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| Dabo Sweeney & Clemson are fired up after beating Auburn! |
That was the greatest win at Clemson in years! Quite naturally the entire campus has been electric since the clock read zero's on Saturday. The students rushed the field and the players got a chance to celebrate the accomplishment with their peers. Awesome job!
The problem is, they've got to be ready to play Florida State this week and kids playing at Clemson aren't accustomed to winning at that level. So therefore, they'll get the doors beat off of them because they won't be ready to play. They partied for the first 48 hours after the win and had more women than they could shake a stick at. Even the guys on the scout team will have groupies this week.
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| This is what happens if you don't prepare! |
Keep in mind that because many of the players live in the dorms the students have immediate access to them. So they're knocking on their doors at all hours of the night all week to congratulate them, buying them food and drinks etc. Consequently, the players aren't getting any sleep. Not the mention the media coverage that they're getting. ESPN and every channel you can think of will be at practice everyday. It's a lot to all of a sudden absorb for an 18-22 year old that's never been in that situation before.
See kids that play at schools like Alabama, Oklahoma, LSU, Florida State etc have been in the spotlight their entire lives because they were the most highly recruited players in the country. They've had groupies and the media in their faces since they were 14 years old. So it's business as usual for them.
Unfortunately, the kids at Clemson will allow their success from last week to have a negative affect on their potential for success this week. The hardest thing about being great is figuring out how be consistently good. Once people have success it's only natural for them to get distracted. It's like the kid that get’s an "A" on the midterm and then doesn’t show up to class for an entire week. It’s natural to think you’ve got time to chill. Why do you think that it's so hard for a team to repeat as the conference, national or even Super Bowl Champion? There’s a word for that, it’s called complacency!
That simple word has sunk ships and destroyed kingdoms throughout history. Jerry Rice was the ultimate competitor and we can learn from his example. I heard Steve Young say that one year after they won the Super Bowl he went to the complex to clean out his locker the day after the game. He looked out onto the practice field and there was Jerry running routs. Not 24 hours after winning the Super Bowl he's preparing for the next year! That’s being consistent.
The sad part about Clemson is that it won't hit the kids that they even have a game on Saturday until Thursday evening. They'll get out of practice, go home, turn on ESPN to watch the Thursday night game and say, "man we got a game on Saturday?" Too late bruh! You're down 21 points even before Florida State get's off of the bus.
Even without EJ Manual the Noles will be in good hands with Clint Trickett. He just doesn't give them the dual threat that Manual provides but he can throw the rock. He proved that last week against Oklahoma. They'll definitely be ready to play because they've just come off of a tough loss and they're on the cusp of being a consistent top 5 team again. While they've been Tiger hunting all week the boys from Clemson, South Carolina have been sleep walking and day dreaming with the fans. That's smells like trouble!
They call the Tiger home stadium Death Valley but on Saturday they'll have to rename the joint Resurrection Mountain. It's known as one of the loudest places in the country but this week you'll be able to hear the peanut man giving change back, the toilets flushing and Dabo Sweeney cursing like a sailor because nobody remembered that the Seminoles were coming to dinner.
Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Twitter:@jaygravesreport
Great Report JG!!! RLB
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