Posted by Block-C Staff

Folks, we chose to host the ACC Blogger Round Table this week. You know what that means? The rest of the conference has to step up their funny. Or not. Whatever. As usual you have your links below if you so choose to peruse them.

From Old Virginia | Testudo Times | College Game Balls | Gobbler Country
Jim Young, ACC Sports Journal | From the Rumble Seat | BCInterruption
Yet Another NCSU Blog | Joe Ovies | On the B.Rink

1) Let’s just say, not trying to jinx anything here, but let’s just say the Tigers make the ACC Championship game versus Georgia Tech. Who wins, and why?

Chili: This would be a match up of two teams that have greatly improved throughout the year. The Techies started strong and have gotten better under grizzled hatemonger Paul Johnson while the Tigers stunk it up a bit to start and have reeled off five straight victories. I think we match up quite well against GT. As well as any team in the league, in my opinion. That being said, I still think Tech is a better team with a better coach (at this point, Dabo’s still got time to prove his mettle) and will beat the Tigers in a close game in Tampa.

Willy Mac: It’s good to have two differing sides of opinion sometimes. While I strongly agree with Chili that both teams have improved vastly over the course of the season (and that Johnson is an insufferable prick both on the field and off), I have to disagree with his prediction. I’m partially buying into the logic that the reason Tech’s scheme is so successful is that teams only have one week to reconfigure their mind set to play an option attack team. They’re still a really good team, but the best evidence I can highlight to back up the one week prep thought process is that Peach Bowl stomping they received at the hands of LSU last year. LSU had weeks and weeks to prepare and the Tigers exploited their plan of attack. While we will only have one week again to prepare for them, we’ve already prepared for them once before. We’ve already played them once before. We’ve almost beaten them once before. I’m not trying to be a sunshine pumper, but Dabo Swinney is one hell of a motivator and will most certainly have the Tigers in a Thunder Dome state of mind if we get into the ACCCG.

2) Has the ACC taken the form that you thought it would at the beginning of the season? If not, what didn’t you see coming? Disappointments? Pleasant surprises?

We thought Miami would be better than they have been playing and that probably counts in the disappointment category, though we couldn’t be more pleased that those jort wearing mooks are losers. North Carolina seems to be playing on par with where most people thought they would this season, but it’s too late to do them much good. VT has been seeming less impressive every week and that’s a bit of a surprise from the norm of neckbubble ball.

3) If your team is not in contention for the ACCCG, what are the necessary changes your program has to make to get your team into the game next year? If there’s still a shot, what do you guys need to have happen in order to find yourself in Tampa? Non-team specific writers, pick your flavor of the week and go with it.

We have got to whip the dogshit out of UVA this weekend. If NORF CAKALAKA (we’re pretending to do the sound drop from Pack Man’s show there) beats BC, we’re in regardless of the outcome of the UVA game. That’s it, that’s all, that’s all there is.

4) If you could point to one player as the brightest spot on your team, who would that person be? Extrapolate a little for us please.

We’ve got this great versatile little runningback out of Lake Butler, Florida named Clifford Spiller you may have heard of. No, we don’t need to extrap-o-nothing.

5) Swap one player on your team for a player from your hated rival. Who you got and why?

Alshon Jeffery would be an awesome pick up. It would be nice to have some young talent that compliments the offense. We’ve got a lot of people heading out at the end of this year. I’d like to give them Kenneth Page before he quit in return for Jeffery, so that way he could go there and then quit. That way, the Gamecocks get double blammo’d.

Posted by Block-C Staff

This week, the babyface to our heel persona’s, From the Rumble Seat, is hosting the ACC Blogger Roundtable discussion. Again, as they come through the shoot we’ll link you to the rest of the bloggers around the league.

From Old Virginia | Testudo Times | College Game Balls | Gobbler Country
Jim Young, ACC Sports Journal | From the Rumble Seat | BCInterruption
Yet Another NCSU Blog | Joe Ovies | On the B.Rink

1. Alright fellas, this is your turn to apologize to the Boston College Eagles who went to Hell and back and have now arrived as the 3rd team for the ACC (and only team in the Atlantic) to be bowl eligible. You know you were snickering in the preseason. Also, give a high five to Mark Herzlich for finishing his last treatment of chemo.

Did you start out our post by jacking it? You just thread jacked our post. We’re not apologizing for shit. It’s not our fault that we fieldgoaled the Eagles to death. They haven’t gone to hell and back. They stink and it’s going to be horrifically evident as the season comes to a close. Even if they do go to a bowl game, they’re going to be sent to some terrible location with a ton of empty seats. That is, if the ACC doesn’t run out of bowls and they somehow secure an at-large bid. They don’t travel, they can’t play football, nobody likes them. There. We said it. Also, good jarb on beating cancer Mark, but the media has shoved it down our throats so much at this point that we kind of can’t stand to talk about it anymore. WE GET IT, you made a miraculous, one-in-a-million turnaround and have been an inspiration to teams and fans. MORE PEOPLE GETTING TACKLED, LESS MAKING US TEARY EYED.

2. An Orange Bowl victory over a Boise/ TCU or an Orange Bowl victory over a Penn State/ Cincy team – which means more for the conference? Is there even a difference?

A bowl victory over any of those teams would be a feather in the hat for Clemson at this point. Regardless, getting into a bowl game with anyone of those teams would please us. Right now though, it’d be awesome to have a second crack at TCU but we already know we could have beaten them. One would have to think that a win over Boise would have the most impact, though. They’ve been the BCS busters, the Cinderellas, and the under dogs for the entirety of recent history. Oh yeah, there’s that whole part where they have a bad ass team this year.

On the other hand, we’ll more than likely wind up with a Cincy/Penn State match up if we get to the Orange Bowl. Both are very good teams. Cincy is a very tough and good team but that wouldn’t get us much respect on the national level. They also seem a bit more beatable as they’ve only faced the 46th toughest schedule in the nation (a generous ranking). Then again, we seem to perform better when we don’t have enough respect from the rest of the nation. A win over Penn State any day for the Clemson program would be huge step for us. Yes, there’s that whole conference strength but in the end it’s a traditional and historic team and it would be a great to see the rematch from the 1987 Citrus Bowl rematch against the Nittany Lions.

A better match up would be if Notre Dame weaseled their undeserving asses into an at-large bid. We’d eat their lunch, puke it up, and make them eat it.

3. Enough with the CJ Spillers, the Christian Ponders, and the Jacory Harrises[sic?]. We wanna talk defense. Who is the defensive POTY thus far in the ACC?

That distinction isn’t leaving the upstate of South Carolina. Anyone that actually pays attention to the conference as an entirety will point to the man who’s tied the lead nationally for interceptions: Clemson’s very own DeAndre McDaniel. He’s got seven interceptions in eight games and even though he’s tied for first, the other guy doesn’t have the massive return yards and a touchdown to make him self stand taller on the stat sheet. You’re a damned fool if you think otherwise. A DAMNED FOOL.

4. Recently, Bird compared the Atlantic to the Big 12 North. Is this a fair comparison? The Coastal is currently 8-2 against the Atlantic. There are still 8 interdivision games left. Can the Atlantic redeem itself this season?

Let’s put it this way, the Coastal division will more than likely submit Georgia Tech as their challenger for the ACC Title. It doesn’t matter who the Atlantic submits (and no I’m not going to say us), your scheme has been around for too long this year and (but I will say this) chances are the team they face will have already played them once. A second chance at Georgia Tech is a blessing because it only takes once to get burnt by that offense. Mark it down: if Georgia Tech does go to the ACCCG and face a team they’ve already played, they will lose.

5. Tailgating is essential to all things football. In Atlanta, the tailgating game of choice is cornhole. What is your game of choice to pass the time?

You guys would play a game called “corn hole” on that male dominated campus of yours, wouldn’t you? (ZING!) Yeah, we’ve got drinking “games” too. Let’s run down a brief list of Clemson-depression themed “games”…

• Drink until you can’t feel feelings.
• Drink until it feels like your face is melting off.
• Hold onto the car door so I don’t fall into the sky because I’m so drunk.
• Do your insides hurt from drinking, too?
• Drink until your veins and heart hurt.
• How many mini bottles will fit into that toilet?
• Drink, fight, forgive (last one is optional)

6. Let’s cut to the chase. There are two kinds of people: sheep and sharks. Sharks are winners and they don’t look back ’cause they don’t have necks. Necks are for sheep. Is your team full of sharks or is your team full of sheep?

Sharks? Sheep? What kind of metaphors are you using? Nice alliteration, but I’ve never heard of that. We’d say sharks, but that’s just because I grew up watching Street Sharks. And they had huge muscles. And they beat mother fuckers up. Plus we’re sure they were engineered some how in a lab so, yeah. Short answer is Defense = Sharks. Special Teams = Sharks. Offense = mixture of both, jury is still out. Woof, a Street Sharks reference in 2009 and a homerish statement. We’re drinking that new super secret batch of Clemson kool-aid that was made in someone’s basement.

7. Create a cocktail in the spirit of your school and explain it to us. Non-edible ingredients are allowed and encouraged.

This is a tail of two cocktails blogger friends. The first would be the Clemson cocktail of old; visualize if you will a tall, cool, frosty highball glass of delicious bourbon with a bit of water settled in over big lumpy rocks of ice. The amber grainy beverage reflects the sunlight of a perfect tailgating day. Looks amazing. You drink it down and as it slides down your gullet something isn’t quite right. The drink looked perfect, but man something just…. isn’t…………… riiiight..

*darkness*

- cut to night -

You awake confused, beaten, sort of uncomfortably damp. You reach up to your face and a tooth is missing. Also your pants are nowhere to be found. You just got Bowdened. Everything looked fucking fantastic until it wasn’t and then you maybe got raped.

Now there is a new kind of Clemson cocktail. Sticking with brown party liquor, it’s a humble plastic tumbler of Jack Daniels on ice with a little good ol Coca-Cola. Humble, and tries to be steady but with the capability of pain. A rusty nail is placed in the drank in lieu of a little umbrella, “COURTESY OF BROOKS & STEELE” is etched in tiny letters along the nail. I wanted to work in something corny here about CJ Spiller and Jacoby Ford-like speed but I couldn’t think of anything so maybe just chug the bastard.

THE END.

Posted by Block-C Staff

This week, the ACC Blog Roundtable is being hosted by Joe Ovies, of, well… whatever the hell he does.

From Old Virginia | Testudo Times | College Game Balls
Jim Young, ACC Sports Journal | From the Rumble Seat | BCInterruption
Yet Another NCSU Blog | Joe Ovies | On the B.Rink

1.) Now that we’re in the home-stretch of college football, we have enough material to begin campaigns for ACC coach of the year and player of the year. Who ya got and why?

For coach of the year I think David Cutcliffe at Duke just edges out the tremendous job Paul Johnson is doing at GT. The Devils will likely not make a bowl game this year, but Coach Cut already guided Duke to two conference wins in a row (a massive step for them) and a frighteningly close game against the Virginia Tech Hokies. Duke may likely win the state championship this year in the Tar Heel State.

Player of the year is CJ Spiller. Christian Ponder is making a hell of a case as well and it may remain to be seen how the season turns out for each player, but we feel that to give it to anyone else is simply ignoring what an insane season Spiller has had. He leads the nation in all-purpose yardage and has notched touchdown plays of over 60 yards in each and every single contest this year. He’s got three rushing touchdowns, two receiving TDs, and three on kick return. All of this with every opposing team keying on shutting him down.

2.) Would your 2009 ACC coach of the year stand a chance in the SEC battlefields of recruiting and gameday management against the likes of Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, and Lane Kiffin?

Seriously, you’re mentioning Kiffin? C’mon. David Cutcliffe has already shown that he is a more than capable recruiter and assistant coach in the SEC during his Tennessee and Ole Miss days. He recruited and coached both of the Mannings. That’s a shoe-in right there for his SEC coaching prowess. He also helped lead the Vols to two SEC championships and a Natty. In fact, rumors were that loud portion of Tennessee fans and donors wanted Cutcliffe over Kiffin when the coaching search was taking place. It probably would have been a better hire. It’d be a mistake to say that Duke isn’t taking steps to build a winning football attitude. Time will only tell if they are as committed as Cut is and give him a huge payday to keep it around.

3.) Getting away from the breathless week-to-week win/loss reactions such as “OMGZ!1!JUAN! WE WON, BCS NEXT!” or “WTF, WE’RE DA SUX. FIRE COACH!”, where is your head coach in 5 years. If no longer with your school, how does the exit go down?

I don’t know man. It’s his first year. There’s no way for us to really tell at this point. Would we like for Dabo to pan out and turn into a badass coach who actually gets us to championship games? Of course. If he doesn’t pan out he’ll go to another underling school, get them on the right path, and probably return to embarrass us in Death Valley.

4.) Coffee is for closers only. Which means plenty of ACC teams are walking around with empty cups after failing to finish off opponents or lock up divisions. As the worst offender, who gets the steak knives?

Uhhh, the worst offender gets fired. Come on Joe. If you’re gonna reference movies do it right. Second best gets the knives. First place gets the Cadillac El Dorado. The worst offenders, get sent packing. We think that it’s fitting that we give the distinction of most empty cup to Butch Davis and his North Carolina Tar Heels. They should just rename the position to the “Tommy Bowden memorial spot for teams unable to close on a division lead.” Coffee is for closers, only. You think I’m fucking with you? … I am not fucking with you.

5.) Bob Griese wants to take you and Juan Pablo Montoya out for tacos. Where’s the best joint in town?

Super Taco. We’ve never actually been there, but we’ve heard good things. Personally, we’ll just stick to the sketchy, nameless Mexican restaurants if we’re looking for tacos. Odds are, we’re not even looking for tacos. We’re looking for cheap, huge glasses of Central American booze to pour down our gullets and the tacos serve as a plus in the drunk food category.

Posted by Block-C Staff

This week Last week, Tarheel Mania hosted the ACC Blog Roundtable and did a bang up job. Since this is so late getting out there, we’ll skip the links to everyone else and get right to it.

1. What player whom you were not even thinking about in August has made the most positive impact on your team? Conversely, what supposedly key player(s) has fizzled for reasons other than injury?

If we mentioned anyone else other than CJ Spiller, we’d be cheating you. He was the only player we were thinking about in August. Spiller has predictably made the biggest impact for Clemson as a team. Can you imagine where we’d be if we didn’t have him? That statement shouldn’t be used as ammunition against Jamie Harper and Andre Ellington, the two talented back ups in the cupboard. Simply put, CJ Spiller isn’t just a game changer, he’s a game winner. Also, we’re always thinking about football. Silly Tarheel. It figures you’d ask a question like that.

If anyone has fizzled, it’s been Xavier Dye. He toyed with the idea of transferring at the beginning of the year and has paid the price. This was supposed to be a year the Dye had the chance to step up. Until the Miami and Wake Forest games he had very little meaningful output.

2. UNC’s performances, and in particular the two losses, have felt like the ghost of Carl Torbush is roaming the sidelines. What part of your team’s past, positive or negative, has this season drudged up?

Dabo’s continued insistence that the Tigers are only a couple of plays away from being undefeated brings up the bile in our gullets like it did when Tommy Bowden kept uttering the same phrase. The defense, on the other hand, has been stout and reminiscent of some of the better Tiger defenses of the recent past.

3. Because this is the ACC, no team is truly out of the conference race yet; 5-3 can still win the division. Find your inner optimist, no matter how bruised, and tell us why you’re still holding out hope for your team. (This is NOT the best-case scenario question; rather, what your team has shown to indicate success in the immediate future.)

Let’s just pretend that everything the Tigers did against Wake Forest will stick like gum to your shoe and will be the rule, not the exception, from here on out. (Clemson fans know that this is almost certainly not the case. Clemson Football is a rollercoaster, not a walk in the park) The Tigers seemingly solved their red zone issues and unveiled a few (few) new wrinkles in the offensive playbook. The defense was ferocious and dominated the normally poised Riley Skinner.

Ideally, Clemson continues to roll and wins enough games in their jumbled up division to make it to Tampa with a likely rematch against Georgia Tech. A rematch against Tech would be a very winnable one for the Tigers, to boot. So, that’s the super Kool-Aid view of things.

Oh yeah, did we mention that we just beat a #10 Miami team in Dade County? Do you understand? Here, let me smash my fists into the key board to explain the excitement. ii90qp8234yv5towi q029v385mw0[t4u9 [p0wevvvimkaf- ‘if,weacrv0-pa’wi,k340-… Do you understand now?

4. What remaining conference game not involving your team do you look forward to most and why?

Duke-UNC. Coach Cutcliffe has injected new life into the Blue Devils, while UNC fans seem to have gotten a little carried away with Butchmania this season. Objectively, the future for the Heels is probably brighter, but things being relative the Dukies are getting more bang for their buck. It would be interesting if the Devils upended Commish Swofford’s Heels and sort of reshape Heels fans view of their savior. Also, what the hell UNC? Your color is baby blue, not Duke blue. stop it with the uniform changes already. You got the blue you got, deal with it.

5. Now for what Block-C would call the “shits and giggles” question. Offense in the ACC is…well, offensive. To solve this problem we’re putting four ACC offensive coordinators into Thunderdome, where only one man will emerge to smear a football field with his tactics again. Bryan Stinespring and John Shoop are shoo-ins. Nominate at least one more offensive coordinator (preferably, yours) and tell us why he deserves a 75% chance of doom.

Billy Napier is just a littler feller. He doesn’t deserve being in there with all those grizzled veterans with blood and guts and veins stuck between their teeth. Also, we remain unconvinced that Bryan Stinespring is actually the offensive coordinator and not just a hired actor standing in for the Neckbubble, who actually calls the plays. Who knows. Shoop definitely gets in based on meme alone.

Posted by Willy Mac

This week’s ACC Blogger Roundtable is hosted by Jim Young of the ACC Sports Journal. Jim is a good guy, but he can get side tracked with things like curse words, kittens, and shiny objects. Hey, at least he doesn’t say “Heeeelllooooo” on his podcast like some idiots I know. This week it’s just me, Willy Mac, answering questions because Chili is living the life in Europa. I’m not gonna lie, he picked a baller study abroad program to join for grad school.

From Old Virginia | Gobbler Country | Testudo Times | College Game Balls
Jim Young, ACC Sports Journal | From the Rumble Seat | BCInterruption
Yet Another NCSU Blog | On the B.Rink | Tarheel Mania

1) Most of the ACC has now reached the halfway point of its season. On a scale of 1 (I’m rounding up pitchforks, torches and a mob to storm the football office) to 10 (I’m selling of organs to raise money for a statue of the coach) how do you feel about your team’s performance thus far?

I’d say about a four or five. It’s growing pains with a coach who is brand new to having the top spot in the locker room. We’re 2-3 right now and Swinney is definitely starting to pay for it, but it should have been expected as opposed to the ACCCG victory some of our more homeresque fans are starting to expect year in and year out. Hey, at least we’re not forced with the collective decision to put our coach out to pasture like FSU is facing currently.

2) Give me the best case scenario for your team the rest of the way. Then give me the worst case.

Best case scenario is we win out and win the ACC Championship Game. Then we lobby our way into the top five at the end of the year and win every game from now until doomsday. That’s some hard hitting, tough as nails questions I’d expect out of you tobacco-roaders there, Jim (I keed, I keed. To much hate in my heart, I guess.) I think the worst case scenario is that we only get five or six wins this year and in a preemptive strike to quell the masses, Terry Don Phillips cans Swinney and we’re sent on some never ending quest to find the coach that will bring us back to the magical dreamland of Clemson in the 1980′s.

3) Because it’s my turn to host the roundtable and I like fantasy football, I’m going to ask a few questions with that theme. First, you’re in an ACC keeper league. Which three players on your team do you designate as keepers for next season? (Obviously this rules out seniors, except for Riley Skinner, who I assume has six more years of eligibility remaining)

I’m assuming you mean our team as in Clemson. I don’t do the fantasy much any more. I’d go with DaQuan Bowers, DeAndre McDaniel, and Andre Ellington. If you’re talking about league wide, then I’d go with DeAndre McDaniel, Jacory Harris, and Ryan Williams from Virginia Tech BECAUSE THE BLOOD HE SPILLS MAKES THE GRASS GROW GREENER… RRRRRRRAAAAAAARRRRHHHHGGGGRRRUUUHHHH!!

4) Let’s do the reverse of this, with coaches. You’re forced to drop one member of your team’s coaching staff. Who gets the axe? (Head coaches or assistant coaches are eligible here)

Hrm. This is a very tough question right here, and our readers will disagree with me. I think you have to get rid of anyone it’s Jeff Scott, our wide receivers coach. That’s based on how terrible that unit has been in all aspects of the game this season. Many will argue that his father, Brad Scott, needs to go but realistically the line has gotten better over the season and is definitely better than last year. Others will say Napier and I agree with that, but more so the younger Scott needs to hit the bricks as his receiving corps has been so glaring in their inefficiency.

5) Let’s say the rest of the ACC is available via free agency. Who’s the one player from the other 11 teams that you’d most like to add to your squad?

Wait, didn’t I just answer?? What? Anyways, I’d take Tyrod Taylor over Jacory Harris because Mr. Harris is such a widdle fella and I don’t like his haircut. I like the way Tyrod is maturing and overcoming things. I also think that he would fit well in our system and would really help elevate our team.

6) Finally, we’ll stage a mock draft of ACC quarterbacks. Who are you taking with the first pick, and why? And who would you get stuck with if you had to pick No. 12?

I’M NOT ANSWERING YOUR FANTASY QUESTIONS ANYMORE, FOGEL.