5 questions with a Clemson beat reporter
Larry Williams, who covers the Tigers for Rivals, was gracious enough to answer these five questions for me heading into the ACC championship game:
1. How is C.J. Spiller’s injury? Did it affect him during the South Carolina game? Has he practiced this week?
His toe injury has consistently nagged him all season. The Oct. 10 open date did him some good, but he’s going to need several weeks of rest to resolve it. He’s been limited in practice all year, so I doubt he did a whole lot this week. He was more affected by a stomach bug in the South Carolina game. He said he was holding down vomit on the sidelines after his 88-yard kickoff return for a touchdown early. He definitely wasn’t himself. He also suffered a groin injury early in the game, but that appears to be fine.
2. Clemson’s defense seems to have given up quite a few more big plays the past few games, compared to the first few. Is there a common thread to the plays?
Virginia gashed the Tigers on one possession with Mikell Simpson running the Wildcat, and the Cavaliers also caught the Tigers off guard on another possession by running a ton of trick plays.
South Carolina ran some Wildcat as well while also flummoxing the Tigers with a steady dose of zone reads, quarterback powers and mid-line option runs. The Gamecocks also hit for a few big passing plays.
Clemson has had some trouble stopping the run this year. From my vantage point, offenses are taking advantage of the fact that the Tigers are playing a lot of nickel. The Tigers are smaller with the extra DB and thus easier to block.
The main problem, in my mind, is the stong-side LB position. They just don’t have a natural fit there, so they’re forced to play nickel. And when they go big and put DE/LB Kevin Alexander there, they’re vulnerable in pass coverage.
They’ve also had problems with their other linebackers attacking the wrong gaps and getting out of position.
3. How has Kyle Parker developed as a game-manager?
He’s come a long way. I was really impressed with the kid in that game against Georgia Tech, but he’s progressed a lot since that game. He has really improved his pocket presence and overall knowledge of the offense. He didn’t play all that well against South Carolina, but he didn’t have a whole lot of help from his offensive line. He was really good in the previous two games against Virginia and N.C. State.
South Carolina surprised Clemson by playing zone almost the whole game, and that’s usually been what gives Parker the most trouble. So you have to think Wommack will pick up on that and use a good bit of zone Saturday.
4. How’s the team been acting this week? Their loss to South Carolina seemed to be more about bad luck and turnovers than anything else.
They did commit some turnovers and have some bad luck, but they were also dominated up front on both sides of the ball. When you give up 223 yards rushing and produce 48 on the ground, you aren’t going to win many games.
This game presents a completely different set of challenges, and I think the team realizes that. They were in a tough position last week playing a desperate team while knowing the biggest game in decades loomed a week later. I’d be surprised if they came out flat in Tampa.
5. Has there been a commonality in Clemson’s losses this season?
They’ve averaged 92 rushing yards a game in the losses, so that tends to stand out.
They’ve committed 12 turnovers in their eight wins and eight turnovers in their four losses, so protecting the ball has been a factor as well.
The Maryland and South Carolina losses were marked by an offense that really struggled. They scored a grand total of two touchdowns in those games, and they didn’t even have a snap in the red zone last week in Columbia.
Prediction and why?
I’m really struggling with this one, and my prediction is subject to change by the minute.
I’ll go with Tech 35-31 because I can’t envision PJ losing back-to-back games. He’ll have the offense rolling after the disjointed effort against UGA.
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248 comments Add your comment
SWFLJacket
December 4th, 2009
11:58 am
Kentucky
Yes, Kentucky, that says it all.
Gator4Life
December 4th, 2009
11:58 am
All of you UGA fans on this blog are pitiful! The SEC is totally carried by my mighty Gators and the Crimson Tide. Without these 2 teams our conference is a joke this year. UGA got lucky against a Tech team that didn’t show up and Spurrier just out coached Dabo. UGA fans talk so much about owning Tech – well who’s your daddy big dawg? That’s right – we are. Your team is a joke and Tech will own you in the many years to come just like we do, so get ready.
Paul H
December 4th, 2009
12:00 pm
Tech – you would think. See part about being dissapointed in our 7-5 season and going to Shreveport.
2 highlights this year – beating Auburn and Tech. Doesn’t change that the season was a dissapointment, but sure makes it easier to swallow heading in to the offseason.
JB
December 4th, 2009
12:00 pm
Paul H
There are several differences between CPJ and CCG. One of those differences is perspective. I think Tech will be focused tomorrow and I don’t think any of the players will be thinking about UGA. In years past they probably were since they were not in a Championship game after the UGA game. I know 2006 was similar, but Gailey is not Paul Johnson. I understand your comment though.
TECH
December 4th, 2009
12:02 pm
Paul H, That is true when uga beats Tech, Tech does come out flat against the next opponent. Tech has never lost two games in a row under Paul Johnson but loosing to uga is different.
Frank Wren
December 4th, 2009
12:11 pm
Your opinion isn’t based on any facts, just a very obviously biased attempt at trying to insult another school.
Yes they are. See below
Highest Winning Percentages By Conference
Conference
Percentage (Record)
Mountain West
1.000 (2-0)
Southeastern
.706 (12-5)
Pacific-10
.692 (9-4)
Big East
.545 (6-5)
WAC
.500 (1-1)
Big 12
.438 (7-9)
Big Ten
.421 (8-11)
Atlantic Coast
.182 (2-9)
Independents
.000 (0-3)
You see the FACTS show the SEC is the best conference and the FACTS show the ACC is the worst (by far).
JB
December 4th, 2009
12:13 pm
Paul H
“Tech fans – if you want to know why you’re getting so many obnoxious posts from UGA fans, you can thank Saint Simons, m, Yellow Fuzz and Ramble On – all of whom have been MIA since last weekend.”
I certainly don’t agree with classless posts from any school. I would agree that Saint Simons, Yellow Fuzz and Ramble On were simply flamers. Their sole intent is to insult and be confrontational. I think they do a great disservice to their team and their fellow fans. I stated this several times in the past months on these blogs and called SS out several times myself.
I suppose from your comment that you feel that Saint Simons, et al justifies your fellow Dawg fans behaving in a similar fashion. I can certainly understand the motivation, but these fans look just as unintelligent as Saint Simons. By associating themselves as Dawg fans they also hurt their own program. As they saying goes, you can’t lay down with a dog with fleas and not get fleas (pun intended in this instance).
JB
December 4th, 2009
12:17 pm
Frank Wren
Where did you get those “facts”? From your post it would appear that the Mountain West is flat out the best conference in the nation. Using your “facts” the SEC is 30% less competitive than the Mountain West. Are we to infer that the SEC is not even close to the Mountain West?
Your so-called “facts” are laughable and actually contradict your assertions. I suppose you either didn’t go to college or you didn’t learn very much when you attended. What was your major in Frank? Or are you just a UGA bandwagon fan?
Frank Wren
December 4th, 2009
12:21 pm
Where did you get those “facts”? From your post it would appear that the Mountain West is flat out the best conference in the nation. Using your “facts” the SEC is 30% less competitive than the Mountain West. Are we to infer that the SEC is not even close to the Mountain West?
Its called the internet. You ought to try it sometime. Ever hear of Google?
http://www.bcsfootball.org/bcsfb/alltime
And 2 wins by the mountain west is not enough of a sample to be valid. 11 games with just 2 wins ( ACC ) is enough of a sample.
GT Joe
December 4th, 2009
12:31 pm
So many leg humpers on a GT blog…
Just goes to show, biggest win in years for UGA was against…. TECH. LOL. ROFLMFAO.
John Schuerholz
December 4th, 2009
12:31 pm
Frank Wren: Get your azz of these blogs & find us a first baseman or you will have a lot more time to be on these blogs. Understand? Let me spell it out for you. If you don’t get to working on upgrading the Braves roster, you won’t have a job. Have I made myself clear?
Rusted Wreck
December 4th, 2009
12:32 pm
(((30-24)))
1-0 for 365!!!
It hurts more than you say …we know it … and we like it!!!
LMAO!!!
JB
December 4th, 2009
12:34 pm
Frank Wren
First of all, the information that you presented is about BCS games only. As such you have chosen to ignore the regular season games and the inter-conference records in the regular season. By looking at only BCS games you are excluding over 95% of all football games played. No wonder the statistics presented are so distorted.
Second of all, you present the statistics then immediately discount them by you choosing to say that the Mountain West numbers are invalid because “2 wins by the mountain west is not enough of a sample to be valid.” Which confirms my first point above.
So, Frank you have basically stated that the sample size of the comparison is insufficient to conclude that the statistics you have presented are valid. Which totally negates your original assertion. The old saying that you can make statistics say anything that you want to say comes to mind. You are trying to make a point with statistics that you later describe as being irrelevant because the sample size is too small. My refutation to your original assertion is to agree with you that the statistics you’ve presented are irrelevant because the sample size is too small and does not take into consideration the body of work during the regular season. You agree in your last post by your comment about the Mountain West.
I suppose you missed statistics in college Frank. You never did answer my question about what was your major in college. Did you not go to college or are you too embarassed to answer the question?
JB
December 4th, 2009
12:38 pm
Rusted Wreck
Glad to see that our program is important enough to you for you to stop by and post something. Our focus is on a championship game tomorrow. I can understand why you’re upset about that, since your Dawgs won’t be playing in any championships for a long, long while. But, as you Dawgs remind us each winter: “Wait until next year!” Indeed.
UGA is in our rear view mirror until next year. Glad to see that you’re still hurting from last year even though you won this year. You must be in a lot of pain.
StingDoc
December 4th, 2009
12:41 pm
Sagarin ranks the ACC 3rd, not last as trash-talking dawgs above say, but then everyone knows dawgs can’t read. Only trailer-trash such as those posting above [Frank Wren, dawgfan, A She She blog, Does the body good, Beg to differ, The Other St. Simons, et al – most of whom are probably from one idiot, who never finished high school, using aliases] would be proud of dawg-thugs who can only win by injuring the other teams’ star players as they did to Nesbitt both in 2008 & 2009. This is consistent with the thug FSU mentality which Richt brings from Mickey Andrews making the dawgs one of the most penalized team in the nation. I see that another dawg-thug, Montez Robinson, was arrested, for the 2nd time. Why does that not surprise me?
I would rather lose with Honor than win with A Dirty Team!
10-2!
Coastal Division Champions!
Ranked 10th in the BCS!
4 National Champions. more than the 1 or 2 by the dawgs!
Won the 1st game against the dawgs in 1893 when the dawg-thugs threw rocks at Tech!
Longest win streak againast the dawgs, 8 games under Bobby Dodd!
Biggest margin of victory, 48-0!
Tech players not only must be able to read & write but take calculus as well. Dawg-thugs must try to stay within the lines when they color their book!
TRASH-TALKING DAWGS WHO TRY TO MOCK
WILL BE STUNG BY ME, STINGDOC!
Frank Wren
December 4th, 2009
12:43 pm
Yes I did go to college not that its any of your business.
And hey of you want to ignore the numbers thats your problem. Bottom line is when the ACC’s best is pitted against the best from around the country they consistently come up short.
Another thing. these numbers are more valid than say. Tech beating Vandy or Alabama beating Duke. I think they are very representative of which conference is better. Much more so than other matchups between conferences.
Frank Wren
December 4th, 2009
12:45 pm
4 National Champions. more than the 1 or 2 by the dawgs!
Actually UGA has 5 national titles 1 more than Georgia Tech.
National championships
Years in which the Bulldogs finished with a number-one ranking in at least 3 of the final national polls recognized by the College Football Hall of Fame and included in the official NCAA Football Record Book:[9][28]
* 1980 – The Bulldogs beat Notre Dame 17–10 in the Sugar Bowl to finish 12-0 and claim the National Championship. Notable contributors during the season included Herschel Walker, Buck Belue and Lindsay Scott (Georgia was listed first by AP, Berryman, FACT, FB News, FW, Helms, National Championship Foundation, NFF, Poling, Sporting News & UPI).
Other years in which the Bulldogs finished with a number-one ranking in at least one of the final national polls and included in the official NCAA Football Record Book:[9][28]
* 1927 – With a 9-1-0 record, the Bulldogs were called the “dream and wonder team” and were ranked No. 1 in the nation with one regular season game remaining, but were upset by Georgia Tech by a score of 12-0 at Grant Field in Atlanta, Georgia.[29] Nevertheless, at the end of the season, Georgia was ranked number 1 in two polls recognized by the NCAA.[30] The Bulldogs were also listed as number 1 in two other polls of the 1927 season, but most recognize Illinois as the 1927 National Champion.[31]
See also: 1927 Georgia Bulldogs football team
* 1942 – 11–1 Georgia was chosen as champion by at least half of the recognized polls. Georgia was led by All-Americans Frank Sinkwich and end George Poschner, along with a young back named Charley Trippi. The Bulldogs knocked off 9 consecutive opponents and ranked No. 1 in the nation. Georgia earned a Rose Bowl bid after it blanked Georgia Tech 34–0 in Athens to end the regular season. Georgia then edged UCLA 9-0 in the Rose Bowl
* 1946 Georgia went 11-0 and beat North Carolina 20-10 and was proclaimed national champions by half the national polls.
* 1968 Georgia was chosen by one national poll when they went 9-1-2 losing to Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl. Overtime was not allowed in the NCAA yet so Georgia tied with Tennessee and Houston.
Frank Wren
December 4th, 2009
12:47 pm
4 National Champions.
Its actually 3 and 1/2
McDawg
December 4th, 2009
12:47 pm
when you rely on chop blocking to execute your schemes its called a gimmick-kinda of like running out the clock just before the half and then calling timeout to sneak another play in -Gimmick
CPJ=Gimmick
Frank Wren
December 4th, 2009
12:48 pm
Tech players not only must be able to read & write but take calculus as well.
How did Reggie Ball do in calculus? Or the Tech players who were selling pot a little while back? Or the kids who overdosed on Heroin? How did they do?
JB
December 4th, 2009
1:02 pm
Frank Wren
You didn’t address the points I made, which isn’t surprising since they prove my point. Your original biased opinion is that the ACC wasn’t deserving of a BCS slot. Of course, none of the football pundits or experts agree with you, which is also not surprising. You might want to check out the latest Sagarin ratings (which are actually used in the BCS ratings): http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbc09.htm
I would agree that conference ratings that compute interconference games and strength of schedule are much more accurate than comparing common opponents. (At least we agree on something
However, to say that the ACC, which has the 3rd best conference rating in the nation, is somehow not deserving of a BCS bid is, well, uninformed and simply irresponsible posting. We all can understand why a Dawg fan (or any fan) would be biased, but say it’s your opinion and not try to present it as “facts” as you did in your earlier post. Just sayin’.
JB
December 4th, 2009
1:04 pm
Frank Wren
You post about championships certainly appears that your are living in the past. Tech is playing a championship game tomorrow. The Dawgs are not. Those are facts Frank. You might want to come live in the here and now Frank with the rest of us. Enjoy the rest of your season.
JB
December 4th, 2009
1:10 pm
Frank Wren
“How did Reggie Ball do in calculus?” He obviously passed calculus Frank or he could not remain in school. If your trying to allude to his infamous “loss of down” counting then fine, but don’t contradict the point you’re trying to make by contradicting yourself. Calculus is a difficult subject and ANYONE can lose count when under stress. I suppose you have never lost count while counting something Frank? That being said, his mistake was egregious beyond compare and cost us an opportunity to extend the game. If you’re trying to say that Reggie couldn’t count to four, then you are exposing your inability to be objective or intelligent, or both. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you are simply very biased.
DogCatcher
December 4th, 2009
1:10 pm
@Frank Wren- the one thing I’ll admit is the D stinks for Tech- if ya’ll think you run it so well why didn’t you do that all year??? Dogs eat eat thier own crap dude- just like the fans trash up the Athens Campus- SEC whOOOOA so impressive- any team can beat any team on any given day…got nothing to do with what conf you are from….You are 3-5 in your own conf- shut up….enjoy watching other teams play tomorrow because it want be the dogs playing!!!!
RealityYech
December 4th, 2009
1:11 pm
TECH –
You’ve posted a lot of nonsense and too much to cover all at once, so I’ll just pick one of your more ignorant comments to respond to. “Who cares about conferences?” Hmmm…..you do, along with any other senisble college football fan.
Since we’re dealing with voters it’s a game of perception, everyone needs for their conferences to do well. Why do you think a one loss GT team was never in any serious BCS title talks? Why do you think USC and Ohio St. NOW realize they can’t drop a single game during the season? Because the PERCEPTION is that they play in weak conferences. The ACC will for years be fighting this stigma and will have very difficult time shaking it off.
Who cares about conferences? Good one!!
hilda
December 4th, 2009
1:14 pm
DogCatcher,
The majority of UGA’s defensive problems came from moronic turnovers inside their own redzone by the offense. Since you can’t really fire an entire offense, Willie had to take the hit. But regardless of how you try and spin it, Tech’s most “dominate offense ever” still couldn’t handle our sorry D.
GT Joe
December 4th, 2009
1:14 pm
So many leg humpers on a GT blog
Just goes to show, biggest win in years for UGA was against TECH. LOL. ROFLMFAO.
JB
December 4th, 2009
1:14 pm
Frank Wren: “Or the Tech players who were selling pot a little while back?”
You might want to check out the latest about your Dawgs: http://www.ajc.com/sports/uga/bulldog-montez-robinson-arrested-225877.html
Glass houses. You might want to clean up your own program before you decide to throw rocks at someone else’s program. Just sayin’. If you were on a Dawg blog you would have known that already. Instead, you find the ACC blogs much more interesting than the SEC for some reason only your therapist knows. Perhaps it’s your record in the SEC that disturbs you and you are in denial.
Gator4life = Tech coward
December 4th, 2009
1:15 pm
Funny that a “Gator fan” would fail to mention LSU’s 2 recent national titles. What’s Bama won? Nice try you lonely tool bag!!!
GT Joe
December 4th, 2009
1:16 pm
Reality Yech:
FYI, we were the highest ranked 1-loss team for WEEKS. So I guess people weren’t discounting the ACC that much huh?
cory
December 4th, 2009
1:17 pm
JB,
I must rather have kids that behave like normal college kids instead of shamefully playing a drug Lord and rapist. Just something to think about
StingDoc
December 4th, 2009
1:17 pm
Frank Wren posted: “National Champions. more than the 1 or 2 by the dawgs!
Actually UGA has 5 national titles 1 more than Georgia Tech.”
More evidence that dawgs can’t read, write, or count! Tech has 6 NC’s per one source from Wikipedia vs. 5 for the dawgs [1 of which, 1968, had only 1 selector; all of Tech’s had more than one] and 4 per College Football Data Warehouse vs. 2 for UGA.
FRANK WREN IS STUNG AGAIN BY ME, STINGDOC!!
timthebrave
December 4th, 2009
1:17 pm
If tech can keep cj spiller from going crazy on them I think they have a good chance to win. 27-24 tech wins. Good luck to the jackets from a huge dawg fan.
miles
December 4th, 2009
1:18 pm
But a one loss SEC team would have been considered long before a one loss ACC team
GT Joe
December 4th, 2009
1:20 pm
Dude, did Frank Wren just claim UGA won the NC in 1968 when they LOST THEIR BOWL GAME? LOL.
And is he really claiming 1928, after getting shut out by , guess who, GT?
Hilarious.
DawgTired
December 4th, 2009
1:20 pm
StingDoc,
How many times has GT been ranked number 1 by the AP?
GT Joe
December 4th, 2009
1:21 pm
DawgTired, who the F is the AP? A bunch of pencil necked journalists? 1990, we won the COACHES poll. You know, the people that actually know the game?
JB
December 4th, 2009
1:22 pm
cory
Do you honestly think that the arrests of your Dawg players were unjustified and simply “kids behav[ing] like normal college kids”? Do you call their behavior “normal” to use your term? Your justification sounds more like an excuse than a rationalization.
That is what I typed
December 4th, 2009
1:23 pm
It’s funny how real Tech fans know more about their own team and other teams, like UGAy…After the loss last Saturday, I was in Wally World and stood in line to pay for my items..A UGAy fan was in front of me and I said “Good game for your team, CMR and his boys put it to us”…He replied, “Who is CMR?”…That says it all… Go Jackets!!!
Wiki is your source?
December 4th, 2009
1:23 pm
Yes, since we all know Wiki is a very reliable source. CFDWH has 7 overall titles for GT, 11 for UGA. If you care about that sort of thing.
StingDoc
December 4th, 2009
1:25 pm
JB said to Frank Wren RE Reggie Ball: “If you’re trying to allude to his infamous “loss of down” counting then fine,..” Actually, this is yet another point of evidence that the dawgs play dirty in that the scoreboard read 3rd down & this is what Reggie saw. For any dawg who believes that was an honest mistake, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell them.
I would rather lose with Honor than win with Dirty Tactics!
hahahaha!!!!
December 4th, 2009
1:25 pm
Yes, the Coaches Poll where coaches like Steve Spurrier have their assitants fill out their ballots, you f’n moron.
It’s not like Coaches have anything better to do than to sit around and watch every other team in the country play. What a dumba$$!!!!
1952?
December 4th, 2009
1:26 pm
Funny that Yechers mock some of UGA’s titles when they didn’t get either the AP NOR their beloved Coaches Poll vote in ‘52, yet they still claim it. HILARIOUS!!!
GT Joe
December 4th, 2009
1:28 pm
So many leg humpers on a GT blog
Just goes to show, biggest win in years for UGA was against TECH. LOL. ROFLMFAO.
GT’s biggest win in years? VT, 2009. Times have changed, eh?
Nerds talking about "honor" now?
December 4th, 2009
1:28 pm
Yeah, that sure was an “honorable” schedule the tools played in 1990. They faced ZERO conference champions while the real champs, Colorado, faced FOUR. Which is why they won the only ballot that really counted back then.
JB
December 4th, 2009
1:29 pm
I’m heading to Tampa, so I’m out of here. If you’re fortunate to have a team that is playing in a championship game tomorrow, good luck and may the best team win. If you’re one of the Dawg fans on here trying to make us feel bad about our game tomorrow — you have obviously failed miserably. What you have done is point out your own inadequacy (and inherent jealousy) as well as highlighted the fact that you are on an ACC blog because you are irrelevant in your own conference.
See you in Tampa! Go Jackets!
burdelldurp
December 4th, 2009
1:30 pm
Maybe that UGA guy can hook up with ol’ drug dealing Reuben Houston and his best customer Little Joe. BTW 30-24, nothing you can say, do, reply or wish will ever change it. Take your beating like a good little b*itch and move along.
Zeb
December 4th, 2009
1:31 pm
JB,
Why are you wasting the gas? The ACC champion was crowned last Saturday and it’s the Dawgs
ArkyTech
December 4th, 2009
1:31 pm
Wow, UGA fans are completely OBSESSED with GT and our Johnson.
Don't 4get the CrackerJack rings GT Joe!
December 4th, 2009
1:34 pm
Hmmm….I don’t seem to remember Johnson ordering CrackerJack rings to celebrate beating VT, but I sure do remember him ordering them for having your ACC officials stealing the win in Athens.
LOL, it’s gotta suck to have that fact thrown back in your face, ehh chump?