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Clemson

Hegemon said:
Let me preface this by saying I enjoy Dabo tears and root for stadium collapses up there.

What is the deal up there? Internal turmoil? Did Dabo teabag a baby?

Bizarre stuff
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I think there are some simple answers.

First, they had a good long 5-year run with Elliott/Scott on the Co-OC side and Venables on the DC side (not to mention having Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence at QB). 4 of those 5 years Clemson was in the championship game, and they won 2. Now, all three of those coordinators are head coaches elsewhere. That's what happens when you have great success, coordinators get HC jobs.

And if you dig deeper, Elliott's background was on the running game and Scott was the passing game. Even more important, the QB coach was Streeter, who is now the OC. Over the past 2 years that Elliott has been the full OC (since Scott went to USF), I do not think he has had the same feel for the job that he had when it was shared with Scott. Some say that his playcalling last year was not tailored to his QB talent, it was just the same stuff that was run with Lawrence.

I think that Clemson has the chance to be really good again on offense now that Streeter is there. Successfully replacing Venables is the big question.

There's a legit question as to whether Dabo might end up at Alabama or be interested in the NFL.
 
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AUcane said:
I’m sure your fantasy is for them to win 7 but they have too much talent to only win 7 games. They return arguably the best DL in CFb. DJ is not a good qb but this team can still be a regular 9-10 win team.
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Do I think they end up losing 5 games? No. You’re probably right, 7-5 is definitely a stretch.

It probably boils down to their QB play and how legit Goodwin is. If there's no drop off from Venables and if Streeter can figure things out with DJ or Klubnik then 10+ wins is again the norm.

But that's a lot of big if's especially with Goodwin as a first time playcaller. They've got some legit QBs they're playing against next year: Jurkovec, Leary, Hartman, and TVD (I guess you could kind of add in Cunningham?) in the ACC. Away game at ND and Rattler is a ****tard but the guy can sling it. Sneaky schedule.
 
Costy21 said:
Most programs have a downturn unless you’re Alabama at this point. They missed on the DJ eval even though he did look great freshman year.

They still won 10 games and they’ll likely win 11 next year. Very hard to replace back to back elite elite QBs even when recruiting to their level. He also had amazing staff continuity
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No staff continuity within the coordinators this year, additionally, they lost arguably the top, or top 3 at worst DC in the game right now and replaced him with someone who has reportedly high potentional, but still inexperienced as a play-caller. I can't foresee the defense picking up where it left off, and no way they win 10+ games again without a top 10 defense.
 
I’m probably biased because I’ve watched the kid through his whole career, but I’m convinced Klubnik is of the same ilk of a Watson or Lawrence. That kid is a magician. Not excited that he is going to be at Clemson.
 
Everyone talking about missing in the qb eval forgetting he looked pretty good as a freshman. I wouldn't bury dju just yet. If you watched their games, their oline was trash this year. Still almost beat Georgia and that with Georgia dline wreaking havoc on them all game.
 
Hoyacane1620 said:
Somehow Dabo convinced Xavier Thomas to return for his 5th year. They will have Thomas, Myles Murphy, Brian Breese, and Tyler Davis on their defense next season... Their roster is light in a number of positions , though, and they have to hope Klubnik comes in and takes the QB position with authority.
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Their fans seem to think Klubinik is the 2nd coming of Lawrence
 
407cane said:
They won 10 games which for them is a down year which is pretty wild

Also the DC and OC both got promoted to be HC at power 5 programs and naturally took a few ppl with them. It's not like they left for lateral positions
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I agree 100%

Having a 10 win season being considered a down year 🤔 to me means that you've really been kicking ***!!

What a great compliment to get!! I remember when that was said about us in the years we were crushing all comers...oh well

Clemson lost a great deal of coaching talent, really I'm surprised that they kept that excellent crew together as long as they did.

Losing talented coaches happens to ALL *** kicking teams!! Finding replacements that are as or more talented is the real trick.

Saban has continually done it. That's why they're always at or near the top.

Can Dabo and Smart follow suit? Remains to be seen....but I wouldn't bet against either of them doing it.
 
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CaneMutiny06 said:
There is a Phil Steele stat that I’ve used for o/u win totals. “Net close wins” (or losses)

If a team has 2 or more net close wins (defined as 1 score or less) vs close losses, they tend to have the same or worse record the following season, around 80% of the time I think. The average gets worse with the more net close wins they have.

Clemson was +3 in net close wins last year.

Obviously they missed badly on DJ, but losing Venables is the biggest long-term blow. We’re talking about probably the best DC in the game and they had him for 10 seasons.

So losing the coaches, Promoting Internally and as already mentioned Dabo isn’t a fan of using the portal AND a they have under-signed on their recruiting classes.

They’re still the most talented team in the conference and the roster counts for a lot, but Looking at their schedule, I don’t think it’s a guarantee that they’ll improve this year.
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Good post. This is still a QB driven game. Klubnik is the real deal. He is a stud. He should be the starter. Whether or not it all clicks with him as a frosh is anybody’s guess.
 
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Hoyacane1620 said:
Somehow Dabo convinced Xavier Thomas to return for his 5th year. They will have Thomas, Myles Murphy, Brian Breese, and Tyler Davis on their defense next season... Their roster is light in a number of positions , though, and they have to hope Klubnik comes in and takes the QB position with authority.
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Somehow convinced = $$$$$

That’s how they have done it FOR YEARS !!!
 
I'd look at clemson's visitor list for this weekend and quick invite them to Miami real soon. fuggin cold and wet
 
Dabo has done an incredible job at Clemson. We need Clemson to remain relevent especially now that we have Mario.
 
I'm not writing Clemson off by any means but I also wonder how many years in a row that Dabo can miss the Playoff and still be the default frontrunner to replace Sabag?

*Not that anyone sane would want to be that guy. You replace the guy that replaced Sabag.
 
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Clemsons real downfall happens when Saban retires and Dabo takes over Bama. Dabo has a cult of personality at Clemson. I don't think they will find anyone who can replace him.
 
I always thought them losing Venables and Elliot would be a blessing in disguise as crazy as it sounds. After awhile coordinators can get stale but the problem is I assumed Dabo would have made better hires to replace them. I think one of the keys to Bama's success is that they have new coordinators almost every other year so its hard for teams to pick up tendencies. I think it helped us too in the 80's.
 
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