Tigers tempt a 'Spygate'By Gene Sapakoff (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
 CLEMSON — The perimeter is not secure. Neither is Perimeter Road. Shhh! Clemson football practices are closed to the public (and the media), open to spies. There are less secret practice areas in college football. Indeed, some teams must toil on intramural fields surrounded by high-rise dorms occupied by students with telescopes and Web access. Few of those programs, however, have the resources Clemson has. Or are expected to spend part of January playing in a big-time bowl game. Or open against dangerously improving Alabama. By the way, do you trust Nick Saban? I mean, I do. I've met him. I've interviewed him. The Alabama head coach seems like a nice, upstanding guy. Looks good on the cover of the new Forbes magazine, too. But Saban did work in the NFL as an effective defensive coordinator for Bill Belichick. You know, the "Spygate" guy with the usually dominant squad? Not to make Clemson fans worry going into the Aug. 30 opener against Alabama in Atlanta. It's just that the hiding places for people and tiny cameras in trees that tower over the Clemson practice field on either side of Perimeter Road are too numerous to count and not very patrolled. Kudzu camo No Harry Potter imagination required to realize how easy it might be for some Crimson Tide 007 wannabe to disguise himself as a Clemson freshman (orange Crocs, frat rush T-shirt) and wander along the fence. Don't kid yourself. Spying certainly goes on in college football. Campus espionage ranges from the serious to the silly. South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier recently accused his personal Web site of releasing theoretically confidential play information. Surely, Clemson has some cool new plays designed to get C.J. Spiller in the kind of open space he enjoyed on his last visit to the Georgia Dome while helping the Tigers almost beat Auburn in the Chic-fil-A Bowl. Maybe Alabama got a glimpse already, through various channels and technology. Maybe "Eyes Only" surveillance reports have reached Tuscaloosa about Clemson moving its new star pass rusher Da'Quan Bowers up and down the line of scrimmage to keep him from having to shed blockers, particularly Alabama All-America candidate Andre Smith. The South is full of kudzu camouflage. The Calhoun Field Laboratory, for instance. The back side of the Clemson practice field bumps up against these secret gardens. At casual glance, you might think it's a place where grad students simply conduct diabolical experiments on pumpkins, which is what makes it the ideal path to sneak peeks. Maybe there is a common reason Clemson has lost so many close games over the last several seasons. Spy traps? Ah, forget it. It shouldn't be a significant concern. Except that Georgia coach Mark Richt indirectly tied Alabama to the New England Patriots last fall, completely closing practice for the first time in seven years the week of the Georgia-Alabama game, and soon after Belichick was fined and his team penalized for "Spygate" violations involving videotaping of the New York Jets sideline. "Things have changed in the last few years," Richt explained at the time. "It's not like it used to be. It's so easy for information to travel so fast." Yeah, college football spying is alive and downloading. Richt's Bulldogs were on the opposite end of accusation last summer. Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer more than hinted that spying helped Georgia in its Chic-fil-A Bowl victory over the Hokies eight months earlier after Virginia Tech practiced at Georgia Tech as strangers roamed the facility. "I thought Georgia knew exactly what we were doing in several situations," Beamer told a Roanoke newspaper. Then again, it is at least possible Clemson head coach Tommy Bowden has been running plays and formations he wants Alabama to know about. Maybe he has factored spy stuff into his Alabama playbook. Bowden once coached Crimson Tide wide receivers. He is well aware how much this game means to Alabama. And Clemson. Reach Gene Sapakoff at gsapakoff@postandcourier.com |
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Comments
This article has 14 comment(s)
Posted by tgrfan2 on August 20, 2008 at 6 a.m. (Suggest removal)
If 'Bama is spying, I hope they "steal" the bubble screen and never bring it back!
Posted by surfer on August 20, 2008 at 9:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Now that's funny. I heard y'all had over 4000 versions of the bubble screen.
Posted by sptiger on August 20, 2008 at 9:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
not really.....there's only one version. the one that rarely works and causes fans to pull their hair out.
Posted by TAR1 on August 20, 2008 at 10:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
That is too funny!!!!!!!!!
Here's a situation that was brought up at the poker table the other night. Let's see how you fellas feel.
Ohio State, Auburn & Clemson go undefeated this year. Does Clemson get snubbed like Auburn did a few years ago b/c of it's SOS. This is not a jab at CU just a good question.
Posted by robbybobby on August 20, 2008 at 10:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
if the tiggers need a double naught spy, they can call on jethro bodine. He would be right at home.
Posted by slingle on August 20, 2008 at 11:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Sptiger,
Actually the bubble screen works more often than it does not - see the Mythbusting stats below. Spence just needs to get away from it more on third and long.
2007 Clemson Tiger yards per rushing attempt - 4.1 yards
2007 Clemson Tiger yards per passing attempt - 6.92 yards
2007 Clemson Tiger yards per play - 5.4 yards
2007 Clemson Tiger yards per bubble/tunnel screen attempt: 7.0694 yards
Breaking it down by game:
FSU - 14.6 yards per attempt
Lou. Monroe - 6.4 yards per attempt
Furman - 6.3 yards per attempt
NC State - 8.2 yards per attempt
GT - 8.5 yards per attempt
VT - 7 yards per attempt
Central Michigan - 14 yards per attempt
Maryland -5.2 yards per attempt
Duke - 3.8 yards per attempt
Wake Forest - 8.6 yards per attempt
Boston College - 7 yards per attempt
USC - 3.3 yards per attempt
Auburn - 0.6 yards per attempt
Totals:
Bubble Screens: 31 attempts, 187 yards (6.03 yards per attempt)
Tunnel Screens: 41 attempts, 322 yards (7.85 yards per attempt)
Both: 72 attempts, 509 yards (7.0694 yards per attempt)
Misc.:
Bubble/Tunnel screen attempts accounted for 15.8% of all passing attempts for 2007, and 7.4% of all total plays run. The yardage gained accounted for 9.7% of our total offense.
Posted by Rggr on August 20, 2008 at 11:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
tgrfan2, I agree on the bubble screen. I wish they would get rid of that play. For any scouts coming to spy, I'll save you the trip. We run it on first down, in short yardage situations, and on third and long.
Tar1, good question: Ohio State, Auburn & Clemson go undefeated this year. Does Clemson get snubbed like Auburn did a few years ago b/c of it's SOS. This is not a jab at CU just a good question.
I think Clemson would likely get snubbed in that situation. They would need to win big in the key games or the voters would have to be tired of OSU versus the SEC. Auburn would not get snubbed.
Posted by theronce on August 20, 2008 at 11:56 a.m. (Suggest removal)
slingle, I am impressed...at your numbers. Anyway, I think that I met a bunch of Jethros when I was attending...used to love Bodine's sister.
Posted by mcfadden00 on August 20, 2008 at 12:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Gene,
I can promise you that NO college student would be caught dead wearing crocs, and orange ones at that. Those horrendous things are for unfashionable moms, 3 year-olds, and incredibly whipped middle-aged men. Now, I really hope you don't own a pair ;) Some sort of flip-flop would be the student's footwear of choice. Most likely rainbows.
I really believe that in your given scenario, Clemson and Auburn would be playing for the NC....and how ironic would that be. Ohio State has laid too many eggs vs. SEC teams recently and an ACC/SEC matchup with the two tiger teams that are so similar would be a big draw. Of course, neither is in a major media market, so I could be totally wrong. It's all about getting viewers these days.
Posted by dmwallac on August 20, 2008 at 12:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Agreed on the bubble screen. And Rggr, the 3rd and 10 play is a 4 yard pass to a heavily covered back or reciever who is coming back to the ball.
I think Rob Spence should be forced to watch every game film at broadcast speed (including commercials). Watching game film that cuts from play to play apparently does not allow him to see how idiotic and predictable his play-calls are.
Posted by IslandGirl83 on August 20, 2008 at 1:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Crocs are awful... Definitely go with the rainbows if you want to fit in. Students wear them year round.
Posted by Rggr on August 20, 2008 at 1:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Good point, dmwallac. Spence can at least say that he got me to call that wrong.
Posted by singleroni on August 20, 2008 at 2:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
south carolina and clemson have been holding top secret conditioning and off season practices at the local correction institutes. and you thought all the players were just getting arrested. that was a smoke screen for secret work outs.
Posted by Rggr on August 20, 2008 at 3:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"south carolina and clemson have been holding top secret conditioning and off season practices at the local correction institutes. and you thought all the players were just getting arrested. that was a smoke screen for secret work outs."
Unfortunately, I think their opponents might get a pretty good look at them in correction institutes.