College Football Top 10: No. 8 Clemson
College Football August 15th. 2008, 12:00pm
What, you expected Texas here? Since the Top 7 can rather easily be guessed, suppose we should explain why Texas, Missouri and Kansas aren’t included. Texas has a QB controversy on a low simmer, a much tougher schedule than last year, no stud to replace RB Jamaal Charles, a depleted group of WRs, and a defense that suffered heavy losses. Missouri will be good, but without RB Tony Temple, not 12-2 good. Kansas plays a killer schedule with six difficult games (Colorado and South Florida will not be easy).
As for Clemson: The ACC is horrendous. We can’t wait until CJ Spiller and James Davis run roughshod over the hapless Alabama defense on the 30th in Death Valley. Atlanta. QB Cullen Harper needs to dangle a few free meals in front of his young offensive line for protection. “Bandit” Ricky Sapp leads a so-so defense, but keep in mind that so-so in the meek ACC could drift toward “good.” [Aside: Anyone here party at Clemson? We've heard legendary stories, but never been down there.]
We’re guessing nine wins in a so-so conference, but only because of some potentially-difficult road games: Wake Forest, BC, FSU and Virginia. None of those teams are that dangerous … but it’s Clemson and Tommy Bowden we’re talking about, folks.
86 Responses to “College Football Top 10: No. 8 Clemson”
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August 15th, 2008 at 12:02 PM
Thanks for the nod TBL.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:08 PM
Michigan Sucks
/spencer’d
August 15th, 2008 at 12:09 PM
We’re rapidly closing in on TBL’s delusional spot for Ohio State. Only two possibilities.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:09 PM
Death Valley? That game vs. UA is in ATL, TBL, OMG.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:10 PM
I was wary of Tenn, but said nothing. I scoffed at BYU but said nothing. But CLEMSON, CLEMSON! The kings of choking, the masters of underachieving, the lords of crumbling under expectations at #8, which would mean a 12-2 or better season. No chance.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:10 PM
4 star recruit DeSean Hales?
4 star recruit Jeremy Hills?
4 star recruit Cody Johnson?
4 star recruit Foswhitt Whittaker?
That’s just in the two recruiting classes for 08 and 09.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:11 PM
Isn’t that game at the Georgia Dome?
August 15th, 2008 at 12:12 PM
Let me guess, they start off 7-0 and go on to lose 4 of their last 5.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:12 PM
4 star recruit DeSean Hales?
4 star recruit Jeremy Hills?
4 star recruit Cody Johnson?
4 star recruit Foswhitt Whittaker?
That’s just in the two recruiting classes for 08 and 09.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:13 PM
Tony Temple was good, but by no means the reason Mizzou went 12-2. I will put the Cotton Bowl win on his shoulders, but not a whole lot more then that. Can you really see Mizzou losing more then 2 games? If so, please point them out. Chase for Heisman…
August 15th, 2008 at 12:14 PM
black america, you are not helping yourself here, foswhitt? come on
August 15th, 2008 at 12:15 PM
“Chase for Heisman” – “gay”
August 15th, 2008 at 12:16 PM
unless his real name is forrest and he has a speech impediment or something. thats a scrabble rack, not a name
August 15th, 2008 at 12:17 PM
Clemson will roll for 5-6 games convincingly then, as always, turn into a grease fire of epic proportions.
And Texas better start Foswhitt, what a stupid name, sounds like an ingredient for making explosives.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:21 PM
I ran the table in the ACC with FSU on NCAA 2009, if the game is a true indication of their talent level they could be a sleeper team.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:22 PM
Clemson would beat a team full of Mormons – so their ranking in relation to BYU is correct.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:23 PM
OU, do you despise Mormons?
August 15th, 2008 at 12:23 PM
I hate you tbl. MU will be top 5.
/less words the better right?
August 15th, 2008 at 12:24 PM
Matt – So 4-star recruits can come in as freshman and dominate like Charles did? Good luck witht hat
August 15th, 2008 at 12:25 PM
@cbh – No. I have several good friends that are Mormons. But like every race, ethnicity, and/or religion, they deserve to be made fun of whenever possible.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:26 PM
They obviously aren’t all freshman if they are from two different recruiting classes. And they can dominate.
/Maurice C.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:27 PM
How much you guys want to bet he goes by Fozzie?
August 15th, 2008 at 12:29 PM
nwilson–Does Mizzou have any good recruits comin in? Especially defensively?
August 15th, 2008 at 12:30 PM
Who needs defense when you’ve got Chase Daniels? We call him god here locally.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:31 PM
black america, you are not helping yourself here, foswhitt? come on
Why dont you shut the fuck up you spainard.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:33 PM
No god comes from Southlake, Texas.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:34 PM
If you’re calling him God, it would help if you spelled his name right.
Sorry J, you just showed your ignorance of anything non east and west coast. Tony Temple was a good, but not great running back. Derrick Washington is going to be better than Tony Temple. He played as a true freshman last year, and is getting rave reviews. Temple ran all over Arkansas because Arkansas was scared of the pass game.
If you think that Missouri loses to UT and then in the Big 12 title game, then there’s the 12-2. But that’s still a top 10 season and a possible BCS berth.
And please, do not mention the 2008 Kansas team in the same sentence as the 2008 Missouri team. KU has to play USF, Tech, OU and UT before they even have to play MU.
Do some freaking research.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:38 PM
I’d be fairly surprised if Kansas finishes the season ranked.
This Clemson team is loaded so if they don’t make a BCS bowl, Bowden should go.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:44 PM
Wow…not sure how to repond to someone who thinks losing Tony Temple means the Tigers won’t be as good as last year. MU will lose, AT MOST, one game all year (at Texas…and that’s a maybe) during the regular season and possibly the Big 12 Title game (which, being in KC, is no easy game for OU).
No way the Gayhawks can play with them…nor any other team on the schedule. I will be at the Braggin Rights game August 30th when MU beats Illinois by double digits (probably 20) and sets the tone for the rest of the year.
You will eat your words TBL…care to make it interesting?
August 15th, 2008 at 12:46 PM
Those guys aren’t freshman. The bottom two were part of the 2007 recruiting classes. Do some research one in awhile.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:47 PM
Tommy Bowden still coaches Clemson, right? Just checking.
I’m not sure how you do a post on Clemson and not mention that Bowden might be the most underachieving coach in the country. How many years do we have to hype up Clemson? Clemson is becoming the Arizona Cardinals of College football
One of my friends covers Clemson for the local TV station and told me that he will be shocked if they win the ACC. The reason?
They’re Clemson.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:48 PM
I love it when fans from flash in the pan BCS teams get to make bold predictions for a couple of years like no team with preseason hype has ever been upset in the history of college football.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxF62F1g5fI
If Reggie Ball can orchestrate an upset…anyone can.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:48 PM
By the way, in case anyone is interested…i LOVE Nebraska -13.5 at home against Western Michigan on opening weekend.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:50 PM
Clemson will not finish the season in the top 10 – they always seem to blow a couple games they should win.
TBL – thanks for not putting Texas in the top 10, I’m sick and tired of unjustified Longhorns hype – w/o VY Mack Brown will never win another NC.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:51 PM
TBL, you realize that Jamaal Charles 878 yds rushing and 13 TD’s as a freshman….right?
August 15th, 2008 at 12:52 PM
Matt he thinks Deion Branch and Bobby Engram are shitty, what does he know?
August 15th, 2008 at 12:55 PM
vondrell mcgee will start at rb for the horns. he and whitaker can replace charles.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:56 PM
and they are?
August 15th, 2008 at 12:57 PM
tell that to Yahoo, buddy!
August 15th, 2008 at 12:59 PM
the only problem clemson may have is that the tigers lost four starters off its offensive line. with an offense based largely on two stud running backs, that inexperience up front could prove to be troublesome early.
a friend of mine played defensive back for clemson in the 80s (under ford and hattfield). to my shock, he loves tommy bowden. i asked him why and he had an intersting answer:
1) clemson won’t find a better coach unless they pay $4 million a year for one.
2) recruiting at clemson is terribly difficult in this era. clemson is surrounded by richt, butch davis, beamer, spurrier and fulmer and not too far away you’ve got old man bowden, meyer, tuberville and saban trying to cherry pick whatever decent players there are in south carolina.
3) combining both the aforementioned points, clemson is not a desirable place to coach. so clemson would be hard-pressed to find someone else to do as good of a job as tommy bowden.
again this is not coming from me but a guy who played for clemson in it’s heyday.
(wasn’t his old man known for choking away games for years?)
August 15th, 2008 at 12:59 PM
He was a true freshman. The team had VY and Selvin Young, both now in the NFL. He wasn’t an everydown back. How many games did he start that year?
August 15th, 2008 at 1:01 PM
that’s in reference to tommy bowden underperforming as many suggest.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:01 PM
TBL – You said they were not in the Top 5. Therefore by deduction, they are either 6 or 7.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:01 PM
Heard a reporter from Austin (missed his name) on sports radio in Columbus yesterday. They have Texas at 10 and the reporter was shocked by that statement. He thinks they are really lacking at RB and in the secondary. He wasn’t sure that a 4 loss season wasn’t coming down the pike for the ‘Horns.
And, Clemson? The pre-season ranking feels right. However, everyone knows that they will lose 2-3 games that they have no business losing during the season. Talent-wise, they are loaded for bear.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:03 PM
You forgot Georgia Tech recruiting Jimmy …
oh wait … they blow.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:04 PM
is that how the system works now?
August 15th, 2008 at 1:05 PM
but what about their 37 4-star recruits?
August 15th, 2008 at 1:05 PM
Clemson will have 4 losses by the end of the year. It doesn’t even matter who they play, they could play Notre Dame every weekend for the whole season and they’d manage to lose 4 times because they’re the least consistent team in the country.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:07 PM
Selvin Young had 96 carries for 461 yds and 8 touchdowns. Charles had 119 carries for 878 yds and 11 TD’s. Charles carried the ball more than any other RB that year. Again, do some research.
So your claim that Texas doesn’t have any studs to step in for the departed Jamaal Charles is debunked by the wealth of talent Texas has at RB and by the production of Charles as a freshman himself.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:08 PM
Thanks, BigTuna. Unless TBL is pulling the old riddle of “I can’t operate on him. He’s my son!” and he’s actually not ranking tOSU in the top 20. I could see intern bill do that, or the Cornell guy via some ridiculous mathletics, but TBL? Nahhhh… right?
August 15th, 2008 at 1:10 PM
Calm down dude. This isn’t SMQ.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:17 PM
nope. i thought of them but right now they are no factor. that could change with the new coach. we’ll see.
georgia tech hasn’t been relevant since o’leary was there.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:17 PM
Hokies rule!
August 15th, 2008 at 1:19 PM
Well they had Calvin Johnson, that at least got them on nat’l TV.
But it doesn’t seem to have gotten them any recruits since.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:21 PM
per my georgia tech comment (an acc-related thought) when old man bowden retires florida state will turn into georgia tech. just by osmosis (like g-tech) they will land some decent recruits in the post-bowden era just because the state of florida is loaded with talent.
but 7-6 will be a good season after bobby hangs it up.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:21 PM
So was Bill Self. So was Mack Brown. So was Tom Coughlin.
I’m not saying they’ll lose, but going to Nebraska is going to be a problem for Mizzou.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:21 PM
I like how you think NSR.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:23 PM
big 12 is pretty good this year.
mizzou is solid and oklahoma is tits. tech might even be better than usual.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:23 PM
how brutal was reggie ball? he had one of the best receivers in college football since randy moss and the stiff still couldn’t get the ball to him.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:24 PM
Spencer, is Ohio State vagina?
August 15th, 2008 at 1:25 PM
jimmy…he had tashard choice too, so it’s not like the offense was imbalanced either.
ball = one of the worst QB’s in recent college football history.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:25 PM
I couldn’t agree more with rs27’s assessment. Clemson will lose 3-4 games this year. All of which will most likely come against an opponent of lesser talent.
Mack Brown was not underachieving and neither was Tom Coughlin, they had great success they just never won the big one. Tommy Bowden hasn’t even come close to being on those guys levels.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:26 PM
Reggie Ball may have been the most worthless QB to play major DI football in 15 years.
CJ should have been the Heisman winner that year. He caught everything thrown to him. Problem was the Ball couldn’t throw it far enough (or accurate enough) to get it to him. I have no idea what the coaches at Tech were thinking.
He got suspended for their bowl game in Calvin’s last game. A left handed stiff came off the bench and threw 4 TD’s to Calvin by just sending it in his general direction.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:27 PM
Ohio State is the most heavenly set of tits known only to the gods, for if human eyes viewed them, they would burst from not being able to handle the glory.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:27 PM
Mizzou won’t be able to keep up with this guy.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:28 PM
The “Big One” for Mack Brown was Oklahoma, which he never did until VY showed up and Oklahoma had it’s worst team in Stoops’ tenure.
Coughlin never made it to the Super Bowl and was about run out of NY.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:28 PM
clown…what guy? the green lantern in the background?
August 15th, 2008 at 1:30 PM
I’m not saying Clemson is going to play for the title or anything, but MOST coaches underachieve. If they win their opener at home vs. Alabama, they should be okay. But like I said before, if they do lose 3-4 games this year, Bowden needs to go.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:31 PM
It was very difficult to imagine what the 2nd and 3rd stringers could be fucking up so badly that Reggie Ball remained the starter.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:33 PM
I’m sorry I didn’t realize that consistently winning ten games a year at UNC and Texas and taking an expansion franchise to two AFC championship games was considered underachieving.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:33 PM
“Missouri will be good, but without RB Tony Temple, not 12-2 good. ”
As a KU fan, this hurts, but I don’t see a loss on Mizzou’s schedule. Tony Temple’s Cotton Bowl performance turned him from an average college running back into some sort of legend in TBL’s eyes. Dude was good, but Mizzou is loaded on O and has something like 9 returning starters on D. 17 out of 22 overall, iirc.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:33 PM
i remembered that. i was wondering, “damn gailey, what the hell took you so long?”
a few weeks later i read where reggie ball was at the nfl combine and i nearly fell off my chair laughing.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:33 PM
It’s been a long time since Mizzou won in Lincoln which includes a 34-20 loss two years ago.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:34 PM
speaking of bama…looks like they found a good ‘un.
that kid is 18…fucking ridiculous.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:34 PM
They never said what he was actually doing at the combine Jimmy.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:36 PM
Hakeem,
Apparently you have a different definition of underachieving than most Texas and NY Giant fans.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:37 PM
Haha, I guess so
August 15th, 2008 at 1:37 PM
Hakeem,
Google Mack Brown underachiever and Tom Coughlin underachiever and see what happens.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:38 PM
Spencer – Sarah Jessica John Parker Wilson has Reggie Ball syndrome. I’m not worried.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:38 PM
whitlock is chugging the kool-aid from his alma mater:
August 15th, 2008 at 1:41 PM
Good luck with that Whitlock.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:43 PM
jimmy -
Ball State won’t be THAT good as a team, but Nate Davis is FOR REAL. He is athletic, has a GREAT arm, and is one of those leader-type guys.
He will put up some really sick numbers this year for BallU
August 15th, 2008 at 1:47 PM
ROTFLMAO!
August 15th, 2008 at 1:53 PM
Admittedly it’s stupid/terrible/etc. And also all I’ve got.
Oh wait, never mind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G3yIIJPGFM
August 15th, 2008 at 2:12 PM
Are you fucking kidding me that you biased fucks dont have MU in the top ten? I was actually looking forward to what you guys were going to say about Missouri… then you all you say is that we lost Tony Temple and wont be 12-2. You got part of that statement correct bc we sure as hell wont lose two games probably only 1 (texas away). Tony Temple was a little above average at best and our offense was not designed for him (see Jeremy Maclin). TT cant even make an nfl roster…
August 15th, 2008 at 8:20 PM
I’m going to guess that the Cotton Bowl was the only Missouri game that TBL watched.
You’re terrible at predictions. But this is downright moronic.