Nice thanks for posting. I was talking to a colleague who was at the game and a big Clemson fan. He told me that the more thoughtful fans are actually worried after our game. He said the fact that we could slow down their run game was a bad sign. I was a little offended and told him we are probably better than half the teams they would play in the ACC so who knows that might be the best run D they face. He is also concerned that we basically beat their back-ups. He felt like they sould have been able to step on the field and push us around since they are ACC level recruits. Clemson three deep should be better than a Sun Belt team in his opinion. Again the arrogant attitude brought the Mountaineer out in me and I told him maybe you guys are not quite as good as you think. Maybe you are not Ohio State or Alabama where you are stacked three deep with 4 and 5 star guys that could be starters anywhere else. Maybe your three deep is Sun Belt quality. Needless to say the conversation stopped there. But really I think they should be questioning their depth and we should have very high expectations for our team going forward.

Clemson will beat 3 or 4 ACC teams and maybe SC by four TDs even without the aid of four turnovers this season. They are a solid team.

But they are right their run game isn't as strong as they'd like and something they may be missing is their special teams will like cost them a game this year.

If they line up against a team with more physical WRs and an oline as strong as the right side of our line across the board they can be beat.

after glancing at the stats on the right side of the W-S Journal article, we're a top 30-35 team in quite a few statistical categories, much how ended up last season. That's encouraging to see.

Sounds like the Clemson guy thinks all areas where we performed bad are because they are good and all areas where they performed bad was because they are weak. In other words, his assumption is that App is weak in all facets of the game and therefore can in no way have an impact on Clemson's performance. That is definitely a naive way of looking at that game.

If I were them, I would wonder a little about their running game, but our defense isn't chopped liver...

I would also fear the loss of Watson. Neither of the backups were prepared for us or Wofford.

Their defense can keep them in any game, but without Watson they will struggle to score points.

It will also be interesting to see how their defensive backfield fares against more physical, aggressive wide receivers.

the response by the Clemson fan is predictable, if they had to admit our starting defense and offense was better than their 2nd and 3rd string offense/defense, that would be admission that we are a lot closer to be able to compete with them on the field, their egos just aren't going to allow that. I will admit their first team defense is impressive, probably the best in the ACC

As I was corrected in another thread, Clemson had the top defense in the ACC last season, and I would expect them to repeat this year. While there are learning opportunities for our offense (think throwing the ball out of bounds instead of into triple coverage in the end zone) the reality is, that we were struggling to move the ball across the line of scrimmage prior to the 2nd quarter meltdown.

I think the Clemson game as a whole has a bunch of positives for the Apps. I just hope the coaching staff and capitalize on them and we see an improved team against ODU. Regardless of whether the team needs to improve to beat ODU, we should all expect improvement with every game. It's called building a program for a reason.

ACC fans in general are going to have a superior attitude toward App and any other Sunbelt team. They don't really follow our team, so they are dealing with impressions. Unfortunately, the Sunbelt has done nothing over the past two seasons to generate positive impressions so even though ACC fans are a bit delusional, the Belt has some work to do. I think we're heading in the right direction, and by year end, even the Clemson fans might feel a LITTLE better about the level of competition. It will take time to earn real respect at the FBS level. Until then, they'll think we are just a "potentially dangerous" lower level program.

Let's finish this season strong and maybe pick up a bowl win. That would be an excellent start!