Dabo Swinney is a Dumbass

I noticed this past weekend that Clemson's game against Florida State was canceled. I assumed it was COVID related, and reading up on it that morning confirmed my assumption. Apparently Clemson had a lineman that tested positive travel on the plane with them to the game. This is against all the new protocols, this is morally wrong and it was a tremendous oversight by the adults in charge at Clemson. After finding out the news, FSU's medical staff thought it wasn't safe to play the game, and they had it canceled, or maybe postponed. Either way, Clemson-FSU didn't happen on Saturday.

I am not one to side with FSU often, I do not like that program at all, but on this topic, I one hundred percent think they made the right call. Who knows who could have been exposed to it, who knows how many people the player interacted with, it is too dangerous a situation to go out and play a college football game. After the cancellation, I thought nothing of it, this is happening every weekend in college football, these kids probably shouldn't be playing right now and I didn't think it would be brought up again. I was wrong because Dabo Swinney is a holier than thou moron that doesn't know when to keep his goddamn mouth shut.

I am not a Dabo fan at all. I dislike him as much as FSU football. He is too rah rah, way too Jesusy and just gets on my nerves. But what he said yesterday was truly astonishing and appalling. He claimed that FSU made up the COVID incident so they wouldn't have to play. I'm sure he said it in other ways, but the gist, at least to me, was he was calling FSU a bunch of babies and wimps. Keep in mind, Clemson had a COVID positive player on a flight with the rest of the team. That doesn't seem to matter to Swinney, who thinks that a D1 college would make up a story so they wouldn't have to play a football game.

This is an outrageous claim by a guy who is getting way, way too big for his britches. I think he thinks he is college football. I think he thinks that people come out to watch him coach, not to see the players play. I think he thinks he is bigger than the game and he can call people and other universities out because he has won a few titles. No other coach has made this claim during this COVID filled college football season. Brian Kelly didn't say anything when Notre Dame had to close down operations for two weeks. Alabama's game against LSU was canceled for COVID last weekend, and I didn't see Nick Saban saying Ed Oregeron was too afraid to take the field. Ryan Day wasn't all up in arms when the University of Ohio State's game two weeks ago against Maryland was canceled because of an outbreak within the Maryland program. None of the coaches of the top teams in football have made this claim this year. But leave it to good old boy Dabo Swinney to throw a fit because he allowed a player with a highly contagious virus to fly on a plane, and blame the other school and call them scared.

This is nonsense, and more so, it is dangerous. These kids, that we know of, do not get paid to play college football. They go to these schools in hopes of furthering their careers. But in reality, most don't make it to the pros. But Swinney, and a whole lot of other college football coaches, make more money than anyone else in their respective states. So to him, not playing a game is a missed paycheck, and less money in his pocket. Instead of taking this pandemic as seriously as he should be, we all should be, he uses bullying and name calling. This is a despicable act, and I am shocked that no one has really called him out for this behavior. This is something a child would do. Swinney, with this comment, really showed me that he does not care about the safety and well-being of any college athlete, including the ones on his own team. I am deeply disturbed he took this route, and it made me lose any respect I may have had for him.

Dabo Swinney may be a good coach, but he is not a good person, especially if this is the route he is going to take when games get canceled because there is a deadly pandemic currently ravaging our country. I am stunned by his words.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Everything That is Wrong With Trevor Lawernce's COVID-19 Diagnosis

Earlier this week the Big Ten had to cancel a game due to a COVID outbreak, and yesterday, Trevor Lawrence tested positive and will miss Clemson's game against Boston College tomorrow.

This is not the trend that the NCAA was hoping for when they pushed ahead for a season this fall. I have mentioned how they could survive if it were smaller schools having to push games around, or outright cancel them, and how if the players weren't "stars", it wouldn't really be a problem. But now the NCAA is having to deal with big name schools and prospects. Notre Dame and Florida have had to postpone games due to outbreaks. Wisconsin is now added to that list, and I am sure there are a good number of more high profile schools coming down the pipe. And while these schools have had to pause their seasons, no real super duper star player has tested positive. Notre Dame's QB didn’t test positive, that we know. Wisconsin's freshman QB did, but he isn't a top tier guy yet. Florida didn't release the names of the players that tested positive, so that means we don't know if their QB or stud tight end got it. And with coaches getting it, like Dan Mullen and Paul Chryst, I do not count Nick Saban because that whole situation is fishy to me, that doesn't really matter because they have so many assistant coaches that can take over if needed. But when a player of Trevor Lawrence's caliber gets it, and has to miss a guy, that should frighten everyone involved with college football. He is the Heisman front runner. He is the star player of the number one team in the country. He was very vocal about wanting to play. He has been on fire. And he is, if he leaves Clemson after this year, going to be the number one pick in the 2021 NFL draft. So the fact that he tested positive twice, that Clemson couldn't find some way to keep it quiet or cover it up, that he is missing a nationally televised game, this is all big news, and it is not good news.

Clemson will most likely beat Boston College tomorrow. They have a backup that was a highly rated recruit, and he does have game snaps due to all the blowouts, but that will not be the topic of conversation going into the game tomorrow. It will all be about Lawrence. I'm sure they will try and figure out how he got it, when he got it and how soon he will be able to return. The return, I bet, will be the biggest topic on all the pregame shows. The ACC has a ten day sit out policy for any kid that tests positive. And you may read this and say, okay, he will miss two games, but it is Clemson, they should roll. Again, I'm sure they will with BC, but they have the game of the week, and season, next Saturday when they face Notre Dame.

At the time I'm writing this those are the 1st and 3rd rated teams in the country. It will almost assuredly be a primetime night game. It will have as many eyeballs on it as possible. But, if Lawrence tested positive on Wednesday, and then again on Thursday, that would mean that the tenth day would fall on the night of that game. What will TV and the NCAA do if he isn't better? What if his "mild symptoms" get worse during the week? What if he tests positive again? What if he breaks quarantine because he thinks he feels okay enough to go out? Or what if Clemson's game this weekend is too close for comfort, and Dabo wants his prize recruit to come back before he is healthy and ready?

That, and the TV stuff, is what scares me most. Nick Saban wasn't supposed to coach last weekend against Georgia, but by some miracle, he tested negative when he needed to. This meant CBS could run their regular show and Alabama fans could see their coach on the sidelines, and everyone forgot about it. Again, he is a coach, and he has no other prospects. He is the GOAT college coach and he clearly doesn't want to return to the NFL. His career is set. Trevor Lawrence is about to get seriously paid, he is about to be in the NFL, and while he hasn't really needed for anything in his life, he won't have to ever again after he is drafted. But what if this lingers? How will that affect him in the long? What about how the coaches handle this? Dabo Swinney is all about winning, and doing it at any cost. I wouldn't be shocked at all if he rushes Lawrence back for their next game.

This is all very bad. And I fear it will be handled even worse by every adult in the room. This was my biggest worry for a college football season, and NFL for that matter, that these star players would get COVID and miss time, and possibly damage their future. It sucks way more for college kids because, for the naïve, they don't get paid a dime. I hope Clemson and Trevor Lawrence and the NCAA do the right thing, but they have shown too many times before that they won't, and that they don't care about these kids. This was the worst thing that could have happened for Clemson and college football, and I am curious and pessimistic that they will handle it the right way. This is a real bummer.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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Clemson is the New Alabama

Last night was an absolute bloodbath in the College Football Playoff title game. And the team I thought would be putting on that beating, I was very, very wrong. I made no secrets about my thoughts on this Alabama team. I thought they were unbeatable. I wasn't one of those idiots that thought they could beat an NFL team, but I thought no one, including Clemson, would beat them in college. They appeared invincible. They ran rough shed through their regular season schedule. The only game they really struggled with was Georgia in the SEC title game, but they still won that one fairly easily in the end.

What I failed to realize was the fact that Clemson was doing the exact same thing all year. They also had one tough game, Syracuse, but they pulled away from that one late as well. As far as the rest of the their schedule, it was a cakewalk. Even when they played ranked teams, they crushed them. I was also a little skeptical of them starting Trevor Lawrence when they did, I am a Kelly Bryant fan. Well, I was completely, and absolutely wrong. Starting Trevor Lawrence was the exact right thing to do. Clearly the coaches knew something that not many other writers and bloggers did. Sure, Lawrence was a 5 star, top QB recruit in the country, but Bryant led this same team to the playoff last year, and he started out the year just fine. I was a bit stunned, and didn't question Bryant's decision to transfer at all.

But man oh man did this Lawrence kid look phenomenal in the 2 playoff games, the only 2 I saw him play in this year. He carved up what was supposed to be a top defense in Notre Dame in the semi final game. He had all kinds of time in the pocket, found the open receiver every time and shredded them. He did this, and so, so much more last night against a much, much better Alabama team. I mean, he looked like he was a fifth year senior out there. He was hitting all the open receivers. He was making pinpoint throws. He ran the read option perfectly. I have not seen a kid this good in my lifetime. Sure, Peyton Manning and Brian Griese and Tom Brady and Cam Newton and Deshaun Watson and so on and so forth were all great. At this very moment, Lawrence is already better, and he isn't even 20 yet. I can't believe he has to play 2 more years of college football. That would be like forcing this Zion Williamson kid to play three years at Duke. Lawrence is as ready for the pros, probably more so, than any of the underclassmen this year that declared for the draft. He is astounding.

All the praise doesn't belong solely to Lawrence. His receivers, his big time guy, are mostly underclassmen. The dude he hit for the 74 yarder to blow open the game is a true freshman as well. He has to play 2 more years of college football before he goes pro. Their running back, Travis Etienne, is only a sophomore. He struggled at first, but when he needed to pull off big gainers, he did. He ended the game with solid stats. He is also an excellent pass catcher. They also have a stable of guys behind him ready to go. Their O line was amazing. They protected the QB and opened up holes in the later stages of the game for the running backs to ice this game away. And that defense, which I have loved all year, made play after plays last night. Sure, they gave up nearly 400 yards of offense, but they held Alabama to 16 points, and zero in the second half. They had multiple goal line stands. They picked off the Alabama QB twice. They pressured him all night. And they were missing their star D lineman, and they didn't play the perfect game. And they still dominated what was supposed to be one of college football's most explosive offenses.

I have watched a good amount of Alabama this year, and that was the worst I have seen them play ever. They looked confused, slow, out manned and like the inferior team. It was astounding. Every time they cut to Saban's face, I was cracking up at how upset and outcoached he was. He is not used to this. He is like a human cheat code due to his dominance. That all shifted last night. Dabo Swinney and staff made him look like a third or fourth year coach. Saban is the greatest coach in college football history, but Swinney is now starting to join that conversation as well. I mean, he destroyed what many thought was one of Alabama's best offenses ever. He also exploited their suspect defense, with a true freshman QB. As much as I may dislike Swinney's fake "good old boy" shtick, I loved watching him never, ever take his foot off the gas. He wanted to shove it in Alabama and Nick Saban's face that he was the better coach with the better team last night. And he proved it.

This is the shift in college football. This is now the time that Clemson takes over as the dominant program in college football. As I said, they get the majority of this team back for the next three years. They are going to dominate the game for the time being. They are the Warriors of college football. They are the new Alabama. They are the best team, and will continue to be as long as Lawrence and Swinney and Brent Venables and Etienne and their deep, deep crop of super talented and very tall receivers are still there. And they have a top recruiting class year after year after year. They will continue to pull in top tier guys. Clemson is the new dynasty. They are the new rulers of college football. They are the force to be reckoned with, and they made that statement very loud and clear with the way they dominated Alabama last night.

That was as eye opening a beating as I have ever seen. Clemson put on a show last night, and the college football watching public needs to get used to them being the best of the best. That is where they are now, if they weren't already. Clemson is amazing.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is looking forward to the day when he can tell his kids about a time before only Alabama and Clemson being the National Champion every year.

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Clemson Comes out on Top in a Classic College Football Sequel

I was going to write about something different today, but that will have to wait until tomorrow, because the College Football Playoff Championship last night was absolutely incredible. We got Alabama-Clemson part 2, and I think the sequel may have been better than the original. Don't get me wrong, last year's title game was great, but last night's title game was on a whole other level. For about 3 quarters, it was kind of boring, and was going as expected, but the fourth quarter made this game an instant classic.

In the first three quarters, Alabama dominated the pace and tempo of the game. They were able to run on Clemson, and when they gave them the ball, Alabama's defense was able to control, and even rattle Clemson and Deshaun Watson. At the end of the third, the score was 17-14, Alabama. When the fourth quarter started, Alabama had the ball, and Jalen Hurts, who had a horrific passing game, found OJ Howard wide open and he ran 68 yards for a score to put Alabama up 24-14. I figured that was the end for Clemson. I figured Alabama's defense would put the clamps on the Clemson offense, like they had almost all game, and the offense would be able to salt the game away by running the ball.

Deshaun Watson would not let that happen. Right after the Crimson Tide took that 10 point lead, Watson seemed to wake up, and he immediately drove his team down the field. Aided by a late hit call, Watson took off on a designed QB run, and had one of the best non TD runs that I have ever seen. He went to the corner of the field, looked like he was going to step out of bounds, but instead turned the ball up field and dove for the goal line. He was definitely pushed out of bounds before he got in, but on the very next play, Wayne Gallman ran the ball in easily. Clemson was now within 3 points, and it seemed like they grabbed all the momentum. Alabama then got the ball back, did nothing with it and punted. Clemson got it back, did nothing with it as well, and punted. Then, same thing for a third time with Alabama.

After all the punting back, Clemson and Deshaun Watson took over the game. He drove that team down the field, making precise throws, and picking the perfect spots to run, when it was needed. On the eighth play of the drive, Watson found Williams for a 4 yard strike, and for the first time all year, Alabama was on the ropes. Clemson took the lead in the title game, scoring 14 unanswered points against the vaunted Alabama defense. Some have said, I'm sure I was one of those people at times this year as well, that this Alabama defense was one of the best of all time, but Clemson ran roughshot over them halfway through the fourth quarter.

Alabama would not be silenced so easily. After Clemson took the lead with just over 4 minutes left, Alabama got the ball back, and Steve Sarkisian finally opened up the playbook. They ran one of the better wide receiver pass plays that I have seen. It was perfectly executed. Earlier in the drive, Alabama also converted a crucial fourth and one with a bruising run from Damien Harris. Then, facing a second and medium, in the face of the blitz, Jalen Hurts did what he does best. He saw that Clemson had brought all their linebackers, and he took off. He proceeded to go 30 yards untouched on his way to the end zone, giving Alabama the lead with just under 2 minutes left. All the joy that the Clemson fans had was gone.

With Alabama in the lead late in the fourth, the cameras panned to Watson. He had a look of "I'm not going out like this". He looked confident. The fear from early in the game was gone. He was in the "zone", as it were. On the kickoff, Clemson's returner almost looked like he was going to go the distance, but he got tripped up at about the 35. This was when Watson took over. He was zipping the ball into very small windows to receivers that were covered very well. On one play, his tight end stretched as far as his body would let him, and he pulled the ball in. Mike Williams, who is awesome, was beating the Alabama secondary with relative ease, and Watson was finding him on this last drive.

Clemson drove it all the way down to the 6 yard line, and with 6 seconds left, they went for the win. The announcers were saying that they thought that they should kick the field goal and play for overtime, but I loved the call to go for the win. The ball was snapped and Watson rolled to his right. Clemson ran a "rub" play, Alabama fans I'm sure thought it was a pick play(it actually looked like it may have been a pick play, but this is one opinion from a guy that had no skin in the game), and his small slot receiver, Hunter Renfrow, was WIDE OPEN. Watson hit him in the chest and Renfrow crossed the goal line with one second left on the clock. The extra point was good and Clemson had a 35-31 lead. The Tigers then proceeded to do an "onside" kick, and they recovered and Watson came out and kneeled on the ball, and the game was over.

My heart was racing, and I DIDN'T EVEN CARE WHO WON! This was an incredible title game. I think Deshaun Watson proved all his doubters wrong. People said he was overrated and inconsistent all year, but when it was a big game, Watson played his best. I am still flabbergasted that he did not win the Heisman. I also do not understand how he is not the best available QB in the upcoming draft. He is so much better than Deshon Kizer, Mitch Trubisky or any other QB that is going to be draft eligible. I'd take Watson if I needed a QB without any hesitation. Watson proved last night that he was the best player in college football. He looked phenomenal last night, when he needed to be phenomenal. Alabama's vaunted defense looked tired and shocked. They could not stop Watson last night, and he played even better last night than he did last year. They just flat out could not do anything to slow him down. They looked awesome for 3 quarters, Alabama's defense that is, but when it mattered most, they got exposed.

Games like these are why I love college football so much. It was kind of boring for a bit, but when it came down to crunch time, this game more than lived up to the hype. Also, quick shout out to Dabo Swinney for giving Colin Cowherd the business in his post game press conference. I loved it, and I'm so glad whenever anyone can point out how stupid Colin Cowherd truly is. Anyway, congrats Clemson. you were the better team last night and you had the best player on the field. Deshaun Watson will rightfully go down as one of the better college QB's of all time. He played so great last night, and for his entire career. He seems a bit underrated to me, but I think he will finally gets the credit he deserves. What a game and what an ending to the college football season. Just incredible.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He never thought Clemson was a fraud, he picked them to win at the beginning of the season. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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