College Football Playoff Game Thread - ND/Clem & Bama/Okla

Deathofthebambino

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Peyton wasn’t even the clear-cut #1 pick — remember Ryan Leaf?




Others here know more than I do about Xs and Os, but my understanding is that NFL coaches have copied some elements of the spread (getting the QB out from under center, lots of 4-5 WR sets, etc.) but are demanding as much as ever from QBs in terms of making complex reads and progressions — which the college spread systems are designed to avoid forcing the QB to do.

Then again, maybe the difficulty of that transition is overstated. Other than Bortles, has there been a QB drafted in the top 5 in the past decade who was a bust for reasons other than injury?
I guess it depends on your definition of bust. I think Mariota and Winston are starting to show some serious warts, Winston lost his job to Fitzpatrick this year. Neither of them has really done much to change the fortunes of their franchise, and may be setting them back. Jury is definitely still out on Darnold and Trubisky, IMO. I'm personally not very high on either of them. Even when healthy, I wouldn't same Sam Bradford ever lived up to the promise of a #1 pick. For a #5 pick, I would definitely consider Sanchez a bust. I'm not sure how his career has been all that much different from Bortles.

If you limit it to the top 5, that leaves you with Cam Newton and Stafford, who I think have been worth their draft selections.

If you got to the top 10, you add in Jake Locker, Blaine Gabbert, Josh Allen, Josh Rosen and Mahomes.

I think the more interesting thing is how few QB's have been taken in the top 10 in the past 10 years. Teams seem to be waiting longer, and almost nobody is really hitting on a true great. That's why we're seeing "old timers" like Brees, Brady, Rodgers, Big Ben, Rivers, Eli continue to last in this league, and in most instances, be among the best. Mahomes and maybe Baker Mayfied are really the only couple of guys who seem to have a chance of breaking into that top 5 QB level, and Mahomes is the only one that may actually already be there.
 

DukeSox

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Alabama has more total yards than Clemson
 

DeadlySplitter

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Alabama gave up with 10 minutes left and the clock is running down really fast now. that's something you might not see again with Saban.
 

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I think the more interesting thing is how few QB's have been taken in the top 10 in the past 10 years. Teams seem to be waiting longer, and almost nobody is really hitting on a true great. That's why we're seeing "old timers" like Brees, Brady, Rodgers, Big Ben, Rivers, Eli continue to last in this league, and in most instances, be among the best. Mahomes and maybe Baker Mayfied are really the only couple of guys who seem to have a chance of breaking into that top 5 QB level, and Mahomes is the only one that may actually already be there.
Wentz sure looked like he was heading there before he got hurt. Goff looks pretty damn good too.
 

PaulinMyrBch

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MYRTLE BEACH!!!!
The way Lawrence is reading coverages from an NFL style defense I don’t have many concerns there. Spread style QBs have 1-2 reads at most. Not him.
He truly is a QB that if you give him time to throw, he’s finding a receiver. He also gets rid of it super quick if his first read is open. So he’s easy on the O line that way. But what impresses me is the 3rd and long conversions in both this game and against the Irish. Just unflappable on the biggest downs of the game.
 

Deathofthebambino

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I think a lot of these guys are super happy because now, they don't have to worry about going to class anymore. LOL. It's time to get ready for the combine, sign your agents and get ready for the "real world."
 

Deathofthebambino

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Wentz sure looked like he was heading there before he got hurt. Goff looks pretty damn good too.
Yeah, I meant to include them in the list with Stafford and Newton. I like Wentz, a lot (not just because I'm a massive North Dakota State fan either), but I'm not sure he was top 5 capable with these veterans still hanging around, but I certainly wouldn't say he had no chance. He and Goff are right where they should be, IMO, for going 1 and 2 in the draft. As for Goff's future, I'm not as sold on him yet (even though I have both of them as my quarterbacks on my dynasty team). He seems to have fallen into the perfect situation with the perfect coach, a great running back, and a slew of receivers. However, once Cooper Kupp went down, he started to falter a bit, and it gives me some concern. Is he really a top 10 guy, or is he a guy that was given the keys to a Ferrari and didn't drive it into a wall?
 

Deathofthebambino

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Justyn Ross (the freshman WR for Clemson) had 1 100 yard game coming into the playoffs (he had 3 catches for 103 yards against Georgia Southern in his 2nd game). Then he had 6 catches for 148 yards and 2td against ND and 6 catches for 153 and a td tonight. He finishes with exactly 1,000 yards on the season. That's cool shit. By the way, he was the #45 recruit in the country last year, the #7 wide receiver in the country, and the #1 ranked player to come out of the state of ALABAMA. :)
 

DukeSox

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Duke lost to Clemson by a field goal less than Alabama lost to Clemson.
 

PaulinMyrBch

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Justyn Ross (the freshman WR for Clemson) had 1 100 yard game coming into the playoffs (he had 3 catches for 103 yards against Georgia Southern in his 2nd game). Then he had 6 catches for 148 yards and 2td against ND and 6 catches for 153 and a td tonight. He finishes with exactly 1,000 yards on the season. That's cool shit. By the way, he was the #45 recruit in the country last year, the #7 wide receiver in the country, and the #1 ranked player to come out of the state of ALABAMA. :)
What makes Clemson so good is Dabo rolls 2 sets of wideouts all season. Even did it tonight. Thompson, Overton, etc. are all 2’s. It often leads to a bit of sluggish offense early and they hit the stride later in the season. This year he had Ross on the 2’s in the same position as Tee Higgins. But recently he adjusted rotations so that Tee and Ross were on the field at the same time and often on the same side of the field. Defenses couldn’t handle both of them. It was the difference against ND and again tonight.
 

Deathofthebambino

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What makes Clemson so good is Dabo rolls 2 sets of wideouts all season. Even did it tonight. Thompson, Overton, etc. are all 2’s. It often leads to a bit of sluggish offense early and they hit the stride later in the season. This year he had Ross on the 2’s in the same position as Tee Higgins. But recently he adjusted rotations so that Tee and Ross were on the field at the same time and often on the same side of the field. Defenses couldn’t handle both of them. It was the difference against ND and again tonight.
Even more amazing, like I said, Ross was the #7 wide receiver recruit in the country. The #4 recruit was a kid named Derion Kendrick. He also plays for Clemson, and had 15 catches for 210 yards this season. They are just so, so stacked.
 

Buster Olney the Lonely

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oh boy, that was fun.

I became a Clemson fan back in the early 2000s when I married my wife, a Clemson grad. I loved the colors, the sense of community. Woody Dantzler was the QB, Tommy Bowden was the coach. I thought that the CJ Spiller - James Davis era was the apex of the program. How could you match that team for the excitement they brought? Charlie Whitehurst was the QB. Then, along came Tajh Boyd and Sammy Watkins and I thought those teams were great and so exciting.

I never thought I'd see this. Two nattys in three years. Victories over the Tide. Four straight years of making the playoffs.

Add in the fact that the Sox just won the series. Incredible.
 

DukeSox

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Congrats - very cool. Dabo is right - if he can do it, if they can do it, anyone can do it.
 

PaulinMyrBch

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Even more amazing, like I said, Ross was the #7 wide receiver recruit in the country. The #4 recruit was a kid named Derion Kendrick. He also plays for Clemson, and had 15 catches for 210 yards this season. They are just so, so stacked.
Didn’t realize Kendrick was that highly ranked at WR coming out. He was a high school QB even though he was recruited to be a college WR.
 

PaulinMyrBch

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I’m expecting a close game, too hard to predict and I’m too close to orange to be truly objective. Most of my analysis has a shred of hope sewn in. So I’ll keep what I think will happen to myself and just go full “I told you so” once its done.

I do think this Clemson team is the best one they’ve ever had, but it does not have Deshaun, so I would guess at about 11:30 tonight, we’ll know what, if any, the big game difference is between DW4 and TL16.
We’ve got our answer.
 

BaseballJones

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Duke lost to Clemson by a field goal less than Alabama lost to Clemson.
Syracuse was the only team that really gave Clemson a game this year. Had the game won if not for a silly (deserved, but silly) ineligible man downfield penalty.

Even if SU had won that game, Clemson likely still makes the playoffs and still wins the national championship, I think, but I'm going to give credit to Syracuse today for being Clemson's toughest game of the season.
 
Even if SU had won that game, Clemson likely still makes the playoffs and still wins the national championship, I think, but I'm going to give credit to Syracuse today for being Clemson's toughest game of the season.
The ACC was *so* soft this year, I'm not sure Clemson would have automatically gotten into the playoff with a loss to Syracuse. If it had gotten in with a loss, I think that would have more down to its recent reputation than its resume this year relative to Georgia's or Ohio State's.
 

54thMA

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Congrats to Clemson, a true no doubter.

Kevin Turner is looking down from heaven with a big smile on his face...………….
 

loshjott

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Two yrs ago after their last natty Watson was gone and I believe Alabama was still the preseason #1 going into the 2017 season. Obviously not the case now so will be interesting how they fare as the consensus dominant team with all those expectations.
 

DukeSox

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The ACC was *so* soft this year, I'm not sure Clemson would have automatically gotten into the playoff with a loss to Syracuse. If it had gotten in with a loss, I think that would have more down to its recent reputation than its resume this year relative to Georgia's or Ohio State's.
ACC was 6-5 in bowl games, and 8-3 in bowl games ATS. Get that *so soft* out of here.
 

dcmissle

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Congrats Clemson fans, very impressive. Never related to “pulling a Clemson” because I had never followed them closely enough.

Keep the QB healthy and coaching staff intact, and you have the stick
 

nolasoxfan

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Congrats Clemson fans, very impressive. Never related to “pulling a Clemson” because I had never followed them closely enough.

Keep the QB healthy and coaching staff intact, and you have the stick
“Pulling a Clemson” was losing inexplicably, and taking yourself out of the title hunt in the process.
Dabo seems to have cured the program of that.