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Valley Legend [12782]
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FALL FROM ELITE.........signs were there.......just IGNORED.......
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Sep 13, 2025, 5:47 PM
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2019: The lead up......I’m willing to give this year a pass b/c we still had talent, but the ###### in the armor started showing. We cakewalk our way through the ACC where the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, & 5th best teams were 9-5, 8-5, 8-5, & 8-5. We beat an elite Ohio State team despite being outgained by 100yds and having help from 2 OSU turnovers. LSU w/ the 44th best defense in the country held an offense full of future NFLers to 26 points. Again, I’m willing to excuse this performance vs arguably one of the best offenses college football has seen, but considering our TALENT we should’ve scored more against a mediocre defense……and you can’t win them all………....14-1
2020: COVID year. Outside of the Citadel we played all ACC teams. We step out of conference in the semifinals and get curb stomped by Ohio State……….and again failing to score in the 30s w/ still some fairly elite talent on our team. While Notre Dame was in the ACC this one year……..they too were obliterated in the semifinals by Alabama……..11-2
2021: AND SO IT BEGINS……the portal is now 2 years old and is being utilized by every FBS team in the country sans Clemson & the academies. Our ignorant fans placed ALL BLAME on DJ. While DJ wasn’t great, our elite offensive skill & coaching was GONE and the coaching staff hires of former players with little to no REAL experience start to mount…..…10-3
2022: This is the year where the “pumpers” were completely fooled b/c their orange glasses blinded them to what happened on the field. It took double OT to beat a 5-loss Wake team….a 6-point win over a 6-loss Syracuse team…….which led to an ACC Championship over a 5-loss North Carolina team. The Championship blinded most fans to the REAL problems (inexperience coach hires, lack of talent at WR, ignoring the portal/NIL era of CFB) b/c outside the ACC we went 0-3, getting steamrolled by Notre Dame, losing at HOME to South Carolina, & losing by 17 to Tennessee in the bowl game………….11-3
2023: Some hope to start w/ the new OC, but still lack elite talent, asst coach experience, DCoordinator experience, still no portal to fill talent gaps. What’s the worst thing that could happen? Killed by Duke 28-7 in the opener. One score wins over 7-6 Kentucky, 5-7 South Carolina, & 4-8 Wake Forest………..all while losing to 7-6 Miami & 9-4 NCstate. We’re hardly “elite” anymore and haven’t been for a couple years at this point……….9-4
2024: This season’s pretty much a mirror image of 2022. Get stomped at home by 9-4 Louisville. Need a miracle Cade run vs a 7-6 Pitt team. Squeak into the ACC Champ game and the playoffs. We played THREE SEC games……lost all 3. Bookended the season with double digit losses to UGA & Texas…………………….10-3
2025: Here we are……….1-2…………struggle home win over a Troy team that just got stomped by Memphis……...0-1 vs ACC………0-1 vs SEC. Can this be salvaged???.....sure technically it can......but it doesn't look good.
We’ve been insulated by the conference which has blinded MOST to the issues. Since 2021 we’re 9-15 vs P4/5 teams that finish w/ 8+ wins (this is assuming LSU/GT finish there, which I’d expect them to do). Our OOC record vs P4/5 teams w/ 8+ wins is 1-8. Most of the same issues in 2021 still haunt us to this day. Lack of elite talent, not utilizing the portal, assistant coaching is extremely suspect and inexperienced at this level……not to mention SOFT.
This is not a “pumper” or “dumper” take……..it’s realistic view of where we are. Fans are welcome to continue to bury their heads in the sand, but until Dabo changes his way it will NOT CHANGE! It’s not 2015 College Football anymore. You can’t attract elite talent with slides, putt-putt courses, & whiffle ball anymore. He needs to be honest about our TALENT, Coaching, and realize that College Football is not the same anymore. I’ve been hoping each year since 2021 would be a “wake up call”, but it hasn’t been……….until then I guess we’ll keep watching this program do the same thing over and over again hoping things end up differently………………the signs have been there, they’ve just been ignored and solving the problems have been either slow played, ignored, or completely botched.
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Orange Beast [6430]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: FALL FROM ELITE.........signs were there.......just IGNORED.......
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Sep 13, 2025, 5:51 PM
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Good post.
I didn't ignore it.
Been saying here for years that change was too slow.
IF.....you aren't going to fully use the portal to fill the unavoidable holes that will happen in todays environment (culture aint keeping them all)--then you MUST be ELITE at HS recruiting and we are not. We are good, but fall short of what is needed to be a true competitor for NCs.
Throw in a S&C program that needs a TOTAL revamp and poor coaching in spots and this is where we are....
A slow, insidious slide that was 100% self-inflicted. That's what hurts the most. Its not like we had a Joe Paterno event, or that Day/Kirby are just that much better; we actually thought one coach was right and all his peers had it wrong.
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Varsity [119]
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Re: FALL FROM ELITE.........signs were there.......just IGNORED.......
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Sep 13, 2025, 5:52 PM
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I have told several of my friends that we have been “taking on water” since 2021. Your post explains accurately.
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Clemson Icon [25970]
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Re: FALL FROM ELITE.........signs were there.......just IGNORED.......
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Sep 13, 2025, 5:56 PM
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I’ve been right there with you the whole way. Recruiting has not been good plus inadequate use of the portal got us here.
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Freshman [0]
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Re: FALL FROM ELITE.........signs were there.......just IGNORED.......
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Sep 13, 2025, 5:58 PM
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Good analysis - can't disagree with any of this. What is the solution?
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Head Coach [943]
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Re: FALL FROM ELITE.........signs were there.......just IGNORED.......
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Sep 13, 2025, 6:06 PM
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Totally agree. I'm also afraid that this is the year that the transfer portal is going to be a real problem with players leaving.
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Heisman Winner [83112]
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Re: FALL FROM ELITE.........signs were there.......just IGNORED.......
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Sep 13, 2025, 6:09 PM
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I have faced the fact we are 1/4 way into season and average at best. I doubt it appreciably changes give the players and coaches involved. never could figure out how to stop King on the run being. D front often pushed around. O Line often pushed around. Poor tackling by dbs adding to many yards after contact. these dbs dont event slow them down most times. gap integrity is not secured by linebackers most of the time. yep there were some guys out today but the subs should have been good enough to beat GT except the quality of what we recruited is in many cases vastly overrated.
Still love the Tigers but this is not a ACCCG or CFP caliber team. Bowl certainly in. reach because that has become something any TEAM one with a pulse gets.
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Dynasty Maker [3156]
TigerPulse: 94%
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Should be Post of the Day***
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Sep 13, 2025, 6:14 PM
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Paw Warrior [5053]
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Re: Should be Post of the Day***
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Sep 13, 2025, 7:38 PM
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Post of the day will be something like “I still believe in Coach Dabo point party” or “We can still make the playoffs” or something pumpy like that
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Paw Warrior [5053]
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Re: FALL FROM ELITE.........signs were there.......just IGNORED.......
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Sep 13, 2025, 6:55 PM
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100%, a great summary of what has been said on here to the jeers of pumpers for years now. Sadly there are just a few of us that can see reason without truely being true dumpers or trolls about it. Honestly at this point I’m convinced the pumpers don’t have orange colored glasses, they got orange tinted lasik
From here I see three roads:
1. Dabo’s epiphany - either Dabo wakes up and decides to make these changes on his own, or Neff grows a pair and lays down the law about the state of the program, updating philosophy, and major coaching changes (especially on offense). We have the resources and talent to make a quick (2-3 season) turn around if we make the right hires and utilize the portal efficiently (not saying get 20 transfers, but more than 3 per season)
2. Dabo leaves - the expectation to appreciation ratio and professionalism of the sport reaches a tipping point and Dabo decides to go the way of Saban and hang it up. I don’t see anyone stealing him anytime soon with his buyout where it is so I think it would be a retirement situation
3. Nuclear Option - 3-4 more seasons on our current trajectory and Neff (or his replacement if it’s bad enough) have to fire Dabo once his buyout is near the end of contract anyway
With options 2 & 3 I see the program being in a bad spot, likely middle of the pack ACC with degraded talent. The replacement coach will struggle, and we may have to go through more than one before we get back to a playoff caliber team, which given the resources committed to football I think would be inevitable given time and a suitable change of approach. But at this point you know the pumpers will be all up in arms because they’ll claim that Dabo was only 1-2 years away from being “back” and now look where the dumpers landed us.
I sincerely hope it’s option 1. Dabo has done so much for our program, our university, and our region. He brought us places we’ve only dreamed of, and I believe he is capable of doing it again. Just not the same way he did it the first time. This past offseason showed major strides in change, starting to use the portal and bringing in an experienced DC, but it’s not enough, he has to make more. He has to bring in better offensive minds and purge the friends and family from staff so our assistants and coordinators salaries are commensurate with their actual experience levels.
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Game Changer [1793]
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Re: FALL FROM ELITE.........signs were there.......just IGNORED.......
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Sep 13, 2025, 7:51 PM
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Most ignored it. I didn’t. I’m always on the ball
I’ve been right since monte about all of it…… Bakich needs to go to if we lose this year
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Game Changer [1617]
TigerPulse: 94%
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Re: FALL FROM ELITE.........signs were there.......just IGNORED.......
Sep 13, 2025, 7:53 PM
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Good analysis. I agree completely and I, too, have been aware of the decline and spoken up about it.
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National Champion [7297]
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Re: FALL FROM ELITE.........signs were there.......just IGNORED.......
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Sep 13, 2025, 8:09 PM
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Edited for clarity and brevity:
"Discerning fans like me know we should've fired Dabo the day after he beat Bama 44-16 for his second natty."
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Starter [287]
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Re: FALL FROM ELITE.........signs were there.......just IGNORED.......
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Sep 13, 2025, 8:57 PM
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100%. It’s viewing everything that is not that as the demise of a program.
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National Champion [7297]
TigerPulse: 100%
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More than that.
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Sep 15, 2025, 10:35 AM
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It's the worst sort of armchair quarterbacking. "We were the best (possibly ever) college football team in the nation after we dismantled 'Bama in San Jose, which makes it really, really easy for me to spot every regression from that day on, call it out, then say 'I told you so.'"
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Orange Blooded [2534]
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Fan [35]
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Re: FALL FROM ELITE.........signs were there.......just IGNORED.......
Sep 14, 2025, 10:28 PM
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Great post. Now that the feeble ACC has just a couple programs that might have turned the corner (gaTech and DAu) the picnic is over. fSu will prolly be boom or bust any given year, theyre a wild card. The rest of the conference will likely stay terrible as usual but the days of Clemson rolling undefeated in-conference with the next best team being WF are history. NIL change everything just like the man said.
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Hall of Famer [8598]
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When they changed the rules it changed the trajectory
Sep 14, 2025, 10:40 PM
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Wasn’t hard to figure out. Teams in bigger conferences who were inferior to us now have way more free money than we would ever see at Clemson. Even the shingle schools like FSU and Miami will still be at a disadvantage bc our conference can’t get the same support from the TV contracts. They’ll have a year here or there where they put together some portal teams but nothing that’s sustainable. If they can figure a way to limit or make transfer sit a year before eligibility when they transfer there is a hope for ACC to have perennial giants again but until that we are on a year to year climb. We all can still get in the playoff but having those sustained runs will probably not be possible anymore. We got screwed when Gavin Newsom paved the way for the portal era.
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Top TigerNet [30999]
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Re: FALL FROM ELITE.........signs were there.......just IGNORED.......
Sep 15, 2025, 10:37 AM
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They weren't ignored by many of us.
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National Champion [7297]
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Re: FALL FROM ELITE.........signs were there.......just IGNORED.......
Sep 15, 2025, 10:59 AM
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Rival Killer [2749]
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Sure, it was obvious we weren't as good as the '15-'20 teams
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Sep 15, 2025, 10:56 AM
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But, maintaining that level is #### near impossible. You have to hit on so many prospects that the odds are just against it.
But, I would remind everyone that the down years of '21 to now are still well above anything we did from 1992 to 2008.
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National Champion [7297]
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I think reasonable people see it this way.
Sep 15, 2025, 11:03 AM
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The point is to put the team in a position to compete for the natty by first winning the league. They did that last year.
Always there are those who'll come on here and say it's not that they lost to Texas, it's how. It's not that they lost to LSU, it's how. It's not that they beat Troy, it's how. Etc.
Nothing's ever going to be good enough for those who approach it that way.
Right now, they're sliding back into the landscape (6 votes in the AP poll?!) ... and that stinks. But as Swinney said, they can still win out and still make a run at the ACCCG/CFP berth.
And if they do, it'll have been a good season.
Uphill battle. But not yet out of the realm of possibility.
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Athletic Dir [1146]
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Re: FALL FROM ELITE.........signs were there.......just IGNORED.......
Sep 29, 2025, 10:32 AM
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Bump. Also I think Dabo truly thought there would be some regulations out in place that would bring NIL and the portal under control. A complete misjudgement by him. The NCAA currently has no say in CFB and that hurts the way Dabo wants to do things. Great post and insight without cherry picking stats to convince sheep they aren't headed to the slaughterhouse.
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Hall of Famer [8864]
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Re: FALL FROM ELITE.........signs were there.......just IGNORED.......
Sep 29, 2025, 10:48 AM
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Glad you mentioned the LSU Naty game. I had always looked at that game as the turning point in our offensive coaching downturn. That LSU team could score points by the bucket load and the game was 25-28 midway in the 3rd quarter. From that point on, we threw the ball virtually every play and TL16 couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. ETN never touched the ball again after running it down the field to score to make it 25-28. Never figured out why our OC's eliminated the run game which would have kept the ball away from Joe Burrow?? Seems like it has been all down hill since the 25-28 point in that game.
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Varsity [140]
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Re: FALL FROM ELITE.........signs were there.......just IGNORED.......
Sep 29, 2025, 2:39 PM
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Oh yeah, this has been a trend. If you recall in the LSU title game year, we were already seeing the offense start to fall into these conservative trends. It just so happens that there were a few superstar NFL-level players on the team to hide the flaws in the system.
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Orange Blooded [2427]
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Re: FALL FROM ELITE.........signs were there.......just IGNORED.......
Sep 29, 2025, 3:06 PM
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You could see it in the OSU game before that. It looked like we had no real game plan on offense except throw to the sidelines, and hope a WR makes a play. Lawrence saved us with that big run, and Etienne was huge at the end of the game. Coaching did not win that game.
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Clemson Icon [26069]
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9/18/21 at home versus GaTech
Sep 30, 2025, 9:55 AM
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When I saw with my own eyes the ineptitude of Clemson performance. Looked like dog poop versus GaTech requiring multiple goal line stands to defeat them at home. I haven't believed in Clemson the same since then.
That year GaTech finished 3-9.
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