The 2014 Ohio St. Buckeyes won the national championship and entered 2015 as a heavy favorite. What we noticed all last season was how they never put it all together until the bowl game against Notre Dame. The problem was it was too late because Michigan St. pulled the upset on another night where Ohio St was in cruise control. They never seemed to be able to put an entire game together and get their gear out of neutral.
Through two games, the Clemson Tigers have had the same issue. Entering in 2016 as one of the heavy favorites, the Tigers have failed to get the offense going. The opponents are inferior so the Tigers are 2-0, but make no mistake, this team is in cruise control at the moment.
So why does this happen? As adults in our 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and so on, we tend to forget the mind set of a college student. Let’s face it, when you are in college and you hear that much hype about yourself, you tend to believe it and start to think you are can just show up and win. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the Tigers haven’t worked hard…they absolutely have. But it’s different when you think you are so much better than your opponents, even when you are.
The last time I checked, Clemson is a team of college kids. This has happened to college kids for years, so why would Clemson’s kids be any different? They’re not. Clemson is incredibly talented, as was the 2015 Ohio St. Buckeyes, and by no means am I saying Clemson can’t get it into gear shortly. But with this schedule, even Dabo will have a hard time convincing his guys that their opponent can beat them.
If you are a Tiger fan, you’re hoping what happened Saturday against Troy will put a jolt in your team. They need it because if they don’t, they too will lose a game they shouldn’t. If Troy had some talent on offense and didn’t make a ton of mistakes, Saturday could have been a very bad day for Clemson.
More thoughts from the game:
- Watson looked as bad as I’ve ever seen him. Whether the WRs were in the wrong spots, or Watson was off his mark, he looked very rattled.
- Where is the RB depth? Dye and Choice look ok but after Gallman, right now, there isn’t anyone who is making guys miss.
- Ray Ray, there’s no excuse for that. It’s not cool to drop the ball at the line. It doesn’t look cool and even if you do it in the end zone, everyone thinks it looks stupid.
- I said it all offseason and I’ll say it again. I love Clemson’s DTs. Lawerence is going to be a 3 year starter.
- Hey, Clemson didn’t have a field goal blocked. Soooooooo
