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Campus Hero [13542]
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Here's The Biggest Problem....
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Sep 14, 2025, 8:29 PM
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I posted this in response to someone who thinks Clemson is rolling in cash:
We can always compete with the big boys in the money game???? You are very stupid. Before the last 5-6 years it wasn't really necessary to compete with the money schools. Paying players was illegal. Sure, some schools got away with crap. But Clemson was able to win because of the culture, the coaches, the tradition, the development, etc. Now that the money game is legal, the big schools will outspend us each and every year. No question about it. We might do okay in the crappy ACC, but compete with 'Bammer, LSU, Georgia, Florida, Miami, FSU, OSU, Michigan, Penn State, Oregon, Notre Dame, TAMU?????
Fugetaboutit!!!!!
I do believe Dabo has to change his approach when it comes to the portal, but Clemson will never be able to keep up with the big boys in the money game. That's a forgone conclusion. You better hope and pray we go to the SEC or that the current ways of acquiring talent changes. A new coach will make less money but Clemson will not make more.
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Paw Master [16206]
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What you said is the truth. Sad, but true. It's all about who has the most
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Sep 14, 2025, 8:33 PM
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money to buy the best players. Ohio State bought a national championship last year.
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Campus Hero [13542]
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Re: What you said is the truth. Sad, but true. It's all about who has the most
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Sep 14, 2025, 8:34 PM
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Yep.
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Asst Coach [821]
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Re: Here's The Biggest Problem....
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Sep 14, 2025, 8:36 PM
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True, but our current talent level based on recruiting, etc. is in the top 10. Performance - maybe top 40. The bigger issue is our coaching staff minimizing our talent level. For years we 'overperformed' and maximized our talent.
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Campus Hero [13542]
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Re: Here's The Biggest Problem....
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Sep 14, 2025, 8:44 PM
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Perhaps. Or maybe the recruiting rankings are not always reliable. I've seen enough with my four eyes over the last few years that shows me that not only do the big schools have more money, they have bigger, faster, more talented players than we do. And they are much deeper. I, along with others, have said it before. Our misses on the last two QBs have been catastrophic, holding back the offense. And I do believe both were 5 stars. Who is to say that other players Clemson has recruited have not also been overrated by the recruiting rankings? Coupled with little coming in from the portal (outspent?), and that's a double whammy almost impossible to overcome, regardless the coaching staff.
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All-TigerNet [5985]
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Re: Here's The Biggest Problem....
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Sep 14, 2025, 8:44 PM
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Yeah agree on the spending. IMO we're going to have to get good at scouting talent at the G5 and FCS level and hope to cash in on some talent that's overlooked.
GT had a dude from Penn and some other nice transfers. LSU had the same where they sniped some nice pieces. We got some good ones with Heldt, Alexander, and Tristan and those later two guys should get more playing time.
I'm hopeful we can keep breaking those doors down to bring in experience. It seems like the talent we get ain't growing like expected which also points to some coaching/development issues.
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Campus Hero [13542]
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Re: Here's The Biggest Problem....
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Sep 14, 2025, 8:51 PM
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No doubt about it.
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Tiger Titan [48937]
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I read that we are 24th in NIL funding.
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Sep 14, 2025, 9:06 PM
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We should expect our results to line up with that more than anything. I hate it but the game has changed. We simply do not have the talent to be a national title contender. I knew that we were overrated going into the season. Always hopeful as a fan but deep down I knew we hadn’t bought the players to be a top 10 team.
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Campus Hero [13542]
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Re: I read that we are 24th in NIL funding.
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Sep 14, 2025, 9:23 PM
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24th is not bad, but it in all likelihood won't get us to the Natty.
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Tiger Titan [48937]
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Re: I read that we are 24th in NIL funding.
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Sep 14, 2025, 9:36 PM
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It’s not but there’s a big funding gap between #1 and #24.
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Campus Hero [13542]
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Re: I read that we are 24th in NIL funding.
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Sep 14, 2025, 9:38 PM
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True enough.
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Clemson Icon [25418]
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Re: I read that we are 24th in NIL funding.
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Sep 14, 2025, 10:36 PM
[ in reply to Re: I read that we are 24th in NIL funding. ] |
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A lot of fans do not understand in today’s CF world it’s all about the money. Before the season started many leagues ng time fans were upset with IPTAY dues increasing, increased increases in ticket and parking pass price increases. Clemson is selling alcohol now to raise more money.
This is the path NIL , the TP and revenue sharing has taken us. It’s really sad the road we are on.
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Dynasty Maker [3147]
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Re: I read that we are 24th in NIL funding.
Sep 14, 2025, 9:50 PM
[ in reply to I read that we are 24th in NIL funding. ] |
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Maybe, just maybe if we had qualified Coaches that "24" could play like a top 10.
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Game Changer [2061]
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Re: I read that we are 24th in NIL funding.
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Sep 15, 2025, 11:25 AM
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Not really.
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CU Guru [1555]
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Orange Blooded [2532]
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Re: Yea and GT has better players than Clemson
Sep 14, 2025, 9:58 PM
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BS! It’s coaching. Riley is killing this program. So vanilla and non innovative. Until that’s corrected, the downtrend will continue. Riley a very bad hire.
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Game Changer [2061]
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Re: Yea and GT has better players than Clemson
Sep 15, 2025, 11:26 AM
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It's not. It's talent.
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CU Guru [1555]
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I'm not as sold on Riley as I was at the beginning...
Sep 15, 2025, 12:29 PM
[ in reply to Re: Yea and GT has better players than Clemson ] |
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But what was so innovative about the offenses that LSU, Troy and Ga Tech put on the field? LSU didn't run anything exotic, heck they ran the same screen play 3 times in a row and picked up first downs. Except for three tipped passes and a few unsportsman like penalties, Troy would have won that game. And Tech lined up and said "we're running King to the right, stop us".
I do think a great OC can scheme for certain things and make use with what he has. But it's mostly that we no longer have superior talent.
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CU Guru [1548]
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Re: Here's The Biggest Problem....
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Sep 14, 2025, 10:14 PM
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Please for the love of God… can we please have our fans stop spreading this ridiculous nonsense.
Clemson HAS money. Stop acting like we’re the poor little school tucked away in the upstate that punches above their weight.
Stop that BS bc it’s not true.
Yall we have plenty of money and don’t let anyone tell you different. Can we go toe to toe with the Texas oil money or Nike at Oregon? No… we can’t… but guess what? Neither can Alabama or Georgia or 95% of the rest of everybody else.
What yall don’t realize is… we don’t always have to be the highest bidder. We need to be “in the ball park” and THEN let Dabo do his recruiting thing an get them here. That’s where CLEMSON can set itself apart. We just need to be in the ball park.
The other part of this is… we don’t need to go outbid everyone for every 5 star or every top portal player.
We need to identify a handful of kids at premium positions and then go spend or do what it takes to get them.
So… in the Dabo era… I think most would agree our bread and butter positions under Dabo that we’ve won the biggest with were… QB/WR/DE/DT
So… go identity the very best QB that we think fits us and our scheme and go get him.
Do the same with a big time WR or 2.
Same with a DE or 2.
Same with a DT or 2.
Go get those premium positions and fill them with the players we want most and do what it takes to get them OR… at the very least… let’s only fall back to option 2 or 3 on the board. Not option 6/7/8 on the board like we have been.
Then we go bargain shopping and looking for guys that can provide quality depth and be a part of the rotations at positions where you rotate guys in and out.
Then we go fill in the rest with a couple starters from the portal. Then we get a couple of freshmen that we think are more game ready to play and boom… you’ve got a nice mix of experience and youth along with some decent depth and still have a few leftovers for redshirting and developing.
This is no rocket science yall. We don’t need to have the most money. We just need to be in the neighborhood. We don’t need to be the richest. We have to be the smartest. We have to be able to get players here and then develop them into their max potential. We’ve lost that ability with our friends and family coaching hires.
Adapt or die.
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Clemson Icon [25418]
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Re: Here's The Biggest Problem....
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Sep 14, 2025, 10:22 PM
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Well said ddclemson. I wonder how people realize that when we won the 2016 National Championship Game when all athletic bills were were paid Clemson’s AD lost approximately $1 million dollars. Yep as 2016 NC’s we still lost $1 million dollars.
When we were at the top it was because mom’s and dad’s wanted their kids to play for Dabo because of his and Clemson’s culture. It was about building kids into good people that would contribute to society as a Clemson Alumni.
Tee Higgins Dad a college coach at the time recommended to his son Tee that he should play for Dabo.
We know what it’s like now. I honestly believe Dabo has such great love for Clemson and the fans he did not want to leave without getting back to a NC game.
Dabo has accomplished more than enough to reach the HOF. And he is a smart businessman. So I am sure he is financially set. So why would he endure the wrath of some fans. I can only think it’s because he cares so much about his players, coaches, fans and Clemson University.
By the way there were several excellent post in this thread.
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Playmaker [381]
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Re: Here's The Biggest Problem....
Sep 15, 2025, 2:42 AM
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Of course we can’t compete with Texas, Ohio State, Oregon, etc when it comes to NIL funding…
But where do Troy and GT stand? What about number of 4-5 stars? Coaching salaries?
My guess is that were ranked well ahead of both teams in each of those categories… and I think pointing to NIL is just an excuse for our underwhelming play.
So although its an issue, its definitely not the biggest problem.
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Campus Hero [13396]
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Re: Here's The Biggest Problem....
Sep 15, 2025, 9:22 AM
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Troy and GT sometimes beat wealthier schools same as Clemson occasionally beats wealthier teams.
Is additional elaboration necessary?
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All-Pro [746]
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Re: Here's The Biggest Problem....
Sep 15, 2025, 4:27 AM
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NIL and transfer portal have hurt a lot of schools with less revenue. The big boys got tired of the Clemson's of college football embarrassing them so they rigged it and made it almost impossible for smaller schools to compete consistently. The big schools buy their way into championship play.
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Playmaker [365]
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Re: Here's The Biggest Problem....
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Sep 15, 2025, 5:37 AM
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I understand and agree with your point. However we’re seeing teams with less resources from all around the country score points. Meanwhile it seems like our offense producing more than 20 is some Herculean task. We might not have the money to be a top 5 team but come on, can we not be top 20?
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Campus Hero [13396]
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Re: Here's The Biggest Problem....
Sep 15, 2025, 9:26 AM
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Over the long haul, schools that have more money will win more often against teams with less money.
That does not mean that an occasional ‘poorer’ school will never have a better season than a ‘richer’ school, whether the baseline comparative scenario is schools within the same conference or schools that are not in the same inference with each other.
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National Champion [7527]
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Re: Here's The Biggest Problem....
Sep 15, 2025, 11:11 AM
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I am sure GT outspends us.
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Freshman [7]
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Re: Here's The Biggest Problem....
Sep 15, 2025, 11:22 AM
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The money question needs to be discussed with a little more nuance now that the House settlement is in effect.
Does Clemson have 20M to spend on revenue sharing this year? How much of that 20M is it allocating to football?
Do Clemson donors reach into their wallets for NIL money? Realize that legal spending on NIL is not that high anymore. The Clearinghouse released a report recently. The approved deals ranged up to (from memory) about 1.5M and the average deal was about 8K.
School donors may choose to go back to paying players under the table. If that happens we are effectively back to the pre-NIL days. Clemson did just fine then so I doubt we'd have a money problem.
Given the above, I really doubt Clemson is just getting materially out spent.
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Clemson Conqueror [11827]
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Re: Here's The Biggest Problem....
Sep 15, 2025, 11:48 AM
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This is a correct statement if we try to go about this like the big money schools. We will always lose the attrition warfare battle.
If we get innovative, we can compete. IPTAY was innovative because it created a massing of donors across the entire fan base like no other school in the country (although we're now somehow getting away from that and pricing everyone out).
What are we currently doing that other schools are not? What are we doing to give ourselves a competitive advantage?
Answer: Nothing.
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TigerNet Elite [72603]
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When legal NIL entered the picture, I told everyone I knew
Sep 15, 2025, 12:31 PM
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that it would ruin Clemson sports. Our alumni base is much smaller than the ones you listed, and we can't compete with that type of money.
NIL is probably the biggest reason I have lost a lot of interest in college football
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