Kletus

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Thanks, Kletus. I heard on ESPN radio this morning that Clemson will be the favorite t0 win the championship in 2021. Depending on how many current juniors we lose, we will be in a bit of a rebuilding mode next year. I will still pick us to win the SEC West next year.

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I give credit where credit is due!

Clemson should be in pretty decent shape next year. Played 80 freshmen and sophomores this year, so lots of experience coming back along with a great recruiting class. Still desperately need a good slot receiver to replace Renfro. Rogers is great.. but he isn't filling that role up to where it needs to be.

Clemson "should" be in the picture next year, but who knows what the future will bring.


Again.. .Great game by LSU. They took advantage of their opportunities and answered every time Clemson made a move to get back in it.

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We all know about their weak schedule, so rewatched this game against a quality team to learn more about Clemson. Two take aways about them - they are agressive and resilient. Their aggressive style on D causes hit or miss plays. They either make big plays or give them up. Venables rushes a lot of diff guys. Joe and our O should win more of those plays than we lose, but Clemson will win some of those.

They are agressive less often on offense but definitely take their shots. They threw the ball downfield but Ohio State's defense won more of those plays. But those plays openned up the screens to Etienne, as well as the QB runs by Lawrence. Both those guys played like champions. They have a couple of good receivers but Etienne and Lawrence have to make clutch plays for them to beat us. Ohio State repeatedly out played Clemson for large chunks of the game and then one of those 2 guys made a clutch play to keep Clemson in the game. Clemson got some "lucky" breaks in this game, but good teams consistently get lucky breaks.

They have been in the championship game 4 of the past 5 years, and have a ton of guys on this year's team that won it last year. I think we win, but they will go down battling like a champion. They lose to the new champion, though.

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Everyone talks about how Clemson was lucky that Dobbins was injured, but no one even mentions that Clemson lost their best receiver on the first drive and the 2nd best receiver was in and out of the game fighting off a nagging injury. The OSU defense did affect the Clemson offense alot, but Clemson wasn't anywhere near full speed either.

Your analysis was spot on, just don't underestimate how important the loss of Higgins was to the offense. Higgins and Ross put a ton of pressure on the opposing defense and that opens up plays for the rest of the receivers. Without Higgins and Ross the Clemson offense is infinitely easier to defend.

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Clemson would also be undefeated against the schedule LSU has played thus far. LSU can't say the same about Clemson's schedule.



Woah woah woah, back the f up for a second. Sagarin ratings have LSU's schedule as 8th. Clemson as 56th. And I see exactly 0 CURRENTLY ranked teams on their regular season schedule. Virginia is the lone ranked team prior to the playoffs at number 24 who they faced in the ACCCG. LSU has 3 regular season opponents that are currently ranked and then Georgia in the SECCG as the fourth team before the playoffs.

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I'm a Clemson fan and I know that the only game on our schedule that LSU might have lost was the OSU playoff game. Clemson could have beaten any team on LSU's schedule this year.. but to beat ALL of them as part of a season was darn impressive.

Free message boards for any team are just that.... you get what you pay for. Most Clemson fans I know are confident we can win, but I don't know any that feel like it's a foregone conclusion that we will win. We expect a dog fight where the team that executes best and has the least mistakes ends up slightly ahead at the end.

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I somewhat agree however Clemson fans keep saying they blew everybody out this year but seem to skip over that NC game.
LSU had over 500 yards against Auburn and 700 yards of offense against Ole Miss.

Clemson's stats against NC were not good at all so there is a difference.

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Valid point. I will add one caveat though. Since Clemson lost to Alabama in 2015 Dabo has managed the season differently. He breaks it into 3 different "seasons" with the idea of peaking at the post season. I'm not sure whether it is the massive amount of subs he plays, vanilla offense, or what.. but the Clemson offense never seems to really get going until around game 5 or 6. The scores sometimes don't show it.. but every year we seem to start out wondering where the consistency of the offense is. Clemson scores on big plays during that time but rarely has longer sustained drives. You saw that again this year up through the UNC game.

Even though that game was way too close for comfort... people seem to forget that even if UNC makes the 2 point conversion, TL would have had 1:15 to drive down and get into field goal range to win. The 2 point conversion attempt ended the game, but it wouldn't have been over yet if they had made it.

Win or lose... no excuses needed by either team. Clemson has won 29 straight... nothing to apologize for if they don't make it to 30.

LSU has played an extremely difficult schedule to get here. If they lose they have nothing to be ashamed of.

Whoever wins this game deserves it... regardless of calls, controversy, etc. You can't get lucky if you aren't good enough to make it to the game.

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“Should”? What a weird question. I mean you could ask how, will, can...but should? I guess cause it’s god’s team, they should beat a bunch of heathens.

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Glad you finally understand! :lol:

The LSU offense isn't going to be stopped, but the Clemson defense will have their spots and make some big plays. Clemson excels in the redzone, and I think that's where they will make the biggest difference. As long as Clemson can score points, the Clemson defense should be able to make just enough stops to keep it close.

The most intriguing match-up for me is the Clemson offense vs the LSU defense. I think that whichever team wins this match-up will probably win the game.

I understand the idea that last year doesn't matter... but it does in some aspects. Dabo has learned over the past 5 years what works and what doesn't work. He learned to manage the team to peak in the post season. He and Venables have shown that they are great at gameplanning for these games and they have had plenty of opportunities to learn from their mistakes.

This year's team is completely different. "Past performance does not indicate future success", but you can't discount past performance either. Success builds on success and experience of both Coaches and players does count for something. History has shown that underestimating Clemson in these situations is not a good idea.

Why wouldn't Clemson be able to win? I'm not sure that either team "should" win. The thing about Clemson is that we know we are really good (so is LSU)but we won't know how good until the game. Clemson is great on offense and Defense. Lawrence and Higgins are in the top 3 quarterback/receiver duo's in the nation. The Clemson defense give up yards at times, but is amazingly good in the redzone.

I guess it depends on how good you think OSU was. Clemson beat them with Higgins out the entire first half (he wasn't really all there in the 2nd half either) and Ross in and out fighting an injury. That makes a huge dent in Clemson's offensive production.

Clemson has probably the best Defensive coordinator in the country who specializes in bringing multiple packages and looks. Pretty much the only way to have a chance to beat Burrow. Laugh at Dabo all you want, but he manages the entire season to have as much quality depth and fresh legs on the starters as any team in the country. He is a master motivator and knows how to prepare for championships.

"Should" Clemson beat LSU? Who knows? But there is no reason the game shouldn't come down to which team executes best. The team that brings their B game is going to lose.

Clemson fan here. (I come in peace)

Don't overestimate Offensive and Defensive stats for Clemson this year. Dabo plays for the end of the year (he learned from the first trip to the Championship and has changed his management of the season since), so Etienne and Lawrence were out of most games after the first drive of the second half. By the third and 4th quarter Clemson was playing 3rd 4th, and 5th string players on both offense and defense. If you look at the box scores you will notice that offensive and defensive production dropped dramatically in the second half. Dabo puts a heavy focus on getting the backups real game experience (not just mop up time) so that they are ready to step in when needed and it reduces the wear and tear on the starters over the season. This makes a lot of the scores and stats closer than they appear... especially in the first part of the season where players can play 3 games and then redshirt.

This ought to be an epic game. I have no idea what to expect. The LSU offense is the real deal, and the defense has really stepped up the last few games. If Clemson can keep LSU under 35 then they have a chance to win. It's a tall order, but it has been done a couple of times this year. Clemson also has a tendency to surprise teams with how good they really are. Who knows what will happen when teams this good play each other. It will come down to one or two momentum plays.

If you look at last year's Alabama game and this year's OSU you will see that our defense gives up some yards against good teams but they are extremely stout in the redzone.

I think this will be the key to the game. Can Clemson hold LSU to field goals in the redzone, and how does Clemson match up against the LSU defense that looks to have come on strong lately. I really hope that is doesn't come down to field goals because LSU had a decided advantage in that category.

I'm expecting a close game into the 3rd quarter and then one of the teams will pull ahead for good.

Best of luck.

Go Tigers!