Just some thoughts

Oct 23, 2013, 11:00 AM

Completely developed thoughts on any of these points would be even more long, and even more boring, then this probably will be anyway. This is not intended to be treatise, it's just a bunch of rambling thoughts.

I've been on this board since 1998, to every Clemson game In Tally, and too six games at Clemson starting with the puntrooskie. There's no better place to see a football game than Clemson.

The game: I was pretty well convinced, based on my analysis of last years game, and my belief that we both are pretty much the same team as last year, except that now we have Winston, that the game would not be close. I believe we are as good as we looked, and very much believe that Clemson is better than it looked. I saw lots of Clemson fans taking umbrage that last year's game was any kind of a blowout. I took note of the fact that we had gone on a 35 to 3 tear, you had scored a late touchdown when we were ahead by 18 in garbage time, and that we took three knees inside the 10 yard line at the end. I understood the home-field advantage was daunting at Clemson but felt very comfortable with the spread, to say the least. Having said that, I think Clemson fans are being way too hard on the team. The real issue with schools like Clemson FSU is not the talent, it's the expectations. Many Noles refer to the first 10 years of this century as the lost decade. Yet the fact is we had the eighth best record in the country in that stretch. One goal has slipped away from Clemson but the season could still be a fun one. That is why we are all in this right, to have fun?

For the reason I discussed below, I was glad to see we brought our A game. But I actually hate the way the game turned out. A score so lopsided that it does damage to Clemson's reputation doesn't do anything good for FSU in the long run. And I am in this for the long run.

Turnovers : I am a little surprised that so many Clemson fans feel Clemson gave the game away. It's not just that we earned those turnovers (we did), to me the issue is not turnovers. It is what you do with them. You turned it over against BC and they did nothing with them. Was the interception we threw, because one signal went to our quarterback and another to our wide receiver, somehow illegitimate ? Turnovers are part of it, just like blocking and tackling.

Dabo's comment : I'm sure Dabo just said that in passing, and probably wishes he had it back, even though I'm sure that is how he really feels. The problem is it sounds like code for saying 'they are no better than we are'. And you only get one chance to really prove that. I don't think it's some big deal but of course it's not going to play well.

Respect: I read a lot of Internet boards. Nowhere, not even on the Florida boards, is FSU as disrespected as it has been here. Thugs, they'll gather at the bottom of the hill, nobody does less with more, Jimbo can't coach, FSU can't win at Clemson, FSU is always overrated preseason (something not borne out by a review of the preseason rankings and our end of season ranking for the last 10 years or so,BTW), FSU is 'back', ha ha, etc etc..... I know full well you can go over to the Rivals board and cherry pick some posts from FSU fans, but as someone who really lives in Tallahassee, is a season ticket holder and a booster, I just don't hear that kind of disrespect toward the Clemson program. Obviously, you guys will view the FSU program the way you want to, but I think I can tell you that we're probably not going to go back to the malaise we have just been through as Bowden's career wound down. Not in the near future, anyway.

From reading this board for 15 years I have a pretty good grip on how high Clemson fans get and how low Clemson fans can get, sometimes within the span of a few hours. You guys can go from acting like the Spartans at war to lemmings plunging off the cliff in the span of a day. But I think it's totally wrong that your program has some kind of a systemic problem. To me, sorry Miami and Virginia Tech, the world has righted itself and the two of us will dominate this conference, and play great games, for years to come. Saturday was just one game. One game where it all worked for us.

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My family is long-time Clemson--back to 1938. I've seen us at the top, and at the bottom.
I agree expectations get accelerated by wins . We have to somehow remember this was a game between to teams representing two fine Universities. Both programs are and SHOULD BE proud of their student-athletes.
Saturday night, FSU was a better team the Clemson. So many items factor into this. I am not criticizing our program, but we faced a team with more athletes, excellent coaching, a good plan, fewer mistakes. Hard to win any game. In retrospect, the "Experts" pretty had this one right, even Corso.
That's all from me---EXCEPT:

My daughter-in-law is an FSU graduate, and she is the best thing that ever happened to my Son(CU-'98).

Just some thoughts

pretty level headed post

Very astute observations from you.

Very thought out post.***

You just can't beat the dictation feature on the iPad.

The difference between my hatred for FSU vs SC

Re: Just some thoughts

Your points are reasonable.

I wouldn't disagree with anything you said...

Don't forget

Ya'll fired the coach that built your program from nothing .

Well said. I agree, however...

When I went to Tally last year

Of course you are making the assumption that messege board

I have to agree with this. Message board fans are not a

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