When Clemson took possession in overtime Saturday night, needing a touchdown to win the game, I turned to the person beside me and said this:
"There's no way they don't score a touchdown here."
I surprised myself by saying it, even thinking it. After what I'd seen over the previous four quarters, there was little doubt in my mind that Billy Napier would find a way to get Clemson into the end zone from 25 yards out.
I've been covering Clemson daily since the start of the 2004 season, and to a lesser extent since the 2002 season. And I cannot remember a time I've felt that assured about a Clemson offense.
Wasn't around for Woody Dantzler, so I'm guessing Clemson fans felt pretty dang confident in moving the ball and scoring when Rich Rodriguez was pulling the levers of the offense with Woody in 1999 and 2000.
For so long before Napier came along, and even in some instances last year, the feeling has been: "How are they going to mess this up?"
It feels different now. You never want to go overboard in evaluations based on one game, and we don't really know about Auburn's defense. But Saturday, and particularly the first half, was quite an exhibition from the 31-year-old Napier.
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting former Furman quarterback Justin Hill. Hill played with Napier, and he remembers thinking even back then that Napier was destined for success in coaching.
"He watched more film in a day than I would in a month," Hill said. "He was always studying, in the film room, drawing up plays."
You know the feeling you get when watching Oklahoma's offense move up and down the field on people, with such rhythm, confidence and precision that it seems like the defense has absolutely no clue what will come next?
That's the feeling I got Saturday night. Napier put the offense in position for the go-ahead score when Dwayne Allen was running free down the right sideline on Clemson's last drive of regulation. And he put the offense in position for the winning score when Jaron Brown was running free in the right corner of the end zone on third down in overtime.
The plays were not made. But you have to think things would've been different in one or both cases had Kyle Parker been healthy.
Dabo Swinney drew a lot of second-guesses when he made the decision to make Napier his offensive coordinator. My position at the time: Going with so much inexperience at both head coach and coordinator might not be the smartest move. Maybe it'd be smarter or safer to bring in a more experienced assistant and make him co-coordinator with Napier.
But sometimes the best moves are not the safest moves. Sometimes you have to roll the dice, and Swinney's gamble on Napier appears to be paying off big at the moment.
Moving on to some Monday linkage...
Greg Wallace of the Independent-Mail says close losses in big games seem to be in the Tigers' DNA.
Clemson seems sadly, comically incapable of winning close, important games, the kind of games that will spring Dabo Swinney’s program into the national spotlight in a positive manner.
And until it gets figured out, the Tigers won’t be the national force that Swinney so fervently believes they can be.
Right now, they’re Charlie Brown. And they always wind up lying on their back as Lucy grins at them with the football.
And later:
When he took over for Tommy Bowden, Swinney spoke of being “All In” and that his players needed to believe, a message he’d change the program’s culture.
Their fight is admirable. But they must take the next step forward to change the mindset for good.
I don't think Wallace is off base, but I do think Parker's injury imposes a bit of a curve on the grading scale from the Auburn game. They win that game if Parker doesn't absorb that helmet-to-back hit midway through the third quarter.
If Parker is healthy, the deep ball to Brown doesn't float and it's probably a long touchdown. If Parker is healthy, things are probably different on the throw to Allen late. And if Parker is healthy, he makes that throw to Brown in overtime.
But still ... a 17-point lead squandered. SID Tim Bourret is looking up the last time Clemson gave up that big a lead, and he might have to go back a ways.
We found out a lot about this team Saturday night, but we'll know much more after the next two games.
Ron Morris said Clemson, even in defeat, made a statement with the physical brand of football it imposed.
Clemson stood toe to toe with a 16th-ranked opponent from the powerful SEC and never backed down. It proved to be as physical as Auburn, and that has not always been the case with Clemson.
Gene Sapakoff fires up the Braggin' Rights Barometer and gets this readout: Sakerlina 20, Clemson 17.
Now we're talking. Clemson took a step forward as a program and cut into South Carolina's BRB lead (probably in that order of importance) with an impressive performance during a 27-24 overtime loss at Auburn. The Tigers played tough and smart, and did so before one of the largest and loudest crowds in college football. Kyle Parker showed tremendous leadership, mostly with Elway-ish throws (including running right and throwing across his body down the middle). But also by playing hurt and doing little things, like stepping between an irate Dabo Swinney and wideout Xavier Dye after Dye apparently ran the wrong route.
Clemson has two weeks to get ready and get healthier for its ACC opener, at home against Miami on Oct. 2. The Tigers made great strides during the bye week last year and had to after coaches and players still getting to know each other botched their way through a loss at Maryland. No such need for an overhaul this bye week, as Clemson in a noble loss showed it currently is the best team in the ACC. But here is a nagging stat: The Tigers are 1-7 in the Dabo Days in games decided by five points or less.
Did you catch the "best team in the ACC" part?
Rob Daniels of The ACC Sports Journal doesn't seem to think so. He ranks Clemson fourth.
Here's the rundown from Florida State's win over BYU.
Jacory Harris deals with a racist Tweet.
"You see some things and you get kind of hurt, because it's your fans that say the things," Harris said, according to the Sun-Sentinel. "They're the ones that before the game wrote you some encouraging message. And then after the game tell you that they don't want a black quarterback here. ....I know who they were because it's Twitter."
This Birmingham columnist says Auburn was Clemson with a break Saturday night.
How about Chizik's explanation for his team's victory?
"I told our team that was a God thing."
Oh boy.
And we'll close with an anecdote from Auburn:
Walking with a friend past Auburn's basketball arena -- we'll just call him "Adam" -- and Adam asks if Jeff Lebo is still their coach.
I say no. He says yes. I say no again, but I can't remember the name of Lebo's replacement.
A few feet away, there's a 50-ish man with a mullet wearing an Auburn shirt and dragging a rolling cooler. Perfect.
Friend: "Excuse me, sir, what's the name of your basketball coach?"
Auburn dude: "Huh?"
Friend: "What's your basketball coach's name?"
Auburn dude: "I don't know, man. I don't go here."
Friend: (Speechless)
Auburn dude: "My daughter goes here. But shoot, I don't even know the name of the football coach."
LW
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