Monday November 30, 2009
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Monday November 30, 2009
South Carolina Review Saturday’s game was one where one team was waiting to ambush the other. One team was totally prepared and the other was not ready for what it was about to face. One team had a sense of urgency and the other treated it as just another game. Last year this was the same story line only the color of the uniforms were reversed. Last year Clemson was waiting to ambush South Carolina. They had a bad season and an interim coach but they also had something to play for and had that sense of urgency. The Tigers did that again in 2004. That physical domination looked like what I saw Saturday. South Carolina did it to Clemson in 1987 when the Gamecocks blitzed Clemson as soon as the Tigers got off the bus. The Tigers returned the favor in 1988. It has been rare that one team is totally focused and the other does not play well but when it happens it looks ugly for the losing team. The winning team gets in a rhythm and the loser looks lost. That’s what I saw Saturday. I saw South Carolina line up and smash Clemson physically and the Tigers had no answer. I saw the Gamecocks play with a sense of urgency and the Tigers sleep walk. Someone forgot to set their alarms Saturday. Last year South Carolina looked disinterested in the rivalry. Their players were too focused on the NFL draft and their team was in disarray. But I saw the Gamecocks shut their mouths and go back to work and the dividends paid off Saturday in Williams-Brice. Now it is Clemson’s turn. The Tigers are lucky that they don’t have to wait a year to go back to work. That can happen at practice today. But the off-season should be filled with a reminder of what happened Saturday. I would think a physical butt-whippin’ would be a terrific motivation for off-season conditioning. I think a little video of the game should be shown a few times in the off-season. They should be reminded how that felt so it won’t happen again anytime soon. Saturday was the 19th game the Tigers have played under Dabo Swinney and only the second one where the other team was more physical. The other was the loss at Florida State last year. The Tigers were dominated on both sides of the football. South Carolina ran the ball at will. They imposed their will upon Clemson. They shut down the run on defense. South Carolina was able to make Clemson one-dimensional and then attacked the passer. Kyle Parker was running for his life and had little time to throw which made him much less effective than we have seen him since the Maryland game. I don’t buy any Clemson excuses. I don’t care if the Tigers were playing in the Super Bowl next week, there is no excuse for that lack of focus against the arch-rival. No excuses. The Tigers were punched in the mouth and had no answer. That effort was inexcusable. I also don’t buy the SEC argument. South Carolina has been in the SEC since 1992 and is now 9-14 against ACC teams since joining the league. The Gamecocks were in the SEC when they lost to Clemson in 10 of the last 13 years. It’s not like they just joined the league. The SEC is better than the ACC in football but that has not helped South Carolina over the last 17 years. To go 3-5 in the SEC is not a factor. The reason South Carolina beat Clemson Saturday is not because of the SEC. It was because they physically outplayed Clemson. The Gamecocks took advantage of Clemson’s mistakes and physically took the fight to the dog. Their offensive line blocked better. Their backs ran harder. Their receivers caught the ball better. Their defensive line got more pressure and their secondary covered better. They out played and out coached Clemson Saturday. They were more prepared and more motivated, They won the game this year and to the victor belongs the spoils. Congrats are due. The Gamecocks have bragging rights in this state for the next 363 days. If Clemson does not like it then it should have done something to prevent it Saturday. Losing sucks. I am not a good loser. I hate losing. I really hate losing to the arch rival. Thank goodness it has not happened too often in my lifetime but when it does there is only one option and that is sit back and take it all in and remember how bad it feels. Sometimes you have to lose to the arch rival to make you appreciate how good winning feels. Nothing makes this go away for the next year but winning the ACC title Saturday sure will help. A trip to the Orange Bowl will help. This feels so funny because as I sit here and step on my bottom lip, I have to remind myself that the Tigers will be playing in their biggest football game in 20 years. Win Saturday and Clemson will be playing in its best bowl in 28 years. As bad as we feel right now, we could feel much better if the Tigers win the next two. If the Tigers are sitting here on January 6th with a 10-4 record, an ACC title and an Orange Bowl title then it will be a happy village. Until then, little can help get this feeling out of my gut. Thank goodness this does not happen too often. The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency
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Here's my review... Total azz whipping. There thats it, nothing else to note. They won in every phase of the game.
Posted by DV_1981 on November 30, 2009 at 10:25 AM EST #
Our OL was not there; our defensive front 7 were at the farmer's market; our backup RB had grease on his hands and jersey--not resin; our DB's couldn't see the SC fumbles to recover same.
GAME OVER! What don't you understand about that scenario?
Posted by bbrown cren on November 30, 2009 at 10:45 AM EST #
I hope our team is really mad and takes it all out on GT this Saturday. Do you think the same thing happened to GT against UGA?
Posted by Locotiger on November 30, 2009 at 11:32 AM EST #
As a Clemson fan, I'm not legally allowed to predict a Clemson loss, but if you read between the lines on my pre-game comments (here and on Strelow's blog) you can see that I expected Clemson to lose for a number of reasons. However, I did NOT expect Clemson to get helplessly whupped on national TV like the Alabama game. Painful.
Beat GT and all will be right again. Frankly, I was hoping that Clemson would prep for GT all last week and just play the 2nd string against SCar. We can beat them any year and we beat them most years. No big deal. But we haven't won the ACC since 1991. UGA showed just how vulnerable GT still is.
Go Tigers! 10-4!
Posted by Razzmatazz on November 30, 2009 at 01:10 PM EST #
I just saw that Vegas has GT favored by ONE point. Toss up.
Posted by Razzmatazz on November 30, 2009 at 01:22 PM EST #
Good Blog. I feel the same way. It stinks and it hurts. But I do not agree with you that this "doesn't happen very often." It does. We get punched in the mouth at least once a year by a more physical team and I don't really care to separate them by arch rival/non-arch rival. A blow is a blow. Also, we got out-coached by a country mile and had no answer for anything they did. Our players got out played and couldn't man up and respond. We got dominated in all aspects of the game. And that isn't new to us Clemson fans. It hurts a little more against the cocks, but it doesn't put this loss in any other category other than an "L".
Posted by RU4GOD2 on November 30, 2009 at 01:37 PM EST #
The one thing I wanted from dabo was a team that played wide open every play of every game with their tails on fire. This looked like a Kenny Hatfield clueless team who lost their teddy bear. OL looked like the same old softies we have seen for years, but the DL looked the same way, which is a change. Very disappointed. And when you have a guy mentioned in the Heisman talks that only gets 12 carries, it makes you wonder about our OC. Outcoached, outplayed, out toughed, butts stomped. End of story. The real fallout will show up in some key recruits hat we had a shot at. Now we have to have a miracle to get them. Thankfully, I believe in miracles. Come on Tigers. Get after sombody!
Posted by Dugatiger on November 30, 2009 at 02:53 PM EST #
I have to agree with your take on the game. It just didn't look like the Tigers were able to dig deep and play their hearts out. I also appreciate your analysis of what we can still accomplish. I hope the players read your column and set their goals HIGH! Go Tigers!
Posted by tigrrrfan on November 30, 2009 at 03:03 PM EST #
Duga,
Dang man. CJ was about to puke the whole day and every gamecock was following him on every play. Give Napier a break on that one.
Plus, cut a little slack. Our team has gotten used to beating ucs, so it is plausible that they were surprised by the level of enthusiasm that they had. Frankly, it was a rare showing by our garnet-clad rivals.
INteresting that GT/Uga were in the same situation almost exactly. Uga needed that win a lot more than GT did.
But let's cut the coaches some slack. They have already accomplished more than we did for the last decade, and it can be more.
All focus should be on Tampa.
Posted by Clemsnman on November 30, 2009 at 04:26 PM EST #
Oh, but I blame the new uniforms, too. THe light weight threw off our timing.
Posted by Clemsnman on November 30, 2009 at 04:29 PM EST #
You hit the nail on the head. It was a very tough game to watch and really took some of the luster out of a very fun football season. If they will learn from it and be a better team down the road the sting will go away. Right now though, it hurts really bad.
Posted by omaha89 on November 30, 2009 at 04:54 PM EST #
You will know exactly what this team is made of next Saturday. If we play like we did againt the Cocks we will lose big. If they respond to this like they did the Maryland game there is great hope in Tiger Town. This response will dictate how we can assess the coaching staff and our future. It is not the loss as much as it is how you respond to it. But like Dabo says the next game is the BIGGEST and the ACC championship is about the biggest of all for our program in years. GO TIGERS BEAT GT
Posted by OrangebloodedAl on November 30, 2009 at 05:01 PM EST #
You will know exactly what this team is made of next Saturday. If we play like we did againt the Cocks we will lose big. If they respond to this like they did the Maryland game there is great hope in Tiger Town. This response will dictate how we can assess the coaching staff and our future. It is not the loss as much as it is how you respond to it. But like Dabo says the next game is the BIGGEST and the ACC championship is about the biggest of all for our program in years. GO TIGERS BEAT GT
Posted by OrangebloodedAl on November 30, 2009 at 05:02 PM EST #
You will know exactly what this team is made of next Saturday. If we play like we did againt the Cocks we will lose big. If they respond to this like they did the Maryland game there is great hope in Tiger Town. This response will dictate how we can assess the coaching staff and our future. It is not the loss as much as it is how you respond to it. But like Dabo says the next game is the BIGGEST and the ACC championship is about the biggest of all for our program in years. GO TIGERS BEAT GT
Posted by OrangebloodedAl on November 30, 2009 at 05:03 PM EST #
MIckey,
You were pretty hard on them but they earned it. Pathetic performance in virtually every phase.
Posted by 74TIGER on November 30, 2009 at 10:45 PM EST #
Any loss hurts. Period. But a "take you behind the woodshed" whipping hurts until you can take someone behind there yourself. If the fight that I believe is in these Tigers is in them...GT better strap it up tight!
Posted by ga86jody on December 01, 2009 at 08:59 AM EST #
Unfortunately the Tigers have not always responded well to a loss. I believe the TCU loss beat us twice, remember the Maryland disaster. Only an open date saved us from a long slide. I hope this loss does not beat us twice as well.
Posted by Orange and+Purple on December 01, 2009 at 09:57 PM EST #