The "New Seeding" Edition

The CFB Playoff committee changes how the playoff will be seeded just one year into the 12-team format. 

Episode Transcript

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

(00:44):
Clemson Sports Talk has come back. Two drive time. Hell everybody,
Low and Swan back in the saddle once again. It
is the show that shakes the South. Lay and Clipson
Sports Talk for you each every afternoon as you make
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(01:07):
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(01:50):
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a part of the program. All right. ACC Baseball Tournament
Action will update you on everything there as Clemson gets

(02:10):
ready for their matchup this evening against NC State. We'll
also talk about the NBA last night ooh, some drama
in MSG in Madison Square Garden. Plus some news out
of the College Football Playoff with some changes we talked
about could potentially be coming. Well, they are coming and

(02:33):
they will take place this year. More on that in
just a little bit, But for the Atlantic Coast Conference
Tournament right now, that's where the attention turns. And then tonight,
don't forget Clemson softball at nine o'clock opening their super
regional play out at Texas. But here's how things ended

(02:56):
up shaking out yesterday up in Durham. Of course, in
the game before Clemson, it was cal shocking everybody with
the way they played at the ACC Tournament thus far,
the sixteen seed beating Miami a couple of days ago,
twelve to two, beating Waite Force, yesterday the eight seed

(03:17):
fourteen to twelve, and then today getting underway against the
top seed of Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Then tonight at
seven o'clock, it'll be Clemson, the fifth seed, taking all
four seeded NC State. The Tigers, of course, beat Virginia
Tech six to one yesterday. Virginia Tech was a twelve seed.
They had defeated Stanford seven to four to get into

(03:39):
that game. Then yesterday evening Duke walked it off against
Pitt The seventh seeded Blue Devils beat the Pitt Panthers
four to three to advance to tomorrow's three pm matchup
against second seed at Florida State. And then in the nightcap,
the Boston College Eagles kept the dream alive with a

(04:01):
twelve to eight victory over sixth seeded Virginia and Boston
College has won a couple of games at the ACC Tournament,
meaning that a sixteenth seed and a fourteenth seed have
advanced in this new format. This single elimination format of

(04:23):
the ACC Tournament so kind of wild that in year
one you're getting this type of run from Boston College
in California. We'll see how the Bears do today against
the Yellowjackets as that one gets ready to get under way.
And again, because of the way the ACC slated this
thing up, the other quarterfinal matchups are tomorrow, while the

(04:45):
winners of today's games will be resting up for the
semi finals, which will take place on Saturday. So that's
what you're looking at right now. In terms of the
Atlantic Coast conferen Rance, a couple of high high seeds
fourteen seed to Boston College and sixteen seed to col

(05:07):
still alive, hanging out amongst the best of the Atlantic
Coast Conference. And again things just getting underway up in Durham.
Now over at the SEC Baseball Championships, they too switched
their format, not quite as much as the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The ACC was in a pod format. The SEC utilized

(05:31):
the what do they call it? They utilized the double
elimination oh man swany That was not difficult, Yeah, the
double elimination format in the past, But now they're in
a single elimination field. Yesterday it was Tennessee beating Alabama
fifteen to ten, a high scoring affair. That game got

(05:53):
loose while we were on the air. Then in game six,
twelfth seeded Oklahoma top fifty to Georgia three to two,
a little upset special. Much like in the ACC, the
SECS got a high seed there as number twelve Oklahoma
or dare I say, twelfth seeded Oklahoma will play against

(06:14):
four seeded Vanderbilt today, then game the night in the
night games yesterday was seventh seeded Old Miss beating ten
seed in Florida three to one. The seventh seeded Rebels advance.
They will face second seed at Arkansas on Friday at
four o'clock. It'll be Ole Miss in Arkansas. Now for

(06:37):
the night cap. For a second consecutive day, things got
moved forward at the SEC Tournament for Texas A and M.
They were scheduled to play Mississippi State on Tuesday. That
game ended up taking place as the first game on Wednesday.

(06:57):
Same situation today as they were supposed to play Auburn
last night. That game got moved to this morning, and
that game has concluded with Texas A and M taking
down Auburn. Auburn the sixth seed, A and M the
fourteen seed three to two. So A fourteen and A

(07:22):
twelve in the quarterfinals at the SEC, A fourteen and
A sixteen in the quarterfinals at the ACC tournament. So
some wild play. When you talk about the local conference
championships and the local conference tournaments again, I get it.
There are other conference tournaments certainly going on, and I'm

(07:45):
sure we could get into the minutia of all of
those and how they're all shaken out. But you know,
really here on the show, the shakespare southwayan I hope
you'll grant me a little leeway to deliver, in large part,
in large part to deliver just simply the teams that

(08:05):
are most closely geographically speaking to the majority of you,
the majority of you, and quite frankly, in college baseball,
can we be frank about this. Cover your ears Big
twelve and Big Ten fans. I mean, real baseball is
played in the SEC and the ACC. I mean that's

(08:26):
where the top teams are in the sport. I mean
there's a little outlier here or there from the Big
twelve or the Big Ten, but for the most part,
you're talking about the top teams in the country playing
in these two leagues. So that's the way everything sits
currently as we continue on towards regional play next weekend

(08:52):
across the country. Now for Clemson coming up today at
seven o'clock up in Durham at Durham Bulls Athletic Park,
the Tigers and the wolf Pack will be facing off
Drew Titsworth, the rioting gonna be on the mound for Clemson.
Lefty Dominic Fritton gonna be on the bump for the

(09:13):
wolf Pack. So you can watch that game on the
ACC network again at seven o'clock and then don't forget
tonight Clemson Tiger Softball will be taking place at Texas
on ESPN two, again a little late night affair. The
good news is you don't have to stay up well.
I mean, the game could go to extra innings obviously,

(09:34):
but you likely will not have to stay up past
eleven because these baseball are shuman. These softball games move
at the pace in which I really wish baseball would move.
But either way, that's what's going on there all right now.
The hot topic today in the world of sports, and

(09:56):
we could talk with Tim Burray about this in our
number two, but the hot topic today in the world
of sports are the changes that have been made to
the college football playoff seating. And this is something that
we talked about maybe a week or so ago, the
potential there were conversations out there about making a change

(10:18):
to move away from the top four conference champions, receiving
a buy in the college football playoff, and again we
only had the playoff, the twelve team playoff one time,
but felt compelled, or at least the College Football Playoff

(10:45):
Committee felt compelled to make a change to try to
I don't think the right word is level the playing field,
but to make sure that you justified the best seasons
being at the top. Now, my belief is this for

(11:08):
the most part, Okay, and I really I tried to
think about this today when this news came out. And
maybe there's a scenario in which this is the case,
because some people will say, man, how are you changing
it up like that? Well, everybody, I think, will agree

(11:31):
that the number one seed, whoever that is, be it Clemson, Alabama, Oregon,
it doesn't matter. Can we all just agree right off
the hoof that the number one team in the country
is also there gonna be the conference champion of a

(11:54):
league unless it's not more name, right, but we can
all agree with that that the number one team in
the country would be a conference champion, which means that
seed was already going to be a conference champion and

(12:14):
the number one team, So you're not really changing it
for four Now, I could buy into this that the
number two team is not a conference champion. But it's
kind of hard to imagine that that's the case, because
in most scenarios, one would believe if a team had

(12:34):
been that good to be number two late in the
season and not be named Notre Dame, that the number
two team going into the conference championship weekends would be
playing and if they win, then they would be a
conference champion. And if they lose, maybe they were playing
against the number one seed or the number one team.

(12:55):
But if you lose as the two, you're not gonna
be number two when the college football playoff ranked kings
come around, Like, I just don't think that's how this works.
Even if the team that's now number two had entered
the championship game as the number one team in the country,
I mean, unless it's just a late field goal, the

(13:15):
odds are that number one in the country and number
two in the country are probably conference champions three and
fours where you might fall into. Okay, here's a team
that wasn't the conference champion. This is a team that
was second in their division, didn't get a chance to
play in a conference championship game. YadA, YadA, YadA, So

(13:37):
it's not quite as big of a shift as you
might imagine. Now, could it impact Clemson? Certainly, any team
that might be good enough to win their league but
not ranked in the top four will be impacted by this.

(13:59):
But does that mean it's a direct negative. Not really.
As a matter of fact, I might could argue for
the viewership of the fans of the long haul even
though all of those top four teams this past year
did not win a game. You know, one, two, three,
and four in this twelve team model are zero to

(14:19):
four at this point. But I think it's fair to
say that the belief amongst most people who would you know,
be in that room to have that discussion, and with
your knowledge of just a playoff in a bracket, it

(14:43):
makes more sense that the actual first, second, and third
place teams are indeed placed in ass first, second, and third, first, second, third,
and fourth seeds in the College Football Playoff. The release
from the College Fotball Playoff Committee noted that today the

(15:09):
ten FBS Conference Commissioners, the Director the Director of Athletics
at the University of Notre Dame voted unanimously to modify
the seating and by policies of the twelve team playoff
for this coming year. The new polse will guarantee that
the five highest ranked conference champions will have a place

(15:31):
in the playoffs, but will no longer include a buy
for the four highest ranked conference champions. The twelve team
bracket will now be seated directly based on the final
rankings of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee, with the
four highest ranked teams receiving a first round by If

(15:53):
one or more of the five highest ranked conference champions
are ranked outside of the top twelve, that team or
teams would move up to the twelve and eleven seed
based on the number of conference champions outside of the
top twelve. So that's how the College Football Playoff Committee's

(16:15):
changes will be made, or what will be done now
to get a gander or an idea of how it
would have impacted things, and again I don't necessarily expect
that you recall everything about last year's College Football Playoff,
but number one, two, three, and four would receive buys

(16:36):
a year ago. Oregon would be the number one seed,
Georgia would have been the number two seed, Texas would
have been the number three seed, and Penn State would
have been the number four seed. Those teams would have
earned the Buys. The playing games would have been as follows.
Number twelve Clemson would have played at number five Notre Dame.

(17:00):
Number eleven Arizona State would have played at number six
Ohio State. So Clemson and Arizona State where conference champions
ranked outside of the top twelve. Clemson was behind Arizona State,
meaning the Tigers would have received the last seed to
get into the College Football Playoff and Arizona State would
have received the next two last seed. So again it

(17:22):
would have been number twelve seed to Clemson at Notre
Dame and number eleven seeded Arizona State at number six
seeded Ohio State. Then you had number ten seeded SMU
at number seven Tennessee, and then number nine Boise State

(17:44):
at number eight Indiana. So that's the way it would
have looked. And if you talk about those brackets and
those pairings, here's how that would have turned out. So
Clemson as the would have been the number twelve seed

(18:10):
traveling to Notre Dame, and the winner of that game
would have played Penn State in a bowl game. Instead,
this year, it was Clemson as the twelve seed at
fifth seed at Texas, the winner playing Arizona State now
Arizona State would have been the eleven taking on Ohio
State the sixth seed. The winner of that matchup in

(18:35):
this scenario would be paired with Texas as the three seed.
Then you've got ten seeded SMU at seventh seed at Tennessee.
The winner of that would have played against number two Georgia.
And then the final pairing again would have been number

(19:00):
nine Boise State at number eight Indiana, and that nine
to eight game would have matched up against Oregon. So again,
a little bit of change, right, Even in the scenario
that I just presented, the conference champion of the Big Ten,
Oregon was one. Georgia, the conference champion of the SEC

(19:22):
ended up being two. Like, those things didn't change just
because we're switching the way we're stacking it up. Texas
would have been the three seed and Penn State would
have been the four seed. So it's an interesting change,

(19:44):
but it's not like this brand new, fundamental one. We'll
continue to kind of touch on some of my thoughts
on why the College Football Playoff Committee made this move
so quickly. When we get back right here on the
show that Shakes the south Land, Lawton Swan with you
on a Thursday afternoon Clemson Sports Talk. So again we
mentioned before the break the COTGE Football Playoff Comittee going

(20:06):
to a straight seeding model this fall, rewarding the selection
could be his top four seeds with first round bys. Now,
I think the big question would have been, would we
have crossed this bridge if perhaps Clemson had not lost

(20:26):
to South Carolina at the end of the season, Because
if Clemson doesn't lose to South Carolina, the Tigers are
one of the top four seeds, meaning Boise States kind
of the team that would have likely been on the outside,
and maybe they would have still been four, but ahead
of Arizona State in that scenario. But either way, I

(20:47):
think what happened was in year one, a group of
five member pulled the sneaky sneaky and slid into one
of the top four seeds. And so I think the
larger conferences, I think the Power four probably felt like

(21:12):
in most years those four spots were gonna end up
in the hands of Power four champions, and maybe you thought, well,
we might be a power for a champion, but we're
number eight. We're just on the outside. But for the
totality of the Power four, it was probably better to

(21:33):
try to keep that rule in just so that you
could get you know, teams outside of the top four
as top four teams. Until year one, it turns out, no,
you couldn't. Two of the top four teams, or excuse me,
two of the championship winners in the Power four ended

(21:55):
up outside of the number and ultimately end up yielding
one of those spots away to a group of five
member because Clemson and Arizona State were both behind Boise
State and the rankings, thus Boise State being the three
seed and not the four seed behind Arizona State, etc.

(22:18):
I mean, they were higher ranked than both Clemson and
Arizona State. But now if you flip it to this
a straight seeding model, the odds that Boise State or
another group of five member slides into the top four

(22:41):
spot becomes less. And what this preserves for the larger
teams the Power four teams is a larger percentage chance
that the top four teams are all going to be
from Power four conferences. Is it possible that the top

(23:05):
four are all from the SEC. Yeah, it's possible, but
it's not likely. Now, if you said, swanna, do you
think there'll be two SEC teams in yeah, I would.
I'd buy that that at least two could get in,
and occasionally maybe you might have three. But for the

(23:27):
most part, I think the straight seating format is going
to be better for everyone now Notre Dame, who is
an independent with this new format. This is one change
though that I'm kind of surprised everybody went for. Notre
Dame is eligible to earn a first round by if

(23:50):
they're ranked in the top four. Now, why I don't
like that is because Notre Dame plays less game than
everybody else, and because they don't have a championship game,
and part of the thought process on having a bit
of a consequence for them to make them play an
opening round game was to kind of introduce that first

(24:12):
round game as that extra game that evens things out
if Notre Dame wins and gets to the second round.
The problem is that if you think about logistically, you've
expanded the playoffs so much that you do have some
teams in. They didn't play in the conference championship game anyway,

(24:35):
so you're penalizing you're penalizing Notre Dame, and you're allowing
other teams who didn't play in the conference championship game
take say Tennessee last year as an example. You're allowing

(24:58):
those teams to get an opportunity to advance and not
being able to reward Notre Dame. So I think with
the reflections on all the reasons that this is happening,
one of them now is that they're not stressed so much,

(25:19):
and may be stressed in the right word, but they're
not as concerned about the equity of how many games
teams play or the equality of that. You know, it's
not a big deal. One game in the mindseye of
the College Football Playoff Committee apparently is not a big
enough reason to keep. If Notre Dame's number one, there's

(25:42):
no reason for them to play at number five. The
other problem that that presents is, even though it does
make Notre Dame play another game, it really makes that
match up a little bit unfair for the twelve seed,
quite frankly, because in some respects you're making the twelve
seed play the number one team, and that's not who
the twelve seeds should be playing. The twelve seeds should
not play the one seed until the semi finals if

(26:05):
they can earn their way there from the back end
of the bracket. So you know, I think honestly a
lot of that came into it. The group also is
expected to agree on a financial component. There's a four
million dollar payout that comes with advancing to a quarterfinal,
in addition to a four million dollars the four million

(26:26):
dollars you get for reaching the playoff, for a total
of eight million earned by a team's respective conference. Under
these agreements, the four highest ranked conference champions are still
expected to earn eight million they would have under the
previous model. Now, last year, the Mountain West Conference champion
Boise State and the Big Twelve Conference champion Arizona State

(26:50):
earned those top four spots in the first round. Bys
is two of the highest four ranked conference champions. The
Broncos were ranked number nine and seeded number three and twelfth.
Three years in the state or the fourth seed and
final by had a street seating might have been in
place last year's I know that Oregon would have been one,
Georgia two, Texas three, and Penn State four. I think

(27:10):
just from the balance of what that does to your tournament,
because you've got the more correct seeds playing each other,
probably is gonna give you more competitive balance in this
new fangled college football Playoff that'll be around the beginning
this coming season. Quick break, I'll update you about some
drama in Madison Square Garden last night. Right after this,

(27:33):
Lawton swanm with you on a Thursday again. If you're
up in Tigertown, don't forget to check out our friends
over at Alumni Hall on the corner of Campus on
College Avenue, right there in downtown Clymps. It's Alumni Hall.
You know your officially licensed Clemson apparel, hats, T shirts,
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(27:55):
about their Alumni Hall Rewards Pass program while you are
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It's Alumni Hall online in alumni haul dot com. And
if you go to their website through our site, through
the links you find over there, we'll get a little
kickback from them if you do some business shopping online

(28:16):
through the cookies. That's what those cookies are that you
go on your website. All right, So talk about the
NBA last night. The New York Knicks admitted after the
game they're one thirty eight one thirty five overtime loss
to the Indiana Pacers that they may be let off

(28:36):
the gas a little bit. Let's say this Tyrese Halliburton's
choke where he went Reggie Miller against the Knicks in
the final moments of that game. He hits a shot
that it's crazy. I can't remember if it was a three.

(28:58):
Somebody took a shot. Anyway, Halliburton ends up with the
ball and instead of taking what appeared like he had
maybe a player under the basket. He could have passed
the ball and gotten a tying layup, maybe even a dunk,
Halliburton inexplicably, inexplicably dribbled out back towards the three point arc,

(29:23):
spun and turned and threw up a crazy shot, bounced
off the back iron straight up in the air about
I don't know, fifteen feet, and then back down through
the rim for what appeared to be the game winning shot.
Only his toe was on the line, but after hitting it,

(29:44):
Halliburton hit the legendary Reggie Miller choke gesture towards the
New York fans. The Pacers trailed New York by fourteen
points with two point fifty one remaining in regulation. They
we were down fourteen, and as the announcer said during
the game, it's not like they went on a fourteen

(30:07):
to oh run. I mean the Knicks kept scoring in
that final two fifty one. They outscored him twenty to
six in that stretch to tie the game, and then
Indiana would win in overtime one thirty eight, one thirty five.
Halliburton again thought he had won the game in regulation
replay show then it was a two, and the New

(30:29):
York Knicks stumble in Game one, and now Indiana has
stolen the home court advantage. They have certainly stolen the
momentum the series with the way that game was starting out.
And I'll be intrigued to see how the New York

(30:52):
Knicks recover from this, because when you watch that game
play out, you know down the stretch which New York,
when pressured, was really struggling. As a matter of fact,
Jalen Brunson had to play where he called the ball
off an inbounds and nearly turned it over in the
waning moments, and then when he did have the ball

(31:13):
in his hands at the end of the game, Brunson
and Carl Anthony Towns both missed three point shots that
would have, I believe, tied the game in the waning moments.
But ultimately Indiana looks more athletic to me, they look longer.
Karl Anthony Towns had a couple of moments in that

(31:33):
game where he looked to you know, kind of banged
up a little bit, and he's a heck of a ballplayer.
Was a great pick up for them, but he kind
of reminds me a little bit of Joel Embiid in
the sense of I don't get like mega elite athleticism
from him. I get, you know, really good ballplayer, make

(31:58):
no mistake about it, or ballplayer. But in this game
where it is today with a three point shot being
what it is, and he could certainly shoot it. I mean,
this guy is fantastic. Twenty four points, twelve rebounds, nearly
thirteen rebounds a game. He's a walking double double. Was
the number One pick ten years ago, so he's now

(32:20):
a veteran. But he doesn't give off that supreme athletic vibe,
you know, and if he misses a shot or you know,
the pace of play at times can can seem to
be a little bit much, and I don't want to
diminish his you know, success. I mean, the dude had

(32:40):
thirty five points last night, twelve rebounds. But if you
just watch him, it feels like the game is being
played at a different speed around him, and and and
part of that's because I think he's a big guy,
and he's able to be a little you know, maybe
silky smooth with some of his play, and he's really

(33:03):
pretty decent at shooting the ball from beyond the art.
But man, as that game started to go into overtime
and in the late stages, you kind of start to
feel like some players, as good as they are, like that,
I hate to say it, but kind of feel like
they've become a little bit of a liability, a little

(33:24):
bit of a liability, not for the entirety of the game,
right Like, I think you want those players in the
game in huge stretches because of how good they are,
but I think you also as a fan recognize that
they become moments in games where it might be best

(33:46):
to have a guy like that on the bench because
you need a little more athleticism to try to match
up in terms of guarding teams that go a little
bit smaller. Now tonight, at eight thirty on ESPN, Oklahoma
City looks go up two games to one over the
Minnesota Timberwolves. And you know, when you think about Okac,

(34:09):
I think the thing that is so impressive is how
good they were the entire season. But then you also
take into account that they got pushed to the brink
by the Denver Nuggets, and I think, if there's any
revelation and I'm starting to, you know, thinking about Jokic

(34:34):
and when I was just saying about Karl Anthony Towns like,
I don't really get that vibe from Jokic that you
necessarily have to get him out of the game. But
that's kind of the you know, that's kind of the
thing that teams try to do now with these big guys.
If you're an impactful big guy, they really try to
maneuver things to the point of where it's uncomfortable to

(34:56):
keep you on the court. But anyhow, for Oka, see
big game coming up to night on the ESPN eight
thirty is they take on Minnesota in game two. All right,
quick break, we'll put a bow on our number one.
Final segment of our number one And I got a
little griping to do. And here's what my gripe is

(35:16):
so for seventeen eighteen years, however long I've lived in
my house for that amount of time, our trash and
recycling has come on the same day. Now that day

(35:38):
was Wednesday, and it was every other week recycling went out.
But on Wednesday, even if you got confused and you
put out your recycling bin on the same day, it

(35:59):
wasn't like a big deal because everybody else has bends out.
And I have an HOA in the neighborhood, and the
course hoa's got some rules and things they don't want
you to, you know, want to make sure you got
everything squared away, and one of them is not having
a trash ben sitting out by the side of the
road a day or two after the trash comes. But

(36:19):
recently we got a new company, and I think I
am going to post this on my Facebook because I
feel I feel like I'm being messed with a little
bit because now our trash comes on one day and

(36:44):
our recycling comes on another day every other week, which
I'm just gonna tell you if the rest of you okay,
you could text me. I kind of want to know.
Please text me three four five zero zero eighty six.
Take a moment, podcast listeners, everybody, I just have to know,

(37:08):
do you do you live in a world where you're
recycling in your trash come on different days? Because like
I am far and away from being like an OCD
kind of person, like mister Monk, I love the show.
That's totally not me, but I have if this is

(37:29):
how the rest of the world has lived for the
past sixteen eighteen years, Like, if this is what it's
like for most of the world with their recycling being
in their trash being on opposite days and one being
only every other week, no wonder As a society, we've

(37:52):
got people walking around with all types of stress in issues.
Why this should be a simple This should be across
the board. I don't care if you live in a
town as small as Elco, South Carolina, or as big
as New York City. Trash and recycling globally, globally should

(38:21):
be on the same day. I feel like a psychopath
right now trying to figure out when I put my
trash out and when I put my recycling bin out,
and did we put the recycling bin out last week
or did we not? And do we just place it
out by the road, and oh, buddy, I dare the

(38:41):
hoa to ever drop some dime on me or any
of my neighbors about a ben being out by the
road on the wrong day. I don't have a calendar
for that. It was easy previously, it was real easy.

(39:06):
Not anymore. You're like a crazy man trying to keep
up with this. What day is it on? I don't know, man,
that's my that's my gripe of the week right there.
In any company, I think my trash and my recycling
or picked up by the same company. I at this point,

(39:31):
you know what, I would almost just assume tell you
I don't want to do recycling anymore, because I've heard
that a lot of the recycling stuff doesn't get recycled anyway.
I almost just want to say, nope, I want to
throw all those Amazon boxes straight in the trash. Swanny.
Do your recycling and trash come on the same day?
Not in my neighborhood. But I don't care. I'm only

(39:53):
putting out for trash. Matter of fact, I'm using my
recycling can as a trash can. I'm telling recycling man
to dump both. I just I can't it is, y'all.
I'm telling you coming a little bit unglued about this one.
This has got me in a tizzy. It's throwing us

(40:13):
off for a loop. If the rest of you have
lived like this for years, help, I don't even think
it would be all that bad if it was like
trash on Monday, recycling on Tuesday. Now, the problem with
that is, and this is the other thing. Listen up
recycling in trash companies. Here's the other thing. Even if

(40:33):
you do it, do it like that where it's a
little more convenient for people in terms of the date.
So you roll the you know, when you roll your
recycling bin out for Tuesday, you take your Monday empty
trash bin back right, But then that just means that
everybody's house has a been sitting in front of it
two days out of the week. Can we not? I

(40:57):
think I might? You know what, summer's here for me?
Tomorrow is officially the last day, the last day of
the school year for me at the day job. I
may become okay. I know they call like, when women

(41:17):
get fired up like this, they call mcaren. I think
they say, when men get fired up like this, they
call them m ckin. I might go all ken on
this company. I might call him every day this summer.
I got nothing else to do. I'll get my cup
of coffee, I'll go out sell on the front porch.
I'll make a phone call to whatever recycling you know,
trash collection service we use in our neighborhood. And I

(41:38):
wanna say every day Ken Swan is gonna call and say,
could we not get this done on the same day,
for simplicity's sake, for the sake of humanity, could we
not just roll our trash and are recycling out to
the curb on the same day, please? Because this new

(42:03):
fangled one day for one, one day for the other.
That's for the birds. That's absurdity, all right, timber what's
not absurdity? Hall of Famer timber Ray joins us around
the bin keep it locked each time, Lord Clipson sports
Talk with Luwton Swanny it is our number two. That's

(43:03):
Drivetime Rider. On the show The Shakespeare south Land, Clempson
Sports talt lod S Wine with You. Timber Ray joins
the program. Hall of Fame, Clemson Hall of Famer Timberrey
joins us right around the bend and again the show
The shakesare Southlane brought you in part by our good
friends over at METS Plumbing seven three two drip, drip,
drip drip. You know the jingle seven three to two drip.

(43:24):
That's mets Plumbing mets Plumbing dot com. All right, Tim
Beray on the line, Tim, welcome in.

Speaker 2 (43:31):
Are we doing good?

Speaker 1 (43:33):
I tell you it's a busy time of the year.
I don't know what spring sports were like when you
arrived at Clipson in nineteen seventy eight, but man spring
sports at Climpson at twenty twenty five. It keeps guys
like you and me hopping.

Speaker 2 (43:48):
Well. Actually, we were really good. And you know, the
Knoxville Journal used to do in all Sports poll. You know,
it was the answer to what we have with the
serial Director's Cup. Didn't take into account as many sports.
It was only for men's sports. Of course, we didn't
have NCAA women's sports in nineteen seventy eight. It was

(44:08):
aiiw SO. But yeah, I mean we were good in
spring sports and we had a lot going on. I
remember in seventy nine eighty. Of course, we went to
the College World Series. We went to the final eight
of the NCUBA Tennis tournament. We were twelve at the
NCUBA Golf tournament. So we had a lot going on,

(44:30):
you know, way back then too.

Speaker 1 (44:33):
Again, you can follow Tim Bray on Twitter at tim
Bray and he is a recent inductee into the Clemson
Athletic Hall of Fame and he joins us here on
Thursdays and not only talk about Clemson, but everything going
on in the world of sports. And of course, tonight,
Tim at seven o'clock, the Clemson Tiger baseball team will
face off against NC State up at Durham Bulls the

(44:54):
Durham Bulls Athletic Center. And I will say this, I
think the movie Durham has added some level of nostalgia
almost to anytime the ACC Tournament's played up there, you
can't help but look out and see the bull out
in the outfield and think about that movie. And I
think the history that that movie kind of brings to
maybe fans that are outside of the sports world, so

(45:18):
to speak, in terms of you know, watching Clemson or
whoever at the tournament, you still kind of take a
gander at that big bull out in left field.

Speaker 2 (45:26):
Oh yeah, No, it makes you think about the movie
and it you know, they Durham Bulls build themselves as
the most famous minor league baseball franchise, And it probably
is because of that that movie, and it certainly did
a lot for Durham and that and that area. And

(45:47):
you're right, you see this game in the stadium, can't
help but think about that movie. Now.

Speaker 1 (45:52):
The Clemson Tigers had a big turnaround last weekend, obviously
the no hitter that they had on Thursday and then
going on through the weekend finishing up a three game
sweep against pitt moving up as a matter of fact,
and some of the projections tim they went from outside
of being a potential regional host to with that work

(46:12):
this past weekend, being placed as one of the teams
that might end up hosting. Certainly their resume up until
a few weeks ago looked like one that was going
to be hosting. But then yesterday they go to the
ACC Tournament, they take care of business in their first
opportunity there, and then now with an even bigger chance
tonight with Drew Titsworth on the mound for Clemson going

(46:34):
up against NC State. I mean, what have you seen
over the past week or so from this baseball team
that maybe makes you feel better about their circumstances than
perhaps you did. You know, when we talked that, you
know last week.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
Well, I kind of would say everything. And if you
said to me going into the Pittsburgh series, what's wrong
with the Clemson baseball team, I'd have said, well, kind
of everything right now. I mean, they weren't hitting, the
pitch wasn't very good, the fielding was off. We have
the one game with five errors. But you know, that's
the one beautiful thing about baseball. You play so many games,

(47:09):
you have opportunities to, you know, to solve the problem.
In college football, if if Clemson had played really poorly
in the eleventh and twelve games of the regular season,
you know, you you know, you wouldn't have the opportunities
as much to get it back. But baseball, it is
a different story. You play so many games, and they've

(47:31):
had that opportunity, and we've we've seen other guys step up,
like Jack Brighton was it was the eight for ten
in the in the Fitchburgh series, including eight consecutive hits.
I forgot to ask Brian Hennessy what the record is
for consecutive hits and consecutive at bats. That's got to
be certainly be up there at eight. And so he's

(47:53):
he's been playing very well, and of course Cam has
been doing great as a as a leadoff hitter, and
you know, begetting some more power from other areas that
down the line up, and the piging has been, you know,
much better. So but tonight it'll be a big test
because this is an NC State team that swept Clemson

(48:14):
during their regular season, and that was coming off Clemson
that in his absolute zenith, I think we're ranked two
in the country going into that NC State A series
and they swept us.

Speaker 1 (48:26):
Tim Bray with us here on the program today, So Tim,
I know, in Clemson's history, like if I think about
Chris Benson or Billy Kotch, those guys, they were sort
of dominant performers on the mound. Aiden Kannock is unique
to me when I watch him because he just he
just feels sewing control and in command. And I don't

(48:49):
want to put any big names on him, right I
always feel like it's unfair when we make comparisons. But
I was talking about him yesterday on the program, and
you know, he reminds me a lot of Greg And
I don't say that in the sense of I think
he's as good as Greg Maddicks, but just sort of
in his mannerisms and the way he kind of attacks
the opponents. And you know, it's not just about blowing

(49:13):
a guy, you know, blowing the fastball by somebody, right,
It's a lot of control setting things up, you know.
I'm just so impressed with him. I mean, I'm not
gonna ask you where he ranks among the great Clemson pitchers,
but am I completely out of bounds by saying that
there are some similarities to what you witnessed watching Greg
Maddocks pitch when he was with the Braves versus kind

(49:34):
of what you see from Aiden Cannot with the job
that he does for Clemson.

Speaker 2 (49:40):
Yeah, I mean I can see. But you know, part
of that comparison in the strikeout to walk ratio. Maddox
was so outstanding when he when it came to not
walking people have a great control. Cannot has pretty much,
you know, been that way. I can't tell you the
exact numbers that he's got, but he's certainly in the
three to one, four to one range when it comes

(50:02):
to strike us up, uh to walk. So he's got
a lot of different pitches. His change up has been
a big difference this year I think for him which
seems to be a pitch that a lot of college
hitters to have trouble with. So, you know, for the
most part, with the exception of a couple of starts
here in the in the last quarter of the season,

(50:25):
he's been very consistent getting you off to a good
start on Friday Night. Uh, interesting part, I said, getting
off to a good start, But that has been a
little bit of a bugable with him. He seems to
get touched If he's gonna get touched up, he gets
touched up in the first or second innings, And of
course that game when the Tigers had a no hitter
against Pittsburgh, he didn't get touched up and the Tigers

(50:48):
recorded and a no hitter. The other night, of course,
it was the home run in the in the very
first inning, and then Virginia detective to score the rest
of the game. So I'd love to find out what
his era is in the first two innings versus the
last five then he pitches. I think it's dramatically different.

(51:10):
But Brian marg he's the first team all a SEC
pitcher and he certainly deserves it.

Speaker 1 (51:15):
Yeah, and again, when you bring out a name like
Greg Maddox, I feel compelled to say to everyone, I'm
not saying he is Greg Maddox. I'm saying I just
see a lot of similarities in the way he goes
after the game. Again, Tim Ray with us here on
the program, all right, Tim, shifting gears. Tonight. It'll be
a huge night for John Ripman and the softball program
as they are in the super Regionals for the third

(51:38):
time in four years. They've been to some monster superregionals before.
I mean, you couldn't ask for maybe a better chance
to be battle tested, then going out the Stillwater a
few years ago, and then going to Norman, Oklahoma to
face the Oklahoma Sooners who have won four consecutive softball
championships now looking for a fifth. But now they'll go
out to Austin, Texas. You were just there for the

(52:00):
Clemson football game back in December, Tim, what are your
thoughts on John Ritman's program. It's a young group, certainly scrappy,
but man today feels like I said this earlier, I mean,
I think this is probably the biggest game they've had
outside of Game two out in Norman, because if they
win tonight, I mean, you're really in a good spot

(52:21):
for maybe getting to the college the Women's College World Series.

Speaker 2 (52:24):
Yeah, you're right. I mean, you Philly have a better
you know cha. I mean we played so well against
Oklahoma and that in that Super Regional. I remember watching
it on television, and of course we had Valerie Cagele,
who was, you know, a terrific star National Player of
the Year. And this, of course this team is much
more balanced but been so effective. Right, I believe we've

(52:47):
won eighteen out of nineteen here down down the stretch
of the season. So yeah, I'm sure Dad was already
talked to John about getting revamed for Texas eliminating this
of the college football playoff. I'm sure that conversation is
uh has taken place, and and that John knowses football,

(53:10):
so I'm sure that he's well well aware of all that,
and we'll have the The Tiger's ready to go. But
they're playing with great confidence, and they're playing well in
all you know, areas of the game, and especially the
two pitchers have have have done so well well.

Speaker 1 (53:27):
And you know, obviously I think too, we're in this
era where the transfer portal, so like I think, if
you if you want to look at it as it's
a huge negative you can. But then I think there's
also some sports on campus, like softball where a guy

(53:48):
like John Ritman's profile in this the amount of success
that he's had in just six short seasons, and one
of those being that COVID year, right, that kind of
vanished from every from existence. But when you think about that, Tim,
I feel like somebody like John Ritman and his program
can really benefit from the portal, maybe more than the norm, right,

(54:10):
because there was always this curve that existed for new programs,
like it's going to take you a while to get
off the ground. But when you have early success the
way Ritman has and you're still doing well recruiting, you
can still go out now and you can really bring
in some game changers, and you know, they don't always
have to come from high profile universities either. But I

(54:32):
think that's been a big advantage for him at this point.
Not that he's overly used the portal, but I think
that it exists in the sense that it does where
players can come in and play. I think that's a
big deal for a coach that's having a lot of success.

Speaker 2 (54:44):
Well, I kind of have the opposite to I don't
know if it's the opposite reaction to what you just said.
But I look at this team with what do we
start five reischmen or as five or six freshmen has
been huge contributors, and I you know, look at them
as and they're gonna stick around. And it's one of
the programs that Clemson fans are going to fall in

(55:05):
love with because you're gonna get to know these girls.
They're they're they're. I don't think they're gonna transfer. There's
not gonna be great amounts of you know, you see
that some picture here, and they are getting a blood
bunch of money to go to Texas DEC or Texas
A and M or whatever. But I think this core
group of freshmen that we have is gonna stick around

(55:25):
and and people are gonna get used to following them
like we used to with football players and basketball players
before there was a lot of transfer going on. So
I just think this is one this is a program
that Clemson fans are gonna get more and more involved
with because the girls are gonna stick around, I believe,
And you're gonna have four year players like Valerie Cagele

(55:47):
and and and some others that we saw, and so
I think that that John's really gonna benefit by this,
and I think the enthusiasm for this program is going
to do nothing but grow because we have so many
freshmen and their contributors to this.

Speaker 1 (56:00):
Yeah. Sure, I do not mean that players would potentially leave.
I guess what I'm kind of getting at is with
the portal, what it allows you to do as a
coach is if you maybe don't win on the recruiting
trail and you're building a program, you can go fill
in a piece, right, like you can go get a
res basinger when you need a picture, even if just
for one year, you can bring her in and kind

(56:22):
of plug gaps. I guess that you probably couldn't have
done in the past because that player would have had
the city year.

Speaker 2 (56:30):
Well, yeah, if you're compared to the totally to the
purport uh that that area. Yeah, you're you're you're one
hundred percent right, And I'm sure he'll continue to you know,
to do that and then do uh if filled gaps
or kind of start to see dabble do that, We'll
see if for that and increases. But he's got he's
got to it. Three or three transfers. I think UH

(56:52):
and football are going to help right away.

Speaker 1 (56:55):
Yeah, yeah, no, I agree, And you and I have
talked a good bit already about how much love the
Clemson football team's getting during this offseason. Again, as Tim Beray,
go follow him on Twitter at tim Beray. We've got
him for about another four and a half minutes here
on a Thursday afternoon, and with that, Tim will shift
gears to college football because the College Football Playoff Committee

(57:17):
voted unanimously along with the ten conference commissioners and Notre
Dames Athletic Director, to go to a straight seating model
this season, meaning that the number one, two, three, four
teams will receive buys in the first round of the
College Football Playoff. We would have had a little different
playoff a year ago if that would have been the case.
As a matter of fact, Tim, I believe if that

(57:39):
was the case, if I remember right from our one,
Clypson would have gone to Notre Dame as the Fighting
Irish would have been the five seed. Clympson would have
been the twelve. But what are your thoughts? Notre Dame
now apparently can also get one of those top four seeds,
where previously the highest Notre Dame could be ranked is
number five. So pretty big changes coming to the college

(57:59):
football playoff this season.

Speaker 2 (58:01):
Yeah, that is a that is a big difference in one.
I didn't think what happened is quickly. Quite frankly, I
didn't think it would happen at all as long as
Notre Dame was not in the conference and they didn't
have to play a conference championship game. Now, of course
you're going to have teams that are going to get
the buys. I'm sure the logic behind this is, Okay,

(58:23):
if you have the top three teams uh in the
in the rankings are from the SEC, and one of
them is gonna be uh, You're gonna have to get
a buye uh is going to have a buy and
not playing the conference championship game. So since it's going
to that possibility is going to exist for everybody to

(58:45):
get a buy without playing in a conference championship game.
I guess to figure in and you know, Notre Dame,
you know, should should get that that boost, you know
also or get that buy now have to play uh
man that they first round game, so that part will
be interesting, uh, you know. One point out though, of
course Notre Dame really had that idea.

Speaker 3 (59:07):
Jack Schwarbrook was on the original committee of the when
they did this twelve team playoff, and he felt that
they they did have to play a first round game.

Speaker 2 (59:18):
And he and he probably figured as worked out last year,
that you know, it wasn't going to be all bad
to host the game at Notre Dame and and I
have that atmosphere and that home field advantage and make
a little bit of extra money by hosting a college
football playoffs.

Speaker 1 (59:35):
Well, and oddly enough, in the first rendition of the
college Football Playoff, those four teams that did get buys
oh for four a year ago. So kind of crazy, yeah,
kind of crazy how that ended up working now to
get Tim Bray with us here for a few more minutes. Uh.
From From that standpoint, though, Tim, I also think about this,
it doesn't it doesn't have as big of an impact

(59:55):
as some people might believe because the number one team
I think would always have been a conference champion anyway, right,
So it's not affecting the one spot and the number
two seed I would think ninety nine out of one
hundred times is also going to be a conference champ
and not a team that didn't make a conference championship game.
And just ended up number two. I think it's not

(01:00:18):
a huge shift. I think who will feel it or
maybe you know, like the Boise States who aren't likely
to be a top four. And I think that's probably
what brought this on maybe faster than anybody would have expected.
Was Boise State getting into that top four in year one.

Speaker 2 (01:00:36):
Well, yeah, there's no doubt about it. There was. Yeah,
there were some things that people didn't think about that
that happened that you know, got to buy and so
you know, I think that had every bit to you know,
what to do with it. And so it's going to
be interesting. I mean, are we going to have a
year when when there are three of the top four
from from one conference? That certainly could happen. You could

(01:00:59):
have three three teams from the same conference get buys. Uh,
So that that's it will be interesting how people look
look at that. But I think people are comfortable with
a if you're there, he deserves to be there. But
you know, if if teams are going to schedule stronger
non conference, you will you will have that situation where

(01:01:23):
teams are seated higher than teams who are conference their
conference champion. I mean, you know, let's just take you
know LSU beat Clemson at Clemson. That's going to give
them a lot of uh cash day, so to speak,
in the eyes of the of the committee, and so
at the end of the season, if for some reason
l s U, you know, lose is a you know,

(01:01:46):
a game or two in the in the SEC, you know,
they could still be seated higher than teams that are
in the SEC Championship.

Speaker 1 (01:01:53):
No, that's a good point. That's a great point. Great point.
Timber Ray on Twitter at Timbray go follow him TI.
Hopefully this time next week we're talking about John Ritman's
softball team heading to the Women's College World Series. We'll
talk to you real soon.

Speaker 2 (01:02:07):
That'd be great. Thanks Lawdin.

Speaker 1 (01:02:10):
There you go, Thank you, Tim. That's Timbrey here on
a Thursday afternoon, right quick break. We'll come back with
more right after this. Lawton Swan with you Clemson Sports
Talk again. That was Clemson Hall of Fame sid Timbray
before the break. All right, yesterday we heard a little
bit from Clemson head softball coach John Ritman, also Alex

(01:02:32):
Brown and Abby Vieira as they get ready for their
matchup against Texas coming up tonight at nine o'clock on
ESPN two. We did not get all of that to
you here on the program yesterday. They met with the
media during our show, actually during the beginning of the program,
but we'll jump into that conversation right now. I'll let
you finish up with that as we get your set

(01:02:54):
for another huge opportunity for a very young not in
the sense of the play years, yes they are young
instants of the players, but in the sense of you know,
just how many, how few seasons Clemson has played college softball.
But here's John Ritman, Alex Brown, and Abby Vieira as
they met with the media yesterday out in Austin, and

(01:03:17):
John Ritman was asked, what are some things he liked
about the regional and what are some things that he
didn't like about the way maybe Clemson played last weekend.

Speaker 4 (01:03:28):
Yeah, er, good question. I think anytime he went a regional,
you have to play really well. And I said this
earlier that our regional I think somebody said it had
the most parody of any regional in the country. And
and you know, we had to come back against USC
Upstate the one four game, and that's a lot of
pressure on the higher seed. The first game of the tournament,

(01:03:50):
and Upstate took the lead twice in that game, and
we had to come back, and then we blew it
open late, and then we had to win a pitching duel.
Lauren Boyd, you're from Northwestern, who's you know, been one
of the hottest pitchers in the country. Uh came in
and and you know, we we proved that we could
win a one to nothing game. I thought there was

(01:04:11):
a couple of times in that game where where we
hit the ball really hard and didn't have anything to
show for it. But to have the composure, uh, to
keep them off the board, we had to play really
good defense. And then to win it like we did
on a suicide squeeze was pretty special. And then in
the Kentucky game, you know, you're you're playing for a
regional championship. There's a lot online and that's the thing

(01:04:33):
I think where we really relied on our leadership, our
upper classmen, UH to set the tone for the day.
And I thought we played our best softball in that game.
For us. You know, we don't have strikeout pitchers, so
we're gonna have to play really good defense and we're
gonna have to get the timely hitting against good pitching
like Texas has this weekend. You know, it's if you

(01:04:54):
put a crooked up number up on the board, you're
you know, you'll take that. But we know we're gonna
have to keep their offense down and we're gonna have
to get some timely hits against their good pitching.

Speaker 1 (01:05:04):
John Ripman was also asked about Mary Collins and some
other players and just sort of what he learned from them,
or maybe not what he learned from them, but what
they have shown him that he maybe saw from them
during their time playing high school ball.

Speaker 4 (01:05:20):
Yeah. I mean two very talented players. And you know,
Macy's a pitcher, utility hitter, she can do a lot
of things. And uh, just a very talented player. I'm
very smart. Both of them very good student athletes and
and you know both of them are just winners. You know.
Marion was a late recruit for us. You know, she

(01:05:42):
was committed to Charlotte and there was a coaching change,
and last summer she opened up her recruitment and we've
had her, we had had her at camp before, and
so we jumped back in on that and and luckily
got her to come back to Clemson and so both
of them are just very very talented players, tremendous work ethics,
great teammates, and glad there are Clemson Tiger.

Speaker 1 (01:06:06):
And again John Ripman and the Tigers tonight ESPN two,
huge matchup against the Texas Longhorns. I mean, there's no
doubt about it. This is are Arguably, I would say,
outside of maybe that Game two, as I mentioned yesterday
out in Oklahoma when Clemson had the lead late against

(01:06:28):
the Sooners, I might argue this is the second biggest
regional or super regional. I guess I should say that
Clempson has ever had nine pm ESPN two. Clemson forty
seven to twelve, taking on sixty to Texas forty nine

(01:06:50):
and ten. A real chance here for Clemson to get
to the College World Series. The Women's College World Series
Game two for Friday at nine pm as well, that's
also on ESPN two and if necessary, on Saturday at
nine pm. So late nights or the Clemson Tigers softball

(01:07:11):
team the twenty twenty five ACC champions the eleventh overall seed.
It's the third time in clemson six year history that
the Tigers had a chance to host a postseason at
mcwater Stadium and now they advance to the super Regional round,
and they've outscored their opponents this season four twenty two

(01:07:35):
to one eighty three. They'll certainly need to keep that
up going up against a very good Texas team. The
Tigers previously advanced to the super Regional in twenty twelve
out in Oklahoma State, out in Stillwater, and then they
went against Oklahoma in Norman in twenty twenty three. So

(01:07:57):
twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three, and now five to
three out of four years Clemson's made it to the
super region around in women's softball, and so we'll see
how it all shakes out. I know this, I'll be
locked in watching and routin for these young ladies because

(01:08:18):
if they can win game one, they really sets up
in a good spot. Clemson takes a forty seven to
twelve record. As I mentioned in the game, the Tigers
are also riding a ten game winning streak heading into
this matchup against the Longhorns. Now, the Tigers are zero
to one all time against Texas as they faced them

(01:08:41):
back in twenty twenty two during opening weekend action. I
believe at one of those you know, preseason tournaments that
college softball tends to do. I think Clemson played what
nine maybe ten games in the preseason or not preseason,
but you know what I mean before the home opener.
Those those kind of early games typically down in like
Florida where the weather's kind of nice and it's still

(01:09:05):
maybe March. The Tigers enter the game bat in three
twenty eight with a five sixty two slugging percentage and
a four to twenty five on base average. And the
Clemson Tigers will kick off super regional play on EESPN
two tonight at nine o'clock as they face off with

(01:09:27):
the Texas Longhorns and another chance for John Ripman to
add a huge notch in his belt in just six
years here in Tiger Town. All right, with a quick break,
we'll come back with more On a Thursday afternoon. It
is the show The Shakespeare south Land Clemson Sports all
right here on Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred Lawton Swan,

(01:09:50):
Clemson's sports talk on a Thursday. Don't forget about our
friends up in Alumni Hall on the corner of campus
on College Avenue in downtown Clemson. It's a lum night hall.
Get all your Clemson officially licensed merchandise hats, T shirts,
Tailgate gear apparel, Clypson Students, faculty in all military get
ten percent off when shopping in store at Alumni Hall.

(01:10:10):
Don't forget to let them know we sent you. But
if you really want to let them know, go to
our website. Shop online through our site and we'll benefit
from that as we have a little partnership deal with
the folks over at Alumni Hall again, just the stones
throw away from historic Rigsfield right there, you know where
TDS and Subway is just across the street, Alumni Hall

(01:10:31):
on the corner our campus on College Avenue with downtown Clemson.
Check them out today. It's Alumni Hall, all right. So
at the ACC tournament, remember Cal the sixteenth seed. Just
two ball games there at the a SEC Tournament today.
Clemson coming up tonight against NC State. We talked about
that with timber Ray earlier. But Cal has had multiple

(01:10:54):
opportunities at the bases. Loaded a little bit ago, but
Georgia Tech continues to get out of a jam or
out of the jams the Yellow Jackets. At last check
for me, in the top of the sixth inning, we're
up four to one over the Cal Bears. Cal has
scored twenty six runs in two games at the ACC Tournament,

(01:11:15):
but right now Georgia Tech has them mixed up with
just one run and a three run advantage for the
Yellow Jackets. So gonna be gonna be a tough row
here for cal dhoe over the final you know, their
final three at bats of the ball game. Anyway, that's

(01:11:37):
to look at that again. Clemson and NC State tonight
at seven o'clock, and then you know, I think what
you hope. I think your best case scenario, if you're
a Clemson Tiger fan, your best case scenario is that
Clemson baseball begins to do a number on the wolf Pack.

(01:12:00):
And as Timbrey noted, it really was that series against
NC State when things began to kind of turn a
little bit sideways for Clemson. Because Clemson was swept fourteen
to four in Game one, eight to three in Game two,
and four to one in Game three, twenty six to eight.

(01:12:25):
The Tigers were out were outscored in their series against
the Wolfpack back in late April, well nearly one month
to the day. They have a chance to rewrite that script.
And if they can rewrite it, I think the best
case scenario for you would be that they are up
comfortably late in the game, so that you can dial

(01:12:49):
in and watch the Clemson softball game. Now, I'm gonna
tell you something, and I'm sure my dad's listing, but
if you watch these matchups via the ESPN app, right,
if you have the app, you have a Roku player
or whatever, you can actually watch both of them at

(01:13:10):
the same time. Now that's a new feature that ESPN
app is added. As a matter of fact, that ESPN
app will now allow you to watch four games at once,
which those of you that have YouTube TV, you'll say, yes,
one and that's the quad box. I know what that is.
Tis true, it is the quad box. But what it

(01:13:32):
allows that YouTube TV doesn't is ESPN will allow you
to pick multiple games, meaning you want to watch Clemson baseball,
Clemson softball, Wafford lacrosse, and sit Lit swimming or whatever

(01:13:52):
you can like. It's a great feature and I have
used it multiple times during this time of the year.
As Tim Brand and I were talking earlier, where the
sensual as they say over in England, is loaded, you
could tune in you want to see how things are

(01:14:15):
going for the South Carolina game Cocks. Do I need
to keep up with the game Cocks so that their
listeners to this show know what's going on.

Speaker 2 (01:14:22):
So you could continue to peek over the fence at
the best radio showing the nation.

Speaker 1 (01:14:27):
Yes I can, and occasionally I do, But I think
for Tiger fans, the best case scenario is that Clemson
is doing so well in baseball tonight that you feel
pretty comfortable turning the dial. Now, if Clemson can get

(01:14:47):
from Titsworth to Malstead in the bullpen, that's typically a
good night for them. And speaking of Mollsteed, senior right hander.
The senior right hander was named one of sixteen semi
final for the National Pitcher of the Year award presented
by the College Baseball Foundation. Mastead is second in the
nation in saves with fifteen, which is also tied for

(01:15:10):
a school record. He's two to zero on the season
with a two point one eightdra, allowing Punnus to bat
just two thirty six with fifty five strikeouts against just
six walks this season in forty one innings pitched, Mastead

(01:15:30):
in two years as a Tiger is six and one,
and his sixteen saves during his career are currently tied
for the sixth most in Clemson History. On February six,
he became a Weaver James Corgan Swafford Postgraduate Scholarship Award recipient,
and he was only one of thirty five a SC
student athletes and three acc baseball players to receive that award.

(01:15:55):
In twenty twenty five, Mastead became the first Tiger baseball
player to receive the act laid. He graduated earlier in
May wait for this, with a degree in physics. Good gracious.

(01:16:16):
Can you imagine going to school and coming out of
there with a physics degree? Well, pardon me, mister, perfect right, Yeah,
good gracious, A life a physics degree. Now, I don't

(01:16:38):
really know what you do with that after the fact.
I mean, I guess physics and baseball certainly go hand
in hand, and physics and pitching. I mean, I don't know.
I think if I, if I had a chance to
sit down with it, that might be question one. Could
you tell me how you feel your physics degree has

(01:16:58):
helped you with your with your pitching game and understanding
the nuances of what you're trying to do on the bump?
I don't know. I mean, for all I know, he's
become a wizard because of it all right, quick break,
We'll come back and we'll put a big old bow
on the Thursday edition of the show, The Shastast South
Plane keep it a lot right here on Fox Sports

(01:17:19):
Radio fourteen hundred and of course on the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 5 (01:17:24):
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?

Speaker 1 (01:17:44):
Always are the same. We win final segment on a Thursday. Again,

(01:18:41):
thanking to timber Ray for hanging out with us. He's
here almost every Thursday, I mean occasionally occasionally he's got golf.
Uh he works with NBC Sports, so every once in
a while, you know, he's out and about covering really
cool sporting events. But either way, always good to catch

(01:19:01):
up with him and get his insight into things, especially
given the fact that you know, there's so much historical
significance to it. Like when I asked him about you know,
Clemson's spring sports, and I mean I asked him about
seventy eight when he arrived at Clemson, and he's like,
we were eleventh in baseball. We were finished, you know,
in the final four of tennis. I'm like, how does

(01:19:23):
he like? How does he remember that stuff? Honestly, I
have no idea.

Speaker 2 (01:19:33):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:19:34):
One of the other things we've talked a lot about
the love that Clemson has gotten from the national media.
You know, the new college football Game is right around
the bind. That's going to be coming out before long.
And one of the things that continued to happen for
a lot of people a year ago was that after

(01:19:55):
after k Klubnick left Clemson, Christopher Vezena in the video
game would often win the Heisman Trophy, and Pro Football
Focus ranked Clemson's quarterback room as one of the top

(01:20:21):
quarterback rooms in the country in an article earlier this week,
according to Max Chadwick of Pro Football Focus, he's got
the Clemson Tigers as the fifth best quarterback room in
the country, now the top quarterback room in all of
the land. This might concern you, lsu. He says, the

(01:20:44):
Tigers have the top five quarterback in the country, have
a top five quarterback in the country, and a legitimate
Heisman candidate leading them in Garrett Nussmeyer. He threw for
the fifth most passing yards of the nation last year
four thousand and forty three, while tying for seventh in
big time throws. Behind him is Mississippi State transfer of

(01:21:04):
Michael Van Buren junior. That guy gotta get That guy's
gotta get into politics, right. SMU checks in at number two,
And again, when you think about SMU and Kevin Jennings
and how slippery that kid was a season ago. Now,
obviously Clemson did a pretty good job, especially in the

(01:21:25):
first half of kind of hemming him up, and Penn
State did a good job of hemming him up as well.
But the Tigers will also face SMU on I think
that's October the eighteenth. Maybe let me double check. Yeah,
October the eighteenth, Clemson in SMU. That game's at home.

(01:21:49):
But again, if you if you buy into that fact,
Clemson will face the top two quarterback rooms in the country.
Arizona State checks in at number three and Florida comes
in at four. Clemson again the fifth best quarterback room
according to Pro Football Focus, saying kay Klubnick is my

(01:22:09):
top returning quarterback in college football and was arguably the
most improved player in the nation. A year ago. He
tied for one hundred and seventh among FBS signal callers
in twenty twenty three with a sixty three point seven
passing grade and improved to fifth this past season with
an eighty seven point seven mark. Club Knicks eighty point
eight Pro Football Focus grade under pressure was also more

(01:22:31):
than five points higher than any other quarterback in the country.
Richard sophomore Christopher Vezina looks like the future of the
program and was a top ten quarterback from the twenty
twenty three recruiting class. Also in this top ten Miami
at six, Penn State seven, Auvern eight, Alabama n and
Ohio State checks in at number ten. The Texas Longhorns,

(01:22:55):
who opened their season at Ohio State, get an honorable
men there for one of the top quarterback rooms in
all of the land. So hard to believe, but the
college football season will be here soon, and even before
that again, the new College Football Playoff game will be

(01:23:16):
on shelves near you, which means that you'll get a
chance to go in and simulate these Clemson seasons. My
problem is I don't have an ext gen console. My
son has one. I haven't bought myself anything lately. Is

(01:23:36):
it time for Big Papa pump holler if you hear
me to go out and pick up a little next
gen console? Oo? Is it? OK? That is this a tax?

Speaker 2 (01:23:52):
Is this?

Speaker 1 (01:23:52):
Can I write this off of my taxes? It's for
the business. I gotta be able to send these games.
How else am I going to be able to tell
you about what happened in these games? May have to
talk about taxman over at the Hobbs groups. Hey, hypothetically,
if I bought this game, if I bought this console,

(01:24:16):
there's a business expense?

Speaker 2 (01:24:19):
Is it?

Speaker 1 (01:24:20):
What do you need it for? I gotta sim games
for the people? All Right, I'll tell you what. We'll
come back tomorrow. I'll talk to the taxman tonight, see
if I can do that or not. Anyway, we got
to get out of here, all right. Thank you for
being a part of the show. We'll talk on Friday.
Until then, it's always I'll take care now and go Tigers.