captjohn67
Pretty much a regular
T. O. sporting the Bama tobaggan
National Championship Discussion: Clemson vs Alabama
- Thread starter B.A.R.
- Start date
rambler882
Head of the Justin Fields Fan Club
Agreed. Said same thing to my friend. Pick who you want to win and hope for the best. Theres no real edge and anything is just pure speculation. Neither team played a team close to the other. Claim uga, sure and it took a fake punt.
So. +6
mrpickem
SDQL Badass Stat Boss
View attachment 37102
ESPN being fed the Lawrence-Manning relationship narrative by Disney in stadium where Peyton won his final game.
ESPN constantly talking about Alabama's special teams being garbage, but not mentioning that Clemson's is damn near it's equal in sucking.
They really want you on CLEMSON...don't fall for it
ESPN being fed the Lawrence-Manning relationship narrative by Disney in stadium where Peyton won his final game.
ESPN constantly talking about Alabama's special teams being garbage, but not mentioning that Clemson's is damn near it's equal in sucking.
They really want you on CLEMSON...don't fall for it
cogenman
Raider Nation for Life
Here at the game. From what I can see, the field looks good. About 60 degrees and barely any wind. Cloudy skies, but don’t think it’ll actually rain. I could be wrong. Wish I could post a pic but it says it’s too large.
Clemson players looked fired up. Bama guys more calm and cool. Should be a good game. Let’s fucking go!
Clemson players looked fired up. Bama guys more calm and cool. Should be a good game. Let’s fucking go!
Hope you are right, will equate to good things for moi.
Put it on your twitter, I'll copy it here.
pressitup
Leader of the Adult Humor Industry
FFFFFFFFFFk
booksbestfriend
On Johnny's Shitlist
Will this game ever start? Geez....
booksbestfriend
On Johnny's Shitlist
More pregame than the Super Bowl.
mrpickem
SDQL Badass Stat Boss
I was up at 5am est today and they were already there on ESPN and talking, it's ESPN's game of the year no doubt
rambler882
Head of the Justin Fields Fan Club
810?!??!?
rambler882
Head of the Justin Fields Fan Club
“He has not been wrong this year when picking clemson or alabama”
Really asshole? They are undefeated.
Really asshole? They are undefeated.
Pure oversaturation
Whoring viewership ratings
booksbestfriend
On Johnny's Shitlist
Exactly. I’m off Mondays, work 4x10. Been listening to this shit all day.
booksbestfriend
On Johnny's Shitlist
I thought someone said the MNF crew was working this game. So thankful that is not true.
mrpickem
SDQL Badass Stat Boss
mrpickem
SDQL Badass Stat Boss
Pyppurs
Pretty much a regular
Australia gets MNF crew for this game if I remember correct
M.W.
Parties like it's 1979
I thought it was worth it to see the closeup on the Rally Cat during national anthem where she looks at herself on the screen and says "I look fat".
M.W.
Parties like it's 1979
Thank you for the congratulations. Next year should be fun. We have huge losses on the DL, so there's plenty of uncertainty for us.
gps_3
Head of Alabama Department of Decision-Making
I've mentioned it here i think, but I'd expect Clemson to finally start having some of the costs of success, ie coaches leaving, early announcements for NFL, negative recruiting. UGA is starting to deal with it now, and they haven't even won anything. I'm interested to see if it happens at Clemson and how Dabo handles it. No reason to think he can't, but you never know
M.W.
Parties like it's 1979
Well, we kind of want Pearman to leave. He's a TE coach who isn't much of a recruiter, but he's a Clemson alumnus and supposedly just a great guy. Our DC isn't going anywhere with his son on the team for four more years, and a daughter who'll reach college when the son finishes up. Our Co-OC's have done a good job, but they're replaceable in terms of coordinating, although Scott is an especially good recruiter who is especially good at recruiting to his position, WR. His dad was a head coach in the SEC, and surely he'll get a shot. Elliott has already gotten a lot of interest, so he could be gone before too long. OL Coach Caldwell is close to retirement. Bates has done a good job, but who's going to want to bump him up to OC?
As far as players leaving early, we've had plenty of that already. We had seven leave early after 2015, four after 2016, and four after 2017. And that includes too many defensive backs who didn't get drafted.
As far as players leaving early, we've had plenty of that already. We had seven leave early after 2015, four after 2016, and four after 2017. And that includes too many defensive backs who didn't get drafted.
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gps_3
Head of Alabama Department of Decision-Making
What's the word on Venables? Is he a Bud Foster type that is perfectly content with being a lifelong coordinator? I have to assume he's been approached before, but we've never heard anything about him being a serious candidate for any of the openings the last few years.
M.W.
Parties like it's 1979
From 11/1/2014:
Venables and offensive coordinator Chad Morris each have specific clauses in their contracts indicating that if either man accepted a head coaching position at another university, their buyout fees would be waived. They would owe Clemson nothing; of course, Clemson would owe them nothing and go about replacing the vacancy without having to satisfy a buyout.
There’s the legal mumbo-jumbo.
That being said, don’t think for a minute Venables has his eye solely on that next gig.
Venables had an extremely thoughtful response when I asked him Friday about the future, and here it is in full:
“It’s not my ultimate goal. I love my job. I love the simplicity of it,” Venables told me. “I’m not going to be defined by a title or any kind of stature or pay. I just want to make sure I’m somewhere successful and got a quality family life.
“Trust me now: when it comes to the football aspect, I want to be somewhere you can win at the highest level, recruit the best players and be at a place where football’s important and expectations are high. Those jobs are very, very difficult to get. I’ve been real fortunate to have that in my career. I think that’s important for me and my happiness.
“I’m a firm believer when I say I’ve never been one to self-promote. Sometimes you’ve got to be careful what you wish for; there’s a lot more responsibility when you become a head coach. Those really good jobs don’t just fall out of the sky. Doesn’t matter if you’re the head coach and you’re making all this money, if you’re somewhere that you have inferior resources or don’t have a chance to win at the highest level. That doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun to me.”
Boiling down Venables’ key points:
- His family comes first, as you may have read in the Sunday story and you’ll see further in Brent’s brother’s comments below.
- If Florida or Michigan dropped an offer sheet on Venables’ doorstep? Great! Grand! Wonderful! But that probably won’t be in the cards. Don’t confuse those opportunities with SMU, Buffalo, or even Kansas in Venables’ native state.
- Being a well-paid DC at a football-centric school like Clemson can actually be preferable to the head man with maybe a 50 percent raise at a school where it’s very challenging to build a program.
Something else to consider: Venables lived in Kansas or Oklahoma his entire life until he 41 years old. He moved his family of six across the country less than three years ago. His oldest son, Jake, is a freshman linebacker at Daniel High School not far from Clemson.
These things matter, right?
“How could they not?” Ken Venables said, one year Brent’s senior who lives with the family in Seneca. “In the coaching profession, jobs come and they go. It was a big, big deal for them to come from Oklahoma to Clemson. You think about what’s best for the kids. That’s front and center in Brent and Julie’s mind.
“Obviously, it would be easier, the younger the children are, to adapt to another situation. But as they get a little older and go through school, you’re plucking them and putting them in new situations. It’s very difficult.”
All that aside, but would Venables be comfortable in the big chair?
“Absolutely,” Bob Stoops said, “it’ll happen when it’s the right time and the right place.”
It’s easy for Oklahoma’s longtime leader, and Venables’ employer for a dozen years, to say that now that Venables isn’t on his staff. But in the few minutes chatting over the phone, Stoops sounded earnest in selling Venables as a capable head coach.
“It takes a guy with a big vision, a guy that can be intense but still really relate to his players, connect with them and motivate them,” Stoops told me.
Of course, it would hardly break new territory for Clemson, having a coordinator constantly rumored every time one of the 128 FBS head jobs opens. Morris has been instantly added to every short list over the past couple of years, despite his insistence he’d only leave when the time - and the destination - are right.
“It’s the here, the now. We don’t get into that,” Morris said, understandably a bit uncomfortable with discussing the subject mid-season. “I gotta prevent my own house from burning down, so to speak. But I do think he’d do a great job with it.”
Morris did add his most glowing praise of Venables since he’s been asked about someone he considers “a good friend” the past couple of years. And it’s easy now, again, with the No. 2 defense in the nation.
“Yes, he has great players, but that’s something to be said when you do have those great players, how do you perform with them? Brent’s, in my opinion, the best in the country at what he does,” Morris said. “He’s incredibly smart, got a great mind. He provides an edge on that side of the ball, that hey, if you’re not getting it done, somebody else is fixing to get in there.”
On the subject of here-we-go-again in Clemson, head coach Dabo Swinney looked at the bright side of having some yayhoo beat writer ask him about maybe losing his top defensive assistant after the season.
“I think Brent’s a great coach, and would be an excellent head coach if that’s what he wants to do,” Swinney said. “I love the fact that people ask me about my coaches all the time. It means you got good people. Hope that’s always the case.”
Two of Clemson’s defensive leaders, in their final years with the Tigers and therefore sans a dog in the fight for 2015, think very highly of their coaching captain.
“He doesn’t want us to get complacent,” said senior linebacker Stephone Anthony. “He doesn’t want us to get satisfied by what we’re doing, because there’s a lot more out there for us, and we’ve got to get it.”
Added senior safety Robert Smith: “I’m proud I’ve had the opportunity to be coached by him. I feel like Coach Venables has got everything that it takes as a head coach somewhere, and it’ll happen, without a doubt.”
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M.W.
Parties like it's 1979
From 12/14/16, in which he's asked about Bud Foster:
https://www.thestate.com/sports/college/acc/clemson-university/article120879958.html
Venables will have opportunities to become a head coach, sooner rather than later, but I’m not convinced he’s driven by the prospect of being a head coach.
That designation does, after all, come with considerably more burden.
Many believe he’d jump at the chance to succeed the legendary Bill Snyder at Kansas State, his alma mater, but Snyder – 77 years spry – might very well outlast everyone in the coaching ranks.
Besides, it’s no secret that Snyder’s son, Sean, a longtime assistant for the Wildcats, is the assumed head-coach-in-waiting.
The bottom line is that one gets the sense that Venables doesn’t lie awake at night pondering potential head coaching jobs.
“I’m a firm believer in fate. I’m not out there trying to shop myself around,” Venables said. “I just value what I have. I try to get a little better every day in what I do, so I love where I’m at. I feel very fortunate to be where I am and I’m very fortunate to coach the players that I have at Clemson.
“I don’t see many places that have more to offer than what Clemson does in regards to having success and fulfillment and a chance to win.”
So could Venables be the next Bud Foster, who just completed his 29th season as defensive coordinator at Virginia Tech?
“I have a lot of respect for him,” Venables said. “He doesn’t chase money or (job) titles and has chosen to stay the course.”
It’s safe to assume that Clemson fans, and Swinney, hope Venables follows a similar career path.
gps_3
Head of Alabama Department of Decision-Making
Thanks MW, makes sense. Even though Kirby was ultimately waiting for the right job, the continuity of having him at DC was a huge asset, as it is with Venables. Wish we could find someone like that, or if we have, that Saban doesn't run him off. Though who knows what Tosh's endgame is
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