Clemson

 Nothing is the same. No crazy opening metaphor to open this blog. We are jumping right into the crazy weekend in Death Valley.  Let's start with Friday night, and the unfortunate lessons that winning can teach. There has never been a time that walking into the iconic Esso Club on Friday night wearing Seminole gear did not merit someone in Orange buying you a beer. But on this evening - in this season - Tiger fans were salty. True, they have not lost three games in a season in almost a decade, but they have won 31 in a row at home and we did not have the look of an impending streak breaker. But winning big for years can change some within a fanbase, and another potential chink in their season had the orange welcome mat tucked inside the closet. We worked through as our team of traveling misfits tends to do. We even found a lovely group spearheaded by Jimbo Fisher's freshman year Tiger baseball roommate. He related the story of a young, short, brash baller who spent way too much time yapping and not enough playing. The Clemson Coach called out young Jimbo in front of the team and told him he had two choices - shut up or ship out. He caught the next boat to Samford. As the evening wore on, colors blurred, the camaraderie blossomed and commonalities won out. Soon, tailgate invites, recipe swapping and hugs all around sent us limping home to our rental on the lake. But, be warned Nole fans when we return to the mountain. Winning graciously can be challenging, and tumbling off the perch hurts on every bounce down. 

The weirdness continued on Saturday when a 75% capacity crowd on this dreary afternoon greeted the home team. Now, I will say that the visiting Noles did not help. This was the most spartan visiting crowd outside of East Lansing I have ever seen for us. Clemson fans have the ability to run to their tailgates at halftime and refuel. Well, this was not a NASCAR pit stop, as at least 20,000 more fans wearing orange decided that a 17-13 game at the half was not enough to compel a return to their seats. So, when the score remained the same after the third stanza, there were probably less than 60,000 fans in the house to bring the win home. The entire parking lot smelled like a low country boil, and I guess the choice between spitting 50 degree rain and hot Old Bay shrimp and sausage under a tent seemed obvious. All to say, this was not the same Death Valley as my previous 13 trips. It was more of a You Might Survive Valley, with more of a threat of a fully clogged heart attack in the parking lot than stress induced in the stands. 

I am guessing the zebras also partook of the available libations at the half. Because a clean well- played first half became a whistle filled mess in the second. Rational fans know that there is not a real bias when these two teams play (we leave that mess to the Carolina schools), but they flat took over the game late with three huge game deciding judgement calls. First, a personal foul - especially taunting - should have a prerequisite of intent. The unbridled enthusiasm of a strip sack and score that gave us our first lead in Clemson since 2013 and had Johnson throwing the ball in the air does not qualify as intent on any level. He did not throw it in the crowd, at the opponent or with malice. His teammates were mobbing him and the ball went skyward. The PI was brutal and right in front of us, and the out of bounds call was equally tough to swallow. All three together gave the home team 45 yards of real estate that an average team can not overcome on a game deciding drive. 

Even though we love our former iconic coaches, how many of us truly believed when we were going to always out-coach the other guys. Sure, we spent many years knowing that we had way better players (I see you Kirby Smart). Mickey bamboozled a bunch of good teams with the '96 UF game at the top of the list, and the puntrooskie proved the old man still had some chutzpah in crunch time.  But we spent way more time wringing our hands over middling teams finding a way to frustrate us. Welp, we are that middling team that just gave the incredibly talented bunch a Maalox moment. When was the last time you saw Clemson celebrate like that at the end of our game? We will discuss the exceptions in a bit, but our guys put together a great plan in two of three phases, and executed about as well as this group of kids can. At many points, six of the seven Tigers facing Jordan were five stars. That bumbling orange offense has six five star skill guys on the field at once. We had the ball and the lead with 5 minutes to go. Great job by the staff. We were indeed the middling, less talented group that put a scare into the behemoth - unless you bring up the piece of Howard's rock under my six layer mattress that is keeping my princess-like disposition up at night - special teams.

We literally could have brought 11 to the line and / or had Robert Cooper returning punts and had the same results Saturday on returns. Three catchable punts just bounced and bounced. At least Coop could have beat some gunners ass rather than run away from the ball. We gave up 50 yards of field position by failing to catch those three line drives and that is assuming zero return. You think Clemson could have marched 80 yards to win the game at the end. I don't. A season long problem has become a puntdemic. Coach, find someone, anyone, that will go catch every ball and then every once in a millennium, return one. Missing four extra points in a season is also an issue. I think we missed that many total in the 90's and 2000's combined. We thought all year special teams could lose us the game, and I argue this was the one.

I know their offense has been anemic, but Saturday the season of drops and overthrows were not there for Clemson. DJ had his best game of 2021, and we still competed. The most encouraging thing I saw on Saturday was the competitive depth. Fuller, McClendon, and Ray were making plays and finally giving some quality backup reps to a very good front. Odell can flat out coach. His kids get better every game. The LB level was exposed again, but what can you do? Gainer had his best game, and Lundy and DeLoach are improving. There is not a coach alive that can get my vertical over eight inches, as I was absent when God gave out the ups. Well, we are only so talented at LB, so until that room improves, being in the right spot at the right time is pretty awesome. 

Those critical of Jordan may not have seen the same game I did. On early downs, he hit guys in stride and only late when our two hurt guards were impersonating roadkill did it get ugly for him. Again, nice to see some freshman contributions at receiver, and the Toafili play was the best college play of the damn year. I don't know if it was on TV, but watch Coach trailing LT like Red Lightning on the sideline. The dude can run, and when he thought he was down, he was already calling the next play. I don't think we have to worry about him ever getting caught in the moment (I see you again Kirby Smart petulantly bouncing like your feet are in hot lava). 

When we grabbed the lead after the sack TD, and then made a huge sack of our own on the subsequent series with five minutes to play, I began to actually believe in miracles. But Al Micheals was not at the game, and the uncatchable punt was followed by 5 boys playing hopscotch in front of Jordan for a series -allowing large Orange people to tap them as they jumped over the top. In a whisper, the bad field position, officials blowing their nose and dropping handkerchiefs by mistake and the hook and ladder disaster and it was over. Garnet and Gold gamblers all over the country were throwing spears in mirrors and we were heading out the door for another long 9 hour drudge home.

We got five to play. We are spectacularly better as a unit than we were in week 1-5. We need to win 2 more to make this a season of growth. I know you all want those two to be against orange teams, but I will take any 2 game combo the staff can siphon up. Enjoying the climb. I hope we never get as low as this program was when Mike took over. So unless you were actively following the boys in 1976 and 77, nothing will ever be the same. And that is a good thing!