🏈 Who has the edge?

[planomateo]

Everyone swinging from Clemson's sack right now. Monday is gonna be fun.

Walk me through how Clemson has improved over the course of the year @musso. Realize I'm only talking about scoreboard, but some of these games should have been blowouts, instead they are one possession games.

 

[musso]

Frankly, I can't answer your question because I haven't followed their season thoroughly enough. I do recognize their number of close games. Pundits are certainly noting their inconsistency, which I cannot deny. But my argument has been and continues to be that we ought to value much more the performances in the Semis against top 4 opponents than performances from 1 to 4 months prior against opponents many of whom didn't require peak effort.

Moreover, how would you say we have improved, particularly on offense? Honestly, I'd say our offense peaked against Tennessee (when Tenn was badly banged up) and has regressed gradually ever since. And to be more precise, I'm referring to Hurts' development, which I don't necessarily blame on anyone. I can easily understand a true freshman QB hitting a wall during a season.

On another note, I saw Pollock make my points on ESPN this morning, that Bama's lack of depth on defense would be an issue in this game given how often Watson extends drives and a defense's pursuit. Even with perhaps Saban's deepest defense last year, our guys were worn out well before the end of the game. This was a reason Saban said he opted for the on-sides kick.