Monday November 26, 2007

South Carolina Review

South Carolina Review
It feels so good doesn’t it?

It was not perfect and should have been worse but I feel so good for so many.

I feel so good for the Tiger nation. A good friend called this morning and claimed what a beautiful, sunny day it was in Clemson. I asked him if he was in the same Clemson I was in because it was pouring rain but he explained how for the next 363 days it will be “sunny” in Clemson.

Speaking of where you reside, I do feel especially good for the Tigers that live in the Midlands. In those rare years when South Carolina beats Clemson it makes it difficult to live in the area but thank goodness that does not happen too often and those Clemson car flags look so good in Columbia.

How has Clemson dominated this series? One way is the role players have come up big for the Tigers throughout the years. On the radio last week I pointed out how Howard Bartley was a typical example of that but Nelson Faerber and LaDonte Harris are now even better examples of that.

You have to feel so good for Harris who is not a star but he stuck it out and has been nothing but a model student-athlete in his time at Clemson. The Alabama native has said he loves Clemson and wants to stay at be graduate assistant at Clemson next year.

When breaking down the game before Saturday who could have known Tyler Grisham would leave the game with an injury and Faerber would be a hero? The former walk-on will now always be remembered in Clemson history and rightfully so.

I feel so good for Aaron Kelly. What a difference a week makes and now we can thank Kelly for a completely different reason. It was Kelly’s nine catches for 134 yards but most importantly he had four catches for 70 yards on the final drive of the game. No one will forget his two catches on third and 18 and fourth and four but the first catch of the drive and the final catch of the drive were almost as big. The Tigers started the final drive with only 2:09 on the clock on their own 22-yard line but it was Kelly who came up with the 26 yard catch to start the drive and get the ball up to the 48-yard line. It was Kelly’s 14-yard catch on third and 18 that set up his 12-yard catch on fourth and four. But I maintain his 18-yard catch on the next play that got the Tigers down to the Gamecock 16-yard line was another huge play.

Kelly broke Rod Gardner’s single season reception record. He now has 84 catches for the season. The previous record was 80 by Rod Gardner in 1999. Kelly also went over the 1,000 yard mark in reception yardage. He now has 1045 receiving yards entering the bowl game.

You feel good for Harper who played a gutsy game on a banged up shoulder. The junior will have his shoulder scoped this week and his toughness was a huge key. Looking back at the season I ask a few questions. First, what was Harper’s worst game this year? The Georgia Tech game was as struggle but the receivers dropped nine passes that day. Can you name a Clemson quarterback that had a more consistent year than Harper?

I can’t wait until next season when Harper gets the pre-season pub a quarterback with 27 touchdowns and six interceptions deserves.

I feel great for Mark Buchholz. The mental toughness is evident when you are around the midfielder/placekicker. Usually placekickers are flaky and mental basket cases but Buchholz is different and I am happy for him. It will be interested to see Buchholz as a full-time placekicker and not jet-setting around the Southeast playing both sports.

I feel good for the offensive line that seemingly dominated the USC defensive front. Thomas Austin’s snaps were spot on all night and the unit opened up holes. It was pretty apparent to me that the Tigers were better on both lines of scrimmage.

I feel good for James Davis and C.J. Spiller who put up 210 yards rushing on the rival. Both looked awesome at times. Both backs averaged over five yards a carry and hit some big plays. I really liked the motion package where the reverse was always on the mind of the Gamecocks.

I feel good for the Clemson defense that played well on the field and had some emotion on the sidelines. For those that were not at the game I wanted to mention the intensity and emotion of the defense during the TV timeouts. Phillip Merling and company got together several times and it was obvious they were hyped. Merling also was emotional with the Tiger offense during timeouts. I credit the leadership of this team that realized last week was over and this is a rivalry game.

It was also the defense and special teams that continued to give the offense great field position all night.

While I don’t understand throwing the ball on second and goal from the two I do feel good for Tommy Bowden. A 7-2 record against South Carolina is meaningful but perhaps the one stat that says it best is the fact that Bowden now has three nine-win seasons in nine years at Clemson and South Carolina has two seasons where they have won at least nine games in 110 years of playing football.

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