College Football 2023

[LinvilleGorge]

Clemson certainly has a very talented roster but that didn't look like a typical Clemson roster last night. Usually they are very obviously head and shoulders more talented, athletic, and stronger than the other team. It just looks like men against boys. I didn't see that last night. Duke looked like they belonged on the field athletically and physically with Clemson. That's honestly more shocking to me than the outcome of the game.

Duke heating Clemson should look and feel flukey. That didn't look and feel flukey. 

[4Corners]

9 minutes ago, weyco2000 said:

You’re basing “talent” on how many stars a kid got in high school not how they develop or fit a system. Talent doesn’t slide 1 yard short of the sticks, fumble twice on goal to go, drop pass after pass or show absolutely no desire to overcome adversity. 

Tony Grimes was one of the top corners coming out of HS. He did absolutely nothing at UNC and was obviously afraid to tackle after returning from a nasty concussion last season. I don’t know if he even played for TxAM on Saturday.  Some dudes just don’t got that dog in em. 

[CRA]

34 minutes ago, weyco2000 said:

You’re basing “talent” on how many stars a kid got in high school not how they develop or fit a system. Talent doesn’t slide 1 yard short of the sticks, fumble twice on goal to go, drop pass after pass or show absolutely no desire to overcome adversity. 

nah, some of this is just piling on.  Which is fine.  That's sports.  People claiming Clemson doesn't recruit talent anymore.  Then when showed how absurd their recruiting has been.....claiming that's now how you should measure recruiting. Sometimes teams just have a bad day.  A comical day.  Which means you lose a game where you go 200 rushing and 200 passing.... despite your previous record being 108-0 when doing that. 

A team struggling to find an offensive identity (with a new OC and essentially a new QB) lost an opening day game to a pretty decent team on the road.   They had a bad day.  Some if it was Duke.  Some of it was Clemson.  Bad days happen in sports.  You just hope you can find a way to win when it all goes bad. 

Clemson went 11-3 and won the ACC championship last year with no QB play.  They did it not just because of the stars recruits get but because they have the best overall talent on their roster in the ACC.  Which was true before kickoff and is still true today.  

Mufah and Shipley are talented. A bad day doesn't rewrite that book because of two fumbles they were part of.  

And Cade had 1 start to his name.   Young QBs.  Kids.  Do some really stupid stuff in the process of learning. He had a bad slide.  You want to define him as a player off that? lol.   You can just look at Clemson.  Trevor Lawerence did all sorts of stupid stuff early in his first season.....in a season that ended up being an undefeated natty run where they dominated Bama.   So apparently that got all erased. They essentially would have to bench him for Kelly Bryant to clean up the mess early on at times.   It takes time.  It's not the end of times or Clemson. 

 

 

 

[4Corners]

You can have all the talent in the world on your roster - BUT if you have subpar QB play the rest of your roster doesn’t matter. Quarterback is the most important position in sports. If your QB sucks you might be able to skate bye for a bit but when it’s gonna eventually get you. 

[Davidson Deac II]

I think FSU might have the most talented roster in the ACC this year, in large part due to the portal.  It seems that at least for now, learning how to navigate the portal will be nearly as important as recruiting.  

[Panthera onca]

6 minutes ago, CRA said:

nah, some of this is just piling on.  Which is fine.  That's sports.  People claiming Clemson doesn't recruit talent anymore.  Then when showed how absurd their recruiting has been.....claiming that's now how you should measure recruiting. Sometimes teams just have a bad day.  A comical day.  Which means you lose a game where you go 200 rushing and 200 passing.... despite your previous record being 108-0 when doing that. 

A team struggling to find an offensive identity (with a new OC and essentially a new QB) lost an opening day game to a pretty decent team on the road.  

Clemson went 11-3 and won the ACC championship last year with no QB play.  They did it not just because of the stars recruits get but because they have the best overall talent on their roster in the ACC.  Which was true before kickoff and is still true today. 

But QB is still largely king.  QB play is just the ultimate difference maker.  And it cuts both ways.  It can lift a team up or knock them down several pegs.  

 

The portal is a talent equalizer for teams that can't recruit high school kids like Clemson can. You can bring in a proven college player who is ready to contribute from day 1 as opposed to developing some high school kid and not knowing when or if he will ever be ready. Dabo will have to change his views on the portal or he will never have Clem at the level of dominance they have enjoyed in the last 10 years.

[AceBoogie]

1 hour ago, CRA said:

Cade was a 5 star and the #1 overall QB of his class. 

DJU was a 5 star and the #1 overall QB of his class. 

Clemson most definitely has problems.  This recruiting angle just doesn't fly.  Clemson's worst recruiting class in the last 4 years was a still a top 10 class.  No one in the ACC is close to their classes. 

He hasn't stopped recruiting talent.  Clemson wins that contest in the ACC in a landslide.  Has he lost the ability to evolve his offense going forward without a best in all of college football caliber QB? I think that is it.  Cade was doing the same predictable junk he had DJU doing.    QB play, bad or good, is just too big of a difference maker. 

 

 

Anybody who thinks DJ was holding Clemson back last year is in deep deep denial. 

[4Corners]

4 minutes ago, Davidson Deac II said:

I think FSU might have the most talented roster in the ACC this year, in large part due to the portal.  It seems that at least for now, learning how to navigate the portal will be nearly as important as recruiting.  

Yeah FSU looks legit. UNC does as well as long as the defense holds up. Injuries of course could change a lot of things and it is only week 1. 
 

the portal is the new crootin’. Look at college basketball. Pitt basically bought a bunch of upper classmen with zero chance to go to the NBA and they had a nice season. That fat kid from Wofford or wherever NCST brought in looks like he is gonna be a second team all ACC next year. Kansas State had a great run and their coach lived in the portal. 
 

do you want some entitled 5star 18 year old phenom who is only there to get to the pros or do you want some seasoned, hungry older player with a chip on his shoulder who is coachable and playing to win ….gonna be interesting to see 

[4Corners]

5 minutes ago, AceBoogie said:

Anybody who thinks DJ was holding Clemson back last year is in deep deep denial. 

To be fair, DJ was in the impossible position of following the man the myth the legend Trevor Lawrence. Always a tough situation in sports to be the guy who comes after “the guy”

[CRA]

17 minutes ago, Panthera onca said:

The portal is a talent equalizer for teams that can't recruit high school kids like Clemson can. You can bring in a proven college player who is ready to contribute from day 1 as opposed to developing some high school kid and not knowing when or if he will ever be ready. Dabo will have to change his views on the portal or he will never have Clem at the level of dominance they have enjoyed in the last 10 years.

cool.  But I'm largely talking ACC.  And with other ACC teams using the portal....Clemson still has the best roster in the ACC. 

Now if you want to talk about Clemson competing for Nattys vs Bama vs Georgia? Yeah, that probably is a portal convo.  For Clemson to be permeant fixature in the college football playoff? Yeah, they will have to move to portal heavy team. 

and frankly, Dabo continuing the level of dominance for another 10+ years......isn't really realistic with or without the portal.   As Dabo said, getting to the mountain top is easier than staying on the mountain top.   A 20+ year run just isn't my expectation.  We are in the ACC.  

[Martin]

2 hours ago, AceBoogie said:

DJ was actually pretty damn good last year. The narrative surrounding him was bad and Dabo helped feed that narrative. DJ put up better numbers last year than Will Levis and Anthony Richardson 

I only watched 2-3 Clemson games last year and he was really bad in all of them. Couldn’t handle the pressure, bad accuracy etc. What games did you watch where he was “pretty damn good”?

[Panthera onca]

8 minutes ago, CRA said:

cool.  But I'm largely talking ACC.  And with other ACC teams using the portal....Clemson still has the best roster in the ACC. 

 

I'm not so sure about that one. FSU, UNC and last night Duke all look like they are equal to or better than Clem talent wise. State is likely there as well and they have been portal heavy. 

[4Corners]

1 minute ago, Panthera onca said:

I'm not so sure about that one. FSU, UNC and last night Duke all look like they are equal to or better than Clem talent wise. State is likely there as well and they have been portal heavy. 

State’s QB isn’t anything special. Average team at best.  If they still had Leary it could be a different story. It so funny how the state fans were salivating at the thought some bigger program was gonna buy Maye yet their own QB left for Kentucky because of NIL money. 

[Panthera onca]

Just now, 4Corners said:

State’s QB isn’t anything special. Average team at best.  If they still had Leary it could be a different story. It so funny how the state fans were salivating at the thought some bigger program was gonna buy Maye yet their own QB left for Kentucky because of NIL money. 

That's the thing with the portal though, they brought in a seasoned, experienced QB who has played at a high level previously under the new OC. He is also duel threat and Leary is the total opposite of that. Will Armstrong be an NFL QB? Probably not but he can win a lot of games for his college teams.