TNET: Quick thoughts from Pittsburgh: As offense struggles, hard decisions await Swinney
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TNET: Quick thoughts from Pittsburgh: As offense struggles, hard decisions await Swinney
Oct 24, 2021, 8:00 AM
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Orange Blooded [2248]
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Re: TNET: Quick thoughts from Pittsburgh: As offense struggles, hard decisions await Swinney
Oct 24, 2021, 8:29 AM
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Just because he has earned the right to stay the course, does not mean it's the right move. I hope that he takes a long look, not only at the staff, but at why he hired them to begin with. I think that he needs to do a personal assessment of whether he is letting personal biases influence what he thinks is best for the program as a whole.
He has done an amazing job, and maybe the coaches that we have are all the right guys. I question that they are, but regardless there will be positions open up as people retire and take positions at other schools. I hope that a little reflection will cause him to take a little broader look around next time there is an opening.
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CU Guru [1577]
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All great points
Oct 24, 2021, 8:38 AM
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I agree with everything you wrote and will hold judgement until the off-season and we see what changes will be made.
My disappointment at this point lies in the way our staff has shirked responsibility and honesty in their assessment of our play. I understand coach speak and the thought of preserving confidence but at some point they need to stop telling us that something which smells, looks, and acts like a turd isn’t a turd. Our offense is bad on many levels and the first step to fixing it is to own it. Case in point; not going under center against GT. We were told “we don’t do that. That’s not who we are.” Yet low and behold we now occasionally take snaps under center. Just own it from the hit go and say that we hadn’t practiced that but we’ll fix it. Start holding people accountable for their play. After the blocking (lack of) of Ajou last week how did he see the field after those two blatant missed blocks in the first quarter?? And yes, I realize he made a first down catch on the next play after the second, but that’s not the point. People don’t like feeling like they’re being spoken down to and given excuses, much less being called bad fans. Fixing this starts with owning it.
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CU Guru [1577]
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Thank you, TE
Oct 24, 2021, 12:03 PM
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The break down of his presser shows that he’s taking some responsibility and ready to hold some people responsible. That’s all I’m asking for.
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Orange Blooded [3645]
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Finally, the truth.
Oct 24, 2021, 8:51 AM
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I get that a certain amount of tiptoeing is done to stay in a coaches good graces. I lived the first build of Clemson football with Danny Ford. My expectations are always “the best is standard.” Always will be. I expected to be relevant. Enter Dabo. Sure, I called for his job several times through the rebuild. He has earned the right to fix it his way. However, the problems I see started with the exit of Jeff Scott. The offensive blocking scheme has been problematic for some time. It’s not the talent. We have the players. It’s development. We just are not putting lineman in the nfl. Period. Not to mention a litany of offensive issues. Such as: single high safety with 7+ in the box and we run a gap or b gap. The qb should KILL the play and throw it to the single covered player. Or, they have 5 men in the box; kill the pass and run the zone read. We have no offensive lineman hitting the second level in blocking. Poor Travis Ettiene did everything he did on his own. Just as our back are now. They have one layer of blocking. Anyway, I love Dabo and what he’s done for us. Am I frustrated?! You better believe it! I don’t live near Clemson anymore. Those trips to games are 5 hours for me now and I spend exponentially more than the 80’s, 90’s, and early 2000’s when I was next door. I expect a return on investment. Hahaha!
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Walk-On [142]
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Re: Finally, the truth.
Oct 24, 2021, 9:22 AM
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Thank you. I have been calling out Caldwell for the last 3 years, albeit in the wrong forums. Folks laughed at my posts arguing that Lawrence and Etienne suffered because of our weak line. Obviously we could argue that whoever is evaluating him should be accountable as well and keep going but regardless, once upon a time, Dabo released broken pieces and went out and hired better ones. I want a better piece than a 2-10 ex Vandy coach to create a modern functional OL.
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CU Medallion [56154]
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Re: Finally, the truth.
Oct 24, 2021, 12:46 PM
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I agree with you that times are changing, and DC's are developing different defensive schemes that will exploit offenses that OC's never change bc their traditional schemes has always been successful most of their careers until, something different has been developed, and now they're lost to what's happening, that has never happen before now. And yes, I believe that's happening in most cases with Robbie Caldwell. What Robbie done in his era worked well, but it is a new era in college FB, and it's bc college coaches are using some of the same things that is used in the NFL, and it's vice versa with the NFL. Coaches, even the older, set in their ways coaches has to be willing to make big changes within their schemes to stay ahead of the game of FB in general....
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CU Medallion [56154]
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Re: Finally, the truth.
Oct 24, 2021, 11:52 AM
[ in reply to Finally, the truth. ] |
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Here is the truth, and I was about to write it down, but I asked myself why do that when it's all wrapped up in one page.
https://www.si.com/college/clemson/football/ranking-clemsons-last-10-recruiting-classesRanking Clemson's Last 10 Recruiting Classes Clemson is getting this decade off to a great start with the No. 3 class nationally in 2020, but what about the previous 10 years? Here's a look at how each one stacked up, how impactful they were and what they accomplished.
Lets just say for the sake of it being said that we've had some hits and misses in the last 4-5 years of recruiting. But the facts are that, we've had some really good recruiting classes, with none of the past 5 classes being below a top 10 class.
So, if we haven't had a class in the past 5 years being above a top 10 class, I would say that we don't have a lack of talent, we actually have some of the best talent.
Facts are facts, and if what we've seen this entire season isn't bc the lack of talent, it has to be that the talent we have isn't being coached up to be better than the product that we've seen on the field in 2021, and I think that some of us have seen problems before 2021. And the biggest changes that we have seen, has been with coaching hires. I'm saying that our biggest let down with all the talent that this team has, it has to have something to do with less talented coaching that we've had in the past 3 years, bc the talent is there, even with the injuries we've had, the talent is still there to be better than what we've seen on the field in every game!!!!
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Orange Blooded [4585]
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Re: TNET: Quick thoughts from Pittsburgh: As offense struggles, hard decisions await Swinney
Oct 24, 2021, 9:32 AM
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Excellent article.
“taking a longer look at the transfer portal, looking at increasing the size of his recruiting classes, and looking at the way (and to whom) scholarships are distributed.”
All excellent points Coach Swinney needs to look at and he needs to look at some of his recent promotions. The family environment is amazing but is it costing us? Maybe we need a fresh perspective in the coaches room or at least on the staff. Why not hire more coaches to watch film and bring a new perspective. Off field analysis. Some former head coaches ( a rehabilitation program like Saban uses)
Former players are amazing to see on the staff so it’s just something to think about and consider
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Orange Blooded [4435]
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Re: TNET: Quick thoughts from Pittsburgh: As offense struggles, hard decisions await Swinney
Oct 24, 2021, 9:36 AM
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But could you just answer one last answer for me David? ??
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Walk-On [101]
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Re: TNET: Quick thoughts from Pittsburgh: As offense struggles, hard decisions await Swinney
Oct 24, 2021, 10:54 AM
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Dabo has mismanaged the program. Talent evaluation and player development has taken a downturn. The Tommy Bowden friends and family plan model has failed before, the best coaches that we can attract are not given consideration.
“We are who we are” = “Embrace the Suck”
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110%er [9745]
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How many would we have scored if
Oct 24, 2021, 11:26 AM
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Dj doesn't throw the pick when we're I fg range already. Not sure if we ended up scoring on the drive Shipley tripped over nothing. Commentator said he probably would have scored. The seam route he flat out dropped for a td. Felt decent we were around what the 50 when dj sent the shovel pass right into the hands of defender. Not sure If I missed anything else
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CU Medallion [56154]
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Re: How many would we have scored if
Oct 24, 2021, 12:59 PM
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If you are making your judgements from what commentators say, chances are you're making wrong judgements, just as they do throughout an entire game.
Commentators, especially ESECPN commentators are hard core bias where anything Clemson is concerned, and it's bc Clemson has been a huge thorn in the A$$ of ESPN, and that's bc ESPN throws the most cash to the SEC, much more cash goes to the SEC, more than any other conference in college FB by the way of ESPN, that is why they are know as ESECPN!!!!
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Letterman [284]
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Re: TNET: Quick thoughts from Pittsburgh: As offense struggles, hard decisions await Swinney
Oct 24, 2021, 11:39 AM
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Maybe it is time to hire an outside consulting firm to evaluate the program and it’s tendencies. I don’t mean on the field I mean in the front office. An “IG” inspection if you will. And not a “yes” firm. Someone with the authority to tell it like it is.
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CU Guru [1083]
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Re: TNET: Quick thoughts from Pittsburgh: As offense struggles, hard decisions await Swinney
Mar 12, 2021, 11:01 PM
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That’s what an AD should do. Should ask questions about hires - particularly 21 former players beholding to Clemson. When the team goes to 130, where you have to add a women’s sport, maybe you ask why there are 12 kids from Daniel on team. AD is a partner in process.
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All-TigerNet [14515]
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Re: TNET: Quick thoughts from Pittsburgh: As offense struggles, hard decisions await Swinney
Oct 24, 2021, 12:58 PM
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Coaches need to be held accountable just as much as players. The transfer portal door should not just swing one way with Dabo. If we lose good people we should be able to attract good people elsewhere. Many companies have failed with the "not invented here" mentality. Why do we have a resource like Danny Pearman monitoring the portal if it never gets used? The attitude of "what has always worked always will" is simply not true. Chad Morris brought an innovative offense to Clemson several years ago and TE has ridden that wave all the way to the beach and he needs to go find his own wave. Good defensive coordinators now know how to attack our offense and we seem to refuse to adjust.
Jeff Scott was an outstanding recruiting coordinator. I'm sure Coach Bates is doing his best but we need a lot of help in talent evaluation. Clearly, many of these 4 and 5 stars lately are not living up to the hype. Speed on both sides of the ball used to be a Clemson hallmark, but not lately. Play-calling duties need to be seriously looked at in the off-season. We all love Spiller but something is going on in that RB room that is not being talked about. Look at what Mellusi is doing at Wisconsin and losing our best back to the portal was an avoidable waste. And man, we need to figure out how to recruit stud offensive linemen. Hyatt, Simpson, and Carman were pretty good but that has been about it lately. WRU has taken a step back and we need to get back on track again.
I know Dabo has it in him to address the issues the right way. The question is will his ego let him do the right things that need to be done.
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CU Medallion [56154]
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Re: TNET: Quick thoughts from Pittsburgh: As offense struggles, hard decisions await Swinney
Oct 24, 2021, 9:37 PM
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Dabo should at least do a search just to see if a portal player is as good, or better than the ones that leave, and stay with the best player start over all others. Do that, and the portal could be a great advantage for Clemson FB. That is what other coaches are using to make up for the players that didn't turn out the way they expected. Don't play them, when they enter the portal, use their scholarship to bring in someone that was better than what left.
IMO, that is a win win situation as long as the portal exist, use it to make our team better, and it is mind boggling that Dabo isn't seeing it that way bc, it truly is a win win in todays college FB bc, a teams #1 starters usually don't enter the portal. 2nd team players don't either if they will be the starter the next season behind the previous starter!!!
Dabo please use the portal for making what we have stronger, especially if one of ours leaves through the portal!!!
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110%er [5076]
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Why not announce the hiring of offensive analysts now?
Oct 24, 2021, 1:35 PM
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It seems to me that if you want to quell the concerns of both the fans and the recruiting prospects and the players who may transfer out, you would show some action towards getting an outside, objective evaluation by hiring some excellent offensive football analysts now!
That would signal to everyone that you are open to an honest, outside critique of your whole offense, including the staff. The implications of this would be that big changes are in order in the off-season.
That is all you need to do right now. Just take some action and stop blowing coach speak smoke up our ####!
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