Monday July 12, 2010

Scheduling Advantages; Ladies Clinic

Scheduling Advantages
Whenever I look at a team in the pre-season I always consider several factors like returning starters, key players lost, key returners, how the team played in points decided by seven points or less the previous year, etc. But when trying to pick out a conference or a division champion I play close attention to schedule, especially in an unbalanced schedule.

So who has the advantage in the ACC’s Atlantic Division this year? My choice is FSU. I think the Seminoles are the best team in the division but they also have a much easier schedule than Clemson.

Based upon talent I think it goes: 1-FSU 2-Clemson 3-Boston College 4-NC State 5-Wake Forest 6-Maryland. It is early and you can never tell who will develop as the year goes on, but I think Florida State, Boston College and Clemson are the three favorites to win the division.

Because there are six teams in each division, each school plays five games against the schools in their division and three from the Coastal division. This means half of the teams will have three divisional home games and two road games and half will have two divisional home games and three road games.

The schools that have three division home games are Florida State, NC State and Maryland. The three that have two divisional home games are Clemson, Boston College and Wake Forest.

Here is a look at each school’s ACC schedule:

Florida State
Division Home Games-Wake Forest, Boston College, Clemson
Division Road Games-NC State, Maryland
Non-Division Conference Games-@Virginia, @Miami, North Carolina

Boston College
Division Home Games-Maryland, Clemson
Division Road Games-NC State, Florida State, Wake Forest
Non-Division Conference Games-Virginia Tech, @Duke, Virginia

Clemson
Division Home Games-Maryland, NC State
Division Road Games-Boston College, Florida State, Wake Forest
Non-Division Conference Games-Miami, @North Carolina, Georgia Tech

NC State
Division Home Games-Boston College, Florida State, Wake Forest
Division Road Games-Clemson, Maryland
Non-Division Conference Games- @Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, @North Carolina

Wake Forest
Division Home Games-Boston College, Clemson
Division Road Games-Florida State, Maryland, NC State
Non-Division Conference Games-Duke, Georgia Tech, @Virginia Tech

Maryland
Division Home Games-Wake Forest, Florida State, NC State
Division Road Games-Clemson, Boston College
Non-Division Conference Games- Duke, @Miami, @Virginia

In my opinion Florida State has the easiest schedule. They have Clemson and Boston College at home.

Clemson has the toughest road divisional games with road trips to Florida State, Boston College and Wake Forest.

NC State has the toughest non-divisional schedule as they play at Georgia Tech and at North Carolina and have a home game with Virginia Tech. Clemson has the second most difficult non-divisional schedule because they play three of the top four teams from the other division but they get two of the three at home.

I think there is not a lot of difference between Florida State, Clemson and Boston College in terms of talent but there is a big difference in schedule. The Seminoles have a much easier road to the title game. Boston College has an easier road than Clemson because the Eagles host Clemson and their three non-divisional games are Virginia Tech, @Duke and Virginia while Clemson’s are Miami, @North Carolina and Georgia Tech.

Clemson won the division last year partly because the schedule helped. The Tigers played the number two, three and four teams in the division at home last year. But this year will be a different story.

In summary, the Tigers have a difficult road to repeating as division champions. Florida State and Boston College have more returning starters coming back and Clemson suffered more key losses in players like Spiller and Ford.

I am not saying that Clemson cannot win the title again this season. I think Clemson has the best offensive and defensive lines in the division and am still a believer that the game is won at the lines of scrimmage. What I am saying is that Florida State should be favored at this point and Clemson’s road to the title is much more difficult.

Ladies Clinic
I got an e-mail from Dabo’s people last week wanting to remind everyone of the upcoming Ladies Clinic.

The 2010 Dabo Swinney Ladies Clinic will be held Saturday, July, 24th in Littlejohn Coliseum. Check-in starts at 7:00 a.m. with the official program kicking off at 9:00 a.m. The day’s events will finish at approximately 4:00 p.m. in Death Valley. The Clinic is sponsored by Dabo’s All-In Team Foundation and AnMed Health.

Attendees will receive instruction from the Clemson coaching staff and a behind the scene look into Tiger football.

The day will include:

• Sessions in the West End Zone facility including the Tiger weight room, locker room, team meeting room and Death Valley.
• A Q&A session with the Clemson coach’s wives.
• Meet and Greet Photo w/ Coach Swinney.
• Shopping with Clemson Tiger vendors.
• Lunch provided by Chic-Fil-A.
• Silent and Live Auction items.
• Meet and Greet w/ Clemson Legends

Registration fee is $60; $15.00 going toward breast cancer research and prevention matched by Dabo’s All-In Team Foundation. Last year over $32,000 was raised and donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation and AnMed Health.

Space is limited, register today at www.daboswinneyfootballcamp.com or call (864) 656-1910 for more information.

The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency

Prayer List
We have started a prayer list on the blog. Here are the guidelines:
*If you are offended by prayer or prayer lists then I apologize in advance. The blog is free and the prayer list will be on the bottom of the page so you don’t have to read it.
*If you would like to add someone to the list please e-mail me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com
*If you want the reason for the prayer to be added to the name please specify in your e-mails.
*Please let me know when it is appropriate to take the person off of the prayer list

Those who need our prayers include:
Finn Brookover, RTG-Pawsitive Tiger, Mary-Louise Pawlowski (John's daughter), Jo Ann Bachman, Kenneth Bryant, Pruitt Martin, Got igers and his family, David Rowland, Leonard, Gillespie and his family, Jim S, Christine Hepfer, Daniel Rosborough, Amy Murphey, The Huffman family, Nancy Winkler, John Reeve, Ethel Southard, Vinnie Brock, Kaitlyn L, Susan Miller, Joyce Harley, Steve Proveaux, Jeffrey Greene, the Hutto family, Sherl Drawdy, Caleb Kennedy, Teresa O'Connor, Matt Jacobs,Perrin Seigler, Carole White Begley, Candee Massee, Lindsey Jordan, Sam Catoe, Tyler Felch, Steve Cato, the Nicolopulos family, Cason Palmer, Scott Jackson, "the Jacksonville, FL guys", Kim Sims, the Coyle familty, Ryleigh Tedder, Steve Lee, Richard Crawford, Kelly Trakas, Jimmy Moore, Steve Williams Jr, Steve Williams III, Kim Thomas, Reid Thomas, Sam Thomas, Linda Wiggs, Emily Claire Young, Dr. Wallace Honeycutt, Stacy Fowler, Kitty Bowers.