You heard it here first.

We did beat Maryland on Sunday night. It was certainly quite the dramatic game.

I wanted to add a few comments about that game and the season in general.

Nowadays, I’m living in Northern Virginia. Understandably, the DC-based radio station I listen to, WJFK, has a bit of a Maryland bias. So it is with some pleasure that I have been able to listen to the lamentations about the Terps season and their monumental collapse on Sunday. It’s also quite nice just to hear Clemson sometimes pop up into general ACC conversations. Instead of being just one of the faceless teams in the cellar, we show up as a legitimate 3rd place team.

The last few years, collectively, have definitely brought tremendous improvement. And we should enjoy it.

Though we smacked a team last week, and yes 70 points looks good on the boards, I am only bringing back the full blown forecast (light-saber map included) with an asterisk. Beating Sister of St. Mary’s High School D doesn’t prove anything so I am looking for the lines to take control, make some room for the runners, and make last week’s protection for Harper the norm, not the exception. On the D side, I would like to see a highlight reel worthy hit or sack, not chasing some fluttering pass that likely will not be a pick six and getting jammed on the line.

On to the weather. It’s not going to be a pretty commute. It’s never pretty heading into the Nation’s Capital on a Friday afternoon with traffic but the weather is going to be terrible to start the weekend. Look for temps in the mid to low 60’s with rain, rain, and more rain. Saturday isn’t going to be pretty for tailgating. Showers are expected to hang in the area until midday or even mid afternoon. With kickoff at 3:30 this isn’t helping the tailgate scene. However, this gnome has been warned that roaming alone in some of the areas not far from campus is not advised. I recommend finding a nice watering hole in another part of town and taking advantage of public transportation en-masse with other Tiger faithful with just enough time to get to the game, ala BC last year.

Game conditions should be good in the stands though bringing the jacket or poncho along to sit on is recommended as the seats will be wet. Storms have been known to be late as well so it’s better to be safe than sorry. Highs projected to be around 70 at game time but I wouldn’t bet on anything higher than 65. Saturday evening will provide a good chance to cool off after another cardiac cats game. Lows around 50 should be a nice change for those traveling north in search of a dose of fall. Hopefully the boozing around town will be in celebration over what I project to be a close win, and not a heartbreaking loss. Conditions will favor the stronger ground game. Rain itself shouldn’t affect the air attack with grip but I project a slick track keeping the sharp cuts and pinpoint routes to a minimum. We need a big game out of the big uglies up front. Let Spiller and Davis run through some big holes with open field straight ahead. The speed and power will take over in the secondary at that point and things should be good. I recommend not leaving things on the foot of the kicking game either. Footing won’t be good in the center of the field late in the day so punching it in and getting the job done inside the red zone (or from downfield) will be key. Watch for the fat man on the other sideline to put on a coaching show in the second half. I would like to say we jump out early and cruise but I foresee this game being very reminiscent of FSU last year, requiring a big run play or two late in the game to secure a Tiger victory. Much closer than need be but with a little help from VT, it puts us right back in the race in the Atlantic and that much closer to not being in the Champs Sports/Car Care/Emerald Nut/Humanitarian Bowl carousel.

NOTE: Sorry about the light saber, not much time on my hands right now. Did what I could. Clem.

Modified Gnome weather map in the continuation: Read the rest of this entry »

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

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• Coach Leggett finally reached the 1,000 win milestone. David Kopp threw seven scoreless innings and the Tiger bats struck early for 3 runs in the 2nd inning. The win kept the Tigers from being swept by Maryland for the first time ever.
• Trevor Booker’s little, I mean younger brother verbally committed to the Tiger basketball team. Devin is 6′7″, 215ish pounds, and the first commitment for the class of ‘09.
• Lucas Glover won $69,500 as he finished tied for 26th at the WGC-CA Championship. [Hopefully I'll remember to keep up with more of the former Clemson golfers through the course of the year.]
• Travis Padgett went on to victory in the 100-meters at the Clemson Relays on Saturday. The NCAA 60-meters champion posted a 10.22 second time that qualifies him for regionals. He and the 4×100 relay team also posted a regional qualifying time.

The basketball team is done.

The done as in finished part is correct. But there is absolutely no comparison to made that suggest that the team is hot.

After starting 17-0 (3-0), they’ve lost 7 of the last 9 to sit at a lukewarm 19-7 (5-7).

Eternal optimist I am not, and I see a high probability of this team, which seems to have forgotten to win, losing it’s remaining games to Duke, BC, Va Tech, and even lowly Miami. Today they got destroyed 82-66 at home by Maryland.

The Terps (20-7, 6-6 Atlantic Coast Conference) saw its [sic] 12-point second half lead slip to 59-58 on Cliff Hammonds’ driving basket with 8:19 to go. But Strawberry, despite the Clemson crowd’s singsong chants of “Darryl, Darryl” about his famous baseball playing dad, scored eight of Maryland’s next 15 points to regain control, 74-63.

You can’t say that Clemson fans aren’t classy…

Anyway, I already said that the team has forgotten to win, and at this point it also appears that they’ve forgotten that games last for 40 minutes. And for that, Virginia, Wake Forest, and Maryland are all eternally grateful.

With the season winding its way to a gut-wrenching halt, and a 19-11 final record looming, I am remind that our basketball team never makes sense or does things that others describe as “likely.” Therefore it would be in character for the ol’ Tigers to show up against Duke on the 22nd and pull out a victory. However, I am not betting on it. I will bet on three things:

• 1.) A horrific loss at the hands of Krzyzewski,
• 2.) A bunch of really lame taunts and gags demonstrated by the Clemson faithful in attendance that will refer to our last, poorly officiated game against Duke and/or to their lacrosse team, and/or maybe even black strippers, and
• 3.) After the loss the Clemson faithful will blame John Swofford and the ACC.

To wrap up this post o’ sunshine, I will summarize: Clemson finishes the regular season 19-11 (5-11) to earn the pre-season predicted 9th place ACC finish; they lose their first ACC tournament game just like they lost their last 6 league games; the vocal Clemson fans will blame Swofford & the ACC; and the Tigers will become a bubble team for the NIT where they’ll drop their first game to end the season at 19-13 (the same as last year). Or in other words: “just like football.”

PS - There’s no need yet for you to buy me a “Fire Oliver Purnell” shirt nor fireoliverpurnell.com nor firecoachpurnell.com (neither of which are registered). Suicide watches will also be unnecessary. This time.

Clemson’s future out-of-conference opponents are always up in the air, but at least we know which ACC teams we’ll play through 2015 (assuming the conference stays together).

2007 Clemson Football Scheduled Opponents (in no particular order)::
@Maryland
Wake
@ NC State
FSU
BC
@ Ga. Tech
@ Duke
Va. Tech
(OOC: Furman, UL-Monroe, some MAC team, SC)

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I am not sure if you caught the Tiger ballers only loss of the season on Saturday but if you did, did you happen to listen to any of the background noise? Especially the Maryland Terp pep band? As I sat and listened to Pete Yannity talk over a break in the action I heard the distinct melody of a certain NES game. That game? Legend of Zelda. My mind had to shuffle through the jukebox of songs in it’s memory and finally came to an awkward realization that a pep band…….in 2006……was playing a theme song from a arcade system that was created in 1980something. Yeah…..I’m a geek for even realizing that.

As for the chants of “Overrated” by the Terp fans, well I think that is pretty cool that the Clemson team has established themselves to a point where they can get that type of respect. Of course I may be looking at that all wrong.

These just don’t even pass the sniff test. Various online “sources” of dubious quality and reputation are reporting that Clemson’s basketball team is not only ranked, but undefeated at 17-0 (3-0) after beating NC State in Raleigh 87-76.

The only reason why I might believe this is true is that Clemson reportedly shot only 5-13 (38%) from the freebie line.

Next up another road trip, this time to Maryland on Saturday. Game time is set for 2:00. The Terps are 14-2 (0-1) and appear in the top 25 of the ESPN/USA Today poll, Sportsline RPI*, and Sagarin ratings.

* The official NCAA RPI will start to be published sometime next week (or so I’ve read).