Welcome to another edition of What We Are Hearing!
It’s always a long week after a tough loss, so Saturday’s
kickoff can’t get here soon enough. As painful as the loss to LSU was, I’m a
glass is half full kind of guy. As a Clemson alumnus, I am more encouraged by a
17-10 loss to LSU than if the Tigers had won a high-scoring shootout. Sure, you’d
rather be 1-0 and ranked in the top 3 than 0-1, but in spite of the way the
offense looked last week, we know the Tigers will have a top-10 offense
when all is said and done. What we didn’t know coming into the season is
how improved the defense would be under new DC Tom Allen after the worst season
they’ve had in over 20 years. They held a potential Heisman quarterback and a
great offense to just 10 points until the 4th quarter! And that’s considering
the offense couldn’t stay on the field in the second half. The defense was on
the field for 20 of the 30 minutes after halftime. I think it’s safe to say
that the Tigers will have a top-10 defense to go along with their top-10
offense and, therefore, might be the most complete team in the country. Time
will tell, but I still honestly believe that if the Tigers stay relatively
healthy at key positions, they have a great shot to win another national
championship.
The atmosphere last week under the lights in Death Valley
was as magnificent as expected. In case you were wondering about the debut of alcohol
sales in Death Valley, Clemson made almost a half million in sales! 28 fans
were ejected, but I’m not sure you can attribute that to alcohol sales. It’s
highly doubtful that there were any more intoxicated fans in the stands than
there have been for every other night game in Death Valley in my lifetime. The delayed
post-game Gathering at the Paw (due to the new ACC rule) went off without a
hitch, but it was pretty bizarre and anti-climactic to watch. The disappointing
loss probably had a lot to do with that as well. I expect the team to stay on
the field as the fans rush in after a win, so hopefully it will be a more enthusiastic
scene this week! Finally, a shout-out to the No.3 men’s soccer team, who beat
No.10 Pitt on Friday night 3-2 to open ACC play! Ransford Gyan scored 2 more
goals, giving him 6 in the first 4 games. If he stays healthy, he could be on
his way to National Player of the Year!
On to Saturday’s matchup…
TROY SYNOPSIS
The Trojans are coming off a 4-8 season in Gerad Parker’s
first year as the head coach. He was the offensive coordinator and tight ends
coach at Notre Dame in 2023, so this is just his second season as a head coach.
He was a WR at Kentucky form 2000-2004 and had a lot of experience as an
assistant coach before landing this job. The Trojans opened this season with a
38-20 win over Nicolls last week. They have a first-year starting quarterback
in red-shirt junior Goose Crowder (#9). The 6’2, 215-pound Alabama native
played extremely well in his limited opportunities last season, completing 69
percent of his passes with 5 touchdowns and no interceptions. He was only 14-24
for 144 yards last week but had 3 TD passes without an interception. He’s also
a good runner, averaging 6.1 yards per carry last week with a rush TD. He spread
the ball around well last week. 8 different players caught a pass, and 3
players caught touchdowns. One of those was sophomore Roman Mothershed (#0). He
is physically imposing at 6’4 and 208 pounds. He is inexperienced, though, with
just 4 catches last season. Speedy senior slot receiver Tray Taylor (#8) is diminutive
at 5’8 and 140 pounds, but he had a 28-yard TD catch last week. I expect to see
him used once or twice in the running game as well. 6’4 Senior tight end Ethan
Conner (#14) had 4 catches for 20 yards and a TD last week. He only played 3
games last season due to injury but had 4 TD catches in 2023. Their bell cow at
running back is 5’10, 200-pound junior Tae Meadows (#22). He had 23 carries for
186 yards and his first career touchdown last week in his first career start. He
also had a catch for 12 yards. The Trojans’ offense was ranked No.82 in scoring
offense (26.0 points per game), No.75 in rushing offense (156 yards/game), No.83
in passing offense (213 yards/game) and No.87 in total offense (369
yards/game).
The Trojans’ defense had 4 sacks last week, all by different
players, including one by senior Georgia native Devin Lafayette (#3) on a
safety blitz. They forced just one turnover, an interception by junior corner
Jaquez White (#8), another Georgia native. He also had 6 solo tackles and a
PBU. Last season, Troy was ranked No.91
in scoring defense (28.4 points per game), No.59 in rush defense (145
yards/game), No.71 in pass defense (222 yards/game) and No.62 in total defense
(367 yards/game). Ironically, LSU was No.61 in total defense last season, and
we saw how improved they were last week!
Senior kicker Scott Renfroe is a Troy native and made his
only field goal attempt last week on a short kick. He was 11-13 last season
with a long of 50.
CLEMSON STATUS
The loss of Antonio Williams in the first quarter last week
was big. I believe Clemson wins the game if not for that. Tyler Brown made some
good plays down the stretch, but he is not yet at Antonio’s level. It was a
hamstring injury, and although he did practice some this week, I expect Dabo to
hold him out of this game, as he shouldn’t be needed. Hopefully, he will be
back for the Tigers’ ACC opener at Tech next week! Safety Khalil Barnes is in a
similar situation, and I expect him to be held as well. Fortunately, Ronan Hanafin
was outstanding in his absence against LSU. The former WR, who moved to safety almost
exactly a year ago, led the team with 12 tackles. New TE Ian Schieffelin was
suspended for the opener due to his DUI arrest last month, but he will be
available on Saturday, and I can’t wait to see him on the field. He likely won’t
play tight end until the Tigers have a big lead in the second half, but I
expect him to be used on special teams for blocking kicks. I’m also excited
about seeing true freshman RB Gideon Davidson and transfer WR Tristan Smith on
Saturday. Despite Smith having the best size of all the receivers at 6’4 and
having the best spring game, he did not see the field last week, as the Tigers
only ran 58 plays and few sustained drives. I expect in the case of Davidson
and Smith, Dabo wanted to ease them both into the offense rather than throw
them into the fire against LSU. Transfer DE Will Heldt had the Tigers’ only
sack last week, so it was a great debut in orange for him!
PREDICTION
UPDATE: Be advised that could have a lightning delay at some point on Saturday!
The Tigers are favored by 32.5 points and coming off a
bitter loss, so I’ll make this one short and sweet. The offensive line was
terrible last week, and I expect them to bounce back in a big way on Saturday. Remember last season, when the offense scored just 3 points in the opener against Georgia? The starting offense proceeded to score touchdowns on 12 straight possessions over the next two games! The
Tigers actually won the turnover margin last week 2-1 and still lost at home at
night. That is exceptionally rare. I expect the offense to score at least 35
points in the second half, and the only question is how well the backups will
play in the second half.
The Prowl toward an 8th College Football Playoff and 4th
national title continues…
CLEMSON 55 Troy
10
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