Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Toss Up: Boston College-Clemson

In honor of what will soon become a split Tiger-Eagles household in a few short months, we play a game of Toss Up ...


Toss Up - Better backfield - Spiller/Davis or Haden/Harris?

Jeff: This is a no brainer. The Spiller/Davis combo in Clemson's backfield is feared throughout the country. Meanwhile, no one outside of the ACC knows who either Haden or Harris are. If CJ Spiller or James Davis played for BC, they would average well over 100 yards per game and would be talked about in the Heisman conversation. Everyone knows that Clemson has no O-line.

Brian: Clemson doesn’t have an offensive line, that’s why I’m taking Haden and Harris. James Davis is disgruntled at the firing of coach Tommy Bowden and C.J. Spiller hasn’t played in Clemson’s last seven quarters. BC’s defense is one of the best in the nation against the run and should be able to limit the big plays from either Spiller or Davis. This is probably a push but I think over the course of these guys careers, Haden and Harris will certainly make a name for themselves on the Heights.


Toss Up - Better QB depth chart - Cullen Harper and Willy Korn or Chris Crane and Dominique Davis?

Brian: It’s hard to find many Chris Crane fans in Chestnut Hill at this point, but at the same time, it’s hard to find many Cullen Harper fans in Clemson, SC. It’s funny to think about all those Tiger fans last year that yelled back at us for wearing Ryan for Heisman shirts. "Ryan for Heisman??? Try Harper for Heisman???" A 1:1 touchdown to interception ratio is extremely pedestrian, and both Harper and Crane are under 1:1 with crane almost at 1:2 if he didn’t pick up another touchdown to Momah in garbage time against North Carolina. So both our starters suck, and we still don’t know much about Davis or Korn, so I’m going to go with record. Crane/Davis are 5-2 and Harper/Korn are 3-4, and Clemson only has 1 Division I-A win on the season. I’m going with the Eagles.

Jeff: I'm going to have to go with Clemson here. I'll say Crane and Harper are a push, but despite the fact that we haven't seen much game action from either, I'd rather have the highly recruited Willy Korn than Dominique Davis. Harper is still playing at Clemson because of what he's done in the past. Korn would already be starting at BC.


Toss Up - Better coach – William Christopher "Dabo" Swinney or Jeff Jagodzinski?

Jeff: Swinney for sure. He has already taken the team to a children’s hospital instead of practicing. Jags has probably heard about this and is wondering what the Clemson players are doing missing a practice given their terrible record but Jags just doesn't understand how complex modern college coaching is and Dabo is the hottest young coach in the country and will bring Clemson back to prominence.

Brian: This shouldn’t even be a question. Swinney is only going to be the Clemson coach for 5 more games and he’ll be hard pressed to come out of those games with a winning record. I’m sure he’ll parlay this experience with a nice head coaching gig somewhere next year as he moves aside for some high profile coach like Will Muschamp, but I highly doubt that it will be with a BCS conference team. Jags is 16-5 as the Eagles head coach and isn’t going anywhere. While Swinney might be the better recruiter, Jags is clearly the better coach.


Toss Up - More explosive - Jacoby Ford or Jeff Smith?

Brian: The answer is clearly Jeff Smith. Clemson fans know this first hand.

Jeff: Jacoby Ford's 4.12 40 time will smoke Jeff Smith's combine time. When Ford touches the ball its a potential touchdown. When Smith touches the ball its only a potential touchdown if BC is playing Kent State.


Toss Up - Better fans - Clemson or Boston College?

Jeff: BC fans cannot coordinate what to wear to home games nor do they travel to away games so Clemson wins here. Clemson packs 80,000+ in for home games and as you'll see Saturday, they travel plenty of fans for away games as well.

Brian: Agreed that the better fans follow the Clemson Tigers. I can’t really argue that point. However, Clemson also takes the cake for the most delusional fans. See below.


Toss Up - Who wins the BCS national championship game first? Clemson or Boston College

Brian: I’m going with Boston College here. We’ve already been to 1 more ACC Championship Game than Clemson has already, and Clemson has to go through Boston College to win the Atlantic (something they haven’t been able to do in their last three tries). The Tigers have failed to win the Atlantic the last three years despite having the Atlantic all but served up to them on a platter – Florida State has been down, little Wake Forest has bubbled up, and Maryland has one winning season in their last four seasons. Besides, it’s downright comical to hear Tigers fans at the beginning of the season because they think their team is always ACC Championship and BCS National Championship Game bound. A lot of fans still living off of 1981.

Jeff: I hate to answer this question but the answer is Clemson. Someone is going to figure out how to get something out of all the talent they have down there and run through the ACC one year en route to the BCS national championship game.


Last one, Toss Up - The O'Rourke-McFadden Trophy - cool new tradition or a reach?

Jeff: I don't think I would say cool yet but I would definitely say it is a nice effort by the BC gridiron club. As we'll see in November Big Ten games, they have various trophies for everything that is even close to a rivalry game. These Big Ten games have been going on a lot longer than just four years but every tradition must start somewhere.

Brian: This is a reach. We’ve only played 17 games against the Tigers all time and Clemson hasn’t beaten us since 1958. If we are going to come up with a new tradition, why not go with a team that we have played in 15 of the last 16 years – Virginia Tech. Sure the Eagles went 3-8 against the Hokies in the Big East, but since then we have gone 3-2 and won the last 3 regular season meetings. Or create a trophy when we renew our series with Syracuse in a few years. But Clemson? I’m not buying this.

Jeff: The point that Clemson would win this game Saturday if it were played on paper and would also have only 1 loss heading into it. But games aren't played on paper and I fully expect a BC victory Saturday.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

While I agree that a bigger rivalry exists between BC and Virginia Tech, especially considering last year's Miracle in Blacksburg and the ACC Championshp, I do like the idea of a growing rivalry between BC and Clemson. The games between BC and Clemson the last three years have been some of my most memorable as a student and I know that this weekend won't fail to live up to expectations. The ACC powers that be also seem to be trying to turn BC- Clemson into a rivalry. I think in the end it will be a good thing for both programs and will make for great games in the future.

Raj said...

Brian is suffering from delusion. Some of your answers were downright comical. I hate clemson as much as the next guy, but backfield of harris and haden. If the question were- who was most likely to get hurt, i think we'd win that one.

And Clemson- BCS National Championship- hah, not in this conference.
Also coaching question- jags hasnt won me over yet. A very winnable game last week and we get embarassed. And dont go getting all "we didnt have to win that game" on me. Everytime we step out on the field, its a must win. For the school, for the fans, for the program....

Brian said...

you can't run the ball with a paper thin offensive line ...

might i add raj that the game against clemson is the second least important game remaining (notre dame being the least important).