I think that the Clemson Football team suffers from what is a complex that affects the entire University and has for many years now. there always seems to be a flaw in all the sports teams. In baseball, its either ALL Hit, No pitch or ALL Pitch, no hit every season. Clemson gets to the Playoffs and the very thing they have relied on all year fails, and its 0 and 2 and barbeque. Everytime there has been a good Clemson basketball team, free throws have been the achilles heel. heck, EVERY year its a problem. And they lose games because of it every year, no matter WHO the coach is. Watch..Clemson will have a great basketball team this year, and they will go to the free throw line and miss free throws....BAD. The football team has had special team problems since the time of Danny Ford. I can remember 2 seasons that were ruined during his era because of punt snaps sailing over the punters head, and a blocked punt.. Tommy West had the same issue and Bowden has seen it continue.
I think the special team woes stem from the fact that despite the obvious talent Clemson has, it still doesnt have enough of it, and it NEVER will. At least not as long as their is a emphasis on the academic side of things in Clemson. Clemson's first 11 on both sides of the ball ( well, at least the first 11 that started the season, not the injury riddled group we have now) could probably match up with any body. But as soon as we see linemen go down, then James Davis get hurt at NC State the "issues" started to pop up.
The "Issues" are many fold but boil down to this. Despite the plethora of talent on the offensive side of the ball, it all boils down to James Davis getting the tough yards inside the tackles. His injury and the inability of Spiller of run hard inside the tackles has changed the way the team attacks offensively. It has become quite obvious to me that James Davis is the heart of this team, and his toughness has been eliminated. Spiller does not possess that mentality. Watch how Spiller tip toes to the line hoping not to get hit and immediately tries to turn the other way and use his speed. And the lack of talent on the second and third teams translates to a vunerability on our special teams. Factor in mistakes by the players on those teams, and you have the breakdowns. then the "issues" start to pop up because the fans immediately turn on Clemson. And I mean Clemson fans. Immediately you hear Fire Tommy and people yelling at players. And it all turns downhill. There is a negative cloud over Clemson that has existed since the very day The Academics punted Danny Ford out in 1991 and still exists today. I am not a "Bring Ford back person" or anything like that, but since that day, Clemson sports seems to follow a pattern.... initial success built upon a sandy foundation weakened by a lack of talent depth.
In short, we aint as good as the other people because we dont have the waves of "athletes" LSU, Florida, Southern Cal, Michigan and potentially South Carolina have. because the others teams graduate players or lose players to injury and someone is there to step in just as good. Clemson loses a player to injury in ANY sport, and the entire situation changes. And the current administration seems to think that it can be done by keeping the high academic standards. It cant be done, not on a consistent basis. Stanford, Northwestern, Rice, Duke...make a flash for a season then they go away. ...now, I am not saying Clemson should lax its standards. But if they are going to have those standards, then I am going to look at the Athletic situation at Clemson for what it is...and be happy when they win, dissapointed when they lose...but...know that when they lose it aint the end of the world, and I can turn to my children and realize that there are FAR more important things than whether or not the Clemson football team is practicing how to cover punts and kickoffs (which I am 100 percent positive they have been, are... and will be)
Oh...I'm sure the Fire Tommy people are out in full force. They will look at South Carolina and see their success. But...look closely. They suffer from the same "issues". But people will start talking about getting rid of the coach. But they wont have a realistic answer as to who they can get to come to Clemson who will run a clean program, recruit and win. because the people we need to "take us to the next level' aint coming to Clemson. Period. End of story. because the Academics aint going to allow entrance to the 330 pound, 6 foot 3 inch just-training-for-the-NFL tackle who can barely read into Clemson. And if you want to go 10-1 every year... you need those guys on your football team. In waves....
So...I will continue to pull for Clemson. And I think that the 2 weeks off to heal James Davis as well as regroup will help. I think this team does not lose again until the BC game where they will be lying in wait to make their season. BC will probably be top 5 and it will be a 7:45pm start. And Clemson will upset BC. Then its a tossup at Columbia.... but if they lose another along the way, i will sigh and shake my head, and turn to my son and say, "hey...lets go out and lean to ride your bike without training wheels". For there are far more important things.
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