Anyone else burned out on Football, or is it something else?

Jan 9, 2023, 3:55 PM

I always get this way at the end of the season (a little). I'm always sort of glad the season is over when it gets here. I invest so much time, money and energy into the season that after 4 months, I'm spent. By this time, I'm ready for a break.

Then, I usually get a little excited around spring game, but then the lull sets in for late spring through summer.

I always keep my pulse on the program, reading articles on the players and recruiting, listening to talk shows (on occasion). Then, around July again, I start to get the itch again. By 2nd-3rd week of Aug I'm freaking ready as all get out.

This year though, my excitement for the 2023 season, as far as I can remember, is about as low as I can remember.

Even last year, given all that was returning (despite losing BV and TE and some players) I had lots of optimism about 2022. I thought there were a lot of things that were going to go back our way (health, experience, depth, etc).

I thought, if the WR's stayed healthy (and didn't get the dropsies again), if DJ got healthy, OL got healthy and combine that with a new energy at the play calling (Streeter) things would be the different on offense and we would get us back to scoring 40 points a game (Avg).

Couple that with a defense I thought was really loaded talented hold opponents to less than 15 points a game (avg) thanks to some new wrinkles (via Wes Goodwin), then I was really thinking we were going to make it back to the playoffs and possibly to the Championship game.

However, after seeing us slip just a little on Defense and seeing both Breese & Murphy both leave for the NFL early (along with the anticipated Trenton Simpson), I wonder what does the future hold for our Defense. I will say, I'm curious how a few of the Freshman could possibly impact the D Line. That's interesting and I'm excited to see what XT can do if he can stay healthy along with some other key players.

On Offense, I'm excited to see what a full off-season for Cade produces, and I feel great with Ship, Mafah & Briningstool & A Williams all returning. I'm also high on the Offensive line.

However, my energy for offense is tempered HEAVILY with our WR's continued issues with getting open catching the ball (at times). Further, the lack of imagination in getting our WR's open and the inexplainable moments where we abandoned what's working (TE passing game, Running Game) also looms heavily.

Maybe it was losing to the Dirt Peckers for the first time in 8 years. Or, maybe it was losing to Tenn (with a back up QB, while also missing their top WR & top LB) that has dampened my spirits.

I will add, The NIL is a small concern as there will be schools with much larger donor pools who will be able to outspend us. But I don't find myself thinking too much about that. Further, it's not the Portal that bothers me so much either. There is a reason 70% of the players going in don't find a new home. I don't really think about that much as Dabo has always preached we are developmental program.

However, that's what scares me at the end of the day is who is teaching who here? Who is developing our players? When you look at many of our coaches, they never had college or NFL coaching experience before they got their start coaching at Clemson. Same goes for the analyst. Who is coming in with fresh and proven ideas and coaching acumen?

If I just had one wish for the Offense this off season, it's that we rewrite the "Clemson Offense". I hope the staff visits some program and gets their eyes opened. I hope they realize that 75+% of our passing plays are to the sidelines have become "predictable" and that we become more balanced in our attack using WR/TE/RB's and that we equally attack the entire field.

If I had had one wish for Defense, it's that Wes Goodwin gets more comfortable with calling plays and carries himself with more confidence. My hope is that we become more multiple in our looks again (more mix of 4 man, 3 man &Y bear). My biggest fear when we lost BV was how we would respond after losing a coach with that kind of edge, fire and passion.

I'm sure I'll be all excited for 2023 about mid August. However, my energy levels is telling me to be happy with a 10 win season and temper any expectations about reaching the Playoff based off what we've seen the last 2 years.

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Couldn't have said it better myself. Going into this season was probably the least amount of excitement I have ever had for a Clemson team. After Notre Dame I just had a gut feeling the season was about to spiral but I wanted to stay positive and hope it would get better. We slogged sadly for the next few games and my little excitement was dwindling. After the coot loss, that was my final breath for the season in terms of trying to stay somewhat excited and optimistic. ACC Championship was a nice surprise to see Cade do well. Orange Bowl just really deflated anything I had left in me though. I hate that I've reached a point in life where it feels like a relief for football season to be over. But like you said, once Summer rolls around, excitement will rise again. But if it's another coaching slog where the team is blundering around on the field again offensively or lack of defensive improvement, my excitement will probably immediately dull again. Also doesn't help that week in and week out the schedule isn't very exciting being flooded with inferior or awful programs (Louisville, Cuse, Wake, Georgia Tech, BC, *insert sorry coastal rotation team*). I know we can't change who we play in the ACC but jeez is it dull playing against them from a fan perspective this last decade when everyone not named Clemson can't carry the ACC nationally. That's also gave some fuel to the lack of excitement. Notice how the excitement levels spike up when we play anybody out of conference. (Georgia, OSU, Oklahoma, LSU, ND, Alabama, Auburn, Coots, etc.). The only team in the ACC to carry this level of excitement every year is FSU and that's a problem. But it's out of our control sadly. I'll always cheer for the Tigers to win in every game because I will always be a fan but I know the day is coming when I drop watching for good unless the landscape of football somehow gets better.

Edit: I know this a long reply. But I also wanted to add this. It's probably not all of footballs fault that it is hard to watch. I think life in general is taking a lot out of everyone these days and football just becomes an after thought to the grand scale of the world around us and the daily stresses it brings.

Message was edited by: tigerforlife28®

Anyone else burned out on Football, or is it something else?

Re: Anyone else burned out on Football, or is it something else?

I live in Chattanooga

Re: Anyone else burned out on Football, or is it something else?

I think you raise some good points and I think you look at

Re: Anyone else burned out on Football, or is it something else?

Re: Anyone else burned out on Football, or is it something else?

I get it.***

Re: Anyone else burned out on Football, or is it something else?

Re: Anyone else burned out on Football, or is it something else?

This is a challenging time -- Belief is key!

Re: Anyone else burned out on Football, or is it something else?

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