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College Football  |  Bias against Clemson is embarrassing

11/25/2022

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KJ Henry and his Clemson teammates find themselves No. 8 in the CFP rankings -- behind a pair of two-loss teams, LSU and Alabama. The anti-Tigers sentiment, fueled by national pundits, frankly, has gotten way outta control.
​Pardon my luke-warm kudos to the talking heads for finally coming around.
 
By and large, those commenting about the College Football Playoff and the possibility of it expanding have held old-school beliefs close to their hearts: Don’t do it. Just leave four-team tournament alone. Opening it up to more entrants will just water down the product. We’re already seeing blowouts with just four teams in it.
 
Oh, and at all costs, keep Clemson out of it.
 
Not for nothing, but that – all of that – has been pitched almost since the CFP’s inception. If you weren’t a recognized blue blood by those on TV already biased from being products of blue blood programs or from genuflecting at them for decades, then you had no business being in there.
 
And no ACC team, not even a dominant one, would be worthy of such elite status.
 
Even with the words getting shoved back in the experts’ faces during a six-year run of Clemson in the CFP that included four title-game appearances and two national championships for the Tigers, and growing evidence that more teams in it would enhance the CFP, not to mention the regular season leading up to it, the geniuses stayed true to their BS.
 
Until this year. Now they all want expansion. It’s their weekly staple anymore. Every show, or discussion, linked to college football comes around to that.
 
Heck, maybe Clemson even would be worthy then.
 
But not this year. Good lord, no, not this year. Not with it still just four teams involved.
 
The pretzel logic surrounding that silliness knows no bounds. As the Tigers crept to an 8-0 start, the prevailing sentiment across the country was dread, especially as the prognostications started coming in that Game No. 9 – at Notre Dame – had, in the know-it-alls' own words, no chance of yielding defeat, that it likely would produce another Clemson win and, ugh, pave the way to yet another CFP berth for the Tigers.
 
Much to their surprise, and glee, the Irish did win, and win BIG. Ahhh, more fuel for them to fry Clemson.
 
Big surprise ... not.

Now, though, the hypocrisy has reached hilarity.

 
Just this week, in explaining the “failure” of the CFP, a system previously hailed vociferously by him, Joel Klatt, the “authority” of college football for Fox Sports, actually used one-loss Clemson being ranked behind two-loss Alabama (No. 8 to No. 7) as a problem with the CFP and its rankings. How that’s wrong and off and blah, blah, blah. Then, he showed his own rankings, and not only did the guy have Alabama (like the CFP, at No. 7) ahead of Clemson, but he moved up Penn State (yes, that Penn State) several spots to get between the two.
 
Does this guy even follow the sport, aside from covering Big Ten schools seemingly every week and kow-towing to SEC ones definitely every week?
 
Now Notre Dame, roundly viewed as a joke when it hosted Clemson, is portrayed as this omnipotent squad by Klatt is his ilk, so the No. 15 Irish potentially prevailing in Los Angeles this weekend will lessen the blow to No. 5 USC’s image.
 
Somehow, No. 6 LSU’s loss to Florida State also is seen as “better” than Clemson’s win over the same school – on the road, too, and not at a neutral site.
 
Look, the reality is, Clemson is not winning any beauty contest this season. Aside from a quarter here, a half there, a KJ Henry sack here, a Will Shipley hurdle there, it has not passed the “eye test" to be a shoo-in for anything.
 
But it surpasses the likes of LSU and Alabama on record and “comparison shopping.” Ignore reality all you want, but the Tigers have beaten five teams that were either ranked when Clemson played them or they are ranked now.
 
Put it this way, Clemson is a legit buy ahead of both as being worthy of CFP consideration this season thus far, and if the Tigers top South Carolina this Saturday afternoon and USC falls to Notre Dame that night, Clemson is worthy of – at worst – the No. 5 spot in the rankings, with the possibility of being higher depending on how No. 3 Michigan-No. 2 Ohio State plays out.
 
UPSET WATCH
With so many rivalry games this week, it stands to reason that we’re probably looking at a stunner or two. Maybe not so much Michigan-Ohio State or Oregon State-Oregon or Notre Dame-USC since every team in those matchups is ranked and clearly capable even to just the passing-interest fan’s eye.
 
But Tennessee-Vanderbilt, UCF-USF, and Auburn-Alabama, now if the Commodores, Bulls, or Tigers somehow managed to pull off the unexpected, if not unthinkable, that would be something.
 
Here’s the one nobody is considering: Dumpster-fire Texas A&M shocking LSU. Thing is, the stars seem to be aligning for that to happen. The Aggies have failed to live up to expectations in positively stunning fashion, so much so that Jimbo Fisher’s job seems to be in legit jeopardy even with an $85 million price tag that would come with his ouster.
 
But they’re hardly lacking in talent, they’re playing at home, and they’re facing a squad that has been pumped up by the national media over the last month it appears to be the perfect target for an ugly reality check – which, if that happened, would right the ship on the ridiculous possibility of a two-loss team making the college football playoff.
 
Frankly, Brian Kelly may have to pull off his motivational best coaching job this season to get the Tigers to avoid an upset.
 
3 AND OUT
- Todd Centeio began his college football career at Temple way back in 2017, threw for almost 3,000 yards last season at Colorado State and now finds himself ranked among the nation’s passing leaders as a super senior at James Madison, his third school in a well-traveled six-year span. He was never more than a gadget player for the Owls, but he was part of the last three winning seasons for Temple, which has had three losing ones ever since he left the Philly school.
 
- Interesting to see Delaware not only sneak into the FCS playoffs despite suffering a last-minute, 29-26 at CAA rival Villanova to fall to 7-4 on the season, but also snag a home game in the first round. The Blue Hens will host St. Francis on Saturday at 2 p.m. QB Nolan Henderson, a sixth-year super senior just like Centeio, has accounted for 31 total TDs this season for Delaware, which started 2022 at 5-0.
 
- After having his 100-yard rushing games streak snapped at 10 the prior Saturday, Illinois junior Chase Brown got back on track this past Saturday with 140 yards (and 2 TDs) on 29 carries in a gut-wrenching loss at No. 3 Michigan. Take note, the snap-streaking game … he rushed for 98 yards (and 2 TDs) on 23 carries. He leads the country in rushing with 1,582 yards.

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College Football  |  'Cuse coaches give master class in how to lose

10/26/2022

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PARTNERS IN CRIME; Forget the complaints about poor clock management and bad officiating, these two (Syracuse offensive coordinator Robert Anae, left, and head coach Dino Babers) teamed up on Saturday to take down their own squad in a matchup of ACC unbeatens in Clemson, S.C. How? By failing to get the ball to their best player, 2021 All-American RB Sean Tucker. The junior only touched the ball 10 times (5 rushes, 5 catches) all afternoon in the Orange's 27-21 loss to Clemson.
Both big-time running back recruits. Both starters since their freshman seasons. Both among the best players in the ACC.

Sean Tucker and Will Shipley, each representing an unbeaten squad squaring off in upstate South Carolina this past Saturday, Tucker for No. 14 Syracuse and Shipley for host Clemson, ranked fifth in the country.

Their individual duel was poised to be one of the highlights of Week 8 in college football, if not the entire 2022 season. It was positioned to play the deciding factor in the outcome of the game. Certain to impact the course of the rest of the conference campaign. Maybe even give a preview of a terrific Heisman race next season between two ACC stars.


Only it never materialized.

Why?

Because one team gave its guy the ball, and the other didn’t.

Oh, Shipley showed up and answered the bell, even getting up from a potentially disastrous second-half fumble, to record his best day as a collegian, a day so good (172 yards and 2 TDs rushing, 53 yards on two kickoff returns, and another 17 yards on three receptions) that it earned him the Doak Walker National Running Back of the Week honors.

Tucker showed up, too. Only there was no bell to answer as the Orange inexplicably opted to use the jet-powered junior as nothing more than decoy for three hours on a glorious sunny afternoon. All told, Tucker got 10 touches (five carries and five receptions for a total of 72 yards and Syracuse’s first TD).

Utterly ridiculous. So much so it cost the ‘Cuse the game (Clemson won, 27-21, to extend its ACC home win streak to a record 38 games).

When Tucker saw the ball within the game’s last couple of minutes after seemingly going 90 minutes since the last time he had, ESPN announcer Sean McDonough (a Syracuse grad) sarcastically noted how it was nice to see Tucker “out of the witness protection program.”

Orange head coach Dino Babers and quarterback Garrett Shrader only made things worse post-game by saying that the Tigers’ defense had done things to take away Tucker. As someone who watches Clemson religiously, you can bank on the legitimacy of this call of “bullshit” right here.

No, what Babers and offensive coordinator Robert Anae did was the equivalent of San Diego Padres manager Bob Melvin not using extraordinary reliever Josh Hader in the eighth inning in Sunday’s Game 5 of the ALCS and then watching Shipley go all Bryce Harper in delivering the clinching home run, a 50-yard TD gallop.

Frankly, it was a fire-able offense for Babers, Anae … and Melvin.

Tucker can tweet all he wants that he was “PL34SED” with his effort … and really mean it. But he can be, and really should be, PO’d beyond belief at how underutilized he was against Clemson.

As Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney said, “We felt he was the one guy who could beat us.”

Too bad Babers and Anae didn’t know.

REDEMPTION TOUR
The continuing evolution of Bo Nix leaning more toward Dr. Jekyll instead of Mr. Hyde during his final season as a collegian, as quarterback at Oregon after a turbulent three-year run at Auburn, has been one of the better storylines in the sport, whether anyone cares to notice or not.

Following the Ducks’ disastrous depantsing at the hands of defending national champ Georgia in their opener, the guy has averaged better than 300 yards per game passing and running and accounted for 25 TDs. Oregon is 6-0 during that stretch, including this past Saturday’s 45-30 upending of previously unbeaten UCLA in which Nix was his best yet, throwing for 283 yards, 5 TDs (0 INTs), and running for another 51 yards.

OUT OF BOUNDS
Is there anything more hollow than a blowout victory for Penn State a week after it ended a blowout victory? This cycle is old and stale, James Franklin. Raise expectations against a soft schedule only to detonate them once some real competition arrives, then “salvage” something by rebounding against more softness … it just doesn’t hold any weight. Fortunately, 106K on fall Saturdays still don’t get that.

Aren’t the people ripping Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher now the same ones who previously raved about his recruiting prowess and touted how he had positioned the Aggies into being a real power of a program, the kind likely to challenge Alabama in the SEC, if not overtake it?

The only guy on ESPN’s College Gameday who knew Illinois RB Chase Brown was the nation’s leading ground gainer heading into games last weekend was Desmond Howard … really?!! Hey, ahem, “experts,” any idea who happens to be the leader entering this week? Hint: Nothing changed since last week.

Ummm, is this what everyone was talking about with returning “The U” to its past glory? Not for nothing, but Miami fans might be longing for the glorious mediocre days of Al Golden if things keep up as they have. Favorite son Mario Cristobal’s “Hail the Conquering Hero” return home, take 1, has the ‘Canes 3-4 at this point, with four losses in their last five games, including a 45-21 pounding at the hands of Duke. Yes, Duke.

WATCH OUT
Don’t look now but something special is going in the Carolinas. Both Mack Brown's North Carolina (6-10) and Shane Beamer's South Carolina (5-2) find themselves ranked in the top 25 (at Nos. 21 and 25) and riding current win streaks of three and four games, respectively. Both have schedules that will afford the opportunity to jump up the polls, too; the Tar Heels still have dates against No. 10 Wake Forest and No. 24 N.C. State and the Gamecocks against No. 3 Tennessee and No. 5 Clemson.
​
UNC, if it reaches the ACC title game, likely would face Clemson, too.
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College Football  |  Brain freeze with Frost's firing after Week 2

9/12/2022

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Nebraska AD Trev Alberts addresses the media after firing Scott Frost as head coach of the Cornhuskers football program following a 1-2 start to the 2022 season. While his decision may be justified, his timing is not.
It was an entertaining Week 2 of the 2022 college football season.

Marshall and Appalachian State stepped up in class and recorded road upsets at Notre Dame and Texas A&M, Tennessee topped Pittsburgh in a classic, and top-ranked Alabama survived a scare at unranked Texas.

The fallout from all that, and more, created a continental shift in the rankings that came out Sunday.

Still, the big story wasn’t about a game, or even the rankings. It was about an ouster. An ouster that comes with a $15 million price tag.

Not for nothing, Scott Frost earned his heave-ho Sunday from the University of Nebraska, where he quarterbacked the Cornhuskers to their last national title in 1997. Hired away in 2017 from Central Florida, before the ink even finished penning the Knights’ perfect, self-proclaimed national-title season, the favorite son returned to Lincoln, Neb., immediately got buried in the cornfield-sized hole between those living in Nebraska football’s past and the reality of what it actually is anymore.

Word to the wise, including the dopes who keep listing frontline guys as possibilities to fill the opening: It’s a mediocre FBS program at best, a Power-5 outlet in name only.

Which, frankly, makes the timing of this firing all the more absurd.

On paper, sure, it was time for Frost to go. That 16-31 record he posted at the ol’ alma mater was as pathetic as it sounds, and capped ever so poetically by a school – Georgia Southern – less than a decade invested in FBS-level football handling the ‘Huskers, 45-42, at Memorial Stadium. The Eagles racked up more than 640 yards of offense in the process, which had Frost admitting he had no answers in how to stop them.

But on the paper that really matters, though – the green kind – this was an irresponsible move by athletic director Trev Alberts. Now, frankly, Alberts may have been a greater player for the Huskers in his day than Frost was. He was brilliant on the field, seemingly always making the smart play en route to being an All-American and a first-round NFL draft choice (No. 5 overall) by the Indianapolis Colts in 1994. But this was just dumb, or arrogant.

Alberts needs to realize that Nebraska is not the Nebraska that he and Frost played at. It’s not big time anymore. Oh, it’s in the Big Ten … only that serves as a teaching ground for all to see that the Huskers are no longer an elite program – and it might be wise for Nebraska to start pinching a few pennies. Or at least that it needs to be smarter in where it throws its money around.
​
Alberts, like most of Husker Nation, continues to skip the lesson, though. With an Oct. 1 date set for Frost’s buyout to drop in half, to $7.5 million, it was incumbent upon Alberts to adhere to that date and be fiscally sensible. Once he opted to allow Frost to get another crack at turning things around in 2022, that had to be the deal.

He didn’t fire Frost in the off-season, which made the most sense if you were gonna burn $15 mil from the budget, since that would’ve given the program a chance to reboot with a new coach. Instead, he held onto the guy and put everyone in the program through several unnecessary months of this ongoing nightmare … only to jump the gun mid-season anyway and have Nebraska still on the hook for the same $15M.
 
His reasoning is that he felt that he owed it to all the players and everyone else in the program to make a move now.
Huh? The reality is, Alberts owed it to all of them to fire Frost at the end of last season in order to start fresh, instead of band-aiding things by making Frost fire his offensive staff in some sort of sad-sack faux reboot. Or, OR, to commit, and ADHERE, to an expiration date for Frost no earlier than Oct. 1

He did neither.

Which begs the question: Why isn’t he headed out the door right along with Frost?

BIZARRO LOU HOLTZ
Remember back in the day when Holtz would drone on ad nauseam about how good the opposition was that his Notre Dame would be facing? How they were – gasp – almost unbeatable?
Well, fast-forward to today, and we got Nick Saban doing the exact opposite. If his team has a tough game, as it did in a 20-19 nailbiter against the Longhorns, or, yikes, the Tide actually loses, the guy just can’t shut up with griping about how his team sucked, how inept it was, and the mistakes it made were the most any team could possibly make.
Never, ever, does he give credit – legit credit, not some BS throw-away speak – to the opposing squad.
Enough, coach. It’s beyond old, and tired, and annoying as hell. Have some grace for once.

BY THE WAY
If freshman QB Quinn Ewers doesn’t get hurt in the first half of that game, Saban wouldn’t have been bitching about a close win. It would’ve been about a blowout loss. Kid was carving up the Tide secondary, connecting on 9 of 12 passes for 134 yards – in the first quarter.

AND ANOTHER THING
Alabama got away with a delay of game to start its game-winning drive. Anyone watching the game could see that Tide QB Bryce Young, the reigning Heisman winner, got the snap a full count after the play clock hit :00. Earlier in the game, FOX broadcasters Joel Klatt and Gus Johnson were spot-on with ripping officials for letting ‘Bama DBs get away with pass interference on so many balls. But they were too busy yapping with each other and missed this egregious error.
Somehow it seems just that ‘Bama fell from its No. 1 perch in Sunday’s latest poll, which saw defending national champ Georgia jump into that spot.

BACK TO EARTH
Following a thrilling, three-point win against then-No. 7 Utah, which also served as a national coming-out party for Anthony Richardson, Florida and its sophomore QB got dealt a cold slap in the face of reality from SEC East rival Kentucky. The 20th-ranked Wildcats were too physical for the Gators, who went from unranked to No. 12 after beating the Utes, and just grinded out a 26-16 victory. It was almost a carbon copy of Kentucky’s 20-13 win over Florida last year.

FEEL-GOOD STORY
A few weeks ago, Sam Hartman’s return to action was up in question, with Wake Forest officials unable to give anyone an answer as to what his physical, “non-football-related” issue was, why it had him leave summer camp, and when would he return, or if he would. Turns out the guy had surgery to take care of a blood clot, causing him to miss last week’s opener against VMI. But he was back Saturday, throwing for 300 yards and four TDs in the Deacons’ 45-25 win at Vanderbilt. Don’t be surprised if he’s in the Heisman discussion late into the season, just like he was in 2021.

STAT OF THE WEEK
Thanks to App State’s change in offensive philosophy from Week 1’s shootout with North Carolina to a control-the-clock effort in Week 1 at A&M, the Aggies only were able to get off 38 plays. The Mountaineers, conversely, got off 82 of ’em, including 52 rushing attempts, while holding the ball for 41:29 of the game’s 60 minutes.
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College Football  |  Quite a bit to unpack from Week 1

9/6/2022

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FLORIDA'S NEW FREAK: Sophomore QB Anthony Richardson, a hometown kid, overwhelmed No. 7 Utah Saturday night in Gainesville, Fla., with his arm and legs, leading the unranked Gators to a thrilling, 29-26 victory.
​Honestly, wasn’t that impressed by Ohio State, which is receiving the majority of rave reviews with a “great performance” chorus after its 21-10 victory over Notre Dame at the Shoe on Saturday night.

Really? Granted the Irish came in ranked No. 5, but the second-ranked Buckeyes were favored by 17 points, playing before more than 100,000 of their closest friends and, not for nothing, seemingly the beneficiary of many a call.

Look, they’re better and they wore down the Irish, who look like they may have some issues on offense for a while. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Spare me the “it was an ugly loss that was ‘good’ for Ohio State” BS. Puh-leeze.

The remaining two of the three-headed monster that is said by the masses, both expert and not, to rule the college football world? Well, top-ranked Alabama and defending national champ Georgia took care of business, as expected. The Tide throttled Utah State, 55-0, while the third-ranked Bulldogs embarrassed No. 11 Oregon, 49-3, perhaps permanently ending Bo Nix’s dreams of ever becoming an NFL quarterback while lifting former walk-on Stetson Bennett into Heisman frontrunner status.

Frankly, aside from Marcus Freeman’s game plan keeping ND afloat in Columbus, Ohio, for much of the night, Saturday’s biggest of the big boys’ showings in Week 1 were, well, kinda boring, if not expected. Seriously, it’s not like Georgia’s blowout win was a surprise; just the size of it was. The Dawgs were favored by 16.5, after all.

Elsewhere, though …

MOST IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCE
Syracuse hosted ACC rival Louisville Saturday night and, being a 4.5-point underdog, figured to be a better-luck-next-time steppingstone for the Cardinals’ rise again in the conference. Only it wasn’t so.

The Orange, while unplugging electric QB Malik Cunningham for Louisville, went off themselves in winning 31-7 with top-flight running back Sean Tucker racking up 98 yards and a score rushing and 85 yards and a score receiving.

The real dual-threat for ‘Cuse in this one, though, was QB Garrett Shrader, who threw for 237 yards and two scores while rushing for another 95 yards and a score (on 16 carries).

His effort seemed to mirror that of several of his contemporaries over the weekend.

TO RUN OR TO THROW … OR BOTH
Shrader sparked Syracuse in arguably the weekend’s biggest stunner. But he had plenty of company among QBs killing it with their arms and feet.

Oklahoma State’s Spencer Sanders threw for 406 yards and four scores, and ran for 57 and 2.

Southern Cal’s Caleb Williams threw for 249 yards and two scores, and ran for 68 yards.

Virginia’s Brennan Armstrong threw for 246 yards and two scores, and ran for 105 and 1.

Central Florida’s John Rhys Plumlee threw for 308 yards and four scores, and ran for 86 and 1.

Florida’s Anthony Richardson threw for 168 yards, and ran for 106 and three scores.

All, like Shrader, led their teams to victories.

Richardson may be the biggest freak in the sport ... this side of Alabama linebacker Will Anderson. Dude has the arms, wheels and power to carry Florida a long way. He’s just shy a few hoagies from Wawa – yes, Philly peeps, there are Wawas in Gainesville (five of ’em, in fact, with Richardson knowing all with being a hometown kid) – of being a defensive end playing quarterback.

BEST WINS
Florida, a 2.5-point underdog, tops No. 7 Utah, 29-26. Richardson led the way, but the Gators also gave the Utes a taste of their own medicine, toting the rock the same amount of time (39) but gaining 59 more yards (289 to 230).

Florida State, a four-point underdog, tops Louisiana State, 24-23. Best game these eyes saw all weekend, wild finish or not. The Seminoles’ return to prominence, if this is the start of it, would be great for the sport and the ACC.

Rutgers, a six-point underdog, tops Boston College, 22-21. The Scarlets Knights, due to injury, had to rotate three guys at QB, but still found a way to win … with the clock winding down.

WORST LOSSES
San Diego State, a 6.5-point favorite, falls to Arizona, 38-20. So much for breaking in a sparkling, brand-new stadium in style. This was not the way to counteract all the bad publicity headed the school’s way, courtesy of the Punt Idiot … er, God.

Virginia Tech, a seven-point favorite, falls to FCS program Old Dominion. The Hokies did a Three Stooges routine for 60 minutes in Norfolk. Worse, this ain’t the first time – but it was under Brent Pry’s watch.

WINS IN NAME ONLY
Both North Carolina and N.C. State came up on the right side of the ledger Saturday, and, really, neither deserved such a favorable fate. The Tar Heels gave up 40 – FORTY!! – points in the fourth quarter to Appalachian State and only secured the 63-61 victory when the Mountaineers blew a two-point conversion. The Wolfpack were equally blessed on the same afternoon in a 21-20 win as East Carolina missed a game-tying extra point and a game-winning field goal in the game’s final three minutes.

BACKYARD BRAWL … SQUARED
Was surprised to hear absolutely no mention of the USC trauma bond shared by the QBs in last Thursday’s neighborhood battle between Pittsburgh and West Virginia. The Mountaineers’ J.T. Daniels and the Panthers’ Kedon Slovis both began their collegiate careers at USC before ultimately transferring – Daniels first to Georgia after injury and Slovis’ rise precipitated his initial move, and then to West Virginia. Slovis just made the move since last season, his third as the Trojans’ starter, and is a remarkably similar passer to the NFL first-rounder, Kenny Pickett, he is replacing. Frankly, up to this point, he has been a far more successful passer than his predecessor at the same point in their careers. Slovis, in maintaining his better than 300 yards per game average, tossed for 308 yards and a score on just 24 passing attempts in directing No. 17 Pitt to the exciting, 38-31 victory.
 
FINAL WORD
There is no QB controversy at Clemson. There is a loyalty issue, though, as in the one HC Dabo Swinney has for DJ Uiagalelei, regardless of the detriment it is to the Tigers’ chances of returning to championship glory – conference and national. They’re loaded, everywhere, even at QB. Just not with DJ at the helm. His backup, freshman Cade Klubnik, the top-ranked QB recruit in the country when Clemson signed him, is head-and-shoulders a better player; it’s blatantly obvious. If only with how smoothly the offense ran with him behind center for one series in Monday’s opener against Georgia Tech (not to mention all the rumblings from camp).

Before then, the fourth-ranked Tigers sputtered the entire first half as the plan, apparently, was to give DJ as many opportunities as it took to get him going … and he squandered them all – while the talents of a great RB trio and efforts of a dramatically improved offensive were wasted.

Sure, Clemson won 41-10 … and looked awful in doing so versus a totally outmanned team.

If Dabo doesn’t wake up, that loyalty to DJ is going to cost Clemson – because Tech ain’t the opponent every game this season for the Tigers.
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College Football | Week Zero is a wrap ... is Huskers' Frost, too?

8/30/2022

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Five years into his tenure as Cornhuskers head coach, University of Nebraska alum and school football-playing legend Scott Frost is showing more wear and tear than President Obama after two terms in Washington, D.C.
Not to be contrary just for the sake of being contrary, but this take may raise an eyebrow or two:
 
Got no issue with what Scott Frost did in the third quarter of Saturday’s Aer Lingus College Football Series, 2022 edition, at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.
 
The guy went for the kill shot … and got burned.

Hey, it happens. Even when you make the "right" call.
 
Oh, the Nebraska head coach may be on the hottest of hot seats until his likely, and probably deserved, dismissal later this season, but, really, honestly, going for an onside kick in a 31-28 loss to Big Ten rival Northwestern should not be why.
 
Frost’s Cornhuskers had just scored to take a 28-17 lead. They may have seemed in charge, especially to vision experts who read about things postgame, with the purple-clad Wildcats struggling to stop new Nebraska quarterback Casey Thompson and Co.
 
But they weren’t. Thompson’s counterpart, Ryan Hilinski, was brilliant throughout, and Northwestern’s ground game was really starting to take its toll on the Huskers’ D. Frost could see it, smell it – with every Hilinski completion and run by Evan Hull or Cam Porter that ate up large chunks of yardage – that his team couldn’t stop the ‘Cats. Only the ‘Cats were stopping the ‘Cats.
 
Momentum, at that moment, was on Nebraska’s side. But it was fleeting, and Frost knew it.
 
So, he went for that kill shot right then and there, hoping that might finally stop the ’Cats in their tracks … and he got burned.
 
Frankly, the Huskers were going to lose, eventually, the way the game was going – unless they were successful on that onside kick. They lost the turnover battle, 3 to 1. They gave up 528 yards. They were a physical team … that was not the more physical team in this one.
 
They weren’t going to win the game … unless that kill shot had landed.
 
It didn’t, but, from the vantage point of someone who watched the game with no vested interest in either squad, Frost was fine with taking it. In fact, he was right.

REVERSING THE FIELD
 
On the other hand, Frost later took “responsibility” for making the decision with the onside kick, then didn’t stand by his decision and, to make matters worse, threw his new offensive staff under the bus for the loss.
 
This would be the same staff that is headline by OC Mark Whipple, a guy fresh off guiding Kenny Pickett to a better season at Pittsburgh in 2021 than Dan Marino ever had, and who had Thompson slinging it all over the yard against Northwestern. It’s not like Nebraska had issues moving the ball; it did finish with 465 yards of its own.
 
Frost brushed off questions about him possibly stepping down. Maybe Nebraska’s (former??) favorite son, now 15-30 since returning to his alma mater after earning National Coach of the Year honors while leading Central Florida to an unbeaten season in 2017, should take a long, hard look in the mirror and not dismiss the idea.
 
HEISMAN HOPEFULS
 
Not a lot to choose from the Week 0 file, since, well, there wasn’t exactly a ton of high-caliber competition taking place. Hilinski could be considered after his 314-yard, 2-TD effort in what easily was the best game of the weekend.
 
But two others seem more worthy of consideration, even with facing lesser competition.
 
- Illinois junior RB Chase Brown, looking to match, or surpass, his 1,000-yard campaign from 2021, got off to a quick start in the Illini’s 38-6 whitewashing of Wyoming, ripping off 151 yards rushing and 3 TDs total.
 
- North Carolina freshman QB Drake Maye threw for 294 yards and 5 TDs, and tossed in another 55 yards on the ground on just four carries in leading the Tar Heels to a 56-24 pounding of Florida A&M.
 
ON DECK
 
Things pick up in Week 1, starting with the renewal of the Backyard Brawl between Pitt and West Virginia on Thursday night, with the 17th-ranked Panthers playing host. Penn State, surprisingly unranked to start the season, visits Big Ten foe Purdue the same night.
 
On Saturday, the biggest biggie is No. 5 Notre Dame visiting No. 2 Ohio State and the next biggest biggie is No. 11 Oregon taking on No. 3 Georgia, the defending national champ, in Atlanta. No. 23 Cincinnati travels to No. 19 Arkansas, and, on upset watch, No. 7 Utah steps into the Swamp to face Florida in Billy Napier’s first game as Gators head coach.
 
Bonus holiday weekend action includes big, but currently unranked teams, Florida State and Louisiana State meeting up in New Orleans on Sunday night, and No. 4 Clemson going at ACC rival Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Monday night.
 
Should be a good week.
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