mogrits on 
AParker on 
Willy Mac on This season, much like last year, will more than likely hinge on the play of the quarterback. Granted, you can’t judge future outcomes on year-old hindsight. What you can do is learn from your mistakes and prepare for the future using the lessons you’ve learned.
We’ve learned a few things as Clemson fans over the past decade as well. Let’s say for an example that a former Clemson head coach sticks a fork in an electrical outlet and gets shocked. We know from past experiences that the coach will more than likely stick the fork back into the socket, even though he was shocked the first time. Then he’ll make an excuse about why he got shocked. A few weeks/months later, you’re probably going to run into the same situation. Then he’ll call somebody who is really good at plugging things in and ask him what he should do in the future. So far, this is the first light socket Dabo has stuck his fork into. I’m praying that he doesn’t make the same mistakes his predecessor made but it’s his first full year so you can see how he’d hit a few bumps in the road. The knee jerk reaction and demand for immediacy that many Clemson fans carry around like a weight on their shoulders is unbelievable. What, you thought we were going to the BCS you dummy?
It needs to be said that moderate to extreme changes need to wait until the end of the season. Dabo doesn’t need to feel like he has a short leash, even thought it’s probably assumed that TDP is going to keep one on him. I know people get frustrated in the moment. I watched the same “Traveling Benny Hinn Healing Impression Show” that starred Cullen Harper last year that the rest of Clemson fan base did. Is it really that hard to separate the two situations and not let last year’s anger spill over into this regime?
I don’t claim to think that nothing needs to be done though. At very least, Willy Korn needs to split time with Kyle Parker for a few games. It seems that regardless of the passing play there won’t be any blocking anyways. Why not put in a guy who’s got better accuracy? Korn also doesn’t fire the ball like it’s a play at the plate. He’s got a year of experience over Parker who’s Major League hopes will probably come to fruition at the end of this baseball season. It’s starting to seem like Parker’s comeback at Georgia Tech was a flash in the pan. This is not to take anything away from Kyle Parker who is indeed a very good athlete and decent quarterback. My point also isn’t meant to overshadow a very talented Tahj Boyd either. But realistically looking at our future Korn seems to be the best fit to lead this team at the quarterback position. Boyd still doesn’t know the offense and is going to need a year or two in the back up position to get his head around the playbook. We’re a few games behind the eight ball right now, so what does it hurt?
Furthermore, what’s wrong with a two quarterback system at this point in the season? It’s been proven to work in the past, especially when you have to players with quick feet. Willy also has the ability to read the defense and fully know the situation he’s stepping into. He’s also got the smarts to know to audible to a play that will work. Coupled with an attack sprinkled with some option plays this season has the potential to be very salvageable. But hey, I’m not the coach. What do I know.
1AParker
on Oct 6, 2009 at 3:31 pm:
Bring back Dantzler
2JasonL
on Oct 6, 2009 at 4:02 pm:
Bottom line is who can lead them down the field. Korn isn’t getting any help from the OL (not that Parker is either with those fuckin’ whip-sticks) and he isn’t in long enough to actually seem to make a difference.
If Parker is throwing too hard, it’ll be Simmons Redux, and the WRs will have even more excuses to miss the football.
In any event, no one seems to be getting in anyone’s face and making them step the hell up. Will Korn do that? Or do we have to defer to Spiller and Ford this entire year?
3bigcheesy
on Oct 6, 2009 at 4:43 pm:
It’s hard for Korn to get into a rhythm and perform when he gets 3 snaps while Parker is taking a short breather after running around the field for 10 seconds like a chicken with its head cut off. I’d agree and say give the kid a chance, at least a quarter straight. If he sucks it up the first half we’ll just summon the inner rage that Parker has for Georgia Tech to lead us down the field in the second half.
4Tom
on Oct 6, 2009 at 7:42 pm:
Wow, not since the days of Willy Simmons have I read such ignorant blaming of the OL and the QB for receivers dropping passes.
5thedabokoolaid
on Oct 6, 2009 at 8:15 pm:
oh how easy the tide can turn…
6Sharp
on Oct 6, 2009 at 8:24 pm:
Willy Mac – I 95% of the time agree with you, so if I’m missing something feel free to blow me up on it. I was glad to see us have a quarterback come in and gun it like he’s trying to peg the fat kid in dodgeball. At times, it makes him less accurate, but I can’t see it being logical to say that “bringing the heat” is why the receivers can’t fucking catch. Simply because I’ve seen way too many balls bouncing dead of the numbers, and these kids are getting a free college experience to catch a damn football.
I do, however, agree with splitting time. As you said, we’re behind the 8 ball, so I don’t see it hurting anyone.
7CUVince
on Oct 6, 2009 at 8:30 pm:
It doesn’t make a shit who the QB is. Our wide receivers cannot catch the ball. Even when they’re hit on the numbers. Solution? CJ and Ford at WR, Ellington at RB with Harper backing him up. Pick a QB and stick with him…fuck all this splitting time shit. That worked out well for Beecher/Smelly. Let Napier call the plays since he’s clearly not calling them…Dabo is a terrible playcaller.
He doesn’t even know how to move the offense from the right hash mark so the kicker doesn’t have to miss the same kick twice. He doesn’t know how to not run CJ Spiller on the short side of the field. He doesn’t know how to attack the middle of the field instead of the boundaries. He doesn’t know how to throw the ball to the receiver with the best hands on the field…which is actually our TE Palmer.
Also, whoever the QB coach is (Napier?) needs to actually start coaching the QB and tell them that they can scramble and that it’s not necessary to roll to the right on every fucking play so that you have to throw across the field to your one good WR or throw the damn ball out of bounds.
These are just some of the problems that need fixin’. If this simple, basic shit isn’t fixed, then every team besides Coastal Carolina is going to wear our ass out. Right now our passing game consists of chucking the ball downfield and hoping Jacoby Ford can break one.
8CUVince
on Oct 6, 2009 at 8:40 pm:
Only one time in history has QBs splitting time worked and thats with Tebow and Leak. Two QBs with two completely different skill sets. Meyer was trying to develop a non existent running game with Tebow. Kyle Parker and Will Korns skill sets are too similar for splitting time to work. It will just throw off and already off balance offense…
9Sharp
on Oct 6, 2009 at 8:44 pm:
Good point Vinny…I was reading about the whole Napier/Dabo play calling issues. I don’t know how much truth there is to how often Dabo is intervening, but damnit just let someone call the plays and focus on being the head coach. If you don’t have confidence is Napier to make the correct calls, you shouldn’t have hired him. JMO.
I also heard from someone’s “inside source”, whatever that means, that toward the end of the UM game, Dabo left off part of the signal for the play. It apparently left Parker and the receivers knowing what routes were being called. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but interesting in the least.
105knklshfl
on Oct 6, 2009 at 8:50 pm:
willy ,almost as eloquent as my “fuck that shitdick” comment in the maryland open thread ,and you are 100% right, parker does have a million dollar arm but it comes with a 5 cent head right now . korn is a leader on the field ,he chose to come to clemson and he wants to win at clemson . no amount of wins will make parker into a fire and brimstone leader , he is a baseball guy and the team mentallity of baseball has overcome the leadership skills it takes to be a field general in football . the team was behind korn in the spring for a reason they believe in him and he believes in them . even if he had one leg that would make him a better qb than parker.
11A770Tiger
on Oct 6, 2009 at 9:15 pm:
HOLY SHIT!!!!!! You guys jumped back on the Korn bandwagon pretty damn quick. Good deal.
12Mogrits
on Oct 6, 2009 at 9:16 pm:
I’m not throwing Parker under the bus by any means, but I think Willy Mac makes a cogent argument to give Korn an opportunity with some reps. The offense clearly isn’t working. When something doesn’t work you don’t keep doing it, you make some changes. You don’t say “we’re going to do the same thing, just practice harder”. Doing the same thing over and over expecting different results is Einsteins definition of insanity… and that dude was smart.
13thedabokoolaid
on Oct 6, 2009 at 9:28 pm:
on another note, when is the banner going to change? it’s footbaw season!( even though at this point we are kinda wishing it wasn’t) baseball is long over.
14madmac corleone
on Oct 6, 2009 at 10:01 pm:
“What? You thought you were going to the BCS you dummy?”
No, I don’t think anybody thought that. And I don’t think many people were THAT upset with the losses to Ga.Tech and TCU, two sound programs that are well coached. But this shit of us completely imploding as a team to a far inferior Maryland squad brings back too many memories of Bowden ball and the torture of 10 years for waiting for that “one play away” that never fucking came. If basic problems are not fixed quickly, it won’t matter who the QB is and this team won’t win 6 games this year. And when that happens, you’re fuckin’ A that not only should Dabo be gone but also TDP, who brought about this shit storm by paying Bowden money he didn’t deserve and not letting him go to Arkansas and then getting a position coach/insurance salesman because he didn’t want to pay a real football coach BCS money. This program is a joke and I think it’s a shame that we’ve allowed people like Max Lennon, Bobby Robinson, Barker, and TDP tear it down from it’s once mighty position.
15A770Tiger
on Oct 6, 2009 at 10:09 pm:
Just read an interview Dabo did for ESPN and his bottom line is no changes. The misery seems destined to continue. I actually was upset with the losses to GT and TCU because we should have won. It’s one thing to play a great game and lose because you just got outplayed, but to play like total shit and barely lose means you had everything needed to win, should have won, but played like SHIT! That’s what upsets me, not playing with desire or hustle.
16Willy Mac
on Oct 6, 2009 at 10:10 pm:
@11 – YOU CAN’T SEE ME!… OR A GRAMMAR TEXTBOOK! Love the name though.
17JimPhillipsLives
on Oct 6, 2009 at 10:45 pm:
@15, Well said. Clemson is living in the stone age with both its Athletic Director and a Chancellor who does not believe that strong academics and strong championship athletic programs can go hand-in-hand. Terry Don Philip’s actions the past year dictate that if the Clemson football team has a losing season, not only must he either resign or be fired, but Dabo and his crew of nepotistic, well-intentioned, Josten ring salesmen have to go as well.
@16, this is an indication that the last line in the above paragraph may come true.
Wake will be the game to watch, folks.
18Daniel
on Oct 6, 2009 at 11:27 pm:
I’m not asking this to belittle what everyone has said/is saying, but do you guys really think we would/should fire Dabo after one bad season? Say we go 5-7 or 6-6. Hell, say we go 4-8. Do you think Dabo would be one-and-done? How attractive would that make us to prospective candidates if he was ousted after one year? I don’t think there is any way Dabo is gone after this year no matter how badly we do. Hell, Michigan, the winningest program of all-time, went 3-9 last year and Rich Rodriguez is back this season. Even in the worst of scenarios I think Dabo will be here at least next season and the one after that unless we were to have one of the worst seasons in school history next year or he gets us into NCAA trouble. The best case scenario is that in the offseason he goes out and finds some real, experienced position coaches and coordinators on the offensive side of the ball, which may be unlikely.
I may be wrong but I think alot of us would be more patient with Dabo if he had not been a member of Bowden’s staff. While Tommy certainly elevated the program in many ways over his successor, he also left us all with a bad taste in our mouths. It is very hard to not see Dabo as a retread of Bowden since he was on his staff. If this was year one of the Bud Foster coached Tigers I think alot of us would be more willing to give it some time, or the Gary Patterson-coached Tigers, etc. Dabo coming on board in the way he did really handicapped him in that he needs to win and win soon or his stay here will not be long. He also is going to have to make tough choices in his staff; he was quick to release Rob Spence but it will be interesting to see if he pulls the trigger on his selected assistants.
19Tom
on Oct 7, 2009 at 12:00 am:
Tommy Bowden did not elevate this program.
20madmac corleone
on Oct 7, 2009 at 1:06 am:
@#19…A “Gary Patterson-coached Tigers” would NOT have lost to Maryland, PERIOD! A Gary Patterson-coached Tigers would have some offensive identity….A Gary Patterson-coached Tigers would NOT have had mulitiple killer false starts against an inferior conference opponet….Can you tell I wanted Patterson as our coach after Will Muschamp was eliminated as an option last year?
@#20…Bowden DID elevate our program. Because of his diplomacy, the much needed facility upgrades that Coach Ford was bitching about in ’89 finally happened, which led to better recruiting classes. It’s one of those conundrums of life that it took a mediocre football coach to get that done when a GREAT football coach couldn’t….Maybe Danny should’ve hired TB as his spokesman back then…Lennon could’ve related to Tommy’s soft tones…He just couldn’t relate to Danny saying “our football dorm is a converted women’s dorm….it’s gotta tampax machine in the bathroom…I have a hard time with that!”
21The Rob Spence Bubble Screen Experience
on Oct 7, 2009 at 1:41 am:
I won’t be demanding Dabo’s head on a platter yet, but a couple points:
I wanted to scream when, in the Year of the Big Coaching Shakeup (Tuberville and Nutt fired, DickRod pulled out of WVU prematurely, etc.), Tommy Bowden supposedly flirted with Arkansas and we didn’t let him go and hire one of the many jobless veteran coaches available–nope, we re-upped him and gave him an even more favorable. When TB finally got quit-fired, I hoped for the best, but I was skeptical when our “national coaching search” led to our WR coach/interim head coach. Really? Out of all the 120+ teams in D-IA football, out of all the coaches either looking for a new job or a better one, out of all the long-time assistants with proven track records, he was the best buy for the money? No offense to the man, but did we even really look before making that choice?
@19, re: DickRod;
Yeah, UM had a hilariously awful year soiling themselves game after game, but it happened because Rodriguez was trying to make some big-time changes that involved shoving square pegs into round holes. But he brought with him an offensive identity and evidence as a great coach from his time at Wf’VU (speaking of teams that dealt with the sudden loss of a coach by promoting someone from within the system who apparently got the job by being a nice guy).
If RR or Urban Meyer or Gary Patterson or Nick Mothafuckin’ Saban or anyone who was proven quality came to Clemson, made some radical changes, and we stunk out loud that year, I’d be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. But hiring a member of the coaching staff we were dissatisfied with and watching him lose a string of close games and probably finish about 7-5 or so the same way Bowden did fills me with more dread than would a radical hire and a 3-9 season. It doesn’t feel like we’re breaking out of the cycle, it feels like we’re signing ourselves up for another ten years of shoulda-woulda-coulda.
I’ll give him time, but if we don’t see some major changes at the end of the season, we’re in for Bitch Mentality II: The Bitchening.
22Daniel
on Oct 7, 2009 at 6:29 am:
@ 20, 21: I agree with you guys, just being hypothetical. I don’t see a Gary Patterson-led team losing to Maryland either because they don’t lose games they shouldn’t lose at TCU. Exactly what I was saying too about giving a new guy from outside a chance; so far it just seems like a continuation with a more passionate leader.
@ 19: Tommy didn’t elevate it a long way, but he did a better job than West did. Tommy was 72-45 at Clemson with no losing seasons and West was 31-28 with two losing seasons. West never won a bowl game outside of the first game he ever coached (Bowden won 3) and we never finished the season ranked under West, which we did 4 times under Bowden.
23Riggs
on Oct 7, 2009 at 8:19 am:
Correct me on this. Napier isn’t necessarily to blame for the play calls because Dabo is overruling him? I’ve been pretty critical of Bill “it worked on Tecmo Bowl” Napier, but perhaps that’s not his fault?
24Tom
on Oct 7, 2009 at 8:38 am:
LOL, you count the Boise bowl wins as accomplishments? LMAO
Facilities? Better recruits? LMAO
Too funny.
25WillyD
on Oct 7, 2009 at 9:43 am:
Basically, you can talk all day about how it’s just Dabo’s first year, we knew OL and WR were suspect coming into the season, blah blah blah, but there’s no excuse for losing to Maryland. If MTSU can beat the Terps, we can as well. Dabo is of course going to get more time, lest we become the Oakland Raiders, but that entire offensive staff should be on notice, particularly the Scotts and Powell.
I personally would rather see us pick on QB and stick with him, I think it fucks with a QB’s confidence if he always has to look over his shoulder. I still think Parker is the overall better QB, but Korn might be worth giving a shot so you can get more plays out of the QB’s legs. But if your gonna do it, just give Korn the damn start and let him play a whole game.
My solution to the WR dilemma- If Jacoby Ford is the only one worth a damn, then he should be the only one playing. Just play multiple TE’s every down with Palmer and Taylor, hell, maybe it’ll improve our running game.
26Daniel
on Oct 7, 2009 at 11:08 am:
@ 24: I’m not saying those are ‘great’ accomplishments but it’s better than what West did, why is this hard to figure out?? I’m not saying we put him in the Ring of Honor or anything but bowl wins over Tennessee and Colorado are better than anything Tommy West did in the postseason. I’m not arguing for Bowden; my whole point is that Dabo took over a program that has become accustomed to going to the postseason, finishing above .500, being on the so-called “cusp” – we had reached a ceiling with Bowden that was higher than it was when he took over for West after a 3-8 season and hadn’t won a bowl game in 5 years.
27ichaseferalcats
on Oct 7, 2009 at 11:13 am:
Korn needs to keep working at extreme handsignalling. If he has the same playcalling, he can’t make a third of the throws Parker has made this year.
We don’t have a QB issue at this time.
You don’t ask a redshirt freshman QB to win games for you – or at least you shouldn’t if you hope to be successful with a young QB at the helm.
Parker hasn’t played all that well at times. Two games have been played in absolute fucking monsoons in which the only way we could move the ball was to ask him to throw low percentage down the field passes. He has kept us in every game, he brought us back in the GT game. He for all of his struggles, hasn’t yet to have lost us one game.
Our receivers can’t get open. They can’t catch. They can’t run block. Those are things Parker can’t control. We have a very experienced corp. of TE’s yet we seem to only throw to them when we are behind at the end of the game.
Our playcalling is has been mediocore to muy terrible this season. Why do we go 4 and 5 wide when our WR’s suck and our line can’t hold a block? This isn’t on Parker.
I will say Parker should be taking off more, using his legs to get first downs. He has couple mechanical issues which tend to allow his throws to sail on him and/or drift off to the right. Hell, against TCU he had no turnovers and didn’t get sacked. We ran the ball for 150 yards. We didn’t win because when we needed the right call and execution in the redzone, we couldn’t get it.
I hate to keeping harping on it, but our OL is still the biggest issue here. With a young QB, you have to be able to find a way to run the ball. We can’t convert 3rd and 1. We can’t convert 4th and inches. Why are we constantly behind in yardage after first down? Because we can’t run the ball, we end up in third and longs. No QB is going to be successful converting third and longs, especially a redshirt freshman. In third and longs the defense has a major advantage because they basically know you have to throw the ball – all they have to do is sit back and defend a line.
Drops are demoralizing. They are costly. But there is nothing more deflating than when you need it most for you OL to be completely unable to make a push to get the tough yardage. Outside of Texas Tech and Houston, pretty much every offense in the nation has to have a running game to be successful (or at least the threat of one). We have had some success running between the 20′s but in the redzone we have been atrociously bad.
In many respects we have set up Parker for failure. This offense’s multiple inadequacies have forced us to put our hopes on someone who in the beginning of the year was supposed to be a game manager – make a few plays, don’t turn the ball over, put up a few scores, and let the defense/special teams win the game. Now we are asking him to put our offense on his back despite poor play calling, a bad OL and terrible WR’s. That makes no sense to me at all.
28ichaseferalcats
on Oct 7, 2009 at 11:28 am:
@ 23,
I wonder to how much the Dabo/Napier two headed monster OCing has led to our struggles on offense. Napier is a power running guy while Dabo is a spread guy. With our offense having no identity, I think it is safe to say we are trying to be too many things. This point has been reiterated on another site where an anecdote from an NFL scout said Clemson’s defense was good enough to be in the top ten but that the offense seemed extremely overly complicated and had to direction. We were told Spence’s offense was too complicated but it seems Dabo/Napier’s is more of the same in that respect.
Our strengths are TE’s and RB’s. Even with our shitty OL, I’d like to see if we just focused on I formation and two TE sets if they couldn’t find some rhythm and thus success. And if Napier is going to go down, let him go down with free reign over the offense. I think it’s too much for a head coach generally to get involved in play calling and even signaling in the plays. Especially a coach like Dabo who doesn’t have coordinator experience.
29Sharp
on Oct 7, 2009 at 12:51 pm:
@23 – That’s exactly what I’m hearing. I’ve heard through multiple sources that roughly 1/3 of the plays are being overruled by Dabo. If this is the case, damnit pick one person and let them run with it. Dabo should be concentrating on the overall game, not wasting his time analyzing every freaking down.
30Tom
on Oct 8, 2009 at 9:28 am:
BTW, you know how lots of people here love to blame the OL all the time, especially for that last sack of the Maryland game?
Swinney then turned his attention back to the Maryland game, and the sack of Kyle Parker that effectively ended any hopes of a Tiger comeback. Parker dropped back to pass, but lost a fumble after a linebacker came in untouched on a blitz, and Swinney said that there were two errors on the play that contributed to the fumble.
“They brought two off the edge,” Swinney said. “It’s a quick-game protection. You don’t take a sack on a quick-game protection. There are two guys. One of them was going to come free, and our back should’ve taken the inside guy. He took the outside guy. So we had a mistake there.
It’s not the OL’s fault.
31ichaseferalcats
on Oct 8, 2009 at 11:12 am:
@ 30,
Didn’t say that was the OL’s fault. The OL has done better in some respects this year but we still miss way too many assignments and can’t get a good enough push when we need it. If your OL consisently can’t convert short yardage, you just aren’t going to do jack shit. Not converting on QB sneaks on fourth and inches is the OL’s fault.
The main problem we are having is we can’t execute consistently anywhere. That is all on the coaches. The OL and WR’s our main weaknesses followed by QB, could all be put in better situations to succeed.
Actually read Swinney botched signalling in the last play, maybe he shouldn’t be fucking signalling in the plays.
32Tom
on Oct 8, 2009 at 12:10 pm:
You’re so vain, I bet you think this song is about you…
33PenthouseTiger
on Oct 8, 2009 at 12:19 pm:
@31, 32, anyone age 9 or younger on the board,
I know you are but what am I?
34ichaseferalcats
on Oct 8, 2009 at 1:34 pm:
@ 32,
Sorry Carly Simon. I guess it was too much of an assumption to think I was included in your previous post since well I have constantly bashed the OL on “here” and I am a person.
@ 33,
What are you? You are hilarious.