Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - POSTCAST: Dabo Swinney Has To FIgure Out The Defense

Episode Date: December 22, 2024

This episode of the Locked on Clemson Squad show dissects Clemson's 38-24 loss to Texas in the College Football Playoff. The hosts analyze key moments, including Clemson's strong start and Texas's dominant second quarter. They discuss the impact of injuries, coaching decisions, and defensive struggles that ultimately led to Clemson's defeat. The conversation also touches on the broader implications for the ACC and the new 12-team playoff format. Despite the loss, the hosts highlight positive takeaways for Clemson's future, including quarterback Cade Klubnik's performance and returning talent for next season.The episode features insights from hosts Tenitra Batiste, Alex Donno, Kenton Gibbs, and Morgan Thomas, who provide in-depth analysis of the game and Clemson's prospects moving forward. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!College Football PlayoffsThe College Football Playoff is here, and you don’t want to miss a moment of the action. The College Football Playoff presented by Allstate begins with FOUR first round games, December 20 & 21st on ESPN, ABC, TNT and Max!Rocket MoneyCancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to RocketMoney.com/lockedon today. PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE and get $50 instantly when you play $5! You don't even need to win to receive the $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game. https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONCOLLEGEGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelYou can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET ! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You are Locked-on Clemson, your daily podcast on the Clemson Tigers. Part of the Locked-On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to the Locked-on-Clemson Squad Show, your home for the best Clemson Tigers talk. It's a local insight you can't get anywhere but right here at Locked-On. I'm your host, Tanitra Batiste, alongside me are Alex Dono, Kitten Gibbs, and Morgan Thomas. Today's episode is brought to you by GameTime.

Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code Locked-on College for 20. off your first purchase. And our lockdown Clemson squad show is part of the Lock On podcast network every day. So first weekend of the college football playoffs didn't disappoint in some ways, but disappointed in others. We'll talk about that. And we'll talk about what this game means for the ACC overall. But first things first, we're going to dig into and dive into today's game, of course, with the Clemson Tigers, Texas Longhorns. Of course, Clemson fell just a bit short, 38 to 24 the final.

But it started off really, really well, if I do say so, Alex, because Clemson started this game with a 12-place, 75-yard drive, netted a touchdown on that opening drive. Texas returned the favor with a score of their own. Then the Longhorns essentially blew the game, open with that 21-point second quarter. But for you, when you look at the game overall, did Steve Sarkisian have the perfect game plan for Davos-Sweeney and this Clemson team, especially in that first half? I don't know about the perfect game plan. I thought Sark played with fire a little bit at his play calling at times where he could have killed off the game a quick, a little bit earlier than he did.

But I'll tell you what Texas was able to exploit. And this was obviously a big bulletin board point on Steve Sarkisian's, on his pregame plan was to really run the football down their throats. Because that was one of those areas. It was frustrating as someone who's been rooting for the ACC so far in this CFP. this one went a little bit better than the SMU Penn State did, but we're still 0 for two now. It was frustrating because every time Clemson was able to score a touchdown and seemingly gain a little bit of momentum, seemed like they would give up a big running play, including a 77-yard touchdown that really felt like a backbreaker.

So it's been a common theme in these playoffs so far. It was a big factor in Notre Dame's victory last night. Kenton and I were both on the post-game coverage of that. I mean, being able to run the football and control that clock has been a huge part of the success in these three playoff games so far. And from that sense, Sark had a very good game plan and he was able to ride multiple running backs, including the true freshman, Jared Gibson, who had some big carries to help ice the game late. You know, Jaden Blue was the one who had the 77-yard touchdown. He put up a big day.

So, I mean, if you look at the stat sheet and you look at the differences between the two of these teams, the biggest glaring difference was on the ground with Texas able to run for 2992 yards to only 76 from Clemson. And we'll talk about why Clemson was only able to rush for 76 yards. But any of you can attest to this, you're not going to win too many games, especially not playoff games at any level when you're getting out rushed 292 to 76. That's not a good formula. Yeah, because you're averaging at that point nearly double what the other team is averaging. So that's Texas averaging 6.1 yards of carry, whereas Clemson's averaging 3.2, and that's probably in part why you see that disparity in time of possession, 35, almost 36 minutes for Texas versus 27 for Clemsons.

But for you, Morgan, when you kind of look at this game overall, do you feel like Sark had maybe not so much a perfect plan, but a very good game plan for Davo and his team, especially in that first half? Yeah, I think so. The biggest surprise to me is that he didn't or he went for fourth, went for it on four. fourth down multiple times. I didn't realize just how much they didn't trust their field goal kicker. But if anybody watches any Clemson games this season, you know that the weakness has been the run defense. And so any team that they face where they've struggled mightily has been through the running game. You saw it with South Carolina. You saw it with Georgia. You saw it with Louisville and other teams as well where they were able to get wins. But yeah, attacking the Clemson defense through the ground game seemed to work really well. Obviously, Wisner got hurt,

but they have Blue, who's the backup that had a change of pace, and it really, Clemson was struggling to keep up with as well. So Clemson has got to go to the drawing board this offseason and figure out how they're going to retool the defense to be able to, you know, hang in these games like this because, as he mentioned, you really, you can't be outrushed that much because it is demoralizing, and it, and it wears you down. over time when another team is just running all over you like that. Yeah, and Ken, I think that's a great point that Morgan makes at some point, physically, mentally, that run game is going to wear you down.

And you could see that kind of happening to this Clemson Tigers defense, especially in that second quarter and at points in the second half as well. But for you, do you feel like with Steve Sarkeesian kind of going after Clemson, knowing that that was maybe their weak spot that he had the right game plan to to tackle Clemson? Absolutely. There were the fourth worst rushing defense in the ACC. That's just a factual statement.

And even going beyond that, Barrett Carter is six feet tall, 229 damn pounds. Why is he attached to the line of scrimmage? What are we doing here? I've said this a million times, and I've said a million more, because I don't think either one of these guys

are going to win a national championship without each other. Brent Venables, needs Davos Sweeney. And Davos Sweeney needs Brett Venables. Because there is no way with all of the wonky bliss designs, with all of the wonky packages that Brett Vinnables came up with. We never saw anything like this to where you could constantly look at one thing and say,

we're going to do this. It got so bad. Clemson went to a three defensive tackle front. It still couldn't stop a damn running nose. So at this point in time, I think it appears very clear to me while Davosweeney is the ultimate in recruiting. while he is. I would say he's all right on the offensive side of the ball. The calling card of this team has had to be defenses being great.

And when the offenses are great too, that's when you see Clemson teams that are so dominant, that nobody looks like they belong in the same field as them. They look like they can beat an NFL team when the offenses are good. But defensively, when they look how they look here, it's going to be tough. And I want to say one more thing. When you look at this game in a vacuum,

You get very disappointed. You get very down and dejected on Clemson. But if you look at this from the bigger picture, Clemson is in position to not only win the ACC next year, but come back and dominate again. Because I'm looking up and I'm saying, Jesus Christ, who are they losing? Who's leaving?

What do you mean this guy's a junior? What do you mean this receivers of freshman? So if I'm walking away from this game, Ms. Clemson, I'm not really that sad about it. like to end to Coach Carter, where you hear the sort of hopeful about Faith Evans because he's like, you know, things didn't work out, but I'm hopeful that things will get better in the future. Indeed.

We'll talk a little bit more about where this Clemson team goes forward later on in the show. But, you know, Morgan, it's something that Alex mentioned that didn't quite slow down Texas nearly as much as it slowed down Clemson. Now, granted, we're talking about Quintravee and Wisner having Jayden Blue to back him up. So Texas had a one-two punch to be able to withstand. Wisner not being there for the entirety of the game. Clemson, not so much because once Moppa went down,

you kind of felt that sting because of that shoulder injury and that really kind of, I think, hamstrung Clemson. But in all fairness, still got to give Kaye Klubnick a lot of credit. Do you feel like he still made enough plays, especially in that second half, to at least put Clemson in position amount of comeback? All week I've been saying that Kade Klubnick needed to have. have a Kobe Bryant type game. He needed to just take it over and do everything because we knew going

into this that Phil Mafa was not healthy and he was going to be probably the least healthy. He's been all season. And that as a Clemson fan, as a diehard Clemson fan, you're probably really frustrated when I say that because it seems like for the past six, seven weeks, the only running back they've used is Phil Maffa. And so now you're in a playoff scenario where you're having to use Jarvis Green and you've never used him really much at all. before this. You're having to use Keith Adams, which everybody has been begging to see Keith Adams Jr. out there because of his dad and the legend that he was on the defensive side of the ball. They want to see his son do well too, but doesn't get a lot of opportunities

other than garbage time. And then you get to a point where, thankfully, they use Jay Haynes in the ACC championship game, but he got tore his ACL and the kickoff return. So it just seems like one thing after the other that happens to this run game for Clemson, while on the other side, as you mentioned, Texas had two 100-yard running backs. I mean, I don't know how you really compete with that at all. But on the Clemson side of things, yes, Cade did everything and more that he needed to do. Did he have his Kobe Bryant game? I would say for the most part, yeah, I think he did play lights out when you needed him to. And he was able to move the chains and make decisions with his legs and with his arms and hit the right receivers at the right time. Unfortunately, he came up very

short at the at the goal line there which could have made this this would have made that game a seven point game so a lot of things could have happened at the very end of the game it was competitive as we mentioned earlier the other games haven't been so it's it was refreshing to see at least one team so far that was a an underdog an obvious underdog 13.5 point at least put up a fight now that's obviously Vegas was exactly right because it was 14 points 13 and a half they got you right there um but I think Clemson has got to figure out something with the running game now. Phil Mofa's going to be gone. And Adam Randall, I mean, he's a wide receiver.

You know, he's been a wide receiver all these years. And before that, he was like a wide receiver quarterback in high school. So is now, is all of a sudden now he's a running back? I don't know. Big question marks there on the run game. Yeah, indeed. And, you know, like Morgan said, you look at what Kay K Kovnik was able to do. And I like that analogy of having the Kobe Bryant game to really give this Clemson team any chance.

And he did 26 or 43, 33, 336 yards and three scores, obviously just the one pick. But do you feel like, for the most part, K K K Kovnik gave this team a shot at possibly meeting Texas? Kovnik's playing this game is why I'm terrified for the rest of the ACC for next year. Because while Phil Maw was not in and you think about the impact of, well, When could you use a power back the most? Maybe a fourth and one on the goal line, perhaps. I don't know. Maybe that's when they're at their best.

But when you look at all of the other situations in which he was asked to score, when you look at all the other situations in what was happening in terms of this game, Kay Kleblin did not have a fantastic like, hey, he was indelible in this game, but he made those throws that make you think if he can hit those out a consistent level in the future, nobody has a shot. Nobody has a shot. Because if you think about the guys, around them. I believe quarterback is the most important position in the game, but it's also the

most dependent on other guys to either do it right or be special to make him look special. T.J. Moore ain't get no worse. Westcoe ain't getting no worse. I don't know if Brittingstool is going to choose to have another comeback for another year or if he has another year of eligibility, but if he does decide to come back, he ain't get no worse. That's not going to happen for any of these guys. So I look at this situation and I say, Kay had a hell of a game. He did not play of, you know, hey, this is a world beating game, but he made world beating plays. There were moments in there where you can say to yourself, if you can build around him in a sustainable way, because let's just be very honest, like Morgan alluded to earlier,

using exclusively Mapa down the stretch in the season, that was not sustainable. With his style of play, big fellas, they're going to get banged up because of the nature of how they run the ball. It's not an elusive. It's not a, I'm too slippery. you can't touch me type of deal list. No, I'm going to run through you and over you. And it works until it doesn't.

Until that eight gets a little too achy, until that pain gets a little too painful, and you can't do it anymore. So I look at this situation and say, Kay played a good enough game to keep them in the game, but it's those glimpses that are now starting to become actualized that higher clip, that if he takes another step next year, because if he plays the way he played in this game next year,

I think clips will be fine. I think they'll be fine through the ACC. I'm not sure about to play. But if he takes another step next year, that young man's going to be in New York. And for you, Alex, did you see two do enough today, at least to put this team in position to possibly get a win and upset Texas? Kate Klubnick did more than enough to win this football game.

And in fact, like, I feel bad that he puts in a performance for a team that loses in a playoff game by two touchdowns because he deserved better. You know, unless I didn't get the memo that Klubnik is now a two-way player like Travis Hunter and he was responsible for not setting the edge and responsible. for taking bad tackling angles and giving up 292 rushing yards. I guess the only thing that was missing from this Cade Clubnick performance, and I'm not going to necessarily blame him for this, because again, he did more than enough to win this football game.

The only thing that was missing were a couple of big-time explosive runs, which he has provided, like the walk-off run against Pitt, and he's obviously had some big red zone runs. And another thing that really hurt Clemson, and again, I probably blame Garrett Riley, maybe more. for this, the play calling down near the goal line. When they couldn't punch it in, I thought they should have run a play action on that fourth down. I thought they were just too predictable with the way that they were trying to pound it in against

the Texas defense that wasn't giving them anything throughout that game. But, yeah, I mean, really, the only thing that we were missing was that 50-yard touchdown run, but you can't expect him to do that in every game. So I'm not putting this on Klupnik. I'm not. And even, like, if, to be fair, to go to the Phil Moffa factor, Him getting banged up and injured early is probably not the reason why Clemson lost the game, but boy, the complexion of that game could have been different if he could have gone the whole way.

Because it's not as if they'd been, you know, setting the world on fire, you know, with their running game throughout the season. But it definitely affected the play calling because it made Clemson a lot more one-dimensional. And against the Texas defense that was very good and very opportunistic, that was not a recipe for success for Clemson. Yeah, yeah. And Alex kind of alluded to it. So the squad show is going to talk a little bit more about how Garrett Riley and Davo call this game when we come back.

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So like you guys said, granted, Mafa went down early, but it was something that you were kind of anticipating because he came into the game banged up. And that wasn't necessarily the totality of why Clemson felt 38 to 24 to Texas tonight. But so for you, Morgan, when you look at the way that Garrett Riley and Davosweeney called this game, how much more of an impact was the way the game was called and not necessarily putting it at the feet of the run game, but just how this game was called offensively overall. Well, first out the gate, it was pretty much shocking, surprising, exciting, exciting, all the different feelings that you could have in a good way that Clemson came out and scored first

and seemed to do so very easily. I mean, both teams actually went, I think, 12 plays, 75 yards. I was not expecting a 12 play drive. And a lot of people said Clemson can't win games like that. They're not going to be able to do that, not going to be able to sustain a drive like that. So at the beginning, I was very shocked that they were able to do that, go 75 yards. I felt like Cade, a lot of it with him being back at his home state in his home city of Austin. You know, I'm sure he got to hang out with his friends and family. So he may have been more comfortable than some people who might have to go there and play their first time.

But I think that helped. I do feel like that Clemson purposely went to keep trying to push the ball down the field. You know, there were a few plays here and there where I felt like they got a little too cute, as we mentioned earlier, just the goal line. And then I think there was like a third down play or another fourth down play. It just seemed like it wasn't the right call at the right time. There's one of the plays that I just despise, which is the offensive line freeze play.

I don't even know what the correct name for it is, but it's where they hike the ball and the entire offensive line just doesn't move. And I believe, you know, Clemson fans are going to correct me on this. I believe it's only worked like twice. And that was back in the Deshaun Watson era. So I don't like that play at all. I think there were times there where it was just too cutesy, and I'd rather have just seen Cade step up in the pocket or roll Cade out and try to use his feet.

I did feel like Cade needed to rush the ball about 15 times, which he got close to it. Yeah, yeah. Just didn't have the yardage. So I wish that there would have been something a little different to get him more yardage in this game because they obviously suffered when Mafa was on the sideline with that resistance ban. You kind of knew this wasn't going to last very long.

later on after half time, you know, I kind of felt like the game was hanging by a thread. I felt most of the time this season, Clemson has not been a team, offense and defense, to prove to me that they can make adjustments. But, you know, there's always another game to be played. So I thought, well, I'm going to hold my thoughts here. The game's hanging on a thread. Maybe just maybe they'll do something different. It seemed like they kind of did.

Cade was feeling it. And I think that he made plays and the players made plays. they got Antonio Williams and T.J. Moore in the right positions. And then they decided to just, hey, go with what options they had. They went with Adam Randall. He had a big rushing play. They went with Jarvis Green and he had a touchdown, his first ever touchdown for Clemson in a playoff game of all games. So they did try different things and didn't just let it hamstring them because I did feel like, you know, you didn't want Cade to throw 60 times. But so I do think that they adjusted as the game went on better than they have all season. Alex, what do you think in terms of the game plan that you saw Garrett Riley and Evo Sweeney put out there maybe even first half versus second half, but just the game plan overall? I mean, I've been very, very critical of Garrett Riley now in his two years of Clemson. And this, you know, he was the hottest commodity when Clemson hired him. And I thought it was a tremendous hire.

and I'm not saying it's a terrible hire. Like I'm not here to try to fire Riley or anything, but it's so much, he looks like a Royals award winner, a lot of times early in games and between the 20s, but we've seen it happen. And a lot more last year. Now, Clemson's offensive personnel

and Clubnick especially have played a lot better this year. So better personnel is going to help you execute. But I've seen it too many times over the past couple of seasons where Clemson gets into the red zone or Clemson gets inside the 10. And it's like Garrett Riley has no intuition whatsoever. It's like his his situational play calling is just non-existent. And in this sense, in a critical goal line stand that Texas ultimately made, you're coming out of a timeout, and then you run it twice right into the teeth of the Texas defense where there was absolutely

no yardage to be had there. It's like, how can you not be critical of the offensive coordinator in those situations? And then, you know, obviously this is, you know, Davosweeney is, of course, complicit with the play calling happening. So you've got to put some on him as well. And, you know, Davo is a fabulous coach. And I'm not going to question his resume and all that. But it's just, you know, too many times situationally, especially in the red zone, the execution. And I believe the quality of the play calling has not been there. So it, and it's, it's too bad. And I, you don't blame this completely on coaching. But coaching to me played a part in this. Because if nothing else, had Clemson scored down at the goal line, we would have had a much.

much tighter game down the stretch. Yeah, and Kenton, that's a great point that Alex makes. You can probably point the finger in a number of directions in terms of why Clemson couldn't pull off an upset. But for you, when you look at how the game was called on the offensive side of the ball, what would you say was the impact of how Garrett Riley called this game? I mean, Garrett Riley is who we think he is. Like, we shouldn't still be surprised by this point in time to see certain struggles.

I'm a Wolfpack guy, right? Dave Doran in all the years that we know. He is who he is. I know him to be too conservative going into halftime. That is part of the Doran experience. It's not a glitch. It's a feature. Same thing with Gary Riley.

The inability to punch it in in short-yard of situations, the inability to make things happen in the red zone situation. That is not like a, oh, what's happening here? What's, this is a new, no, this is just who he is, or at least who he's been his entire time at Clemson. And I'll tell you what, I think that we need to reject modernity and return to the old school style of football. And this ain't just about glimps it. This is, I believe, this current playoff is a referendum on a lot of things because how many teams have we seen so far get whipped up on by the team who just says, we're going to be tough.

We're going to be physical. Texas offensive coordinator, Kyle Flood, anybody want to know what he did before it was an offensive coordinator? He was an offensive line coach. He was offensive line coach. Dono, your head coach, Mario Cristobal. What type of coach was he before he got a head coach, Joe? Offensive line coach, and he still is at heart, that's for sure. Reject modernity.

Return to hand in the dirt, get my quarterback under center, give me two backs that are at least 215 pounds, and you find a way to stop us. But when we get what we get in these situations where everything has to be so cute and spread out, we're going to see these situations. How many times have anybody questioned those old, old school, very much so hand in the dirt, nasty.

We're going to have a rock fight coaches in terms of their ability to score when they get to red zone. You don't because when they get there, they get results. So, you know, Texas lost multiple offensive linemen in this game. And they still rush for nearly 300 yards. That is how you build a team. That's how you call the game. We go R-TB, run the damn ball.

That's what's going to get it done every time. Yeah, especially when you get to this point where you're playing the top teams. Yeah, you really do. And it wears the team down. You know, it really, really does. But you saw the defense kind of step up. And I know it was 292 yards, but a lot of those were chunk plays in that first half. So I felt like in the second half, Kitten, we saw some adjustments from West Godwin. I mean, you got to credit Clemson for holding Texas to 10 points in the second half. So what did you think about the adjustments that were made on the defensive side of the ball for Clemson? There were great adjustments. It was just too little, too little.

late again we we talk about these situations i talk about them going to that three defensive tackle front they did a good job with that they did an amazing job with with kind of saying hey if they're going to run the ball at this clip we don't need to worry about the past as much why the hell were you worried about the past that must to begin with i get it queen ewers is a big name on paper what has he done watching the film to say hey that that's a guy that's a dude we need to be terrified he's one of those ones. I just have not seen it. So to me, the argument up front should have been that. Because even if you allow the 77 yard or later, whatever the case may be, the defense was much better on that back in. But again, this is why I say, I know it's probably not going to happen.

I know that reunion's probably dead. But Brent Venables was the guy for reasons like this, because you're not going to get a whole half of doing the same thing over and over and over and over again until they figure it out. And also, that last drop going in the halftime. The adjustments made late were good. It was just too little too late. Why? You score with 133 left to make it a closer game.

And all of a sudden, you become an entirely different team than you've been all season. All of a sudden, you're like, hey, we're going to play cover for the entire job. You're cleansing. You never do cover four. What is this? What are you doing here? And, of course, you get exploited in one of the areas where it's weak up a scene.

So you've seen these things and you say at the end of the day, Clemson's defense made good adjustments. The adjustments were just made too late. Yeah. And Alex, I'm looking at some of the comments. And we kind of know this to be the truth for Texas. Third quarter has been a problem for them all season. Steve Sarkeesian is infamous for getting conservative in the second half of a game. But on the same token, you still have to be able to take advantage of it.

Like you still have to have a game plan that takes advantage of how he coached. is the second half. And I still feel like, for the most part, Goodwin and Davo looked at that. They knew his history. They know how he operates and they were still able to take advantage of it on some level, albeit a little too late. Well, it's weird with Sark because he does tend to get very conservative in the second halves, but I thought they should have been more conservative on that fourth down that they went for it and turned it over on down. I was a little bit, that was maybe too much of a gamble. That was kind of out of character. Yeah, a little bit too out of character for Sark.

And I'm looking at the drive chart from the second half. And yeah, Clemson's defense did play better. You know, they held Texas's drives were a field goal, a punt, turnover on downs, a touchdown, a fumble. And then the one were they able to run the clock out at the very, which was really just taking a knee after the Clemson turnover. So, yeah, I mean, you could say the Clemson defense played better in the second half, but they didn't do enough.

They still gave up too many chunk yards on the run. And also, like, okay, Clemson's passing. defense performed statistically much better than the rushing defense did, but Texas didn't have to lean on the past because the running game was working so well. And they were able to control that clock and lean on that. So maybe some of those positive defensive stats for Clemson are a little bit deceiving. You know, I will say, and I love, I love y'all's takes on this because, you know, we're getting a little soft with some of the officiating. A big momentum swing was when Clemson had the interception that it was a it was a pick six i thought it was a pick six could have been a real

turning point they call it back for an illegal block in the back and then sometimes when i see these calls like i feel like i don't understand football as well as i thought i because i don't know what targeting is i don't know what a catch is and a catch isn't anymore and i i clearly don't know what an illegal block in the back is supposed to look like because i didn't think that was one and that was a they called it a blindside they called a blindside block sorry a blind side block. So yeah, and in that situation, you think about it because on that drive, Clemson ultimately had to settle for a field goal after that takeaway, thinking they had to pick six, because the pick six obviously left seven points on the board, but that's also a game changer

with your clock control because Texas was able to get the football back and bleed some more clock. So I thought that was a very questionable call. Yeah, that is one of those where you kind of scratch your head because I remember I was listening to it because I was kind of moving around and I said, oh my, this is about to be a game. And within an instant, it was like, yeah, maybe it's not about to be a game. So yeah, I think it's one of those where you can, like I said earlier, you can kind of point the finger

in a couple of different directions as to why Clemson couldn't complete the comeback today. But you definitely still have to give them a lot of credit for the fight that they at least showed in that second half. And we're going to talk a little bit about the fight that we saw when we come back on the other side. This episode of our Lockdown Clemson Squad show is brought to you by Game Time, which is focused on togetherness this holiday season.

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Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use Locked-on College for $20 off your first purchase. Now, terms do apply, but again, create an account and redeem code L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N-C-O-L-E-G for $20 off. Download that game time app today because what time is it? It is game time. So we were talking about what this game looked like, especially in that final minute where maybe even outside chance, but maybe there was something that could have happened for Clemson until it kind of didn't happen for Clemson. But you got to admit, Kenton, at least there was some fight. The Tigers didn't lay down. They said, you know what? We're going to fight. And despite what happened in that second quarter, because that is something that can be kind of gut-wrenching, pull your heart out. But you got to give them credit for what they were. were able to do on both sides of the ball in the second half to make it a game. Oh, absolutely. One thing that I will always commend Davoswini coach teams for, I have never seen them lay down and quit. I've never seen that.

You know, earlier this year against Louisville, they did not lay down and quit. Against Georgia this year, they did not lay down and quit. They were dominated that game. You could still tell guys were giving it everything they had. It was just clear that they were outmatched, out of sorts, and they were very frazzled. And that's just what it is.

So I would not at all say, hey, this team gave up or they didn't want it or whatever the case may be in that regard. They absolutely did what they needed to do to make it a game. It's just, again, too little too late. You cannot allow a 21 point order in the playoffs. What are we doing here? You just cannot do that. You cannot have that situation and then going down the stretch, like Donald talked about, the terrible angles in tackling. how do you allow a 77-yarder after you have just cut the lead to one possession?

Yeah. You're one play away from now being back in the game. And the most fundamental thing, every single play should involve two things. Somebody blocking and somebody tacking. It doesn't matter what type of play, every play should involve those two for the most part. and you're telling me that nobody could contain their backup, not to disrespect Texas backup running back because Blue showed that he looked like he could be a starter at most places. But how you do that is beyond me.

How Terrell has as many past interference in the second half as he had. It's like, Plymouth's fans are calling for the defensive staff's head, and I get it. I understand it because even like Donald's, said there is a deceptive nature of the stats when you say oh texas didn't really throw the ball for that much well of course because every time they threw it up somebody cleanses like hey receiver can i hug can i give you a bear hug i think you're a great guy i think you're a swell fellow let me just grab your jersey and i'm never going to let you go like jack on the titanic on that wood that's not what we should be doing here yeah yeah and i like alex it's something for me i'm kind of like kent i like the basics

blocking, tackling. It actually does make a difference because you look at some of those third and longs and you're thinking, okay, that's an opportunity right there for Clemson to get the ball back. And all of a sudden, a tackle was a non-tackle. Or you look at the fact that the runners kept being able to get to that second level. And that's kind of how you get to 292 yards. So yeah, you're absolutely right there at just times where even though they were fighting back, you thought to yourself, if you can just do the ball. basics, just get back to the basics and just execute there. That's the thing that gives you the best opportunity to maybe mount a combat. Well, Kenton hit the nail on the head because he talked

about the sequence of when Clemson scored a massive touchdown to cut Texas's lead to 31, 24, and that was a great drive, 10 plays, 64 yards, Clubnik throws a nice touchdown pass, and then they're right back in it. And then the turning point that happens right afterwards is a two-play, 83-yard drive by Texas, which was the blue 77-yard touchdown run. I thought that was one of probably the three biggest turning points in the game. And you think about how can you have three turning points? And that goes to show you how close Clemson was at times because the pick six that was overruled, at least the touchdown part of it, that was a big turning point,

unable to punch it in at the goal line. That was a big turning point that helped cost Clemson the game. And then that sequence, because right there, like you're within a score. anything can happen. And Clemson even had some opportunities. They were trying to put together a late touchdown drive down two scores at the end. Ultimately, they fumbled. But we've seen it before.

I mean, as a guy who covers Miami, I've seen crazy comebacks in all shapes and sizes this year down, 25 points against Cal, you know, where crazy things can happen in college football. If Clemson could have gotten one last touchdown to cut it at seven late. But yeah, that that sequence where, you know, you give up a 77-yard touchdown, on two plays after you pull within seven. That was a real backbreaker. And all this to say, I know that we're looking at a lot of this from the Clemson angle.

We're looking at through that lens. But you got to give credit to Texas. And to Neitra, I go back to what you open the show with talking about Sark's game plan. I mean, it was, you know, football is all about matchups. And if you can find anything you can exploit in the opposing team's defense. And sometimes it's just one player.

Like sometimes you just, you know, and I'm not saying specific. to this game, but if it's, you know, one cornerback, you know who's a liability, one linebacker who's overaggressive, you can exploit that. Like, sometimes it only takes one weak link to mess up the entire defensive chain. And in this case, Steve's Cartesian knew we can keep running the football, even if our starting running back gets banged up. We've got another guy who can start almost any team, and we can continue to bludgeon them in this way. So credit to Stark because he kept going back to what worked. Yeah, and Morgan, as much as we

did like to see the fight that we saw in Clemson. Alex makes a great point. Like literally, the Longhorns were just running up and down the field saying, I dare you to stop me. And Clemson was kind of saying, oh, well, kind of not going to stop you. I'm going to let you get to the second level, maybe even let you go the entirety of the field. And I do think at some point that kind of wears you down. It kind of wears thin because those explosive plays, whether explosive, well, for them it was explosive in the run game, if we're being honest. But there were even a couple of explosive plays in the passing game with some of the play action that still kind of put Clemson on its heels. So yeah, they were able to fight back here and there, but ultimately,

it came down to, you just kind of, you ran out of time for the fight. You know, we talked about situational play calling on the offensive side of the ball. And I think one side that needs to be talked about, which we are now, is the defensive side of the ball and situational play calling. Not only was it one of those plays where there was a mistackle and then it was to the house that 77-yard touchdown. But pre-snap, I was screaming at my television because I said this is a terrible formation, terrible stack. I said terrible stack because even if you are just a casual fan, you know that it's really not good if the team is really good at running the ball for you to line nine guys up, shoulder to shoulder, on the line of scrimmage. They had nine guys up.

They brought in their safety, R.J. Mickens, to the line of scrimmage at the last second before the hike. And literally, the running back just needed to break one tackle and run away from the other safety. It made it almost too easy. I'm sure Sarkeesian was on the other side, like, you're going to give me my bonus right here off this ridiculous play call. And Clemson fans are just in seeing and being very frustrated with the defense because, you know,

Brent Venables has spoiled. Davo Sweeney has spoiled Clemson fans, but Brent Venables has greatly spoiled Clemson fans because of how aggressive he was. I like what I lovingly called him Blitz Venables because he would get after you. He would say, hey, you think you have a good quarterback. Let's see if you have a good quarterback with a guy in his face. Far too often we see Clemson go into a cover four, cover five, cloud, whatever it may be, where they've got two, three guys rushing the passer. I mean, there was a sequence there where they needed to make a three and out stop.

And they had Peter Woods, a 300 plus 300 pound guy in coverage. And guess what happened? He rolled out his direction. Woods didn't know what to do. He decided I will take the quarterback because that's my instinct, left his guy wide open in his zone. Why was he in the zone in the first place? It goes back to those situational play calls that make no sense. All the way back, South Carolina, where they took players.

out in critical moments when you needed your best players out there. They didn't have them out there. And it's happened all season. The Clemson defense has been way more conservative than fans want to see. And really the Clemson offense has also struggled in making adjustments. But that's why I kind of give them a little break here. Because when you look at statistically, Clemson on average gives up what, 22, 23 points per game. And they allowed 38. So that's unacceptable to me. 38. And as you mentioned, 21 in one quarter. Unacquired. acceptable. Texas, on the other hand, normally only allows about 12 points per game, and Clemson came away with 24 and had opportunities to have close to 30 or more and even maybe even

tie it. So that's why I give Cade Clubnick and Clemson's offense a little bit more of a pass here. I know it was frustrating in some of those fourth and one situations or those red zone situations, but really walking away from it, I think they did the best they could knowing that their running game was in shambles. On the defensive side of the ball, you know, it's still, there's a lot left that, that it feels like a shell of what Clemson has been. So, Ken, we were going to, oh, go ahead. I was just going to say in the defense's defense, and I know people say,

Gover needs to go, I'm fine with that, not upset with that call at all. But what I will say is this, Sammy Brown ain't getting no worse. Wade Woodhouse ain't getting no worse, okay? Parker ain't getting no worse. You know, all of those guys defensively that were your stars this year for the most part, they're all coming back. You have all of those guys coming back. So, you know, I, again, I understand where Clemson fans are coming from. If they want to get rid of them, I'm fine with that.

But I would a thousand percent say next year is your proven year because you've got all of these studs, all of these guys that are with all the respect to the Ring of Honor at Clemson, there are multiple guys on this defense that could very well end up there. If you can't do it with these guys, you just ain't the guy. Get out. Go, leave. Hey, we appreciate it. It's been real.

It's been fun. They've been real fun. Go on find your next job, brother. Go ahead, get on LinkedIn, had a little open for work banner. So, Alex, what do you say just in terms of, you know, what Kenton's talking about? And we're seeing a lot of it in our comments, our chats, right? Where Godwin's got to go. He's got to go.

So, I mean, what are your thoughts as far as? And I want to talk about this. I want to circle back to it in that next segment as well, but kind of, kind of teeing it up before that, Alex, in terms of what Clemson has available to them to give them an opportunity to hit the ground running next season. I mean, gosh. Yeah. And Kenton and I, Kenton and I've talked about this on a recent episode of Lockdown ACC.

If you just take kind of inventory on what the football conference is going to look like next year, I think Clemson is an incredible position to repeat as ACC champs and probably earn more regular season style points en route to that next year. because they have so much talent returning. And a lot of young talent on defense, and they could probably benefit from more consistent coaching because coaching is a huge part of that development. Having Clubnik back for another year,

next year after his breakout season this year is huge. And, yeah, so, I mean, Dabo Sweeney needs to get this right. He's a great CEO. He's won national championships. I think you need to take a long, hard look at the defensive side of the football. and if anything, losing today the way that they did, and again, they were competitive in a lot of ways, but losing in the way that they did,

giving up those tremendous runs that Texas was able to get over and over and over again, might be a blessing in disguise for Davo, because I think he's going to look at what he needs to identify in the offseason. And a couple people have mentioned Brent Venables. I think Morgan and Kenton both have. I feel like VB, I know he wanted to be a head coach, and he's got a big job right now. Now, I think he misses Davo as much as Davo misses him, you know.

And, you know, Oklahoma had a, you know, yeah, they had a banner victory against Alabama, but they had a rough, rough season. I'm not sold on Venables as a head coach. I think he's one of those who can be an elite Hall of Fame caliber career coordinator. Yeah, I know Kenton, you've compared him to Bud Foster before, and that was kind of the career trajectory he was on. So I don't know, man, maybe, obviously, obviously, he's, He's still gainfully employed at Oklahoma, but I think he misses Dabo as much as Dabbo misses him.

Yeah, it almost sounds like, what is that old saying? The sum is greater than the individual parts. Maybe that's kind of the case here. And we kind of saw it play itself out, like you mentioned, Alex, in the not so good season that Brent Vennibles had in Oklahoma, but also at those moments in time where you guys, all three of you saw that there were chinks in the armor on the defensive side of the ball in terms of, hey, you've got the talent here. You've got to be able to maximize on that talent so that this team can be in position to get the kind of wins like they were honestly, if we're being honest about it,

they had opportunities to do today. Something else we talked about that we're going to talk about on the other side is how this first weekend of this format of the playoffs has actually worked. We'll get to it on the other side. This episode of the Lockdown Clemson Squad Show is brought to you by prize picks. So think about this. Prize Picks is the best place to get real money sports action with over 10 million members and billions of dollars in awarded winnings. Price Pix is made daily fantasy sports accessible to all. You just pick more or less on at least two players for a shot to one up to 1,000 times your cash. You can run your game all season long on prize picks, which is America's number one daily fantasy sports app.

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Again, download that prize fix app. Use code locked on college to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. And remember, prize picks helps you to run your game. So, guys, this is the first season of the 12-team college. football playoff. It's the first time we were seeing teams like we saw today with Clemson have to travel to Austin to take on Texas. So just wanted to get you guys thoughts on how, what do you think about this new format, how it's worked out so far. Obviously, that's so good for the ACC going 0 and 2, but ultimately how you've felt on this first weekend of the college

football playoffs and how it's worked out and go for it. Well, let me just say I'll start off here with a couple of things. You know, anytime you're going to expand this field to 12 teams, you can't expect enough depth for every game to be competitive. That's number one. Like, I'm not, I'm disappointed that these games have not been close. And ironically enough, I would say the game that we're talking about felt like the closest of the three, even though, you know, Notre Dame beat Indiana by 10 points in a game that felt

like they beat them by 100. And today, Texas beats Clemson by 14 points in a game that felt like it was a one-score type of game in that second half the way that Clemson went. So the score lines don't always tell the full story. But, you know, when you open it up to a 12-team field, there's probably some tweaks that they can make in terms of maybe being a little bit more open to reimagining the way that the seating works. But that's a tough one. And I know Kenton would probably catch me on this if I fully committed to this idea of not guarantee. team top four seats to conference winners, because that could be a slippery slope,

because if you don't guarantee the top four seats to conference winners, suddenly you don't have motivation to win your conference anymore. And then maybe, you know, who knows, you might, it sounds crazy to say this out loud, but you might even see teams opting out of playing in conference championship games if they feel like there's no benefit to playing in it. But, you know, I'll say something in defense of the format, because, again, I see a lot of folks out there

who cheer for Alabama. I see Lane Kiffin, who, you know, if Joel Klatt said it today, if Lane Kiffin coached as well as he tweeted, they would have been in the playoff game already, no problem. He's, you know, saying, oh, this is terrible. All Miss should have been in and all that. But it's like, there has to be some value in winning your games.

And everyone was talking last night about, oh, Indiana was a fraud. They shouldn't have been in the playoff. Yes, they should have been in the playoff. They went 11 and 1 this year. And if you start just arbitrarily deciding that, hey, this SEC team with three losses deserves to be in more than this Big 10 team with one loss or this ACC team with two losses, then why even play the regular season? You have your mind made up before the season started, who the best teams are. Like the results on the field have to matter.

That's number two. The third point I'll make is, you know, I'm very disappointed as someone who supports the ACC and co-host of Locked on ACC. I'm disappointed, very disappointed by SMU. I think Kevin Jennings just threw another interception, by the way. Very disappointed. Disappointed about the result today with Clemson. It was a weird year for the ACC because there was a lot of parity, but it wasn't top-heavy enough, I don't think.

And there was too much inconsistency. I mean, Miami was in the driver's seat with a couple weeks left to go in the season. All they had to do was protect the 21-0 lead against Syracuse, and they couldn't do that. You know, I'm just, as a Miami guy, I'm very disappointed because they had the top quarterback in the country, in my opinion, statistically the top offense in the country and they couldn't get it done. That's on Miami. I don't blame the committee for Miami not being in. I blame Miami for Miami not being in. You know, there's certain other teams.

I thought, you know, Syracuse, Syracuse who upset Miami at the end of the season, man, had they not lost at home to Stanford? Maybe they could have had a shot to be in the playoff. You know, I don't know what happened to Florida State. the preseason consensus pick and that team completely disappeared this year. So the ACC didn't live up to their end of the bargain. There are certain teams, especially Miami, who should have closed out their season better. And then maybe with Cam Ward in the playoff, they could have made some magic happen. But they didn't earn it, Tenitra.

Like I'm a big believer in the actual games have to matter. And so I know that they're talking about all these tweaks that the committee needs to make. Basically, it's just an excuse to put six SEC teams in the playoff. But to me, it's like if you lost three games, I mean, for Alabama, don't lose to a bad Oklahoma team. Don't lose to a bad. Yeah, they're only bowl eligible because they beat you. Don't lose to them 24 to 3. Don't lose to Vanderbilt and you're in.

If you're Ole Miss, you know, don't lose to a four-win Kentucky team. Don't lose on the road at the swamp and you're in the playoff. Like there has to be a reward for actually winning games in the regular season. Yeah, yeah, I think the same. And, you know, it's interesting because like you mentioned, Alex, there was that commentary right as we were coming up to the college football playoff committee announcing who were the top 12 teams and that was of course the commentary was Alabama should get in over this team or Alabama should get it over that team primarily Clemson but ultimately speaking

I think that in order for the not just the regular season games to matter but the conference championship games to matter who wins that and is able to represent those conferences if you just randomly put a team in because you think maybe their fan base travels better or you're looking at legacy, then it really does just kind of, it debunks everything that you have put for that you're saying is important, but it's actually not. But yeah, I mean, Morgan, we continue to hear that commentary. And of course, you know, we've got a couple of those comments, even in the chat tonight. But ultimately speaking, I think that it's like you guys said, Miami, it's your fault. You're in the driver's seat. SMU, hey, you got kind of like a tough break against Clemson, but then, you know,

you kind of went to bed yourself. And hey, Clemson took advantage of what was in front of them. You can't be mad at them. But are you concerned at all about how Clemson performed and how the ACC has performed just in terms of those question marks and all the commentary about how they got here? Concern, not really. I mean, I feel like at least Clemson had the most fight of all the, so far, the first round games. By the way, while we're talking, got about seven minutes in the first quarter, and Ohio State's up 14 to nothing. So I haven't had a chance to really look at how they're dominating that so far, but they're out to a quick start as well. We'll see how that ends up. But I think that, you know, I like the format, and I also have the same kind of frustrations

as you mentioned. One thing that I really love, though, is the home field environment. I mean, this is the first time we've seen a playoff game where you can actually play at your home and the higher seed gets home-filled advantage. It is a huge advantage and it is a amazing atmosphere. I watched Notre Dame and they were rocking it out. Now, you know, when the game started and as the game was going, I was kind of goofing off on my phone because Indiana didn't show up on the offense. But the fans did show up there in South Bend and it was rocking.

I wanted to be there because of how awesome it just looked. It looked like they packed too many people in the stadium. And then the white out in Penn State, they were rocking there as well. You could just feel it. Even though I'm not really attached to those teams at all, I felt like I was involved in the game because you could feel the crowd through the television. And the same thing with this Texas game. I mean, you know, it was packed as well.

Clemson fans, they travel for sure. So, you know, it was, I mean, you really couldn't tell the difference because everybody's wearing orange. but, you know, I do like the home field atmosphere. I actually kind of hate that the quarterfinals are not getting that. I feel like Oregon, the teams that were the best teams in the regular season, not only do they deserve a vibe, but man, they deserve a home field game, I think, if anything, if anything for economic reasons.

I mean, why wouldn't you reward that city with an extra game to be able to show off not only their facilities and and their team to a national level, but to be able to get that revenue of the hotels and the restaurants and everything in the area for having everybody here, because you know it's going to be packed. I mean, we've seen the three games so far. They're all packed out. I haven't looked at Ohio State yet, but I'm assuming it's packed out. I heard 30,000 Tennessee fans got tickets to there because of some mistakes. A glitch where they, yeah, they got the code. I mean, obviously fans want to travel. They want to go to these games.

games, they mean a lot. I do agree. We got to make sure whatever we, whatever changes we make, they, you know, they got to make sure that the conferences matter and those championship games matter. But if anything I would change, I'd like to see those, the quarterfinal teams, not only get the buy, but get a home team or get a, get a home field. Can I add one thing there? Because like, I totally, I agree with Morgan on what he's saying that it, the atmospheres have been awesome for these games. But I, I kind of wonder if, um, if, um, if, the committee may decide to take home field away from everybody just to try and make these games a little closer. Because, like, I love it, right?

Haven't watched all these games. But, like, yeah, the home field advantage that Penn State had earlier today, that Notre Dame had at South Bend. Like, I wonder if the committee is going to look at that and say, you know what, if we want to maybe try to make these games a little bit more competitive, maybe we make them all neutral site next time around because they might be afraid at the type of advantage. because Ohio State is on track to, we'll see if Tennessee can fight back, but OSU is on track for an early blowout. And so far, all the home teams have not only won,

but they've all covered the spread so far. So these games have not been competitive yet. Yeah. I can see that point too. I think that, and just to add one more thing, I can see that point for sure. I don't necessarily want to go to neutral sites just for the sake of having even, even teams. I think, you know, this could be a whole other chat, but the league is just way too big.

I mean, we just have way too many teams fighting for just a minimal amount of spots. And, you know, you're not going to go to a March Madness style. So I think they've got to fix the league eventually, but that's a whole other argument for another day. I'm going to tell you all this. I try to stay quiet on this because, you know, it's like when your mom says, hey, I'm not going to put hands on you right now. Because if I did, I kill you. It's the same type of thing. I would lose our clean rating. would have got into this when we first start talking about.

The idea that there is something wrong with the playoffs, I don't understand because the average margin of victories in the semifinal games in the 14th playoff was about 18 points. What are we doing here? What are we doing? When Bama lost 44 to 16 to Clemson, was anybody saying, Bama didn't belong? Oh, that 14 and no team didn't belong because you lose again.

These are 18 to 22 year old young men slash kids. I've got a solution. I've got a solution for you. We go back, we go to two teams and have a computer decide who plays at a championship game. It's a revolutionary idea. I think it can catch on. Here's the thing. If there's any change I would make, I would say bring the BCS back, but make it completely untethered to the AP poll,

make it completely untethered to the media poll, make it completely untethered to the coaches poll. make it simply about, hey, this is what you are. This is what you're rating is. You know, the committee doesn't get paid for this, by the way, y'all. The committee is completely volunteer. So let's take a load off their hands and say, hey, listen, this is the framework. These are the conference members. There's somebody at large and rolled from there.

But again, to say, oh, these teams got beat badly so they don't belong in the playoffs. Apply that to any other league and you would see how stupid that is. You would see how, oh, man, the chiefs. got waxed in the Super Bowl by the Buccaneers. Guess they don't belong in the playoffs anymore. You see how stupid that's up. Oh, man, the Warriors gave up a 3-1 lead. I just don't know if they belong in the playoff anymore.

Oh, what's that? They wouldn't win a championship after that? The reality is simple. If you slide down that slippery slope of, oh, well, this team has the most NFL players and therefore they deserve to be in. Texas A&M, ladies and gentlemen, has had a ton of NFL players. players roll through there. How many times have we ever thought that's a minute? That's a college football playoff team. All right. We got to cut you off Kenton because I got to go. We got to stay on a positive

note. We got to stay on our clock. 10 seconds, guys, from each one of you, I want you to tell me what one thing encourages you about this Clemson team heading into next season. You got 10 seconds. Go. I would say a final year from Club Nick who took a big step forward and another year with continuity with his offensive coordinator. I think I think Clemson, they showed some fight. I think they're going to be really good next year. Perfect. Morgan. I think the fact that Davosweeney has finally entered in the transfer portal and brought in some guys that will compete for the starting position and fill some needs because you can't just keep replacing juniors and seniors with freshmen. I think that's a sign of the future to come.

Kent and wrap us up. The future is now, old man. All of the pastcatchers are coming back for the most part. That is going to be a dynamic passing offense with Riley at the helm in terms of play calling and Kay Club and taking a step forward for this. Appreciate you guys stopping by tonight. Don't forget to check out Alex Dono on our Locked on Cain's and Locked on ACC postcast. Check out Kenton Gibbs on Locked on Wolfpack and Locked on ACC podcast. And check out Morgan Thomas on 105. The Roar. I am Teneitra Batiste.

And thank you guys for joining the Lockdown Clemson Squad Show.