Monday December 07, 2009

GT Review; Big Game; 2010; Hardwood Dominance; Heisman

Georgia Tech Review
I have said many times on this blog and on my radio show that you should never accept losing. A loss is a loss and there is no room for moral victories. However, there are different kinds of losses and some losses hurt more than others.

I was disgusted by this year’s losses at Maryland and South Carolina. I was less disgusted with the TCU and both Georgia Tech losses. Less disgusted but more hurt. Saturday’s loss hurt. It hurt worse than any of the other four losses. In fact, I think it hurts as much as any loss in my memory.

I think Saturday’s loss hurt so much for several reasons. It hurt because Saturday was a chance at the Atlantic Coast Conference championship. It was the chance at the Orange Bowl and a BCS bowl bid. It was a chance at redemption.

The loss to South Carolina hurt but this one hurt worse because of the opportunity lost. It also hurt because of the combination of the two losses to end the season.

Saturday’s loss means the Music City Bowl instead of the Orange Bowl. It means Nashville instead of Miami.

The defeat hurt because the Tigers did so many good things. A 13-point deficit was erased. The Tigers had another fourth quarter lead. The offensive line played better. The running game was outstanding. The energy was there. The positives were outweighed by the negatives of the loss though.

One of the main reasons it hurt so much was it meant that C.J. Spiller’s supreme effort could not bring a title home. I hurt for the fans and coaches but I really hurt for the players especially Spiller. What more could a Tiger do?

Saturday’s game was the only time I can remember watching a college football game that featured no punts. I guess I have seen Pop Warner football games where the teams did not punt but nit at this level.

Clemson’s defense simply could not get off of the field. Some drives the problem was first down as Tech gashed the Tigers on this important play. Sometimes the Tigers could stop the Yellow Jackets on first and second down only to give up a key third down conversion. Occasionally it was a fourth down conversion. Sometimes it was the dive play. Sometimes it was the quarterback and others it was the pitch man. On some rare plays it was the pass that was the killer. But Clemson just could not stop Tech.

In my opinion part of the problem Saturday night was the play of the linebackers. In blogs in the pre-season I wondered if Clemson could have a great defense this season and the main reason was linebacker play. I wondered in the pre-season if a defense can be dominant without great linebackers? I could not remember a dominating defense that did not great linebacker play.

Big Game
In many ways Saturday was the bowl game this year. It was in a much better site than the bowl game anyway and it was the bigger game.

I guess that is something I learned from Saturday. That was a huge football game. I had said that several times in the last few weeks but this was the first time I had gone to an ACC championship game and it was even bigger than I expected. I must admit that I loved the trip and loved the excitement of the game. This experience changed my perception of the championship games and thus has changed my thoughts on future seasons. The main focus of each season should be the ACC Atlantic division title. This appearance has wet my appetite and now I covet other titles and more ACC championship game appearances.

2010
In the next few weeks on the blog I will get into the bowl game and recruiting. We will cover basketball and baseball as we get ready for another spring practice and another football season. But the key to the 2010 football season in my opinion is player development. This strength and condition staff and this coaching staff have to find ways to motivate and to improve each player in order to make the next team better.

I will get more in detail with this in the coming weeks but we should look to Alabama and their program as a model. Nick Saban hit on this again Saturday. He said the key to last year’s 12-2 season was the player development after their 6-6 season. He made the point clear that the reason they beat Florida and won the SEC title this year was the player development and motivation even after a 12-2 season. So this Clemson staff will have to find ways to make every player and every position improved between now and September. More on this in the next few weeks.

Hardwood Dominance
I did want to touch quickly on basketball. Six straight wins over the arch rival is always a good thing and Sunday’s win over South Carolina continued Clemson’s dominance over the Gamecocks on the hardwood. I was traveling home from Tampa and did not get a chance to see the game but did catch it on XM radio.

The Tigers faced a lot of zone defenses again Sunday but this time they were more prepared and more effective. This was not a masterpiece because of the turnovers and point blank misses but the defensive effort was impressive.

Last week I wrote about how much I was surprised about how USC offensive linemen Garrett Anderson was such a big key for the Gamecocks. He was in and out of the doghouse this season and Anderson had even lost his starting position. No one saw his impressive play coming and it was part of the reason for the 34-17 win.

Yesterday we saw a similar situation. Who among us could have predicted Demontez Stitt outplaying Devon Downey? Stitt helped shutdown Downey who was 3 of 15 from the field. Downey had only eight points and three assists in 32 minutes. On the offensive end, Stitt was more aggressive with 14 points five assists and four rebounds. Downey was 1-4 from three while Stitt hit two of his three shots from long range.

Sports Center
The Heisman finalist will be announced tonight on ESPN’s 6:00 PM Sports Center.

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, Larry in Naples, FL, RTG-Pawsitive Tiger, Mary-Louise Pawlowski (John's daughter), Jo Ann Bachman, Frank Taylor, Kenneth Bryant, Pruitt Martin, Got igers and his family, David Rowland, Leonard, Gillespie and his family, Jim S, Christine Hepfer, Daniel Rosborough, Amy Murphey, Jack Huffman, Nancy Winkler, Dr. Nancy Strom Morgan, John Reeve, Eileen Woodrum, Ethel Southard, Vinnie Brock, Kaitlyn L, Eric Boessneck, John Bowers, Jimmy Ness, Susan Miller, Joyce Harley, Steve Proveaux, John Petrey, Chalmers Carr, Drayton Melton, Jeffrey Greene, the Hutto family, Sherl Drawdy, Caleb Kennedy, Ann Fallaw, Bob Pollock, Teresa O'Connor, Matt Jacobs, Mike Kingsmore,Perrin Seigler, Carole White Begley, Candee Massee, Lindsey Jordan, Sam Catoe, Tyler Felch.