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.

Oh, and hot. Sounds like something from a Chinese menu but it’s this week’s Gnome forecast. Temps will be pushing 90+ by the end of the game. Your late morning pre-game tailgating will be a little warmer than you are thinking. Lows are projected around 70 but the humidity will be thick and you will break a sweat putting up the tents and dishes to catch the Gameday projections before heading in. The sun will be out all day so bring the sunscreen, shades, and maybe a cap. LA Monroe may be used to the heat and humidity but they haven’t been exposed to anything like this. Tiger’s sizzle under the sun, with temps on the field pushing 100+ by halftime. Warhawks wilt and wish for a quick return to their nest in LA. Keep an eye open for a Korn sighting. Bring plenty of fluids and drink a little water with your favorite pre-game beverage…you’ll need it.

So “The News Star”, a newspaper publication in the wonderful partying state of the Union, has interviewed LaMo’s safety. What comes first in the article, but a reference to App State. This is by no means a cut on the Mountaineers, your win is one for the books, but let’s be real here. I suppose LaMo has a better statistical chance of defeating the Tigers, but let’s be real here. I got an even better chuckle out of the “if we decide to beat Clemson” comment, but let’s be real here. If the power of positive thought was “real”, then I choose to stomp Ohio State in the Ultraverse Bowl this year. What a party that win will be.

In 2006 the Warhawks were 2nd in the Sun Belt Conference in offensive and 1st in defensive numbers. With 348 ypg in offense on a 60/40 pass/run distribution this team was scoring an average of 22 ppg. They also amassed 643 penalty yards on 85 penalties. This year they started off heavily in favor of the running game with 212 of 278 yards being on the ground. In the one game that has been played, they acquired 6 penalties for 70 yards. The final damage was 17 points for the Warhawks on the board.

On defense, LaMo pretty much reflected their offensive numbers in what their defense allowed in 2006: 22.3 ppg 346 ypg 60/40 distribution. They also tallied 20 INTs and 16 sacks. In the season opener the Warhawks allowed 35 points to get by them in a similar 60/40 pass/run distribution for 523 yards. They did pick off one pass and I did not find their penalty performance on D.

It seems that coming into The Valley that the Warhawks will keep it on the ground if they continue their trends from the previous game. But that may change if they watch the FSU game and how the front 7 stuffed the line all night long. As previously mentioned in my POV post, the secondary has pretty much been left untested so LaMo could start sending it through the air to test the waters as well. With the amount of penalties that were accumulated in one game it also seems that if the Tigers can get into the Warhawks heads that they will get sloppy and commit a few more whistle blowers.

In the end, this team looked pretty deadly on paper last year but came out sloppy for their first game and let a team come back from 3 behind to win by 18. If the Tigers can beat the Warhawks down early, look for a runaway game in the second half and the debut of Willy Korn in the offense to take Harper out and get reps on the young QB.

Clem’s Prediction: Clemson 45 LaMo 17