Clemson people acting like the world is coming to an end when you lose by
seven to the fourth ranked team in the country. To bring us some perspective
that's a little more rational, unlike some people on the internet. And then
the leading media landscape, it's Will Vanderboort from the Clemson Insider and Will,
like we said during the break, my friend, and thanks for joining us
as always, and on the English Tailgate show this weekend as well. Sometimes
it's just a great game between two really great teams, and sometimes you just
score one last touchdown. Sometimes it just happens. Yeah, when you have
a game like you did Saturday, somebody's got to lose. And I know
the Clemson fans wish they were the ones that won, and I get it
and I understand it. But it was a it was a great college football
game. I mean, I enjoyed it. It was one of the best
ones I've seen in the Valley. Yeah, probably since twenty sixteen against Louisville.
You know, it was a lot of big plays. You know,
you saw big plays from both offenses. You saw big plays from both defenses,
special teams. It was the drama there as we know, and so
it had a little bit of everything in it. And you know, I
bet you nobody was happier than ESPN, because I bet you that game got
their biggest rating of the night, without a doubt that the whole day,
you know, because the atmosphere a Clemson, by the way, was unbelievable.
It was eighty eighty two thousand people there. Man, that place was
packed out an hour before the game started, and it was every bit as
electric as any night game would be at Clemson. So that you know,
Davo mentioned it on his telephone tele conference call with us on Sunday night that
you know, he just thought the fans were amazing and you know, they
came out and I got to give him credit to man, it was it
was a great college football atmosphere, and the two teams delivered a great game.
They did look and that's what I take away from it. Two.
Will Vanderford, Clemson insider, joins us year on the Engels Hotline. You
can find him at Steeler Will on Twitter. We'll talk about as Steelers later
in the show here. Congrats by the way, they did what they had
to do against the run. I mean that was first and foremost, and
we talked about Jordan Travis's shoulder, you and I did on Saturday, and
look, whether there was a concerted effort or not, he was held in
check six carries negative two yards. Some of those were of course in the
pocket sacks, but Trey Benson couldn't get things going. So I think that's
the game plan going in is we can keep Travis in check to a certain
degree on the ground, and we knew we could. Let's just pick our
spots here and make sure that we're careful with guys like Johnny Wilson Keon Coleman,
who both had good games. But really the game turned in a lot
of ways. On a beautifully time blitz by Florida State where Kalen DeLoach knocks
the ball out of Kate Clubmic sand picks it up, and a stunned death
Valley watches it happen. Your reaction in real time. Yeah, First of
all, I thought Clemson played Floria State exactly how I thought they were gonna
play him. You know, I told to you guys that on the angles
call Gate two, and I thought that was a game that I thought Clemson
matched up with Floria State very well, and a lot of people thought I
was crazy when I said that, But when you look at those big corners
that Clemson has and then they got some size at safety. Now, what
I didn't think Clemson was going to do was play press man almost the whole
game, which is what they did. Disrespectful. I know it's disrespectful,
but right, and Clemson won the battle more times than not. I think
I ended up, you know, with his three targets being Coleman, Wilson,
and Bell. They were just thirteen of thirty one in those that's forty
one percent. So Clemson did a great job. And the reason that it
worked was because what you just mentioned they held in the twenty two yards rushing.
Florida State's offense is predicated with that run game, and that's a major
issue right now with Florida State because they struggled running the ball against Boston College
too, And I think part of it is because they, again Clemson,
like Boston College, when George Trup's got hurt, they didn't they's like,
Okay, we'll be stunned if he's being run much in the RPO game.
And they didn't do as much RPO stuff as you saw in the game.
It allowed Climson to just chee back and say Okay, we're gonna gonna shut
the rundown and then we're gonna get after your quarterback. And that's what they
did. And I thought it was a great game plan by West Goodwin and
the coaching staff on the defensive side. Some people know, I don't know
because of people know the staid Clipson Health Florida State. The seventeen points in
regulation and two hundred and eighty six total yards. Yeah, defensive shuts down
and then the overtime when it doesn't count in regulation, you're exactly right,
yeah, And do you listen, give me deceiving you're exactly right right,
And so you know, you know, just just trying to put that into
perspective. And they had three points and what's five or six possessions? They
only had three points and one hundred and thirty yards in the second half of
colusive defense did their job. They shut them down. They made Florida State
offense look progestrian like for most of the game. And you know, so
credit to West Goodwin his staff. As you mentioned, the play of the
game was the fumble. There's no doubt. First of all, great called
by four State recognizing film off in the game, knowing he's not the best
guy at pass protection, so you come with the blitz there he misses.
It doesn't pick up the linebacker even if he just chips them. I know
some people said, well, there's no saying that he's not gonna get him.
Know if he even chips him, he knocks him off his path and
where he maybe he tackles for a sack, but he maybe doesn't hit him
like the way he did. Club, they can knocks the ball loose,
so you know your running backs gotta pick that up. And I know people
argue you hear both arguments. People said, well, Club, he's got
to understand what's going on behind him, and I disagree because he's rolling to
his left opposite side. He's thinking his dudes doing his job. And if
you're if you're trusting that your teammates are doing their jobs, you're not looking
and you know you're rolling out, So why would you be worried about pocket
presents. No, that's not his job out anybody's saying that's out of there.
I'm not trying to criticize people. You got to understand the fundamentals of
what you're talking about here. When it's a timing and rhythm type of anticipation
throw, the quarterback is trained to trust what's in front of him and behind
him in terms of protections and look, people are gonna look for anything they
want to. It's been a quarterback carousel to a certain degree since they had
their magical run with Watson. Of course TODs blown before that, and then
Trevor Lawrence and it didn't work out with Kelly Bryant and DJU. Look,
he had some good moments, but Kate to me, settled in nicely.
You didn't see as much bouncing out of the pocket. I thought he was
very poised, very confident, any other than that one fumble, which you
look, it's gonna go against him in the books there. But still,
narratives can be dangerous, and I think a lot of Clemson fans are frustrated.
Some Clemson fans are more rational than others, as is the case globally
with sports. But what's the message with coach Sweeney right now? Is it
as usual when shield mentality? Was any special messaging from him to you guys
covering the beat down there anything you picked up on that was different Because this
is I guess somewhat unusual territory in the fact they're two and two right now,
but there's still a season ahead to play. You know, we saved
unusual territory. But people forget they were two and two two years ago,
right exactly, thank you, I guess percentage wise, but yeah, it's
recently been in this position. You know, a little bit different situation,
I think. But you know, I mean, they if you look at
both these seasons, look how hard season has been in the teams they've played,
you know, at the beginning of the year, and you know,
they had a tough road loss to a ranked you know, an NC State
team back then, and you had a tough road loss to a ranked Duke
team, right so you had a tough loss to Georgia who went on to
win the national championship. Now you just had a tough, difficult loss to
Florida State, who right now is in the top five. So you know,
I mean, you really can't. I mean, you lost some difficult
games and some good teams. It's not like you lost the Sisters of the
Poor here. And I know, people including myself, we're really surprised to
see the way they lost to do But Dukes turned out as as I thought
they would. They're not to be a pretty dark, good football team,
and I think they'll showcase that this week. So the message for Davo it's
his team, you know, I asked him other I asked him in the
press conference, how do you think this team will respond? He says,
I think we're gonna respond okay, because the day was an indication that we
could play and play with anybody, and that was like I felt like we
were the better team. We just didn't win the game. And he said,
part of that's my fault, and I'll own onto it, and those
coaches are onto it and we'll try to get better. But he says he
has no doubt that his players will bounce back and they'll be ready to play
when they go to Syracuse. And guys, they better be ready to play
when they go to Syracuse because we all know this is the thorn in the
side for Davos Sweeney when he has the greatest team he's ever had. Yeah,
so these guys, this is not gonna be an easy game by any
stretch for Clemson and they need to get over this Floor State game fast because
guys, the last time Clemson started the season ozero and three and acc play
was way back in nineteen ninety eight. Oh my goodness, Wow, I
think I was in high school. I remember that. I was probably have
one of those games watching like dray dray Dray Blyth for North Carolina and Mac
Brown coaching Round one. I remember those days. Yeah, it's you don't
want to go back there, you don't. It's a lot of it's with
Clemson fans, and I know so many of them. You know, they
are so proud of what Dabo and they have had handed it to the fans
building a culture down there, and I'm wishing for their sake things get back
on track with Syracuse. But that's no easy test. Look four to twenty
nine yards of offense. You're talking about a top ten ranked team here.
I think there's some things clicking with this Garrett Riley offense that is starting to
look more and more promising, and you're getting some more contributions once again from
guys other than Bo Collins. You're starting to see again in the running game,
it's kind of standard operating procedure. But in the passing game, Tyler
Brown has been emerging week after week Brennan Steel had a little more activity.
Stillatto is always active. So is it shape it up for you time wise?
Is this like the rest of the season. Obviously it's one game at
a time, winshield, mentality, win it all. Do you feel like
this team, with club Nick and all that's going on in college football could
be well positioned going in the next year. I know that's a long way
way to get the mental back or is it kind of Is it kind of
lost now for a few years? Where are they No? I think they're
fine. When you look at this team, look at all the guys coming
back next year. They're only gonna lose one starter off this offense this year.
They're gonna bring ten guys back potentially, you know, depending on Will
Shipley, which right now between you and me, guys, I think Will
Shipley should come back. I think there's some things he's got he can work
on. I don't think he's having the kind of year he was hoping he's
gonna have. I think he'd benefit from coming back for another season. So
you know, you can bring back both him and film Offa. You bring
back all the wide receivers. Bo Collins, by the way, he can
come back too. I know he's listened as senior, but he'd come back
if he wants to you because of the COVID year, so you know,
there's there's a lot there offensively, and then you got Kaye Pludnet, who
guys, let's be honest, Look how he's already progressed in four games.
Yeah, you can't. You can't tell me that it's the same quarterback that
started against Duke. He's not. I mean, Florida State was blissed to
them. They were coming, they were bringing pressure. The touchdown pass he
threw to will Shipley he got blown up on. I mean he got blown
up on the place, did he But he stood in there and delivered that
ball, and he went through his reads. There's plenty of times where you
saw him going through his entire progressions before he would take off running. He's
come a long way. You give get Riley credit for that as well.
And so I liked this offense. In the future. The defense, I
know some they're gonna say, oh my gosh, they're losing those linebackers and
stuff, but they're bringing people into They're bringing in the number one linebacker in
the country by the way, right, so and they and they got they
already got T. J. Carker's there at peter Wood. So the future
looks bright. You know, look at the look on the back end of
that Khalil Barnes and those guys. Look how good at secondary is and they
potentially could bring every single one of those guys back, even though I think
Nate Wiggins is probably gone, especially after that performance he had, but he
had stay, had five targets thrown to him, he got a single pass
was caught, by the way. So Dave Wiggins is probably gone but at
the end of the year. But you know, he still potentially could come
back. So they're in good shape for the future. This Clemson team is
I don't think you throw anything away, and I don't think he throws this
season away. I think this team is as good or better than every team
on their schedule. Yeah, there's some tough games, there's no doubt about
that. But if they played the way they did against Florida State, they
can beat every team on their schedule from here now. So we'll see how
they go. Guys, just remember we remember last year, none of us
would have said, none of us would have sat at this point last year,
there's any chance, and you know what that South Carolina would be Clemson.
No, but yeah, exactly. But what happened, right, it
happens happened somebody thought they would boat raise Tennessee either. Yeah, these are
things you don't anticipate. We're two months away to the end of this season.
You can't protect anything. No, you can't, especially in Syracuse,
which is where they'll find themselves. What used to be the Carrier Dome.
I believe it's the JMI Wireless Dome these days, still a Carrier Dome.
Okay, thank you. I just it's like akresran Hines. We're just making
sure it's like, wait for its the first they try to change it to
BB and T Field, I'm like, no, it's gross, geez.
And that's game time. That yeah. By the way, that game time
has been announced three thirty pm against Wake at home, so not a new
kickoff. That's the sweet spot I think. Any you're a sportswriter, we
talked about this last week. Your favorite kickoff times probably early afternoon or mid
afternoon. Right three thirty, I can tell you that that is the worst
time. Oh really, wow is the worst time. And here's why.
He's because I can't watch the Neon games and I can't watch the night games.
I'm stuck watching one game all day long. Man, it's the worst
time, but at least it's a good team. I mean, the best
time is noon because you get to watch all the afternoon and evening games.
Yeah right, it is good, right, And night times okay, because
you get to watch the morning the after the early Neon games and then you
know a right up to almost kickoff for the night game, So you get
those afternoon games pretty much most of the afternoon games in So the three third
you're stuck because you're like, you know, because you know, we get
to stated. We gotta work, you know. So it's it takes,
it takes a while. Well, they've got a great path ahead of them
and just some games to look forward to. Syracuse. Coming up on the
thirtieth, you'll hear us on the English Tailgate show seven eight m live from
Camper Down Plaza, I believe this week and then Wake Forrest. That'll be
back in Clemson. That'll be let's see here about a eleven thirty, ten
thirty, ten thirty area, yeah, ten thirty ever time doing math in
my head it sound great, and then if that to be determined on these
game times, Miami on the road, hard Rock Stadium at North Carolina State
Home against Notre Dame. Okay, so it's yeah, Look, there's a
lot to play for you. You can talk about two and two hole home.
We're back in the old days of Ken Hadfield or whatever. But by
the way, Kenny, Ky, Kitty, Kenny get into a bad job.
By the way, Kenny was fine. Tell me something nobody said that.
I heard it. I heard it. I heard somebody else call me
Bill Ellis down at Clemson. Walking back to the media, Parker let Us
said, that's my dad, and I have nary a concert ticket offer you.
I was in a salty mootive to that one. But look, there's
a lot of season ahead. I think it's gonna be fun to watch,
and it's always great to follow. Your content will be Enford. A quick
thought on your your Steelers moving forward. I mean, look, it's a
tough division. You got Watson playing better. That defense is good. The
Ravens stumble, of course they're going to do that early in the season.
That was surprising in the burrow. He might not play tonight, So I
mean your your thoughts on your Steelers moving forward. Listen, I'm you know
me. I'll criticize that Canada almost pretty much every week. I'll give him
credit last night though, on that third down play at near the end of
the game. Great play call and got the first down there to be pretty
much pretty much put the game away. And you know, so then Percy
Harvin, Boy, what a great punt that was at the end there to
kind of just like it was a sky punt. I mean, I took
about ten seconds talk and the guy had tumbled it because it was right in
the sideline. Anyway, it's fun to beat, but it's fun to beat
the Raiders. Come on, nobody where in Las Vegas, ugly glogo,
right, you just hate them? Well, not just that it was good
to beat the Raiders, and almost everybody in their stadium. We're Steeler fans,
that's what ye And you still and get Franco still caught it. That's
the thing, all these years later, Franco still caught it. Franco still
caught it. And then we beat the Raiders again, and I like that
anytime we can beat the Raiders, as we beat the Browns week before.
So yeah, thanks are going smooth right now, but we still got a
long way to go. You know, on offense, we're not not defense
is unbelievable. They're just they's just lights out. But we got a long
way to go on the offense society of football. But hey, they took
a big step this week. They looked better. Let's hope next week they
can do that against the Texans and get that wind. Mike Common always gives
us one four kind of win at loss every year, and my goodness,
is better than one or I'm gonna be mad you only get one of those,
we get a dozen. Will Vanderboards have a great afternoon, Thanks for
you and Savin. All right, guys, I thought they man