ESPN Top 5 for 2013

[renegade_doc]

Originally Posted by Evilchicken2

When will people finally wake up about Clemson? How many times do we have to hear the hype, only to see their utter collapse during key games? The only reason Robert mentioned them in his top 5 is because they have a legit chance to get to a BCS game because of the WEAK @SS ACC.

He picked them top 5 last year and they finish ~10 with 11 wins. Not like he was horribly off.

[Gamecock Rob]

They're gonna get blooooooowwwwwed out by Georgia week one. I hope it's a nooner, because if so me and a Dawg buddy plan on pulling the double header.

[MikeTrainNC8]

I completely disagree.. We should be top 10 preseason for sure, perhaps top 5

We return one of the best and most experienced QB corps in the nation, return the BEST PLAYER BY FAR IN THE NATION, return our two starting CB's, return our best DT, return 4/5 of our starting OL, return the most exciting player in the SEC (Ace Sanders), return our best WR Bruce, etc

We have one of the deepest TE groups in the SEC, have a great stable of backs, have youth and redshirts ready to step in on defense with little drop off in talent if any. Our weakness of LB is one that hurts us less than most, considering we only use 2 at a time.

If we are not at least top 10 preseason, big disappointment for me. We have as good a team as anybody in the country next year (at this moment, injuries etc can change that), and top notch coaching.

FWIW almost every big team is losing some on their OL. Yes we lose our center TJ, but Bama loses theirs in Barrett and Clemsux loses Freeman. TAMU loses major pieces next year, especially on the OL.. they will be worse, I'm seeing a 3rd place finish in the SEC West, 9 wins

[smoovecock]

Mark this statement down.....klempzun will lose 3 games next year...

[smoovecock]

and unless we get some great play out of some very very young defensive players we will struggle to finish in the top 15 ourselves...

[uscsandstorm85]

Yawn. Preseason polls are 50% hype, and 50% returning starters. They don't mean much other than Media coverage. I don't pay attention to polls until 3-4 weeks into the season.

[bhs04]

Originally Posted by gamecockphilip

Robert Smith is actually a high character family man and good analyst. Don't get bent out of shape over what media says. Look at who Clemson plays, they should be top 5 every year with that schedule.

So you're the guy that thinks he's a good analyst then.

He could be a priest for all I care, but I think he's horrible at his job.

Not unzipping my pants for a pissing contest, but I think that most people will tell you that they don't like him. (On tv. He's probably a pretty cool guy)

[MikeTrainNC8]

Originally Posted by smoovecock

and unless we get some great play out of some very very young defensive players we will struggle to finish in the top 15 ourselves...

Disagree, a great pass rush helps cure everything, and having the best player in the nation does too. It's BCS or bust, if we struggle to finish in the top 15 it's a massively epic letdown. Clowney's are once in a generation.. if we can't make it over the hump with next year's very talented team, we never will.

WE RELOAD NOW, NOT REBUILD... YALL NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT!!!!!!!!!! I have zero doubts about this team's ability to win everygame this year... EVERY team loses players, and we have the skill and talent to step up

[I Bleed Garnet]

Originally Posted by bhs04

So you're the guy that thinks he's a good analyst then.

He could be a priest for all I care, but I think he's horrible at his job.

Not unzipping my pants for a pissing contest, but I think that most people will tell you that they don't like him. (On tv. He's probably a pretty cool guy)

I agree with this.
Probably actually a pretty intelligent person considering he was a Running Back.
Can actually form sentences and went to school for something other than sociology or restaurant management.

But yea he's a big homer.

[smoovecock]

Originally Posted by MikeTrainNC8

Disagree, a great pass rush helps cure everything, and having the best player in the nation does too. It's BCS or bust, if we struggle to finish in the top 15 it's a massively epic letdown. Clowney's are once in a generation.. if we can't make it over the hump with next year's very talented team, we never will.

...That has been our MO for the past 2 years now....But our LB core is going to be young and will make mistakes....But with Sutton now coming back and Hampton staying put we are looking much better right now...We need depth but we can still hang with those two players coming back...

[MikeTrainNC8]

Originally Posted by smoovecock

...That has been our MO for the past 2 years now....But our LB core is going to be young and will make mistakes....But with Sutton now coming back and Hampton staying put we are looking much better right now...We need depth but we can still hang with those two players coming back...

Meh Vic and sutton coming back are nice, but not huge.. Sutton has never been a starter and we have insane depth on the DL. Vic is more important, but wasn't our best CB (Legree was awesome this year), and could stand to improve in the offseason. Most important player coming back is Ace IMO.. truly a game changer on ST. We will have depth everywhere but LB, even if we can't flip Wiggins (which I think we can and will).

[crowcutta]

i dont see how we wouldnt be at worst 8th going into next season. bama, oregon, ohio state will be ahead of us. georgia and a&m likely ahead of us. stanford, clemson, louisville, florida, notre dame, lsu, could potentially be ahead of us, but i dont see how more than two of them end up ahead.

i'd expect us to be ranked ahead of both florida and lsu, all 3 teams are losing some nfl talent on defense, but they have more offensive questions than us.

the best cb on the team is debatable, legree came out on fire, but vic was better in coverage the 2nd half of the season particularly when auguste came back and took the starting job away from legree. sutton is huge too because youre talking about a guy versatile enough to start at end and play inside when we go rabbits, he was 2nd on the team in sacks. i look at it more like us having a 3 man rotation last year rather than him strictly being a reserve.

[Flameout12]

They have to look at OL/DL guys just as much as skill players. This is where they missed on SoCal and a few others v. teams like Bama/SEC. I also think it's a mistake to put too much stock in bowl game appearances. Sure LSU and UF lost, but regular season taters don't beat LSU and likely UF would have given UL a better game.


Like Lou says...it's never as good as it looks and it's never as bad as it looks. ND isn't that bad and Bama isn't that good.

[imabeastonu]

Originally Posted by I Bleed Garnet

Bama, Oregon, Stanford,A&M, OSU

as much as i hate OSU... i gotta agree w/ this except... if tamu brings back those to olinemen... they need to be #3 or even #2

[imabeastonu]

Originally Posted by MikeTrainNC8

Meh Vic and sutton coming back are nice, but not huge.. Sutton has never been a starter and we have insane depth on the DL. Vic is more important, but wasn't our best CB (Legree was awesome this year), and could stand to improve in the offseason. Most important player coming back is Ace IMO.. truly a game changer on ST. We will have depth everywhere but LB, even if we can't flip Wiggins (which I think we can and will).

Vic is by far our best cover corner. BY FAR and Chaz will most likely end up starting next year. those two coming back are HUGE

[DiamondGamecock]

Originally Posted by cack

Um we're actually losing some pretty key players this season, so I'm not shocked about us not being in there at all.

We lost more key players last year than this year, I think we will be fine.

[G&B]

One thing stands in the way of Clemson being in the top 5 and we all know what that is....

hint: it is their last game of the season...

[I Bleed Garnet]

Originally Posted by imabeastonu

as much as i hate OSU... i gotta agree w/ this except... if tamu brings back those to olinemen... they need to be #3 or even #2

They aren't.
They're both top 15 picks.
Joeckel being a top 5

[USCremedy]

Clemson beating LSU is going to give them a lot of hype for next year.. im hoping UGA ruins that in the first game....OR Clemson could easily be 11-0 coming to Columbia as a top 3 team in the nation and we can crush their dreams. Either way is fine with me.

[MikeTrainNC8]

Originally Posted by imabeastonu

Vic is by far our best cover corner. BY FAR and Chaz will most likely end up starting next year. those two coming back are HUGE

Tell us how you really feel.

Disagree. Yes he is our best cover corner (in the short game, not deep IMO), but he still needs to improve.. we lost a TOP 10 PICK CB last year and were fine this year even though we freaked out about how thin our secondary was.. Vic has the talent to be a 1st rd CB, but would be lucky to be a 2nd/3rd round pick at this point... aka not HUGE, we RELOAD just like we did this year

Sutton never has started, so it's not like losing Mi6... Sutton is a BIG talent, but we have many talented players.. WE RELOAD. (He should start, but it's not like we would have lost a key starter from this year with him)

We lost much more last year IMO, including a player we had no replacement for (AJ), and we won 11 games again.

Ya'll seem to forget this is the NEW CAROLINA.. getting those players back is nice, but not HUGE.. we have recruited and coached up enough to have players that can step right in. This is a great time to be a Gamecock