Monday November 03, 2008

Sponsorship; BC Review

Sponsorship
Thanks to Crump and Brian I received the opportunity to write this daily blog starting in May of 2006 and later that month I met with two companies about becoming the title sponsor. I have been extremely fortunate to have had Tom Winkopp as the title sponsor for over two years and can’t thank Tom and his staff enough for their tremendous support. They have been wonderful for me and my family, especially to Ryan with his birthday party. Tom is someone I can proudly call a great friend.

Like many real estate companies, Tom had to make some budget cutbacks and regretfully informed me at the end of September of those cutbacks and says his company would love to get back on board ASAP. I had 30 days but waited until the end of the month to announce it. So for the first time in two and a half years I have sponsorship available on the blog.

Our other featured sponsors have also been with us for two and a half years and I want to continue to thank Brad Hughes, George Coleman Ford and Mr. Knickerbocker for their fantastic support.

I have prepared about ten sponsorship packages that start at only $200 per month and can go up to title sponsorship which would include radio promos as well. If you or someone you know is interested in receiving an e-mail with details of all of our sponsorship packages please e-mail me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com.

Through our loyal sponsors’ support we are able to reach anywhere from 15,000 to 25,000 readers each day. Some of our blogs have seen 50,000 readers a day at peak times or during times of high interests like the AARC stuff, coaching searches, the ACC basketball tournament run and Ryan’s miracle recovery this summer.

There are three reasons the blog has been successful. Number one-The great sponsors. Number two-Your loyalty to reading the blog daily. Number three-Your patronage of the sponsors. Thanks to all who have helped and please let me know if you have any interest in sponsor information.

BC Game Review
Man that just felt so good.

It felt good to watch a team compete for 60 minutes.

It felt good to watch a dominating first half performance against a team that we have not beaten in my lifetime.

It felt so good to see the team respond to adversity and come from behind in the fourth quarter.

I feel great for Dabo because so many of the things he has been hitting on in the past 19 days were perhaps the big differences in the game. Dabo had talked about unity and about team. He has spent so much of his time trying to take a bunch of individuals and turn them back into a team. Saturday was the fruits of his hard work.

We saw a great scene Saturday. This football team has been beaten up and ripped apart by an avalanche of adversity that included coaching changes, injuries and a ton of negative energy. But Saturday we saw one of the scenes I love to see when this team was able to gather in the endzone with fans that made the trip. This team needed the win but it also need to celebrate with the fans and soak in the admiration.

Dabo has said a lot of things in the last three weeks but Saturday validated much of what he has talked about. He said that football is a simple sport and the key is to get the ball in the best players hands. Saturday was a great example of that. On plays from scrimmage, punt returns and kickoff returns the Tigers had 42 plays in which C.J. Spiller, James Davis and Jacoby Ford touched the ball and 15 plays where they did not. Simple but effective.

Spiller’s Saturday was extraordinary. He dazzled with runs, catches and returns and was the difference in the game. We have seen his speed and moves before this season but his junior year has given us a glimpse of his toughness.

On the subject of toughness, wasn’t it nice to see Clemson playing as the more physical team Saturday? I have written in the past that Clemson has had a difficult time in recent years with teams like Virginia Tech and Boston College because the physical nature of those programs. I have gone as far as to call the Tigers soft in the past. But Saturday Clemson was the more physical team. Most of the hard hits came by the guys in white jerseys.

Another item I have been tough on the Tigers was third down conversions. Clemson came into the game last in the ACC in third down defense and I have pointed it out on several occasions. However, Saturday was a different story. The Tigers held Boston College to 3 of 18 on third down conversions.

Changes are nice but changes that work are better. Dabo and staff made perhaps the biggest personnel move this week when they switched Thomas Austin and Bobby Hutchinson. Brad Scott knew his offensive line faced a tremendous challenge because Boston College was ranked in the top ten in defense partly because of their two monster defensive tackles, B.J. Raji and Ron Brace. The staff knew that controlling their tackles was paramount and moved Austin to guard in an attempt to control the interior line. The move was a success in that Brace and Raji combined for only one solo tackle and only one tackle for loss. Raji had no solo tackles and four assists and Brace had one tackle and one assist.

Another change I saw on Saturday was an aggressive defensive gameplan. The Tigers sent extra defenders and were obviously aggressive in their blitzes. Crane was not the most accurate passer in the world but Saturday he was pressured all day.

I was curious to know what game the stat crew was watching Saturday though. The official stat crew credited Clemson for zero quarterback hurries. I must have been watching a different game.

Speaking of aggressive game plans, the offense was more vertical in the passing game this weekend. The Tigers looked to get the ball downfield more and in more ways than they have previously this season.

What we are seeing is Dabo’s influence. He wants to be aggressive and it showed even more on Saturday. But perhaps the best news of the day, outside of the win, was the fact that this team circled the wagons and became a team again. They came from behind in the fourth quarter to win a conference game on the road. They were punched in the mouth and got up to punch back.

I still came away with a few questions like how can the field judge convince the other three officials that Aaron Kelly was out of bounds when the replay not only showed that he was inbounds but it also showed the field judge was not even watching Kelly’s feet.

Also, how your chain gang did not have the chains ready before the game and your replay system was down early in the game? Do they not have Best Buys in New England?

The special teams have been a positive so hopefully the blocked punt was just a lack of execution.

And finally, Willy Korn is still banged up or else he would have looked better warming up and would have played more. Clemson has to stop turning it over and it starts by stopping throwing the ball to opponents.

Yes, Saturday felt good! It felt good for Dabo. It felt good for the players. It felt good for the fans and it felt good for Tiger Nation. It also feels good knowing this may be the start of something special.

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