Tag: Get Up!

Dinich is changing her tune on Clemson

ESPN college football analyst Heather Dinich has changed where the Tigers are in her top four after this week’s games. The Tigers are making a move in the right direction. “No. 1 is Ohio State, No. 2 is Alabama, No. 3 is Georgia and for the first …

ESPN college football analyst Heather Dinich has changed where the Tigers are in her top four after this week’s games.  The Tigers are making a move in the right direction.

“No. 1 is Ohio State, No. 2 is Alabama, No. 3 is Georgia and for the first time this season No. 4 is Clemson,” Dinich said on ESPN’s morning show Get Up.  “I have Clemson over USC and Michigan because they just beat back to back ranked opponents in the Atlantic Division and they finally played a complete game.  To me it is two things.  Who did you beat and what did you look like in the process.  That is what the selection committee does too.”

Two weeks ago Dinich was not buying into Clemson.  Now they have sold Dinich?

“To this point yes. but look if your rankings don’t change every week you are not doing it right.  This is why the selection committee’s rankings don’t come out until November 1 because it should be fluid.  Michigan should have a chance to move into the top four.  But to me, to this point, resume wise and with DJ Uiagalelei playing so much better, the defense playing better, a complete performance against a top 25 team,” said Dinich.

 

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Finebaum on Clemson: ‘They’re still a mystery’

ESPN’s Paul Finebaum and Heather Dinich joined the network’s Get Up show to discuss the latest in college football. Dinich, who covers the College Football Playoff for ESPN, was asked what’s at stake for Clemson this weekend and what happens if the …

ESPN’s Paul Finebaum and Heather Dinich joined the network’s Get Up show to discuss the latest in college football.

Dinich, who covers the College Football Playoff for ESPN, was asked what’s at stake for Clemson this weekend and what happens if the fifth-ranked Tigers lose their game at No. 21 Wake Forest (Saturday, noon ET on ABC).

“If Clemson loses this game, then the ACC’s place in the College Football Playoff becomes in jeopardy immediately,” Dinich said. “Because when you look at them, they (would) need help then to win the Atlantic Division, and their schedule isn’t great. They need Notre Dame and South Carolina to finish with respectable seasons in the CFP’s top 25. Because you’ve got USC out there, you’ve got maybe Texas, other Power Five conference champions with potentially better resumes.”

Finebaum was then asked the question, how good is Clemson (3-0, 1-0 ACC)?

“They’re still a mystery,” he said. “They haven’t really done anything yet. … If they lose this game, it’s over. I don’t care what South Carolina does. I don’t care what Notre Dame does. Just cross off the ACC. Say a prayer for them.”

To clarify that statement, Finebaum was asked if he’s saying the entire ACC’s College Football Playoff hopes ride on Clemson and the result of Saturday’s game in Winston-Salem.

“They are the best team in the conference,” Finebaum said. “I know Wake Forest went to the championship game last year, and they played Pittsburgh. Clemson really is their shot. North Carolina’s still cobbling a season together. But I’m just saving the folks in the back room the research probabilities. Don’t worry about it. Clemson loses, move on.”

Dinich then questioned Finebaum regarding whether the Tigers are in fact the best team in the ACC.

“Are they the best team in the conference? Because I haven’t seen anything yet that shows that,” she said. “They’ve been beating up on teams with the last name ‘Tech’ so far. They have a lot of questions, in my mind. They might not win this game. That’s why we’re having this conversation.”

–Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images 

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Robert Griffin III: ‘Clemson has to ride the coats of D.J. Uiagalelei’

Clemson’s run as a national powerhouse is not over in the eyes of this former Heisman winner and current ESPN analyst. Robert Griffin III was on the call for Clemson’s 27-21 double-overtime loss to N.C. State this past Saturday. While Griffin …

Clemson’s run as a national powerhouse is not over in the eyes of this former Heisman winner and current ESPN analyst.

Robert Griffin III was on the call for Clemson’s 27-21 double-overtime loss to N.C. State this past Saturday. While Griffin referred to Clemson’s offense as being “archaic” during the broadcast, he stopped short of making a bold claim about the future of the program.

In fact, Griffin strongly disagreed with Paul Finebaum’s assessment of the current state of the program. 

“Clemson is not done as a national power. I really believe that their offense is really the key for them,” Griffin said Wednesday on ESPN’s Get Up! show. “They have to learn to adapt to the times, like the days of lining up and just steamrolling people because you have better athletes are over. Teams have put together schemes that help bridge the gap between the good players and the great players. They have to be able to do that.

“Offensively, it’s formation, it’s route concepts, they have to have more variety there. I also think they have to make a mental decision to go ahead and ride the coats of D.J. Uiagalelei. I called the game last week and I saw him go out there and make some plays that most quarterbacks can’t make. I wouldn’t be opposed to them spreading it out, using their length at receiver, the athleticism they have, and the size, and letting D.J. throw it on first, second, and third down. They’re not run blocking well. They’re not pass blocking that great, but it’s better than their run blocking. You just got to make a decision and move forward that way.

Griffin characterized what’s wrong with Clemson’s offense, but he also trusts Dabo Swinney and Tony Elliott to get it fixed.

“I do not think Clemson is done,” Griffin said. “Dabo’s a great coach. Tony Elliott’s a great offensive coordinator, but their ability to fix this offense and get it buzzing is really gonna tell you the future for both of them moving forward

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Finebaum: ‘Dabo’s dynasty is done’

After two uncharacteristic losses in September, Clemson has already fallen out of favor and out of the top-10 in the AP Poll. That’s caused some in the national media to speculate whether this is the beginning of the end for Dabo Swinney and Co. …

After two uncharacteristic losses in September, Clemson has already fallen out of favor and out of the top-10 in the AP Poll.

That’s caused some in the national media to speculate whether this is the beginning of the end for Dabo Swinney and Co.

Paul Finebaum was asked the same question that was posed to both Heather Dinich and Robert Griffin III on ESPN’s Get Up! show Wednesday morning:“Are Clemson’s days as a national powerhouse, have we seen that come to an end?”

Finebaum, of course, gave a pointed answer that won’t surprise anyone.

“Dabo’s dynasty is done,” Finebaum said. “I don’t like anything I see there. I respect what Heather has just gone through saying, but I strongly and vehemently disagree. They lost one coach (Jeff Scott) a couple of years ago to USF. I think that was a big loss. This is a staff that has always been together, but I think it’s getting stale.

“Yes, recruiting is still good, but will it be elite after what we just got through watching? This doesn’t look like Clemson is part of the cool kids anymore and I think they’re gonna pay for it in recruiting. They play in a terrible league, which will hurt them even more.”

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NFL analyst throws some shade at Lawrence

On ESPN’s Get Up! show Monday morning, ESPN NFL analyst Ryan Clark reacted to Trevor Lawrence’s NFL regular season debut on Sunday. Clark threw a little bit of shade at Lawrence, who completed 28-of-51 passes for 332 yards and three touchdowns with …

On ESPN’s Get Up! show Monday morning, ESPN NFL analyst Ryan Clark reacted to Trevor Lawrence’s NFL regular season debut on Sunday.

Clark threw a little bit of shade at Lawrence, who completed 28-of-51 passes for 332 yards and three touchdowns with three interceptions in the Jags’ 37-21 loss to the Houston Texans in Houston.

“He’s no Joe Burrow,” Clark said of Lawrence in comparison to the former LSU and current Cincinnati Bengals quarterback, who went 20-of-27 passing for 261 yards and two touchdowns in the Bengals’ win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday in his return from the torn ACL and MCL he suffered in Week 11 of last season.

Sunday’s loss to the Texans marked the first ever regular season loss for Lawrence in his life — including high school, college and NFL — as well as the first three-interception game of Lawrence’s career, including high school and college.

“Listen, if you’re Trevor Lawrence, you have to be extremely patient with it and you have to be extremely patient with this team,” Clark said. “Urban Meyer, a first-time NFL head coach, Trevor Lawrence in his first start against a Houston Texans team that actually played better defensively thann I expected them to. Trevor Lawrence has the talent, we have to give him time to get used to being in the NFL.”

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ESPN analyst says ‘it’s looking like’ the window has closed for Clemson

On ESPN’s Get Up show Monday morning, there was a discussion about third-ranked Clemson’s 10-3 loss to No. 5 Georgia on Saturday in Charlotte, and ESPN college football and NFL analyst Marcus Spears weighed in on whether this is the beginning of the …

On ESPN’s Get Up show Monday morning, there was a discussion about third-ranked Clemson’s 10-3 loss to No. 5 Georgia on Saturday in Charlotte, and ESPN college football and NFL analyst Marcus Spears weighed in on whether this is the beginning of the end for Clemson football.

“I hope the window has not closed, but it’s looking like it,” Spears said.

Spears, a former NFL defensive end and first-round draft pick out of LSU, says Clemson’s loss to Georgia proved the Tigers’ offense must evolve to compete with the best programs in college football.

“This is not just about recruiting. Dabo and that staff are still going to recruit at a high level,” Spears said. “But there needs to be some evolution, especially with this offense.”

Spears added he thinks Dabo Swinney is at the point now where he needs to do like Nick Saban did when he hired Lane Kiffin to be his offensive coordinator at Alabama in 2014 in order to get ahead of the game from an offensive standpoint.

“I remember sitting there at SEC Network when Nick Saban hired Lane Kiffin,” Spears said. “That was a line of demarcation, because Nick Saban decided I need to have the ability to put up 50 points a game, and that was the evolution that they made. And right now, the Clemson offense looks anemic. It looks too dependent on stars as opposed to schematically being able to get some things going. When you look at that Georgia game – and we all expected Georgia’s defense to be really good – but when you look at what Clemson was doing, it was so predictable and it was so Clemson for the last five, six years that we’ve seen. But in that time, you had Deshaun Watson, you had Trevor Lawrence, you had Travis Etienne, you had Higgins, you had all of these players that could overcome that. They are beyond that point now.

“If you don’t figure out that next wave – and the bottom line is, that is what has made Nick Saban, Nick Saban – I’m going to be a year and a half, two years ahead of where everybody is because I see it faster than everybody, and I think Dabo is at that point now.”

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ESPN analyst: Brian Flores should be considered for Coach of the Year

ESPN’s Domonique Foxworth made his case on “Get Up!” for Dolphins head coach Brian Flores to be considered for Coach of the Year.

The Miami Dolphins’ organization has arguably already shattered expectations for 2019 in going out and winning a handful of football games. At 2-8 the Dolphins own two more wins than the common fan (or common analyst) would have pegged them to finish with. And folks are starting to take note. Not just that the Dolphins own a crooked number in the win column, either — but that this Miami Dolphins team has completely shifted the narrative and is playing competitive football each and every week.

One of the Dolphins’ biggest critics at the beginning of the season was former NFLPA president Domonique Foxworth calling the Dolphins’ approach to 2019 “morally reprehensible” and “unethical”. In the 10 weeks that have passed since Foxworth ripped the Dolphins, he seems to have come around to to Miami’s process and, more importantly, head coach Brian Flores.

Foxworth went on ESPN’s “Get Up!” program this past week and stated that he feels Dolphins head coach Brian Flores should be considered for the NFL’s Coach of the Year.

That’s quite the departure from “morally reprehensible” but Foxworth is an interesting one. The idea that results minus expectations would give Miami a greater return than any other team in the NFL is debatable. But Flores may have a few more wins up his sleeve. The Dolphins play an undisciplined Browns team this week, the New York Jets, the New York Giants and Cincinnati Bengals yet this season.

Make no mistake: the culture the Dolphins are instilling is a good one. And if the team makes progress throughout the offseason and improves their record in 2020, the efforts to instill a positive locker room environment are really going to catch fire. What Flores has been able to do with many second and third string players shouldn’t be overlooked — Miami enters every game with a talent deficiency and yet shows something new (and impressive) every week.

But something tells us Coach of the Year isn’t in the cards for Brian Flores in 2019. Here’s hoping it won’t be too long, though.

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