rob’s place

Whew!, originally uploaded by orangejack.

Tigers win 23-21 with a last second field goal. Whew! Carolina hasn’t beaten Clemson back-to-back in my lifetime. Now we wait for bowl assignment.

Now that Clemson won’t be playing for the ACC Championship after losing to Boston College last weekend, I started thinking about why I as a Clemson fan am frustrated about not winning the ACC. So I looked up the historical ACC College Football Champions of the Atlantic Coast Conference and it became clear: we’re used to winning it!

Below is a list of how many championships Clemson won per decade. In parenthesis beside it is who was either the best of the decade or second. If there is a * by a number, it indicates that they had a tie for the championship at least once in that decade. I counted a tie as .5 championships.

1950’s: Clemson had 3 (Duke had 2*)
1960’s: Clemson had 2.5* (NC State had 3*)
1970’s: Clemson had 1 (Maryland & UNC had 3)
1980’s: Clemson had 5 (Maryland had 3)
1990’s: Clemson had 1 (FSU had 7*)
2000’s: Clemson has 0 (FSU has 4)

Can you see the trend? I’m not as concerned about the number per decade, but how did we compare to the next best team that decade? We were competitive or won in each decade from the 50’s to the 80’s (okay, maybe not the 70’s). But the 90’s and 00’s we have been horrible in winning championships.

I think that’s one reason why, to me, it almost feels like losing to BC last weekend was so much more important than even beating USC this weekend. To me it’s almost as if the Carolina game doesn’t matter much.

By the way, something interesting: since the ACC Championship game started in 2005, the 4 teams that have played in it are FSU, VT, WF, and GT. This year BC will join them and either VT again or UVA. That means 1/4 were new expansion teams, and if VT beats UVA, it will be 3/6 teams from the expanded league (I’m talking of the recent expansion of VT, Miami, and BC).

Remember last week I said that Clemson was still in ACC Championship Race? Well, it’s getting more realistic for the winner of the Clemson-BC game this week will play the winner of the UVA-VT game next week in the ACC Championship.

Step 1: Clemson beat Wake Forrest (CHECK)
Step 2: VT beat FSU (CHECK)
Step 3: Clemson beat BC (Saturday)
Step 4: VT beat Miami, Fla (Saturday)
Step 5: VT beat UVA (next Saturday)
(Step 6: Clemson beat VT in ACC Championship (Dec 1))

Yeah, it’s early. BUT…

There is a decent chance that the winner of the Clemson-Boston College game Nov 17 will play the winner of the UVA-VT game on Nov 24 in the ACC Championship Game Dec 1.

Clemson remaining schedule, ACC rankings, etc

This is how I’m “watching” the Clemson game today:

• Audio: WCCP FM
• Text updates: Twitter clemsonfootball

Here’s a screenshot of my desktop

Last week I did the Twitter updates for the Clemson-FSU game. I’ll do a few more later in the season. Today it’s my buddy Jeff Quinton doing the live twits.

, originally uploaded by gotigersjf.

With the #4 overall pick of the 2007 NFL Draft, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers select GAINES ADAMS.

Congrats also to the other Tigers drafted.

Sept. 3 - Florida State (8pm on ESPN)
Sept. 8 - Louisiana-Monroe
Sept. 15 - Furman
Sept. 22 - at NC State
Sept. 29 - at Georgia Tech
Oct. 6 - Virginia Tech
Oct. 13 - Open Date
Oct. 20 - Central Michigan
Oct. 27 - at Maryland
Nov. 3 - at Duke
Nov. 10 - Wake Forest
Nov. 17 - Boston College
Nov. 24 - at South Carolina
Dec. 1 - ACC Championship in Jacksonville

I think we can go at least 4-2, maybe 5-1 to the Open Date. From there I think we can go at least 4-2 again, maybe 5-1. I think our toughest road game will be at GT (maybe USC). Toughest home will be VT, BC, FSU, WF (in that order but I think we can win at least 3 of those). What do you think at this early point?

why i am glad sports do not mean much to me, originally uploaded by lizisatcollege.

It’s not often I get to go to a Clemson-Carolina game. This year I got to go and though I had a good time, the loss to Carolina stinks.

I know we can’t win them all, but we’re just so used to it. We’ve won 8 of the last 9 games against them. In fact, in the 35 years I’ve been alive, we’ve only lost to them 10 times.

Truthfully, Carolina dominated us. They had almost 500 yards of offense and we were lucky on many plays. We still should have beat those jokers, but not this time.

Bummer.

Congrats, Carolina. You deserved this one. But I’ll still point to the fact that out of 104 meetings, you’ve now beaten us 36 times.

Boy, we really turned the corner after whoopin’ up on GA Tech. Too bad it was the wrong corner. We haven’t looked anything like the 7-1 team in our last 0-2 games. We lost to Maryland 12-13 in the last seconds.

Clemson Tigers (7-3/4-3)

09-02 v Fla Atlantic : 54-6 (W)
09-09 @ Boston College : 33-34 (L-2OT)
09-16 @ Florida St : 27-20 (W)
09-23 v North Carolina : 52-7 (W)
09-30 v Louisiana Tech : 51-0 (W)
10-07 @ Wake Forest : 27-17(W)
10-12 v Temple : 63-9 (W)
10-21 v Georgia Tech : 31-7 (W)
10-26 @ Virginia Tech : 7-24 (L)
11-04 v Maryland : 12-13 (L)

Next up: 11-11 v N. Carolina St.

What happens when the Clemson QB doesn’t have a good game, you don’t take advantage of turnovers, you can’t establish a run game, and can’t stop your opponent’s run game? You lose 7-24. Dang. We shoulda beat those jokers.

Clemson Tigers (7-2/4-2)

09-02 v Fla Atlantic : 54-6 (W)
09-09 @ Boston College : 33-34 (L-2OT)
09-16 @ Florida St : 27-20 (W)
09-23 v North Carolina : 52-7 (W)
09-30 v Louisiana Tech : 51-0 (W)
10-07 @ Wake Forest : 27-17(W)
10-12 v Temple : 63-9 (W)
10-21 v Georgia Tech : 31-7 (W)
10-26 @ Virginia Tech : 7-24 (L)

Up Next: 11-04 v Maryland

Congrats Hokies, especially you, Patricia.

This was one of the best plays I got to see in the Clemson win over Georgia Tech. What sweet jukes…and then the speed to take it home.

BTW, this video is at real speed. CJ Spiller is fast!

Thanks to Jeremy for the video.

going nowhere, originally uploaded by lizisatcollege.

Clemson came out in all purple uni’s (not my favorite) for the first time since the 30’s or something. But it worked! We’re #12 and beat #13 GA Tech with over 300 rushing yards! I got to catch the 4th quarter only.

Clemson Tigers (7-1/4-1)

09-02 v Fla Atlantic : 54-6 (W)
09-09 @ Boston College : 33-34 (L-2OT)
09-16 @ Florida St : 27-20 (W)
09-23 v North Carolina : 52-7 (W)
09-30 v Louisiana Tech : 51-0 (W)
10-07 @ Wake Forest : 27-17(W)
10-12 v Temple : 63-9 (W)
10-21 v Georgia Tech : 31-7 (W)

Next up: 10-26 @ Virginia Tech

Next week’s game is on ESPN Thursday night. A huge game for the Tigers.

I really think our success this season so far is becuase of our offensive line. All 5 starters are seniors. That really makes our run game work. But CJ Spiller and James Davis are the real deals.