Just asking...

posted by LW, Friday, September 25, 2009

Anyone catch the awful gaffe in clock-management by Steve Spurrier late in the first half last night?

It was quite bad, perhaps costing South Carolina four points in a low-scoring game.

It has me wondering:

What would the reaction have been had Dabo Swinney screwed up that royally?

This is not an insinuation that Visor Boy gets a free pass, or that Dat Boy should get a free pass.

But the mistakes of first-year coaches are magnified a lot more. I don't know whether it's fair or not. But it's reality.

Speaking of Spurrier, I almost spit out my microbrew when, with a 16-3 lead late in the third quarter, he all but screamed that he wanted to run some clock by running the ball on first and second down.

A long time ago, in a Gator galaxy far, far away, he'd have fought like mad to apply the dagger.

But maybe there's something to be said for knowing your limitations.

Still, a bit unsettling for those of us who remember Spurrier's slit-the-throat offensive mentality at Florida.


Gene Sapakoff was in Columbia last night, and after spending a whole 12 seconds reading his column we can deduce one of three things:

1) Sapakoff has the easiest job in the world

2) The P&C's web folks goofed by lopping off three-fourths of his column

3) The P&C has ridiculously early deadlines.

Based on extensive personal experience, I'm going with door No. 2.

Also in The Post and Courier, Travis Sawchik has a story on scheduling theory relative to Clemson's decision to play TCU.

The story kind of loses me when Travis talks to some sports communications professor who thinks he has the whole thing figured out.

Clemson sports communication professor Bryan Denham believes Swinney chose wisely.

"By competing against strong teams, that is how you get better," Denham said, "not by blowing out teams that have five percent of your resources and patting yourself on the back."

In essence, Denham says Swinney chose "process" over "outcome" thinking.

Many fans, media members and athletic directors utilize "outcome" thinking each preseason. They look at a team's schedule and determine a number of expected wins. They think solely of end results.

Denham says such thinking by coaches, players and athletic directors is counterproductive.

It's akin to a golfer concerned with projecting his final score for the day while on the second hole, instead of focusing on the next shot.

"It's (folly) to look at a schedule and say 'well, we'll get seven wins with this schedule,' " Denham said. "This is outcome thinking, which doesn't work. It's the worst when it comes to sports psychology.

"You have to enjoy the day-in and day-out process of training and competing. People who immerse themselves in the process in sports tend to be much more successful over the long haul than people who focus on outcome goals they can't control."

For an example of how competition -- how process -- fosters excellence, Denham points to the college basketball in North Carolina, college football in Florida.

"What do Florida and North Carolina have in common?" Denham said. "They have schools that love to compete against each other in their own state. The Clemson-USC rivalry is fairly significant but … USC is not exactly a SEC powerhouse."

I'm sorry, but this is just loopy on several levels.

First of all, there aren't many coaches out there who look at a schedule and say "Yep, we'll be 8-4 this year."

And if there are coaches who think that way, I guarantee you Dat Boy is not one of them.

And the North Carolina-Florida reference ... what does that mean?

Not having a "powerhouse" in-state competitor hasn't hurt LSU much, has it?

How about Tennessee?

Or Virginia Tech?

I could go on.

The logic is just all over the place.


Back to last night's game for one moment:

I've had a bit of a man-crush on Darian Stewart for a while now because he knocks the snot out of people (I bet Kevin Steele daydreams about having that kind of presence at SAM).

In this article from The State, Stewart provides yet another reason to like him when he produces this absolute gem of a quote:

"To us, we felt like they didn't play anybody. Yeah, they had Memphis and some green-and-yellow team (Southeastern Louisiana)," Stewart added. "They're going up against their first SEC team, we just wanted to step up and show them what a real SEC defense looked like."

"Some green and yellow team..."


Also in The State, a piece on Clemson's interior movers on the DL.

And raise your hand if you thought Ricky Sapp would be this good after blowing out his knee.

Speaking of the Man of Steele, he's not satisfied with last week's dominance.

In this column from Fort Worth, TCU is getting rare respect from Clemson.

In recent seasons, head coach Gary Patterson has taken the Frogs to such college football burgs as Lincoln, Neb., Norman, Okla., and Lubbock. So how daunting can a place that calls itself "Death Valley" be?

The Frogs will find out Saturday, but there’s one distinct difference. Nobody, it seems, sneaks into Clemson, S.C., population 12,364, unnoticed.

Especially when they’re ranked No. 14 in the college football polls.

"It’s obvious," Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said of TCU at his weekly news conference, "that all of these [TCU] guys know what they’re doing."

And more on Gary Patterson shying away from attention.

And one more piece on the Bamberg package.

Who knew Sapp and Da'Quan Bowers were from Germany?


LW

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