Clemson wins the 2011 Football National Championship

[BigPun]

Vegas odds on Clemson winning the National Title is 100:1. TAKE THAT BET. I'm not saying that they will win but I think there chances are FAR better than that. As the season draws near I'm getting more and more confident that Clemson has a shot to have a stellar season. By my own admission I am a die hard Clemson fan and I'm probably too optimistic every year so I wanted to hear the pundits chime in and try and bring me back down to earth before I go throwing money on my Tigers to win the title.

Clemson has an absolute brutal schedule this year facing Auburn, South Carolina, Florida State, and Virginia Tech. That's all four of the defending ACC and SEC champs. Ouch! That being said Clemson also brought in one of the best recruiting classes in the nation and returns talent where it matters most. We lost a bunch of great players on defense but we still have one of the best DC's in the nation in Kevin Steele along with a bunch of highly talented prospects. Hard to think that any Kevin Steele defense will ever finish outside the top 25. Add to that the fact that Swinney made a GENIUS hire in bringing in OC Chad Morris (who I firmly believe will be one of the best OC's in the nation) and you have a great coaching staff despite the media saying that Swinney is on the hot seat.

This year we will return 4 starters on the offensive line along with another senior who has started a couple of games and some young talent who could challenge for a starting spot. Former Rivals 100 QB Tajh Boyd will be taking over the starting job and has received rave reviews all spring and summer so far. Nuke Hopkins and Dwayne Allen (our two leading recievers from last year) also return. Nuke will be a true sophomore who had a stellar season last year and Dwayne Allen is a beast of a tight end who is guaranteed to make it in the NFL next year provided he doesn't sustain serious injury. Add in the number one wide receiver recruiting class in the nation with 3 phenomenal receivers (including 5 star Sammy Watkins who destroyed the competion at the Army All-American game) coming in and the receiving core should be one of the best around.

Lets move on to the running backs. It makes me sick how much press that Marcus Lattimore receives not just around my state but around the country. I'm not saying that he isn't a great back but he has a hell of a load to carry by himself because South Carolina doesn't have anyone else even close to his talent at the RB position on their depth chart. Clemson on the other hand has the most underrated back in the nation in Andre Ellington. Little known fact but when Ellington backed up Spiller 2 years ago he averaged 7.4 yards per carry to Spiller's 5.7. He went on to average 5.8 yards per carry last year before being injured halfway through the season. We also signed Mike Bellamy, a five star running back out of the state of Florida who was named National High School Player of the Year and holds the career touchdown record in the state of Florida. This kid can flat out fly, he will be one of the top 5 fastest players in the country and it wouldn't surprise me if he was the fastest.

So what I want to know is why aren't we favored to beat everyone we play this year? Guess only time will tell but I would love to hear other people opinions.

[Makkah]

Football cred denied. Good fucking god.

[BigPun]

Football cred denied. Good fucking god.

LOL, you leave negative feedback and no real rebuttal, I think you just denied yourself sir. Why don't you offer us some insight as to your thoughts on Auburn having a chance to beat us this year. Looking forward to spanking Auburn and that joke of a coach you have in Gene Chizik. Now that Cam Newton is gone Chizik isn't far behind him when your program goes in the toilet.

[Keller]

This is exactly why a forum dedicated to text-based role playing games shouldn't have a sports forum.

[BigPun]

Football cred denied. Good fucking god.


This is exactly why a forum dedicated to text-based role playing games shouldn't have a sports forum.

This is why we are called fans, short for fanatic.

fa·nat·ic
–noun
1. a person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal, as in religion or politics.

I do realize that expecting us to win the national title is unrealistic do to the youth on the team and the strength of schedule but I also believe we are talented enough to beat any team on our schedule. Just saying you might wanna put $10 on Clemson to win the title. At 100:1 you might be thanking me later if you win $1000 and probably won't be cursing me over losing $10. :)

[Makkah]

A 19-15 HC who just fired his OC and hired a brand new OC spells disaster for this mediocre team. Last year around this time, sunshine pumpers were picking them as the dark horse of the ACC... we saw where that ended up.

I love how you feel the need to bring Auburn into this; Clemson is and always has been Auburn's red-headed step-child. We'll see after after the 3rd game of the year where we're at. Real talk.

[BigPun]

A 19-15 HC who just fired his OC and hired a brand new OC spells disaster for this mediocre team. Last year around this time, sunshine pumpers were picking them as the dark horse of the ACC... we saw where that ended up.

I love how you feel the need to bring Auburn into this; Clemson is and always has been Auburn's red-headed step-child. We'll see after after the 3rd game of the year where we're at. Real talk.

Ask Malzahn what he thinks of our new OC. He runs almost his exact same system and they were buddies coaching high school football. The new OC is nothing but a blessing considering he ran a top 5 offense last year and Clemson ranked 85th in total offense last year. The OC we fired (Billy Napier) was a brilliant recruiter but thats about it. So with a better OC and better talent on offense, where exactly does that spell disaster?

[Makkah]

So the same OC that CO-OFFENSIVE coordinated TULSA is the one that Malzahn is jocking? Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Youngblood better have been taking notes from Malzahn.

A new OC is scary in any situation... esp. when practically the whole coaching staff otherwise is intact. Continuity?

[Makkah]

This is exactly why a forum dedicated to text-based role playing games shouldn't have a sports forum.

I do find this funny from a dude that continually dick rides Chokre Dame.

[thefarmer]

So what I want to know is why aren't we favored to beat everyone we play this year? Guess only time will tell but I would love to hear other people opinions.



RUSHING CAR YDS AVG TD
M. Lattimore 248 1198 4.8 17
J. Harper 177 726 4.1 6
A. Ellington 118 686 5.8 10


RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD
A. Jeffery 79 1387 17.6 9
T. Gurley 42 416 9.9 4
D. Hopkins 43 532 12.4 4
J. Brown 28 384 13.7 3


ESPNU 150 Class of 2011
RK NAME COLLEGE POS
1 Jadeveon Clowney South Carolina DE
72 Mike Bellamy Clemson RB

[BigPun]

So the same OC that CO-OFFENSIVE coordinated TULSA is the one that Malzahn is jocking? Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Youngblood better have been taking notes from Malzahn.

A new OC is scary in any situation... esp. when practically the whole coaching staff otherwise is intact. Continuity?

Chad Morris was listed as a Co-Offensive coordinator but was also the one calling every play. Feel free to check some Tulsa football articles from last year. Malzahn was the one who convinced Morris to go the the spread. He went 32-0 in 07 and 08 winning back to back Texas state championships. Then went to Tulsa (when Malzahn recommended him for the job) for one year and took their offense right back to where Malzahn had it before he left, maybe even better. I agree that a new OC can be scary but when you ranked 85th in the nation last year in offense it can't really get worse. Plus this guy has as promising of a resume as you will ever find in a coach who hasn't yet coached in a major conference.




RUSHING CAR YDS AVG TD
M. Lattimore 248 1198 4.8 17
J. Harper 177 726 4.1 6
A. Ellington 118 686 5.8 10


RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD
A. Jeffery 79 1387 17.6 9
T. Gurley 42 416 9.9 4
D. Hopkins 43 532 12.4 4
J. Brown 28 384 13.7 3


ESPNU 150 Class of 2011
RK NAME COLLEGE POS
1 Jadeveon Clowney South Carolina DE
72 Mike Bellamy Clemson RB

My bro said we went to the same high school. Irmo represent. I do think that South Carolina has a better chance to beat us than anyone. You play us at home and look like your gonna have a pretty stellar team this year as well. I had been saying that I expected you to win 3 in a row until about a week ago. Looking at it now though I'm just not that sure. Gamecocks are very thin at a lot of positions. If Lattimore or Garcia get injured it could ruin your whole season.

Ellington averaged more yards per carry last year than Lattimore as well and probably would have had a better season had he not been injured. Alshon is a beast, I still think he's the best player on the Gamecocks, at least until Clowney proves otherwise. Not sure that any one reciever on Clemson will live up to Alshon but the starting 4 who will include Nuke Hopkins. Jaron Brown will be lucky if he sees the field at all next year, he definitely won't be starting.

I go by rivals where Bellamy was rated somewhere around 25 but I'm happy with him either way. We also signed 3 other 5 star recruits according to rivals including the #1 linebacker recruiting class in the nation so even getting Clowney didn't really help USC out recruit us. One thing is for sure, this years rivalry game should be a lot more competitive than it was the last 2 years and possibly be a meaningful game for either team if either one remains undefeated.

[Makkah]

This "we" "you" shit is getting really old.

[BigPun]

This "we" "you" shit is getting really old.

I'm pretty sure the majority of fans would refer to their team as WE when talking about them. As in: We're fittin to whoop dat ass the third game of the season. Maybe your just one of those bandwagon fans that really only pays attention right after their team wins a national title. So far I haven't seen you say anything intelligent that suggests you actually know anything about football.

[Makkah]

Yes... my having gone to practically every home game from ages 4-15, every home game while AT AU, the 2004 Sugar Bowl, 2010 BCS National title game, and having a room dedicated to Auburn paraphernalia (shared with my wife's Oregon-UT room) pretty much screams bandwagon.

That said... I don't play on the football team, so saying "we" more than 20 times in one thread seems very excessive and pretentious. Did you even attend Clemson University?

[BigPun]

Yes... my having gone to practically every home game from ages 4-15, every home game while AT AU, the 2004 Sugar Bowl, 2010 BCS National title game, and having a room dedicated to Auburn paraphernalia (shared with my wife's Oregon-UT room) pretty much screams bandwagon.

That said... I don't play on the football team, so saying "we" more than 20 times in one thread seems very excessive and pretentious. Did you even attend Clemson University?

Yeah, my grandma used to go to all the South Carolina games for over 40 years and she still doesn't know much about football either. And yes, I did attend Clemson so I can say we all I want to despite not playing on the team.

[Keller]

I do find this funny from a dude that continually dick rides Chokre Dame.

Ironic coming from a dude whose team's last (and only) national championship was in 1957.

[Makkah]

Simple. Never given the opportunity. Snowed in 1983, probation (and only unbeaten team in the nation) in 1993, snowed in 2004.

[Keller]

This is why we are called fans, short for fanatic.


My prose facepalm was in response to you saying Mike Bellamy could be the fastest player in college football.

Without doubt Jeff Demps is, and will be if he doesn't quite to train for London, the fastest player in college football. It's not exactly a secret that the man is an Olympic caliber sprinter.

[BigPun]

Football cred denied. Good fucking god.


A 19-15 HC who just fired his OC and hired a brand new OC spells disaster for this mediocre team. Last year around this time, sunshine pumpers were picking them as the dark horse of the ACC... we saw where that ended up.

I love how you feel the need to bring Auburn into this; Clemson is and always has been Auburn's red-headed step-child. We'll see after after the 3rd game of the year where we're at. Real talk.

Wait...what? Exsqueeze me? Baking soda? Not only did Clemson beat Auburn yesterday 38-24 but they straight dominated that ass. The score doesn't even reflect how one sided this game was. Real talk from the really real world where Auburn never stood a chance.

Bigpun whistles tunelessly to himself, remembering games past.

[Parkbandit]

Wait...what? Exsqueeze me? Baking soda? Not only did Clemson beat Auburn yesterday 38-24 but they straight dominated that ass. The score doesn't even reflect how one sided this game was. Real talk from the really real world where Auburn never stood a chance.

Bigpun whistles tunelessly to himself, remembering games past.

Auburn is the game you decided on to show how Clemson will win the National Championship this year?

I'll take whatever bet you would like to make on that fantasy.

[BigPun]

Auburn is the game you decided on to show how Clemson will win the National Championship this year?

I'll take whatever bet you would like to make on that fantasy.

Hell no, I didn't even really predict they would win it this year. I predicted a 10-2 regular season. I was just making the point they will be a contender and far better than everyone thinks they'll be. The Auburn comments were just in response to Makkah. I wasn't taking bets against it, I was just saying the 100:1 odds that vegas was giving would be a good bet.

[RichardCranium]

It doesn't change the fact that Clemson has no shot at winning the crystal ball.

[Makkah]

Yea, um have you seen an Auburn game this year? Worst defense in the nation (documented). I knew we've be bad, but not this bad. 10-2 is utterly out of the question, and I will put money on that. With their patty-cake schedule, I think 9-3 is doable, but very questionable. Wanna put 50 bucks on a lower than 10-2 schedule and no crystal ball?

[BigPun]

Yea, um have you seen an Auburn game this year? Worst defense in the nation (documented). I knew we've be bad, but not this bad. 10-2 is utterly out of the question, and I will put money on that. With their patty-cake schedule, I think 9-3 is doable, but very questionable. Wanna put 50 bucks on a lower than 10-2 schedule and no crystal ball?

Nah, I'll let you keep your money. I find your comments on this entire thread hilarious however. Not sure how you can say that 10-2 is utterly out of the question and then say we have a patty-cake schedule in the same paragraph. If 10 wins is so far out of the question with our pathetically weak schedule what are you saying about your team who we beat the brakes off of yesterday. 3-9? Fact is that Clemson schedule rated #1 hardest in the nation going off of last years records (documented). Not saying that last years win totals will be an exact reflection of the true strength of their schedule but they even ranked #12 in Phil Steele's preseason strength of schedule poll. http://www.fbschedules.com/2011/06/phil-steele-2011-college-football-strength-of-schedule-rankings/

[BigPun]

Clemson Football Schedule 2011
Date - Opponent
Sept. 3 - TROY
Sept. 10 - WOFFORD
Sept. 17 - AUBURN
Sept. 24 - FLORIDA STATE
Oct. 1 - at Virginia Tech
Oct. 8 - BOSTON COLLEGE
Oct. 15 - at Maryland
Oct. 22 - NORTH CAROLINA
Oct. 29 - at Georgia Tech
Nov. 5 - Open Date
Nov. 12 - WAKE FOREST
Nov. 19 - at NC State
Nov. 26 - at South Carolina

[Makkah]

Consider this me eating my hat, sir.

Way better team than I gave them credit.

(they're still not winning the BCS though.)

[BigPun]

Consider this me eating my hat, sir.

Way better team than I gave them credit.

(they're still not winning the BCS though.)

Thanks for owning it. They're gonna be considered legit national title contenders by everyone now. Best part is most of these kids are freshman or sophomores.

[RichardCranium]

Beating overrated ACC teams doesn't make them contenders. It makes them another overrated ACC team.

[BigPun]

Beating overrated ACC teams doesn't make them contenders. It makes them another overrated ACC team.

Lol, you must not have watched a Clemson game yet. Our QB is 10th in the nation in passing yards with a 7 to 1 TD to INT ratio (he has 14 passing TDs and 2 rushing through 5 games). Sammy Watkins ranks 24th in receiving yards and 2nd in receiving TDs. Both players have already been mentioned as dark horse heisman candidates by ESPN. Clemson has also been mentioned as a contender before even beating VT last night.

Our 5 wins consist of Troy (defending Sunbelt Conference Champs), Wofford (defending Southern Conference Champs), Auburn (defending SEC West, SEC and National Champs), Florida State (defending ACC Atlantic Champs) and VT (defending ACC Coastal and ACC champs who won the ACC 4 of the 7 years they have been in it and hold the longest 10 win season record in college football of 7 straight years). Auburn just knocked off number 10 ranked South Carolina yesterday. These aren't exactly teams that just let the other team win.

Fact is if there weren't preseason rankings and the first set of rankings came out this week then we would be a top 5 team. There are only a few teams that you could even make an argument that they have a better resume. Outside of Alabama, LSU, OU, and Wisconsin there really isn't anyone that you could make an intelligent argument to be ranked over us. There is only one team left on our schedule that has a good chance to beat us and thats GT in Atlanta. BTW if you go undefeated with the #1 hardest ranked schedule in the nation IT DEFINITELY MAKES YOU A CONTENDER whether you play in the ACC or not. You just keep believing whatever helps you sleep at night though.

[RichardCranium]

[grn] Clemson wins the 2011... 10-02-2011 09:48 AM Thank you! clearly Wisconsin is going to win the BCS, anyway.

Yeah, no.

[RichardCranium]

BTW if you go undefeated with the #1 hardest ranked schedule in the nation IT DEFINITELY MAKES YOU A CONTENDER whether you play in the ACC or not. You just keep believing whatever helps you sleep at night though.

True, but Clemson's schedule is far from tough.

[BigPun]

True, but Clemson's schedule is far from tough.

That's funny because it's a fact that we have the hardest schedule in the nation based off of last years win percentages. Also Phil Steele rated our schedule 12th hardest in the nation, but what does he know? I'm sure that you have forgotten more about football than Phil Steele will ever know so I'll just take your biased word over his. In fairness most in season strength of schedule polls have us around #30 but I still wouldn't call a top 30 ranked schedule an easy one.

http://www.fbschedules.com/2011/06/phil-steele-2011-college-football-strength-of-schedule-rankings/

[TheEschaton]

Yeah, but winning in the ACC isn't so tough, so a lot of your opponents had high win %s without really having high skill. I say that as an alum of one of the schools on your schedule.

[BigPun]

Not really trying to say that the ACC is tough..... but we did schedule Auburn and as every year South Carolina plus we have one of the toughest ACC schedules there is. Our three cross divisional games are VT, UNC, and Georgia Tech. When you compare that to say a FSU who's three cross divisional games are Duke, Virginia, and Miami you could see how we don't exactly have a favorable ACC schedule.

[Drew]

Not really trying to say that the ACC is tough..... but we did schedule Auburn and as every year South Carolina plus we have one of the toughest ACC schedules there is. Our three cross divisional games are VT, UNC, and Georgia Tech. When you compare that to say a FSU who's three cross divisional games are Duke, Virginia, and Miami you could see how we don't exactly have a favorable ACC schedule.

On the other hand you're in the cupcake division of the ACC. Which is the reason Clemson always looks better than it is. 4 of the top 6 ACC schools are in the ACC Coastal.

[Warriorbird]

As much as I truly am rooting for Clemson to kick a lot of ass and go undefeated (if only to really make the local VA Tech fans unhappy), it is the ACC dude.

[BigPun]

On the other hand you're in the cupcake division of the ACC. Which is the reason Clemson always looks better than it is. 4 of the top 6 ACC schools are in the ACC Coastal.

There is really only 4 good teams in the ACC in Clemson, FSU, VT and GT. UNC and Miami are garbage and gonna be getting worse in years to come.


As much as I truly am rooting for Clemson to kick a lot of ass and go undefeated (if only to really make the local VA Tech fans unhappy), it is the ACC dude.

I'm not disagreeing with anyone that the ACC is weak. I just don't think Clemson has a weak schedule. We did draw about the toughest ACC schedule you can get and added 2 SEC teams to that.

[Drew]

There is really only 4 good teams in the ACC in Clemson, FSU, VT and GT. UNC and Miami are garbage and gonna be getting worse in years to come.

LOL wut? Miami beat Clemson last year.

[BigPun]

LOL wut? Miami beat Clemson last year.

Clemson beat Clemson last year and that was last year. This year Miami is 2-2 losing to a 2-2 Maryland team that got destroyed 38-7 by Temple. Even in Miami's 45-14 win over Bethune-Cookman (who?) last week they gave up more yards than they gained. With all the bad stigma and NCAA infractions recruits are looking elsewhere. Miami will be garbage for a while.

[Makkah]

To be fair, Clemson was down at halftime at home against Troy where they gave up 428 yards.

Clemson was also tied at halftime with Wofford (an FCS team) at home where they gave up 399 yards total.

[Drew]

Yeah, I'm all about Clemson looking good this year, good for them. And Miami is having a bad year (although the Maryland loss was mostly the result of 7 starters being suspended, this is not a deep team), but has one of the best young coaches around and to declare them irrelevant is pretty ridiculous.

[RichardCranium]

Clemson's gonna flame out like they always do, in every sport.

[BigPun]

Yeah, I'm all about Clemson looking good this year, good for them. And Miami is having a bad year (although the Maryland loss was mostly the result of 7 starters being suspended, this is not a deep team), but has one of the best young coaches around and to declare them irrelevant is pretty ridiculous.

I know Miami will come back eventually because it's a good program and they will spend the money and do what they have to do. I can't really say I have ever been sold on Al Golden as a coach but then again I don't know much about him other than he came from Temple. I follow recruiting pretty religiously though and I've heard a lot of recruits talk about how they liked Miami but...... I really think that the new infractions will have a lasting effect for at least a few years. Unfortunately for Golden he may never get a fair chance at the U.

[BigPun]

Clemson's gonna flame out like they always do, in every sport.

This team just feels different. Tajh Boyd has been a great leader so far. Don't underestimate chemistry and good leadership. We'll know soon enough.

[BigPun]

A little segment on ESPN on Clemson being a National Title contender.

http://espn.go.com/blog/acc

[RichardCranium]

This team just feels different. Tajh Boyd has been a great leader so far. Don't underestimate chemistry and good leadership. We'll know soon enough.

Maybe. I thought we were just giving our opinions as fact though.

[BigPun]

Maybe. I thought we were just giving our opinions as fact though.

That's what I do. It's the american way, form an opinion and stick by it no matter how ridiculous it is.

I like both of these links. One is the Rivals.com 120 when they rank the teams for the first time after week 5 and Clemson ranks #5. The other one is a segment asking is Clemson this years Auburn. Eddie George seems like he's been on the same page as me since preseason.

http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1274157

http://rivals.yahoo.com/video/press-and-news-football/clemson/Is-Clemson-this-years-Auburn-1098760

[Parkbandit]

http://georgiatech.net/images/georgia_tech.gif

[Makkah]

Was a good run, though. Better than anyone thought they'd do this year.

[DoctorUnne]

For those of you who know much more about college football than I do, how good is OK State this year? They have been my favorite team for a while but it always seems like no matter how well they start they don't have the talent to win their marquee games (namely Oklahoma). Do they have a shot at beating Oklahoma and playing for the title this year?

[RichardCranium]

It's possible. Their defense is shit though so they'd better outscore Oklahoma.

[Parkbandit]

LOL @ Clemson getting destroyed by the Wolfpack.

[BigPun]

LOL @ Clemson getting destroyed by the Wolfpack.

That was pretty pathetic. Still I can't be to mad about the season when everyone was projecting us to finish 4th in the ACC atlantic and go 7-5. We should start next season with a high ranking and much more experience. Stephone Anthony said it best in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAJya0v2vds

[RichardCranium]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOBryz4sbm8

[DoctorUnne]

I feel silly for even suggesting this but is it possible that if LSU beats Arkansas, Alabama loses to Auburn and OSU beats Oklahoma then OSU still goes to the BCS? I mean everyone's talking about wanting to see a one-loss team that hasn't played LSU in the title game... why not OSU? People were saying Oklahoma deserved a shot before this weekend and OSU is in the same position now Oklahoma was then.

I'd rather see an LSU/Alabama rematch if Alabama doesn't lose, but OSU has to be the most deserving non-SEC team if they win bedlam.

[RichardCranium]

I feel silly for even suggesting this but is it possible that if LSU beats Arkansas, Alabama loses to Auburn and OSU beats Oklahoma then OSU still goes to the BCS? I mean everyone's talking about wanting to see a one-loss team that hasn't played LSU in the title game... why not OSU? People were saying Oklahoma deserved a shot before this weekend and OSU is in the same position now Oklahoma was then.

I'd rather see an LSU/Alabama rematch if Alabama doesn't lose, but OSU has to be the most deserving non-SEC team if they win bedlam.

I'd give it to Stanford or Virginia Tech if either of them only have one loss and win their conference championship game.

[Parkbandit]

I can't believe I didn't post this before... but:

"ow"

[Drew]

That was a brutal beatdown.

[thefarmer]

:)