LexCock98

Agree that the ineptitude of the offense definitely compounded the problems there last year, hopefully it will improve this season

Certainly excited about what the defense could bring to the table in 2022, my only concerns being: 1) Injuries at key spots like DE, DB and maybe even LB due to either inexperience or lack of depth 2) Rush defense has got to be MUCH better this season for us to take another step forward, in most of our losses last year there was one alarming trend, an inability to stop the run. Front 7 while replacing some guys have loads of experience and talent overall at least in the first group. Looking forward to this season, and I do believe more people will know who Clayton White is by seasons end, as what he did last season was phenomenal.

I think the only team that could be a legitimate CFP dark horse in the SEC is the Arkansas Razorbacks, I don't see one team on the schedule where there's no chance Arkansas wins. Do I think it will happen, no, mainly due to the schedule being so loaded but I like their coaches and they have talent.

This is a Notre Dame-Clemson battle

Caleb followed Lincoln Riley to Southern Cal

IF we win 9 games, I believe it would be the following games: Georgia State Arkansas South Carolina State Charlotte Kentucky Missouri Vanderbilt Florida Tennessee

Lucky to win 6? People said we’d be lucky to win 3-4 last year, be very surprised if that was the case.

For a spring game, Rattler looked good, and is surrounded by solid skill players at each position: RB: Lloyd, Beal-Smith from WF and Juju WR: Vann, Wells Jr., and plenty more who have experience and ready to step up Wide Back: Bell TE: Stogner and Kenion Team has much more talent than people realize, we won 7 games with 4 different QB’s last season and none that started more than 4 games. Schedule is tougher this year but 7-9 wins is very doable.

I have three concerns regarding this coming season: 1) Pass protection from O-line 2) Rush defense 3) Depth at DE and DB I think we are good/fine in every other area on this team, obviously the schedule is tough, we may have the hardest 3-game in start in the conference in regards to scheduling. This is a 7-8 win team who could win 9 games if the ball and luck bounces more in our favor. I do think we’ll be more competitive and more improved than people right now realize going into next season.

Not trying to be a corrective carl but you guys I think play in Columbia this year. But yeah schedule will be tough.

The only retort I would have for your point is the one on the assistants, you're absolutely right about the replacement of the coaches being a good thing in this case because Dabo built Clemson up. Here's the thing that's different with this situation, Dabo doesn't EVER lose coaches like he did this past offseason. The last time he lost a coach that had any impact on his team was CO-OC/WR Coach Jeff Scott in 2020 and OC Chad Morris in 2015. Otherwise Swinney has kept remarkable stability in regards to his assistant coaching staff. This offseason however, their OL coach retired, OC Tony Elliot left for UVA, DC Brent Venables left for Oklahoma and DT Coach/Recruiting Coordinator (one of the best in CFB) Todd Bates also left for Oklahoma. Long story short, my point is that Dabo say compared to Nick Saban, has never dealt with much turnover until this offseason, and to my knowledge, NONE of the hires he made were external which with Dabo is pretty easy to see, but he's getting to the point of looking stubborn with his methods. In regards to your last statement, think that's the case because Clemson will never be viewed in the same tier as an Ohio State or an Alabama unless they win a couple more titles, plus the media does like to just create narratives.

I think we still need to see what happens with Clemson this year before that question is being asked in all seriousness, but last season did indeed show cracks in the armor. In regards to Clemson being only a few plays away from winning the ACC and being back in the playoff, you could say that, you could also argue that they were EXTREMELY lucky to win 10 games last year. If you look at the schedule from last year and their results in several games, Clemson had FIVE or SIX games where they had to stop the opposing team on their final drive in order to win the game (those games being Georgia Tech (went 3-9, Clemson was still healthy then and they needed a goal-line stand), Boston College (Playing their backup QB), Syracuse (went 5-7), Florida State (up three with only a minute or so left, they also went 5-7 which included a loss to JACKSONVILLE STATE) and Louisville (needed ANOTHER goal line stand to win that game)). The combined record between all of the specific opponents I listed above in 2021 was 25-36. Now I know you have to account injuries for the tigers struggling in some areas last year, but let's be honest here, they have WAY more talent compared to all of the other teams in the ACC and have no excuse having THAT MANY close contests. You look at their continued struggles on the OL and at QB, all of the coaching changes and how Dabo went about them, and the schedule this year has some rough stretches, I won't be shocked if they lose 3 or 4 games again in the regular season this year. And yes I understand they beat my Gamecocks soundly last year so you might laugh at what I've said, but all I'm trying to do here is be objective while also giving context into their 10-win season, you aren't always what your record says you are...

How about you stay in your lane and worry about your team, who if you need to be reminded has lost to the "chickens" the last two times we played y'all.

I think there's an overarching question regarding Dabo and the question of Clemson being able to stay in the conversation as one of the better teams in college football, and thats the acceptance of different ideas. You can talk about the transfer portal and NIL and both of those ideas will have to be accepted in some fashion by Dabo for him to continue to thrive, but the biggest red flag to me is the fact that if you look at how he filled in the spots of his coaching staff on the field, he simply promoted from within with "Clemson guys" and didn't make any external hires at all to my knowledge. That screams laziness, complacency and an attitude of stubbornness and naiveness with Dabo, it might not show immediately as the tigers still have a lot of talent, but I think starting this year they will have a slow fall back to where they used to be which was a team that wins 8-9 games a year and every once in a while reaches double digits in the win column.

You know it's funny for someone who thinks so little of us we sure do seem to live rent-free in your head considering you've commented multiple times on a South Carolina article that has absolutely nothing to do with Georgia.

Far as I know, no

I'm just gonna say, it's good that Billy is methodical with running the program but he almost seems like he's on the opposite end of the spectrum compared to Mullen in that he's almost robotic. Of course he's from the Saban tree and I'm also not a gator fan so maybe it's just me.

Frank just simply didnt capitalize enough on the final four run in 2017, recruiting had acutally gotten worse and we hadn't even made the tournament since then. Mississippi State blowout in SEC tournament was the final straw. Coach Martin is a good coach and great human being, I'm proud he wore the garnet and black and represented our university. I wish him all the best wherever he ends up.

Bingo

Mississippi State is definitely a must win for the Courtcocks, Alabama would be a great win and boost for the resume but absolutely have to defend homecourt this week.

Bcreek, I follow the team and graduated from Carolina, always grateful for a win, but the fact we've reached the point where we're considered fifth or even sixth in our own division is unreal conisdering where we were 10 years ago, not saying that run has to happen again, what we did was special. But it's obvious have really fallen behind in the SEC hierarchy, that should bother us fans.

4 of the 7 guys Shane has brought in from the portal are expected to be one and done, maybe 5 if Antwan Wells has an unbelievable season. But you're right if you get too many guys over the span of a few years that are multi-year transfers it will mess up your HS recruiting.

Probably the one job that would have made him leave after just one year

Wildcat fans, who would you like to see Stoops go after with Coen looking like he's on the way to LA?

Pretty bad we've reached the point where South Carolina isn't even mentioned in the SEC Baseball conversation regularly. Understand that for the article, but nonetheless upsetting as a Carolina fan.

Prove it type year for Kingston at Carolina

Also I won't be one of those fans that says we're winning the SEC next year, but I'm calling it right now if we don't get slammed with injuries we're winning 8 maybe 9 games next year, I'll eat crow next offseason if I'm wrong.

We were projected to win 3.5 games by Vegas before the year started with many people saying it would be a god given miracle if we won more than 4, we won 7 including a bowl game against North Carolina that wasn't really even close. We won games against two teams that did end up finishing 6-7 in Auburn and Florida, no one would've said we win either of those games before the season started, but we did, one where we blew them out at home, and the other where we were down 14-0 early in the ballgame and fought back to win. But neither of those wins are impressive considering where we were this time last year, go figure. We had three different qb's start four games each either due to injury/inconsistent play and a converted WR play Qb for the first time in two years in our bowl game. Yet we won 7 games. We're recruiting pretty well right now and have a lot of momentum which is never a bad thing, and if you haven't been paying attention lately we have gotten plenty of guys in the portal besides Spencer Rattler that are big pickups and will be massive contributors for us next season and make us a much tougher matchup than you guys realize. Yes, Tennessee deserves more credit than us right now and should be ranked ahead at the beginning of next season, I'm not buying the idea that a team who lost to Texas Tech 34-7 with an interim head coach on the other sideline is better than us. As always, we'll see how things play out

If we're such underachievers then why are you making any comment about us?

We have a lot of guys who are going to help us put up the next few building blocks, all things considered Shane and his staff have done a great job with their first recruiting class!