact that James Franklin was fired. But what I
didn't mention was the fact that they lost again this
weekend to Northwestern twenty two to twenty one. Now, probably
a given that they lost again, but I don't think
I brought that up. I talked about UCLA beating them

(01:12:19):
two weeks ago, and then the fact that obviously they
had lost to Oregon in overtime and how quickly things shifted.
But yeah, they lost this weekend as well at home,
and fans stuck around to give him the business after
the game. And so now Penn State parks ways with

(01:12:40):
James Franklin and you're in the transfer portal era, which
is good for Clemson in this scenario because obviously Tom
Allen recruited some of these kids. Additionally, Tom Allen likely
recruited some of the recruits that Penn State has been after,
So Clemson might be a team that benefits in the

(01:13:02):
long run from this move, even though the Tigers aren't
overly aggressive in the transfer portal. Maybe a situation where
Tom Allen can say, hey, we like these guys, these
would be some good kids to bring in. Now, he
wasn't there but one year, so he doesn't have a

(01:13:23):
whole lot of stake in that position. But you can't
argue he made a good move getting out of there
when he did not saying he saw the writing on
the wall. I don't think anybody expected Penn State to
be willing to stroke a check for forty nine million dollars,
but I think the up close and personal nature of
seeing UCLA and the success that they had after firing

(01:13:44):
their head coach probably had an impact. I think the
success that you see at Texas A and M right
now after A and M was willing to pay seventy
six million dollars to get rid of Jimbo Fisher had
an impact. Associate HED coach Terry Smith will serve as
the Nitney Lions interim head coach for the remainder of

(01:14:06):
the season. Can we talk about that word interim for
a second, that that is the way you say it right,
because I hear people on the radio say interim, that's
not how you say it right, interim head coach, Please
correct me if I'm wrong on that. No other staff

(01:14:28):
changes are currently expected at Penn State this year, and
we'll see where they go with this move. Obviously a
shocking turn of events for the Nidney Lions and after
twelve years in winning the amount of games that James

(01:14:48):
Franklin won during his time there, really climbing a mountain,
climbing a ladder rung by wrong.

Speaker 4 (01:14:57):
Now you get rid of him and you have to reset.

Speaker 2 (01:15:03):
Here's Dabo Sweeney talking about James Franklin when he was
asked about that question during his Sunday teleconference.

Speaker 5 (01:15:10):
Yeah, I mean it's you know, it's it's sad to see.
I mean again, we all in this business. We understand
that they that's that's a part of the business, and
we we all understand that. But that doesn't make it easy,
you know. I mean, this is you know, and I

(01:15:31):
know everybody will say, well, he's getting to buy when
you know, Coach Franklin didn't get into coaching to make money.

Speaker 3 (01:15:36):
I promise you.

Speaker 5 (01:15:37):
Uh, this has been a calling upon his life. And
and you know it's it's never never good to see
something not work out the way you want, but also
understand the business and he'll bounce back. And Uh he
did a lot of great things at Penn State, for sure.
And and UH got a lot of respect for James
and his wife, Fumi and her two daughters. I mean,

(01:15:58):
they're they're people. I know, there's a expectation and all
that type of stuff that doesn't take away the personal
side of it. So, you know, prayers with him and
his family and as they transitioned away from a part
of their life, a big part of their life, onto
what's next, what God has next one.

Speaker 2 (01:16:20):
So that's what dab boswhen you had to say about
the job that James Franklin did at Penn State and
his release.

Speaker 4 (01:16:29):
Again.

Speaker 2 (01:16:29):
Last season, they were thirteen and three finished fifth in
the country. The year prior to that, they were ten
and three, finished thirteenth. The year prior to that, they
were eleven and two and finished seventh. I mean this
they fired a guy that has five top ten finishes

(01:16:51):
during his tenure, five top ten. Now this year wasn't
going to end that way me three and three, zero
and three. This is a job that he took over
in twenty fourteen and they went seven to six, two
and six in the Big ten.

Speaker 4 (01:17:06):
He turned this thing.

Speaker 2 (01:17:06):
You could see the growth essentially, you could see the growth,
and PennState said not this year. One backstep and you're out.
You know, they hired him from Vanderbilt, which is an
interesting thought. And I'll tell you why when we get back.

Speaker 4 (01:17:27):
Stay with us.

Speaker 3 (01:17:30):
What have you done for me lately? It's a fair question.
Just don't lose sight of the bigger picture. Don't forget history.
Lucky for us at Clemson, the answer to the questions
what have you done for me lately? And what have
you done? Always are the same.

Speaker 6 (01:17:56):
We win.

Speaker 2 (01:18:43):
Final seven on the Monday Clemson Sports. Hey, don't forget
out our friends in Alumni Hall right there on the
corner of campus on College Avenue in downtown Clemson, just
across from historic Riggs Field Bowman Field in view from
Alumni Hall. You can check it out online as well
to Alumni Hall dot com. Don't get to check out
their hat wall while you're in store. And look, they've

(01:19:04):
got those Nike dry fit Polos that you know, I
love Gator Gear, Clemson Gear. That's River Bluff Gator. They
do have a Florida store as well for your Florida
fans at Alumni Hall. Check them out online at Alumni
Hall dot com. Get there through our website. We have
Alumni Hall advertisements at the bottom of probably ninety percent

(01:19:25):
of the stories that we post. And then when you
shop there, whether it's today, tomorrow, or even at Christmas,
we'll get a benefit from that. Support our friends into
Alumni Hall as they stand behind to show the shakespare
South Lane. It's Alumni Hall where Tiger fans shop. So
I mentioned Penn State hired James Franklin from Vanderbilt, and
you know he went six and sevent in year one

(01:19:46):
at Vanderbilt in twenty eleven, in your two, nine and four,
in year three, nine and four and had Vandy in
the top twenty five and got scooped up to go
to Penn State and again he rebuilt that program. But
think about what Vanderbilt is currently doing under head coach
Clark Lee. Mean, Vanderbilt is once again in the mix

(01:20:12):
in college football. They are in the conversation. And I
just wonder again, they're five and one, one in one.
Clark Lee has them playing better. I mean last year
they were seven to six, but they beat Alabama. There
was a lot to like and a lot to talk about.
But is there a chance that we could see a

(01:20:33):
situation where Penn State hires clark Lee and Vandy brings
back James Franklin. Now, I thought William qwalkin Bush made
a good point about Maryland and the situation that Maryland.
Obviously coach Locksley's been there a while after being an

(01:20:54):
assistant at Alabama. They really haven't had much success. Now
they've won three Bowl games, but I mean three and nine,
two and three in the twenty twenty season, seven and six,
eight and five, eight and five, four and eight and
now four and two this year. Last year they went
one in eight in the league. I mean, you would presume,

(01:21:17):
I think that they're likely to move on from Mike
Loxley at the end of this year. And it's not
as if Locksley had like a great track record as
a head coach. You know, when he was with New Mexico,
their overall record was two and twenty six in three

(01:21:39):
seasons two and a half years. He got fired four
games in. He ended up back at Maryland from twenty
twelve through twenty fifteen and then moved on to be
at Alabama before returning. So they had some hope. But
maybe maybe that is a job that comes open, and

(01:22:00):
possibly James Franklin walks into that situation. And final thing here,
I guess on a Monday afternoon, I did not even
mention for our fine feathered friends hanging out with us today,
so you.

Speaker 6 (01:22:13):
Could continue to peek over the fence at the best
radio showing the nation.

Speaker 2 (01:22:18):
South Carolina falling over the weekend.

Speaker 4 (01:22:22):
To LSU.

Speaker 2 (01:22:23):
The Game Cox lose twenty to ten, score eerily similar
to the final score of clemps's game against LSU, which
was seventeen to ten. The game Cocks were in a
seventeen to ten game for a while. They will host
fourteenth rank in Oklahoma, who lost this weekend, but John

(01:22:44):
Mattieer did play. Oklahoma lost to Texas in the Red
River rivalry. South Carolina now three and three one conference
win a thirty five thirteen victory over Kentucky and eyeballing
number fourteen Oklahoma, number six Alabama, number five Ole Miss
and number four.

Speaker 4 (01:23:05):
Texas A and m.

Speaker 2 (01:23:07):
Over the final few weeks before getting Coastal and Clemson
at the end of the season. I'm not going to
be the guy that's going to start the Is South
Carolina going to make a coaching change? But far be
it from me to believe that in this era that
we are currently in, where money is driving things and
performance on the field is at a premium, that fans

(01:23:33):
with a bitterly disappointing season after high levels of expectation,
and that's what South Carolina. They're on the cusp of
the college football playoff a year ago. Some people argue
that they probably should have been in the belief was
they were going to come in this year and make
that leap. It just it hasn't worked. They don't look

(01:23:54):
good on offense, and quite frankly, you know when you
watch the sacks that they're giving up by the way,
they fired their offensive line coach Lonnie Teasley. But I'll
tell you Teasley is not responsible for the quarterback rolling
out and taking fifteen yard sacks. Now he is responsible

(01:24:15):
for sacks, but he's got to get some help. And
Leonora Sellers loses an undue amount of yards by just
continuing to run backwards. The game Cocks are struggling and
a big game this weekend coming up against Oklahoma. Will
they write the ship?

Speaker 4 (01:24:33):
I'm not so sure.

Speaker 2 (01:24:34):
We'll talk more about it all tomorrow right here on
the show that Shakes the South Lane until the end.
As always, you'll take care now and go Tigers.