I tend to disagree. This is Clemson's Super Bowl. Game Day and Prime time! Dabo loves the spotlight and although I don't like him he is one of the best salesman in the business and he will have his team believing that if they win this game they will win the national title. Notre Dame doesn't have the athletes Clemson has and it will show Saturday night.
Jason, You Are A Smart Man..!
And I Don't Usually Give Props To GameCock Fans!
CLEMSON 41-24
----ShotDoc----
And I Don't Usually Give Props To GameCock Fans!
CLEMSON 41-24
----ShotDoc----
Yeah I do remember that game and as a Gamecock fan I enjoyed it very much, lol, but this Notre Dame team ain't close to that FSU team and I think it basically boils down to Clemson being a better team and having better players at most every position. If I'm wrong it will be bitter/sweet because I will lose a couple bucks but I'll get to chuckle at our rival losing. Lol. But I don't think I'm wrong here. Good luck!
This game means a great deal to ND. If this game was in South Bend I do not think it would be Clemson's Super Bowl. I am not sure how many times the ESPN Game day bus makes it to Clemson but I believe this will be the only time this season. If Clemson wins it could come back for Florida State. Notre Dame has USC in 2 weeks and that is big game for them. The location and the way the schedule is layout for both teams gives Clemson a stronger motivation. If the game was in South Bend and ND was playing USC 5 plus weeks away and Clemson was facing their biggest rival in 2 weeks than ND would be more motivated.
No they won't!! Clemson OL will be overmatched here, their running gm will be shut down. Now can Watson & their WR do the job is the ?, maybe we'll see. ND will try to run & run all day, IMO that's the key, can Tigers stop Irish RB's? BOL Pal, s/b a good one. Great CFB day, my Goofers vs NW @ 11, Tide/Dogs 2:30, Irish @ nite, I do love it so!!!
As a Clemson grad, I am a bit concerned about this game. With Watson, being at home, on a Saturday night, and an underrated d, I can see why we are favored; HOWEVER, we have serious depth issues. Starting 11 on either side of ball is good enough to win, but injuries, transfers, other weird situations have led to serious concern over depth. If we can get a lead, stop the run early, and force them to throw to comeback, we will win. But if its close, I am afraid we may wear down and our special teams may blow it. Scary game!
Nice to see someone finally mention special teams. Clemson's has been terrible over the years, especially considering how much talent they have overall on the team. It's nowhere near good enough to make a run at a NC...
From a kicking and punting perspective, as a program, we have funded the nfl recently, but the return game has sucked as has the coverage. For the type of recruiting Dabo has done at skill positions, it's unforgiveable to not have a better return game. It seems like they're satisfied with putting a white guy that can just catch the ball because the offense has been good enough to score regardless of field position. But like you said Matty if we want to make a run at the playoffs were going to have to vastly improve the return game in the coverage units
Which team depends on the RUN more? Might be worthy of note from Matty's information.
I played ND early in the week. ND is 11-4 ats last 15 games as a dog of 0.5 to 3. Flipside, Clemson is 4-10 last 14 as a favorite of 0.5 to 3 plus Dabo can't beat ranked teams during the regular season...............1-7.
Dabo's record is 9-16 vs ranked teams. Beat 3 ranked teams in regular season in 2011 (plus 1 in acc champ game), 1 in 2012 reg season (plus 1 in bowl), 1 in 2013 regular season (plus 1 in bowl), 1 in 2014 (plus 1 in bowl). Not great, but not terrible either. "Clemsoning" is mostly gone since Bowden left (2011 orange bowl and 2013 florida st notwithstanding). If they lose, it won't be because they choked. They have beaten lsu, georgia, auburn, ohio st, oklahoma, louisville, virginia tech, florida st--not scared of big programs. Recruiting and premium coordinator hiring by Dabo has them knocking on door of 10 ten programs. If they lose, it will be because of lack of depth on lines strictly due to injuries and aforementioned circumstances
