The "Path Back" Edition

We are halfway through the 2026 season, and Clemson sits at 3-3, but fans keep asking if there a path back into the ACC Championship Game conversation? We examine the steps required to support Clemson's cause.

Episode Transcript

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

(00:44):
Clemson Sports Talk has come back. Two drive time. Hell everybody,
Lawton Swan back in the saddle once again. It is
the show that shakes the south Land. Clemson Sports off
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

(01:07):
Radio fourteen hundred The Midland turned around the world on
the iHeart Radio application downloaded today, It's free. The website
put dot com on a dog onnet. That's Clempson Sports
dot dot com coming up an hour. Number two. Former
Clemson offensive coordinator Chad Morris, former head coach at Arkansas
and Old and SMU joins us. Of course, SMU rolling

(01:32):
into town this weekend ra at Lashly and the Mustangs
have never lost a regular season Atlantic Coast Conference game.
They venture into Death Valley to face the one ACC
team that has beaten them, your Clemson Tigers. Of course,
a year ago, Clemson took down SMU in the ACC

(01:56):
Championship game. Thinking back on that one man, Clemson expands
out to like a seventeen point lead, feeling pretty much
in control of that game, only to have SMU come
roaring back to the point of where Clemson needs dare

(02:18):
I say, a miracle kick return, and then, of course,
following that, a fifty six yard can you hear me?
Walk off by Nolan Hoosier that ended up being a
kick well worth it's weighting gold in the amount of

(02:43):
money that came into Clemson for a birth in the
College Football Playoff. Now, it didn't go well for the
Tigers in Texas. Although out of the teams that had
to go on the road for the first time with
the expanded playoff, give Clemson crew. They were the only
team of that group that led at any point in

(03:06):
their game. And you know, looking back at some of
the games over the recent recent memory might be a
better way to put it around Clemson. You know, that
was one where yeah, you didn't play your best, but
you didn't give up. You kept fighting. You know, you
stayed the course. Like it felt like this team was

(03:28):
lifeless against against Syracuse a couple of weeks ago in
Death Valley, it really felt like they were lifeless for
most of the first half, if not all, the first
half against Troy. I mean, it was kind of eerie.
How Clemson has played at home and especially given the

(03:49):
expectations and the way they have played over the past
decade in Death Valley under Dabos Wingion. I know, I know.
Dabos talked about his seventeen years at Clemson and how
part of his goal when he took over the job
was to turn the momentum at home, and he did that.
Nobody is denying that fact. When you have goal line

(04:13):
stands the way you do against Notre Dame back in
twenty fifteen, when you win with a late game tackle
against against Louisville almost called him Melsu against Louisville and
the Deshaun Watson Lamar Jackson matchup. I mean, time and

(04:34):
time again. Clemson fans over the past ten years have
witnessed game after game after game where you just found
a way to survive in advance. But not recently, Clemson

(04:55):
against Power four competition in Death has lost four consecutive games.
Like you just think that through say that out loud.
Clemson has lost four consecutive games at home against Power
four competition, dating back to last November against Louisville. So again,

(05:23):
think about that four consecutive Power four opponents in Death
Valley dating back to the Louisville game a year ago,
Clemson's lost and this is a team that has been
as Dabolish when he said not good but great at home,
I say elite at home dating back to the College
Football Playoff era. And to give you an example, this

(05:45):
weekend's game coming up against SMU at home, it will
be three hundred and sixty four days nearly a calendar
year since Clemson has won a Power Four game at home.
They beat Virginia a year ago on October the nineteenth.
But take a look back to the College Football Playoff

(06:06):
era and Clemson's success at home. Twenty fourteen, the first
year of the College Football Plaoff, Clemson had three losses.
All of those came on the road at Georgia, at
Florida State, and at Georgia Tech. They lost three games
that season, none of them were in Death Valley. The
following season twenty fifteen, that Clemson team goes undefeated. They

(06:29):
go undefeated and get to the National Championship Game, meaning
they did not lose a game at home. Twenty sixteen,
same story. Essentially, they go what fourteen to one and
lose one game at home against Pitt on a walk
off field goal forty three forty two. That's one loss

(06:51):
at home since twenty fourteen. That twenty seventeen team undefeated
at home, lost at Syracuse and lost in the College
Football Playoff. That twenty eighteen team, undefeated throughout the season,
undefeated throughout the entire season, didn't lose a game at home.
Twenty nineteen. That Clemson team does not lose a game

(07:13):
at home. Their only loss in the National Championship against
LSU twenty twenty. That's a shortened, weird COVID year. Clemson
does not lose a home game in twenty twenty. In
twenty twenty one, Clemson loses on a neutral sight against Georgia,
at NC State and at Pitt. Still no loss at home.

(07:37):
Twenty twenty two outside of the pit one that we
mentioned earlier, but again twenty twenty two, they lose at
Notre Dame. Then they lose to South Carolina, and they
lose to Tennessee in the Orange Bowl. So that's two
losses heading into the twenty twenty three season. Clemson loses

(07:57):
at home that year to Florida State, in addition to
a couple of other losses that's three since the College
Football Playoff began. And then of course you go into
last year, as we mentioned, the lost to Louisville, the
lost to South Carolina, the loss to LSU, and now

(08:18):
of course this year the lost to Syracuse. Meaning in
the past four Power for Conference games, Clemson has lost
more games in Death Valley then they lost dating back
to the College Football Playoff era before that, so they've
been ridiculously good at home. I get your frustration, and

(08:40):
imagine how this coaching staff, or at least Dabo Sweeney
fields after he's lived that experience as a head coach,
to now having lost four consecutive Power four games at home.
It is a stark turn and a legit chance that

(09:03):
you lose this weekend to SMU and it becomes five consecutive,
five consecutive home Power for losses. I mean, it's such
a stark contrast. I think it's the best way to

(09:24):
look at it to what you have dealt with for
a long time. And I guess, really whether or not
that resonated with you while it was happening, Okay, is
a valid point to make, because it is quite possible

(09:49):
that sometimes in the you know, in the middle of
something happening, you don't perhaps recognize how special it might
very well be. But then when you hop in the

(10:11):
rear view mirror and think it through, you go, well,
maybe I shouldn't have been so bored and you guys
were Maybe I shouldn't have been so bored with forty
five nothing blowouts. And I'm exaggerating, but that was kind

(10:33):
of the feeling, right for so many years, was that
Clemson was just gonna waltz into any old venue and
punch you right in the face, and there wasn't anything
you could do about it. And so because of that,
I think most fans forgot how special that was. Call

(11:03):
it spoiled, call it what you will, but I think
a lot of times you're so busy riding the waves
that you don't realize that you could drown. And now,
losing four out of your last four Power four games
at home, dude, you're wishing you had that surfboard back.
You want to get back up on the wave. And

(11:24):
I was calculating it if Clemson were to lose to
SMU and get their fifth consecutive Power for Conference loss,
dating back to the Louisville game a year ago, almost
a year ago. It was just after that Virginia game

(11:47):
that took place on October the nineteenth. I counted up
how far back you have to go to find five
home losses for Clemson prior to that, and it's all
the way back to the twenty twelve loss to South
Carolina in Memorial Stadium twenty seven to seventeen. Because before that,

(12:10):
Clemson lost at home in twenty twenty three to Florida
State in overtime. They lost to South Carolina in twenty
twenty two, they lost the pit with a walk off
field goal, in twenty sixteen, they lost FSUN twenty thirteen,
and they lost to South Carolina in twenty twelve. That
was the last five Power four losses at home. That

(12:32):
was the only losses at.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
Home, and.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
Between then and now thirteen years or whatever, one, two, three, four, five, six,
seven seasons with no losses at home, if you include
seasons where you had just one loss at home, that's
every year, but the last two. The last two seasons

(13:02):
are the first time since twenty twelve that Clemson has
lost multiple games at home. And I'm looking further. They
did not lose a game at home in twenty eleven.
They had to have lost two games at home. In

(13:24):
twenty ten, they lost to Miami and South Carolina, So
twenty ten would be the only other time I think
in Dabos Sweeney's tenure. Yeah, where Clemson has lost multiple

(13:47):
games at home the past two seasons and twenty ten.
Even if you go all the way back to his
first full year two thousand and nine, the only game
that he lost at home was fourteen to ten against TCU.

(14:07):
It's possible in his interim eight Nope, did not. He
took over after I lost the weight for Uce. He
lost that Georgia Tech game his first game as Clemson's
head coach. But yeah, Dabos when he had never lost.

(14:31):
I just looked this up as we were talking because
I started to realize how ridiculous it was. Last season
was the first time Dabos when he lost two games
at home since losing to Miami in South Carolina in
twenty ten. And this year there's a chance, with a

(14:53):
lot of games left, they could actually fall get their
worst home record under Dabos wheny Ever, if they lose
this weekend, that's three home losses that has never happened
with Dabosweny as the head coach. This statistically looking at
it on paper is absurd seeing it a matter of fact,

(15:20):
matter of fact, I'm gonna put an article together on this.
I think this is worth going through. You talk about
protecting your home field, and and Dabosweni talked about how
important that is to being a successful program, how important

(15:45):
that is to achieving the goals that Clemson wants to achieve.
And he's right. I mean, it's tremendous the importance of
winning at home and protecting your home turf. And the

(16:08):
Tigers have done it, they have done it through Dabos
Sweeney's career, but this season feels miles and miles away
from the norm, and losing four consecutive Power four home
games is bonkers, absolutely bonkers. Clemson didn't even have a

(16:39):
stretch until this year where Dabos Sweeney lost four games
in consecutive seasons at home, let alone four consecutive Power
four games. This year became year four of Clemson losing

(17:00):
a game at home in a row. They lost twenty
twenty two to South Carolina, twenty twenty three to Florida
State in overtime, twenty twenty four to Louisville and South
Carolina and twenty twenty five LSU at Syracuse. He never
lost four games consecutively per year, let alone back to

(17:23):
back to back to back Power four games. That's wild.
The facts are the facts, the stats are the stats,
and you just hope that the weekends against subpar competition.

(17:44):
I'm not sugarcoating it. I know it's not easy to win, coach,
I get it. It's not easy to win. Everybody's got
scholarship players. Well, I'll talk about that certainly with Chad Morris.
But the win is a win. It feels a lot
better than a loss. And if you get to win

(18:04):
this weekend against SMU, you continue to climb bit by bit,
You continue to climb up the ladder to potentially get
back into at least the threatening position to make a

(18:28):
run at the ACC Championship game. I'm not telling you
you're making a run at the ACC Championship game. I'm
saying you still can put yourself in a threatening position.
You can put yourself in a spot where other teams
kind of like golf might play back to the field.

(18:51):
I mean for crying out loud in a couple of
weeks because you got two victories in the league, you're
already in seventh place. You could potentially pass Pit. You
could give yourself a little leg up on the se
You can get into the top four or five in
the next couple of weeks. And if you do that,
you just got to hope that Duke in Virginia and

(19:12):
Georgia Tech fall back to the pack. I don't think
Miami's falling back to the pack. I think Miami, for
the first time in program history, is going to accelerate
into the a SEC Championship game. I'll be stunned if
the Hurricanes aren't there. But Tony Elliot and Virginia have
presented themselves as a problem. Duke is now a problem
at three and zero in the league. Georgia Tech a

(19:33):
problem because those teams have to lose at least Virginia
and Duke have to lose two. You play Duke, so
that's good. Georgia Tech's gotta lose three. I'm not seeing
three losses on their schedule. We can look at some

(19:53):
of the path I got a text message from my
sister with some of the info. We'll dive into it
when we get back. Lawton Swine Clemson's Sports Talk Rolling
along with You on a Wednesday afternoon. Chad Morris set
to join the program coming up in just a little bit.

(20:16):
I was thinking about the path the other day and
I mentioned it. You know that fans would start to
look at these things. And my sister, loyal listener, is
a fan, and she called me last night and she said, hey,
so I'm looking into what needs to happen, right like,

(20:37):
she wants to know what are the chess moves that
have to take place in order for Clemson to get
into the ACC Championship. And look, I told her, I said, look,
I don't think this is going to happen, but you
want to go down that rabbit hole, go for it.

(20:59):
Here's what I know. Clemson must win out, meaning SMU
would get a loss, Duke in two weeks would get
a loss, Florida State would get a loss, Louisville would
get a loss, and that would wrap up your conference

(21:19):
play at six and two. Now what six and two
presents is options, options limited but available Miami, as I noted, now,

(21:42):
now Miami's all right, so let me say this about Miami.
If Miami would like to play their way back to
the pack, for Clemson, that would be outstanding. If Miami would, say,
lose to Louisville coming up on what Friday night, seven o'clock,

(22:04):
that would be good. If they would lose at SMU,
that would be good. I don't know all the tie
breaking scenarios, but if Clemson beat SMU and beat Louisville
and Miami lost to those teams, it would be hard
for me to imagine the tie breaking scenario wouldn't lee
in Clemson's favor. But I just don't think this Miami

(22:27):
team is number two in the country's gonna lose. But
if you want to go all in on this thing
and have them lose those two games, and it changes
the narrative a little bit. But let's look at maybe
you know, more likely scenarios, which is not the Hurricanes losing.
Georgia Tech becomes a major problem unless Miami loses their

(22:47):
two games. Okay, let's keep that in mind. Georgia Tech
is at Duke this weekend. The loser of that game
will get their first conference loss. Honestly, you're probably better
off that loss going to Duke. Seriously, the more I

(23:09):
think about it, Duke would be a team you could
pass if you beat them next weekend or two weekends
after your bye week when you play them, meaning that's
one rung climbed. You're only gonna climb that Georgia Tech
rung if they lose to Duke, if they lose to Syracuse,
if they lose the NC State, if they lose to
Boston College, or if they lose the PIT And I

(23:32):
just don't think they're gonna lose three out of those
what four five conference remaining five remaining conference games. I
don't think they're gonna lose them. So I don't see
that you're gonna surpass Georgia Tech. I think likely it's
gonna be Georgia Tech in Miami in the a SEC Championship.
If we're just being honest with one another. But if

(23:59):
you want to believe my Samy could lose two games.
If you think Georgia Tech beats Duke and Syracuse and
North Carolina, Boss Goods, that's fine. Even if Miami loses two,
and even if Georgia Tech makes it to the ACC Championship,
there's still this guy used to be the offensive coordinator

(24:21):
for Clemson. Tony Elliott got a game against North Carolina
in two weeks they should kill North Carolina. They're at California,
they should beat cal versus Wake Forest. I think Virginia's
favored in that game at Duke and at Virginia Tech.
Maybe or two games that they lose, but I doubt

(24:41):
they lose both. And if they only lose one, then
guess what. It's Tony Elliott in Virginia. Maybe in the
ACC Championship game. Now, Duke is ahead of you, but
you play him. They played Georgia Tech this weekend. They
might at their first loss. You could climb the ladder
pass Duke. You play SMU this weekend. You could climb

(25:08):
the ladder past SMU. You beat SMU, and then if
Miami ends up beating SMU all of a sudden, you're
ahead of them. Or if they beat Miami, helping you
out and then they get beat by Louisville, that's good
for you. Miami's ahead of you. I've already gone through
their schedule. And then there's Pitt. Pitt's at Syracuse this
weekend seven thirty on the ACC Network. I think Pitt'll

(25:29):
win that game, given the fact that Steve Angeli's out
for the season for Syracuse. But Pitt's a team that
could drop any really of these games versus North Carolina State,
versus at Stanford, at Georgia Tech, it certainly versus Miami.
So I don't think Pitt's going to be a problem
for you. If you go six and two in the league,
I think you'll pass them, which means it's probably down

(25:51):
the Miami, Virginia and Georgia Tech, who are ahead of you.
If you win out, and then if some things go
crazy with those teams, Miami has to Miami and Virginia
have to have the least crazy happen. Just lose two,

(26:12):
and since you don't play them, maybe you can beat
them in a tie breaker. But the thing you have
to do is you have to win. There is no oh, well,
well if we drop another now, no, no, you have to win.
And if you do win out, and if some luck
happens with Miami, and if some luck happens with Virginia
and there's some kind of six and two logjam, maybe

(26:36):
you win the ultimate tiebreaker and then you get a
shot at Georgia Tech and the a SEC Championship. It's
hard for me to envision Clemson getting to the a
SEC Championship against Miami just with the way it's all
set up, or even against Virginia, because I don't think
Georgia Tech has three losses in their schedule. Unless Haines's

(26:56):
king gets hurt. I'll say that if Haines gets hurt,
all bets are off on Georgia Tech. But at this point,
I think it's gonna be Miami, Georgia Tech and the
ACC Championship, and I think Clemson will be just on
the outside, and I think Virginia will also be just
on the outside. All right, eight oh three four or

(27:16):
five oho zero zero eighty six text line phone line
be a part of the program anytime, any play se anywhere.
Speaking of the conference play at the midpoint, let's reset it.
Who do we think is gonna be in the college
football playoff? Who's gonna win these leagues? Let's talk about
that when we get back Clemson Sports Talk, rocking and
rolling along with you on a Wednesday. Don't forget about

(27:38):
our friends in Alumni Hall right there on the corner
of campus on College Avenue in downtown Clemson. It's Alumni
Hall for all your officially licensed Clemson merchandise, hats, T shirts, Telgay,
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Alumni Hall dot com. It's Alumni Hall where Tiger fans shopping.

(27:59):
Make sure you check out there, sweet and I can
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And if you're a Clemson student, faculty member, or in
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Go check them out today right across from Bowman Field
or online at Alumni haul dot com. All right, So

(28:20):
I mentioned before the break about all the scenarios that
would need to happen for Clemson to get to the
ACC Championship game. And yeah, I just again, I did
it more for the fans than for me. There's gotta
be a lot of chaos happening in front of you,
and I don't know there's enough chaos in Georgia Tech's

(28:40):
schedule with a healthy quarterback to even account for them
being the team that gets eliminated. I think the Georgia
Tech Clemson scenario is the most likely scenario for Clemson
because less chaos has to happen. But I don't think
Miami's losing, and I think Miami wins the ACC and

(29:03):
I think the Hurricanes likely finished number one or number
two in the Country.

Speaker 3 (29:07):
Now, that.

Speaker 1 (29:09):
Is a big leap for me to make a faith
in a team that has been unfaithful for twenty years
to the college football world. They just have been the
the team that always It's like Lucy and Charlie Brown
with the football. Every time they line up to kick it,

(29:32):
Lucy pulls it away. But just based off of the
way things have played out, I think this is Miami's
year in the Atlantic Coast Conference and for the rest
of it, my certainty is not great. I'll begin where
I feel a little bit more certain, and that's the

(29:54):
Big Ten. And I know I shouldn't write off Indiana,
and I'm not. I'm not writing them out of the
College Football Playoff by any means, But I just think
that Ohio State, the reigning defending champs, will be in
the College Football Playoff as the number one seed. I
think Miami's likely the number two out of the Big twelve.

(30:25):
The logical choice based off the way they've played so
far is Texas Tech, but Utah feels like they could
certainly be a thread at five and one. You've got
a couple of other teams. You got BYU who is
six and Oher in Cincinnati who's five at one. But

(30:46):
if you said to me today, Swannee, who do you
think wins the Big twelve? And they have utilized the
transfer portal and they have revamped their program in a hurry,
I'd go with the Red Raid. And then that brings
us to the Southeastern Conference, which is a muddled mess.

(31:09):
There are three teams that are three and Ozero Old
miss Texas, A and M and Alabama. This is conference play.
Georgie's three and one, LSU and Tennessee you're two and one. Texas, Missouri,
Oklahoma and Vandy are one in one, Meaning you have

(31:32):
ten teams in the Southeastern Conference with one or less losses,
still very early in the season. A lot of this
will clear itself up multiple matchups this weekend involving some
of those teams, which are going to drop teams to
two losses or maybe some to one. Right, So it's

(31:55):
going to become much more clear. But we are at
the halfway point of the season, and if I had
to just pick it right now, as much as it's
tough for me to believe, I'm gonna do this. I'm
gonna take Alabama. Ty Simpson to me greater than Marcel Reid.

(32:24):
I think the choice here was down to Alabama and
A and M. And I'll take the Crimson Todd winning
the Southeastern Conference this season, and you look at their
schedule ahead. They got Tennessee this weekend. That's one of
those one loss teams at South Carolina. I think that's

(32:46):
a very winnable game. I think they should beat LSU Oklahoma,
depending on what Brent minnibles in those guys brain to
the table. You never know. He's Illinois certainly win not
a conference game. And then I think they're much better
than Auburn. They've been much better than Auburn in the past,
so when that rivalry game has gone the way of
the Auburn Tigers. But those would be my conference champs Miami, Alabama,

(33:11):
Ohio State, and Texas Tech. But it's much more convoluted
than that at this point because we also have to
consider the other teams that are going to be in
and one of those teams has to come from the

(33:31):
Group of five, which right now Navy is four and
oh in the American Conference, Memphis is two and oh.
South Florida is two and o and TWU Lane is
two and oh. South Florida is currently ranked nineteenth in
the country, and they face Navy November the fifteenth, so

(33:59):
that could be a game that ends up determining between
those two teams. Memphis and Navy face off November the
twenty seventh, So while the Midshipmen are not currently ranked,
they have two ranked teams in front of them. It's

(34:20):
tough to lean in on who I would take in
that point who I would take in that situation, But
South Florida is the best ranked group of five team
right now, in the top twenty five. So I'll give
them a slight edge just based off of their their

(34:44):
current resume, what they've done this season. You remember the
beginning of the year, beating Florida, beating Boise State to
open the season. I'll lean I'll lean in on them,
but I'm not willing to discount Navior of Memphis. But
I'm just gonna go with the best ranked team. We'll

(35:05):
give you the rest of the teams in the playoff
in my opinion. When we get back final segment of
our one coming up, Chad Morris joins the program. All right,
we've given you the teams that we think are in
the College Football Playoff based off the mid season my
conference champs Miami, Alabama, Ohio State, Texas Tech, and South

(35:30):
Florida out of the G five. But who else gets in? Well,
that's where this thing gets a little bit ugly. So
I'm gonna go ahead and sign off on the following
teams to be in the College Football Playoff. I think Texas,
A and m will be in. I think they'll get
to the SEC championship game. I think they'll lose to Alabama.

(35:54):
Out of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Miami is the winning team,
and the only other team that I could potentially put
in is Georgia Tech. Now, Georgia Tech is currently ranked twelve. Again,
I like their schedule at Duke Syracuse, at NC State,

(36:15):
at Boston College, and versus Pitton. Then Georgia I think
they probably lose one game in the regular season at
the most two. But if they lose just one, if
they lose against Georgia, if that's the only loss and
then they get beat by Miami, if that's it, I

(36:36):
think Georgia Tech is in the College Football Playoff because
I think out of the Southeastern Conference, the other team
that will likely be there is the winner of this
game between Georgia and Old Miss this weekend. I think
if Old Miss wins this game, they probably are in.

(36:59):
But his favorite sixty nine point seven percent of the time,
Georgia is seven and a half point favorites, and they
are hosting Old Miss, meaning at nearly five o'clock in
the afternoon on October the fifteenth. My odds would lean
in hunkering down with the Hairy Dogs at Georgia to

(37:20):
fill a spot in the College Fotball Playoff. Then we
shift to the Big Ten, where I think Indiana is
gonna climb that ladder again and be back in the
College football Playoff two years under Kirk Signetti, and I
don't know if he'll be there next year. I would
imagine he's gonna get some phone calls. I also think

(37:42):
Oregon is going to be in out of the Big Ten,
And with that addition, we are at ten teams remaining
or not we got ten more. We're at ten teams
and we've got two more spots to fill. Now I

(38:05):
think there will be another Big twelve team in, but
determining which one that is right now would be a
coin flip in my estimation, and the best case scenario
for that coin flip to me comes down to maybe

(38:25):
this weekend's match up at eight o'clock on Fox between
BYU and Utah. Winner of that game, I'll say gets
in at this point. Now, BYU and Texas Tech do
play this season, and Utah and Texas Tech played earlier

(38:47):
this year. But if Utah were to win this weekend
over BYU and then get to the Big Twelve Championship
and beat Texas Tech, then that game comes a wash, right,
So I'll lean in that Utah actually pulls that feed off,

(39:10):
and even if they beat Texas Tech in the Big
twelve Championship, which I would not project, but I think
two losses to the same team is not gonna kill you.
So will lean in on Utah, and that gives us
one spot remaining. And I hear you Tiger fans, pick us,
pick us. I hear you Gamecock fans, Hey, can we
work our way in? No, you're watching home, you're playing

(39:32):
in the Bowling Weed Eater Bowl or something. You're not in.
You're not in this. But the final team that I
put in probably would would have to come from the
Southeastern Conference, and it probably comes down to a couple
probably looking at it, either Old Miss or Oklahoma and
I I LSU scheduled to me still too difficult. Upcoming

(39:53):
games that are big. Old Miss and Oklahoma face off,
what ten days from now, next next Saturday, I guess.
And look, oklahoma schedule is packed too, man. I mean,
it's amazing what some of these teams are about to
have to go through. But I want to lean in.

(40:14):
I want to trust Brendvinables. I want to trust his defense.
You know, John Matteer is only going to get healthier,
and so I'll lean in that Oklahoma finishes the job
if they get through their final games. And here, let
me give them to you real quick, just so as
you know what I'm talking about. If Oklahoma's one loss

(40:34):
is to Texas, even if they lose a second game, okay,
I don't really care where it is it could be.
I don't think it'll be against South Carolina this weekend.
They face Old Miss next weekend at Tennessee at Alabama
versus Missouri and versus LSU see. I think they'll beat Missouri,

(40:58):
LSU and Tennessee. Meaning if they only lose to Ole
Miss and or Alabama one of those two games, too
lost team with those victories they're in now I got
Alabama going to the College Football Playoff as the SEC champs,
So I guess that would be the loss if I
assume Oklahoma beats Ole Miss, which is kind of a
coin toss fifty nine or excuse me, forty nine to

(41:21):
fifty one on the ESPN matchup predictor. I think you
put them in. So that's Miami and Georgia, Tech out
of the ACC, Alabama A and m Georgia and Oklahoma
out of the SEC, Ohio State, Indiana and Oregon out
of the Big Ten, Texas, Tech and Utah out of
the Big twelve in South Florida is the G five.
That's my twelve teams that I put in the College

(41:43):
Football Playoff today at the midpoint. I think it's fair.
I understand that some of these matchups and teams can
get flip flop based off of what happens. I know
some of you want to hear your team's name on there.
I mean this leaves out Texas and you know, maybe

(42:08):
at four and two with a couple of losses and
only one in the Southeastern Conference, I'm writing them off
too early because maybe they can get to the SEC
championship game. But that's kind of the way I see
it right now, and we'll see how it all shakes out.
For sure, I remember too. Chad Morris joins us. Keep
it locked. It's time for Clipson Sports Talk with Lawton Schwan. Swanny.

(43:05):
It is our number two. That's drivetime Ready on the
show This Shakes the south Land Clemson Sports Talk Lawton
Swan hanging out with you on a Wednesday afternoon, and
of course the show That Shakespare south Land, brought you
in part by our good friends over at Mets Plumbing
mets Plumbing dot com. Two two six seven one o

(43:28):
eight give him a call today two two six seven
one oh eight. That's Mets Plumbing for all your plumbing needs,
all right. Chad Morris, a former Clemson offensive coordinator, joins
us on a Wednesday. Coach, welcome in the Virginia Cavaliers
off of a bye week. Of course, your son Chandler
the quarterback there. I'm sure you've been in communications with

(43:50):
him as he rested up as well as you can
be at this point in the year.

Speaker 3 (43:55):
You know he is. I mean, he's like everybody else,
you know, when you're when you're six games in, everybody's
got some bumps and bruises on you. And you know
he's no different obviously, he's he's laid his body on
the line as a bunch of those kids have, uh
and uh and just to be able to have an
off week to kind of recover. They still practice, and
don't get me wrong on that, they still practicing, got

(44:17):
after it pretty good. But uh uh but to be
able to just from a mental grind and mental break.
You know, they've been going since what first of August,
so eleven straight weeks and and uh, but uh, he's healthy,
knock on wood. We're very blessed for that. And uh,
you know, try to make a stretch run here the
final six weeks.

Speaker 1 (44:36):
Yeah, little Ala Conference game is Washington State will come
across the country on the c W at six thirty
for everybody that wants to tune in and see the
Virginia Cavaliers Tony Elliott, Chandler Morrison. So that kind of
takes me to our first text question. Uh, we had
a text come in. These segments have been a hit
with our listeners. They want to know what specifically are
you doing coach for Virginia. You've mentioned a couple of

(44:58):
times that you're kind of help them out. I think
you said something last week maybe about some third down stuff.
But but talk us through kind of this role that
you've got as father and uh, I guess what would
you call the other job just sort.

Speaker 3 (45:11):
Of yeah, I can I get you know, an offensive
consultant to speak you know, yeah, yeah, So really what
that entails is it is just the ability. You know,
obviously my relationship with Tony and and you know my
relationship with coach Kitchens, the offensive coordinator. You know, they
came to me during the summer and just said, look, man,

(45:34):
we would love for you to be a part. Obviously
you've you've done at a high level and had a
lot of success, and we would love for you to
just kind of be a part and and kind of
future scouting kind of look at look ahead for stay ahead,
maybe look at third and look at third down, look
at red zone and how you would attack the opponent

(45:57):
and and really kind of evolved into you know, just
do it as if you would gain plant and give
us your reports. Uh, And so I have. What I
do is is I give them a series of broke
be where I break down the opponent from a personnel
standpoint and have all that to them on Sunday nights

(46:17):
and it's it's really it's it's it's a one pager.
I want it real simple, real easy for those guys
to read. They're getting a lot of reports, are getting
a lot of you know, in data, with a lot
of a lot of of data, and I want mine
to be Hey, this is this is to the point.
And uh So I'll look at some different formations that
the way I would attack the future opponent. I'll look

(46:41):
at and I'll usually try to give them about four
or five bullet points of what I see through the
course of a game plan. So for example, you know,
you one of the bullet points may be you know,
using tempo after a big play, uh and and and
using some unbalanced formation in that tempo set. It may

(47:02):
be shifts and motions. Uh So those are those are
different things that as I watch an opponent and I
go through like formations that I that that that we
know that that Virginia uses, and and that I'll say, hey, look,
I really like this, and I'll I'll go as far
as is breaking down plays and putting them in a

(47:24):
cut up and getting those plays with a description of
what I see. Uh to to to coach kitchens on
Sunday nights, so he's able to have them on Sunday nights,
be ready to look at him again Monday mornings, and
then and then through the course of the week, I
you know, I do something real simple. I kind of
go through what has the opposing quarterbacks had success with

(47:49):
UH and saved zone coverage, man coverage? What have they
struggled with in pressure situations? So it gives us an
idea of Okay, well, you know, let's say we're playing
Washington State. Washington State has had success and pressure in
the quarterbacks from the left side, and the completion percentage

(48:12):
of a quarterback throwing to his left when they pressure
is like thirty percent as opposed to seventy five percent
thrown to the right. So you know, we would look
at how you how you you know, formation that to right,
you know, get your quarterback protection in the left, so
different things like that. And then I just give them
ideas of plays that I see that I like that,
I know that fits into their verbiage in terminology.

Speaker 1 (48:34):
Now we're we're obviously in the digital era. This is
not the old days where you know, the coaches were
like meeting in Wagner, Sally to pass off the film
of the Blackville Hilda game or something like that. I'm
assuming this is like done through a certain software or
something that coaches can share. I mean, is this twenty
two man film or oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (48:54):
Yeah, yeah, I have I have access. Yes, absolutely, that's
a great question. So basically everything's called it's it's a
system called Catapult, and I have access. They've given me.
They grant me full cart blanc of access of of
all practice film, all game film, all all opponent film,

(49:16):
and and really again and then Coach Kitchens and coach
you know, they want me to to and I do
it at the end of every game. Is is they
want to know what I saw during the game. And
you know, like Coach Kitchens is really good about okay.
You know he's he's waiting Sunday morning or Saturday night
late when I send him my email of okay, hey,

(49:39):
I think you could have done this or we could
have done that against you know, the the opponent we
just faced. Or I'll say something like you know, like
for example against uh Louisville, Florida State. You know, it
may be something as simple as Coach I really like
how we attacked them. I think I thought you did
a good job in these areas. Uh, maybe you can

(50:00):
expand more on some you know, vertical shots down the
field or whatever that may be. Not only am I
looking at future opponents, I'm also giving my analysis of
our own game film.

Speaker 1 (50:15):
Man, this is interesting. So how differently do you see
it when you're watching Chandler from the sidelines or from
the stands, I should say, versus when you go back
and watch the film? I mean, do you like I
feel like as a consumer of the sport, I watch
with a pretty narrow lens of the ball. When you're
watching it from the stands as a fan, how or

(50:38):
in a supporter of your son, how are you seeing it?
Are you seeing it like a coach? Or are you
kind of seeing it like you think we see it?

Speaker 3 (50:45):
Well, my wife gives me a hard time. And first
of all, I don't smoke. But if I did smoke,
as nervous as I get in the stands and I'm
watching him play, I would probably smoke a cartner cigarettes
during the game. If I did smoke. I don't smoke,
But that's how.

Speaker 1 (50:59):
We're Red Bull, Red Bull and bubble Gum coach Red Bull.

Speaker 3 (51:05):
And bubble Gum.

Speaker 1 (51:06):
Yeah, no doubt.

Speaker 3 (51:07):
The only problem is and thank goodness that they don't
sell Red Bull in the concession stands or I'll just
be hammering out. But you know, you know that that's
I usually get there. Let me kind of take you
through my routine. I usually get there. My wife wears
me out over it because I gotta be at the
I gotta be at the stadium when the gates open,
So I'm there an hour and a half. I'm watching

(51:28):
them walk the field. I'm watching the opponent walk the field.
I gotta watch warm up, and I'm sitting up in
the stands and I'm literally because of the reports I've sent,
I already know where the key players are, who they are,
So I'm watching them work out or work warm up,
and then as the game gets going, I'm I'm usually
obviously I'll watch Chandler, but I pre snap. I always

(51:51):
i'm straight looking defense, and when the bass snap, I
get my eyes back to Chandler. And I'm pretty good.
I'm pretty good about being able to identify like and
Paula like, you know, she just has to sit by
me and listen. Bless her heart, but it'll be something like, oh, oh,
here comes feel pressure, feel pressure, feel pressure, channel, get
rid of it, get rid of rid of it. And
that's usually I'm talking through the entire game of what

(52:13):
I'm seeing and uh. And that's why we sit by
ourself and nobody sits around this because they'll think I'm
crazy and uh. Or it'll be like, oh here it comes, here,
it comes. They're they're fixed and bring house splitz, house splits.
Oh my, you better get rid of it. And you know,
something like that, or it's covered two. Don't throw that ball,
don't throw it. Oh he threw it, Dad, gummt Chandler,

(52:34):
you know something like that. You know it's something right.
But yeah, that's the way that that I look at
pre snap, I look at the defense. You just start
with the boundary safety. That's after I see the front
what they're in four down, three down, over under. Then
I'll keep my eye on the boundary safety and watch
his body language, watch his rotation. Alright, he's rotating to
the middle of the field. All right, there's probably gonna

(52:55):
be some type of cover three single high. Look all right,
you know how are we going to attack that? So, yeah,
it's it's A. It's a it's like watching film and
in live, except I can't rewind it.

Speaker 1 (53:07):
We did have another test coming. Kind of wanted to
know what what's next for you? I mean, there's obviously
a lot going on with Chandler's career, certainly opportunity for
him to potentially play in the NFL. I mean, what's
next for you? And what exactly are you up to?
For those people that haven't heard our segments here with
you on the show.

Speaker 3 (53:26):
Well you know what I'm up to right now obviously,
you know, as we just spoke, I'm helping Virginia. We've
got you know. When I left Clemson and went to SMU,
we wound up buying a ranch in east of Dallas
and slowly grew it. And we run a lot of cows,
a lot of horses. So I'm I'm we're usually out
out here at our ranch and you know, the cows

(53:49):
could really care less about third and six. They don't care,
you know. All they want me to do is make
sure I feed them, you know, in same way with
the horses. But you know, yeah, I just feel like
I've got you know, I'm just so thankful Virginia's allowed
me to be a part and help them out and
you know, to scratch that itch, you know that I
still have and I love the game of football. I

(54:12):
feel like I've I've got a knack for for calling
plays and a knack for game planning and helping coaches
grow and helping kids grow. You know, I'm gonna wait
and see. We'll see what happens in this next cycle. Obviously,
it's going to be a huge cycle, probably one of
the biggest ones maybe ever to see what's next and
whether that being a head coaching role or whether that

(54:32):
be in a coordinator role. You know, I'm I'm definitely
wide open to that, and I feel like that's what
I wind up being, you know, get back into it
and uh but I've thoroughly enjoyed watching Chandler, But I
do I look forward to you know, I look forward
to that. You know. It's it's allowed me to kind
of refresh and hit a recalibrate button, and you know,

(54:54):
I look forward to what's next and I'm excited about
uh about the future again.

Speaker 1 (54:58):
Chad Moore hanging out with this year on the program
each and every Wednesday, talking college football. It is. It's
a results based business. Coach. You know that, and Penn
State had a lot of really good results, and then
still after this season starting three and three, being a
top five team, they make the move and fire James
Franklin on Sunday following that surprising loss to Northwestern. I mean, look,

(55:24):
coaches will tell you anybody can beat you. These guys
are all on scholarship. You can lose ball games. That's
the way it goes. But what do you think about
not necessarily the way Penn State handled it, but maybe
just the way college football is now with all of
the transfer portal, nil players that can leave your roster,

(55:44):
turnover everything that goes into it. I mean, he had
a long time, don't get me wrong, but still it
feels like a move that's made pretty hastily.

Speaker 3 (55:57):
You know, you got to really and again it happened
to me, you know at Arkansas. I mean they fired
me with two games left, and you've got to really,
you got to really want to get rid of somebody
to to pay him that kind of money. Now again,
I know he's got a duty to mitigate in his contract,
but still you're talking about a guy that took him

(56:18):
to the College football Playoffs last year, won the first
round and was a few plays away from playing for
a national championship. And then three three weeks ago he's
a touchdown up on Oregon and the rank third in
the country or fourth in the country, whatever they are.
It just shows you, one, just the volatility the landscape

(56:42):
of college football right now, that you can you can
take a roster and if you have the support financially
behind you from an nil standpoint, uh, you can get
the players in. It's you know, back in the day,
it was always you know, these certain schools, and to

(57:02):
an extent it still is. But you can't just say
nowadays that these certain schools are just going to roll
the logo out and beat you, because if if another
school has the resources, I mean, and they can get
the players, they can beat anybody. And uh, you can't
take anybody lightly anymore. And it's just it's just it's

(57:24):
just the world we're in right now. And and to
know that it could happen to James Franklin, it could
obviously happen to anybody, I mean. And what's crazy about
this is the fact that what it does is that
it re energizes other fan bases that may be looking
to make a move and they're like, whoa, if they

(57:47):
could do that, well, why can't we do that? And
so the noise gets louder and gets louder. So those
that are having that, those coaches in those certain buyouts
in that same category, are are thinking, Okay, well if
they could do that, we can do that. And the
next thing, you know, the pressure on the ad and
it just it's just it's it's like a snowball that rolls. Yeah,

(58:10):
but it's it's it's crazy, it really is.

Speaker 1 (58:14):
It's keeping up with the Jones right, I mean, it's
kind of like keeping up with the Joneses. You're like, hey,
they got a new car, we need to get a
new car. And then next thing, you know, everybody's buying
new cars and firing coaches. Kind of wild. And you
can also give us some unique perspective on this, like
he was the last person off the field essentially from
the staff. He let his family go. How hard are

(58:36):
these things on the families, the wives, the children who
pour so much in and don't have any real choice
in the outcomes of these football games. I mean, they
got nothing to do with it except for to support,
support and support.

Speaker 3 (58:50):
Yeah, it's it's incredible on your family. You know, the
way I always looked at it was I could go
into the office and I didn't have to look at
social media. I did not have to uh look listen
to the news, listen to the radio. I didn't have
to do that. But your family, on the other hand,

(59:14):
they got to go to school, they got to go
uh into the into the public, whether it's into the
grocery store, they gotta go, uh they got to turn
them They can't even turn the news on. They can't
turn the radio on because they're gonna hear, you know,
their husband or their dad being talked about, and just
the and that's not even they can't even get on
their own social media accounts. And I think it's it's

(59:39):
and I'm speaking from experience. I think it's far worse
on your family than it is. And I'm sure James
would be the first one to tell you that. It's like, Hey,
I'm I can handle it. You bringing it me. I can.
My safe haven is in that office. I don't have
to listen to anything. I can protect our kids there.
But my family, my family has no Their safe haven

(01:00:01):
is don't do anything, don't go anywhere, and you can't
live life that way, so it's it's extremely tough. I mean,
you know, I saw this the social media of him
getting off the field last sending his daughters ahead. I mean,
you know that's his daughters and and the heckling in
the It's just it's just again, it's just a sad state.

(01:00:22):
And that it comes with a business and you get it.
But wow, it's just it's just crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:00:28):
Yeah, it's it's easy to it's easy to sit there,
like in the seats that I'm in and go, man,
you pay me forty seven million dollars, you can fire
me yesterday. But when you gotta see your family and
you got like the money is is there, but it
it doesn't take away what you can't I guess fix

(01:00:49):
for your family, right, like the emotional stuff. You can
go on trips and do all that, but that pain
is real and those you know, his family certainly felt that.
I'll tell you I had about a million things to
get to. We did get our two texts in and
we are slammed up with stuff for next week. So
I'm looking forward to learning about your play sheet, learning

(01:01:09):
more about the film swap in the modern era. I
can't I can't wait to talk to you next Wednesday.

Speaker 3 (01:01:15):
That'll be great. I look forward to it, and uh
always great talking with you and being able to share,
you know, some insight to our Clemson fans. And man,
I'm just like I say every week, Man, I love
my Tigers and love my Wahoos, and uh, just excited
about about the future.

Speaker 1 (01:01:33):
Yes, sir, no doubt. We're excited about next week, just
having you back on again. Coach Chad Morris with us
here on the program. Eight zero three four five O
zero zero eighty six. That is the text line and
the phone line. Again. You can be a part of
this program anytime, anyplace, anywhere on our website, Clemson Sports

(01:01:56):
Talk dot com eight O three four five o's zero
eighty six. That is the text line. If you want
to get in. We got a break coming up. We'll
come back reset some of our comments from earlier today.
For those of you just joining us, we took a
look at Clemson's run at home over the years under
Dabo Sweeney and my Midpoint College Football playoff projections. We'll

(01:02:19):
tell you about that when we get back. Rocking and
rolling along with you on a Wednesday afternoon the show
that Shakes the Southland Clemson's Sports Talk Lowton Swan with you.
All right, So earlier in the show we talked about
Clemson's home record.

Speaker 3 (01:02:38):
Again.

Speaker 1 (01:02:39):
They've lost four consecutive power for home conference games, dating
back to a loss against Louisville a year ago. And again,
for those of you just joining us, to put that
into perspective, Clemson has not won a game at home

(01:03:00):
since October nineteenth, twenty twenty four, which will be nearly
a calendar year this Saturday when SMU comes to town.
An SMU team that has never lost a regular season
Atlantic Coast Conference game. They're only lost in ACC play.
Came to York Clemson Tigers in the ACC Championship game

(01:03:21):
a year ago. Now in their second year in the
league are the Mustangs. But back to how unprecedented in
the Dabosweeney era this is, let's talk about it. For
those of you just joining us, we went through this earlier,
but here are the numbers. Four consecutive. Clemson lost a

(01:03:43):
home game singular to Florida State in overtime in twenty
twenty three. They lost a home game singular at home
to South Carolina in twenty two, twenty twenty two. Clemson
did not lose a home game in twenty two, twenty one,
twenty twenty, twenty nineteen, twenty eighteen, twenty seventeen. They lost

(01:04:05):
a home game in a walk off field goal forty
three forty two to pit in twenty sixteen. They didn't
lose one at home in twenty fifteen. They didn't lose
at home in twenty fourteen, one game to FSU in
twenty thirteen, one game to South Carolina in twenty twelve,
no games at home lost in twenty eleven. They lost
in twenty ten to Miami and South Carolina at home.

(01:04:26):
They lost a TCUNO nine into Georgia Tech and Dabos
Sweeney's first game as the head coach. Think about that.
After losing four games in his first three seasons at
home as head coach, Dabossweeney only lost three games at

(01:04:50):
home over the next eleven seasons until twenty twenty two,
when he lost to South Carolina and for the first
time ever in his tenure, Sweeney has lost a home
game now in four consecutive years, twenty twenty two to
South Carolina, twenty twenty three to Florida State, twenty twenty

(01:05:12):
four with Louisville in South Carolina, and then this year
with LSU and Syracuse and potentially SMU this weekend, that
would be five Power five opponents. Clemson losing at home
to five Power five opponents in a row in a row.

(01:05:35):
And if you go back before those five, right, if
we go back to the beginning of this streak when
they lost to Louisville and you count back five Power
five opponents, that would be Florida State in twenty twenty three,
South Carolina in twenty twenty two, pit in twenty sixteen,
Florida State in twenty thirteen, and South Carolina in twenty twelve.

(01:06:00):
You have to go all the way back to twenty
twelve to find the fifth Power five home conference loss
as a matter of fact, or Power five loss, not
conference the Power five loss, and there's no group of
five losses in there either. Those are just the losses

(01:06:21):
at home. Clemson welcomes you to Death Valley. Yeah, it's
been a lot more welcoming over the past four Power
four home games. And to think about the fact that
with all of those stats from the past, it will

(01:06:43):
be a year. If Clemson loses to SMU this weekend,
they will Eclipse, three hundred and sixty five days without
winning a game in Death Valley, and even if they win,
they come a day of going a year without a
win in Death Valley. That's why this feels so strange

(01:07:05):
to all you fans. That's why you can't fathom what's
happening in front of you, because you have dominated at
home for seventeen seasons. Essentially, you have dominated, and that's
why this feels so weird. You're just not accustomed to it.

(01:07:29):
I mean, this is your Green Acres, man. This is
when Oliver and Lisa Robin Hooterville Green Acers as the
place to be man that show. I happen to sit
down and watch some of it a few weeks back,
and I didn't really understand the premise of it. I

(01:07:53):
thought he Oliver played by Eddie Albert. I thought he
was from the country when I was a kid, like
I thought he was from the country. I did not
put together until this year. Seriously, until this year when
I was watching it that Lisa played by Ava Gabor,

(01:08:19):
sister of Jajah, I was a kid because of the
way the song was sung. You know, she would say, Darling,
I love you, but give me Park Avenue, which made
me think that he was from the country, the chores,
the stores, Like I thought he was country and she
was city mouse. It turns out they were both city

(01:08:42):
bys when I was watching it, So being older, I
learned a little bit about it. Like, I mean, it's
kind of like Three's Company. I won't get into the
premise of Three's Company here, but I did not understand
the premise of Three Company when I was a kid,
and I thought it was hilarious when I was watching it.

(01:09:04):
Because Jack Tripper is one of the great well I
guess I mean not Jack Tripper, that was his name
on the show. John Ritter is one of the great
comedic actors, just in the terms of the physical comedy.
Oh it still holds up his physical comedy, the way

(01:09:30):
he could run into a door or fall onto a couch,
He's got to be one of the best. I don't
know what the Google machine would tell you on that,
but if I'm ranking him, if you're asking me, one
of the best physical comedians of our time, no doubt.
John Ridder, all right, quick break, we'll come back. I
mentioned the college football playoff. I tell you about my midpoint.

(01:09:52):
See if he playoff projections. When we get back Lawton Swan,
Welcome back Clemson Sports Talk. Go check out our sponsor
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(01:10:14):
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you can ask them about their Alumni Hall Rewards program
and save yourself a little money as well. Go check

(01:10:34):
them out next time you're in Tigertown at Alumni Hall
or online at Alumni Hall dot com. So this will
be quick. I don't need to dive into the minutia
of my projections of who I think will be in
the college Football Playoff this season. Kind of got into

(01:10:55):
this rabbit hole talking about, you know what has to
happen for Clemson to get to the a SEC Championship.
It's a lot. There's a lot that could happen. The
thing that has to happen, though, you have to win out,
you have to beat SMU, you have to beat Duke,
you have to beat Florida State, and you have to
beat Louisville. And if you go six and two, you
give yourself a chance for the you know, kind of

(01:11:19):
crazy scenario where there's four teams tied at six and
two and you win the tiebreaker. Whatever, right, I'll take
whatever scenarios honestly that you can get right, Like, I mean,
that's what you have to hope for. But here's what
I think is gonna happen. I mean I do. I
think it's gonna be Miami and George Attack in the
ACC Championship, and I think both teams are tracking towards

(01:11:41):
both being in the College Football Playoff. I think in
the Southeastern Conference they're gonna double up the Atlantic Coast
Conference and the Big Twelve they're gonna get four teams Alabama,
A and m Georgia and Oklahoma. I think in the
Big Ten it'll be Ohio State in Indiana and Oregon. The
Big Twelve, I think it's Texas Tech and Utah. And

(01:12:01):
right now I'll go South Florida just because of what
they've already done. Meaning even though Navy is gonna be
in the conversation. I think the resume South Florida has
and the fact that they play Navy make me think
they would beat Navy. But if Navy wins that game,

(01:12:23):
hey maybe Navy's in. But anyway, that's neither here nor there.
You want to talk about the power four teams, and
I think those are the power for teams. The other thing,
my sister asked me, you know, cause look, she's a fan,

(01:12:43):
right fans, you guys try to figure out where's your
team can do good? That's what you No fan really
goes into the weekend. Oh well, we're gonna get killed
this week. Most fans go, ah, you know, I don't
think we're gonna win, but we gotta go play the game.
Maybe there's a chance, you know, most fans try to
find ways to win. And she wanted to know, hey,

(01:13:06):
can Clemson. Is there a way to make the playoff
like other than winning the ACC championship, which again I
don't have that in the cards for Clemson. I don't
think so. I don't think there's enough meat on your schedule.
Florida State's not what they were supposed to be. South

(01:13:27):
Carolina is not what they're supposed to be. You're not
what you are supposed to be. If you win out
and you're nine and three, if by some chance there's
a bunch of chaos ahead of you, I still don't

(01:13:48):
know that it's enough. I don't think you're nine to
three is gonna hold up this year if you're Clemson
and you're not getting to an ACC championship game, so
that you could get to ten and three with an
ACC Championship win, that would secure you the berth. Anyway,
if you won convincingly the rest of the way, maybe

(01:14:10):
you're in a conversation. But the teams that we're talking
about bumping out. The only way nine to three gets
you in, in my opinion, is if you've been a
team that's atted near the top and you somehow maybe
back it down late and your resume is really good,

(01:14:32):
and the SEC could provide some teams that could do that,
or maybe only if the Big twelve gets one team,
and if the Big twelve only gets one team, there's
a legit chance the SEC could get five or the
Big ten could get four. I just don't see a
way that Clemson or any other team in the Atlantic

(01:14:53):
Coast Conference from this point that's not in the conference
championship game will be in. And I do think in
all leagues except for maybe the Big twelve, acc SEC
and Big Ten, the two teams playing for the conference
championship will likely both be in. I don't think there'll
be a championship game that will eliminate somebody. And that's

(01:15:16):
kind of a problem to a degree with the championship games,
which is why I'm in favor of switching the whole scenario.
I want those championship games to mean that you are
either in or out. And again, that would require us

(01:15:38):
to shift our thought process and take the top team
in each league through the regular season with a tiebreaker scenario.
So what if you get down to the end of
it and Indiana has the tiebreaker scenario for the number
one spot over Ohio State in the conference. So what

(01:16:02):
even if you say, boy, but the Ohio State's ranked
higher than Indiana, and maybe that is the tiebreaking scenario
for these leagues the highest ranked boy that would probably
do it. There, the highest ranked conference team at the

(01:16:24):
top of your league gets the conference title, whether both
teams are eight no or both teams are seven to one,
the higher ranked conference team wins the championship, and then
the other team plays the team in third place for
the conference's other official spot in the college football playoff.

(01:16:48):
So if you want to sit there and cry that
you're not in, go win your game, Go win your
conference playing game. The conference champions in the conference playing
winner is in. That's eight of our spots. And I
don't care if this is a sixteen team playoff and
we got some alternates, but that to me values the

(01:17:09):
regular season and makes those conference championship games or playing
games at that point so much more interesting in my opinion.
Final segment, flip side, stay with us.

Speaker 2 (01:17:28):
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? What have you done?
Always are the same. We win.

Speaker 1 (01:18:41):
Final segment on a Wednesday. Thinking again to Chad Morris
for hanging out with us here on the program. Always
great to talk with him. The insight spectacular. All right,
couple of things. First off, the a c C preseason
basketball poll is out, and look, I don't know what
to I don't know what to make of Clemson hoops

(01:19:06):
this year, but they are the preseason seventh team in
the ACC, behind SMU, Virginia, n C State, North Carolina, Louisville,
and Duke. Behind the Tigers at number eight, Miami, then
Syracuse at nine, Notre Dame ten, Wake Forest eleven, Virginia

(01:19:31):
Tech twelve, Georgia Tech thirteen, PET fourteen, Florida State fifteen,
Cow sixteen, Stanford seventeen, and Boston College at eighteenth in
the conference. So Clemson's starting in the upper half according
to the preseason poll in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Now,

(01:19:52):
we talked a good bit about the James Franklin firing. Well,
he's required and I forget the term that Chad Morris
used earlier, but basically it's like you have a not
an opportunity, an obligation to go try to find the job. Well,
James Franklin's required to look for another job and is

(01:20:13):
in coaching or broadcasting according to his Penn State contract.
And if his new job pays him less than the
eight million he's owed annually, Penn State owes him the difference.
So if he gets a job, make it three million,

(01:20:36):
Penn State owes him five million. I quite frankly would
not work. But you have to try. You have to
try to get a job. You have to look for
a job. I don't know that it says you have
to accept the job, but you have to look. I
think I'd just like to take the money please. A

(01:21:01):
couple of other quick things as well. Number one, Tess Johnson.
I don't know if you guys saw this over the weekend,
but Baker Mayfield is playing really good football and Tess
Johnson scored a touchdown in the ball game the other
day for the Buccaneers and the fans started chanting m

(01:21:24):
v P for Baker Mayfield. Tes However, I thought the
chances were for him. Here's that breakdown on a wired mic.
So to speak on the Tampa Bay sidelines said, I'm like,

(01:21:48):
I didn't do nothing. It ain't my MVP. I'm sall
you a funny story.

Speaker 3 (01:21:51):
This is crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:21:52):
When I score and I hit MVP chance, I'm thinking
they talking about me.

Speaker 1 (01:22:01):
So I asked SHEP, I'm like shop they was churning
m v P.

Speaker 3 (01:22:07):
And he was like yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:22:08):
I was like, I ain't do nothing this ship. And
then he was like, they're talking about Baker ties. I
was like that, and I was like, well, that explains it.

Speaker 2 (01:22:20):
But he is the m v P.

Speaker 1 (01:22:22):
Hey, I would just have you with you. I know what.
But you know what now I'm they was shaying. I said,
m v P. Come on. I said, man, you know
I'm slow. Sometimes he said, Bro, you know I'm slow.

(01:22:44):
Sometimes He's like, I didn't even know. I didn't know
what I did. He's like, man, that must have been great.
They're checking m v P for me. I haven't done
anything this season. That's good man, That's that is high
quality stuff there from Tess Johnson. What a great moment.
I never thought about it, honestly, until this weekend. I

(01:23:11):
never once thought about the fact that a guy could
be confused to hear MVP. Chance Like it never even
crossed my mind. Tess Johnson, of course, played three seasons
at Troy. In two years at Oregon, this is his
rookie season in the NFL. He was the Big Ten

(01:23:35):
Championship Game MVP a year ago for the Oregon Ducks
with eleven receptions one hundred and eighty one yards and
a touchdown. Last season, He's like, bro, I hadn't done anything.

(01:23:55):
Were they chatting MVP for the guy that threw the ball. Yeah,
that's solid, solid content out of the out of the
NFL with Tesz Johnson, no doubt about that. Eight zero
three four five zero zero eighty six. That is the
text line. It's available twenty four hours to day, seven
days a week. We have gotten some text in. I apologize,

(01:24:18):
I get on these kicks, man, smack my hand, bad swanee.
Read those texts. We'll get to them tomorrow, promise you.
All right, we gotta get out of here. Don't forget.
Tim Burray joins us tomorrow on a Thursday afternoon. All right,
we'll be back at four o'clock. Until then, as always,
y'all take care now and go Tigers