We went to the game this weekend and had a great time. Having never been to Pittsburgh, we really fell in love with the food, the vibe, just about everything in the city. It's a great place.

And the fans were - with the usual one or two exceptions that you'll find anywhere - really good, friendly folks.

But this was weird:

I got our tickets on Stubhub and we were in the middle of the Pitt section, 30 yard line, about 25 rows behind the Clemson bench. The seats were great and the sideline seats behind the Clemson bench were full of Clemson fans - easily 20% of the fans in those sections were Clemson fans.

But the fans did not stand up during the game. I mean, they were militant about it. The sight lines are kind of weird in that stadium, as it's not nearly as steep as Death Valley, so people standing up 8 rows in front of you can block part of the field, so I get that.

There was a group of Clemson fans about 6 or 7 rows in front of us and they were standing at the beginning of the game. They got some "sit downs" yelled at them, and then an usher came up and told them to sit down. So they did.

The lady behind us (she was so annoying even my mild-mannered 17 year-old daughter complained about her) kept saying "You need to sit down" any time anyone in front of us stood. When Pitt drove inside the 10 (before their first TD), a group of late-arriving fans in front of us came in and were making their way to their seats. We all stood up since they were blocking our view of the field and these were big plays. When the lady behind us kept saying "You need to sit down" I finally turned around and told her that other people in front of us are standing and so I will stand. She said something about talking to them - but it was just a weird vibe.

As the fourth quarter dragged on and Pitt got back into the game, even on big 3rd downs, no one on our side of the stadium stood up. (Now I could see some people standing on the home side, and the students stood up the entire game.) Only in the last 2 minutes of the game, when Pitt score and then we scored and Pitt drove back down the field, did some people around us stand - maybe half of the folks.

Anyway, it was a great trip and a great place to see a game - but in all of the many places I've ever seen a football game - I've never seen people so militantly and vocally against standing up at a football game.

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Behold the huge lies that libs have fallen for in just the last few years.

How many recent mainstream media hoaxes did you fall for?

The Russian collusion hoax.
Trump called neo-nazis"fine people".
Jussie Smollett debacle.
Bubba Wallace garage pull.
The Covington kids.
Governor Witmer kidnapping plot.
The Kavanaugh rape case.
Trump pee tape.
COVID lab leak was a conspiracy theory.
Border agents whipped migrants.
Trump saved nuclear secrets at Mar-a-Lago.
Steele Dossier.
Russian bounties on US soldiers in Afghanistan.
Trump said drinking bleach would fight COVID.
Muslim travel ban.
Hunter Biden's laptop was Russian disinformation.
Andrew Cuomo best COVID leadership.
Trump built cages for migrant kids.
Austere religious scholar.
Trump overfed Koi fish in Japan.
Build Back Better will pay for itself.
Trump tax cuts benefited only the rich.
Cloth masks prevent COVID.
If you get vaccinated you won't catch COVID.
SUV killed parade marchers.
Trump used teargas to clear a crowd for a bible photo.
Don't Say Gay was in a bill.
V. Putin price hike.
Ivermectin is a horse dewormer and not for humans.
Mostly peaceful protests.
Trump overpowered secret service for wheel of "The Beast".
Officer Sicknick was murdered by protesters.
January 6th was an insurrection.
Trump mocked a reporter's disability.
BYU students hurled racist insults at Duke volleyball player.
Rocket that hit Poland was launched by Russia.
Nordstream pipeline blown up by Russia.

This is biblical on its level of being not smart to fall for all of this over and over.

After I watched UGA, Tennessee, Mizzou and others yesterday..it's night and day. Those backs can change direction and hit the hole and blow past defenders.
I think we have that but refuse to do it. But we HAVE to get better. Mafa just looked run down and very slow. There is no need to throw any passes to him or try and run off end...he can't do it. Can't make anyone miss.

Extra credit: What is Clemson’s record in the series when both teams are ranked?

On his radio show he was talking about the possibility of playing some of the O-linemen who they want to redshirt.

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Just wrapped up a conversation with Brad Brownell after today's 84-71 loss at Boise State:

A few of the more notable items:

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I watched an interview where he was talking about only recruiting 8-10 high school kids because if they can’t play as freshman he didn’t want them. He said if you get 25 only a few work out so the odds are better in the transfer portal. He said he didn’t want to develop players he wanted instant players. I have been critical of Sanders but I think he did what he had to do to bring Colorado back and it seemed to be working.

On the other hand Dabo comes in and wins differently than other programs and works hard on the development and retention of his players. The question I have is it better to pay for retention now and have a good chance at playoffs next year or pay ridiculous prices for unproven high school kids. I know there is a medium but if this team stays together next year could be special. Each program has to decide the best way to navigate the game today.

My issue is everyone knocking Dabo and I think he will have to adjust to an extent but I would never want him to go Sanders rout and way of thinking. Dabos worst years are better than most coaches best years. It’s about instant gratification these days.

n/m

Objectively speaking, where should we be ranked come Tuesday?

I know we’re all angry right now - rightfully so. Took a peak at some of the other teams with 2 losses and personally, I have a hard time saying we should be ranked ahead of them. But hopefully I’m being petty and someone can talk some sense to me

Undefeated Teams:
Oregon, Miami, BYU, Indiana, Army

One loss Teams:
Ohio State, UGA, Tennessee, Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame, Boise State, Washington State, SMU, Pitt, Iowa State, Louisiana

Two Loss Teams:
Texas A&M, LSU, Alabama, Ole Miss, Mizzou, Tulane, Navy, Memphis, Clemson, Syracuse Colorado, Kansas State, Arizona State, UNLV

Other “strong” teams:
Vandy, USCjr, Texas Tech Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, , Louisville, Duke
Note - I was pretty considerate with this list

Resume comparison:
Clemson - loss at home to Louisville, loss neutral site vs Top 5 UGA; no quality wins

Alabama - loss @ Vandy and @ Tennessee; quality wins @ Wisconsin, Top 5 UGA, and home wins vs USCjr and Mizzou

Mizzou - loss @A&M and @Bama; quality wins Vandy (and BC if you want to count that)

A&M - loss first game of the season vs Top 10ish ND and @USCjr (with A&M RB injury) quality wins vs and LSU

Ole Miss - loss at home vs Kentucky and @LSU in OT… beat Wake 40-6 (common opponent)

Colorado - loss at Nebraska and fringe Top 25 @Kansas State

Kansas State - loss @BYU (potential Top 10 team) and a bad loss to @Houston; wuality wins bs Tulane and Colorado


All that to say … vs other 2 loss teams, I think we only have a better resume than maybe Ole Miss and Colorado, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re ranked below Ole Miss. The Colorado argument is interesting because they don’t play the best teams in their conference either, and their only real tests - the Buffs have lost both so far (Cincy is okay … but 5-3… similar to a VT imo). Kansas State is also interesting - they should be ahead of us imo

Thoughts?

What’s up with these tweets from Stellato and Eziomume? Stellato said “Make it make sense.” and Eziomume posted an upside down smiley face. Hoping it’s about the noon kickoff but now I’m reading too much into it.

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And I am asking about your grade here taking into account what you expected this team to be back in August (8-4? 9-3? 10-2? 11-1?)

What jobs do the illegals crossing the border work in that Trump keeps ranting about?

I believe most are in areas that would be easy to find employment if physically able.

Yardwork, roofers, wmt deliveries, .... All honorable jobs that are better than where they came from.

Regime fees are going to jump through the roof.

Population demographics are important to capital markets. Balance within the population by age is a key factor for the economy. The US is very different from a country like Japan which has little culture diversity and now has an aging population. Japan addressed the aging population by basically moving production to other countries farming out the labor needs.

Agree the border needs to be controlled, but there is a lot more to this.

What Trump is pushing is autocracy.
Is that what our population really wants. I totally agree change is needed, but not what he is pushing.

Appreciate 'em.

A bit to talk about after that Pitt performance.

and he said there would be no

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Okay we are back for another week of polls with @Cris_Ard support. I was going to do a 32 person bracket with favorite actor, hip hop artist, 90s baseball player and sexiest actress, but I realized it would be a pain in the ass. Plus it would’ve cluttered the board or taken a month to finish each one so screw it we will just keep doing polls.

Todays question is what is the most interesting Conspiracy theory. Feel free to add comments and let us know which ones you believe are actually true.

Strictly hypothetical of course.

Let's get our status with the ACC out first. As far as the ACC and our suit against them to leave, we have no where to go. We aren't one of the B10's top two choices, and the SEC is not expanding anytime soon. We are not dropping out of the ACC to go anywhere else are we?

The ACC is going to propose a new program to reward the top two football schools each year with additional funds as a bonus. This has actually been floating out there already and must have hit a snag to not have been announced. The format on the selection criteria is still a little fuzzy in my crystal ball, but essentially, if Clemson can remain one of the top two football teams in the conference (we have been for the past 10 years), the extra yearly revenue from the ACC will come close to what the B10 and SEC receives. Not equal by any means, but close enough to compete. Also, the grant of rights restrictions are reduced to a more palatable duration - say 2030. If things don't work out, we can leave. Until then, we just need to stay in the leagues' top two teams. Personally, if we can make this work, I'd like to stay in the ACC.

The revenue proposal passes and all teams have a cap of $22 million. I've heard both $20 and $22 million, so let's go with the highest. There will still be the NIL big spenders, but I believe that will be drastically reduced and only the very elite HS recruits will be in play. 80% of this number will go to the football team. That's $17,680,000. This is what Dabo is obviously waiting on and I predict he will open up to the transfer portal, and start supplementing our roster with a few experienced players - say 4 to 6 a year. For the record, I think our NIL program for the current players is probably pretty competitive. We haven't really lost anybody we needed to keep besides maybe Makuba, and there was some family stuff with him. Dabo is just not going to bet the futures on high school kids.

Anyway, it's tough reading all of the Dabo bashing and our freefall out of the college football elite. I don't like it either, but as a 70 year old 1976 graduate, we've accomplished more than my wildest dreams on the football field. Dabo has his way of doing things and I hope he stays at Clemson forever.