00:00We see Clemson all of a sudden now third in the conference
00:03behind Miami and Georgia Tech, respectively.
00:07Give me your thoughts about the performance by the Clemson Tigers
00:11last Saturday afternoon.
00:13Well, it's kind of a repeat of what we've been seeing.
00:16They have not lived up to their billing.
00:18Klubnik is having a season that's not where he's supposed to be.
00:22As a football team, offensively, they haven't run the football.
00:26They're not as aggressive on defense.
00:27And really, as we've seen each and every game, even when they win,
00:32they struggle in the game that they win.
00:34And this Georgia Tech game that they lost, I thought Georgia Tech outplayed them,
00:39out-hustled them, and then at the end of the game showed you what great –
00:44and the quarterback, I thought, outplayed Kate Klubnik,
00:49along with great time management at the end of the game to kick the field goal.
00:53I agree with that.
00:54And we had talked in the pregame that Clemson had owned Georgia Tech.
00:58They had won nine straight entering that series.
01:01They had won the last four by an average margin of victory of 31.5 points per game.
01:07And the last time they played in Bobby Dodd Stadium, they won convincingly 73-7.
01:13And then you turn the game on, second quarter, Georgia Tech has a 13-0 first-half lead.
01:19The turnovers hurt Kate Klubnik, but this team, again, started slow and came out flat.
01:25So is it just, you know, a reason because they just don't have legitimate playmakers,
01:32Antonio Williams, out of that offense?
01:34Or is it just that this team maybe isn't as good as we thought entering 2025?
01:40You know, that's what I'm thinking.
01:42I mean, we bought into the fact that this was a team that resembled their championship years.
01:47Coach Sweeney is trying to motivate and inspire his team.
01:52He's also trying to reach his fan base there to get them excited about it.
01:57But when it comes down to it, I just don't quite see the football team.
02:01We definitely haven't seen it at the games where they play championship caliber ball.
02:06And now it brings into a lot of question, a lot of other things because, you know,
02:10he reluctantly bought into the NIL and the portal transfer and still is only partially into it.
02:18And I think that's still an experiment he has to see and deal with because right now in the game coming up,
02:24and we'll talk about the one coming up for them, it's a matter of are we going to get back
02:29to national championship contenders or we're going to be back to just being an ACC team
02:34that's fighting for a chance to get in the conference championship game?
02:38Well, it's similar to what we saw last year with Florida State, right, Coach?
02:42Florida State loses to Georgia Tech in week number one.
02:46They follow that up with another conference loss to Thomas Castellanos and Boston College.
02:51And then all of a sudden, the wheels fell off and they limp to a 2-10 overall record.
02:57Is that what potentially could happen for Clemson?
03:00Because right now, sitting at one and two, they're realistically on the outside looking in
03:05for a college football playoff appearance, but they could still potentially get back
03:09into an ACC title race.
03:12From the coaching perspective, where can Dabo turn to potentially motivate this team?
03:18Well, I mean, we're talking about two different animals here now.
03:20I think in at least Clemson extent, he's a generational coach.
03:25He's changed the entire program and how it's seen.
03:28They don't come around very long.
03:30He is a proven winner.
03:31And I would not quite lock them out yet of still being in contention in that conference.
03:37He's that kind of coach and he has that kind of command of his position.
03:42I'm just saying is, if they were to lose the next game or not play well at all in the next
03:48game, now you're saying, OK, are we just going to be a contender for the conference or
03:53a bowl game?
03:54Because you're talking about FSU.
03:56You're talking about the wheels dropping off.
03:57You're talking about losing almost every ball game, you know, and going down to the very
04:01bottom.
04:02I just, Dabo's proven.
04:04He is, like I say, he's done too much.
04:06He's too much in control.
04:08I think right now he's in that tough place for him.
04:12Are we a national championship contender?
04:14Are we just a ACC conference contender?
04:17Those are two different things.
04:19To be in that elite five in America is a little different than being in the top five in the
04:24ACC.
04:24We'll see.
