In the last 10 days, the basketball team has split a set of 4 games. That leaves the team 2-1 in conference while it leaves everyone else wondering how they hell they managed to lose to Charlotte.

In brief summary:
1/6 - UNC - L, 90-88 (OT): stupid fucking overtime
1/9 - Charlotte - L, 82-72: ???
1/12 - FSU - W, 97-85 (2OT): sweet! I love overtime!
1/15 - NCSU - W, 70-54: at least we beat one team from North Carolina

In FT % summary:
UNC - 14/27 = 51.9%
Charlotte - 18/26 = 69.2%
FSU - 14/22 = 63.6%
NCSU - 6/12 = 50%

Next: Duke, in Durham, Saturday at 6PM, with cheating clock operators, and what I predict will be a 16/30 = 53.3 % free-throw shooting performance from Clemson.

Just a few notes over the last game and some media quips since that game.

For those of you who missed or do not get the chance to watch The Tommy Bowden Show every weekend, check out TheTommyBowdenShow.Com for weekly showings. You can even get it emailed to your favorite account.

In case you didn’t check out Walkers post on the ULM “decision” to beat teams, check it out and then thank the Football Gods that ULM decided not to decide to beat the Tigers this past weekend.

Please God, place more clouds in the sky for the Furman game, Death Valley is not so much fun with that much of the giant ball of burning gas shining down on you and the aluminum stands. I would however like to see the Dasani, Dippin Dots and Frozen Lemonade profits from this past weekend.

I enjoyed watching Clemson open up the air assault and the red zone passing offense. One question though, are the Tigers practicing the same way? I wonder this as we haven’t had much of an air assault on our secondary and the completions that are occuring for the opposing team seem to leave guys wide open in the middle (re: FSU and LMU TD’s).

The Clemson offense has proven itself to be as scary as the defense with the newly developed formations and playbook. 2 outstanding running backs, 2 very capable quarterbacks, a rediculous amount of receiving talent and an O-line who is playing better than expected. I hope that everything is ironed out through Furman and ready to roll when we hit Raleigh in two weeks. If LMU was the passing practice, what will the Furman game be, Stallion establishment practice?

GT/Clemson, battle of the undefeateds and Game Day on 10/29. Mark it down. Ok so there is one bigger game in the mix but after last years gameday experience between the two, they have to consider it.

Brian Linthicum lives up to his hype coming in as a highly recruited TE from NM. This kid has serious skills and is rapidly becoming a nightmare for defenses as the third, fourth or fifth option for the pass. Two scores in two games as a true freshman is just sick.

Speaking of passing, I am really having fun watching our QB’s have the ability and talent to check down on every pass play. The completion % and 0 INT’s prove that the QB’s know this offense and the game pretty well.

Mark Buccholz is a machine plain and simple. The people around us at the game were commenting on how he could win a competition of placing kickoffs into the bed of a pickup truck if you parked it at the front left pilon. He hit the same 5×5 yard square on every kickoff and has the hangtime to allow his team to get 10 yards or on top of the receiver every time. Not to mention his soccer schedule flights to and from Blacksburg over the entire weekend.

Jimmy Maners is the bionic punter (enter special effects sound “shanananananaaaa”). From the squib kicks against FSU to the 71 yard(!!!!) punt, he and Buccholz have been key men in the new revamped special teams.

I don’t know who our wedge buster is, but he is deadly. The speed down the field and no fear running straight through the wedge is insane to watch. He will kill the receiver, it is his mission and he will succeed.

Chad Diehl will be a fun player to watch as he is developed in the Tiger system. His entire purpose on God’s green earth is to punish people that get in his way. They place him on special teams, TE and FB duties for that purpose alone. Along with Alex Pearson, the running backs have trustworthy body guards leading the holes throughout the season.

It’s a good thing that FSU did not come prepared for the Tigers or Death Valley. If they had, the Tigers would have been an 0-1 team after the Monday night start. Maybe they believed all their own hype or maybe they figured that Clemson was still the same old team from last year, leaning on the running game crutch to save its life. Whatever the reason, FSU did not show up in the first half and allowed Clemson to outright own them both offensively and defensively. At the half, FSU had scrounged up one first down and 62 offensive yards. Clemson was at about 17 first downs and 200 offensive yards. Somewhere between the end of the first and beginning of the second halves FSU must have been slapped awake and the Tigers decided that FSU had given up so they would sit on their haunches. FSU came out and, if not for some exceptionally lucky clock management and a defense that finally decided to wake up, would have won the game. The following are some observations that I made through the game.

- The Valley was not as electric as last years GT game but it was still pretty impressive. The crowd got into Weatherford’s head early, causing him to call a timeout in the first 10 minutes and walking away from the huddle and taking delay of game calls a few times. Illegal procedures were also the soup du jour for the FSU line.

- The FSU line either forgot how to block or the Clemson front 7 will be eating QBs the rest of the season. I was amazed at how Weatherford was staring down Orange all night. I think he gave up on his line after a while and immediately scrambled out of the pocket towards the end of the game. After watching Watkins chase him down from the opposite side of the line, I knew that he would be in for a long night. I think 7 was the magic number of sacks on Weatherford and I think every pass but two or three were hurried. Honestly, I think Rashad Jackson almost swallowed him once. The front 7 coverage was awesome, picking out the runs and their coverage on almost every play.

- Freshman talent abounds in the Tigers this year. Between Linthicum’s phenomenal TD catch to McDaniel’s spine shattering blitz at the end of the game, the Tiger Freshmen came to play and showed that the talent level is definitely on the rise at Clemson.

- Offense looked a little rusty at times but they had some new tricks up their sleeve that they were trying out for the first time in front of the crowds and TV. Harper was impressive in his demeanor and had some soft touches as well as some darts to receivers all night. Two of his passes in the third quarter were on the mark and were only missed by inches and the receivers not looking up in time. I am not sure if that was a timing issue on Cullen’s part or the receivers but the ability to hit his receivers in stride like that was assuring. No INTs or unforced errors was good things as well.

- Receivers looked impressive and hungry for the ball. Kelly showed why he will be the go to guy this season and even took some serious hits for the team on 3 and outs a few times (that last one was just painful to watch). Grisham will be exciting to watch this year as well as he had some great plays too(that double team in the end zone was brutal). Ford has his speed, they just need to get him the ball in the air instead of on the reverse. I think that Clemson established the fact that they could go through the air again though.

- The secondary worried me a little as the one TD that FSU got through the air had a wide open receiver in the middle of the end zone. Where was the safety or coverman? Like I said, Weatherford was pressured all night so I don’t think that the secondary was outright tested. The passes to the outside and the runs to the right yielded some big gains for the ‘Noles, hope those are fixed rather quickly.

- Special Teams, what a turn around. A blocked punt was immediately recognized as failure to block due to miscount by the center which is better than last years “we need to review the tapes” and take three games to figure something out. The safety off a blown snap was better than what was the GT game winner from 3 years ago and shows that the special teams coach is teaching the team to think out every option. The punting game was amazing, the ability of Maners to maneuver the ball as well as he did was great to watch, especially on the punt to the 5 yard line that flirted with the goal line. Now we just have to get the sprinters to look for the ball when they are standing at the other end of the field. Kicking, well lets just say that the extra 5 yards was nothing to Buchholz, he went deep more than once and split the uprights when needed. The only concern was with Jacoby dropping a kick return and luckily recovering it. It may be nerves but we saw that more than once last year, luckily one turned into a 90 yard return for 6 but the alternate is not a pretty thought.

Game Ball: Nick Watkins, amazing night. I think he was in on every play and will have Drew Weatherford waking up in the middle of the night screaming for the rest of the season.

In the end I thought that the Tigers in the first half looked like the team that had been talked about all summer long. If the coaches can get them to go all 60 minutes with the same tenacity instead of dropping off when they are ahead, this team will be a monster to tame. Finish the Job is the motto, they just need to go an entire game living up to it.

Now it may be a little damp but I have faith and don’t think so. Weather projections are calling for seasonably moderate to cool temps around 80 for the high and upper 60’s for the lows Saturday and Sunday for those folks heading in to town on the normal weekend home game schedule. Great if you want to sip a beer on a porch between rain showers. Even better if you are with a female gnome as you won’t stink as bad from sweatin’ out the night before.

Look for the heat on Monday though. High’s projected around 85, but I think God loves football, especially in his country in upstate SC. I look for it to push the upper 80s with high humidity as thunderstorms will skirt the area and even give the faint of heart (or sober) a little chill, but alas, the only wetness will be the sweat rolling off the backs of 80,000 + rabid fans and the cool beverages sliding down their throats and firing the noise makers inside. On the field it will be sweltering, especially if you are Seminole. Look for the Jacoby Ford and CJ Spiller to leave a few burn marks the FSU D. Meanwhile the only thing able to take the breath from the FSU O faster than the Tiger entrance down The Hill, in what will be quite a steam bath, will be the LB core planting shoulders in their midsections while invading the backfield.

Monday night will be hot and steamy. After an exciting bout between a couple ACC heavyweights, a full day of tailgating, adrenaline running high, and blood pressure pumping, look for some interesting post game activity. Hopefully this gnome gets to participate, full contact style.

NOTE- This post was supposed to go up with the normal map Thursday then Friday.
Addendum to this…updated Weather.com is calling for sunny and 88 Monday in Tiger Town. Maybe they got a preview of this post and got on board. It was probably smart of them to do so. Don’t mess with the gnomes and the weather.

We’re about to whoop the ‘Noles! In lieu of the Monday night football game this coming week, the traditional “First Friday” parade has been moved to Sunday. Also note that there will be a bevy of soccer games this weekend with one occurring soon after the Sunday parade. The teams should get some good home turnouts in the stands as Clemson will be packed with rabid fans who would be willing to cheer on drying paint so make as weekend of it and watch some football and some futbol.

Found a new site for the blogroll and read a decent article about THE BOWDEN BOWL to boot. Check it out throughout the season through the blogroll over there ===>.

Before a team even walks on a field the nation has the national champion chosen, all Americans picked and everything else figured out. I normally can concur with preseason predictions but have to call shenanigans this year on anything within the ACC (OK maybe not VT being the champ, they look pretty solid and have motivation on their side). From players and coaches leaving to entire coaching staff overhauls, the ACC is anything BUT consistent from the previous year. I can understand how a team that could be returning it’s entire Junior and all of it’s coaches would be considered for consistencies sake to perform well but this is the ACC.

Currently FSU has a 3 point spread over Clemson. Normally, to my understanding, the home team gets 3 points for home field advantage. That means that FSU is actually a 6 point favorite over the Tigers. This being the first game of the season, how can someone go about getting this spread.

So here is what we have:
Clemson loses: Anthony Waters, Gaines Adams, Dwayne Coleman, C.J. Gaddis, Will Proctor, Chansi Stuckey, Thomas Hunter, Cole Chason, Jad Dean and 3 of 4 starting Offensive Linemen.

FSU loses: 2 starting LB’s, their leading rusher and leading receiver.

On paper, Clemson lost huge over the summer in terms of position turnover but looking at the losses you can find the following:

Anthony Waters was never on the field last season, Coleman and Gaddis were fighting for their position all season long with the youth that is now in their shoes, Proctor lost all form after the passing game was exposed, Thomas Hunter created the TE spot on Clemson and talent will fill that hole, Stuckey was one man and Clemson always finds the replacement and this time they have multiple options and Chason and Dean were pretty much head cases the last season. The overall glaring losses were Gaines Adams and the O-line. Now Gaines was a monster and it’s always fun to say that there will never be another so and so, but at Bandit end this year Clemson has developed a pretty good crew with speedy Ricky Sapp and Kevin Alexander. The O-line will be missed, especially with all the talent that is on the field that depends on success in those positions. The coaching staff and the players seem to think that the line has developed and gelled rather well and is now holding up to the Tiger Defense but I am still concerned. The QB situation, well let’s say it couldn’t get worse. What irks the Clemson faithful is that if Harper is so good why was he not in when Proctor was so bad? I find it hard to believe that in 9 months time Harper has become the phenom that is beating out a 5 star recruit when he couldn’t beat out a guy who couldn’t even throw the ball 20 yards the year before. I do believe that the coaches made the decisions to keep Proctor in the game down the stretch and the Harper is as good as they say from the performance and reports that we have seen. And if Harper doesn’t do the job, it sounds like the coaching staff is ready to yank him and put Korn or someone who can do the job in. Of course, 50% of the QB success comes back on the O-line and how well they can give the guy time to make the plays. The kicking game is a concern but not with the guys who are kicking the ball but the rest of the guys on the field. This seems to have been remedied with the obtainment of a coach who has special teams concentrations so Clemson can return the ball with the speed, they just need to tackle sooner on the other side.

FSU doesn’t seem to lose alot but if you have kept up with their team over the past two years you come to realize that they have had the same 2 QB’s fighting for the starting position every year. Weatherford and Lee are either that damn good or that damn bad. From what I remember seeing, Lee is a great scrambler but his accuracy is off. And from reports over the summer, Weatherford has already thrown 3 picks, to his own team, who he practices with daily. Harper and Korn have comibined for a whopping 1 INT the entire spring AND summer drills. Now once again, either Weatherford is that bad or the ‘noles defense is that damn good. Oh, and throw in that the ‘noles have completely revamped their coaching staff, playbooks and all. But they have Chuck the Chest now!!!

So what exactly is the basis for the spread determinations? I know FSU has a great defense, less the all American and other LB and they obviously have seasoned QB’s as well as that running back that is a better back than their leading rusher and the wide reciever corps is not lacking (/sarcasm) but still what is the cement that holds the spread basis together. It all comes down to what I believe is the only facts that the media has to lean on, that being last season. Clemson was a one dimensional team last season and that is what they will be walking into Death Valley next week as they did not lose Davis or Spiller. FSU was a passing team last year and they lost their leading receiver and rusher but still have the guy who gets those players the ball. So it comes down to the fact that Clemson is still ‘06 Clemson and until they can prove it otherwise they will remain that way in peoples minds. So if the media is solidly basing their opinion that the stacked defense will work against the Tigers and if the Tigers have definitely developed and will apply a more spread out offense, then what becomes of the spread?

Oh yeah, and a 3 point “factor” for a night game in Death Valley? I sure as hell hope not!! Of course, if they did give The Valley more credit, we may have more on our hands than originally thought.

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

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