Tag: ESPN College GameDay

Desmond Howard has a message for Clemson fans

On ESPN’s College GameDay show Saturday morning, there was a discussion about whether Clemson can flip the switch after a disappointing start to its 2021 season. The Tigers (2-2, 1-1 ACC) enter Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. game against Boston College at …

On ESPN’s College GameDay show Saturday morning, there was a discussion about whether Clemson can flip the switch after a disappointing start to its 2021 season.

The Tigers (2-2, 1-1 ACC) enter Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. game against Boston College at Death Valley having lost two games in the month of September for the first time since 2014.

Heading into Week 5, Clemson’s offense ranks 122nd nationally in total offense (296 yards per game). After beginning the season at No. 3 in the AP Poll, the Tigers came into this weekend ranked 25th – their first time outside of the top 10 since 2015.

ESPN college football analyst Desmond Howard, a former Heisman Trophy winner who played for Michigan before an 11-year NFL career, had a message for Clemson fans during the College GameDay segment on Dabo Swinney’s program.

“I just want to tell the Clemson Tigers fans that Clemson will be OK – just not this season,” he said. “It’s going to be a rough season.”

Howard pointed to Clemson’s offensive line, combined with the departures of stars like Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne from a year ago, as why he thinks it will be a turbulent season for the Tigers the rest of the way.

“It started in the trenches,” he said. “When you had to start (a true freshman in Marcus Tate) on the offensive line, especially against this Georgia defense, it was baptism by fire. And then they weren’t able to gel to get their confidence, hoping they had a guard to play center. They’re trying to find their way. They’re trying to find an identity. When you lose the type of talent that they lost in the draft, and then you start with almost from scratch on the offensive line that isn’t used to playing together, these are some of the issues and problems that you’re going to have. So, this year’s going to be a rough year for the Clemson Tigers.”

Howard expects Swinney and the Tigers to get things turned around, but not until next year.

“Dabo hasn’t forgotten how to coach,” he said. “They’re going to be OK – just not in 2021.”

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U.S. Ryder Cup team members announce ESPN College GameDay guest picker for Arkansas vs. Georgia

There’s more to the video than a fun announcement.

ESPN’s College GameDay spent Saturday morning in beautiful Athens, Georgia, one of America’s best college towns ahead of today’s Southeastern Conference clash between the University of Georgia and the University of Arkansas.

Joining the crew of Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, David Pollack and Lee Corso was Georgia Bulldog Harris English, fresh off his role in the U.S. Ryder Cup team’s resounding 19-9 victory last weekend over Team Europe.

All the team members, including Captain Steve Stricker and his assistant captains, participated in a promo video that was a home run. It showed Xander Schauffele, who attended San Diego State, still puffing away on his victory cigar in a lounge chair, Daniel Berger and Brooks Koepka, who was wearing a paper bag over his head, making fun of their alma mater, Florida State, and their winless season, and a pair of Texans in Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler giving the “Hook’em horns” sign.

English isn’t the first golfer to be chosen as a guest picker. At the 2020 Masters in November, the GameDay crew set up at Augusta National’s Par-3 Course with Jack Nicklaus, who won the individual national title at Ohio State. ESPN just so happened to own the early-round broadcast rights to the Masters, but ESPN hasn’t held the rights to the PGA Tour since 2006. That’s about to change in a few months. The PGA Tour struck a nine-year rights deal with ESPN for digital rights between 2022 and 2030, which is designed to deliver more video content and reach a broader audience.

“Think about the Tour being promoted on ESPN and their digital families, which is north of 50 million unique viewers from what we have today,” said PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan at time of the announcement.

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Consider this an early sign of what is to come: a larger presence for golf on “The Worldwide Leader in Sports,” which has a way of trumpeting its partners and overlooking those entities that it doesn’t have a financial incentive to promote.

Consider hearing English say, “Go Dawgs,” on Saturday as a signal that golf is back in ESPN’s good graces for the foreseeable future.

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Would Herbstreit be ‘shocked’ if Clemson loses another game?

Few people in the national media know the Clemson program, as well as Kirk Herbstreit, does. For Clemson, this season most likely won’t end in a College Football Playoff appearance, but Herbstreit isn’t buying that it’s necessarily over. The Tigers …

Few people in the national media know the Clemson program, as well as Kirk Herbstreit, does.

For Clemson, this season most likely won’t end in a College Football Playoff appearance, but Herbstreit isn’t buying that it’s necessarily over.

The Tigers enter Saturday’s matchup vulnerable. Clemson is 2-2 for the first time in October since 2014. Tonight, Clemson has a 30-game winning streak at Memorial Stadium on the line against a 4-0 Boston College team.

“I don’t know if they play anybody on their schedule that makes them feel like they take the field every Saturday and they don’t have a chance to win,” he said on the set of ESPN’s College GameDay Saturday morning. “It’s not the teams that we’ve seen in recent years.”

“I don’t think this season is over for Clemson. I think it’s almost as if they’re gonna lose five games. I’d be shocked if they lose another game, personally.”

As Swinney said this past Tuesday, he knows what Clemson’s issues are and so does the rest of the world. 

The Tigers haven’t been able to get any push up front or block enough consistently to create any sort of running lanes. Even with Will Shipley sidelined and Lyn-J Dixon leaving the program, it doesn’t matter. It’s hard for anyone to effectively run the football behind Clemson’s offensive line.

“Now they got Will Shipley, their running back is out. Lyn-J Dixon is in the transfer portal. They’re down to Kobe Pace, Darien Rencher may get a chance today, but the offensive line, no matter who’s back there, has had issues,” Herbstreit said. “D.J. (Uiagalelei) is going to have to continue to be a willing runner, just like Deshaun Waston, just like Trevor Lawrence, just like Tajh Boyd. He has to run the ball. He has a little bit more, eight or nine carries the last couple of weeks.”

Herbstreit’s solution could seemingly be in the cards for Tony Elliott and the Tigers as Clemson looks to its straighten out its offensive woes Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

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GameDay crew dishes on state of Clemson’s program: ‘These guys are pissed’

On the first hour of this Saturday’s version of ESPN’s College GameDay, the trio of David Pollack, Desmond Howard and Kirk Herbstreit each dished their thoughts out on the state of Clemson’s program and where the Tigers go from here. Leading up to …

On the first hour of this Saturday’s version of ESPN’s College GameDay, the trio of David Pollack, Desmond Howard and Kirk Herbstreit each dished their thoughts out on the state of Clemson’s program and where the Tigers go from here.

Leading up to today’s game against NC State, ESPN set forth a segment that showed Matt Bockhort’s fiery comments from earlier this week. It resonated with the crew and summarizes the level of frustration that has boiled up until this point.

“If I’m Dabo, all these years I’ve had to manufacture so many bad things against me like these guys are pissed now,” Pollack said. “These guys are literally upset. They have something to be upset about. Usually, it’s like ‘Hey we’re gonna go to the natty. We’re gonna be in the final four, the ACC stinks.’ Dabo’s got everything he needs right now. Listen, do they need to get some things fixed? 100 percent. The offensive line has to get better. I think the quarterback run game will be more and more a part of this offense. But right now, the best thing about this team is they’re gonna be pissed off.”

As for Howard, the former Heisman winner believes that D.J. Uiagalelei “almost refuses to run.” That he’s hesitant and won’t tuck the ball and run unless instructed otherwise by his offensive coordinator, Tony Elliott. 

Howard has been concerned with Clemson’s offense and he hasn’t been shy about sharing that opinion throughout. However, he does love what he’s seen from Bockhorst and his willingness to hold others around him accountable.

“I just love the way that Matt Bockhorst said, ‘Listen, I’m not here to make friends.’ He’s now starting to hold his teammates accountable,” Howard said. “When Dabo Swinney did a press conference he said, “Yeah, he’s playing a lot of football here. He’s seen the way we win. He knows the standard.’ So now, he’s gonna hold his teammates accountable. I love that. I hope he shows himself today when they play NC State, though.”

As for Herbstreit, he believes Clemson’s issues offensively go beyond this season and into last, where they were masked by two first-round picks, who now play for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“Clemson’s had some years where they’ve struggled early,” Herbstreit said. “I think Tony Elliott, what I’ve seen him do, is they go back to the practice and simplify, help the offensive line out and they go fast. I think we’ll see more tempo, more to try to accelerate, try to get NC. State on their heels.

“But there are real issues here with this offensive line. This was an issue last year. It was hidden because you had Travis Etienne, you had Trevor Lawrence and they threw the ball out more than they were able to run. They cannot run the ball for the second year in a row as we sit here right now. You got NC State, if they’re smart, they’re gonna set back and coverage and not let [Joseph] Ngata…make them beat you vertically and just see if they can run the ball and move the ball down the field.”

Clemson’s offense will try to right the ship when the Tigers take on NC State (2-1, 0-0 ACC) today at 3:30 p.m. at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, N.C.

Time to get the latest Clemson apparel to show your Tiger pride. Order your officially licensed Clemson gear right here!

GameDay crew assesses state of Ohio State football program

ESPN’s College GameDay crew assessed the state of Ohio State’s program, following a loss at home to No. 4 Oregon. “Ohio State just doesn’t look like itself, ” Rece Davis said. Davis went on about the Buckeyes not being able to stop the run. …

ESPN’s College GameDay crew assessed the state of Ohio State’s program, following a loss at home to No. 4 Oregon.

“Ohio State just doesn’t look like itself, ” Rece Davis said.

Davis went on about the Buckeyes not being able to stop the run. Additionally, they’ve allowed a running back to go over 160 yards in each of their first two games and haven’t been able to get much pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

Lee Corso didn’t exactly agree with Davis, despite the loss to Oregon. The legendary coach believes that the Big 10 East Division still runs through Columbus and he said this on the set of College GameDay, which is in University Park (PA.) for Penn State’s matchup against Auburn at 7:30 p.m. tonight.

“They don’t play anybody on their schedule as talented and as skilled as Oregon and that includes Penn State,” Corso said. “Any problems they have, the offense will take care of it. That’s it.”

Kirk Herbstreit alluded to Ohio State head coach Ryan Day’s press conference earlier this week in which he insinuated that this wasn’t just a bad day at the office for Ohio State in Week 2, that this has been a pattern since Jeff Hafley left for Boston College.

“Ohio State has been trying to figure out things ever since,” Herbstreit said.

Day elected to remove Kerry Combs as the team’s defensive play-caller after the Buckeyes have given up a combined 66 points over the first two games.

Herbstreit was very critical of Ohio State’s defensive approach.

“They play a very simple defense, one high safety, it’s either Cover 3 or Cover 1,” he said. “Offensive coordinators are understanding how to manipulate that defense. Oregon [offensive coordinator] Joe Moorhead did an amazing job. As far as gap integrity, the linebackers and safeties, it’s non-existent. Their eyes are everywhere.

“Ohio State to me, how they addressed it this week is Ryan Day took his butt down to the defense. He’s basically the offensive coordinator, he’s now coaching the defense. I’m interested to see if Matt Barnes, the secondary coach, can help out a little more. I don’t even care who calls the defense because they all do. I want to see the adjustments that are made, I’d simplify. Get their eyes right. It’s really unsound defense right now.”

While Herbstreit was very critical of Ohio State’s defense, Desmond Howard had some praise for what they’ve been able to accomplish on the offensive end. Howard is a big believer in Day as a play-caller and his ability to make in-game adjustments.

Herbstreit believes Ohio State’s offense, led by C.J. Stroud, has great potential. While Howard chimed in that the Buckeyes have the best receiver corps in the nation.

The Buckeyes haven’t played a complete game yet and that will have to change soon. Time will certainly tell as Ohio State looks to get back on track against Tulsa at 3:30 p.m.

Time to get the latest Clemson apparel to show your Tiger pride. Order your officially licensed Clemson gear right here!

College GameDay picks Auburn vs Penn State

Do you agree with the experts?

Gameday has finally arrived.

Auburn will take on Penn State tonight at 6:30pm CT in Penn State’s annual white out game. The Nittany Lions are 8-8 all time in their white out games.

Lee Corso of College Gameday brought up during today’s broadcast that. Penn State has lost their last five games to SEC opponents. Auburn is no slouch, and according to Corso, the Tigers have a legitimate shot in this game.

College Gameday went through their picks for the marquee matchup between no. 22 Auburn and no. 10 Penn State. Let’s take a look at what the crew thinks about this game.

Does Desmond Howard think Clemson’s O-line can fix its issues?

Clemson’s offensive line clearly struggled mightily against a stout Georgia defense in the Tigers’ 10-3 loss to the Bulldogs last Saturday in Charlotte. Clemson had just 2 yards rushing, its fewest in a game under Dabo Swinney and the fourth-fewest …

Clemson’s offensive line clearly struggled mightily against a stout Georgia defense in the Tigers’ 10-3 loss to the Bulldogs last Saturday in Charlotte.

Clemson had just 2 yards rushing, its fewest in a game under Dabo Swinney and the fourth-fewest in school history, and the team’s longest rush went for 10 yards.

Meanwhile, the Tigers allowed seven sacks, the most in a game under Swinney.

So, does ESPN college football analyst Desmond Howard believe Clemson’s O-line can correct its issues going forward in the season?

“When I look at Clemson’s offensive line, I think that’s a fixable issue right now,” Howard said Saturday morning on ESPN’s College GameDay. “They started two freshmen. Even the center (Matt Bockhorst), it was his first game starting (at center). He played at guard a year ago. So, I think Tony Elliott and those guys, they’ll be OK. If you’re a Tigers fan, all is well because you will not run into a defense like that the rest of the regular season, I guarantee you that.”

Added Howard when asked if Clemson’s O-line is a problem: “Yeah, it’s a problem. But I think they can fix that because these guys only have 42 combined starts. Very young, inexperienced group. I think they’ll be OK going forward.”

The Tigers return to action at 5 p.m. today when they host South Carolina State at Death Valley. The game will be televised on the ACC Network.

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Herbstreit pinpoints ‘most concerning thing’ about Clemson’s loss to UGA

In Kirk Herbstreit’s mind, what was the most concerning aspect for Clemson in its 10-3 loss to Georgia last Saturday? ESPN’s lead college football analyst doesn’t believe it’s the offensive line, despite the fact the Tigers allowed seven sacks and …

In Kirk Herbstreit’s mind, what was the most concerning aspect for Clemson in its 10-3 loss to Georgia last Saturday?

ESPN’s lead college football analyst doesn’t believe it’s the offensive line, despite the fact the Tigers allowed seven sacks and rushed for just 2 yards against the Bulldogs.

Instead, Herbstreit believes it’s the fact that quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei was barely involved in the running game.

“The most concerning thing was the quarterback not willing to run the football,” Herbstreit said Saturday morning on ESPN’s College GameDay. “That’s what you want to see in that Clemson offense when they get into bigger games. D.J.’s got to have a willingness when it’s there – especially when teams are playing Man Under on third down – there’s a lot of running lanes.”

Added Herbstreit on Clemson’s O-line play against UGA: “That was not a strength of theirs a year ago, and now they’re breaking in a few new starters. And to me, guys, it looks like everybody they play, they’re going to be more physical than. You look at their schedule, they’re going to be able to get their mojo back.”

The Tigers return to action at 5 p.m. today when they host South Carolina State at Death Valley. The game will be televised on the ACC Network.

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Big 12 Football: Week 2 predictions for each team

How will the Big 12 fare in week two?

The Big 12 as a whole had a solid start to the 2021 college football season, with only one team losing in Week 1.

Believe it or not, Kansas was not the culprit responsible for the conference’s lone loss as they not only picked up their first win in two years, but they stormed the field in exciting fashion.

The lone loss was to an unranked Maryland team, and no it was not Texas. West Virginia, otherwise known as the “Certified Loser Boys” according to Maryland’s Twitter, lost by just six points in a very back and forth game that saw the Mountaineers leading at halftime.

Only four schools in the Big 12 did not have games decided by single digits. Texas blew out No. 23 Louisiana by 20 points, Kansas State chopped down the tree against Stanford beating them by 17, Texas Tech defeated Houston by 17 points, and TCU throttled a school that majority of America does not know how to pronounce anyway, when they beat Duquesne by 42.

The rest of the conference were in some nail-biters, but we will just have to give them the benefit of the doubt and say it was first game jitters, not the fact their Heisman candidates underperformed horrendously.

A few teams are hoping to redeem themselves and have a much better showing in Week 2. I’ll do my best to predict how each Big 12 matchup could end this week.

Herbstreit: Bulldogs better be ready for ‘angry’ Clemson defense

The last time Clemson’s defense took the field, the Tigers allowed 49 points and 639 total yards in their 49-28 loss to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, 2021. That performance has been on the …

The last time Clemson’s defense took the field, the Tigers allowed 49 points and 639 total yards in their 49-28 loss to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, 2021.

That performance has been on the collective mind of Brent Venables’ unit since that night, and ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit believes it’s why Clemson’s defense is more hungry than just about anybody to get back on the field at 7:30 p.m. Saturday night when the third-ranked Tigers battle the No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs in Charlotte.

“Clemson has spent eighth months getting this better — communication, tackling,” Herbstreit said during ESPN’s College GameDay show Saturday morning. “There may not be, other than LSU, a team that’s chomping at the bit more to get back out on the field after a performance from 2020 than this Clemson defense.”

Herbstreit believes Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken will try to take a page out of Ohio State head coach Ryan Day’s playbook when it comes to how to attack Venables’ defense.

“What I’m looking at is it’s not just about Justin Fields and Trey Sermon and they’re very talented — it was the way Ryan Day did it,” Herbstreit said. “Now you’ve had all these other offensive coordinators have had a chance to try to study it and try to figure out. It’s changing formations, it’s not allowing them to get set, creating confusion with your tempo, going fast, going slow …

“Brent Venables, one of the best defensive lines in the game. A long history in his 11 years of being at Clemson, having dominating defenses. This is an outlier. The reason we bring it up is this is the last time we saw it, and you’ve got to think Todd Monken, Georgia’s offensive coordinator, he’s going to be looking at this trying to see how can we try to exploit this defense the same way?”

With the CFP semifinal showing against Ohio State in mind, Herbstreit expects Clemson’s defense to play like a mad unit when they go up against Georgia on Saturday night at Bank of America Stadium.

“Nine new starters on that defense a year ago,” Herbstreit said. “Everybody’s back this year. Off of that performance, the experience that they have, I think you’re going to see an angry defense take the field, a more experienced defense take the field. Georgia better be ready, because I think that will not be on display tonight for Clemson’s defense.”

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