Pre-Miami Round-up

Oct 20th 2009 - Written by: John Webb

“We won, thank the Lord,” said my cousin Geer after the Wake Forest game. I will say AMEN! and thereby also break the praying-for-Clemson-football-wins taboo.

Had we lost to Wake, we would have been 2-4 with a looming road trip to Miami. Thank the Lord, indeed.

Today I would like to hit several different topics. I think you’ll find at least one of them very interesting.

The Rumor: I am not going to repeat the Big Rumor surrounding the athletic department, but I’m guessing that most of you readers have already heard it. I heard it from several different sources Saturday at tailgates. All I can say is that I have not been able to confirm it. If there is any truth to it, we will be hearing it from the athletic department in the next few weeks.

Outliers: Best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell argues in his book Outliers that it usually takes 10,000 hours of dedicated practice to be dominant in a complicated task. He notes that Bill Gates started programming on a mainframe as a kid, and Tiger Woods starting playing golf at age three.

There are 2080 hours in a work year with 40 hour work weeks.

There is a NCAA 20 hour rule concerning practice during the school year, and I’m sure that Rich Rodriguez is the only one to break it. How many hours do our players put in during the year? The article I linked says that college football players spend 44.8 hours/week focused on football. 10,000 hours would be accumulated in 4.3 years.

This could account for Wake Forest’s success with lesser talent. By redshirting virtually everyone, Jim Grobe gets his starters much closer to the 10,000 hour threshold over the course of five years.

Specifically, I wonder how many hours our young offensive line and receivers have put in over the years. 2500 for a redshirt freshman?

Has Dabo hit even 3000 hours as a head coach yet?

Has Billy Napier hit 3000 hours as an offensive coordinator?

Can Kyle Parker get to his 10,000 hours quicker by being a film room junkie?

As a 20+ year fan, I know that I have started to see the game more clearly…blocking schemes, defenses, personnel groupings, mismatches, etc. It’s hard to believe that a quarterback wouldn’t see this as he barrages his mind with game film, 20 hour rule be cursed. Can working with more game tape hurt? Ronald Reagan said, “Hard work won’t kill me, but why risk it?”

Concussions: Last night I watched the 11 October broadcast of 60 Minutes on my DVR. Their report on football head injuries was really scary; they focused on long-term problems that players with concussions experience. This issue has gotten a lot of coverage recently because of Tim Tebow.

I get knots in my stomach thinking about just one of my four boys playing contact sports. As someone who has been treated by a neurologist — the middle school bullies were right, because doctors have told me there really is something not right in my head — I know that the area between your ears is priceless real estate. That’s why it wouldn’t bother me in the least if Scotty Cooper were to miss an extra week with his concussion. It’s just not worth the risk.

Miami: There is a chance that I will be going to the Miami game with a couple of friends of mine, ditching our wives and kids at home in Greenville. Though he was talking about Christmas, not road trips with the guys, I hear Andy Williams’ singing, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.”

If we play like we did against Wake, then we have a good opportunity to win. Miami has an athletic offensive line, but Clemson can match that with our front four.

Kevin Steele will come up with a way to pressure Jacory Harris, and I think that Clemson comes close to matching Miami’s speed.

It all comes down to limiting the turnovers, penalties, and missed assignments, as coaches prattle on about in their weekly press conferences.

As a Super Fan who has racked up more than 10,000 hours watching football, I have one suggestion for our Tigers: block. It’s 90% of every winning offensive game plan.

Please send fawning emails to sectionHrowJ@gmail.com .

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