The Road Map To Upset City: How Can Clemson Beat the Dawgs

there are two key parts of the game tomorrow that we have to see in order for Clemson to beat Georgia a defensive battle and to win the turnover [Music] margin you are locked on Clemson your daily podcast on the Clemson Tigers part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what is up everybody welcome to another episode of the locked on Clemson podcast I'm your host John Bivens we are a credential media member for the Clemson Tigers with football baseball basketball we are bringing you everything you need to know regarding the Clemson Sports here on lockon Clemson thanks so much for making it your first lesson every single day we're bringing you all sports all passion all of the time here on Lon Clemson you're getting those three things and you're getting everything you need to know regarding the Tigers and the Clemson Tiger Athletics uh today is is Friday August 30th the day before game day we've got a great episode for you as we're going to be talking about how can we win what do we need to see in order to win talk about who is the better linebacker room as we finish up our positional breakdown and then we're going to wrap up that series with how what is the Battle of the head coaches look like who has the advantage there it's going to be a great episode today's episode is brought to you by Five Hour Energy Five Hour Energy fixes tired fast with zero sugar and a convenient portable size it's the perfect pit me up to getting stuff done go to 5our energy.com use promo code locked on CFB to receive $ 2020% off of your first order this offer is only valid until September 30th on one order and cannot be used with other promotions go to 5our energy.com today before we dive into the episode we want to let you know a really cool thing we are starting a competition where you can head over to ESPN college pick thems it is their every week you pick a college team to win certain matchups that they've picked out kind of what game day does when they make their picks for the games we have started a locked on Clemson group that you can enter right now for free all you have to do is go over to ESPN college game day pick them uh look up the group locked on Clemson or click the link in the episode notes uh and make your picks we're going to give a prize at the end of the season to the highest three people that's the highest scores we're going to give a prize to them uh completely for free we'll reach out to you on how to get that prize to you but make sure you enter that you can enter it now you can go aad and make your Peaks now you just make a pick literally it takes five minutes you go through once a week make your pcks for the weekend uh and then submit them and then it'll be entered into the group and you can keep a running score we're competing we've already got a couple other people in that group so make sure you join that group again go to ESPN college pium search locked on Clemson or just hit that uh hit the link out down in the episode notes description uh and you can join that group that way but we're excited about that when it comes to Clemson though in order for Clemson to win we have to see two things we have to win the turnover battle and we've got to force this to be a defensive battle this cannot be an offensive shootout let's break into those two last year one of the biggest things that killed Clemson in our losses was the turnovers we didn't force enough and when we didn't force them when we did force them we were given the ball over even more you don't have to look far back look at the Duke game right look at game one of last week or last year we turned the ball over how many times in the red zone when you turn the ball over you prevent your chances to score that's never going to win we've got to win that turnover margin Georgia has a great team we cannot help them out at all if we want to win this game we can't help them we have to make them help us we have to cause the turnovers on defense and then our offense has to utilize every single possession the second thing that has to happen is this has to be a def defensive battle we'll get into this in a second but when it comes to our defense compared to the their defense overall I don't think we have a better defense but I think it's very comparable on offense I would say Georgia has a slightly better offense than we do but when you compare the people that I'll be facing off their offense compared to our defense I feel like our defense has a little bit of the advantage in that matchup on opposite side when our offense matches up with their defense their defense has a significant Advantage because of that this cannot turn into a a blowout this game cannot turn into an offensive sh shootout obviously can't turn into a blowout but this cannot be who's going to score the most points this cannot be one of those games if it is we're going to lose that game 99 times out of a 100 we can we don't have the offensive Firepower unless the team just magically changed drastically over the offseason and since the spring game we don't have the offensive fire Firepower to try to stick with Georgia in an offensive shootout if it turns into that we're in deep trouble our best chance to win our best strategy in order for us to win this game our best chance in order to win this game is it's got to be a defensive game our defense has got to prevent from scores we've got to make sure that their Georgia's offense we slow them down we don't allow them to put up the points that they're used to putting up if this game is 30s in the 30s or in the even the high 20s or 30s or more it doesn't look good for the Tigers our best I mean look at last time we played Georgia we lost 10 to three didn't allow offensive touchdown the entire game granted that was 2021 only a couple players on both teams were still on the team at that time because it was so long ago but still and if we want to win defense has got to show out even in that game our defense didn't allow a touchdown and we still lost because our offense couldn't keep up with our defense I think our offense is going to score I don't think we're going to go scoreless like that it's going to be a little different but we're still not going to be able to put up 35 points if we do uh awesome if we end up losing this game game 42 to35 I'm almost more encouraged than if we win this game 10 to3 obviously a win is more encouraging but I hope you see what I mean if we're able to come out in our offense proves me completely wrong and score so many points just lines up the points even if we lose I'm extremely pumped about this season for seeing an offense that can score on one of the best defenses in the nation um then I'm a little dis and then obviously their offense is good so I'm not too worried about our defense for giving up points to one of the best offenses in the nation that's the thing Geor is the kind of team that offense and defense they're top five top 10 on both sides of the ball when you're playing an opponent like that don't get in a shootout with them but also don't help him out with turnovers if we want to win this game it's got to come down to a defensive battle I would love to see us come out and at the end of the first quarter be three to three or seven to three seven to seven end of the first half still be in a 147 1414 game you know only two scores 14 to 10 something like that that kind of score very encouraging very winnable because davo is good at the fourth quarter drives davo is for good at making the second half adjustments at making some changes into the half if we're within one possession in the first half I I think our chances of winning Skyrocket if we're down by two possessions or if it's 21 to7 2114 if Clemson's or Georgia's already scored three times three touchdowns in the first half we're in trouble moving on to that second half because then it's like okay their offensive is already in a rhythm into the second half where emotions are going to get heightened so I think we've got to keep the scoring to a minimum we've got to keep it lower we've got to not allow a them to run away with all kinds of scores with all kinds of points this has got to be a defensive battle I know a lot of times that's one of most boring games to watch but can you imagine going into the fourth quarter and georg's downs 10 to s or georg's down 16 to13 that or Clemson's down 16 to 13 you know if it's a close game like that if it's a game with defenses are showing out defenses are showing up doing what they need to do making the plays they need to play if that's happening Clemson Chan is Skyrocket we cannot allow Georgia offense to do what they want that cannot be the case I in other games we won't say this I know a lot of this sounds like wough you can't let them score no in other games when we play later on we can allow them to score because I got faith our offense can score just as much right or more this game is not like that Georgia has the advantage on the offensive side I don't think it's drastic but I do think they do have the advantage on the offensive side and because of that our defense has to allow our offense to have a chance they've got to find a way to slow down Beck Slow Down etn slow down these receivers break through that tough offensive line per cause some pressure cause a couple sacks even force a turnover to I would love to see a two three turnovers in the first half I'd love to see Carson Beck walk into the first half with maybe a touchdown and two picks that'd be amazing that would be dream situation in order for Clemson to win we've got to win the turnover margin and we've got to force this to be a defensive battle if we can do that we can win this game when we look at the defensive side specifically we're in this series of going through positional breakdowns when we look specifically at our last position group the linebacker group who has the advantage warmer sunnier days are calling so fuel up 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college football is back and it is not too late to catch up before the season kicks off tomorrow SEC ACC Big 10 Big 12 you can get it all from locked on stable of college experts by subscribing to the locked on college football podcast who has a chance to make the playoffs what team's going to cause chaos in their new conference everything you need to know all in one place be sure to follow And subscribe to the locked on college football podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day when it comes to the linebacker group when it comes to the linebacker position group Georgia has the slight advantage over Clemson and it's due to two things one it's due to the proven success of their players two it's due to the depth we've gone through the series and we've talked through all the offensive groups wide receivers running backs quarterbacks offensive line tight end but also secondary defensive line and now the linebackers and as we go through these groups we've been focusing not on potential we haven't been looking on expect success we've been looking on what they've proven to this point what they've done as of right now um obviously with freshmen you have to play a part of what they can do um but for the most part we're looking at what they've done who they are uh what their potential is as of right now not what we think they can be and with those parameters in mind with that station with that mindset focused in when you look at these two linebacker groups you see two of the best in the nation I don't care who you're a fan of you cannot disagree that both Georgia and Clemson are some of the best linebackers in the nation but Georgia has the slight Advantage at that position based on the depbt that they have and based on the proven success from the players that they have when you look at Georgia's linebacker room it is full of studs I mean it is full of some great players uh they have CJ Allen they have Samuel mondon Jr they have Dylan Everett but those are great players in their own but they also have some studs on the bench uh they also I'm sorry Dylan ever is a cornerback but they also have Jaylen Walker they have railen Wilson they have Damon Wilson they have Chad chamblas they've got some great players they've got solid studs on the field and honestly if you just H their backup linebackers and put them starting they'd be better than a lot of teams in the nation at the linebacker position just with their backups that depth is huge having that freedom to sub in andout players to keep him rested to have a rotate door which we' talked about Clemson loves to do having that creates a whole new threat a whole new Dynamic where they can do so many amazing things when it comes down to the linebacker group they have people that can rush they have people that can get through the line and pressure the quarterback they have people that can great at man coverage they have people that are great in zone coverage they have utility guys that could do all of it their linebacker room is full of depth and when you look at what they've done they have a lot lot of success I mean at their Jack position they've got a senior at middle linebacker a sophomore but did really well as a freshman they've got samel mondon Jr a senior at the linebacker uh they've got great players there but then they also have on the outside or in the bench they've got Jaylen Walker's a junior Wilson ra railen Wilson who's a sophomore Damon Wilson II who's a sophomore they've got experienced players they're not starting a freshman or freshman's not even in their top two uh their starting or their backups they have a freshman as their third string middle linebacker but with all that being said they've got players that have proved they can be successful they have players that provve they can be good and they have the experience and depth in order to do that that's why Georgia has the experience that's why Georgia has the advantage when you could Clemson look Clemson AR aren't a bunch of bums Clemson's not a bunch of Scrubs back there they've got some good players I think when you look at individual players Clemson has the best linebacker out of either of these two teams with Barrett Carter I would say Clemson is the has the second best linebacker with only possibly one other player ahead of Barrett Carter but he's going to be an outstanding player and once again we're not judging on future per on the potential of this year he's been one of the best for years now as a he's coming in as a senior he surprised a lot of people coming back to Clemson this year I think he could have been drafted in early rounds but he decided to come back and I think that's he's gonna have the year that's going to lead him to a one first round draft pick next year he's going to be the captain of this defense he's going to be the captain captain of this defensive team for Clemson he's solid I think he is better than any individual player on the defense on either side of the ball or on either team on defensive side but as our group as a whole we don't have the depth or The Proven success I think Wade woodz uh he's a junior he's proven I think if we had another player like Wade woodz along with Barett Carter so two players Wade wood has this potential and barck Carter starting I think Clemson might get the nod but unfortunately our uh other starting linebacker who is Jamal Anderson he's a sophomore he played some last year he doesn't have the proven success he doesn't have the proven ability that he can be a star level linebacker forcing plays I think he's great I think he's gonna be good um but based on where he's at right now and based on what we've seen we don't have the proven success that George's linebackers has and when you look at the when you look at the depth I think we have some good ones on the bench Kobe McLoud had a good year last year as a red Shir freshman and I think he's gonna have a great year this year D kraton we didn't see a lot last year he's a red shirt freshman uh Kade denhoff he's a red shirt junior or sorry he's defensive line but Drew woodz who's a true freshman he is Wade woodz is little brother um Drew he's gonna have a good year I think as a freshman but we don't know we haven't seen him based on that Georgia has the depth Georgia has the proven success while Clemson might have I think Clemson can almost match them in Talent not all the way but almost match them in Talent based on those two perimeters of depth and proven success up to this point Georgia has the slight Advantage when it comes down to the linebacker position we've went through every single position group on the offensive and defensive side there's one other group that we haven't talked about yet and that I'm not talking special teams because Georgia has the advantage there let's just be real what I'm talking about is the head coach when you look at these two head coaches which are some of the most well-known best coaches in the league what team truly has the advantage at the head coach position grab a 5H Hour Energy drink in order to fix tired fast whether you have a long list of to-do work or a long list of DIY projects to tackle at home take a 5our energy shot so you can check everything off your list if you're like me you always have a large list of projects for the home we are expect a child in a couple of weeks now and there is so much stuff I have to do to get done and so many times I feel like I don't have the energy to complete it Five Hour Energy fixes that when you get your supplies for the project don't forget the most essential Supply which is a 5H Hour Energy Shot drink Five Hour Energy is the brand hardworking people like you have trusted for over 20 years to get them alert energized and feeling the way that they need to get through a busy hectic day you always know where to find a five our energy shot right at the cash register at nearly every convenience drug or grocery store Nationwide stock up on your moneysaving multi packs to make sure you never run out of delicious energizing Five Hour Energy shots if you go to 5our energy.com that's the number five uh energy.com you get some 5H Hour Energy product today you can even use our code promo code that we have locked on CFB to receive 20% off your first order this offers only Val until September 30th so act fast and it can only be used on one order and not used with other promotions the code is not good on subscription orders but the code locked on CFB all caps will get you 20% off your first order go to 5our energy.com today in order to fix tired fast when it comes to head coaches when it comes to dabos Sweeny and Kirby Smart I don't think you can say one team has the for sure upper hand I think these teams are pretty much split and tied when it comes down to which teams has the upper hand and here's why when you look at active coaches who have national championships you have three of them you have dbos Sweeney you have Kirby Smart and you have uh Matt Brown from Carolina Matt Brown won and escaped a game against Minnesota last night as they were play playing there in Minnesota missed a field goal to win it that hurt I I love I'm pulling for the ACC but Minnesota should have won that game Matt Brown escaped from a win but anyway those are the only three active coaches that have won a national championship obviously Jim Harbaugh won with Michigan but he's now in the NFL so there isn't another active coach with a division one National Championship with that in mind only two of them have won multiple dabos Sweeney and Kirby Smart those are the only two that've won multiple so when it comes down to which of these coaches are the better ones we're comparing the best of the best when we're comparing when we're trying to figure out who is the better Coach what team has the advantage we're literally comparing the top two coaches in the league now people can argue all day long who's better Kirby Smart or dabos Sweeny when you're and honestly you're comparing two different things everyone's heard the phrase compared Apple to oranges and you can't do that it's a dumb phrase right it's two fruits you can 100% compare those 100% the better phrase would be comparing apples to broccoli and I think that's closer to what dbos Sweeney and kby smart is because they are such different styles they are two very different styles of head coaches it's davo Sweeny is one that is all about loyalty he's all about building the Clemson culture building the environment not only growing people on the field but growing them in life he wants the best out of his players both on the field but in the real Real World Georgia with Kirby Smart is they want to put the most talented team on the field they want to have the most talented team possible so dab because of that dbo doesn't do the transfer portal and a lot of people are hating on him for that I think this year we'll be able to see if that's truly going to make a difference we'll be able to see if he can get back to the ACC Championship game if he can get in the playoffs have success then it doesn't matter what people say he doesn't need the transfer portal if he has another negative season if he goes and loses four games this year doesn't make the playoff then there's the argument of is the transfer portal do we need it more but as of right now you can't say that dabo's less good than kerbo smart less talented less of a good coach than Kirby Smart to the transfer portal because we don't know if dabo's theory is going to work we don't know if dabo's style is going to work his style is loyalty his style is recruit the best possible get great recruits that fit the Clemson culture grow that culture grow that loyalty grow these players to be the players that grow play really well and then thrive and rock with them Kirby Smart though isn't that he has good recruits he has some great recruiting classes some years but he also goes to the transfer portal a lot of their offens has transfers this year I mean a lot of their offense obviously their quarterback's not he's been there all of his career but some of their wide receivers are their starting running back who should not be starting for in fact there's no way you can should have a d di DUI and then still get to play but that's a side note I think it's ridiculous but they starting running back is uh being able to play and he playing and he's a transfer this year they have a lot of transfers so Kirby's idea is more a balance between recruit and transfer Dabo is solely recruits they are two very very different styles when it comes to these two coaches and because of that you can't put one above the other you can have your own personal opinion some people go with Kirby based on recent success and transfer pool some people go with Dabo due to his level recruiting even when you look down to winning records and what they've done at their career as head coaches they're almost identical Kirby Smart has been there uh for since 2016 so from 2016 to 2023 uh he's been there eight years in that time he's won 110 games 94 wins 16 losses uh 85% win rate really good really good win rate he's been there eight years and hasn't lost 20 games yet in his ball history he's nine- two and one of those losses came in the national championship he's made it to three national championships in those three he's two and one really good line one of the best when you compare dbos Sweeney he's been there a little bit longer he's been there since 2008 so that is a much more longer time uh he's been there multiple years I mean he's looking at starting his 16th 17th year now in those years he's he's starting his 17th year in that he's played 213 games he has 170 wins 43 losses for a 79% win rate so Kirby Smart in a less less long of a time has a six% win rate better than Davos Sweeney you can't compare that you can't are use that to argue a point when you look at Bowl record that's where Kirby Smart has a little bit of an advantage uh Kirby Smart is n-2 in ball games Davos swinny is 12-8 Davos made to the National Championship four times so another time more than Kirby Smart and in that time he's two and two so has a one extra loss um but he's made it to their playoffs four different times in all four of those it was two times in a row one year break two times in a row and here's why I think these two are very similar from 2015 to 2020 dbos Sweeney the lowest that he finished in AP High rength AP post rength or AP pre- rank is 2015 he started as the 12th seed got all got all the way to ranked one finished ranked two 2016 started at two got up to one finished at one 2017 started at five got up to one finished at four 2018 started at two got up to one finished at one 2019 started as one got up to one finished as two and 2020 started at one got up to one and stayed at one and then finished at three when you look at those that was a six-year span where the highest he got was five and the highest that he finished was four or the lowest that he started started was five the lowest that he finished was four when he got up to one every single year from 2015 to 2020 six years of dominance and in those six years we got to four championships lost two of them won two of them that's talent when you look at Kirby Smart he's experienced a similar part of this early on in his career from like 2016 to 2020 uh he started 2016 he started 18 got up to nine didn't finish ranked 17 started 15 got up to two finished two and then 18 through 20 he stayed in that third through seventh ranking 2021 switched it though when Clemson fell out after 2020 dropped off a little bit that's when Jordan picked up since then they started five got up to one finished one 2022 got started three got to one finished one 2023 started one got to one finished four that's very similar to those six years that Clint davo had only difference is now this year Kirby started as one where Clemson started uh down at 14 here's the difference between the two schools the two difference is this Davos Sweeney already had his six years and now he's working back to another time of dominance which I think Could Happen Kirby Smart is in the middle of that six years right now if it lasts six years if it goes that long or if it goes longer these two coaches are very identical when you look at recent success yes Kirby has the Kirby has the advantage there with recent success but overall as a head coach dbo has the experience Dabo has the history the longevity of it and he's already he knows what it's like to have a long long time of dominance and he's only a couple years out of that and he could easily return back to that this year if we beat Georgia that puts us in that conversation so with all that being said when it comes down to these two coaches when it comes down to these two teams I don't think you can put either one above the other as long as you have these two coaches one and two I would put Dabo and then Kirby but if you put Kirby then Dabo you're not going to get an argument out of me the argument comes is when you don't have one of these coaches at one and two when it comes to best coaches in the nation but with all that being said that will wrap up this edition of the locked on Clemson podcast thanks so much for making locked on Clemson your first listen every day now go check out lockon Clemson uh or go check out one of the other po mini shows from lockon college podcast such as lockt on college football podcast from nil deals to never in conference re alignment Spencer MC coflin gets you ready for an exciting season on the grid iron you can find the link to locked on college football in the description below so you don't need to search it is part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day tomorrow we will have a post episode postgame show so right after the game finishes we're going to record a show and put it out for you just recapping our thoughts on it and then next week we'll dive into more specifics all about this Clemson football team this game tomorrow and next week's matchup against App State uh but make sure you join our loton Clemson Insider program that gets you access to one-on-one conversations bonus video episodes and so much more we can chat with each other in the middle of the game at all points so make sure you jump into that to join that text Clemson to 864-254-9560 uh with ESPN college game day join the group locked on Clemson you can search locked on Clemson to join or click the link down below hey let your know let us know your thoughts on today we'd love to hear feedback drop a comment let us know on Twitter shoot us a message with our Insider program we'd love to hear feedback on all that if you haven't make sure subscribe to loton Clemson that way your first listen every single day can be right here until then we can't wait to see you on tomorrow's episode for that postgame show but until then keep that tiger Pride alive and roaring and as always go Tigers