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YOUR BALANCE
People need to chill about "coachin'"
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People need to chill about "coachin'"


Oct 18, 2016, 6:17 PM

For what it's worth, I haven't been super impressed by our game-plans this year and I think Tony Elliott has some work to do in the "optics" department...he comes across as kind of defensive and stuffy when questioned about some of his decisions and some of his answers have come across as, well, lame. Then again, Elliott hasn't really been in a job where "optics" much mattered and I for one am aware how hard it is to come across as cool and cogent when somebody sticks a camera and mike in your face. Unless you're just used to it and have gotten past that point where you're awkward in front of a camera, reason and verbal ability tend to...just go, to Who Knows Where. People who know him personally know Elliott as a fairly chill, very bright guy.

Some ways I think it's a good thing. This season is going to be another bloodbath in college football as far as head coaches go - LSU is already open, and Notre Dame, Texas, Baylor, and a host of others seem likely to - and a lot of programs are going to be shopping head coaches; if Tony Elliott was further along the curve in terms of looking slick in front of a camera I suspect he could be snatched up in a hurry.

All that said, I think for the most part our staff has done a fine job and most of the problems we're facing are related to three things: experience, the quality of the opponents we're facing, and - and this is underrated, a lot - dumb luck.

Consider first the inexperience of our OL. We replaced two seniors - Eric MacLain, Joe Gore - with two sophomore first-year starters in Taylor Hearn and Jake Fruhmorgen. They have not been sterling, and some of their whiffs and poor decisions have been, at times, facepalm-inducing. But when you consider that our OL is starting two TRUE sophomores (Hyatt, Fruh, and both at tackle), a redshirt soph (Hearn), and just one junior (Crowder) and one senior (Guillermo), that the OL has been "average" at times over the first half of the season is really not a surprise. It still has a great deal of size and ballast in the middle and plenty of athleticism on the edges and this OL has also played a large number of even younger players over the first half of the season. It would be shocking if the OL wasn't better down the stretch.

The second aspect - turnovers - is a little statistically odd. It also isn't any one position group or player. We've seen fumbles from seniors like Leggett and Williams, freakish ones from normally sure-handed guys like Wayne Gallman (when he was targeted!), and they aren't coming any one place or in any one area; they're just sorta...random-like. Considering that many of the culprits are guys who have never had fumble problems in the past it does leave you shaking your head...and just wondering if it's a statistically anomaly that has to work its way out. Teams that win a lot of games and have a high plus turnover ratio usually come down to Earth when the TO ratio reverses itself, which almost always happens...because turnovers, especially fumbles, tend to be a thing that happen in clusters and then statistically even out over time and you just can't count on them. So yes, Clemson may have been guilty of a bit of carelessness...but statistically Clemson's also been unlucky and a lot of games have been closer than they should have been because of Clemson's bad fortune with turnovers. Opponents down the stretch, again, can't count on that. That kinda stuff usually evens out.

The third aspect is our opponents. Clemson ranks in the Top-10 in terms of strength-of-schedule in pretty much any metric you care to apply. SC State was poor; after that our worst opponent thus far was a Boston College team with the then-#1-defense in the country, on the road. We also have 4-2 Auburn, 5-1 Troy, 5-1 Louisville, and a 4-2 NC State squad....and those four squads have combined to lose two games all season to teams not called Clemson. That's a shocking murderer's row considering where some of those teams were evaluated as prior to the season; the reality is that our schedule ended up being absurdly front-loaded. When we play teams like Wake, Syracuse, and South Carolina later on in the year, it'll literally be the first time since SC State we've seen teams that poor; if Clemson can get through FSU and Pitt we should coast to the ACC title game.

So Clemson is, and remains, very much in the driver's seat. And there's a lot of finger-pointing and panic that strictly speaking is probably not warranted. A lot of fans seem to be looking for someone to blame...in Clemson's 7-0 start.

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Re: People need to chill about "coachin'"


Oct 18, 2016, 6:25 PM

I think all of that can be summed up with the following:

Fix the OLine problems, and we will be amazed how awesome our offense becomes. We have all the tools, but the OLine makes it all work. It's really this simple.

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What - me worry?***


Oct 18, 2016, 6:52 PM



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We're even in TOs on the season


Oct 18, 2016, 6:59 PM

Feast or famine.

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The definition of awesome!


Thank the Lord he missed that kick.***


Oct 18, 2016, 7:09 PM



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"We establish no religion in this country, we mandate no belief. Nor will we ever. Church and state are, and must remain, separate." ~Ronald Reagan


keep pressing your luck, and ultimately you lose...


Oct 18, 2016, 9:00 PM

that's all there is to it.

This team - and the coaching staff - needs to get the idea in their mind

that if they're no up by 21 at the end of the 1st quarter then they've crapped the bed.

They need to feel as if they could almost lose the season at any point -

which obviously now they can.

Tell you what this team reminds me of is 2011 -

just an overall young team that didn't know what it took to win out.

Shades of that this year it appears in some respects as well...

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Ughhhhhh 7-0 winning the ugly ones and


Oct 18, 2016, 10:03 PM

doing so with multiple injuries so far seems to be a good solution to making the playoffs. I agree that a 20, 30 or 40 point win advantage is much less stressful but just like when I got my score from the PE exam and had passed by more than the minimum I felt like I had studied too much. (OK for the youngsters - you used to get a score and the minimum was 70 for the civil PE - but I was ALL IN).

I think our coaches and team are fine and will adjust as necessary.

GO TIGERS!!!

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Re: keep pressing your luck, and ultimately you lose...


Oct 19, 2016, 10:46 AM [ in reply to keep pressing your luck, and ultimately you lose... ]

Well good morning negative nancy. Tell us more about your superior coaching knowledge. And for the record, could you state how many FBS games you have won as a head coach?

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The offense turning it over is not a "this year" problem.


Oct 18, 2016, 7:10 PM

I won't count 2008 (we were 100th in turnovers lost, so it's not to stack the numbers, just Dabo took over midseason).

2009 - 24 turnovers, t-69th in the nation.
2010 - 23 turnovers, t-62nd
2011 - 24 turnovers, t-72nd
2012 - 21 turnovers, t-54th
2013 - 24 turnovers, t-89th
2014 - 18 turnovers, t-34th
2015 - 27 turnovers, t-116th
2016 - 16 turnovers (through 7 games), t-122nd.



This is not an aberration or a short-term trend, it's a consistent problem under Dabo, and it has seemingly gotten worse with Morris' departure.

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I'd posit that these numbers get better if normalized


Oct 18, 2016, 7:19 PM

Against the number of snaps and games we have played. That said, still way too high, and the primary reason Louisville and NC State were able to keep those games close.

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null


What kind of number would we see if


Oct 18, 2016, 7:39 PM [ in reply to The offense turning it over is not a "this year" problem. ]

We saw the ratio of T/O versus number of plays, either for the year or for individual games per year. Might be an interesting stat, since number of plays would present T/O opportunities.

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Re: The offense turning it over is not a "this year" problem.


Oct 18, 2016, 11:38 PM [ in reply to The offense turning it over is not a "this year" problem. ]

Ouch

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That is an 8 yr avg of 77th.


Oct 19, 2016, 9:28 AM [ in reply to The offense turning it over is not a "this year" problem. ]

out of 128 teams that puts us in the 40th percentile.

A bit below average.

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Re: The offense turning it over is not a "this year" problem.


Oct 19, 2016, 9:57 AM [ in reply to The offense turning it over is not a "this year" problem. ]

I seriously doubt it has anything to do with Morris.

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I was unaware that Morris


Oct 19, 2016, 10:02 AM

the Cat had anything to do with Clemson Football

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Yeah, cmon!***


Oct 18, 2016, 7:11 PM



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+1 for providing a refreshing perspective!! Go Tigers!!***


Oct 19, 2016, 7:31 AM



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