College Football Bowl Season 2018-19

I went to Boston in late September 2005 or 2006 for a Red Sox game. That same weekend, Clemson was playing BC in football. The cask and flagon was a sea of orange shirts, a scene that still resonates with me. This was back when Clemson was nowhere near as good of a program as it is now, but even then they traveled well or at least had rabid alumni in a big northern city.

 

Environment, coach, assistants, ability to play in the NFL, chance to win it all...

Other than strait cash, homey, that’s what a recruit is looking for.

And maybe the Clemson coaches are fantastic motivators, practice coaches and game planners.

 

You don't even have to win. Virginia Tech's run to the Sugar Bowl national title game in 1999 changed the school forever. Alumni donations went up. Applications skyrocketed. Tons of buildings went up on campus solely from football money. Hokies have been chasing that high ever since ...

 

As with most things, you can blame Butch Jones.

Absolutely zero reason Tee Higgins (from my high school, once committed to Vols), Amari Rodgers (Knoxville native, son of Tee Martin) and Trevor Lawrence (once committed to Vols, worshipped Peyton Manning, wears his number) should not be Vols. Except, of course, Butch Jones.

How Clemson football landed Tee Higgins, Amari Rodgers

 

You're exactly right.

They came in second in every recruiting war in the 70s, most famously when Phil Ford took a substantial sum of Clemson booster cash and went to play for UNC anyway.

The 80s were suboptimal for big-time recruiting with all the programs being on their best behavior once the football team was hammered by the NCAA one year after winning the title. It would have been a long row to hoe anyway, with UNC having a full head of steam, NC State doing everything but counterfeiting money and Duke DOING THINGS THE RIGHT WAY PREPARING FINE YOUNG MEN FOR LIFE AND MAKING FUTURE LEADERS.

They went all in on shenanigans to construct the 1990 Davis/Campbell team that wound up on the wrong end of every NCAA Tournament montage. On top of that, they received two years' probation for the recruitment of that team and had their two tournament wins wiped from the books due to using an ineligible Wayne Buckingham and his 2 ppg.

Rick Barnes did a fine enough job when he was there, even getting them to #2 in the country at one point before losing in the Sweet 16 to Bobby Jackson's Minnesota team. I think he knew he'd hit the ceiling of what could be accomplished there, leading to his move to Texas in '99. There were also rumors at the time that he may have had to exit because he shared your affinity for the shiny cheer uniforms.

They have been throwing everything at football for a while but didn't have anything to show for it until 2015 other than adding "Clemsoning" to the national sports lexicon.

Oh, and your son's instincts are correct. It is a pretty good time.

 

The bolded statement is incorrect. But you may have been referring exclusively to men’s basketball.

D1 Men’s Lacrosse Semifinals and Championship have been played in a Final Four Saturday/Monday format over Memorial Day weekend since 1986.

I just checked on the Frozen Four - they’re Friday / Sunday.

Come to think of it, D1 Women’s Basketball Final is on a Monday, isn’t it? (A week later than the men?). Or do they play on Tuesday night?
- Just checked, 2019 wbb is Fri/Sun, but I swear I recall the final being a Monday or Tuesday in the recent past.

 

Also, I wouldn't say that Clemson doesn't care about other sports. Their baseball program is very good, and they recently put money in to renovate Littlejohn. Basketball is at least usually a fringe top-25/NCAA bubble team.

 

Yeah, lacrosse final is always Memorial Day. That of course is a lot different than a January Monday night.

 

They have a higher retention rate than most of the top programs. They aren't as quick to process kids and they recruit exceptionally well in Georgia for an ACC school. Alabama has a lot of top classes but they process a lot of kids and even though they have some ridiculous talent on the two deep they also can get stuck with an inexperienced, overmatched secondary like they were last night.

But there's a lot of coaching stability there. If Brent Venables is coaching anywhere else with that sort of success he's long since left to become a head coach. But Clemson pays him well. I think he's by far the most compensated assistant in CFB and keeps him very happy. Alabama has lost a lot of coaches, just a ton. I wouldn't be surprised if Saban takes more of a Belichick approach next season and handles more responsibilities himself and gives his coordinators less autonomy and play calling responsibility.

There's a lot of player stability there too. Guys like Christian Wilkins just don't stay for four years. It doesn't happen. But players like it there. They don't have that mentality of "three years and out" like a lot of the top players at the top programs. Not saying players don't leave, it happens everywhere, but they seem to be getting a lot more top guys staying all four these days.

 

The whining and finger pointing will be spectacular. That will be extra fun because the bammers can't blame the officials, not with a drubbing like that one.

Remember when Notre Dame didn't deserve to have made the playoff because of how Clemson shithoused them?

 

I think that the turnover and lack of stability on Saban's staff got exposed last night, especially compared to Clemson's retention.

That fake punt was beyond dumb, and if you add in that the kicker was the lead blocker... man, it was ugly. Lots of questionable play calls.