ACCN – Page 3 – Syndication Server

Analyst has high praise for Skalski: ‘You wish everybody had his mindset’

It’s safe to say this analyst is a huge fan of Clemson super senior linebacker James Skalski. Mark Packer, co-host of Packer and Durham with Wes Durham on ACC Network, had high praise for Skalski while speaking about him on the show this week. …

It’s safe to say this analyst is a huge fan of Clemson super senior linebacker James Skalski.

Mark Packer, co-host of Packer and Durham with Wes Durham on ACC Network, had high praise for Skalski while speaking about him on the show this week.

Packer expressed his respect for Skalski when he was asked by Durham where he would qualify Skalski in the pantheon of success with Clemson football in its long and storied history.

“He would be up there,” Packer said. “Of course, he’s been there for six years, and every time I see him speak, I just envision him with a whistle around his neck and a baseball hat. I mean, he just looks and sounds like a coach. I don’t know what he’s going to do with his life. He’ll be successful because he’s so passionate. But man, he loves football. I mean, he absolutely loves it. He’d go play if you cut his arm off. He’d be like, ‘C’mon, man, just stitch it up and let’s go. Put some dirt on it, let’s go play.'”

Skalski, who will play in his final game at Clemson on Wednesday when the Tigers face Iowa State in the Cheez-It Bowl, is the only player ever to play in five ACC Championship Games. He won all five with the Tigers from 2016-20.

Skalski’s 56 career games played entering the 2021 season were already tied for ninth-most in school history. He was a first-team All-ACC selection this season, when he led Clemson with 97 total tackles while notching 4.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, six pass breakups and 14 quarterback pressures in 682 snaps across 12 games (12 starts).

The Sharpsburg, Ga., native entered 2021 credited with 210 career tackles (16.0 tackles for loss), 7.5 sacks, seven pass breakups, two fumble recoveries (one he returned 17 yards for a touchdown) and a forced fumble in 1,222 snaps over 56 games (25 starts) from 2016-20.

“Skalski’s been great to watch, and if he goes into coaching, man, how good will he be,” Packer said. “He personifies everything you want in a coach. He loves the game, he’s intense, attention to detail, does all the work. The success he’s had in terms of just ask him, ‘Hey, have you won any rings?’ He’ll put up both hands and they’re covered in all kinds of diamonds.

“He has been great for Clemson Football. He’s been great for college football, because he is a guy that got his degrees and loves going to school, loves being there, wants to play. You wish everybody had his mindset.”

Clemson Variety & Frame is doing their part to help bring you some classic new barware and help one of the local businesses that helps make Clemson special.

Order your Nick’s barware and do your part to help. #SaveNicks

Analysts weigh in on Clemson having no opt-outs for Cheez-It Bowl

During a press conference on Sunday, Clemson super senior linebacker James Skalski explained why the Tigers didn’t have any players opt out of their Cheez-It Bowl matchup against Iowa State on Wednesday at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla. “We …

“We get to play football,” Skalski said. “Yeah, we’ve been to the playoffs and on bigger stages, but to us, we get to go play a game again. We get a chance to go represent Clemson and show everyone what we can do, including ourselves. I think we all just love playing ball, and we love being together.”

On Monday, during the Packer and Durham show on the ACC Network, co-hosts Mark Packer and Wes Durham discussed Skalski’s comments and weighed in on Clemson having no opt-outs for the Cheez-It Bowl.

Durham: “Another positive from the weekend — no Clemson opt outs for the Cheez-It Game later this week in Orlando. That’s the surprising piece for a program like this, Pack. Because programs that didn’t have nearly the success Clemson’s had the last four or five years, you’d think, OK, they’re going to quote ‘a regular bowl game,’ maybe the Tigers wouldn’t be interested. Not the case. Not the case at all.”

Packer: “That’s what Skalski was talking about — the culture of this program that Dabo has built, these dudes want to play ball. So, to me, that is a sign. When you’re used to playing in the Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Cotton Bowl — when you’re one of those dudes, all of a sudden they say, ‘Hey, you’re going to the Cheez-It Bowl.’ The natural response would’ve been, ‘Ah, who wants to go to the Cheez-It Bowl?’ Not these dudes. They want to play football.”

Is this season one of Swinney’s best coaching jobs? Analysts weigh in

Even in a “down” season for Clemson – relatively speaking for a program that has won six straight ACC Championships and made six consecutive appearances in the College Football Playoff – Dabo Swinney has still managed to lead his team to eight wins …

Even in a “down” season for Clemson — relatively speaking for a program that has won six straight ACC Championships and made six consecutive appearances in the College Football Playoff — Dabo Swinney has still managed to lead his team to eight wins thus far in 2021 and keep the Tigers’ hopes of reaching a seventh straight ACC Championship Game alive.

On The Huddle on the ACC Network following Clemson’s 48-27 victory over No. 10 Wake Forest on Saturday, ACCN analysts Mark Richt, Eric Mac Lain and E.J. Manuel weighed in on whether this season represents one of the best coaching jobs of Swinney’s career, considering the offensive struggles, the injuries that the Tigers have endured and the fact they still have the chance to get 10 wins in spite of all that.

Richt: “He’s definitely had to coach harder. Every time you coach a game that’s a close, tight game, there’s a lot of tight decisions that they have to make. He’s had to spend time defending his coaches, he’s had to spend time defending his players. He’s stayed true to everybody on the staff, everybody on his team, stayed positive. It just takes a lot more energy to play those types of games that they’ve been playing. So, I would have to agree with that statement (that it’s one of the best coaching jobs of Swinney’s career).”

Mac Lain: “Coach, you brought that up early in the year. You said listen – this staff, these players, they’re going to be in really uncomfortable situations that they quite frankly have never been in before. So, I don’t think (the statement), when you really dive into it, I don’t think it’s too far off.”

Manuel: “I don’t think it is either. Look, sometimes you can’t be perfect, and I actually think this might be the best thing for this program to understand hey, look, we can be down but we can still fight and get wins and maybe even still squeak a way into the ACC Championship. Imagine that, guys. We talk about the start of the season, the first four or five games for this team, would they be in the ACC Championship? I don’t think anybody thought that. But there’s still a chance.”

Clemson Variety & Frame is doing their part to help bring you some classic new barware and help one of the local businesses that helps make Clemson special.

Order your Nick’s barware and do your part to help. #SaveNicks

Former ACC, SEC coach on Uiagalelei: ‘You just shake your head’

Last season, Clemson quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei shined against Boston College when making his first career start on Oct. 31, 2020. Then a true freshman, Uiagalelei completed 30-of-41 passes for 342 yards with two passing touchdowns and no …

Last season, Clemson quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei shined against Boston College when making his first career start on Oct. 31, 2020.

Then a true freshman, Uiagalelei completed 30-of-41 passes for 342 yards with two passing touchdowns and no interceptions while also rushing six times for 25 yards with a rushing touchdown. He led Clemson to the largest comeback in Memorial Stadium history (18 points) in that game, earning ACC Rookie of the Week honors and sharing team offensive player of the game honors.

On Saturday night, Uiagalelei faced BC for the second time in his career and completed 13-of-28 passes for 207 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. He also had 50 rushing yards on 12 carries in the Tigers’ 19-13 win at Death Valley.

During the ACC Network’s “The Huddle” show, former Georgia and Miami head coach and current ACCN analyst Mark Richt spoke about Uiagalelei’s performance against BC in 2021 as compared to 2020.

“It’s just one of those games where you just shake your head and you wonder what the issue is,” Richt said. “Why would a guy be so accurate and so dynamic a year ago playing BC, then all of a sudden this year, he can hardly hit the broad side of a barn. I don’t know if he’s got the yips now or what, but they better solve it pretty quick or they’re going to have a bunch of barn burners like this.”

Clemson Variety & Frame is doing their part to help bring you some classic new barware and help one of the local businesses that helps make Clemson special.

Order your Nick’s barware and do your part to help. #SaveNicks

Mark Packer sees opportunity for Wolfpack to ‘pull off the surprise’ against Tigers

During Friday’s edition of the Packer and Durham show on the ACC Network, co-hosts Mark Packer and Wes Durham discussed Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. game between ninth-ranked Clemson and NC State at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, N.C. “Clemson, by the …

During Friday’s edition of the Packer and Durham show on the ACC Network, co-hosts Mark Packer and Wes Durham discussed Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. game between ninth-ranked Clemson and NC State at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, N.C.

“Clemson, by the way, has won 36 consecutive games against unranked teams,” Packer said. “That is the second-longest streak in the country behind Alabama, who by the way has won 99 in a row against unranked teams, which is an amazing stat. Incredible.”

Durham expects the Wolfpack faithful to create a raucous environment for the matchup between the ACC Atlantic Division foes.

“Clemson-NC State, the one thing you know Dabo’s talked to his team about, and he mentioned it with you,” Durham said to Packer. “The environment at Carter-Finley tomorrow should be spectacular for the Wolfpack and Tigers, and Clemson knows they’ll get it all day from the Wolfpack partisans, for sure.”

If there is going to be chaos in the Atlantic Division this year, as opposed to just the annual Coastal Division chaos, Packer believes NC State has to be the one to shake things up in the Atlantic by beating Clemson on Saturday.

The Tigers enter the game as a 10-point favorite.

“Tremendous game,” Packer said. “As we talked about, the crazy Coastal all the time. The crazy Coastal. You never can figure it out. Clemson basically has dominated the Atlantic. It’s been a Clemson-Florida State thing for over a decade. But it takes one game, one game only, to all of a sudden knock the whole craziness back over to the Atlantic side.

“And I’ve told you before, Wes, I think it’s this game. If it’s going to be crazy in the Atlantic, NC State has to beat Clemson. And I know that the Wolfpack nation is sick and tired — 15 of 16, eight in a row. There have been a couple close calls in the past. Clemson’s always seemed to have their number. But with that offense struggling, there could be an opportunity for NC State to pull off the surprise tomorrow as a double-digit underdog.”

Clemson Variety & Frame is doing their part to help bring you some classic new barware and help one of the local businesses that helps make Clemson special.

Order your Nick’s barware and do your part to help. #SaveNicks

Swinney: Clemson-UGA matchup ‘what you dream about as a kid’

Dabo Swinney and Clemson try to treat every game with the same mindset, like it’s the most important game of the season because it’s the game they are playing that particular week. But even Swinney admits there is added excitement surrounding the …

Dabo Swinney and Clemson try to treat every game with the same mindset, like it’s the most important game of the season because it’s the game they are playing that particular week.

But even Swinney admits there is added excitement surrounding the third-ranked Tigers’ season-opener against No. 5 Georgia on Sept. 4 in Charlotte.

“It’s just so exciting,” Clemson’s head coach said in an interview with Kelsey Riggs and Eric Mac Lain during the ACC Network’s ACC Football Road Trip show at Clemson. “You can just kind of feel it in the air. And then you throw in the fact that you’re playing a team that’s good enough to win the national championship — and we think we’re a pretty good team — it’s just even more so.”

ESPN’s College GameDay will broadcast live from Charlotte ahead of the highly anticipated showdown between the Tigers and Bulldogs, which kicks off at 7:30 p.m. at Bank of America Stadium and will be televised on ABC.

There has been no shortage of hype and hoopla heading into the game between two teams hoping to contend for a national championship in 2021, and it’s the type of dream matchup that Swinney embraces as a coach and knows his players do, too.

“It’s been fun,” he said. “It creates a lot of conversation. You’ve got GameDay and all that stuff right out of the gate. You’re going to Charlotte, it’s national TV. I mean, it’s awesome. It’s what you dream about as a kid, and as a coach, you love these moments. So, we’re excited about it. And this is two teams that have big-time aspirations, and who knows, could play again down the road somewhere.”

One of the biggest challenges for Swinney and the Tigers in preparing for the game against the Bulldogs is the fact that while each team has had an entire offseason to get ready for it, neither team really knows what to expect from the other and there’s so many unknowns going into a season opener like this one.

“There’s so much,” Swinney said. “You get 12 days. You think about that — 300 and something days, all we’ve got is kind of each other. It’s so different from all the other sports. Basketball, baseball, you got to play a million games. But in football you get 12 days that you have on a schedule, and the rest of the year is spent preparing for those 12 days. And you get in the rhythm of the season, you get in a routine.

“But that first game, it seems like it takes forever to get here. There’s so much to do. There’s the most unknowns of any time of your season. You never have this much time to prepare. You know the least at any time because you’re basing everything on last year and last year’s people. So, there’s just so much. It’s the first game for a lot of people. Lot of first-game reminders and procedures and sideline organization and just a lot to get ready for.”

Clemson Variety & Frame is doing their part to help bring you some classic new barware and help one of the local businesses that helps make Clemson special.

Order your Nick’s barware and do your part to help. #SaveNicks