Week 12: Heating Up

An interesting weekend of football. Tech kicked off at 3:30. When I watched warmups last week I was amazed at how bad Tech’s kicker was. Might’ve been a backup. I swear Tech has a scientific approach to kicking, which has yet to produce good kicking. Butker was an exception, but it took him three years to get his form down. Form over power. Most other schools don’t have the kicking problems the Jackets do.

But in the fourth quarter a long Taquon Marshall pass to senior receiver Brad Stewart (above) set up on freshman walkon Wesley Wells' career longest field goal, a 48 yarder. Would’ve been good from 49. Virginia tied the game to force overtime, and I was sure the Jackets were toast. Tech got the ball first and threw on two of their three downs. Not good. But Wells came through again, with a 40 yarder. Virginia took over but Tech held, forcing a field goal attempt – shanked wide left.

So after starting 1-3 the Jackets have won six of their last seven.

Georgia toyed with UMass. The Minutemen didn’t give up, leaving in their first string to run trick plays against the Dawgs third string. Jake Fromm changed a play at the line of scrimmage and threw a long touchdown pass.

Freshman Justin Fields looked good, but focused his attention in on his primary receiver, who broke open to catch the long touchdown pass.

Some fans say Fields should start. I say Fromm plays at a level which Fields in unfamiliar. 680's Chuck & Chernoff agree. They know a little about football, unlike some other blowhards at the station.

At least six running backs got carries for the Dawgs. Freshman Cook looked sensational, scoring two touchdowns. Fields was finished by the end of the third quarter. Even the backup kicker got in the game.

Anna missed the game, but there were plenty of fans still there at the end of the third quarter.

Duke played Clemson tough. In the first half. The Blue Devils are well coached. But Clemson always starts off slow. Wearing all purple (as they do every year the week before Thanksgiving) against a decent team might not have helped. Might not have been so close had four Tiger receivers not dropped perfect Tyler Lawrence passes.

ESPN announcer / former NFL QB / son of a NFL hall of fame QB Brian Greise called out Lawrence for his mechanics, saying such a low windup would be taken advantage of at the next level. Fortunately the freshman has a little time to make adjustments.  

 

Former walkon / fan favorite Hunter Renfrow broke two Clemson records before landing awardly on his head trying to make a catch. Renfrow missed the rest of the game.

An update: Renfrow had a record-setting day before the injury occurred as he broke Artavis Scott’s school record for consecutive games with a catch at 39 with a seven-yard reception in the first quarter. Renfrow also set the record for starts made by a wide receiver with 43.
 

Swinney said after Saturday’s game that Renfrow was being evaluated in the locker room. “He just was kind of out of it a little bit. They kind of kept him down. He was trying to get up and was talking. He was begging to let him get up, but they were just checking to make sure his neck… They had to take a lot of precaution,” Swinney said Saturday. “I even asked him when he was getting married and he said April 13th. So his (fiance) will be happy to know. He was good at halftime. He was good after the game. But like I said, they’ll do their evaluation of him and let me know tomorrow where he is.”

Read more here: https://www.thestate.com/sports/college/acc/clemson-university/article221876065.html#storylink=cpy

 

Hard to get up got games against middling opponents week after week, but Duke tested the Tigers. Next week against South Carolina will be the toughest test since week two at Texas A&M. Clemson can’t afford to slouch. A playoff bowl game against Notre Dame will be all the tougher. No easy road to the national championship this year.

Observations on Clemson’s purple unis: unlike most other teams wearing all black / white / grey / whatever, Clemson looks good with the stripes on their pants. But a white tiger paw would look better on the shoulders than this year’s orange tiger paw.

And this: next year Kirk Herbstreit’s twin sons will walk on to Clemson’s football team. 

 

https://www.thestate.com/sports/college/acc/clemson-university/article221884345.html

At halftime Bama was tied with the Citadel. How? They ran the ball. Hopefully UGA OC Jim Cheney was watching. Gave Saban something to be mad about. The press was wrong coming into the game. The players will face a tough week of practice. Auburn has a good defensive front. Will Tua survive unscaved?

I was hoping Syracuse would give Notre Dame a good game. Then senior starting QB Eric Dungey, who gave Clemson fits this year and last, was knocked out of the game at Yankee Stadium, and that was it. Maybe the Irish are for real after all. We shall see. Not a fan of Notre Dame’s costumes du jour. Hopefully they’ll go traditional this week against USC.  

Ohio State fell behind Maryland, and needed a bad decision by the Terrapins newly installed coach to not lose. They remain the number ten team in the AP poll, but expect the playoff committee to drop them a notch or three. Anything could happen Satruday against Michigan.  

Kennesaw played Jacksonville State at SunTrust Park. The Owls won a thriller in overtime. Jacksonville was quarterbacked by a transfer from Clemson, who backed up starter Kelly Bryant last season, relieved the injured Bryant in the loss at Syracuse, then transferred out when top-ranked freshman Trevor Lawrence enrolled. 

Falcons wore their glorious throwback uniforms for the third time this season, the maximim allowed. Good call to wear them against the Cowboys, with their traditional uniforms. One would hope they’d upgrade their woeful home unis at some point, but I haven’t heard rumors yet of a change. Expect another photo essay later this week.

 

Dallas punted late in the game, pinning the Birds with a long way to drive. A Cowboy defender wrestled the Falcon defender out of bounds. Then another Cowboy came in with a big hit. The ensuing penalty put Atlanta in position for a go-ahead touchdown, but the beraggled Falcon defense allowed Dallas to drive down for a game-winning field goal as time expired.