The "Tempered Expectations" Edition

Clemson Hall of Fame SID Tim Bourret joins the show to talk about the Tigers' 12-year deal with Notre Dame.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's time for Clipson Sports Talk with Lowton Swanny.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Finally, Clemson Sports Talk has come back. Two drive time,
Hell everybody long and Swan back in the saddle once again.
It is the show that Shakes the South Way and
Clemson Sports Talk for you each and every afternoon as
you make your way around the great state of South
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(01:05):
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The website. Put the dot com on it, dog gonet
that's Clemson Sports aw dot com. And the show The
Shakes of south Land brought you in part by our
good friends over at METS Plumbing seven three two drip Drip,

(01:26):
Drip drip, you know the jingle seven three to two drip.
That's Mets Plumbing, mets Plumbing dot com. That's the website
as well. All right, Tim Berray joining us a little early.
He's got a meeting during our typical timeline with him,
so we're gonna have him on now a lot to
talk about. We didn't have him on last week. Tim,

(01:46):
welcome in.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
Good to be with you. A lot, now are you? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:50):
One week away and man, the whole world changes. We
got an American pope, we got Clemson, the Notre Dame.
What what's happening?

Speaker 3 (01:59):
Yeah? How about that?

Speaker 4 (02:00):
Yes, I've I've gotten accused of brokering that deal. I'm
all in favor of it, but I didn't did not
That was really between the two athletic directors.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
But I think it's a good, good contract for both schools.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
I was gonna say, which one the Clipson, Notre Dame dealer,
the American pope, which one that you broke?

Speaker 3 (02:21):
Well, I think clumps to Notre Dame.

Speaker 5 (02:23):
But yeah, I'm certainly in favor of having an American pope,
and it is kind of interesting to have a pope
that you understand every time he talks.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
He obviously is a sports fan. He Fox Dug got
that picture of him at a at a World Series
game in two thousand and five. So yeah, it's gonna
be uh gonna be interesting.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
Follow often he comes over to.

Speaker 3 (02:50):
The United States. He was supposed to come in August
for three weeks to see his brother, but that may
be changed. He may have a different schedule though.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
You can follow them on Twitter at Tim Moray. He
joins us on Thursdays to talk a little college football, basketball,
baseball this week, even a little softball. But let's begin
with that deal with Clemson and Notre Dame. You know,
these two schools have played only eight times historically. They'll
play twelve consecutive games, assuming that the college football landscape
doesn't shift so much that those games get canceled or

(03:21):
changed at some point along the way. But from the
standpoint of the new deal that the Atlantic Coast Conference
put up in talking about eyeballs, you know, in viewership
and ratings, Tim, this is a huge win for Clemson.
Give us your thoughts on why the Tigers made the move,
and then after that, I want to hear your thoughts
on Notre Dame's thoughts on penciland getting Clemson for twelve

(03:42):
consecutive years.

Speaker 3 (03:45):
Well, it certainly seems to be out there that the
SDC is going to go to nine nine conference games
coming up. And you know you've seen stories with Sankee
and the Big Ten commissioner that they want to work
out a non conference game a year between schools and

(04:07):
the SEC and the Big Ten. I don't know how
much there is involved in that, but the bottom line
is it's going to be a lot tougher for Clemson
to schedule that second game each year against a good
power for conference school. I still think we're going to
play South Carolina every year, but those games that we

(04:30):
have like this year against LSU and then we got
four game scheduled with Georgia down the road too with Oklahoma,
I'm just afraid those games are going to go away.
And so obviously Dabbo wants to keep playing a real
big time non conference game against the powerful opponent outside

(04:52):
of the South Carolina game, which is always going to
be big. And so, you know, so for Clemson, not
there name was a perfect fit get a home and
home series, uh you know with them, and from a
Notre Dame standpoint, they also could have some scheduling difficulties.
There was an interview at the end of last year
with the Southern Cal a d that you know, gave

(05:16):
you the impression that the Notre Dame Southern Cal game
may uh may go away at least on an every
every year basis because Southern Cal is already coming east,
you know, for probably four times a year at least
three uh in over multiple time zones, and so uh,

(05:36):
and then any games with Big ten schools, uh could
be You're probably going to be up in the air
for Notre Dame. So I think it was good for
both schools from a scheduling standpoint, and as you said,
I think it's it's good for Clemson because of the uh,
you know, financial situation that looks like it's gonna come
to fruition of the uh asty sleet schools that if

(05:58):
you uh, you know your ratings, the more money you're
going to get in the conference distribution.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
Tim Bray with us here on the program. So from
the standpoint of Clemson and playing a team twelve consecutive
years outside of South Carolina in that long streak and
a run against Georgia in the you know, early eighties,
how many other schools, I mean name schools, I guess
i'd say, Tim is has Clipson ever done anything like

(06:26):
this outside of with South Carolina and Georgia where you've
been this consistent with playing an opponent that's not in
your conference.

Speaker 3 (06:35):
Yeah. The only other one really is Georgia Tech. Before
Georgia Tech joined the ACC and we really they really
didn't join the league. Well, they joined the league at
seventy nine, but they didn't start playing in football games
to come for the conference championship till nineteen eighty three,
so they had all those consecutive years that Yeah, of course,

(06:59):
you know, that was kind of a moneymaker situation, right
for Clemson was one sided for years. Clemson just went
to from nineteen forty five in nineteen seventy four, Clemson
always went to Atlanta. Georgia Tech didn't come to Clemson
until nineteen seventy four, so that wasn't actually a balanced situation.

(07:19):
But yeah, as far as home and home goes to
really Georgia and South Carolina, so this is kind of
a landmark deal there. And even for Notre Dame, which
of course has nothing but non conference series, they haven't
agreed to a new contract with the school since they
started i think an eighteen year eighteen years in a

(07:40):
row playing Michigan in two thousand and two, so really
it's only the second series of this length for Notre Dame,
with a new series in the last twenty years.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
And of course Commissioner Jim Phillips saying that this matchup
when it's you know, for Notre Dame, will not be
considered one of the Atlantic Coast Conference games, which means
there will be and there have been in the past
some years where I think they've played like six games
against the league, but Clemson will not be considered as
one of those.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
Well, I will I will interruptions and say that I'm
not sure whether he meant the seven new games or
all twelve of those.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
Oh good point.

Speaker 3 (08:22):
I got a feeling the five that were already scheduled
are still going to count. I'm just not sure about
the seven seven new ones.

Speaker 2 (08:31):
Well, and I don't you know, maybe not because I
would think he would want the league to capitalize on
Notre Dame. I don't know, but you make a good point.
I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Speaker 3 (08:43):
And the other thing that's up in the air too
is Stanford. I mean, Notre Ame isn't playing Stanford just
about every every year, And so my people, my friends
at Stanford tell me they really don't want to play
Notre Dame every year because there, you know, that would
mean you know, they're already coming east four times a year,

(09:07):
and so Notre Dame would be a fifth one. I
think I think they want to spread that out a
little bit. And maybe I've heard Stanford wants to play
Notre Dame the five out of twelve years like the
other schools.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
So we'll see Tim Bray with us here on the
program today talking about Clemson football. The other news we
got this week Tim Clempson an LSU. It'll be a
night game under the lights to kick off the season.
And I know these rankings are merely just on paper
right now, but it's not just ESPN saying they think
clymps is, you know, number two preseason. There's a lot

(09:40):
of post spring projections about how good this team will be. First,
let's talk about that seven o'clock kickoff in Death Valley
against LSU and what that environment could potentially be like
in your mind.

Speaker 3 (09:54):
Yeah, of course, one of the best environments I can
remember is the twenty thirteen game against Georgia, which was
you know, national television, and it was a nice game,
and that was a great game of thirty eight to
thirty five game that that Clemson won and Dodge Boyd
and Jammy Watkins that great, great game. So yeah, that

(10:17):
was that was a great atmosphere and there's no doubt
that it will be the same thing for when when
Clemson plays LSU. So and not to mention the fact
that it will be the first game in Death Valley
where beer is sold, and it just happens to be
against the school in the South that probably will sell

(10:37):
more beer than any other school that comes to Glimpson Ever, did.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
Not, I did not, you know, I didn't consider the
under the lights and beer with LSU rolling in from
the buy you to take on the Tigers, and when
it comes down to that Death Valley Moniker in this
series with these two teams facing off, I mean, how
significant do you think that conversation from the national media

(11:07):
will be. I mean, is it still a big deal
in your mind? Like who's the original or Who's Death Valley?
I mean, is that a thing? Is because I can
remember talking about for years before it was scheduled, like, man,
I wish we'd play him for the right to use
the name.

Speaker 3 (11:21):
Yeah, well I'm sure we'll. I've never really done the
total deep dive as to win LSU first started calling
it their Death Valley. It's pretty well documented that Clemson
first started calling it that in nineteen forty eight because
the Presbyterian coach referred to it in some preseason articles,

(11:46):
and then when coach Howard heard him say that he
always referred to it as Death Valley. So pretty much
started in nineteen forty eight around here. Now when it
started at LSU, I'm not sure, but I'm sure there'll
be a bunch of media who will do a deep
dive into old newspapers and see where the reference started.

Speaker 2 (12:04):
Tim Bray with us on the program The Final Thing
on Football. Tim I mentioned the post spring expectations, the
preseason conversations about this team. Kay Klubnick was tabbed his
Heisman favorite. You know, when is the last time you
feel like this Clemson team? Because I kind of get
the vibe that everybody's trying to temper the expectations a

(12:26):
little bit right now and saying, wait a second, this
is just this preseason. This is not you know, this
is not on the field. We're not you know that
was when you will tell you it's not played on paper.
But when's the last time you feel like there was
this must this much buzz around this Clemson Tiger team
heading into the summer.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
Well, not that long ago. I think twenty sixteen when
we made the run of the championship game against Alabama,
only lost by five points, and you know, even even
Nick Saban said after the game that he had to
go with that onside Cape because they just couldn't stop Clemson.
I mean, we lost that game, but certainly he had

(13:06):
had a lot of positive publicity from it, and plus
we had to Shaun watch him returning, you know, for
another season. I remember just being flooded with calls all
summer about preseason. People wanted to do preseason interviews with
the Shawn and he was pretty much Heisman favorite at
this time before the twenty sixteen season. So yeah, I'd

(13:29):
say two thousand and six. You know, twenty eighteen, we
had that great season. You know, we were coming off
a terrific here in twenty seventeen. But there was almost
a quarterback controversy because that Trevor Lawrence had so much
attention and even though Kelly Brown was returning starter was

(13:51):
there was just a lot of talk about that. In
the course, what ended up happening that everybody talked about
in the preseason became true when Trevor became the starting
quarterback by the sixth game.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
Tim Bray on Twitter at tim Beray. So this past
weekend was also a milestone moment for the Clemson softball program.
They finished at the top of the ACC in the
regular season before, but after a three and six start
to the year, and I'm not gonna say I wrote
him off Tim on the program, but I certainly wondered

(14:24):
if the post Valerie kgle era was going to be
as good as what it was while she was there.
They stun everybody, go and win the you know what,
they were forty one and six in their final forty
seven games and win the ACC Tournament, an incredible comeback
against Virginia Tech and then the late game heroics against

(14:46):
Florida State. You and I have talked about John Ripman
in the past. Tim, Where do you think this kind
of ranks for him? I certainly know where it ranks
for Clemson. But man, what a season, what a turnaround
for them?

Speaker 3 (15:01):
Yeah, without a doubt. Course, I think it took two
Stanford teams to the College World Series, so he's had
great success before. But you know, it was the way
it was done, and it's kind of you know, it's
kind of interesting when I would say it's a streak
that Clemson hadn't won the ACC championship, but let's look
at it as as a first and you know, so

(15:23):
many times when things like this happened, they do happen
in dramatic fashion, you know, when you looked at Clemson
won the national championship in football in twenty sixteen for
the first time in thirty five years. But we didn't
just win it twenty one to fourteen and run the
clock out. Now, we scored with one second to go

(15:44):
to you know, to to win the game. When we
finally ended the streak in Chapel Hill. You know, it
wasn't just a normal six or seven point game. And
then we won the game in overtime, and it was
It's a remarkable comeback in the in the the second half.
And in this softball win, we were trailing going into

(16:04):
the sixth inning and all three games and one of which,
of course, we scored seven runs in the last bat
to win the game. So it certainly was a dramatic
way to get that first one. One you'll always remember
the remember the first we know, And one other I
always said talk about is when the Clemson golf team
won in two thousand and three. We had to We

(16:27):
won the tournament on Oklahoma State's home courts, which, of
course is the team that in the last forty years
has won more NCAA championships than any other and we
won it on their home course.

Speaker 2 (16:38):
It was something else. And I'll say this too. You know,
Oklahoma's won four consecutive championships in softball. And one of
the few teams that people really entertained perhaps being able
to top the Sooners this year is that Florida State team.
I mean, that is a great ball club. And for

(16:59):
clymps and to just you know, you just want to
see him hang in there, and they did, and then
they made the play, got the home run, and I
got it. And maybe even more more importantly, Tim H
McCubbin getting out of that jam to start the bottom
of the seventh where two seminals get on and I'm thinking,
oh no, not like this. I mean, that was also
an impressive part of that game that probably has been overlooked.

Speaker 3 (17:22):
Oh yeah, one percent. Yeah, it was first and second
and uh and nobody out and then she got the
last three uh three batters to and again. And then
of course the young lady who at the home run
for US was hitting two o eight going into the game,
which was the lowest batting average among Clemson starters. Uh.
You know, entering the game, entering that that are in

(17:42):
the lineup for that game. So so just a lot
of amazing things that that took place. Very happy for
coach Ritman, who's you know, first class guy, does everything
the right way, and and and and you know, he's
done it, you know, when we know the way college
sports are today, he's done it with freshman really, I mean,

(18:03):
and he's had you know, returnees that have that have
certainly done well. But there's a five or six freshmen
that are starting on this this team. So it certainly
bodes well for the future.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
Yeah, that's exactly that was. That was gonna be my
next statement when you brought that up. All right, final thing,
tim a big weekend series for the Clemson baseball team
as they go to Pitt. They've lost three consecutive Atlantic
Coast Conference series after climbing all the way up to
number two in the country. Uh, what do you think
is gonna take to shake the cobwebs off of this
group and maybe get back to good.

Speaker 3 (18:37):
I know it's really been It's I'm it's hard for
me to recall a Clemson team that's gone from just
playing great to baseball. I mean, we were thirty six
and seven. Is that where we were thirty five and
seven at least, I know, I know we had an
eighty three percent winning percentage and then just kind of struggled.

(18:58):
And I hate to say it, but it's not just
one phase of the game. I mean, we might lose
a game fifteen to ten, we might lose a game
five to four. Uh, but we just need to have
some guys to step up, I think offensively. And you know,
we've had a couple of injuries that have that have
that have heard, but we need to get We need
to get this first one tonight, and we need Cannock

(19:21):
to have a have a good, good, uh good pitching performance,
and and we need somebody other than Cam to start
hitting the hitting the baseball on the consistent bass.

Speaker 2 (19:33):
Again, It's Clemson and pitt tonight six o'clock on the
ACC Network Extra. You can watch it there as the
Tigers travel up to Pittsburgh again. Timber Ray on Twitter
at timb ray go follow him. Tim's off to a meeting. Tim.
We appreciate you and we can't wait to talk to
you next week.

Speaker 3 (19:49):
Ton's good.

Speaker 2 (19:51):
Always great to catch up with the legendary Clemson s
I d timber Ray here on the program, right quick break,
we'll react to someone he had to say right after
this Clemson sports solo on Swan with You the show,
This Shakes the South lay in eight oh three four
or five zero zero zero eighty six. All right, timber Ray.
Before the break, he was talking about Clemson and LSU

(20:13):
in that seven thirty game under the lights, And we've
talked about it a good bit here on the program
this week, But I had not considered I don't know,
I don't know what else to call it. The alcohol factor,
if you will.

Speaker 1 (20:29):
Your fella's been doring a bit of boozing. Have you
sucking back on Grandpa's old cough medicine?

Speaker 2 (20:34):
Just the impact that that might have on the environment.
And I don't necessarily mean in a negative way, Like look,
I think that the thought process that alcohol being sold
in the stadium at ten and twelve dollars a pop
is going to be the thing that tips the scales

(20:56):
in the favor of like drunken outbursts at Clemson. I
just don't buy that, Like, there's enough alcohol outside of
the stadium. There's enough. There's probably enough of the old
mini bottles that sneak in through the boots of individuals

(21:18):
going into the game that probably will still be there. Like,
I don't think alcohol consumption per se is gonna just
be something that's completely off the charts at these games.
I could be wrong. Here's how I would think that

(21:41):
I could be wrong on this. If people, because you
can buy alcohol in the game, decide not to bring
as much outside of the game, or decide not to
partake in as much outside of the game before they
enter the game. But then, you know, you get into

(22:04):
a battle, you get into a game where I don't know,
maybe it's a little bit up and down I was
play and who knows what it looks like there at
the concession stands or the beer vending stations, if you will. Now.

(22:24):
LSU fans, on the other hand, and that might be
the broader point from Tim Moray, is that LSU fans
have a reputation. I think it's probably the right word.
LSU fans have a reputation of their notorious and I

(22:46):
think perhaps even the state of Louisiana and New Orleans
because of Marti Gras, et cetera. I think if we
were listing like the fan bases that you think would
likely drink the most. They're in the battle, if not

(23:07):
the top, And I don't know. I don't know who's second. Now.
If we said who do you think is drinking wine? Well,
North Carolina, congrats, pat yourself on the back, you're a winner.
But if it's who's consuming alcohol, then it might very

(23:27):
well be LSU that's at the top party schools. Who
did it? Who? Who? Let me see? Was it LSU?
I think it was because we're getting close to the
World Series. Wasn't it LSU that did the jello shot

(23:57):
the record? Yeah, LSU fans sixty eight, eight hundred and
eighty eight jello shots back in twenty twenty three at
Rocko's Bar in Omaha, Nebraska. So I guess you add

(24:18):
that into the you know, the data points of where
you would rank LSU, and that might be part of
the reason that you see the Bayou Bengals being considered
one of those schools that really likes to partake in
a drink of some description, and with them coming to

(24:42):
Death Valley and that being the first night game with
alcohol being served, Tim Bray makes a valid point that
I had not considered all week, is that there might
be some record setting beer thrown back in the first game. Now,
I wonder this would be a cool thing to follow,

(25:08):
Like if Clemson would report total beer sales for every game,
that would be that would be something to see, Like
will the mark be set week one? How often is
the top of the line set right out of the gates?

Speaker 3 (25:29):
You know?

Speaker 2 (25:29):
Kind of a it's kind of an interesting fact. I
was talking to some buddies during the Kentucky Derby and
you know, like in in in human racing, you we
think about, you know, that time getting better and better
and better, and I don't know, maybe you saying both
set the number that won't be beat. But every horse

(25:52):
in the field that the Kentucky Derby was related to Secretariat.
But the thing about Secretariat that most people don't know
is that as fast as Secretariat was, the second best

(26:14):
time ever run at the Kentucky Derby was run by Sham,
and Sham would have set the mark still, I believe,

(26:35):
for the all time best performance at the Kentucky Derby
if Secretariat hadn't been racing. I mean, Sham was phenomenal,
but nobody talks about Sham because his peer, Secretariat was legendary.

(27:00):
And if if Sham had been a year older or
a year younger, Sham would likely be considered one of
the greatest racehorses of all time. But most people forget
about Sham. Most people just forget that that horse was

(27:22):
even racing because Secretariat was doing a number on the competition.
But Sham would have been doing the same if Secretariat
wasn't in the mix. Stay with us. Clemson Sports saw
the show that shakes the Southland. So looking at what

(27:43):
I was talking about. Before the break, Secretariat ran the
fastest time ever at the Kentucky Derby with a one
minute fifty nine forty Monarcos in two thousand and one
ran a one to fifty nine ninety seven Sham A.

(28:05):
Sham's time would be estimated at one fine seventy four
to one fifty nine to ninety three, making him the
second fastest Kentucky Derby horse in history. But he just
happened to be racing against the fastest horse in Kentucky
Derby history. And I'll tell you this too. If you're

(28:29):
not a horse racing fan, there are some beautiful horse
races to watch, but Secretariat's triple Crown is phenomenal. And
what Secretariat did at the Belmont Stakes, winning by thirty

(28:49):
one links going away, the largest margin of victory in
Belmont history. I mean, that is absurd. You watch it,
and I believe Sham had like a hairline fracture and
never raced again after that. But you know, because most

(29:13):
of the time horses, if they have an injury to
their legs tragically have to be put down. But I
believe they repaired it with Sham with three screws. And
so those two horses were something else, and they were
actually half cousins. You know, horse racing, the lineage, they're

(29:34):
pretty pretty slim in terms of what that the what
the branches of that tree look like, which is why
every horse in the Derby this past year was related
in some way or a you know, descendant whatever they
what they call it, a sire or whatever, of is
that the right word. I'm not a horse racing guy.
My horse racers holler at Medo three four five zero

(29:56):
zero eighty six. But anyway, every one one of the
horses that race this year incredibly were in some way,
shape or form a descendant from Secretariat. But that's a
wild little nugget about about Sham, because most of you,

(30:16):
you know, no Seattle slew and and you know some
of the other legendary horses, but here's one that would
have likely been one of the greatest that just happened
to be. It's like if there would have been a
boxer that was phenomenal when Mike Tyson was boxing, but

(30:39):
because Tyson was the greatest, you don't even know the
other guy, you don't even remember watching this fight, Like
who are the who are those individuals in sports? Like
I could make an argument maybe Josh Allen right now
in the NFL is kind of that guy. Like if

(31:00):
Josh Allen doesn't figure out how to win a Super
Bowl with the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City continues to
do what they do. I mean, you're people are gonna
look at people are gonna look at the situation and

(31:21):
they'll go, well, who's the competition for Patrick Mahomes. You know, well,
this Josh Allen got was really good, but he never
won anything. And that's kind of the curse of being
you know, like the best, but never winning at all.
If you will, maybe Dan Marino lives kind of in

(31:46):
this lane for some of you. Dan Marino's numbers were
stupendous with the Miami Dolphins. Maybe at times he was
the best player in the league, but you know, he's
winning the championship. Joe Montana, I mean, and that's probably

(32:06):
and that's probably a bitter pill for for Joe Montana.
Go back to the Michael Jordan era. Some people say
the second best player was Scottie Pippen back then, But
who's the player that you feel like from that era
that would have likely won some championships if Jorge's not there,

(32:31):
it might be and I don't I don't really think
this is this guy's one of the greatest of all
time either, So that might be a little bit misconstrued.
But we talked about the New York Knicks yesterday because
of what's going on with the NBA playoffs. By the way,
they did not close out the Celtics last night, So
kudos to the Celtics for stand alive, stand alive. Kudos

(32:56):
to them one twenty seven, one h two New York's
series three games to two. Minnesota, however, did finish off
Golden State four games to one with a one to
twenty one one ten victory last night. But maybe Patrick
Ewing and the New York Knicks win an NBA Championship.

(33:18):
If Michael Jordan doesn't exist, you know what? Why why
we live in an era where I can ask the question.
I can pose the question if Michael Jordan didn't play,
didn't play in the NBA, what teams win championships? Let's see,

(33:46):
I'm gonna ask chat GPT, I love I Love, I
love AI for silly trivial things like this, what teams
win championships? If Jordan's not there?

Speaker 3 (33:54):
All right?

Speaker 2 (33:55):
So in ninety one, the likely champion would have been
the Los Angeles Lakers who played the Bulls. They say
the other contenders would have been the Pistons or the Trailblazers.
In ninety two, they say the Trailblazers would have won,
with the Cavaliers and the Knicks being contender. So there
you go, there's the Knicks. In ninety three, they say

(34:18):
it would be the Phoenix Suns would have been the champion,
and the Knicks would have been a contender there with
the Rockets and Sonics. In ninety six, it'd have been
the SuperSonics with the Magic and Jazz as contenders. In
ninety seven, they say the Jazz would win with the Heat,
Rockets and Knicks as contenders, and then in ninety eight
they say the Jazz with the Pacers, Lakers, and Heat.

(34:39):
So if Jordan never played, Chad Gpt tells me, you'd
likely see Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Clyde Director, and Gary
Payton have championships during their careers. So in ninety one
the only year it says of the likely Eastern Conference
champ though, so maybe I'm wrong about the Knicks. They
say nineteen ninety three, pat Riley's Nickson n I three would

(35:01):
have been likely champs like the Eastern Conference champs. Excuse me,
all right, quick breat We'll put a ball on hour
number one. Right after this final segment of our number one,
we'll talk a lot about college football and the potential
changes to the college football playoff an hour two. As
the season is getting closer, and remember, as the season

(35:21):
gets closer, you need to head up to Tigertown or
shop online at Alumni Hall dot com Alumni Hall on
the corner of Campus on College Avenue in downtown Clemson
for all your Clemson officially licensed merchandise apparel, hats, T shirts,
tailgate gears, stickers, and more. Don't forget Clemson students faculty
in all military get ten percent off when shopping in

(35:42):
the store, and don't forget to ask about their Alumni
Hall Rewards Past program where you can save some money
while shopping. You can also support us by going to
Clempsons sportstaw dot com and going to Alumni Hall through
our site, and that will open up the ability for
you to benefit up US with your purchases online. Go

(36:03):
check them out today. Alumni Hall online at Alumni Hall
dot com. It's Alumni Hall where Tiger fans shop. All right,
I'm looking. I'm not gonna go down the the path
of what if sports again or whatever, but I remember
when that was the only way to do it was
that what if sports site. Now you've got all these

(36:24):
ai that have the ability to look at all the
historical data and evidence and give you an idea of
who they think would win. Like taking Michael Jordan out
of the league, you know, kind of giving Michael Jordan

(36:46):
the Marty McFly treatment, if you will, saying you don't
exist anymore. Who benefits them? It's interesting because the bulls
don't seem to pop up anywhere when Jordan's not on

(37:09):
that list for all those people that maybe thought Scottie
Pippen could have led you, you know, to the Promised
Land or something on accident. Nope, doesn't look like it.
But anyway, that was pretty unique being able to go
in there and just quickly look at it. But I
took it a step further through the break and I

(37:31):
just ask what sports seems would be best related, you
know what would have that comparison of Hey, they're the
Sham and the other horse's secretariat, Like who are those teams?
And you know what, it gave me the list in
nineteen ninety seven to ninety eight, the Utah Jazz, who
it projected would have won the NBA Championship, but Michael

(37:54):
Jordan didn't exist. It said that the Utah Jazz those
you were overshadowed by Michael Jordan's bulls, Carl Maloney, John
Stockton's Jazz were dominant, disciplined, and built to win. But
they ran into the greatest player of all time in
this peak twice. Just like Sham. They were good enough
to beat almost anyone else, but not the goat all right,

(38:19):
the Buffalo Bills from nineteen ninety to ninety three, when
they lost four straight Super Bowls. They said the Bills
were incredibly talented with Jim Kelly, Thurman, Thomas, Bruce Smith
in a brilliant no huddle offense, but they kept falling
short against dynasties like the Cowboys and Giants. They say
the parallel is they sustained greatness without a ring, but

(38:40):
they were blocked by peak level opponents. You're Atlanta Braids
from nineteen the nineties to the early two thousands, dominant
but often the second best. Fourteen straight division titles, one
World Series win. It says they often lost to stronger
American League teams, the Yankees and others. Parallel, like Sham,

(39:01):
consistently excellent, but met greatness at the worst time possible,
They say the nineteen seventy Boston Bruins, who were overshadowed
by the Canadians dynasty. The Bruins at Bobby or Phil
Esposito won two Cups, but were frequently blocked by the
Montreal Canadians, arguably the greatest dynasty in NHL history. They

(39:23):
say that the parallel as they were a powerhouse, but
the timing was brutal. Peyton Manning overshadowed by Brady and
the Patriots say Peyton was putting up legendary seasons winning MVPs,
but couldn't get past Tom Brady's patriots in the playoffs.
Parallel record breaking individual greatness blocked by a generational dynasty.

(39:44):
Then they say the Cleveland Calves in twenty fifteen, seventeen,
and eighteen because they ran into Golden State Superteam. Say
why Lebron James and the Calves won in twenty sixteen.
But in most years this team, teams this good, wouldn't
run into seventy three win team like Kevin Durant and
Steph Curry at the same time. Like Sham, they were elite,

(40:07):
but they had to chase history. The other one that
gave me I didn't know. Rubens Barcello was a driver
who was great, but was always second to his own
teammate Michael Schumacher in the F one. Literally racing against

(40:27):
the greatest and finishing a strong second is what it says.
I mean, that's pretty cool, that's pretty awesome, And you
know what, those teams don't get talked about like it.
So taking a step further, none of you talk about Sham.
How many times you sit around talk about the ninety

(40:48):
seven ninety eight Jazz. How often do you talk about
the Buffalo Bills that lost four straight Super Bowls? Now, granted,
some of you out there probably do talk about those
braves because you love them. But yeah, matter of fact,
I'll be honest, I know we give. I don't necessarily give.
I don't give a lot of grief to uh Lebron

(41:09):
James for not winning all those championships. But maybe that's
a good point that those Warriors teams and not only
not only the fact that they caught the Warriors when
the Warriors were really great, and that that team with
Kevin Durant, but they also just happened to catch, you know,

(41:29):
to maybe have the greatest player of all time or
the second greatest player of all time in Lebron James,
but you catch a guy that normally wouldn't be considered
one of the greatest in an era where knocking down
the three became the thing to do, and the game changed,
the game shifted to be played from beyond the perimeter,
and you just happened to run into a guy that

(41:52):
could shoot it better than anybody's ever shot it. And
the fact that the battery is maybe in the history
of the NBA, there have been. There have been better
shooters than Steph Curry. I don't know who those people
are because people didn't shoot from the distance in which
he shoots from. But because of the timing for Lebron
and those guys, they ran into some warrior level super teams.

(42:16):
All right, quick break, we'll come back with our number
two around the band. Stay with us.

Speaker 1 (42:22):
Each time for clubs and sports talk with Luwton Swan.

Speaker 2 (43:03):
It is our number two. That's drivetime read. We're on
the show The Shakes ofa south Land Clemson Sports Tall
on Swan. Ain't it with you? On a Thursday afternoon,
timber A was on with our in hour number one.
If you missed it, don't fret. You can catch the
podcast edition and of course the show The Shakesare south
Land brought you in part by our good friends over

(43:24):
at METS Plumbing seven three two drip, drip, drip drip.
You know the jingle seven three to two drip. That's
Mets Plumbing, mets Plumbing dot com. That's the website as well.
All right, So I told you that we'd come back
an hour two and Tall College Football, and we will
because the conversations are out there that the College Football

(43:49):
Playoff is already nearing a key change to the format,
potentially for this coming season, and the thought process behind
it is right along the lines of something we were
talking about here on the program yesterday, which is buys

(44:12):
being awarded to winners of conferences and the home games,
et cetera, et cetera. Well, according to CBS Sports Brandon Marcello,
Marcello reports that eliminating automatic buys for the top four
conference champions has gained support from the ACC and the

(44:36):
Big Twelve in recent weeks, joining a call from the
Big Ten and the SEC. Now, I don't really understand
why the Atlantic Coast Conference would be interested in the

(44:57):
what people are deeming now the straight seeding of approach.
A Wednesday, Commissioner Jim Phillips said for the first time
that the format quote may be the right thing for
us to consider. College football Playoff administrators must approved the proposal,
which could happen within the next two months. According to sources,

(45:17):
the proposal requires unanimous approval from the ten FBS conferences
and Notre Dame to be enacted for the upcoming season.
The Big Ten and the SEC openly supported a shift
to straight seating during the meeting between conference athletic directors
and administrators back in March. The College Football Playoff expanded

(45:42):
to twelve teams this past year, with the top four
conference champions receiving first round bys. Starting in twenty twenty five,
Straight seating would eliminate those automatic buyers and instead reward
the top four teams in the College Football Playoff Selection
Committee's final rankings. Now, why would the ACC agree to this?

(46:08):
I can't tell you. I don't really I don't really
have a reason. It's beneficial to the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Quite frankly, it's beneficial to every league. And I know
this past year didn't work out in the ACC's favor

(46:29):
because of Boise State, but to me, this should be
deemed beneficial really for all parties because what it always
guarantees is that one of your teams is likely I'm
not gonna say, I'm not gonna say always, but likely

(46:53):
one the top four if you're a power for conference.
It didn't happen in year one for Clemson. But if
you go the straight seating route, you potentially lose that opportunity.
And that doesn't just apply to the ACC or the
Big twelve and applies to the SEC and the Big Ten,

(47:15):
and some would say, you know what, they earned it
and and that's why they're the top four. And I
get it. I understand the logic behind the straight seating,
you know, like you with a normal tournament. But I
can't understand why the Atlantic Coast Conference or the Big
twelve would say, yeah, you know what, we all I

(47:37):
think this to make sense, we'll go along with that. Like,
right now you have a bit of an advantage, why
would you give it up? What's like, what leverage? I mean,
maybe the SEC and the Big Ten are saying, look,
if you guys don't agree to this, we're just gonna
take our ball and go home. I mean, that's the
only leverage I can think of those those two leagues

(48:00):
looking at the ACC and the Big twelve and saying, look,
we're not playing that game again. If we've got three
of the top four, those are gonna be the teams
that get buys. If you don't like it, we'll just
create our own thing and your stuff will go belly up.
I mean that's I don't know. I can't in my brain,

(48:21):
I can't rationalize it.

Speaker 3 (48:24):
Now.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
The twelve team format expires at the end of this
coming season, and there's conversations about expansion the fourteen teams
or sixteen. Now, one of the things that I heard
that I really like the idea of is instead of
playing the second round games at boll sites, what if

(48:52):
you played the second round games at home? How do
you think that would look and would that be something
that you would be in favor of. So, again, the
playoff is going to change, It's going to get larger,

(49:14):
we know that. But take a step back from something
we actually talked about here yesterday and switch it up
a little bit. Imagine, if you will, instead of Clemson
playing at Texas, what if that game was played at

(49:35):
the Peach Bowl and the winner Texas in this case
would travel and play a quarterfinal game at Arizona State.
Right benefit the top four seeds by giving them a

(49:56):
home game. So Ohio State and Tennessee would have played
in the Rose Bowl, and in round two, Oregon would
have hosted Ohio State, Penn State and SMU would have
played in the Fiesta Bowl and the winner would have

(50:20):
gone to Boise State. And then finally Notre Dame in
Indiana would have played in the Sugar Bowl and the
winner would have gone to Georgia. We saw electric environments
at Texas in Ohio State and Penn State and Notre

(50:41):
Dame for those first ever on campus playoff games. But
you know who didn't get to experience that. The four
teams actually that lost in the second round. Number one Oregon,
number two, Georgia, number three, Boise State, number four Arizona State.
And the logic, I can't believe I never thought about

(51:03):
this once last year, the logic that would say, it's
still the same amount of games played at the same venues,
but you reward one, two, three, and four for their
season of excellence, right, we awarded five, six, seven, and

(51:27):
eight for their excellence over seeds nine, ten, eleven, and twelve,
which you could make an argument that those teams nine, ten, eleven,
and twelve are much more on par so to speak,
in terms of resume and what happened in their season.

(51:50):
As the places they have to go, why not put
those on neutral sites and give the real home field
advantage to one, two, three, and four, and then you'd
go to the Cotton Bowl and the Orange Bowl or
whatever and into the championship game. So instead of three

(52:13):
consecutive weeks of these Bowl games, you would play those
in the first round. Now, the bull venues might say, ah,
we're not interested in that, But it's really about what
the teams are interested in. Because I don't think there's
gonna be less fans. Do you think there would be

(52:34):
less fans at the Chick fil A Bowl if it
had been Texas and Clemson. I don't think so, even
if it is a first round game. You think Ohio
State Penn State wouldn't have been a great rose ball
matchup and couldn't have put numbers up similar to what
Oregon and Ohio State did. Penn State SMU at the

(53:00):
Yes The Bowl, you think that couldn't have put up the
same numbers as Boise State Penn State. And last but
not least, you think Notre Dame in Indiana and the
Sugar Bowl couldn't have matched Notre Dame in Georgia. That
would be the only one. Maybe maybe where I'll lean
in and say it probably doesn't match it, but that's

(53:20):
all right. Benefit one, two, three, and four give them
a little bit more of an advantage. And I look,
I don't know how great this change is gonna be.
I really struggle with the thought process of why the
ACC would agree to it. Now, it doesn't change what

(53:42):
winning a conference would mean. You'd still have your chance
to get in there, because those top four conference champs
would still be auto bids. And then that shifts us
to the next question. Do you you know when this

(54:04):
next shift comes, do you go to sixteen or fourteen teams? Now,
sixteen does not grant anyone a buye, So there's no

(54:27):
advantage for being the top teams in the country other
than you're gonna play number sixteen. Right, So you get
one versus sixteen on one side, and on the other
you get two versus fifteen. But it doesn't feel like
one versus sixteen in college basketball because in the college

(54:50):
basketball there's sixty four teams in so to me, it
feels a lot tighter in the sense of the teams
that are playing in how difficult it might be to

(55:11):
win those games. Sixteen is going to be to one
sooner rather than later in this scenario, I don't care
who sixteen is. Sixteen would be to one if you
go to that format, and to be honest, it feels

(55:34):
right to reward success. I think I might be a
fourteen team guy. Two buys give one and to a
bye and call the day. I think something like that
would probably be the best case scenario. But you know,

(55:58):
when you look at the brackets and when you think
it all through, there is no question that regardless of
straight seeding, conference champs getting the seedings, you know, and
I think when you start taking it out the sixteen,
you realize how ridiculous that is to give the the

(56:20):
you know, to have given buys to conference champs. Right
like if you said, okay, we're gonna have a sixteen
team playoff and you said, well, look at that. The
teams that would have been sixteen, fifteen, fourteen, and thirteen
in some odd reason you know, won their conference championships

(56:41):
and now they're one, two, three and four. You could
see how that would skew the bracket or you know, twelve,
I guess in this case, it'd be twelve, eleven, ten,
and nine. Which is it? In my opinion, isn't like
completely impossible to have happened, you know, depending on depending

(57:01):
on the conference and who who the foes are who's
playing that scenario if it did play out right, I
mean that that lays out you go, man, that's not
gonna work. Just doesn't make sense that the teams who
would be at the bottom or at the top because
they won the conference title. So I get the fight.

(57:23):
I get the battle, but I think when we expand,
I am kind of still in favor of some teams
getting buys. And part of the reason I think the
conference champion thing worked and more than the logic on

(57:46):
where the teams were ranked, I think the reason it
was done was because everybody knew that those conference champions
were playing an extra game. I think that was more
or the belief in why you should do it, because
those conference championship games were an extra data point on

(58:12):
a map, but they were an extra game for the teams,
meaning that if you gave the top teams buys, that
the teams who played in the first round had now
played the same amount of games. Granted, the losers of

(58:37):
said conference games could also be in that group. Allah
smu allah Penn State who got beat by Oregon in
the Big Ten Championship, Like, maybe when they started to
hash it out, they realized, wait a second, in some
of these games, the loser is getting in and they're

(59:03):
still playing an extra game, So why benefit the winners?
I mean, Georgia beat Texas in the SEC championship game
this past year, Georgia got the buy Texas played Clemson,

(59:27):
and so maybe because those schools that so many schools
did each conference championship loser get in. Let me see
who lost the Big Ten. I meant the Big Twelve.
That's the only one. I don't know, the Big twelve
loser in football this past season. Iowa State did not

(59:52):
make it into the playoffs. So the Big twelve runner
up was the only one that did not make the
College Football Playoff this past year. So maybe with three
out of the four doing that, people are like, it
doesn't make much sense. I mean, we're we're not really,
I mean we're incentivizing it, but you're not really stopping

(01:00:14):
teams from having to play more games than another one,
which I think was kind of the thought when it
came into play, is that it would prevent those better
teams from having to have played in a conference championship
game and then in the College Football Playoff first round.
I don't know, I thought that was the thought process

(01:00:35):
on it. But maybe not, maybe not, Maybe it'll completely
get revamped. A zero three four five, zero zero eighty six.
That is the text line and phone line. Again, that's
twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, so
feel free to hit us up. We talked with Tim
Berray earlier. I mentioned some of the thought process on Clemson,

(01:01:01):
the expectations for the Tigers in twenty twenty five, and
how well thought of they are. That train just keeps
on churning. It just keeps on churning. We're one hundred
days away from the official start of the college football campaign.

(01:01:22):
A little more than that, I think one hundred and seven,
maybe one hundred and six days away from Clemson's kickoff
of the college football campaign. But ESPN put out a
story about the one hundred days until kickoff and again,

(01:01:44):
more love for the Tigers. I'll give you the rundown
on some of what they had to say over on
ESPN dot com about Clemson. As we get closer and
closer to the summer. Here on the show The Shakes
the South, Lanne keep it a lot right here on
Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred and of course, you can

(01:02:07):
listen anywhere in the world on the iHeartRadio app, and
if you're at home, check us out on your Amazon
Echo or Google Home device. Simply say Shlomo listen to
Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred Stay with us, Lawton Swan
with you. On a Thursday, we had Tim Brey on
an hour number one. If you missed it, go check
it out via the podcast edition of the show. And

(01:02:29):
I should say again, I said before the break, you
say Shlomo play Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred. You don't
actually say Shlomo. I was teaching my dad how to
use his Amazon device and his SERI and all that,
and so in order to not say the trigger phrases

(01:02:51):
that make the device go, I said, Dad, here's what
you say. You say Shlomo play Fox Sports Radio fourteen hundred,
and my dad goes, Shlomo. Play. No, Dad, not Shlomo.
He's like, well, you say Shlomo. Yeah, that's the nickname
that I say to not throw off your device. I'll there.

Speaker 1 (01:03:14):
You fill my head with such some propaganda.

Speaker 2 (01:03:16):
That's how you do it. That's how you explain it,
because you go around the house and you say, let's
say that the device's name was Gertrude. Right, you all
know the name of the Amazon device. It's not Gertrude.
But if it were, and you were sitting in the
room with somebody who say, now listen, Dad, say hey Gertrude,
and then the thing would listen. So I just say, Shlomo, Hey, Shlomo,

(01:03:40):
give me the update from ESPN. Right, Okay, So one
hundred days out until the college football season. Not for
the kickoff of your tigers. No, we got a few
more days. But that Iowa State Kansas State game in
Dublin that I mentioned yesterday. Welp, guess what week zero?
I'll twenty third, one hundred days away, and that means

(01:04:06):
we're going into double digits tomorrow in terms of days
until college football gets here. And according to ESPN, there's
a lot of love for the Tigers. Now, college football's
got its conversation points for sure. Bill Belichick, I'm gonna say,

(01:04:29):
potentially still being the head coach at North Carolina once
the season gets here. Six times Super Bowl champ Belichick
on the sidelines Collegiately, that's a storyline to follow. Obviously,
this offseason we followed the Nico he Omaliava stories. He
left Tennessee to go to UCLA. We've also got Georgia's

(01:04:55):
former quarterback Carson Becke at Miami. We got Arch Manning
taking over over at Texas. But what about the top
quarterbacks in college football, and more specifically, what about the
top ten early Heisman contenders. Well, ESPN put together the list.

(01:05:20):
Number ten. Ryan Williams, who had an incredible freshman year
as a seventeen year old at Alabama, one of the
best plays we saw all last season. He's on the
list at number ten. A player we mentioned yesterday, John Matteer,
quarterback at Oklahoma that transferred from Washington State, checks in

(01:05:41):
at number nine. At number eight, Notre Dame running back
Jeremiah Love gon'na take a lot of love for a
running back in my opinion, to win the Heisman Trophy.
At number seven, a little love for Leonora Sellers, South

(01:06:02):
Carolina's incumbent quarterback. ESPN says there may not be a
more valuable player in the country than the six foot three,
two hundred and forty pounds Sellers. And for Sellers again,
I've seen him as high, projected as highest number two
in the draft, assuming he has a great season in Colombia.

(01:06:23):
Drew Aller at Penn State checks in at number six
in terms of the Heisman Trophy, and number five is
the former Clemson recruit. The Tigers really like DJ Lagway,
who's down in Florida playing for former Clemson offensive coordinator
Billy Napier. Number four will present himself in Death Valley

(01:06:46):
for the season opener in Tiger Town. That's Garrett Nussmeier,
quarterback at LSU, they say quote. After waiting his turn
for three years, Nussmeyer had a breakout season in twenty
twenty four and enters his red shirt senior season as
the starter for a second straight year. Nusmeyer finished fifth
nationally in passing yards a year ago, throwing for over

(01:07:10):
four thousand. He threw twenty nine touchdowns, but was also
intercepted twelve times. At number three wide receiver at Ohio
State Jeremiah Smith, multiple NFL scouts according to the article,
and personnel in the NFL told ESPN that Smith would

(01:07:32):
have been a top five pick this past year, but
he's not eligible for the NFL draft until twenty twenty seven.
Two more seasons of college's ball, arch Manning checks into
number two in terms of the Heisman Trophy picture. Again,
he's only thrown sixty three career passes. A lot of

(01:07:53):
people aren't willing to quite pass the top tier to
art just yet. People want to go see him earn it,
which I think that's a positive. But the Longhorns travel
to Ohio State to open the season and that'll be
a real test for Manning in Game one. But the

(01:08:17):
number one player in the country according to ESPN Heisman
Trophy contenders k Klubnik. They say Clubnic has grown tremendously
since his first season as the starter in twenty twenty three.
The six foot two to hundred ten pounds senior ranks
in the top five in Clemson history in nearly every

(01:08:40):
passing category and put up huge numbers a year ago
when he was one of two FBS quarterbacks with more
than thirty six hundred passing yards and more than four
hundred rushing yards. That's hard to believe. It's a up

(01:09:00):
to account for forty three touchdowns thirty six passing, seven rushing,
and through only six interceptions on four hundred and eighty
six passing attempts. What's more exciting is to have all
his top receivers returning in twenty twenty five. According to
Chris Lowe of ESPN, so club date number one Numero

(01:09:22):
UNO on the top Heisman Trophy players to watch heading
into the season. I'm telling you this is the most
love Clemson has gotten in an offseason. I think since
twenty nineteen, timber Ray said, since twenty sixteen. But either way,
the amount of love Clemson is getting right now, it's

(01:09:45):
it's a little bit uncomfortable, a little bit uncomfortable. We'll
tell you about some of the top games one hundred
days from now when we return long and swan with
you on a Thursday, Clemson Sports. Don't forget about our
friends at Alumni on the corner of Campus so College
Avenue in downtown Clemson. Get your officially licensed Clemson merchandise hats,

(01:10:06):
T shirts, tailgate gear, moore at Alumni Hall. Don't forget
if you're a Clemson student, faculty member, or in the military,
you get ten percent off of shopping in the store.
Go check them out the day Alumni Hall online at
Alumni hall dot com. It's Alumni Hall where Tiger fans shop.
All right, one hundred days away from the college football

(01:10:26):
kickoff and the question about the ten best games to
watch in twenty twenty five, of course, we talked about
Clemson in LSU Out of the Gates and how exciting
that game should be. A Battle of death Valleys, A
Battle of Tigers, a rematch of the twenty nineteen season's

(01:10:52):
national championship game, which again that whole thing, I mean,
technically it was in twenty twenty when that happened, and
that's what's on the patch that you're wearing. I just
that's absurd. It's absurd me. Nobody thinks of Clemson is
the twenty nineteen national champions yet that's what's on the
jerseys in the game where they won the twenty eighteen

(01:11:15):
national title. This is so stupid. Has there ever been
anything more dumb than that? Literally go back and look
at Deshaun Watson. Okay, just hear me out here. Woo.

(01:11:36):
If I say to you, what year to Clemson win
the national championship in college football? You would tell me
talking about the Dashaun Watson. You're right, you would tell
me it was twenty sixteen. Swanee, I agree. Now, what
I want you to do is throw in your Google
machine Deshaun Watson twenty sixteen Championship. Go to the images.

(01:12:02):
The second link will be one where he is celebrating
his touchdown throw two hunter infro, and zoom in on
it and tell me what patch is on his jersey
and it will say twenty seventeen. It is the most

(01:12:28):
ASA nine thing I've ever heard of that they did this,
and it still to this day boggles my mind to go, Okay,
Trevor Lawrence twenty eighteen, right, oh no, go look at
his jersey. Throw Trevor Lawrence twenty eighteen National Championship in

(01:12:49):
your Google machine. The first picture says twenty nineteen on it.
Ask any LSU fan what year they win the championship,
they'll tell you it's twenty nineteen. Swan, that's right, and
we were wearing twenty twenty on our jerseys. Just absurd,
but best games right? That rematch Clemson. LSU did not

(01:13:12):
make the cud of one of the top ten games
this season according to ESPN. Number ten Ohio State at Michigan.
They said, quote the Blockaves can't lose a fifth straight
to the Wolverines. Right, that's November the twenty ninth, Number
nine Texas A and m at Notre Dame September the thirteenth,

(01:13:33):
they say, Notre Dame isn't easing into twenty twenty five
and for a week one trip to Miami. The Irish
open their home schedule against ambitious Texas A and M
at number eight South Dakota at North Dakota State. They say, yep,

(01:13:54):
that's South Dakota, not South Dakota State played in this game.
They've got that match up September twenty seventh, Montana State
at Montana on November twenty second, the Brawl of the Wild.
Number six Boise State at Notre Dame on October the fourth,

(01:14:16):
Number five Oregon at Penn State. On September the twenty seventh,
Number four Texas at Georgia rematch of the SEC championship game.
Rematch from the game last season as well, where Texas
was zero to two against the Dogs and thirteen to
one against everybody else. That's November fifteenth, Texas at Georgia.

(01:14:41):
And remember the Longhorns opened the season at Ohio State.
Number three Penn State at the school I just mentioned
the Buckeyes Ohio State. Penn State hadn't beaten Ohio State
or won the Big Ten championship since twenty sixteen, but
come in as one of the top teams in the country.

(01:15:02):
In the minds, I have a lot of people. Number
two Alabama at Georgia September the twenty seventh, likely starters
at quarterback for Georgia Gunner Stockton and ty Simpson for Alabama,
two names a lot of people will remember. The game
costs with Gunner, Stockton and ty Simpson, came down to

(01:15:24):
the wire with the Tigers and the Tide. And finally
that Texas Ohio State game I mentioned that's the number
one game according to ESPN August thirtieth, two of the
richest programs in the country playing in a rematch of
it down to the wire college football semi final with
two former All World recruits at quarterback, with Texas having

(01:15:46):
arch manning in Ohio State's Julian saying, is it possible
to have a bigger Opening week showdown?

Speaker 3 (01:15:56):
Now?

Speaker 2 (01:15:56):
Granted, I think Clemson should have been on this list,
especially when you got Montana State in Montana and South
Dakota South Dakota and North Dakota State there. But I
think that most of you will agree that some of
those little carrots are just thrown out there the smaller
schools just to try to liven up the conversation show

(01:16:21):
That's easy for me to say, liven up the conversation some,
but the reality is that Clemson LSU game beer or
no beer either way is going to be an electric atmosphere.

(01:16:42):
But I will be the first of men. I was
shocked that on this one hundred day countdown list, Clemson
and LSU did not make the cut given the fact
that it's likely going to be two top ten teams.
As we've noted, Clemson, are you well thought of? LSU

(01:17:03):
also fought as a top ten team, and so from
that standpoint, you know the Tigers, both of them. There
is a lot on the line when they face off
in late August in the Death Valley. All right, with

(01:17:26):
a quick brand will come back. We'll put a bow
on the show right after this.

Speaker 6 (01:17:31):
What have you done for me lately? It's a fair question.
Just don't lose sight of the bigger picture, don't forget history.
Lucky for us at Clemson, the answer to the questions
what have you done for me lately? And what have
you done?

Speaker 3 (01:17:50):
Always are the same. We win.

Speaker 2 (01:18:44):
Final segment on the Thursday, Clemson sports salt Man a
lot of fun catching up with timber Ray. We didn't
get to talk to him last week again. Tonight in
the NBA eight thirty ESPN, the Oklahoma City Thunder looked
to close out the Denver Nugget. The Thunder lead that
series three games to two. Catch that on ESPN. Also tonight,

(01:19:08):
at seven o'clock hour, Carolina Hurricanes have a chance to
close out their series against the Washington Wizards. I'm excuse
the Washington Capitals against the Washington Capitals at seven o'clock.
That's on tn T True TV and wait for it, Max,
which I did a segment the other day complaining about HBO,

(01:19:33):
And guess what word on the street is, they're going
back to HBO Max. They're going back to from whence
they came. They said enough is enough and it's time
for change. We gotta get back to good. What were
we doing? What were we thinking when they came up

(01:19:53):
with just Max? Also tonight, Dallas can close out Winnipeg
at nine thirty on TNT, but catch the Hurricanes at seven.
But as you are well aware, Clemson Tiger Baseball concluding
their regular season. Things get going tonight at six o'clock.

(01:20:15):
That's in Oh, I don't know what T minus ten
minutes or so. They'll get ready to rock and roll
as the number nine Tigers go to Pitt Hard to
believe they haven't fallen further given the skid they've been on,
but competition's been up. I guess thirty eight and fifteen

(01:20:36):
are your Tigers. Fifteen and twelve in the ACC. They'll
face off tomorrow at three pm and then Saturday at one.
All the matchups are on the ACC Network Extra. Clemson
leads the all time series nine to five, dating back
to twenty fourteen. At Pittsburgh, Clemson leads five to three.

(01:20:57):
Aiden kN knock Clemson ace on the bump tonight Lefty
Patrick Gardner for pitt I think Patrick Gardner was a
Clemson basketball player's name. Wasn't that my freshman year? Wasn't
Pat Gardner one of the freshmen from Greenville that played
big man? Didn't play Clemson Long Friday, It'll be Drew

(01:21:18):
Titsworth at three o'clock when Clemson gets going and pitt
has not announced their started for Game two. The Tigers
have a seven to seven road record, Clemson averaging just
seven runs per game while batting two seventysh Gotta get
that number up some four thirty eight slug in percentage,
four h five on base percentage, and sixty steals. I

(01:21:39):
feel like some of those batting numbers have just dwindled.
Each week. The pitching staff has a five point zero
two ERA. That's not spectacular either. Clempson's gotta step it up.
Tiger's got to step it up. It'll be interesting to
see how they look in this series against pitt all Right.

(01:22:02):
One final thing, speaking of the Clemson baseball team, right
handed senior pitcher Lucas Malstead was named one of sixty
seven semi finalists for the Dick Howser Trophy. That's the
award presented each year the top amateur baseball player in
conjunction with the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Malstead is

(01:22:26):
second in the nation in saves, was fifteen, also tied
for the school record. He's also two to ozh this
year with a two point oh SIXYRA, giving up just
two thirty three opponent's batting average with fifty four strikeouts
and just six walks in forty innings. In his two
years in Tigertown, Mostead is six and one with a
three point five to ninety ERA in ninety two and

(01:22:51):
two thirds innings pitched. He has sixteen saves, which is
tied for sixth in Clemson history. In ninety three strikeouts
against twenty one Water in this two years. That is
a four point four to three strikeout to walk ratio.
So congratulations to Luke Maustead and hopefully he'll get a

(01:23:11):
few more saves down the stretch and potentially rewrite the
saves record book for Clemson. It's unfortunate in the past
couple of weeks the Tigers haven't given him, haven't given
him many opportunities. Also, tomorrow, while we are on the air,
Clemson will get regional play started as they are hosting

(01:23:38):
with Kentucky and Northwestern facing off in the early afternoon
and then Clemson and USC Upstate facing off at four
point thirty. So the NCAA Tournament getting underway for the
Clemson Tigers softball team after a really incredible run at

(01:24:02):
the ACC Tournament. Clemson's regional gets started at two o'clock
tomorrow on ESPN Plus with Kentucky Northwestern and then Clemson
and USC Upstate will be on the air on the
ACC network at four thirty at four thirty, so that's
how it'll all shake out heading into Friday with Clemson

(01:24:23):
hosting a regional at mcwater Stadium. All Right, we gotta
get out of here. Thank you again for being a
part of the program. I always appreciate you. Check out
the website clemsonsports talk dot com and we will talk
to you right here on Fox Sports Tradio fourteen hundred
and around the world on the iHeartRadio tomorrow. Until then,
it's always I'll take care now and go Tigers.