The "Stung" Edition

Clemson falls at Georgia Tech in a walk-off finish as the Yellow Jackets hit a 55-yard kick to stun the Tigers, 24-21.

Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Now finally, Clemson Sports Talk has come back to drive time.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
Hello everybody, long and Swan back in the saddle once again.
It is the show that shakes the south Land. Clemson
Sports Talk for you each and every afternoon as you
make your way around the great state of South Carolina
and beyond, listening to us on incredible radio stations like
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(01:14):
the website, but the dot com on it, Dog on
it that's Clemson Sports Talk dot com. And of course
to show the Shakesta South LAMB brought you in part
our good friend's over at Mets Plumbing Mets Plumbing dot
com two two six seven one o eight to give
him a call to day two two six seven one
o eight. That's Mets Plumbing or online at mets Plumbing

(01:37):
dot com. Ooh wee man, uh yeah, long weekend to
Atlanta and back we go. The Tigers fall on a
walk off fifty five yard booming field goal from Aidenburr
twenty four to twenty one. The final score in Atlanta

(02:02):
a lot I mean there's a lot like I get it.
I know you're frustrated. I watch the games, as I
tell you, with a completely different perspective and lens than
most of you. But one of the things that I

(02:23):
can say, beyond the shadow of a doubt, is that
this Clemson team.

Speaker 4 (02:31):
For.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
Whatever reason, just doesn't click right now. Offensively, defensively. I
put out a I put out a graphic during the game,
more in line with the offense, but I think it
sort of speaks to this entire team right now. They

(02:56):
are like a kind of like a bad mind microwave.
Like maybe occasionally the popcorn is fantastic that comes out
of it, but sometimes it's burnt, and this microwave is
producing what feels like more burnt popcorn than good popcorn.
And you go down thirteen to nothing on the road

(03:20):
in Atlanta, have all the chance in the world, big
seventy three yard play from Bryant West could have given
you a fourteen to three lead, and then moments where
you don't capitalize, first and foremost and more than anything,
like if we're critical of the offense, right, if that's

(03:45):
what we are, we're critical of the offense, don't you
have to be critical of the defense when they give
up a thirteen play ninety yard drive and a two
point conversion that allows Georgia Tech to go from down
fourteen to thirteen after you've stormed back to take a
touchdown advantage at twenty one to fourteen, only to have

(04:08):
the offense answer when they need it, as Clemson goes
thirteen plays seventy five yards, taking up six minutes and
thirty six seconds, leaving just three to twenty six on
the clock to tie the ball game. But even after that,

(04:28):
even after nearly a seven minute break in game action,
let alone what real time it was, the Tigers defense
gives up a ten play, thirty eight yard drive which
allowed Georgia Tech to kick a fifty five yard game

(04:52):
winning field goal and the Tigers fall to one and two. Now,
the good news is it's college football season. Like I know,
that's I know, that's a small potato thing for you.
Right now, It's college football season. There were matchups all

(05:15):
over the country and every single weekend, half of the
teams in America lose. South Carolina. Huge expectations this year.
Game Cock fans were so excited, so excited with the
way Clemson struggled a week could go against Troy, and

(05:41):
then after watching Clemson lose around three point thirty ish
in the day, I'm sure that the tailgates at Williams
Brice Stadium were absolutely elated with Clemson taking an l
in Atlanta. I mean, that's that's the beauty of this sport.

(06:02):
I know how much Gamecock fans hate Tigers. I know
how much Tiger fans hate game Cocks, and I certainly
think hate is a strong word. But here's the broader
point is this, And I've always said this to you,
who are you as a fan base without me as
the rival right, Like, who are you as a game

(06:24):
Cock without your buddy who's a Climpson Tiger? Because that's
the beauty of the rivalry. And so I'm sure South
Carolina fans, I bet you there were toasts to clympses
downfall in Atlanta and the excitement that, man, when the
Tigers rolling here in November, we're gonna punch them right

(06:44):
in the mouth. And then thirty one seven happens and
Vanderbilt just beats the breaks off of South Carolina, and
I know we'll talk about this game more. I know
Leonora Sellers got hurt, but he doesn't play defense. And
even if Lenori Sellers is playing that whole game, if

(07:07):
you're gonna give up thirty one points defensively, I'm not
sure if you're gonna beat that Vanderbilt team anyway, And
now the game, guys go out to Missouri this week,
which is always a tough in you But anyway, Clemson,
former top five team, now one and two, nowhere to
be found in the rankings, but lots of football left

(07:30):
to be played, and thankfully it is college full boss season.
You got Syracuse come to town noon kick off this weekend.
You answer the bell there you go to two and two.
As Dabos Sweeney has pointed out, just a few years ago,
Clemson started four and four. But I wrote an article

(07:54):
this weekend. Dabos Wheney likes to say, you know when
you see it, and I know it was skewed for
many of you when the Tigers went seventy nine and
seven from twenty fifteen to twenty twenty, and we're in
the College Football Playoff every year and won multiple national
titles and some might argue maybe should have won three.

(08:17):
I mean, there's there's so much about that that time
in Dabo Sweeney's tenure that is not only irreplaceable, it's
probably irre replicable. Is that the right word? Like, I
don't think you can replicate that either, And because you

(08:37):
live through it, that's the standard. And unfortunately for Tabo
Sweeney in the midst of that, the best is the
standard phrase comes into existence. And now seventy nine and
seven over a five year span, over an eighty six

(09:02):
game span, that's what fans expect. And one and two
and zero and one in the acc is not It
is not cutting it. And it's not to say though
Dabbo's in trouble and fans are gonna he's fired. Some
coaches were We'll talk about that later, but man, at

(09:26):
this point, the fan base they they're they're ready for
some accountability. Wide receivers underperforming TJ. Moore continues to underperform.
Defensive lineman underperforming TJ. Parker continues to underperform. I mean,

(09:54):
I I can't really explain it. They're just out of
Saint Club Nick fifteen to twenty six a touchdown in
an interception two hundred and seven yards, the interception thrown
at the eight yard line. I mean it hurt, but
it didn't because Clem's got the ball right back and
scored on a seventy three yard touchdown to Bryant West Co.
Westco with seven receptions for one to twenty six in

(10:15):
a score. Adam Randall a bright spot. I Askedabos, when
you about Randall you're here that you'll you'll hear that
exchange in a minute. Adam Randall fifteen carries eighty yards
a touchdown. He had some big runs, just like you
know when we when we're critical of this team. One
guy that I can't be critical of is Adam Randall.

(10:38):
I cannot Adam Randall like in the Nil era. If
you want to believe that this is the problem, that
this nil because there are people that believe that. They think, well,
it's the players. They don't care anymore because of NIL.
I can challenge that, and I will in a minute.
But the Adam Randall's of the world that Clemson University

(11:02):
are reasons to stick with this team and continue to
root hard for him, because that kid deserves it. If
you feel like Kay Clubman's overpaid, underperforming, if you feel
like Parker and Woods and all these guys aren't living
up to the expectations, because you think they got too
much money and not enough effort, and effort was called
into question by a former Tiger as well. We'll talk

(11:23):
about that in a little bit. Whatever reason you feel
about it, Heck, throw run In Hannafin into this. Reasons
to root for him. I mean running Hannafin kind of
like Adam Randall, switches positions and he's playing perhaps the
best of any Gallon defense on the entire team. I mean,
what can you say? Those dudes are doing everything they

(11:45):
can to impact the game for their teammates. But anyway,
back to the final twenty four to twenty one heartbreaking loss,
Georgia Tech pours onto the field. They were fined for
breaking the Atlantic Coast Conference's new protocol, the acc releasing

(12:10):
a statement that the Georgia Tech Institute of Technology seems
a little redundant, doesn't it? That Georgia Tech Institute of
Technology has been fined for violation of the league's Security
Event protocol following its victory over Clemson on September the thirteenth.
The violation occurred when fans entered the field of play

(12:31):
after the conclusion of the contest and accordance with the policy.
Georgia Tech will occur a fine of fifty thousand dollars
for the first offense. All finds collected under the policy
are directed to the Weaver James Corrigan Swaalford Postgraduate Scholarship Fund,
which benefits a SEC student athletes pursuing graduate education. I

(12:54):
wonder if that money goes back to any acc student athletes.
So at Georgia Tech, like that's this be a little
caveat like this ondey can't go to you. As a
matter of fact, it should go to the team that
you're rushing the field on. There you go that you
rush the field. Now Clemson gets to fifty grand. That's
the way it all to work. Scholarship for Clemson anyway.

(13:17):
Good for Georgia Tech pouring onto the field. Watching those
engineering students try to figure out they look like little
ants trying to figure out how to get the goal
post polls up and out of the stadium. It was
pretty wild to watch from the press box. Come to
find out, one of those goal posts or the uprights

(13:42):
ended up in the swimming pool of the university president.
They carried it over to his house and threw it in,
So there you go. Georgia Tech enjoy it. Twenty four
to twenty one. The final score. Clemson just discombobulated. I
mentioned dabos Sweeney and the post game not only was

(14:09):
his play really good, but he probably saved you know,
I said that play where where Kate clubt me through
that interception at the eight yard line. It probably should
have been returned for a touchdown, but Adam Randall got
on his horse and buddy Adam Randall made an incredible play.

(14:31):
Here's here's Dabosweeney just talking about Adam Randall in that
effort that he gave to run down that Georgia Tech defender.

Speaker 5 (14:39):
Believable effort by Adam Randall going and getting him down
and good response by the defense getting the ball back
and scoring like one play or two plays. So we
kind of negated that.

Speaker 3 (14:53):
And that's the type of effort that all of these
guys have to give on every single play, and I
don't think we're seeing that. I really don't think we're
seeing that type of effort from every player on this team.
It's it's almost like Clemson expects to win. And to me,

(15:14):
when when you expect to win, this is the way
you play. You've got to want to win. You've got
to fight to win, You've got to earn victories on
the field, and to me, Clemson hasn't done that. They

(15:35):
haven't fought, they haven't gone out and earned wins the
way that you would hope they would, which is why
they're one and two right now. Here's my exchange though,
with Dabos Wheney asking him about how he feels Adam
Randall's really grown in his role through three games.

Speaker 6 (15:54):
Adam's yeah, it was that's in a row. You know.

Speaker 5 (16:01):
The difference early was they had the one big play
on Ashton and so then and that led to a touchdown,
and then Adam's big play kind of led us to
our first touchdown as well. Yeah, Adams, Adam's playing with
everything he's got. He's, you know, really playing with a
lot of heart, a lot of toughness, ton of leadership.

Speaker 3 (16:22):
And so that's what Dabo Sweeney had to say about
Adam Randall after the game when I asked him about
what he thought about the way Randall's played. Again, you
talk about the hustle play to run down the Georgia
Tech defender after the interception, You talk about his effort
on that draw play that Clemson runs where he picks
up thirty somed yards on like a third and twenty two.

(16:43):
And to me, if there's a if there's an ember, right,
that's keeping the fire alive of what you want Clemson
football to be. If you're saying, where's a bright spot
Swanee that you see that, I should feel good. I
think there's no question it's Adam Randall. His story, what

(17:07):
he has done, the way he's developing as a running back.
Again one in two is not the result you expected
nor the result I projected, but that's the reality of
what this team is at this point. But like a fire,
when you've got that last little imber remaining, if Adam

(17:30):
Randall's spirit can embody the rest of this team, if
everyone in that room can become the more like Adam
Randall and the way you see Adam Randall, this season
can still be very successful for Clemson because to me,
Adam Randall is what Clemson football desires to be and

(17:51):
what Dabosweeney wants this program to be. That's the story,
and that's the player that I think you have to
continue to focus on in his leadership. I think could
be tremendous for Clemson in twenty twenty five, regardless of
the way things have started. If you're watching on TikTok,
let me know what you think of the comments about
Adam Randall's play. I mean the effort, the heart, the toughness,

(18:14):
it's incredible to watch and swing He's right. I mean
I hate it that the Tigers are one and two.
I know you hated it as well. There are dames
zero and two South Carolina with their loss we mentioned
earlier to Vanderbilt. Again, we could talk about all of

(18:35):
these games that were going on across the country this weekend.
The Georgia Tennessee game with a phenomenal finish that was
had a chance to listen to that one on my
way back from Atlanta. And again. Full coverage of your
Clemson Tigers and this Clemson Tiger football team on our
website clemsonsports talk dot com. If you've never been to
our site, go check it out today. We'd love to

(18:57):
have you join us just sixty three dollars and seventeen
cents for a year, a year's worth of coverage of
your Clemson Tigers. Think about like this right, Like you
like this show, you want to support us? That's one
way you can do it directly. That's one way. You

(19:19):
could say, Swanee, I'm with you. And man, if we
had one thousand people that were with us, Holy smokes,
you know what that would do for this show. One
thousand people to step into say Swanee, I got your back.
I'm a Tiger fan through and through. You've been doing
this for twenty years. Twenty years, Swanny, I'm with you. Heck,

(19:40):
five hundred of you coming in at sixty three dollars
and seventy cents would be a game changer. But man,
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our website again, Clemson Sports saw dot com. All right,
quick break, We'll come back with more on a Monday.
Stay with us. Back at it Clemson's Sports sal Lot

(20:02):
and swan on a Monday. The one and two Clemson
Tigers again. When we did the over unders. Remember this
was one of the teams that I thought that had
a chance to legitimately go undefeated, and certainly nine and
three would be, in my opinion, out of the gates.

(20:24):
I thought nine and three was going to be a
disappointing year. Nine and a half was the over under
for Clemson to get to the over. This team's got
to win out in the regular season. Insane how quickly

(20:46):
that shifted. Dabo Sweeney. We heard a little bit of
his postgame comments earlier. Of course, Sunday we get this
teleconference as well. And again, this is the difference for
those of you that don't know. The difference in the
teleconference on Sunday and the press conference is that a

(21:09):
lot of the press conference, he doesn't know everything about
the game. I mean, he's seen it, but he's seen
it from the sideline. He has not seen it from
the top cameras and the twenty two man shots. And
he's got an idea of some things. For sure. He's
got some ideas of things because he's talked to a

(21:30):
player about, hey, what happened here, and the players filled
him in on the sideline, you know, So he's got
more information about it all than maybe you or I
even watching it on television or there in Atlanta like
I was on Saturday. But Dabo Sweeney saying this is

(21:50):
a definite low. He also said that one I don't
know why. This is hard for me to say. That's
one that leaves a scar for We're sure talking about
the twenty seven twenty four loss to Georgia Tech, the
fifty five yard walk off winner. Ironically, Clemson with a

(22:11):
walk off winner in the ACC Championship from fifty six
yards against SMU. But here's some of what Dabosweeney had
to say a portion here of his opening statement yesterday
to the media after rewatching that matchup against Georgia Tech.

Speaker 5 (22:29):
Obviously really painful and disappointing loss. That's one that leaves
a scar for sure. So but just give credit to
Georgia Tech. We've paid really two tough, tough losses to
this point, and you know, both games have literally come

(22:50):
down to the last play and we've got to find
a way to make one more play. Big picture from
that game, just a lot of opportunity, a lot of
opportunities for one more play that could have made a difference.
The two turnovers. You know, they got three points on
the one turnover and then you know we turn it
over on the eight yard line.

Speaker 6 (23:08):
Just a really poor play.

Speaker 5 (23:09):
You know, at least going to get a field goal there,
you think, if not a touchdown, and then we miss
a field goal. So those are three scoring opportunities there,
one for them and two for us that.

Speaker 6 (23:18):
You know, make a difference in the game.

Speaker 5 (23:19):
Third down drop was huge, you know, it's the first
down in the plus territory and got a chance to
put it away. Then the ninety yard drive in the
fourth quarter to take the lead and the two point
was probably the biggest disappointment defensively, and then offense, I
thought we had a great response right down the field
and then game win and drive walk off fifty five yards.
So was a really really tough, hard fought game. Thought

(23:42):
our guys competed, you know to the last play, and
you know, we just not playing in complimentary football when
we need it unless you game got three consecutive stops
there at the end, offense didn't didn't take advantage of it,
and then here we pin them deep and just need
one stop, couldn't get it.

Speaker 3 (24:01):
Some of the comments from daboswheny after watching that matchup,
and you know, he's right about the complimentary football thing.
It hasn't the phases of the game have not clicked
together the way you would have liked at this point.
I think that's obviously clear. The other thing that I
think is unfortunate in the way things have played out

(24:25):
for Clemson is that there were such huge expectations. And
I kind of touched on this out of the gates
a little bit for Kai Clubnick, but also for that
defensive side of the ball, and you got to get
those stops. You have to get those stops. I mean
those are as much as not turning the ball over

(24:49):
and not fumbling and those things that happened to Kay Clubnick.
I mean those are as important complimentary football. Here's Dabosweeny
talking about the opportun unities and given Georgia Tech all
the credit, lots.

Speaker 5 (25:03):
Of opportunities in that game to make one play that
makes a difference. But you got to give credit to
Georgia Tech and the job they did, and especially their
kicker to go out there in a pressure situation like
that knock it through.

Speaker 3 (25:14):
So and so we'll come back to some more from
sweny Sunday teleconference in a minute, but I want to
talk about this moment that he's talking about right there,
the field goal. So if you don't know what a
kind of a fire drill field goal is, it's basically
a situation where you don't have a timeout and you
have to run a guy out there onto the field

(25:36):
in a hurry. And that's the situation that Georgia Tech
was in in the waning moments of that game. But
when Clemson makes the tackle to force Forth down the
tackles made with about twenty two seconds left twenty if
you call a time out there, and you might say, well,
why would you call a time out there early? Well,

(26:00):
and here's why I would do it. First off, you're
gonna get the ball in great field position if Georgia
Tek misses the kick, and you would have still had
a time out if you pick up twenty twenty five
yards to maybe kick a game winning field goal yourself.
But by letting the clock drift all the way down

(26:21):
the way Clemson did, essentially for Aiden Burr, what you
did was you let him have a free shot, regardless
of it being a fire drill. You let him have
a free shot at just kicking it. Nothing to lose

(26:41):
if he if he drills it, he drills it, and
if he misses it, we're going to overtime. So let
a rip, big guy. Flip that to if you call
a time out with twenty seconds left. Now, if he
misses it, there's I don't know fourteen seconds left and
Clemson's got the ball in your midfield. That's a little pressure.

(27:04):
If he makes it, maybe you go acc championship, big
kick return, big play, big field goal, tie the game. Instead,
by not calling a time out, Clemson let Georgia Tech
walk that game off, which was one of the more
shocking things, even though it was in a fire drill mode,
because Georgia Tech knew and Burn knew that there would

(27:28):
be no time left. Just kick the mess out of
the ball and see what happens. And you know what happened.
Game over. Stay with us, Welcome back into the show
that shakes to south Land on a Monday afternoon. Again,
still Clemson Nation licking their wounds after that loss this
past weekend in Atlanta. The good news is, Tiger fans,

(27:49):
you can pick yourself up off the ground when you
head into Alumni Haul right there on the corner of
campus on College Avenue with downtown Clemson. Now, look, I
can't be there this weekend. I've got soccer. Well I
don't have soccer. My son's got soccer out of the state,
so I'll be traveling with him, so you won't catch me. Unfortunately,

(28:10):
this weekend in Alumni Hall, but you can catch yourself
there and don't forget the if you are Eclipses student,
faculty member, or in the military, you get ten percent
off when shopping in store at Alumni Hall. They've got
incredible Nike merchandise. Those Nike dry Fits. I've told you
so much about them. Go check them out today. Let
them know I sent you. And remember, students, faculty, and

(28:32):
military get ten percent off when shopping in a store.
Or you can shop online at Alumni Hall dot com.
And it's not just for Tiger fans. They've got a
plethora of universities under the Alumni Hall brand and you
can shop online, go through our site, through our links,
and we'll get some credit for that. It's Alumni Hall

(28:52):
where Tiger fans shop, all right. Dabo Sweeney talking about
the low's a definite low his words about this Clemson
Tiger team in twenty twenty five, given all the all
of the pomp and circumstances surrounded them, I mean, they
don't really control their destiny at all. At this point.

(29:15):
All you can do is just go out and win
and hope, hope that you can get to an a
SEC championship game. Hope that you can find a way
to win out hope that you can get into the
college football Playoff. I mean, it's a weird it's a
weird dynamic. The playoff is larger, twelve teams. It's a
little more like the NFL. The Kansas City Chiefs, for

(29:35):
crying out loud, are oh and two. The Notre Dame
fighting Irish, as I mentioned earlier, are oh and two.
They were also a top ten team, much like Clemson.
You play a good, tough opener the way Notre Dame
did and the way Clemson did, and you kind of

(29:56):
start off maybe with a little you know, not feeling
so great about things, and then it rolls over into
the week two and then into week three you still
are struggling offensively, which is almost mind blowing at this point.
I get it. Anybody that wants to question k Clubnick
how good he is, I get it. I mean I

(30:18):
talked about this during the offseason, like, is it possible
that k Clubnick had already played the best he can play?
Like had we already seen the best that Kay Clubnick
has to offer? And I thought it was a fair assessment,
and even a year ago, if you really think back

(30:39):
and This is where I'd like to smack myself and
I will right on the wrist. If you really think
back to a year ago. Other than like the Supreme
Bright Spots, late ACC Championship game, the matchup in Texas,
the breakaway run against Pittsburgh, even those games, there was

(31:02):
so many ups and down for k Club. I mean,
he is and we did talk about this one in
this season. I mean he is not Trevor or Deshaun Okay,
and that's why I was so startled when people were
projecting him as the number one pick. But I do
feel like he's Taj Boyd or better and right now

(31:23):
with the way he's playing. You remember Taj Boyd had
some of those gaffes in the Orange Bowl against against
Ohio State in what twenty fourteen or whatever it was
late twenty thirteen that almost cost Clemson. You remember that,
And I remember those games and just thinking, oh, Taj,

(31:44):
what are we doing here? But then Toash could spin
that being down the field with the best of them.
That's kind of where I feel sometimes I am with
Kate right now. I'm like, what are we doing, Kate?
What are we doing? Just you know, play ball? I
can't wait to talk to Chad Morris on WINDSDA to
get his assessment of what we've seen from Clemson now
that they're one and two. But back to Daboswheny and

(32:05):
his Sunday teleconference, well, real quick, you know there is
nothing they could do you. You know Dablos when he
will tell you about a windshield mentality, that that's a
windshield mentality. If you're three and oh or one and
two or zero and three, you can't change anything behind you.
Here's Dabos when you talking about the Tigers having to
focus on the Syracuse Orange.

Speaker 5 (32:23):
You play the game or coax the game long enough,
you don't have some highs and some lows.

Speaker 6 (32:27):
This is a definite, definite low.

Speaker 5 (32:29):
But the reality is is, I mean, we know where
we are and we're one and two, and good news
is we got nine more left to show what we're
made of.

Speaker 6 (32:38):
And whether we were.

Speaker 5 (32:39):
One and two or three and oh, nothing's changed. We
still I still believe in the greatness of our team.
And also we still got to go beat Syracuse. So
if we were three and oh, we've got to go
win this game. And so that's just got that's what
we control, is what's in front of us, and that's
what we've got to focus on and can't do anything
about what's behind us other than learn from it, grow
from it, let it develop us into a better team, try.

Speaker 6 (33:02):
To win the next one. So that's what our focus
will be.

Speaker 5 (33:05):
Try to have a great week, put a good plan together,
and see if we can find a way to just
truly get to one to know this week and stay together,
you know, stay together and bounce back.

Speaker 6 (33:16):
That's that's again.

Speaker 5 (33:17):
You play and coach long enough, you go have some
some adversity, and we've been there before us. This is
a program that I mean, it's built from adversity and
for adversity and has been for a long time. And
we've got a bunch of winners on this team and
on the staff, and I don't have any doubt that
they will respond.

Speaker 3 (33:33):
So and that response begins this Saturday at noon in
Death Alley against Syracuse. Now could be in worse situations
out there for sure. U c l A zero and three,
they've already fired their head coach, Deshan Foster after the
transfer of Nico il Maliava. Nico makes his way to

(33:58):
u c l A from Tennis, Ze talk about meltdown mode.
Holy smokes. They got to beat thirty five to ten
by New Mexico this weekend after being beaten by UNLV
last weekend thirty to twenty three. They also got run
out of the building by Utah forty three to ten
earlier this season. So Foster out. Also out at Virginia

(34:22):
Tech Brent Prye, who I really really liked Brent Prye,
but man, it was not working for whatever reason at
Virginia Tech. I mean, they were competitive in the first
game against South Carolina, but then they got their doors
blown off last weekend you might remember in the second
half by Pavia and the Commodores, who took it to

(34:46):
Carolina this weekend. But the Hokies got absolutely smashed by
Old Dominion this weekend. Final score forty five to twenty six.
And I'm not even sure that tells the story of
how bad that game went for the Hokies. They trailed
twenty eight nothing at the half, in thirty one to
nothing in the third quarter, and Brent pry Out quick

(35:08):
break well put a Bowl hour number one right after
this final segment of our number one Clemson Sports talt
lout and swan with you here on a Monday afternoon again,
Virginia Tech firing Brent Prye. They fall to oh to
three for the first time since nineteen eighty seven. I

(35:29):
remember the last time they had a job opening, just
three years ago. I was the I was the one saying,
you guys should hire Shane Beemer. Nobody wanted to hear that.

Speaker 6 (35:41):
Then.

Speaker 3 (35:41):
Of course, this weekend, the game Cocks, who I thought
might start five and zero, had a chance go out
and just get hammered by Vanderbilt. Now, in fairness, Lenora
Sellers did get hurt in the game, but that felt

(36:04):
like a lifeless performance from the game Cocks after the fact,
especially on the defensive side of the ball as well.
Thirty one to seven, Like, I get it, you lose
your quarterback, but you got your doors blown off by
the doors. Ironically, I didn't mean to have that play
on words there. Yeah. South Carolina gave up an early

(36:29):
touchdown to go down seven to nothing, but then bounced
right back with a solid drive to tie the game
at seven, and the two teams would enter the second
quarter seven apiece. Vandy took a fourteen to seven lead
to the half, and then the Commodores would pull away.
The game Cocks with the absence of their starting quarterback

(36:51):
and potential Heisman Trophy nominee or you know, kind of
like k Clubney was at the beginning of the year,
guy that people were talking about for that that uh
not job for that award. I mean, without him, the
eighty thousand game Cock fans in attendance witnessed a major letdown.

(37:11):
Vanderbilt moves to three and zero one to oh in
the sec The Game Cocks now two and one, zero
and one, and the upcoming game for South Carolina on
the road at Missouri is one that I have said
for quite some time is one that I always worry

(37:32):
about for the game Cocks, and of the games that
they had at the beginning of the season, I truly
feel like this matchup against Missouri is the one that
they needed to watch out for the most, Like I
thought this was the game that would likely be the
one that would trip them up. Missouri ranked number twenty

(37:54):
three seven o'clock on ESPN this weekend. Then the game
Cocks go to Kentucky before a bye week, and then
they hit this stretch that is still as daunting as
it was from day one. LSU number three, Oklahoma number eleven,

(38:15):
Alabama number fourteen, Ole miss number thirteen, Texas A and
m number ten. I mean, that's five games everybody ranked
inside the top fourteen, and the game Cocks are certainly
just there, right. I mean they were just in the
top twenty five a week ago before this loss knocked

(38:38):
them completely out of the rankings in the AP. They
are still ranked twenty fourth in the coaches poll. By
the way, if you're looking for Clemson, you're not going
to find them either. The Tigers get just six votes
in the AP pole, and over in the Coaches pole,
the Tigers got one hundred and sixteen votes, but not

(38:59):
enough to be ranked, so the game Cocks with a
matchup at Missouri. Missouri's ranked twenty third in the AP
twenty second overall. Ohio State and Penn State are one
to two in both major polls, with Ohio State garnering
the majority of first place votes. In the AP. LSU

(39:19):
is three, Miami four, Georgia is number five. Georgia surviving
in overtime up at Tennessee. That was a heck of
a ball game between the Bulldogs and the volunteers. Oregon
is six in the AP, Florida State is number seven,
Texas eight, Illinois is nine, and Texas A and M

(39:40):
is number ten. Currently eleven is Oklahoma twelve, Iowa state
number thirteen, Old miss number fourteen, Alabama and Tennessee drops
to number fifteen. At sixteen is Utah, Texas Tech seventeen.
Georgia Tech vaults up to number eighteen after they moved

(40:00):
to three and oh with their victory over Clemson Indiana nineteen.
Vanderbilt is number twenty, Michigan twenty one, Auburn is twenty two.
Missouri chicks in at twenty three, as I mentioned, and
Notre Dame at oh to two falls to number twenty
four in the country. Southern cal is twenty fifth, as
the Trojans are three and oh. Now you might wonder, well,

(40:23):
why is Notre Dame ranked if they're O and two
forty one forty with the loss coming because your former
starting quarterback who transferred and transferred back, botched the hold
on an extra point in a back and forth matchup

(40:44):
versus the way Clemsons looked, Like the way you look
determines how people feel about you. Now, the way you
look doesn't determine who you are or how you play
moving forward, But the way you look is how people
are gonna judge you, because ultimately, while it's not a

(41:05):
quote beauty pageant, it kind of is how you look
mean something to the voters. And the way Clemson has looked. Now,
if you just took it on the surface of the
LSU game, I get it. No, they don't look too bad,
do they. They really don't look too bad. If you
just look at the LSU game and you look at

(41:29):
LSU as a whole, being the number three team in
the country, the number four in the coaches poll, we
may not. I'm just gonna skip the coaches poll today.
I'll give you the top five. Ohio State one, Penn
State two, Georgia three, LSU four, Oregon five. Okay, there
you go, coaches poll. But if you just took it
on the surface of that one game, I think you're
feeling pretty good. You're going, yeah, man, you know what,

(41:51):
we feel good about this. But then you dig a
little deeper, you peel back the layers of that onion
a little bit, and you start seeing it's been pretty inconsistent.
Down sixteen nothing to Troy last weekend, down thirteen to
nothing in this game, against Georgia Tech like I mean,
like I said in the article, if you haven't read
it over on our website, please do go check it out.

(42:12):
You know it when you see it, Dabos, when he
says it all the time, You know it when you
see it. You gotts see it. I don't. Clemson's unmistakable
edge is missing. William Qualcombush joins us around the band.
Keep it locked.

Speaker 1 (42:27):
Each time for Clempson Sports Talk with Lawton Schwan.

Speaker 3 (42:48):
Now it is our number two. That's drive time right

(43:13):
here on the show The Shakespeare south Laye Clemson Sports
Talk Log and swine with you on a Monday. William Qualkanbush,
one of five to five of the Roar in the
Upstate on Twitter at qualk Talk, joins us momentarily. And
of course the show that Shakespeare south Land brought to
you in part by our good friends over at METS
Plumbing mets plumbing dot com. Two two six seven one
o eight. That's the number two two six seven one

(43:35):
oh eight. Give him a call today, that's Mets Plumbing.
William Qualkinbush, what's up, Bubba? How are you? My man?

Speaker 6 (43:44):
Swung?

Speaker 4 (43:45):
I'm doing great. I can confirm the sun Rose, and
I can confirm there are still clouds.

Speaker 6 (43:51):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (43:52):
That's you can decide how much of that is real
and metaphorical. But other than that, I'm doing great.

Speaker 6 (43:57):
How are you, man?

Speaker 3 (43:58):
I'm good, just trying to digest it all. And I
think that you know, first and foremost, these two games
at the beginning of the season, notwithstanding Troy obviously, but
Georgia Tech and LSU. I mean, these were two games
people pointed to, right These are two games that people
would say, Hey, that LSU game is gonna be a

(44:18):
tough one, and a couple of weeks later, be careful
because Georgia Tech might be on the come up a
little bit. And when you lose those games, whether they're
close or not, maybe is neither here nor there for
how the fan base feels. But I think the reality
is starting to set in for a lot of people
that maybe this team's just not as good as they

(44:39):
were projected to be. Would you agree with that at
this point?

Speaker 4 (44:42):
Yeah, I mean I would agree with that.

Speaker 7 (44:44):
Now.

Speaker 4 (44:45):
Let me let me first say, when the schedule came out,
people ask me, what's the game that you're most concerned
about at Georgia Tech? Is the game because this is
Those are games that bring key wins all the time.
His problem now is going to be can he win
the ordinary ones because he's got a bunch of ordinary
teams that they're facing in their next day. I mean,

(45:06):
I think they're going to be favored the rest of
the way.

Speaker 6 (45:07):
Till the Georgia game.

Speaker 4 (45:08):
So you make of that way you will. But yeah,
he's he's just really good at the big game stuff.
He is wearing press conference last week and all that, like,
he's just good. He knows how to he knows the
bulls of the team. He knows how to put the
right buttons in these moments. They're now, what's seven and one?
Eight to one? He has ranked ACC teams since in
three years he's been the coach at Georgia Tech, And

(45:29):
that's that's remarkable. There are lots of ways that Clemson
could have started one and two, But this way where
Clemson's offense isn't any good and they can't really figure
out who they are, any identity or any consistity on
that side of the ball. I didn't see that one coming,
so I'd be on the one. You could say, you know,
if Georgia Tech goes eleven, and zero and into the

(45:51):
Georgia game. You might say, well, that's not a bad loss.
And you know LSU. LSU's now three and ozero and
they beat Florida and picked off Lagway five times. Look
at it. Those losses might age well okay, or age fine.
You know, I'm not sure a lost age is great.
But the reality is that the way that Clemson has
played so.

Speaker 6 (46:12):
Far is not up to par.

Speaker 4 (46:14):
You've got highly paid defensive players who are not special.
You have a quarterback who has as many touchdowns as
interceptions and is one of the two or three least
productive passers in the ACC by any statistical measure. You
have a team that's not explosive except for one player.
You have a team that cannot get off the field
on third down. Has only gotten off the field three

(46:37):
and out three times in two games against power four competition.
That's just not good enough. Now, the defense been good
enough in the lead zone to me, and they've been
good enough on fourth down or one to five on
fourth down all out. But this is not a defense
that's put remarkable stuff on tape either. So yeah, I mean,
could you have sold me to Clemson? Probably would be
like spiritually fine at one and two. I mean, I

(46:59):
guess you could, but with the way that they played
so far, this is not a hunky dory. Everything's gonna
be okay. Just keep your nose to the grinds. Don't
want it to not.

Speaker 3 (47:09):
For my perspective, it's funny because I feel like, even
if you go back to dj Uyunglila's time at Clemson
in twenty twenty one, qualk at the kind of beginning
of that, it felt like the quarterbacks prior to him,
and I know these guys are elite, Deshaun and Trevor

(47:30):
Lawrence and maybe even to a degree Kelly Bryant, you
had this confidence that they were going to make the play.
And I can't tell you the last time Clemson's had
a big play where I thought to myself, the quarterback
is going to make this play. And that, I think
tells the story of what this team has become. Because
there are tons of teams across the country they have

(47:52):
quarterbacks where making that next play is in question. The
real winning teams in college football historically have the quarterback
that the fan base and the coaching staff are confident
will make will make that next play. And I just
I haven't really seen that from cade to where I
feel comfortable with any snap in any play that they call.

(48:14):
Quite frankly, well.

Speaker 4 (48:15):
That's the thing. I mean, you know, I had somebody
ask me, uh so, what's the deal with the offense?
I mean, the quarterback is a coordinator. I was like, yeah, yeah,
it's a lot of that, and it's it's everything. It's
whack them all right now. Uh. You know there, you've
got a coordinator who I think is having a hard
time getting into a rhythm because this quarterback is either

(48:35):
later wrong. I said that about Kay. There's too many
times he's late. There's too many times he's wrong.

Speaker 3 (48:40):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (48:41):
The Tyler Brown option route where he can hit the scene,
but instead he sits down underneath the coverage on a
third down play where you've at least got a chance
if he if you throw it to him, you've at
least got a chance to go for it on fourth
down there or like give you more manageable punt or
whatever you want to do. Playbook opens up and Kate's
trying to at the scene and it's not there. There's

(49:02):
coverage there. Uh why is Tyler Brown who's running into it?
Why is he seeing the defense better than his quarterback.
I don't know what the deal is with Club Mick,
but I mean there's some people saying, well, he's not
coming off his perst rae. Well his first red. Sure
it's short of the sticks a lot on third down,
because there was there were a couple other plays where
he's throwing short the sticks on third down and every

(49:24):
other route. There's one play in particular, people boot I
remember you could hear boozing in the stadium from plait
of people where it's third and six and uh he uh,
you know, he he throws a little two yard I
think it was Westco. Maybe there's a little two yard drag,
a little mash concept and uh you know Air eight
builds that in like there's gotta be yards after catching

(49:44):
an air raid offense. But everybody else is beyond the sticks,
so either they're all covered or Kate sitting the checkdown
too quickly. There's just a lot to be desired from
the quarterback position. I mean, and if he's not gonna
play any better than that, I think Garret Rouja's responsibilities
to get him right. But if Kase I'm gonna play better,
I don't know what you're I don't know what you do.
I kind of felt the same way about Brandon Streeter,

(50:05):
which is nobody wants to hear that about how that ended,
But felt the same way about Streeter. If your quarterback
is consistently making your plays bad or making your plays wrong,
how are you supposed to know what to call?

Speaker 3 (50:18):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (50:18):
And you couple that with an offensive line that's still
sort of finding its sea legs in a run game
that you I mean, you're not gonna run at sixty times.
I think you're already playing Adam random proactivity snaps. I
did the math today. There's only been to the other
scholarship running backs. There's only been twenty nine combined snaps
in three games. Wing those three guys, Adam Randam's got
like one fifty three or something like. You're you're a

(50:41):
lying way too much on random from a snap standpoint,
in from a run the ball standpoint, way more than
you should. So what if Gara right was supposed to
build a game plan on Antony Williams didn't hear that's
the best receiver. Davos say he's the best player last week.
There are just lots of reasons why things are going
off the rails right now, and I think quarterback is
first and foremus among them. But I don't think anybody

(51:02):
is absolved of criticism, because when when you haven't given
up more than twenty four points in any of your
three games, there's no reason you hadn't played the you
know the I don't know the Chiefs and the Eagles, right,
you should be able to find twenty five points in
Atlantic as Georgia Tech, you should be able to find

(51:22):
eighteen points again, tel Usu, I just don't think that's
a particularly high bar, and yet this offense.

Speaker 3 (51:29):
Can't do it. One of the things that I kind
of wonder in the old days, like you didn't want
to have a quarterback controversy. I understand that, but now
when you're paying guys the amount that a guy like
k Klubnick's being paid, does it almost make them I
don't want to call it the untouchable qualk. I don't
think that's fair, but does it make it where you

(51:49):
can't financially justify the move to give Christopher Vizena the opportunity,
because look, next year, if assuming the portal's not in
play for a quarter, I mean this has got to
be Christopher Bazina's offense, and he's been there three years.
I mean, how bad could he be? If Kate Klubnick
is being ineffective. It doesn't mean I think he's better

(52:12):
than Kate club Nick, but maybe he's better than Kate
Clubnck when Kate Klubnick's not playing great.

Speaker 4 (52:17):
You know, I've had that same fault. Here's why I
think I disagree with you. I'm not one hundred percent
because we're still starting trying to learn this era. But
to me, here's what you got. And I'm gonna use
some pro some some sort of pro terms to describe
this situation in a very specific way and for a
specific reason. Okay, all right, Kate Klubnick has an expiring contract.

(52:38):
It's an expensive expiring contract, but it is a contract, nonetheless, Okay.
And Kate Klubnick has a contract that when he comes
off the Brooks, he's got way, in my opinion, he's
got way more money than they're gonna need for Christopher Zina. Okay.
Or you know, if you wanted to go get somebody
in the portal, I mean you could just you can
reallocate those reality, those sours and get a nice player.

(53:02):
Because Cluttinson is last year. I'm not sure you need
to worry about that. I don't now. If you were
saying he's a multi year option or whatever, maybe, and
if this contract was tied to performance, maybe, But here's
the thing. By a roll, his contract can't be tied
to performance. It can't be tied to appearances. It can't
be tied to whether he played or how he played

(53:23):
or any of that, which is really in an air
and flaw the rule. But it does allow you, if
a guy's not playing well, to say you're still gonna
make your money, because it ain't about that. But we
gotta go with something else. And again, I'm gonna tell
you this right now, Kate Klubnick is better than Ben
Branson from Stanford. And that's about it. In the ACC
maybe kyon drones there just aren't got I mean, he's

(53:44):
just worse than all those other guys. Three touchdown, three interceptions,
no special yards, pertend, not hitting a bunch of big plays,
not content to throw the ball down the field. And
I'm watching all these other offenses where the lesser quarterbacks,
in my opinion, less twenty quarterbacks are just chucking the
ball around. Guys that are open or throwing guys open,
just having confidence, looking back or having fun. I don't know.

(54:05):
I don't know what needs to happen to fix this,
but some's gotta fix it because Clemson's gonna lose more
games if Kate Clubney doesn't figure this thing out, and
if it's not kay did. I like, it ain't gonna
happen this week. But I don't think that we're too
far gone and too much sun calls into this that
a switch to Christopher Zina eventually is not still on

(54:27):
the table.

Speaker 3 (54:27):
Yeah, I mean, I don't see how it can't be.
Quite frankly, I mean, you know, it's ironic because at
Georgia Tech in twenty eighteen was the day that you
just looked at the numbers that said, listen, this Trevor
Lawrence kid's playing better than Kelly Bryant, regardless of how
good Bryant was a year ago, and they went with
the guy. The thing is, they havent given Zena any chance,

(54:49):
which makes people think, well, maybe Vizina is just not,
you know, all that good. I guess we'll see what
happens down the road. Now, let's flip to the other
side of the ball. Because you know TJ. Parker is
coming under fire, I think heart because of the way
he's played. I think there are moments in that game
against Georgia Tech Qualt where I said, man, is he
is he injured? Like why is he not in the
game right now? And they talk with Daboswheny about the

(55:11):
rotation and maybe trying to be a little bit deeper
at the position. But even when he's in the game,
he's not impacting the game. I mean, Will Helt's been
the best defensive end for Clemson by a mile and
a half, and that's saying something because you had to
go in and grab him out of the portal. Heck,
I think Kate Denhoff's out playing TJ Parker right now?
What's going on with Parker? And it sure says a lot.
When a guy you know very well, like Shaq Lawson,

(55:33):
goes on social media, it says, hey, I don't see
any dogs in Clemson.

Speaker 4 (55:38):
You know. I heard a national person say over the
weekend that Clemson was in it's Texas A and m Era.
It's Miami era. And then when you have former players
coming out saying what Shaq did, which I think most
people would agree with, it really crystallizes it because doesn't
that sound like the former Miami players or the former
Florida State players last year going who are the imposters?

Speaker 6 (55:57):
Like?

Speaker 4 (55:58):
Who are these guys not playing? And you know what,
a guy like Zach Lawson had earned his key and
got to the NFL with his own blood, sweat and tears.
He is not gonna take cond Lee and a lot
of his peers are not gonna take Conley. The guys
making a million dollars and be in absolute no shows.
I mean, look, you got two you got two million
dollar defensive linemen who are basically on milk cartons. And

(56:20):
I know Peter Woods gets double team, and I know
Parker has a lot of attention on him as well,
But those guys combined have one and a half tackles
for lost in one fact.

Speaker 6 (56:28):
Through three games.

Speaker 4 (56:30):
That's embarrassing. Will Hell has is on pace to have
eight sacks and twenty tackles for loss this year, and
Parker and Woods combined are are looking to combine for
twelve and eighteen. The two of them combined are are
on pace to have fewer tackles for loss than Will Helps.
That's not that's just not okay, Swanny, that's not okay.

(56:54):
You can't tell. In fact, I think that's I think
that's wrong. I think there's a bad match on that. Yeah,
four Sat four sacks. Let me correct my mass on that.
Four sacks and six tackles for loss, so way way
less productive than Will Hell who has two sacks and
five tackles for loss through three games. Now, with that
being said, we know TJ. Parker have migrated last year.

(57:15):
Maybe there's something physically going on. I know this if
you are a Clenstont player and you are looking around
looking for somebody else to make a play. TJ. Parker's
on the list and he hasn't made a single meaningful
play in any game this year. Peter Woods hasn't made
a single meaningful play in any game this year. In fact, defensively,
very few meaningful plays being made, very few meaningful plays
being made. Particular Leagueainst LSU and Georgia Tech. Are they

(57:38):
getting up a lot of points, No, but they also
have three to three and outs combined in two games
against the tenuer four opponents on the schedule. That's not
good enough. Revitable defenses were getting off the field a
third of the time on three and outs, and then
there were forces of turnovers. I mean, I'm sorry, that's
a high bar, but that's where the bar is. I
don't think the bar is one in every ten drives,
let's get a three and out. I mean, good against

(58:00):
Georgia Tech on Saturday. Georgia Tech had five drives of
ten or more plays. They didn't score on all of them.
But there's a wearing down effect when they do that. Yeah,
in the in the scoring drive, SWA mean this goes
back to the defensive line. Okay, in the scoring drive.
The first two sets of downs, Georgia TAK gets no
game on first and ten. They get nine yards on
tacond and ten and make a first down. Then they

(58:22):
go minus one. On the next first down. They go
nine yards again to third and two and they make
a first down. Even when you stop them on first down,
you got a big chance on second down because there's
no killer instinct. And like I say, the highest paid guys,
you're gonna get the high share of criticism. Parker and Woods.
They have got a lot to learn about how to
play in this scheme or whatever. They got a lot

(58:44):
of ground and make up because they're losing a lot
of good will with the fan base. They're getting lumped in.
I'm seeing the text from people with Brian Berz, which
I think people will forgive Brazil alike because they had
some personal seven injuries. But and Miles, Mrsphy of guys
that God bless you. I hope you enjoyed the NFL,
but we're probably won't remember you in a clench of
uniform and Woods and Parker again close to that territory
with a lot of frustrated fans right.

Speaker 3 (59:05):
Now, man, I tell you what a storyline that is.
And final thing, qualk, I think the other thing that's
really kind of telling about this group right now, I
might argue, and again, I know you haven't really said that.
You you insinuated that, And maybe you're talking about Bryant Westco.
I don't know, but I feel like the best two
players that I've seen on this team so far this

(59:26):
year have been Adam Randall and Ronan Hannafin. And those
two dudes change positions. I mean, what does that say
about the other recruited players if the guys that switch
positions to me appear to be the guys doing the
best and giving the most.

Speaker 4 (59:40):
Yeah, A far be from me to say, let's not
play the best players. Okay, if Adam Randall's the best
running back, let's play if eron Amivin's the best safety,
less playing. But it is a bit of an indictment
that you've got guys switching positions and you've been recruiting, well,
these are assistant coaches who have been there ce j
Spiller and Mickey Kahn, and the best players in your
position grew are guys that were not in your position groups.

(01:00:02):
And you know what, in the case of running back,
I gotta say, maybe James is just taking best running back.
But James wasn't there all off season, all off season. Yeah,
you were trying to get Randall ready, but you were
also investig in guys that you recruited David Edzi, Mume,
Jideon Davidson, Key Damams Jr. Those guys have been total
non factors zeros, not positive and negative, not anything zeros

(01:00:24):
so far this year through three games, in close games
like if you're winning fifty to seven, okay, you get
soft pedal these, or even if you're getting blown out,
you can soft pedal these, or if you have a
veteran running back that's been at running back like will
Shipley or film Offfa or somebody like that. You could
deal with that. But Clinton needs these guys to take
pressure off of these, as you said, these guys who

(01:00:45):
may be playing over their heads a little bit in
terms of Randall and in terms of Hannifin, you need
some recruited guys. Now, maybe Khalil Barnes comes back, but man,
they really miss Barnes and Williams. I'll tell you what,
I think they miss a lineman two. But those two guys,
they really need them back. Maybe Cliff Arn't comes back
and splidify safety a little bit, but Ricardo Jones says
made some good plays. He also look like a young

(01:01:06):
player a lot like safety is an unfair place to
learn because you get exposed. You're like the last line
of defense, and so you're the last guy to miss
the attackle before the guys hit the sad on the
goal prost. So I don't want to I don't want
to overly criticize him, but I think the way you
faimed it is spot on. Like you've got guys that
you've poured multiple years of uh of developmental work into

(01:01:30):
that you don't even trust. To get on the field
in some of these games, and you're you're trusting guys
who play different positions more. I think that is a
little bit of en diamond on your system. I don't
think there's any other way to read it, Qualt.

Speaker 3 (01:01:41):
I know it's gonna be a telling week and a
fun week for you. Up on one of five to
five or or alb bounds with Qualking. Be in every
day from noon until three o'clock. Follow follow Qualk on
Twitter at Qualt Talk. Qualt Buddy, we'll talk to you
next Monday, my.

Speaker 4 (01:01:53):
Man, sound good, Swante. I was gonna be with you.

Speaker 3 (01:01:56):
There you have it, William qualkinbush here on a Monday afternoon. Wow. Yeah,
A lot to take away from that, A lot to
take away from that conversation with Quawk. And it's gonna
be a long week. I think it gonna be a
long week towards that Syracuse game. But you know what's
great about football and stuff like that, like you go

(01:02:17):
out there and you win that next one and you
start to put these other ones in the rear view.
But it's gonna be a long week before we get
to the gridiron. I'll tell you that. Stay with us
back out of it. On the Monday Clemson Sports Talk
again the Tigers. You ever get that feeling like that
you said something, but you're not sure, like I feel
like I said the final score was twenty seven twenty

(01:02:40):
four at some point today, And I don't know why
that's in my head. I know it was twenty four
to twenty one. If I said twenty seven to twenty four,
I have no idea where that came from or why
that number is honestly even in my head. Maybe because

(01:03:02):
last week that Troy game was twenty seven to sixteen.
So if I said that, I apologize. If I didn't,
they man, maybe I'm just going crazy, But the Tigers, Yeah,
I'm going crazy. The Tigers are one and two and
giving the expectations that people have for them being outside
of the polls right now, it's a tough sledding to

(01:03:25):
play Syracuse this week. They've got a buye. Then they
go to North Carolina and to Boston College before returning
home to face SMU, then another bye. Then the Tigers
will host Duke and Florida State before going to Louisville,
then facing Furman, then at South Carolina. Can this team
get to nine wins. Can they get to ten wins

(01:03:47):
in the regular season. We'll see, We'll see what this
group has made out of. And as we've talked about
quite a bit year on the program today, you know
dabos Sweeney's comments about this team and his feelings after

(01:04:10):
watching that game against Georgia Tech. You know, I said
it in the article that I wrote on Sunday morning
kind of after, you know, driving back from Atlanta, I
had a chance to think through it. And you know,
dabos when he's got all these lines over the years,
you know, win the one and you know all the

(01:04:32):
best is the standard. Like you guys know all the
things that Dabosweeney says. But it hit me at some
point while I was listening to that Georgia Tennessee game
on my drive back, how many times Dabosweeney has said
you know it when you see it, And you know,
I watched the struggles that this team's had, and I'm thinking, Coach,

(01:04:56):
I'm gonna be honest, I don't see it, and even
former players don't see it. Shaq Lawson, I don't know
how many of you saw this, but Shaq Lawson, former
Clemson Tiger defensive lineman, whose brother is currently on the team.

(01:05:22):
Shaq Lawson, who was in attendance. Was he at the
opener against LSU? I can't remember. I know he's been
in at Clemson recently, Shaq Lawson tweeted out, we don't
got no dogs at Clemson. That nil changed everything. And
yeah he was, he was in Tiger Town. I thought

(01:05:43):
he was there for that opener. I just saw another
photo of him at Clemson for the UH for the
season opener against LSU. Anyway back to that, Dabosweeney was
asked about Shaq Lawson in his comments. Here's what Sweeny

(01:06:03):
had to say.

Speaker 5 (01:06:04):
I mean, listen, everybody's entitled to whatever opinion they want,
and I mean he's he's he certainly is his guy,
got a ton of respect for But I mean, like
I said, I think there's I mean, we've got to
be better, and it's just the bottom line.

Speaker 6 (01:06:17):
We've got to be better.

Speaker 5 (01:06:17):
We got to be tough enough, tougher, tougher to make
one more play. Again, it's as poorly as we played
offensively against LSU, it's it still comes down to the
last play. And then certainly this past game was one play.
But yeah, I mean We've got to be better everywhere,
not just the players, coaches, all of us. So, hey,
criticism is part of it. I mean that just comes

(01:06:38):
with it. I mean, it's when you're at Clemson and
you don't get the results that we all work for.
That's just that's just part of it. I understand that frustration.
People care about this program. I care about this program,
but also have a lot of perspective. I do know,
you know, there's perception and there's also reality. And hey,
we're one and two, but not every one and two

(01:06:58):
is the same. That's for bang sure, but we're going
to battle our butts off again. We've been here in
the last fifteen years. The worst season we've had been
nine wins, and that's happened one time, I think, you know,
so we've been we've been a good program for a
long time. But that doesn't mean we haven't had adversity.
I mean we've started out two and three twice in
my career. You know, one of those years we went

(01:07:19):
on to play for the championship. We've started out one
and two, we've started out four and four, We've started
out four and three. I mean, we we've you know,
we've had lots of adversity over the years, but you
just got to respond. You keep playing and battling through
and so but the criticism is is that just gonna

(01:07:40):
come with the territory and you've got to just stay
away from all that stuff and focus on doing the work.

Speaker 6 (01:07:45):
And we got to get better at doing that.

Speaker 3 (01:07:47):
Dabo Swiney was also asked about the defensive line rotation
and whether or not he feels like that's given them
the desired results by resting some guys at the end
of games.

Speaker 5 (01:07:57):
Thank you just answered your question. So now we haven't
hadn't produced the result we won't we're wanting two. And
again I thought defensive played well enough in the LSU
game for sure to win that game. You know, we
just we got to get off field third down too
many third down conversions, completion percentage.

Speaker 6 (01:08:14):
I mean, we've got their.

Speaker 5 (01:08:15):
Teams are possessing the ball too much, soft on the perimeter.
There's a lot of things we got to improve on.
But you know what, whatever, what we've been doing right
now is not getting us the desired result, that's for sure.

Speaker 3 (01:08:25):
Swen You was ask a follow up about the defensive line,
which again has not been game changing nor disruptive, especially
t J. Parker and whether or not he thinks they
look rested.

Speaker 5 (01:08:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, playing tough, playing physical. Yeah, guys are
playing hard, which is not getting a job done. I
mean we stopped him three straight drives in the fourth
quarter against LSU three in a row defensively, three straight stops,
and we didn't capitalize offensively. And then the Troy game
again they only gave up one touchdown. It just offensively.

(01:08:55):
Obviously we not to rehash that game, but we had
the five straight craziness and got down sixteen to nothing.
But this particular game here, we couldn't stop the quarterback.
I mean he beat us straight up. I mean he
had one hundred yards rushing and they won the batchup,
they won that battle. Even with that, I mean it's
one play. There was plenty of opportunities to win the
game in all three phases, and we didn't get it done.

Speaker 3 (01:09:19):
So there you go, Dabo Sweny some of this comments again,
the full audio of that. It's over on our website,
Clemson sports talk dot com, where we'd love to have
you come join us. Sixty three dollars and seventeen cents.
That's right, I said it. Sixty three seventeen for one
year of coverage of your clyps of Tigers. Keep it
a lot right here on Fox Sports Radio fourteen under

(01:09:39):
the Midlands, and of course around the world on the
iHeartRadio app. As we come back and reset more of
Clemson's loss to Georgia Tech, South Carolina's walloping at the
hands of Vanderbilt, and also some of the other results
around the world of college football this past weekend. Keep
it locked right here on Fox Sports Radio four London,

(01:10:01):
Swine Clemson's sports Talk again. Don't forget about our friends
in Alumni Hall on the corner of campus on College Avenue,
downtown Clemson, or online at alumni Haul dot com. Brow
you're officially licensed Clemson merchandise, hats, t shirts, Tailgate, Geary Moore.
Ask them about their Alumni Hall rewards past program when
you're in there, and and Clemson students faculty in all

(01:10:23):
military get ten percent off when shopping in store. Go
check them out today online at Alumni Hall dot com
or in person right there on the corner of campus
on College Avenue in downtown Clemson. It's Alumni Hall where
Tiger fans shop, all right, noton kickoff this Saturday, Clemson

(01:10:45):
hosting Syracuse. Fran Brown, who delivered Clemson to the ACC
Championship and the College Football Playoff a year ago, will
look to put the Tigers in a one in three
start and an and to start in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
And of course, as you can imagine, we have had

(01:11:08):
some text messages come to us over the weekend about
Clemson's loss at Georgia Tech. So I'll get to those
now and then we can recap some of the stuff
that went on around the country. Bobby listening to the
program in New Jersey to swanee, how did we fall

(01:11:32):
to a mediocre program who can't beat anyone good anymore?
Who's to blame? Head coach, assistant coaches hired by the
head coaches, players ultimately chosen by the head coach. And
never thought I'd say this, but we may need major changes.
That's Bobby A listening to us up in New Jersey. Bobby,

(01:11:55):
I don't think you're alone. It's weird though, because like
I said, it's you know, it's one point games, not
one point games, it's one possession games. It's it's just
Clemson not making the plays that they once made. And
you could total it up and say this if I

(01:12:15):
gave you the run that you had from twenty fifteen
to twenty twenty, but I told you these next five
years kind of had to be what they've been, which
is off of that mark, and then this year starting
to look like it's going to end up like some

(01:12:36):
of those others ended up in the past as well.
I do think most of you would take it right,
like I think we all would to go seventy nine
and seven from twenty fifteen through twenty twenty versus what

(01:13:04):
you've done in the past few years, where the Tigers
have dropped more games I think sixteen games over the
past five seasons, which is still like it's averaging three
a year. There are a lot of programs, Bobby, that
would would love that, but I understand it. You know,
the cheese At Bowl and the Gator Bowl, and heck,

(01:13:29):
even a non playoff Orange Bowl don't cut the mustard
compared to college football playoff, college fotball playoff, college football playoff. Right,
But like I said earlier, you go out this weekend,
you get a win over Syracuse. That makes you feel
better about everything. And I thought Quaut made a good
point too, like LSU's currently the number three team in

(01:13:54):
the country, they may very well stay right there at one,
you know, one of the top teams America. Hopefully they will.
Georgia Tech very favorable schedule at this point, and we
could certainly run through that one real quick for you.
But if if Georgia Tech plays well and Clemson continues to,

(01:14:21):
you know, win ball games, and LSU wins ball games,
that only solidifies that maybe you're not as bad as
you feel, and it solidifies Swingey's thoughts or its comments
about the being one play away that I know drive
many of you insane. But Georgia Tech plays Temple this
weekend and Bobby Dodd Stadium should be a win. Then
they're at Wake, they should win that. Virginia Tech is

(01:14:44):
in trouble. I've already fired their coach. That's in Atlanta
at Duke winnable versus Syracuse winnable at NC State will
be tricky. They should be Boston College pitt then lost
this weekend the way Virginia, So Georgia Tech in that
game at home might likely be favored. As Quark said,

(01:15:08):
I mean, look, you still got to go play those games.
You got a great quarterback. As long as he's healthy,
you'll get a chance. And remember you took Georgia to
eight over times a year ago. So is it possible
that the Yellow Jackets and Clemson get a chance to

(01:15:30):
face off again in an ACC championship. Maybe The thing
that Clemson can't control at this point is simply the
matchups in front of them. But even if you went out,
one of the big problems Clemson has is Georgia Tech
does not face Miami. Clemson does not face Miami, So

(01:15:52):
the possibility exists that Clemson could run the table still
have one loss. Georgia Tech has a schedule where they
could run the table, or even if they lose one,
they still have a tiebreaker over Clemson, and then Miami

(01:16:16):
may very well run the table themselves. In the Atlantic
Coast Conference, Miami is currently three and zero. They beat
South Florida forty nine to twelve, playing the way you
want to be playing with a new quarterback back through
for three hundred and forty yards in that game against

(01:16:36):
South Florida. Remember they also beat Notre Dame. They've got
Florida coming up this weekend. They should beat the Gators.
Then at Florida State versus Louisville Stanford at SMU Syracuse,
NC State at Virginia Tech at Pittsburgh Miami could cruise
to the a SEC Championship. Potentially, Georgia Tech can lose

(01:16:59):
a game and they would still have a leg up
on Clemson, and regardless of what the Tigers do the
rest of the way, even if they beat Florida State,
you still can't guarantee a spot in the ACC Championship.
And that's a problem, and that's why you probably need
Georgia Tech to win out. Like the best thing that
could happen for Clemson at this point is LSU wins

(01:17:20):
out and wins the SEC, and Georgia Tech wins out
in place for and maybe wins the ACC Championship. That's
the best case scenario for Clemson at this point, including
the Tigers winning their matchups along the way. Final segment,
flip side.

Speaker 7 (01:17:37):
What have you done for me lately? It's a fair question.
Just don't lose sight of the bigger picture, don't forget history.
Look you for us at Clemson. The answer to the
questions what have you done for me lately? And what
have you done? Always are the same. We win.

Speaker 3 (01:18:49):
Final sement on the Monday. Happy Birthday. Shout out to
my sister celebrating her birthday today. Hope you have a
great day, Weeda. Looking forward to chatting with you after
I get off the show, see how your day's gone
so far, And again, thank you for being a supporter
of the program. She came up to the ACC kickoff

(01:19:11):
with me this year and we had a lot of
fun talking to players, talking to Dabbo boy. It was
a it was a happy time for Tiger Nation preseason.
And you know, I remember, like you think about it,
how many times did we talk about can you believe
the way people are talking about Clemson? Like get blew

(01:19:33):
my mind a little bit, and yet here we are.
Maybe I was right to have my mind blown. Fsu
fan hitting us up, He says, what's up? I'm mad
about Clemson. This is not what I expected. But all
that could change quickly. Yeah, Like I like I said,

(01:19:56):
fsu Fan, I think Tiger's got some uphill sledding to do,
and they don't really have a lot of a lot
of arsenal so to speak in the tank.

Speaker 4 (01:20:08):
You just.

Speaker 3 (01:20:12):
With the way things currently look, they just got to
play better and hope some things bounce their way. The
good news is I don't think Georgia Tech's invincible by
any means, although I think they have a favorable schedule.
Miami has shown over the years to not have that
ability to close. And Clemson gets a head to head
against your Florida State seminoles. So we'll see about that,

(01:20:35):
all right. This looks like from an unnamed Texter. The
last time we got a text from this text was
September fifth, twenty twenty three, after Clemson lost to Duke.
Texter says, same excuses from the staff, all that experience,
experience with that much talent and still can't put a

(01:20:57):
winning product on the field. I'm convey against sunny Dyke's
propped up Garrett Riley. You can't convince me otherwise. Yeah,
it's one of those one of those things that right
now Garrett Riley's got to eat. It's got to eat
it because nobody believes he was the guy at TCU.
With the way this offense is played, I mean, what

(01:21:19):
are we talking about right now in terms of points
scored in games this season? What ten in the opener
twenty seven against Troy, in twenty one against Georgia Tech
fifty eight total points in three games for Clemson with

(01:21:41):
this offense. I don't care. Listen, I don't care if
Antonio Williams said he's not playing this year. You ought
to be better than that. I mean, flat out you
ought to be better than that. You should have scored
fifty eight against Troy. All right, one final one. We
got a call. I love when Jamal does this. Jamal

(01:22:02):
gives us a buzz and leaves us a message. Here's
what he had to say about ten o'clock on Saturday night.

Speaker 8 (01:22:10):
Hey, Swanny, what do you think comes in this performance? Again?
Should attack in case performance? Who's a lot better today?
And then let me know what you thinks? Man and
deep and can still be a playoff team if we
went out, go Tigers?

Speaker 3 (01:22:26):
There you go. That's Jamal. Look, yes you could still
be a playoff team, Jamal, but you're about a mile
and a half from it right now, maybe maybe more
ten miles. The quarterback play has me scratching my head.
The lack of the lack of fire and passion and

(01:22:53):
what you expect to see, like the way those Climpson
defensive linemen played when it was Cleveland, Ferrell and Extra
Lawrence and Christian Wilkins and Austin Bryant. You see that
from this group, I don't. I don't see it. I don't.
It's almost like a spoil child. It's like they've got

(01:23:15):
everything in front, everything that they want, and you're not
getting everything out of them because they've got everything they need.
But Clemson's not in a vacuum. I'm actually working on
a story on this right now because a lot of
people want to blame in IL, but Clemson does not

(01:23:35):
operate in a vacuum. All these other schools in the
country have in IL, and they're getting more out of
their players right now, then Dabo Sweeney and his staff
are getting out of his and that is a problem.
And I don't know how you fix it. I mean,

(01:23:56):
you would like to believe that the methods that you
in place to motivate players to be successful before NIL
would work post in IL. You would, I mean, it
would make sense that that would work. And look, we
threw some mud on k today and on TJ. Parker,
but how about the other TJ? How about TJ.

Speaker 1 (01:24:16):
Moore?

Speaker 3 (01:24:17):
Seven receptions seventy two yards. That's just not it. This
Clemson whiteout group has gotta be better than Antonio Williams.
They got to be better than that. And quite frankly,
the fact that Tristan Smith right now has one reception

(01:24:38):
for minus two yards. Have you seen this kid? I
can't believe this guy doesn't play more. It's unreal. All right,
I guess we'll talk about more tomorrow. Till then, As always,
y'all take care now and go Tigers.