ACC Bowl Predictions

I'm a sucker. Let's get that out of the way. I know better than to pick Tommy Bowden to win anything of substance, but I can't help it. The Tigers avoid Miami and Virginia Tech on the schedule, and they own FSU lately. (Image: I prefer unhappy Tigers if given the choice.)

With FSU still rebuilding, the Clemson schedule shapes up in such a way that as long as they beat Wake Forest, they should win the ACC Atlantic Division with a 6-2 record or better. With that in mind, I'm predicting them as ACC Champs. I realize they have OL issues, but the entire ACC has issues. Unfortunately, I'm not alone. Here's how the experts pick the ACC.

Darkhorse ACC Team - UNC
I don't think the Tarheels can win the ACC or even their division; however, if they can make some real noise. After playing Virginia Tech and Miami in weeks 3 and 4, they UConn and Notre Dame at home to build back some confidence. If the Heels get to 8 wins, they could be a Gator Bowl selection.

ACC Bowl Predictions:

Orange - Clemson
Peach - Virginia Tech
Gator - UNC
Champ Sports - FSU
Meineke Car Care - Wake Forest
Music City Bowl - Miami
Emerald Bowl - Boston College
Congressional Bowl - Virginia
At-Large Bowl - Georgia Tech

I keep wavering on whether or not Georgia Tech has a Bowl eligible team. The Mississippi State and UNC games loom enormous on their schedule if they want to go bowling, and the more I learn about UNC...the more I like the Heels over the Jackets.

See Also:
-- Clemson Preview - CFN
-- Athlon's Clemson Preview

Agree or Disagree?

PWD

Around the ACC: Media Days 1

The sixth most relevant BCS conference is having their media day extravaganza at Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, GA. A quick look at the headlines of interest for the snooziest league in college football (note: You guys don't care about most ACC teams, so I'm ignoring many of them):

Overall:
-- ACC needs to bolster its resume - Charleston Post and Courier
-- ACC projected starting QBs - Charlotte Observer
-- 5 Burning Questions about the ACC - Barnhart

Georgia Tech:
--Tech OL to heavily leverage cut blocking - AJC
-- NCAA '09 video game confused by GT offense - AJC

Clemson:
-- Clemson: In theory a national title contender - SportingNews
-- Eager to live up to expectations - AJC
-- Attention and expectations for Harper - GoUpState
-- Harper no longer off the radar - AndersonMail
-- Tigers Convinced they are the best - UpStateToday
-- Bowden carrying "label" - Charlotte.com

Tobacco Road:
-- Davis may have Tar Heels turned around - AJC
-- Wake's CB talks a good game - Washington Post
-- UNC a trendy pick to knock VT off - Scout.com
-- Wolfpack duo sets the pace - Charlotte Observer
-- Cutcliffe Cuts Up with Area Coaches - Charlotte Observer

Miami / FSU:
-- Miami / FSU hope to return to power - Rivals.com
-- FSU QB talks about last year - AP
-- FSU's QB not in a daze - Orlando Sentinel
-- FSU hopes rest on youth movement - Jacksonville Times
-- Bowden: "On our way back" - Bradenton.com
-- Canes will use two QBs - Jacksonville.com

UVA/VT:
-- Cavs retool offensive line - Charlottesville Daily Progress

That's it for now.

PWD

Munson Mix: Blur - Song 2

This "Clemson Killer Mix" includes highlights from the ‘84 and ‘91 games. The ‘91 clips are rare. They include a three play sequence that starts with Mike Jones tracking down the Clemson running back who had broken away for a sure Touchdown just before the half. After he tracks him down, he strips the ball and recovers the fumble. For sheer outrageous effort, it's about the best hustle, heads up defensive play of the early '90s.

Two long plays later, the Dawgs score a TD. The ‘91 game was one of the few night games played in Athens until the mid-90s when they became more common. It was also the same day that the Braves clinched their first divisional pennant.

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PWD

Barnhart Gets this "blogging" thing

I've said many times that I think Tony Barnhart is the #1 reason to subscribe to the Atlanta Journal. Unfortunately for the AJC, I don't think there is a #2 reason. Don't get me wrong, I really like Chip Towers' stuff. However, it's all free on the cyberwebs...so really...paying for the hard copy gets me what? Isn't buying a hard copy newspaper just an arbitrage game centered around coupon clipping?

But I wildly digress.

Barnhart gets the blogging thing. He's all about quick hitters that generate discussion and keep the reader coming back for more. He's especially good at the "5 Things" format. Today's edition gives us an update on the UGA vs. ASU Ticket situation and the news of College Game Day coming to Atlanta for the Clemson vs. Bama game at the Dome.

PWD

Clemson to play 2 SEC teams per year

Starting in 2010, the Clemson Tigers will enter a seven year stretch of playing at least two SEC teams per year. This is in addition to Clemson opening the season against Alabama in 2008 in the Georgia Dome.

The Tigers have signed two game series with Auburn, Georgia, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt.

Year	Home	Away	Neutral
2008	SC		Alabama
2009		SC
2010	SC	Auburn
2011	Auburn	SC
2012	SC	Vandy
2013	UGA, Vandy	SC
2014	SC	UGA
2015	Ole Miss	SC
2016	SC	Ole Miss

It'll be interesting to see how Auburn with a Lake holds up against Auburn without a Lake in 2010-2011.

See Also:
-- Clemson Future Schedules - NationalChamps.net
-- Georgia Future Schedules - SicemDawgs.com
-- UGA vs. Clemson '03 (Gibson TD) - YouTube
-- UGA vs. Clemson '03 (Pollack INT) - YouTube

BTW -- This post is one of those "scheduled posts" that I'm tinkering with from Blogger.com. I found this info earlier Sunday morning, and I saved the post for today. It's at least "something" football related for you since I didn't have time tonight to put together a Spring Recap article. However, I do have some more interesting things on that front hopefully soon. Also, Quinton has a couple of solid baseball and "other" sport articles up this morning.

PWD

ht - The Wizard of Odds

Spring is in the Air

Some articles that caught my eye tonight...

• Spring Practice - As you've probably already read, the big scrimmage on Friday was sort of all over the place. We're still struggling along the offensive line, yet we're making big plays. It's your basic spring freak show. I think some of the OL issues will sort themselves out when Clint Boling returns from his battle with Mono.
  
  
• Richt landed a safety for the 2009 signing class. It's the 6th commitment of the year. I have no idea how good the kid is, but we're so strapped with limited scholarship numbers this year (only 15 graduating seniors) that he must be good to get an offer this early.
  
  
• The Hottness - Some web site has ranked the schools with the hottest co-eds (click with a bit of caution). I don't get why they used such an overwhelmingly trashy photo of the Auburn girl. AU has its issues, but its Arizona State that has the porn star rep. Anyway...we'll get a chance to gauge the ASU level of human attractiveness on Sept. 20th of this year. My biggest issue with the ranking is South Carolina coming in at #6. As. If. I've been there 11 times, and there's no comparison between Cola's talent and Athens' finest. Also, any list that has Ole Miss at #5 was constructed by dudes that have never visited their campus.
  
  
• Clemson Recruits - The innerwebs have been abuzz after the photos of a kid who appears to be Clemson recruit Kenneth Page surfaced on MySpace. In the pics, he's holding a big wad of cash and the immediate assumption is that CU is back up to their old "Danny Ford 'Cruitin(TM)". The estimates on the cash stack put it at $5,000-$20,000. I'm of the opinion that positively nothing comes of this. First off, why would you assume that it's recruiting related? There's no NCAA Compliance Rule against having sketchy friends, riding dirty or being a dumbass. There are laws against some of those issues, but what's he going to do ... confess? Short of a confession or a wire transfer receipt accidentally handed to the NCAA, this is a non-event.
  
  
• Hunker Down You Hairy Horses - Apparently, we rode 'em hard. No insight into whether or not we put them up wet. UGA won the Southern Equestrian Championship over the weekend.


• Richt's Trip - Richt's upcoming trip to the Middle East is landing good press all over the place.
  
  
• Spring Games Gone Wild - I sent an email to the folks at Butts-Mehre asking "Why doesn't UGA have blow out spring games with big concerts and shenanigans like other schools are planning?" Well, it turns out those things might not be in NCAA Compliance. Bama has canceled the Alan Jackson concert that was tied to the A-Day game because of NCAA questions. Speaking of Spring Flings in the state of Alabama...Auburn picked an odd choice for their spring concert. Tuberville probably doesn't approve.
  

So there's that. Oh yeah...and Furman Bisher is very old (warning: profanity).

PWD

Hoops: Clemson scrimmage

From the "A Little Birdie Told Me" Department...

Georgia and Clemson recently had a closed scrimmage in men's basketball. Basketball teams are allowed to have closed scrimmages against other programs once every year or two. We paired up with College of Charleston in a similar fashion a year or two ago.

Here are some notes on the affair per my sources:
Clemson had a jump start with practice. They actually got to start practicing in late August because they went to The Bahamas and played several games there in September. The NCAA allows teams to take a foreign trip once every four years. The Dawgs went to Canada after Felton's first year if memory serves.

So Clemson was a little more polished than our guys. As I understand it, they split the practice into two one half games plus situational type work. Clemson beat the Dawgs by 10-12 points in the first half. In the second half, the scoreboard was reset.

Georgia apparently played much better as we were up by 6-7 points with about 2 minutes left in the half, but we ended up going into overtime to close the game out. The second half and OT saw UGA play a mixture of Vets and rookies.

Other parts of the scrimmage were situational. In football, they practice red zone and 2 minute drills. In hoops, they would do something similar. Jeremy Jacob, one of our incoming freshmen, played particularly well. The description of his attitude reminded me of someone describing Knowshon's attitude. We can only hope. Good feedback also on Chris Barnes and Sundiata Gaines.

None of this is groundbreaking, but it's always nice to get some positive news. Especially lately. No idea if Mercer played or not, but I wouldn't tell you even if I knew because that involve injury info. I don't roll like that.

See Also:
-- Purnell discusses his team's trip to the Bahamas - CU Tigers
-- Gaines named 2nd team All-SEC - UGAsports.com
-- Single game hoops tickets on sale - Georgiadogs.com

PWD

Delighting in the Misery of Others

From EDSBS (click to enlarge)
Orson Swindle has been running a great series called "Daily Affirmations" in which he counts down the days towards football season with photos. I supplied today's photo and caption with the help of GTDean on TheHive.

The photo is from the 2000 GT vs. Clemson game in which Tech won on "The Catch" as time was running out. The picture reinforces my belief that delighting in the misery of others is at least half the fun of college football.

PWD

SEC Scheduling News: Auburn adds home and home with Clemson

Tractor Porn seems appropriate for this post

Auburn continues the SEC trend of taking advantage of the 12th game to book a quality non-conference opponent. After wussing out on the non-conference slate from '04-'07, the Tigers are stepping up. They will play Clemson in 2010 (at AU) and 2011 (at CU). For Clemson this series replaces the recently cancelled match-up with Pitt.

Winner gets the lake.

Auburn's non-conference opponents:

2007 - Kansas State, USF + 2 jobbers (all home)
2008 - West Virginia, Southern Miss + 2 jobbers (all home)
2009 - West Virginia, Southern Miss + 2 jobbers (only WVU away)
2010 - Clemson (home)
2011 - Clemson (away)

Clemson's non-conference opponents through 2016:

2008 -- Citadel (H), UCF (H), vs. La. Tech (at Shreveport), SC (H)
2009 -- La. Tech (H), MTSU (H), CMU (H), at SC
2010 -- at Auburn, SC (H)
2011 -- Auburn (H), at SC
2012 -- at Vandy, SC (H)
2013 -- Vandy (H), Georgia (H), at SC
2014 -- at Georgia, SC (H)
2015 -- Mississippi (H), at SC
2016 -- at Mississippi, SC (H)

Non-conference opponents dropped from recent and future Clemson schedules:

Auburn: 2006, 2007 -- Auburn dropped series.
Ball State: 2010 (H)
Oklahoma: 2008 (A), 2011 (H) -- Clemson dropped series.
Pittsburgh: 2009 (H), 2010 (A) -- Clemson dropped series.
Troy: 2011 (H) -- Troy dropped series.

Given both team's penchant for cancelling interesting sounding games, I'd put the odds of these games actually happening at 20%.

See Also:
-- Clemson to play Auburn - GoUpState.com
-- Future Gamecock Schedules - GSB
-- Football Scheduling Complexities - GSB
-- SEC 2008 Schedules - GSB

PWD

Georgia Football Scheduling Trivia

Clemson vs. UGA '03
With Georgia upgrading its non-conference schedule, I thought I'd take a minute to research some useless trivia about the historical out of conference games played by Georgia.

UGA's most played non-conference opponents who still actively play football are (Includes Bowls):

1. Georgia Tech* - 101 games
2. Clemson - 62 (last played 2003)
3. North Carolina - 30 (last played 1971)
4. Tulane* - 25 (last played 1985)
4. Furman - 23 (last played 1950)
5. Mercer - 22 (last played 1941) Do they still play football?
6. Virginia - 19 (last played 2000)
7. Miami (Fla.) - 12 (last played 1966)
8 (tie) Florida State - 11 (last played 2002)
8 (tie) Yale - 11 (last played 1934)
10. The Citadel - (last played 1958)
*Many games with GT and Tulane were played prior to their respective departures from the SEC.

Random Facts and Tidbits:

• South Carolina - The Dawgs have played the Gamecocks 59 times, but 44 of those match-ups took place prior to the chickens joining the SEC in 1992. I would wager that few teams have three non-conference opponents with 40+ games played against them (GT, SC and Clemson). Vince Dooley and Georgia were the chief sponsors for South Carolina's admission into the SEC. You'd think they could show some gratitude. Overall record 44-13-2. 11-4 in SEC play.
  
  
• Clemson - From 1920-1973, Georgia ran up a blistering 21-1-1 record against the Tigers. The series was played almost every year from 1962-1991. The series turned in 1974 with a Tiger victory, and it stayed fairly even until '91. Under the lights in Athens, Georgia began its current 5 game winning streak. Record: 41-17-4
  
  
• Tulane - Tulane left the SEC in 1966, and we've only played them 5 times since their departure. Oddly enough, the two teams faced each other in New Haven, Connecticut in 1932. I have no idea why. We tried to book at 2 for 1 with them for '02, '03 and '08, but they cancelled at the last minute leaving the Dawgs high and dry.
  
  
• Miami - All 12 games were played in Miami. Most of them were booked by Wally Butts, and quite a few were played *after* the Georgia Tech game. UGA is 7-4-1 vs. the Canes.
  
  
• North Carolina - The Bulldogs have played the Tar Heels 30 times in 7 different cities (Athens, Chapel Hill, Jacksonville, Atlanta, Macon, New Orleans and Raleigh). Record: 16-12-2
  
  
• Yale - Of the 11 match-ups with Yale, only the 1929 game was in Athens. The others were all at Yale. The '29 game was the grand opening of Sanford Stadium.
  
  
• Mississippi State - UGA has only played MSU 21 times despite both schools being charter members of the Southeastern Conference. The league didn't establish a firm rotation of conference opponents until the 1970s or 80s. GT has only played MSU *twice* all-time and only once while they were both SEC members from 1929-until GT's departure in the 60s.
  
  
• Tennessee -- The Dawgs have played the Vols 36 times, but we had only played 21 times prior to SEC expansion in '92. That's right...we had played UVA and North Carolina more frequently. Odd huh?
  
  
• LSU - Georgia has only played the Bayou Bengals 26 times, and we've only met four times in the regular season since conference expansion in '92. That's an freakish occurance due to the SEC switching from a 5-1-2 divisional rotation to a 5-2-1 rotation in '02. We didn't play the Tigers from 1954-1977.
  
  
• Arkansas - The Razorbacks and Dawgs have only tangled 11 times; however, we've met in seven different cities including Fayetteville, Athens, Dallas, Shreveport, Memphis, New Orleans and Atlanta.

So there's that. I'm eagerly looking forward to the Arizona State, Louisville, Colorado, Clemson and Oregon Trips in upcoming years.

See Also:
-- Georgia Series Records - College Football Data Warehouse

PWD

Hoops: Scoreboard Watching and Bracketology

Scoreboard Watching Tonight:
-- Arkansas at Auburn: An Auburn win keeps them comfortably ahead of LSU for 5th place in the SEC East. We're more likely to end up 4th East than 3rd in my opinion. I'd rather not play LSU in Round 1 of the SEC Tourney. An Auburn win keeps LSU firmly in 6th place. An Arkansas win protects one of Georgia's few RPI Top 50 wins. Damned if you do. Damned if you don't.

-- Vandy at MSU: Vandy has a one game lead on Georgia in the SEC standings. A loss helps our chances of moving up, and their RPI is strong enough to not fall out of the Top 50 with a win. Go Bizarro Dogs.

-- Alabama at Tennessee: The Vols are one one game behind Georgia in the standings. A loss drops them to 6-7 and it makes their level of difficulty in making the tourney rise dramatically with games remaining vs. Florida, at Arkansas and at Georgia. Roll Tide.

-- South Carolina at Florida: No impact on us.

-- Wake Forest at Georgia Tech: Go Deacs. GT is 5-7 in the ACC. A home loss to Wake is unlikely, but it would be near terminal for their NCAA hopes. Tech has games remaining against UVA (road), UNC (home) and BC (Home). We're sharing space on the bubble with the nerds currently.

-- Duke at Clemson (Thursday): The Tigers are another team sharing space on our bubble. Go Dookies. CU has games remaining against BC (away), VT (away) and Miami (home). Obviously, I'm not going to tell you to pull for the Tigers.

-- Purdue at Iowa: The Boilermakers are listed on tonight's ESPN bracketology as the last team in. A loss at Iowa might be enough to push them out. (Bracket dated today before tipoff of tonight's games). Go Hawkeyes.

-- Michigan at Illinois: The Hoopin' Zookers are listed a bit below us on ESPN's Bracketology. We need them to drop to Wolverines.

See Also:
-- Top 25 Scoreboard - ESPN
-- Tony Barnhart's Bracket - AJC (as of this morning)
-- Sportsline's Latest Bracket - Sportsline (we're an 11 seed?)
-- Bracketology from ESPN

PWD

Blowing Up Your Recruiting Class: Clemson Style

Trying to remake Clemson into a Top 20 Public University is a project on par with trying to send a man to the moon in a Yugo powered Space Rocket fueled by ham sandwiches and Dr. Pepper extract.

(Image: The recruits went that way)

When your engineering professors wear orange coveralls and describe gravity as a "risky scheme," you're probably not going to gain academic respect any time soon.

Adding the Clemson football program to the agenda of items to clean up just makes the project that much more pointless. There's not enough scrubbing bubbles in the world to get Danny Ford's tobacco spit stains off the compliance director's forehead.

Clemson Promotional Video

Yet, Clemson is trying anyway. In fact, they may have gone "too far" in trying to clean themselves up. Mickey Plyler, a South Carolina sports talk show host and publisher of TigerNet.com, says that he has spoken with 10 sources within the Clemson athletic department and administration. During that process, he has learn about a quasi-secret admissions committee that blew up the recruitment of 8 potential student-athletes that were strongly considering Clemson.

The committee also attempted to refuse admission to seven more players, but Tommy Bowden got the recruits back upon further review. One of the rejected recruits didn't get the final "nay" until the day before signing day.

The irony, Clemson is losing these recruits to schools like UNC and Georgia. Schools that run academic circles around Clemson and their "reading is a fad" curriculum. Check out Plyler's article. It's an amazing read about a program that's hitting the "self-destruct" button in pursuit of an academic reputation that they will never obtain.

Counterpoint: Clemson's University President says it's all lies. Damn lies.

WWDFD?

See Also:
-- Clemson's Dirty Little Secret - AOL
-- Clemson Faithful have mixed feelings on recruiting - WLTX.com
-- Recruiting Debate Lingers - Myrtle Beach News
-- Clemson's Multi-Cultural Efforts - WLTX.com

pwd

Georgia to Lose Top Water Girl?

Jon Richt, Mark Richt's son, is a quarterback at Prince Avenue High School in Athens. He's a recruit for the 2008 signing class. He committed to Tommy Bowden, and the Clemson Tigers yesterday.

According to Jon:

“We had already said a long time ago that I wasn’t going to play for him just because of what kind of position it would put him and me in with the media and everything else that would go with it,” Jon Richt told Scout.com. “He went through what the basics of the decision are and how everything works in the recruiting process. He knows obviously how this whole thing works better than most. He was happy for me just like any other dad would be.”

Georgia and Clemson don't tangle again until 2013 in a regular season game. That means that the father son match-up won't happen unless it involves a bowl game.


Richt and his son are on the left. Callaway and his kid are on the right. (ABH)

However, there are questions left unanswered here. As 007Dawg said on DawgRun.com, does this mean that our top Water Girl, Kathryn Richt, will be spending Saturday afternoons in upstate South Carolina? Obviously, I'm kidding. Congrats to the Richt family.

Honestly, this is a net win for all parties involved. As Jon said, the media and fans would be skeptical of any decisions a coach makes involving his kid playing quarterback. Plus, you could pretty much forget signing another quality QB for the next 3 years. And no one would have confidence that the process was on the "up and up." So the Richts are happy, Clemson gets a QB with good upside, and we don't have to play him.

See Also:

Q&A with Jon Richt - CUTigers.com
Richt glad to be a Tiger - Clemson's Rivals site
Clemson secures '08 Commitment - The State

PWD