60 DAYS!
My hair is already standing on end in anticipation for hearing the band blare out the first bass note of the orange bowl march as the Tigers get rowdy at the top of the hill.

Sometimes I get confused about who I am. Most of the time, I make corrections accordingly online. This time I took a pass. If you want this gnome’s last couple comments hit www.blogspot.whatown.com whatown.blogspot.com and catch my comments on Walter T. Cox’s recent passing and the state of the college football bowl season.

Post edited by BrokenGnome

The brackets have been released and the Tigers lead off the tournament with a 1PM (CDT) start on Friday against the oh so familiar Ga. Tech Yellow Jackets. Also paired up for a Friday start on our side of the bracket is Cal St. Fullerton and UNC. As was said before, no team at this level is weak, and most are on some form of a hot streak but I would have preferred the other side of the bracket much better. We are currently paired against a Ga. Tech team that gave us our worst beatings in a while (but also spurred on the ridiculous run to close the season), a consensus top 3 nationally ranked and perennial power Cal St. Fullerton, and a UNC team with two MLB draft first round (6th and 28th) pitchers throwing bullets.

The other side of the bracket features the 4th ACC team to make the Elite 8 if you will, in Miami. They are matched against Oregon St, the only team returning from last years CWS participants. Rice and Georgia (another team we at least split against) face off on the other side as well.

The tournament is a split double elimination format with teams battling to stay alive in the losers bracket on each side as the winners keep moving on until the final two teams are paired in a Best Two of Three set next weekend. Play in the two sections begin Friday and Saturday this week with game times set for 1 and 6 each day this weekend and adjusting to 4 and 8 as the tourney rolls into elimination games early next week.

This Gnome’s somewhat biased projections: Clemson plays Rice for all the marbles after battling out of the losers bracket due to an early loss to the Jackets. Further updated projections and analysis to follow after this weekends play. Have to pick one other team to watch out for? Cal St. Fullerton. Consistently a good team. Not much east coast media, program with a lot of tradition, ranked high for most of the year after stumbling out of the blocks a touch. Watch out for these guys.

Link

Why are teams such as Michigan State, Clemson and Georgia Tech so inconsistent? These teams beat Notre Dame, Florida State and Miami, respectively, last year — and yet the Spartans finished 5-6, Clemson lost to Wake Forest and Georgia Tech lost to Utah by four touchdowns. You never know what to expect from these three teams in any game for the past four years.
– Jeff, Greenville, S.C.

I can answer that question in one word: coaching. I can tell you that when my much-anticipated second-annual ranking of the nation’s best and worst coaches comes out next month, there may very well be two coaches from the aforementioned teams on one of the lists. Guess which one.

Will Tommy make the worst coaches list?

Load THIS PAGE and let it ride, then come back here with the big smile and brag about how EA Sports is playing the greatest fight song as their backdrop for 2007 on their webpage. Yeah, me thinks that people are starting to recognize the Tigers.

My daily perusal of blogs now includes Wreck Ramblin, a GT based blog. While I certainly don’t care much for GT, the links and clips often provide a lot of quick info about the ACC. Now and then, Clemson even pops up. Such was the case Tuesday. There’s a link to a video of a nifty trick play perpetrated by the Tigers in their sweep of Miami last weekend.

So check out the video and the blog.

I think that Shoeless Works should be hired for pregame jumbotron features. Talk about an adrenaline boost! These guys have the soundtrack and the video and just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, they cut from the clips and show a full motion play that changed the game. I mean AC/DC can’t go wrong for the defense but the 12th man (ref: video on clemson page) seen at the Miami game would be evident every game with the adrenaline flowing from a shoeless production. We have 6 months until the Tigers take the field, so I will be watching these videos and preparing for the Onslaught of Orange (can I coin that?) that is Death Valley and Tiger Football.

Go on over and check out THIS review of the ACC stadiums and their gameday environment. To no Clemson fans surprise, Death Valley reigns supreme with the argument starting off with “There is Orange – everywhere” to this quote from former FSU QB Chris Rix:

“Florida was loud in the Swamp. But the loudest, not only stadium, but the loudest place I have been around in my life was definitely Death Valley. I was yelling at the top of my lungs in that first series, and I couldn’t even hear what I was saying.”

It’s always nice to get a compliment!

And as Bowman has pointed out before, it’s just going to get louder with the “capping off” of the west end zone. Mix that architectural advantage with the raving fans who are foaming at the mouth for this next season to start and you just have to feel sorry for Florida International and all those teams that have never played in the Valley before.

The one thing I hope for this season, besides bone jarring hits and a BCS berth is that Tommy continues to praise the crowd. Last year he had a great PR campaign in which he continually asked the fans for their support and praised them in the big games for their noise when the Tigers needed it and their control when Charlie was in action. I believe that those articles get more PR than people think and it just pumps the crowd even more knowing that the team and coaches know what a force they are.