My expectations were initially low going into the BC, and they became significantly lower when it was announced that Sammy Watkins would miss the game due to illness. I expected a lackluster outcome from the offense and a steaming pile of crap from the defense. Despite a few scares, my expectations were shown to be well off the mark.

The offense is so prolific now that I am completely spoiled. I find myself irritated that offensive perfection is not being achieved. Any drive that doesn’t result in points is upsetting. I mean, last night team scored only 45 points on 576 yards of offense. Apparently I need more reminders that no one is perfect, not even the pros, and especially not college athletes. However there is of course room for improvement. Eight penalties for 54 yards and two turnovers is sub-optimal.

The defense in the first half made it seem that this game would be a shootout. Fortunately, and to their credit, they tightened up in the second half. They prevented BC from scoring on several early drives, allowing the offense to get comfortably ahead. They deserve credit for forcing two turnovers. Allowing 10 points in the second half is still short of ideal, but it is much better than the 21 points scored in the first half.

At the end of the day, it was nice to see the team rise above the adversity and record a solid win on the road, seemingly unaffected by the outcome from the prior week. The team still has a lot to accomplish this year. Hopefully they can remain focused and continue maturing. They have a reasonable chance at being able to finish the regular season with only a single loss, and if FSU trips up, they could find themselves in the driver’s seas for another divisional championship.

I honestly haven’t heard people talking too much about basketball. I’m not sure if people are actively trying to avoid it, or if it’s just happening anyway. Whatever the case may be, the next game is tonight. The Tigers go on the road to BC. ACC road games just make me queasy, not that you needed to know that. However, you probably do need to know that the game starts at 7. ESPN2 has the coverage. Clemson is favored by 3 points.

To borrow from a great baseball coach: Nice dunk, TO. Don’t ever fuckin’ do it again.

Well, aside from TO’s stupid dunk at the end of the game, I gotta say that I’m pleased that the team can leave Boston with a solid victory. I only caught the 2nd half. It was good to see Booker making his presence felt and imposing his will. Raymond Sykes was also showing some hustle and getting things done. TO was 6-10 from behind the arc, however for at least a couple minutes there I knew that I’d rather have the ball in Sykes’ hands than Oglesby’s. Talk about a role reversal!

I’ve not been following the apparent drama in Boston. BC football coach Jeff Jagodzinski is reportedly about to be fired for reportedly taking an interview with the NY Jets about their head coaching vacancy. The first I heard about, all I gleaned was that it was in Jag’s contract that he’d be dismissed if he interviewed for other jobs. But now as I read the articles, things seem less clear cut.

[BC athletic director] DeFilippo would not discuss the specifics of Jagodzinski’s contract but did say the two had a mutual understanding when Jagodzinski took the BC job just a little more than two years ago that he would be the Eagles’ coach beyond the 2008 season.

“We certainly expected it would be more than two years before he would look or accept an interview [with another team],” DeFilippo said. “All contracts are different, as well as the spirit and intent of the contract.”

Jagodzinski has three years left on his contract. Were BC to fire him, sources said, the university would be on the hook for the remainder of his salary.

So maybe Jag’s contract says he’s supposed to get fired or maybe it doesn’t. But here’s what I don’t get: why would you have such a clause/intent/understanding without any financial penalty for the coach? In all seriousness, if your boss came up to you and said, “Hey, you’re doing a great job, but remember, if you go interview with anyone else you’ll force me to fire you and give you 3 years of pay,” wouldn’t you strongly consider taking him up on the offer even if you hadn’t been considering it before?

Let me state that I emphatically hate idiot callers on radio talk shows. Let me add that I am one of those idiots and I will gladly participate if anyone even so much as pretends that they think I have something valuable to say. And the fine folks at CFB Weekly allowed me to have a return appearance to the show, so go ahead and give it a listen.

From what I recall, I was asked if we could win against BC if Matt Ryan was able to shred our defense. I like our offense, but I don’t think the team can win without a fine effort from the defense (and special teams).

Asked about the status of Bowden, I can say that his position is still up in the air and dependent on how the season ends. It’s great to be 8-2 and on a 4-game winning streak, but the happiness can easily be shattered by 3 straight losses. Additionally, I have the fear that once Tommy really achieves success, he may just up and leave. He certainly has a lot invested in the program, but at some point it just might not be worth dealing with Clemson fans anymore.

Lastly, there was a question about the ACCCG and who I would rather see Clemson play (based on the huge IF about beating BC). I choose Virginia Tech. Sure they’ve got a better defense. And special teams that destroy us. And the momentum in the series recently. However, I think UVA can play with more focus and is more able to will a victory. The destruction of Miami at their hands reminds me too much of Wake’s thrashing of FSU around this time last year. That said, I fucking hate UVA and while I would love to bury the bastards, I have a gut feeling that reason will go out the window and some stupid shit will happen and lead to their victory and I absolutely cannot deal with that.

• The men’s basketball team came within 1 point of doubling up Furman. Unfortunately, in a stat that I hope to monitor closely this year, the team shot just just 57% from the free throw line.

  They also forced 37 turnovers.

• Ticket sales for the BC game have picked up, but the game isn’t sold out yet. So if you’re in the market, you can get gouged for the top-deck north seats, or just buy illegally from a scalper at a reasonable price.
• Finally, it has been announced that the Clemson-USCe game will be played under the lights of the dead cockroach. Game time is 7 PM and ESPN2 will have the coverage.

Somewhere back in the preseason, I predicted that BC fans would be upset that their previous coach left. While that may still prove to be the case, the odds aren’t working in favor of that prediction. Especially after tonight. BC broke the #2 ranking curse and pulled out an amazing victory at Virginia Tech.

For 56 minutes, there were shades of the Clemson-VT game of last year; a highly touted team visits Blacksburg, goes nowhere on offense, and leaves with only the the faintest memory of pride. But those last 4 minutes mattered a lot. From the 10-0 deficit, VT accumulated, per the ESPN stats, 168 yards and 14 pts on the back of Matt Ryan on two drives, the latter drive coming after recovering an onside kick. Prior to those drives, the Eagles had only amassed 149 yards of total offense (Clemson managed just 172 total yards last year)

In other words, life sucks for Hokies right now.

There are two other things I saw during the game that are worth noting:
1 – After leading the two successful drives, Matt Ryan threw up all over the BC sidelines.
2 – The demeanor of head coaches means jack. Two weeks ago USF got beat on Thursday night and I literally feared their head coach’s head was going to pop like “a zit. Get it?” Tonight Jags seemed very calm even when things weren’t going well. Actually, when things were going well he was all smiles. And after BC scored the winning touchdown he was practically prancing around on the sideline.
ADDENDUM
3 – I forgot to add this last night, but one of the things that BC did really well last night was falling on loose footballs. There were a number of times when the ball was squirming around and up for grabs and BC did a really excellent job of gaining or regaining possession.

Like last year, I have done my best to roundup all the competing post-spring/pre-season rankings.

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