I listen to ESPN radio at work and about sick of hearing Colin Cowherd trashing the ACC. We get it, the conference is bad, but when every sound bite he produces is calling out the ACC and saying how bad it is, it gets old. A few tidbits from his land of knowledge.

Clemson will never live up to its expectations.

The ACC is bad, Clemson can’t even rush against Alabama and Maryland struggled against Maryland.

You know the ACC is horrid when Clemson is supposedly the best team.

Lovely

We all have our favorite sports writers, we also have our hated writers. I suppose I fall into a vast majority of people out there that can probably pick out the hated pontificators faster than the enjoyable read. I have had a grudge against a certain SI writer now for about four years. The guy looks like a nerd and writes nearly every single article with a certain superior, I know more than you with my Northweastern education, gloat. If you have not already guessed whom I direct my rage, I am speaking of Stewart Mandel. I suppose nearly ever single article he writes in regards to Clemson he manages to sneak in a negative jab and a useless quip. I imagine he is just doing his best to let everyone know he hates Clemson sports, the school, and he will soon kick every Clemson fans dog out there when given the chance. Maybe he was pummeled by a schoolyard bully wearing orange one day, who knows. My point, I go to SI.com and read with the grain of salt. I could always rely on ESPN. Well, my friends, there is a new “negative nancy” out there which should be on your radar. He goes by the name of Mark Schlabach, if that’s his real name. His new game is bashing the Tigers. That’s right, how can you hate us? He is a nine year vet of the AJC and all he did was cover UGA football and the SEC. Ohh, so that’s why he hates Clemson. After this article I read on ESPN.com he made to my hit list. Honestly, I think he is just putting these words down on paper for shock value. By the time I posted my own article, there have been 156 responses to Schlaback’s blatherings. For the record though, his “Clemson won’t win the ACC” prediction is dead wrong. I mean, the guy picked UNC for crying out loud! How serious can we take him and his mindless thoughts from now on?

It’s like a bad dream while listing to Bob Seger’s song “Turn The Page”. Here Clemson is again, getting rolled up in national media attention about how we are going to be a top ten team in 2008. I for one would rather start out the season ranked somewhere around 60th then come in and kick some chicken all season long. I have to admit, Harper, Spiller, Davis and Kelly is an amazing one, two, three, four combo offensive punch, but what is the typical routine we are all used to. Yep, we’re going to be the best in the ACC, only to lose a game by one point which could have meant a possible BCS Bowl birth. Hopefully disaster will not come knocking in a few months, then again, I think I’ve said that before too.

Though I have been living in the Charlotte area for 6 football seasons, I have yet to even pretend to read the Charlotte Observer. Personally it’s more than a bit liberal for my tastes, and somewhat understandably (many of the writers are Chapel Hill alums) geared towards “Big 4″ school coverage anytime college news, sports or otherwise, is the topic. Anyway, about a week and a half ago I posted an article discussing the brief history of the ACC-CG and where I see it going. Now, I’m pretty much a hack writer at best but if I didn’t know any better I would say they needed an article to preceed today’s announcement, jumped online, read our comments, threw in a couple official stats to back it upon and sent it to the presses. No additional insight or reasoning, just print block to fill space between adds. The article pretty much reinforces the whole reason I don’t take the local paper. Even when something worth reading is in there, it’s late enough I would have already found the info to start with. In The Observer’s defense, they quickly posted the news that Charlotte will be hosting in 2010 and 11. Tampa (shocker) was awarded the game for the next two seasons, as much because of current Charlotte Center City development that should be complete by 2010 that should act as a large attraction to fans, coupled with a large conference in 08 that should have Center City already booked up for the normal CG weekend.

So the author of Why South Carolina Will Beat Clemson was wrong about the outcome. I won’t fault someone too much for not being able to predict the future. I will fault the author for the logic behind his decision.

The author begins by pointing out that the heartbreaking loss to Boston College guaranteed us no chance of winning a championship or going to a big-time bowl — no news there, in his words, “it was the classic ‘Clemson Meltdown.’”

He continues,

Unlike Clemson, however, South Carolina has a steady ball coach—the Head Ball Coach actually, who will look to right the ship and close out the year with a strong win. Coming off a much-needed bye week, look for the Gamecocks to be sharp in a game they need to win for bowl eligibility.

Thus, not only will Clemson be in their all-too-regular post-meltdown state of shock, South Carolina will be healthy, rested, and coached by a man not in perpetual lame-duck status.

Well that logic seems robust. But it can be made stronger, right? After pointing out that in Clemson’s loss to BC, home field advantage was not all that valuable, he gives USCe credit for home field advantage.

But the hatred for Clemson is real around Columbia, and I expect another raucous crowd, similar to the one Kentucky faced months ago.

On top of that, it’s just hard to imagine bowl season without Steve Spurrier.

So that’s the gist of the post. In hindsight, it was clearly wrong. However, when it was written it was still wrong and, well, pretty stupid.

First off, their are no “classic” Clemson meltdowns. Sure there are annual meltdowns, but they come in all shapes and flavors. Beside that point, what had happened in the 8 seasons prior to this one in which we came into the USCe game? Well I count 6 wins and only 1 of the two losses was in Columbia. So for as inconsistent as Bowden’s teams have been throughout the season, they have pretty consistently beaten South Carolina regardless of home field advantage.

And I’m not sure how “steady” Spurrier is or how that’s an advantage for Carolina. In 2005 he went 7-5 with some good wins and stupid losses. (Yeah yeah, those were the lame players from that last national champion coach they brought in.) In ’06 he went 8-5 with no stupid losses. But, coming into the Clemson game, the team was 6-5 with 3 of his own recruiting classes (but they’re still young!) with some good wins, some stupid losses, and a 4 game losing streak. If his performance at Carolina is the definition of steadiness, then I don’t exactly see how that is any kind of advantage.

But we can fall back on the incontrovertible logic that it is just too doggone hard, or damn near impossible, to imagine bowl season without Spurrier around. Perhaps it would be hard to imagine if there weren’t all those years where he wasn’t around for bowl season because he was failing in the NFL.

So I don’t get it. Or is the joke on me? Was the post supposed to be some kind of satire about the mental state of the average Carolina fan?

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 Gnomes were recently asked if we were willing to participate in the new CFB Weekly podcast. After Clem deferred due to work, and Bowman had the same excuse, and we completely missed the deadline to participate last week, I finally got the call on Tuesday. I gave up my right to only appear ignorant and stupid. Now I have opened my mouth and hopefully not removed all doubt.

The podcast is up and available for listening or downloading or both. Check it out.