Re: Opportunity Cost

Lowcntry_Tiger

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Watson is why we don’t have the longest home winning streak in college football.

Feb 12, 2023, 6:47 PM

Watson blew the end of the Pittsburgh game in Desth Valley, throwing that interception in the back of the end zone.

I will go to my grave wondering were our coaches simply stupid or was Watson an idiot, but that game was over. We had a 8 point lead with less than 6 minutes to go and 2nd down on the 4 yard line. Even a FG would have wrapped that game up.

Had we simply handed the ball to Gallman and let the clock run and if he doesn’t get in the end zone, kick a field goal on fourth down and that game is over.

But on 2nd and goal from the 4 Watson rolls out and throws an interception in the back of the end zone that gets returned inside Clemson’s 10 yard line. Pittsburgh scores then we can’t get a yard to save our lives on our home field and Pittsburgh kicks a field goal to win the game.

I will always wonder was that a coaching call or did Watson audible. But either way that ball never should’ve left Watson’s hand. He threw into triple coverage in the back of the end zone.

And the reason I wonder if the coaching staff was involved is because that’s exactly the kind of stupid cute thing Clemson loves to do when they think no one is expecting it. It’s the kind of stupid thing Clemson does sometimes under Dabo when no other coach would do that because it doesn’t make sense. You’re being successful. What you’re doing is working. Plays that yes looks great. If it works, but kills momentum when it fails.

Of course had we had a better OL we still would have won that game. The same way we should have won in South Bend when DJ was replacing Trevor Lawrence out with Covid. We lost that game because we couldn’t get a yard when we needed it.

The single biggest problem at Clemson under Tommy, Bowden and Dabo has been the inferior, consistently inferior, play of the offense line.

Even South Carolina is out recruiting us for 0L players. That’s just insanity.

This has been the most frustrating aspect to me with Dabo. His loyalty and refusal to go out and get a great OL coach from another program. Look at Pittsburgh and Boston College. They always have a really good OL. Notre Dame, Texas A&M before the crybaby got there always had a great OL. Wisconsin. There are at least a dozen programs that always have a good OL even when their team is not. This has been my single biggest complaint, contrary to popular believe I do not have many, of Dabo. And this has been such an obvious problem it’s astonishing that anyone would defend Dabo. It really is indefensible unless you’re drunk on Kool-Aid.

Both of our home losses since 2015 are because of Dabo being stubborn. Stubborn about the OL and with DJ.

And I know I will get persecuted, but I do love Dabo. I love our program. I’m a proud Clemson alum. I don’t want Dabo fired or any of the other stupid things people attack me and say, but I am pointing out the obvious that most Clemson fans smart enough not to post on this forum understand and recognize!

Before we lost to South Carolina when we were going for that home winning streak record I could not stop thinking about that Pittsburgh game. Because it really does confuse me to this day why Watson ran that play. It was just dumb! He definitely should’ve not thrown the ball. He should’ve just taken the sack, ran out of bounds, or tried to get whatever positive yardage he could’ve gotten. Anything other than throwing into triple coverage in the back corner of the end zone. That one play did not cost us the game, but it did completely change the momentum and was the turning point.

If Watson doesn’t throw that interception, Clemson wins that game. Period! And today we would have the longest home winning streak in college football history.

And make no mistake. It was stupid of him to throw that ball. The question is, did the coaching staff call that play or did Watson audible? Because it was stupid if the coaches called that play and put Watson in that position to make that stupid boneheaded throw.

I honestly think the coaches made that call. They either thought our guy would be wide-open in the back of the end zone, because Pittsburgh was thinking rush all the way, or Watson could’ve easily kept the ball and scored. But neither happened. Pittsburgh was ready and the play was well defended. And of course Watson threw into triple coverage.

Either way, play called by the coaches or an audible by Watson, Watson still never should’ve let that ball leave his hand. That was a mental mistake. The passes you’re talking about in the Georgia game or raw natural talent. The place I’m talking about was a metal mistake. So let’s not be rewriting history and act like Watson was perfect. He was far from it. So was Trevor. Because both of them are such great competitors. It’s like trying to hit a home run every time you go to the plate in baseball. You can’t win games like that. Quarterbacks have to learn that some plays the other side is going to win and you have to be smart with the ball. That’s the biggest difference in a good quarterback and a great quarterback. The game played in between their ears.

Look at Trevor in the NFL. 75% of his interceptions are balls that he probably regretted as soon as he threw them. But that’s where experience comes into play. Some players learn and evolve and progress and others do not. Hopefully Watson and Trevor will have great seasons next year. They have both been in their current system long enough that they should have incredible seasons next year.

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Practicing against our defense would have given our coaches an opportunity to coach that tendency out of him. But if you don’t give the kid reps during the week, you can’t improve him as a coach.

When you look at his tape in high school, he rolled out and ran often because he was simply a superior athlete on a team superior to the competition. You can get away with that in high school, but not college. Unfortunately by not practicing him they weren’t able to teach him not to do that.

Watson and Trevor never had that problem because they were given an opportunity from day one. But Dabo was never gonna let Cade see the playing field this past season. Unfortunately, his gamble failed and at times he had no choice but to pull DJ.

It really is mind blowing to begin with because what if DJ gets hurt? Then you have a kid that hasn’t practiced with the starters. The whole thing was just dumb!

And let’s be honest. Dabo never ever should’ve put Cade in against Notre Dame. Certainly not when we are inside our own 10. He set Cade up to fail in that situation. He threw Cade under the bus. And of course he used that in the press conference to say see this is why we haven’t been playing him he’s not ready. That whole thing stunk and I know people that worship the ground Dabo walks on that were pissed off by that because that was just wrong and dirty! That really did make Dabo look bad. And it wasn’t just ESPN calling Dabo out for that one. The condemnation was pretty much universal and deservedly so!

Had things not worked out better for Cade as the season ended if I were him I would’ve transferred. But even Dabo could not protect DJ at the end and Cade was able to show what he can do despite not getting good coaching during the season and opportunities to practice against the starters nor quality snaps against inferior competition during the season, because we struggled in those games too and Dabo kept DJ in the game. When we had Watson and Trevor they were in those games in the first half getting meaningful snaps.

I believe in loyalty. But blind loyalty is not a good quality to have. In fact, it’s stupid. The way Dabo handled DJ and Cade this past season was beyond stupid and frankly painful to watch. It was in fact a very bad look for Dabo.

But Dabo recognized his mistakes and changes were made and we should be better for it. The question is, will Dabo make more changes that I think many if not most of us recognize. Time will tell. Because with the exception of Riley, we still have an offensive coaching staff with no coaching experience beyond high school. Streeter was our only coach on that side of the ball that had any real college coaching experience and even that was non-power five experience. Before Clemson, Streeter was only at Liberty, Richmond, and Charleston Southern.

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Opportunity Cost