Coming into the 2024 Season, there were two matchups that garnered the most attention for expectations. The first, was Tennessee. We won't speak of that one again. But the second, and undoubtedly most important - was Clemson. It's Clemson Week. Let's talk about the Tigers.
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It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. NC State is headed down to Clemson on Saturday, and they want to put their filthy hands on that rock, Textile Bowl 2024. You are a Lockdown Wolfpack, your daily podcast on the NC State Wolfpack, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. What's up Wolfpack Nation, it's time to get locked in with Lockdown. Thanks for making Lockdown Wolfpack your first listen each and every day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Our Wednesday sponsor is Game Time, download the Game Time app, create an account and use code LockdownCollege for $20 off your first purchase. Perhaps you're still looking for tickets for this weekend's game down in Clemson, if you need them, get on over to Game Time. Happy Wednesday to all, as always I'm Grayson Boone, joined by former Wolfpack defensive tackle Kenton Gibbs. Kenton, it's Clemson Week, it is the biggest game left on our schedule. To be honest with you, it was always the biggest game on our schedule. This game has very large ACC implications for the rest of the season. Clemson enters this matchup with a record of one and one, they got steamrolled by Georgia in week one, by a score of 34 to three, rebounded in a massive way in week two, they took it all out on App State, they won that one by a score of 66 to 20. Rewinding Clemson in 2023 up to 2024, much like us, Clemson finished their season nine and four, they were the beginning of our 5-0 run to finish the season, and with a little help from the Wolfpack and Tyler from Spartanburg, they also went 5-0 to finish their season. They knocked off Kentucky and our old friend Devin Leary in the Gator Bowl to cap that off. A lot gets made of Dabo Sweeney in his refusal to use the transfer portal, Kenton after getting steamrolled by Georgia and seeing the way that Miami has rebuilt their program using the portal. Do you think this is the make or break year for Dabo refusing to use the portal? Not really, only from the standpoint of he's built up the equity to where he's a lifer there. What can Clemson really do or say in terms of like, how many national championships did you have before him to say, "Hey, we don't care what you did, we will get rid of you." He has earned that right to kind of finish it out however he wants to or Clemson, and so with that in mind, I mean, I think it's very easy and very logical to say, if he wants to do it no further away, you're kind of married to him unless there are multiple seasons of complete meh, and even then it has to be like a good 3-4 seasons of like seven, six wins before you cut him loose because again, that is, I mean, that's the guy your stadium is going to be named after in about 20, 30 years or whatever your case may be, so you know, the reality of this thing is very simple, would it help to use the portal of course, but does he have to? I'd say no. Yeah. When you bring Clemson on the stage of a national contender every year and you're winning double digit games and you win two national championships, you earn your keep, but I think the biggest reason people are starting now to be skeptical, last season snapped a 12-year streak of Clemson winning double digit games. They finished with just nine last year. Davo has been very outspoken about not wanting to use the portal, prefers his own method, the high school recruiting, building up their program from the ground up. It's worked. You got to give credit where credit is due. They would not be where they currently are, if not for the progress they've made on their own hand. We're going to get into the details of the offense and defense here in just a little bit, but overall, Clemson more or less is still Clemson. Perhaps you see them as taking a little bit of a step backward here the last couple of years, the head DJU couldn't quite find the same footing that they had with Trevor Lawrence and Deshawn Watson, but in a sense, they're looking to reestablish themselves. Do you think that Clemson truly could rise up and contend again for the ACC in 2024? Yes. The ACC is as wide open as it's ever been with the absolute disaster class that we've seen out of the pack so far this year. With the absolute even worse disaster classes you've seen from Florida State this year, who else is there to push Miami right now? And here's a quiet secret about Miami that nobody is saying out loud. They have not played a single power 14, who will still have their head coach past the month of November. They have not. Billy Navier, people were discussing firing him last week. So with that in mind, you know, you can say all you want about, oh, they're an SEC team. They're a good team. They're this, they're that. We all know Billy is, you know, he better update his LinkedIn, okay? The ACC is absolutely wide open. And I wouldn't shut the door on Clemson just yet despite them getting dominated by Jordan. It's funny how different the dynamics change in just a couple of weeks coming into the season. I was very skeptical of Clemson. I thought they'd have extreme issues moving the ball in offense, which I think you'll still see some of as the year goes on, but with the way the ACC has completely in a sense made a fool of itself out of the gate here, I think Clemson should be probably looked at as one of the favorites to take this thing when it comes down to the wire in December. And I know Miami got off to a really strong start. They look great against lesser competition. I'll be interested to see what kind of noise that Clemson can kind of make after a lot of people have counted them out. I do think the offense in year two of Garrett Riley, perhaps you'll see a step forward, but that still remains to be seen. Clemson's defense is very much still a Clemson defense. And again, we'll get into more of the details in just a little bit. They're still fast. They're still physical. They still blitz the absolute hell out of you. They're going to make life difficult for any team that they face down the road this season. So the text tile bowl is renewed here in 2024. NC State has won two out of the last three, but both of those were in Raleigh. The key point for NC State on the road here have not won in Clemson since dating back to 2002 with a some guy named Phillip Rivers. Does anyone know whatever happened to that old guy? NC State has essentially faced a house of horrors when they've come down to Clemson, taking a couple beat downs these last couple of years. The storyline for this week in NC State, freshman quarterback CJ Bailey now gets the reigns. First collegiate start ever is in Death Valley, Kenton, how are we feeling at this point of the week when you're looking at CJ's performance potentially on Saturday? I mean, I have no expectations. When I say no, I mean, absolutely none other than let it fly labor. That's pretty much it. I know he's going to throw a couple of errands for passes. That's just what it is. I know he's going, there's going to be a disguise or two of the coverage where he's like, oh, man, I've never seen the guy do that before. You live with that. But I literally have no expectations for him. With the way that our offensive line is blocked to start off this season, I mean, I'm not really putting too much into like, oh, yeah, I'm expecting big things for absolutely not, absolutely not. Whatever he gives us this game, again, as long as it's not hesitancy and the inability to do the basics, do the bare basics, I'm good. There's a very common phrase used in the state of NC State Athletics these last couple of years. It's called law of the wolf. Basically, you expect the least and sometimes that is when you get the most. Much like Kenton, I really don't have any expectations for CJ Bailey this weekend. I'll expect nothing, but I'll appreciate everything. I think this is a really big game for his development, both now and in the near and distant future. Mistakes are no mistakes, great game or no great game. I just want to see CJ use this as an opportunity to get better. This will be such an invaluable experience playing in one of the most elite college football atmospheres against an elite college football defense. How will he handle that type of pressure? We're going to have to find out on Saturday. Coming up next, we're going to get into the details of Clemson's offense after a quick word from our sponsors. Our first Wednesday sponsor is Fandool. We've heard us talk a lot about Fandool, but that's because it's America's number one sports book. Right now, through September 22, all Fandool customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Then with the YouTube TV base plan, you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out-of-market game. All you need is a Google account and a current form of payment, and if you choose, you can cancel it any time. Head on over to Fandool.com to download America's number one sports book, Fandool. Our second sponsor of the day is Game Time. Game Time has a new feature called Game Time Picks, and it makes getting tickets for your favorite live events easier than ever before. Game Time Picks filters out the fluff to show you only incredible deals on great seats, so you don't have to waste time searching through thousands of tickets. The curation of Game Time Picks makes it easier to save more on sports, concerts, comedy theater, you name it, they got it. Logging the all-in pricing feature on the app will show your total upfront so you receive zero surprises to check out, and as always, you get that panoramic view of your seat in the app before you buy so you know exactly what to expect upon arrival. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase. Turn supply and again create an account and use redeem code locked on college, LOC K-E-D-O-N-C-O-L-L-E-G-E locked on college for $20 off. Download Game Time today, what time is it you already know, it's Game Time. Middle portion of our Wednesday show, now time to get into the details of Clemson's offense. As before mentioned, they are in year two of Garrett Riley at offensive coordinator, based on his time at TCU, he is one of the most talented offensive coordinators in the whole country. Being that he has Cade Clubnick under his wing for year two, Kenton, do you expect more or less for Clubnick in 24? I expect about the same thing for a few reasons. I mean, the biggest reason being a quote from Dabbo that I believe is very harrowing, we didn't bring in Garrett Riley to run his offense, we bought Garrett Riley in to run Clemson's offense. After Christ, what? Why would you bring in one of the biggest, brightest minds in the game at that role and say, "Hey, this is what we do, you adjust to us." That would be like Dave Doris said, "Hey, Tony Gibson, we get it, you know, you like that 3-3-5 thing or whatever, but we're a 4-3 team and we will always be a 4-3 team. So you get with it or get rolled over." That would be handicapping him from doing things like what I drew up in the LOC or what he drew up that I then drew up in the LOC don't look at the week where it's like, "Man, you just drew up a play where your best defensive lineman is a free rusher. What a time." You know, it's the same thing, same concept here, "Yes, Garrett Riley's amazing, but you need to let him cook. He cannot be amazing if he is under the thumb of, "Hey, you have to do it in this way because we want it done this way." A little bit of a question mark of what kind of Clemson offense we will see on Saturday being that they put up three points against Georgia, I mean, take that with a grain of salt that is Georgia's defense, but then they put up 66 points on App State. Now, calling a spade a spade, Cade Club Nick was very mediocre last year. We kind of called that coming into our matchup, we picked him off twice, we won the game. We told you all before that game, if Clemson is going to beat us, you have to make Cade Club Nick beat you, couldn't do it last year and the result was the result. This year, I feel like the game plan is more or less the same. You have to find out if Cade Club Nick is a step above what he was last year because if he is not, then I don't know if he can beat you. Cade Club Nick has a long history of questionable decisions with the ball in his hands, both bumbling and throwing interceptions. If NC State can provide enough pressure on Cade in this game, perhaps you could see him turn the ball over a couple more times. Yeah, and that's no doubt in my mind there. I mean, objectively speaking, they look against Georgia, how we look against Tennessee. This was a complete outclashing, overmatching, but I think the biggest thing is that the offense didn't look competitive for basically the entire game. This is an offense that has some playmakers on it, right? You look at the backfield and you see Big Film Offa, who's a load to bring down. If our tackling problems persist, you'll be looking at that big fella, you'll be looking at the back of number seven a lot and you'll be striking up the band often. You look at Williams, who is their slot receiver, he's fantastic, fantastic player, Tyler Brown, how wide. He was a little banged up. They held him out for what they said were cautionary reasons, but he's a pretty good receiver as well out there. And of course, you've got Brinik stool, who, you know, he's a matchup nightmare. He is like a, I would say like a poor man's around a Gaston, which is not an insult because around a Gaston is other world, the things that he's doing is just like, oh, he's, he's not going to have to wait in the green room long. So, you know, saying that Brinik's stool is in that category is not a denigration or a shot at him at all. It's in fact very much so accredited in terms of how much I think or how highly I think of both him and Gadsden. And the only liability on this offense is K club. Like that's literally the biggest liability I've seen. Some people say the offensive line is mad and I think they're inconsistent. But one thing about K club, because he has consistently made that decision. So, you know, to me, if you're looking at two groups, you say one is inconsistent, but when they're good, they're good. And the other is just like, every time we're stuck wondering what were you doing. I think that's a little worse, but you know, to that end, again, the offensive line is what some would consider to be the Achilles Hill because of that inconsistency. But you know, they have playmakers out wide, they have playmakers in the backfield. They have guys that can go. Yeah, I agree with you, the offensive line probably is the Achilles heel of this Clemson offense. They were inconsistent. They were also riddled with injury in 2023. They're looking to find a lot more consistency to make this thing go in 24. You let me write into talking about film office or running back in the physicality that he possesses. This is a week that a fancy state cannot finish their tackles. They're going to pay for it time and time and time after again. He's very strong. He's an extremely powerful back and he will run you over and run by you when he gets into open space. Jake Brinningstool, in my opinion, I think he's one of the better tight ends in all of college football. He does an excellent job slipping into open space and being a little bit of a safety blanket for Kate Club Nick a lot of the time. I think he's a very talented pass catcher. Clemson actually returned five of their top seven pass catchers that is headlined by guys like Tyler Brown and Antonio Williams. Two key newcomers on the Clemson offense are both wide receivers. Bryant Westco Jr. and TJ Moore, both of them had really nice games two weeks ago against app state. I believe they both scored touchdowns. Clemson fans are really high on the two of them. They are still both freshmen, but they're extremely talented freshmen. I don't exactly know what barometer you can put on the two of them this year in terms of productivity. However, those two names are going to be very commonly known here in the near future when you're talking about those pass catchers at Clemson. So I think it presents a very interesting task for the NC State defense. If Aiden White and Brandon C say are healthy enough, they're going to have their hands full with very talented wide out in Death Valley. My intrigue in terms of NC State's defensive looks here are they can have a very similar type game plan to that of Tennessee where they kind of feel a little bit softer in the run to basically bail out and cover the passes extensively as they can, or will they stack the box, try and get to Kade or stuff Mafa and make them beat you from the inside out. I don't quite know, but the overall point here, NC State does not have Peyton Wilson to clean up your mistakes this year. If you cannot effectively tackle Clemson this entire game, they will make you pay for it for the entirety of four quarters. When I look at this team, I see that they have a lot of guys, a lot of Yak guy, Williams, big Yak guy, Mafa, very, very big yard after contact guy. There are so many breeding stores, another guy that he can get it done after the after the ball gets in his hands. So when I look at these guys and I say to myself, hmm, what do you think will be one of the keys to this game? It has to be by far that ability to tackle it has to be that ability that you get there, you get them down. I'm not expecting you to be perfect. But I'm also not expecting what I saw against LaTeX because that that displayed tackling especially in the first half was so pitiful, it left so much to be desired, it was just like, what are we really doing here? Coming up next, we're going to get into the details of Clemson's defense after a quick word from our sponsors. Lost on Wolfpack listeners, have you heard about Roy? It stands for return on you and it's a new platform that lets you, the fans, get involved in NIL like never before. You can make contributions directly to all of your favorite athletes. By supporting these players, you can help shape rosters, retain talent, and keep your favorite athletes out of the transfer portal. 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Next couple of minutes of our Wednesday show, diving into the details of Clemson's defense, as I mentioned earlier on here, it is very much still a Clemson defense. They did lose five guys to the NFL draft this year. That doesn't mean they essentially lost a whole lot of experience. They keep a heavy rotation of influential guys year in and year out, and that's exactly what you see in this 2024 squad. The defensive line for Clemson is probably the second most talented line that NC State will play all year. He's behind Tennessee, struggled with mightily two weeks ago. This line is highlighted with guys like Peter Woods, who's been a little bit hobbled of recent. However, I'm led to understand that he has not missed any practice and more than likely will be a go on Saturday. PJ Parker and Damante Capehart are two other names that you should really keep an eye on. We're certainly hoping to not hear their names a whole lot on Saturday, but that presents a very tall task for the NC State offensive line. Yeah, you talk about the front end, so I'll get into the back end a little bit. I get it. Another Terrell playing for Clemson is AJ back. No, he is still in fact in the NFL that is his little brother Avion coming out of the tunnel for Clemson this time, and he's a ball player as well, right? That secondary, Los Andrew McCouba, you think to yourself, man, they're primed to take a step back in some regards and all that, but really, if you're thinking that, that's because you don't know this team. Those young DBs that they had last year took some lumps early, took some very, very tough games early in the season. They got better and better and better as the season went on. And now they're at a point where, I mean, they just look, they look really good. They look really, really tough to score on. Georgia, until the wheels kind of came off at the end of the game, did precious little as well. So, you know, that is a game that the score doesn't really tell you how close it was or how long it was close in terms of their game against Georgia. And that's because, again, this secondary has some guys that can absolutely do it, that hung in there tough, that were right there every step of the way until late, where it was just like, all right, there's only so long you can keep putting a defense out there before the offense coordinator figures it out. They got scholarship guys over there too. So, you know, that's kind of one of those things, but, yeah, this is a group in terms of in terms of health, they've been very healthy. Of course, Bear Carter is the guy who, I mean, he's a freak. He's a freak at linebacker, and stop me if you've heard this before, Clemson has another freak on that defense. Stop me if you've heard it, but yeah, that's definitely Bear Carter. He is a guy that, what can't he do on a football field? He can blitz effectively. He's good in coverage. He is, he has a very good amount of closing speed. He does a little bit of everything. Ray Ray McLeod's little brother, who was a linebacker first off the best type of guy is out for the season. But again, they still have plenty of dudes over there, so do not hear me say, hey, there are injuries or hear Grayson say, this guy has been hobbled and think, oh, yeah, this is going to be very pliable for us because that may not be the case. You talk about Bear Carter returning to Clemson this year for his last year of eligibility in NC State terms, kind of think like a Peyton Wilson situation. He's doing them a massive solid in coming back to school for one more year. I wouldn't exactly compare him to Peyton Wilson, but the talent is not that far off either. He is a freak of nature in that linebacker court. They actually have a couple of them. Wade Wood as as well, he returns to the Clemson defense. He's currently their leading tackler. You're going to see him all over the field. They're very excited about a freshman by the name of Sammy Brown. In terms of starting, I don't know how much you'll see him on that type of front, but I think he is a rotational piece, at least for now. He is certainly on track to be a freak of nature in the near future for Clemson's defense. It's just a Clemson defense. I know I keep saying that, but what you come to expect every year of a Clemson defense is extremely fast, extremely physical. They can cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time. They're a senior led group and they're going to try and make life hell for freshman C.J. Bailey back there in the backfield for NC State. Much like the game plan was for NC State last year in terms of just feeding Casey the ball and letting him get Yak after that. I wouldn't exactly be mad at a very similar type game plan in a game like this one. You want to take pressure off of C.J. Bailey, help him distribute the ball to the playmakers and then let them go to work after that because realistically, if you're going to rely on C.J. Bailey to take shots downfield or over the middle, Clemson's probably going to be waiting with open arms for situations like that. So make life as easy as you can on C.J. Bailey because Clemson's defense, certainly looking to do the opposite. What I'll do it for us here on Wednesday is always thank you all so much for joining us. Be sure to hit that like button, drop your comments in the comment box. Tell us who you have your biggest eyes on in terms of Clemson's offense and defense, any names to watch, any potential X factors for Clemson in this matchup on Saturday. Let us know any other thoughts you have on Clemson here in 2024. Get those down in the comment box. If you have not already, mash that subscribe button. Coming up on Thursday's show, we will have a locked on crossover episode with John Bivens. He is the host of locked on Clemson, certainly looking forward to airing that one for you all. Another good episode. We really enjoy doing these crossovers ahead of the weekend matchup. We'll see you all right back here on Thursday for that crossover. And until then, go pack a prime members. You can listen to this locked on podcast ad free on Amazon music. Download the Amazon Music app today! (upbeat music)
