The Good: The Tigers are 6-2. We have an elite defense and good special teams. We have won 3 games we had to struggle to win. Struggle builds character and character can pay off in a big game sometime in the future. We have so much ahead of us at this point that if we can accomplish it -- we will have had a successful campaign in 2014. A win in Atlanta at GT for the first time in years and years, a win over the Cooters for the 1st time in over 5 years, a 10-2 finish, a trip to the Orange Bowl with an opportunity to finish 11-2 and in the top 10, and momentum, momentum, momentum would be awesome for the Tigers.
The Bad: There is no way to sugar coat it. I watched the worst half of offense from a Clemson team that I can ever remember. And I have been watching these Tigers since 1972. We have a depleted and not very good O-line. The reason we throw so many bubble screens is because we don't have the blocking to allow our receivers the time to get downfield. Missed blocks kill many of our drives behind the line of scrimmage. Even when we go forward we have no explosive push. I know injuries is a big part of this but still I would expect an elite program to have something up front. Right now this stinks for the Tigers.
The Hoped For: Time to heal all those Tigers who are out and can make a difference for our team. Time to put together a way to make our Offense move. Time for our fans to buys tickets to help our Tigers out in Atlanta by out cheering the crowd at Bobby Dodd. Time to get our mind right and on what has to be done to win out. Time to man up and finish the drill to go 10-2.
Despite our warts we can still finish and set our program up for another big season in 2015. Lots to do though over the next month.
I was flashing back to 1993 last night, when every game was 16-13. To win the last three weeks shows this team has some guts. Hopefully the trip to W-S next Thursday is not as difficult. Go Tigers!