Rivals has a roundtable discussing which job is the best – Clemson, Tennessee, or Washington. There is no definitive answer as there are any number of factors that can be weighed to support one job as being superior to the other. Less pressure at Clemson and UW, more money at Tennessee. Lower academic standards for recruits at UT, but tougher to recruit against other SEC schools. Judge for yourself, but you know the only job with which we’re concerned.

The Legacyx4 has a wrapup of the most recent blogpoll. Winfield and Dane do a great job of analyzing and summarizing the other ACC blogs’ responses to their questions. As we expected, they take exception to us ragging on them with our response to the officiating question and decide to crap on ours and everyone else’s responses to that question instead of just admitting it was a douchey question to begin with.

Marc Hudgens on Clemson’s defense getting a bad rap. We’ve mentioned before how the offense’s lack of ability to stay on the field hurts the defense, and Huj echoes that sentiment. He tells us just how inept Clemson’s offense is in time of possession and third down efficiency stats. (Clemson’s defense, FWIW, is also one of the worst defenses in the country when it comes to third down defense) There is still no good excuse I can find for the Clemson defense being 116th nationally in sacks. No Clemson defender has more than 1 this year.

Paul Strelow hits you in the mouth with a practice report.

Ken Burger with the Post & Courier gives his take on the financial side of getting rid of Tommy Bowden. The article is pretty fair, but I question the timing of it. Wouldn’t three weeks ago have been more appropriate? Burger also seems to get his facts wrong about where the buyout money came from. He mentions sacrificing classes and faculty at the expense of buying out a coach, which is false. IPTAY bought out Bowden, not the University – not one cent of state funds were used. He tries to dodge the issue -

Supporters argue that these are separate issues, that athletic funds are privately donated and therefore unconnected to the university as a whole.

Hogwash. They both wear orange and call themselves Tigers and bask in the glow of the school logo.

For a public university to throw money away with one hand while begging with the other is the ultimate intellectual insult.

It’s not hogwash, Ken, it’s the way it is. Athletic funds are in their own coffer, seperate from those of the university as a whole. Just because you want to pile more shit on the Bowden situation doesn’t mean you can redifine the nature of the division of funds at Clemson.

The Florida Times-Union tackles the issue we’re all most concerned about this weekend – what does Ann Bowden think about the Clemson-FSU game!?!? Inquiring minds… er… don’t really care.

That’s it for today, autobots. One additional note, if you’re ever in Ithaca, NY make sure to check out the Chapter House Brew Pub after downing a couple slices at The Nines. SEE WILLY MAC I TRAVEL PLACES TOO.

Also, thanks to all the Block-C and EKR fans I met at the Clemson Young Alumni Happy Hour last night at the Blind Tiger in Charleston. Josh, I’m going to work in a mexicorn reference if it kills me.