Clemson/VPI Sunday Thoughts

It is nice to be able to wake up on a Sunday morning in the fall three weeks in a row and not have to immediately start screaming about our football team.  Clemson didn't exactly play lights out last night, but was able to handily defeat the Virginia Tech Hokies.  It is really good to know that this team can have an off night and still get it done.  It was also nice to see Kevin Steele's in game adjustments shut down the Virginia Tech offense.  Honestly, we were lucky early on to get a couple turnovers to stall the Hokie attack but you must give overall credit to the Clemson defense.  Branch, in particular, showed out as the Tigers were able to mitigate VT drives that looked very promising.  The Clemson special teams rose to the occasion and did not allow the big return or the feared punt block.  I am still pissed off about the missed PAT following Bellamy's TD run but I'll get over it.  I still think our field goal/team is about as appealing as hot garbage, so you'll just have to deal with that bit of complaining and my recommendation that we not attempt another critical field goal unless it is absolutely necessary.  Catman missed a makeable attempt last week and Clemson has had its fair share of poor pat tries already this season.  I would like to see us tackle better on defense, but this area is by far my biggest concern.

Please, don't chug the orange flavored Kool-Aid just yet and don't solely use the orange tinted glasses.  This team has played well this year and has exceeded what I expected going into the year.  Winning each of the last three games without any sort of letdown has been impressive.  I will caution you.  We still have Boston College this week (yes, I know they suck but they give us fits annually), a well coached Georgia Tech team, and a talent rich UNC team.  Hopefully this team keeps it going and hopefully we speak highly of Swinney come season's end.  Trust me, we like talking good about our football team much more than when we have to point out the negatives.  So far Swinney has had a great season, but the season is less than half complete and we want 10 wins.

We know Dabo/Munson read STS and are very happy that they have taken our advice on coaching changes, attitude adjustments, and uniform selections (among other things).  Bringing in Chad Morris (not necessarily our idea) changed the whole attitude of this program in addition to bettering the offensive performance.  Morris makes this team much better because he teaches excellence and demands the same.  This attitude resonates not only with his offense but with the guys on the other side of the ball as well. 

The only request I have left (at this moment) is for Swinney to retire the letterman jacket and either switch back to the traditional sweatshirt or roll out in some serious pimp ass gear that involves a sweater and/or a full length coat (make it fur just to be that big of a bad ass).  Here is what I really expect after winning then defending the belt twice:

On a side note, FigureFour really enjoyed the win yesterday, and ended up bumping around in the Mecca for the evening.  We watched South Carolina blow a sure win vs Auburn, Clemson clean up VT, then got to yell at Auburn fan as Bama spanked Florida's ass.  As I have said before, watching Bama is a treat.  The Tide are so well coached it is ridiculous.  The Bama/LSU game will decide the national championship and I think that Alabama's superior in-game coaching will trump the incredible amount of talent LSU has amassed.  I still think Les Miles is a bad gameday coach but know that he can get his teams ready to play, particularly with a couple weeks' notice.  Maybe he's hired a "clock specialist" and somebody to punch him in the face when he's doing something obviously stupid (see the Auburn game when he had his QB heaving bombs in the endzone from well inside field goal range in the mid-2000's).  Just thinking about the stupidity of that series of events raises my blood pressure.  Here is Dr. B's assessment on some of this stupidity here and here.

On another note, if you don't dislike Auburn you are missing the boat.  Auburn is the luckiest team in America and, thanks to Bobby Lowder, they are the cheatingest team to win a national championship in my lifetime.  I am not sure what the NCAA is waiting on, but they should be getting after AU pretty soon.  On the other hand, who really cares?  They could give Auburn the death penalty and it wouldn't matter, they won the national championship last year.  Taking away wins and other such is just a stupid penalty.  That is almost like telling me Reggie Bush didn't win the Heisman a couple years ago.  Yes he did win it.  I saw him get the trophy.  Just because the NCAA says he didn't win it doesn't change the fact that he won it.  Likewise, just because some Georgia Tech players got a couple free t-shirts and a watch or two doesn't change the fact that they beat us in Tampa for the ACC Championship.  I know, I was there and watched GT win it.  To say otherwise is complete crap. <END OF RANT>

Jumping back to the point (Clemson), should Swinney and crew keep this up, I won't have anything to go nuts about in the offseason.  If the Tigers keep this up, you will come to STS and hear us talk of nothing but dandelions and French perfumes.  That got me thinking, and I believe I'll put together a series of articles will go under the category "FigureFour's Guide to Living" in which I'll break down what you should or should not be doing with yourself.  Hopefully, everyone will follow Dabo's lead and implement every idea we put forth, as I want everyone to be successful and happy.  I certainly am much more happy now that Swinney has implemented most of our suggestions and the Clemson Tigers are out winning football games again.