So, maybe my title (and my brain) are a little scattered this morning. First of all, its Monday… give me a shot to get everything back on track again. Secondly, I’m euphoric after catching up on Timberwolves Basketball this morning… My boys won 4 in a row!! While for some teams that may be everyday, the Minnesota Timberwolves have had up until this point a 2 game winning streak record, they’ve double that! Jonny Flynn the Timberwolves rookie for New York, led the team on Friday in Dallas with great scoring and amazing communications. Saturday’s game went to Ramon Sessions who moved the ball well and ultimately took the lead late in the 4th quarter propelling the Timberwolves to win number 4. If you are looking for something to do this week, I would like to suggest that you scoop some Timberwolves Tickets from us and catch my guys in action as they beat the Bobcats at home on Wednesday!

As for part two of my blog title, I am now PLEADING with you all to help me out, I’ve found some great Ole Miss Rebels blogs and sites and awesome Clemson Tigers blogs and sites but am really really in need of finding a few more of both to advertise on. So I’m asking you to dig deep, help a sister out and start googling. If you stumble across a Mississippi Rebels Blog or a Clemson Tigers site, email me the link at tkintern@yahoo.com that’s all you have to do… I’ll do the rest, seems fair right? The internet is a BIG BIG place and who knows how many great Ole Miss Rebels Football or Ole Miss Rebels Basketball fans are out there writing that I have just yet to find. Imagine the numbers of Clemson Tigers Fans dying to get their Clemson Tigers News out into the world who are just an email away from doing so. 

As always, much love for you help and mas rambling to come soon…

Yesterday was National Signing Day, also known as the biggest non-gameday in college football.  While Texas, Oklahoma and…well…the entire SEC gobbled up a good chunk of the nation’s talent, one team hung below the radar, yet emerged with a better than expected class that should help them compete in an otherwise weak conference.

The team?  Florida State.

Jimbo Fisher has a dynamite recruiting class in his first season as head coach following Bobby Bowden’s retirement.  After a half-dozen years of mediocracy, the Seminoles should expect to not only win the ACC in 2010, but maybe contend for a national title.

I’m serious.

The ‘Noles have the schedule to contend even with a loss.  The Florida game is in Tallahassee, as is the BYU game.  The toughest nonconference game may be a trip to Norman, but the Sooners are down this year.  Every ACC game is winnable.  Especially with this class.

Fisher reeled in 14 defensive players to help improve a defense that has been on a steady decline since the 2005 ACC Championship season. Linebacker Christian Jones is a five-star recruit and a pass-blocker’s nightmare.  Cornerback Lamarcus Joyner is a speed demon who can light up a receiver in the open field.  Together, they are the best two recruits in the state, and Fisher got both to come to Tallahassee instead of Gainesville.  Jeff Luc is a quick and well-built inside linebacker that will also improve the defense against the short passing game.

The Seminoles don’t have much to add offensively but did get two stellar receivers in Kenny Shaw and Christian Green, keeping in line with its history of recruiting tall, athletic receivers.

ESPN ranked Florida State’s recruiting class #6.  They are #10 on Rivals.com and #16 on MaxPreps.  All three rankings have the ‘Noles leading the ACC, with Clemson the most popular second choice.

If these freshmen can get acquainted right away, look for Florida State to be the sleeper team of 2010.

AHHH, I’m a college senior. Ok, so technically this has nothing to do about Ticket King or interning, and yes technically I have been a senior all year. But somehow going into the last semester of college makes everything SO much more real. In less than 4 months I will be a college graduate and part of the real world, not really sure I’m ready for that, perhaps if I just don’t acknowledge the fact that I have to start being an adult it just won’t happen.

In the meantime, while I’m avoiding reality… I’m pleading for more Ad Space Help. I got some great feedback on Ole Miss Rebels football sites and am now looking for even more University of Mississippi Rebels blogs or websites and Clemson Tigers blogs or websites.  If you write, read or have seen either an Ole Miss Rebels site or a Clemson Tigers site that you enjoy send me a link to tkintern@yahoo.com or leave it as a comment to a post… either way, your favorite Rebels or Tigers site will get an opportunity to make EASY CASH and you will get the satisfaction of knowing you helped me do my job (LOVE YOU FOR THAT!)

What a saturday in store for college basketball fans. First we start off with Ohio state and west virgina followed by texas and uconn and topped off by duke and clemson.

OSU                  TEX                    CLEM

WVU                UCON                  DUKE

I trudge on with a 5-13 record so far.

Last night I had the chance to attend Georgia Tech’s home game against Oliver Purnell’s Clemson Tigers.  If you follow the ACC, you know that these two schools are developing a nice rivalry.  I was excited about this game for that reason and because it featured two nationally ranked teams.

I want to keep this article short and post some pictures that I took at the game, but first I’ll talk about my observations of the game.  Clemson came out fired up jumping to a 9-2 lead as Trevor Booker lead the way with two nice dunks, but Tech found its way by getting some easy transition baskets.  Their defense took Clemson out of their element and held the Tigers to 36.9% shooting from the field.  Derrick Favors came alive in the first half with some crowd-pleasing dunks.  He finished with a team-high 17 points and 14 rebounds.

One thing I noticed was how quick Clemson’s guards were.  Demontez Stitt and Andre Young are excellent with the ball, and I was surprised that Clemson didn’t take advantage of the guard match ups.  Seems like some isolation plays, four-out and one-in sets, or some misdirection plays would have benefited them.

Free throw shooting hurt both teams as there were 20 missed foul shots on the night between them.  But give credit to unselfish senior Zach Peacock for knocking down the two that mattered most.  His two free throws with 3.2 seconds left helped seal the victory for Paul Hewitt’s Yellow Jackets, 66-64.  The win moves Georgia Tech to 14-4, 3-2, while Clemson falls to 15-4, 3-2.

Please enjoy some pictures I took with my beloved Canon PowerShot SX10.

Below are the often mentioned statistics for what happened in the first 5 games of the season vs. what happened over the last 9 games.

To cut to the chase:

*Clemson threw the ball almost as much in last nine games as they did in the first 5 – 44.8% in the first 5 games, 43.5% in the last 9 games.

Run/Pass ratio:

*The number of attempts were lower because Clemson averaged 12 less offensive plays per game over the last 9 games of the season than in the first 5 – 71 in the first 5 and 59 in the last 9.

*There was a shift in the targets that might be significant. In the first 5 games the WRs were targeted 54.4% of the time. In the last 9 games the WRs were targeted 42.7% of the time.  On the other hand a 12% difference really means one of every 8 passes went to a TE/RB instead of a WR.  Is that really significant?  Meaning in the first 5 games 4 of 8 (rounded) passes went to the WRs.  In games 9-14 3 of 8 (more or less) passes went to the WR.  Significant or not?

First five games:

Games 6-14:

So, with that said do I think we can definitively say there was a change in philosophy after the Wake game to keep “Dabo’s hands off the offense” and move to a power running game? No. Sure, they moved away from targeting “Dabo’s guys” (WRs). But, there was a very small increase in the percentage of runs. Hardly “proof”.

There were plenty of dropped balls by the WRs, but there were also plenty of missed throws by Kyle Parker, too. Perhaps the staff decided to keep the throws shorter (i.e. TE’s and RBs) vs. downfield to avoid the chances of turnovers. Is a short passing game a part of a power running offense – sure. And you could argue that this shift from WRs to TE/RBs show that there was a fundamental change at this point. But a short passing game is also part of the spread offense – see the numerous short throws by Colt McCoy for example in the Texas spread offense.

The key to me would be the alignment. How many TEs were used and what formations were we in during those last 9 games? More double (or triple) TE would point toward a power running philosophy, while the same (or similar) sets, but throwing to the TE and/or RBs more often would suggest to me a) you have a young QB b) your WR haven’t developed and c) your coaching staff made good adjustments during the off week, it worked so you kept doing it (a sign of good coaching).

I haven’t been able to find the final participation chart, which would give me a great indication of how many times some combination of Palmer, Allen, Taylor and Diehl (and Barry) were on the field together, but my recollection is that is was very few plays.

Another key to me would be game situations. It’s easy to look at numbers on a page and think you know what happened and why. But Clemson was all over the place in running and passing due to the situation presented in each game. Examples?

MTSU = blowout = 21 passes.

Wake = game under control = 24 passes.

Miami = wild OT game = 37 passes.

SC = behind all day = 42 passes.

GTech(1) – way behind early = 32 passes.

GTech(2) = close game all the way, CJ running wild = 17 passes.

Kentucky = close game, need to eat clock at end = 14 passes.

Even after the so-called change in philosophy after the MD game we threw the ball a lot when the game dictated we do so (37 times against Miami, 42 against SC, 30 against FSU, for example).

I’m no expert, but what all this (similar % of runs, not a heavy use of multiple TEs, wide variety in number of passes in different games) suggests to me is that the formations and philosophy didn’t change all that much, but what did change is the coaches found out that Palmer can catch the ball and Parker could throw it to him relatively accurately (I seem to recall Palmer diving, falling backwards, jumping, etc quite often though) and the WRs had a not so great year (other than Ford). Basically, without having a chart of the down and distance, game situation, and formations there is no “scientific” way to tell from the data I have available.

Perhaps a better way to look at this would be to see what happened on 1st and 10s (a good gauge of philosophy, in my opinion), when the score and game time is within a certain range (i.e. it’s not a blowout and/or you aren’t trying to run the clock out).

Personally, I believe the offense will continue to evolve (as it should) and depend on the personnel we have and game situation at hand. That’s a sign of good coaching. Identities can change from year to year.

Clemson Tigers

Location: Clemson, South Carolina

Reason For Nickname: In 1896, football coach Walter Riggs came to Clemson, then Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina, from Auburn University. He had always admired the Princeton Tigers, and hence gave Clemson the Tiger mascot.

Home Court: Littlejohn Coliseum (built 1968, capacity 10,325)

Colors: Orange and White

Conference: Atlantic Coast

ACC Champions: 1990 (regular-season)

Southern Conference Champions: 1939 (tournament)

NCAA Tournament: 1980 (Elite 8), 1987, 1989, 1990 (Sweet 16), 1996, 1997 (Sweet 16), 1998, 2008, 2009

NIT Tournament: 1975, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2005, 2006, 2007

Big Man on Campus: Since Clemson began playing basketball in 1911, there’s been hundreds of players who have played for the Orange and White. However the greatest player in program history is Horace Grant, who played for the Tigers during the 1980’s. He would go on and win four NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers before retiring in 2004. Other greats include Elden Campbell, Dale Davis, and Tree Rollins.

Coaching Legends: The all-time winningest coach in Clemson history, Cliff Ellis, led the Tigers to their first ACC regular-season championship in 1990 and a berth in the Sweet 16, where they would lose to UCONN in one of the greatest NCAA Tournament games ever played. He would coach them until 1994, when Rick Barnes would take over and lead the Tigers to the Sweet 16 in 1997 where they would lose to Minnesota. However, Bill Foster is the only coach to lead the Tigers to the Elite Eight, doing so in 1980.

Rivalries: The Tigers have a heated rivalry with South Carolina. The Gamecocks (#24 on the countdown) lead the all-time series 86-74 and lost this season to the Tigers at Littlejohn Coliseum 72-61. Other rivals would include Georgia Tech and Wake Forest in the ACC.

Did You Know: Clemson has never beaten North Carolina in Chapel Hill. As of this year, the Tar Heels have won 54 straight against the Tigers in Chapel Hill, an NCAA record for consecutive road losses against an opponent.

Meeks Against Florida

First I have to clarify my last post (written with some angst).  When I mentioned the Gillispie/Tubby ball, it was mis-typed.  I meant the Cats were having the same struggles as the aforementioned coaches, and need to focus on playing against zone defenses.  Clarified! 

Now to Florida.  In their game against Vandy, more that 60% of their game was spent in a press formation falling back into matchup zones and  man-to-man defense.  Now, obviously, you have to give Billy Donovan enough credit to be able to watch some tape and realize how the Cats have struggled in SOME games against zones.  However, it actually think this matchup, even if they live in at 2-3 or 1-3-1 zone the entire game, still favors the Cats, maybe even more than Cats vs. Georgia.  

Chandler Parsons has under performed this year, and they (Florida) don’t have much else on the inside.  Look for Patterson and Cousins to roll these matchups, forcing Florida to change up on the defensive side of the ball.  As for Florida’s offense, at least against Vandy, they had two things going for them.  They Kenny Boynton was shooting well from 3 (which we still don’t know what UK is on defending that, but have been better) and Vandy allowed backside cuts on the baseline way, way, WAY too many times.  

Still Vandy came out on top, which says something.  Vandy relied on the big man (Ogilvy) to rule inside, and he converted from the stripe.  Advantage UK on Tuesday with the greater inside talent than Florida or Vandy.  

Advantage UK against the press as they haven’t had many struggles breaking them, and we all know the power of this Cats team is their explosive speed (Wall, Bledsoe) and transition baskets.  However an adjustment to feed the post to get the game going is a must.  

We will see what the Cats are in their 2nd major road test this year.  Florida will sell this game out, more than likely, and their gym can be a tough place to play when it’s rocking, which I think it will be, especially given any momentum early.  

Albeit some have thought this may be a tough game for the Cats, and a good chance for them to walk away, leaving only Texas undefeated, but I’m on the other side.  To much talent, speed, and size for the Gators.  

Let’s hope I’m right!  Cats 81-69.

Cousins

UK has been exposed, again!      

By now it’s not hard to figure out that the zone is UK’s weakness.  UGA almost snuck out of Rupp with a win.  The Cats hit necessary free throws, but were out rebounded by the Dawgs and still won.  However it was never pretty.      

Kentucky’s offense had problems executing in the half court, having most success scoring in transition again.  The Cats really need work on the half court offense.     

In the end, it’s a win.  It also shows no one will give it to the Cats in the SEC this year!    

 The Cats shot 43.3% while the Dawgs shot 47.2%.  That is not usual.    

UGA also hit 6-14 from three, while UK hit 2-14 from three.  This is the fear we had from the start.  Can UK hit the three???  Not today.  P Patt imposed his will (and BTW needs to not be forgotten by the press or he’ll not have fun this year) to get the win.  Wall was quiet, but still Wall, and Cousins had his moments (playing without the headband: scary).    

The summary is that the Cats need to work on that Tubby/Gillispie half court offense.  Both of the previous sucked at times, but this team needs a little work on the half court offense and not rely on the full court press and transition at all times.  If so, we could actually see a 10-6 SEC season.

I trudge on with a 3-12 record so far. 

As a Sophomore in 2008, Nesbitt emerged as the starting quarterback for Georgia Tech coming out of Spring Practice.  The Georgia Tech Spring Football Game featured numerous offensive turnovers and missed assignments leaving many Georgia Tech fans to wonder about how quickly Nesbitt & his teammates would grasp the new offense.

Josh would eventually flourish under the new spread option system.   But it wasn’t without plenty of “on the job” learning.  Remember that he was recruited as traditional Pro-Set quarterback under previous Head Coach Chan Gailey.

Heading into the hot August practice schedule, Paul Johnson was still implementing large portions of his spread option attack.  Much of which fell on the shoulders of one Josh Nesbitt.

Opening the 2008 campaign with a blowout win at home over 1-AA Jacksonville State on the Thursday night game before Labor Day weekend, the Jackets ran wild in Johnson’s coaching debut.  Tech gained 349 yards on the ground (484 yards of total offense) in the season opener.  Nesbitt had 73 yards of rushing, 87 yards of passing, and 2 rushing touchdowns in his debut as a starting quarterback.

Here is Josh’s first ever rushing touchdown from that game:

Jacksonville State Coach Jack Crowe noted the difficulty in defending the Triple Option after the loss in Atlanta. “There’s just too many issues with this offense for people to deal with it. We had two and a half weeks to deal with it. The rest of these folks will get two days. Good luck ACC.”

And the ACC wouldn’t wait long to see the new offense. Up next for Georgia Tech was back to back road games against the ACC’s top two programs at the time – Boston College and Virginia Tech.

BC and VT had played for the ACC championship the year prior in Jacksonville and featured two of the top defenses in the country.  The Eagles were Number 5 in total defense and the Hokies were Number 7 among Division 1-A teams during the 2008 season.

Nesbitt lead the Jackets to victory in Chestnut Hill 19-16 on a late touchdown run by RB Jon Dwyer via option pitch from our favorite quarterback. Nesbitt rushed for 50 yards, passed for 87 yards and a score plus had two key runs late in the game for first downs to kill the clock and preserve the victory.

Coach Paul Johnson had this to say about his sophomore quarterback. “Our quarterback [Josh Nesbitt] made some great plays for us scrambling. He just made some great plays. A lot of our best run plays were him scrambling, or him just doing something on his own. We turned some guys loose in pass protection and he got away from them and broke contain and made some huge first downs and some big plays for us. Josh Nesbitt, first time starting on the road, I thought he did pretty well.”

With their first conference win under the belts, the Yellow Jackets would return to the road for the 2nd week in a row. This time the venue was noisy Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia against the defending ACC champions.

Virginia Tech handed the Jackets their first loss of the season by a final score of 20-17. Down by 8 points, Georgia Tech rallied to tie the game in the fourth quarter on a 81-yard touchdown drive led by Nesbitt. Nesbitt also completed a pass for the 2-point conversion.

The Hokies would rally with a long drive of their own for what would ultimately be the game winning field goal. The final Hokie drive was aided by two 15-yard penalties against the Jackets including one questionable crucial late hit penalty on Safety Cooper Taylor.

Nesbitt posted a game high 151 yards of rushing against the stout Hokie defense.  Here is his touchdown run in the fourth quarter:

After two consecutive road games, the Yellow Jackets would post 3 wins in a row back in Atlanta at the friendly confines of Bobby Dodd Stadium versus Mississippi State (38-7), Duke (27-0), and Gardner Webb (10-7). Nesbitt sat out all three games with a pulled hamstring, but was back in uniform to as the 5-1 Yellow Jackets traveled up I-85 to take on the Clemson Tigers in a key ACC contest.

Clemson Head Coach Tommy Bowden had resigned the previous weekend following a tough loss at Wake Forest. Tiger Town was in a frenzy as new Coach Dabo Sweeney made his coaching debut at Death Valley.

The Jackets would ultimately spoil Sweeney’s coaching debut by a final score of 21-17.  Down by three late in the fourth quarter, Nesbitt found WR Demaryius Thomas on a 24-yard touchdown pass. Nesbitt added a rushing touchdown in the first half and finished with 78 net rushing yards and 91 passing yards.

We will take a look at the 2nd part of the 2008 season in our next blog.  Please spread the word about JoshForHeisman.com!

The Tigers took care of business last night with a sweet 21-13 win over Kentucky in the Music City Bowl. They ended up 9-5 for the year and 2nd place out of 12 in the ACC. Congratulations to all Tigers and good luck and thank you to all of our seniors. We will see C.J. and some others on Sundays next year. Go Tigers!!!

Miles and I went to see Avatar today here in Painesville.  We saw the 3D version.  Wow!  Folks, this is the real deal movie experience.  I don’t think I have seen a movie of this caliber (in terms of visual animation and action) since Star Wars.  Miles told me he forgot where he was during the movie and only figured it out on the way to the bathroom after the show.  It was 2 1/2 hours, maybe that had something to do with it.  What’s it about?  Think “Dances With Wolves” set in 2150 on another planet.  It is PG-13 for good reason: language, violent action and theme.  But, Miles and I really, really enjoyed this one.  I can recommend for the “Wow!” factor alone.

Right now we are watching Clemson in the Music City Bowl.  It’s half time and Clemson is winning 14 to 10.  Let’s hope that continues.  A fair first half for the Orange and Purple.  Some sloppy penalties that have cost us time on the field.  Lots of footage of the Gaylord Opryland hotel in Nashville too.  That’s where I was back in September for the work retreat.  The bowl game is in Nashville.  Well, gotta run back to the game.  Go Tigers!!! See ya!

Go see Avatar!

P.S.  Forgot to mention the snow.  We are finally getting some real snow here in Ohio.  The ground was almost bare today until the snow started.  They are expecting 4-6 inches in the next 24 hours.  Really coming down and making everything white and fluffy right now.  The boys are planning to go sledding tomorrow.  That’s fun!  See ya!

Randall Cobb

Here’s a look at the surface numbers behind tonight primetime matchup on ESPN.

NOTE:  UK actually out rushes Clemson by the tune of almost 30 YPG.  Also, Clemson gives up a chuck of rushing yards themselves.  One who only watches the main media outlets would think UK will be crushed by Spiller, who, yes, is explosive.  However,  Clemson only eclipsed 200 yards 3 of their last 6 games.  So it shows how great Spiller did in the ACC championship game, but leaves out that without him performing to that level, they are pretty average. 

Against good pass defending teams, Clemson has had trouble or lost those games, and hold a 197 YPG total passing.  Not much better than the Cats. 

That’s the key to this game, QB play.  Who wins?

Michigan State Falters Again, Purdue Remains Perfect, Northwestern Wins Ninth Straight, Illinois Falls to 8-4

It has been a rough go of it since the last Big Ten Roundup.

No. 9 Michigan State (10-3) failed in their most recent marquee match up, falling at No. 2 Texas 79 – 68. The Spartans have now had several chances to prove themselves as one of college basketball’s elite teams, and have fallen each time. They lost at home to No. 18 Florida on November 27th, and lost at No. 10 North Carolina in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The Spartans only big win of the year came when they edged No. 25 Gonzaga 75-71 at home.

So much for that hot streak. After reeling off four straight wins, including a comeback win at No. 24 Clemson, Illinois (8-4) has now lost two straight. In their most recent loss, the Fighting Illini shot 40% and turned the ball over 22 times in a 81-68 defeat at unranked Missouri.

Indiana (5-6) suffered an embarrassing defeat Tuesday, falling 72-67 versus Loyola (MD). The worst part: the Hoosiers were playing on their home court. After trailing 46-28 at halftime, the Hoosiers did make a noble effort in the second half, but it turned out to be too little, too late.

On the bright side, the Big Ten teams won all their other games, most of them against marginal opponents

Purdue (11-0) remained perfect, defeating SIU Edwardsville 90-63 … Northwestern (10-1) won their ninth straight, prevailing at home 74-54 versus Central Connecticut State … No. 17 Ohio State moved to 10-2, defeating Cleveland State at home.

Wisconsin moved to 9-2 defeating Milwaukee 68 – 58 … Minnesota crushed South Dakota State to move to 9-3 … Penn State (8-4) beat American University by 19 to wrap up their non-conference schedule.

Michigan (6-5) moved over the .500 mark with a blowout win over Coppin State … Iowa (5-7) defeated South Carolina State by 13 in their final non-conference game of the season.

* All rankings are present, unless I have noted otherwise.

Well, we’ve reached our “Championship Game” of the year, and once again, it’s the Music City Bowl.  Kentucky will face a familiar foe (as everyone already knows, but bare with me as I give some detail) in the Clemson Tigers.

What can you predict about this game?  Which Cats team will show up?  Is Clemson ready to play, or start spring practice?  You could ask the same question for Kentucky.

C. J. Spiller is obviously a vicious player and capable of eating 14 pounds of grass on his way to 300+ all purpose yards.  How do the Cats defend?

As every media outlet on the face of this Earth has predicted, Clemson is the favorite.  However, as I recall, UK was even an underdog last year to the Pirates of East Carolina and came out victorious. 

The funny fact that I LOVE to point out is that C.J. Spiller is the only talk in this game.  Who’s Randall Cobb???  What’s a Derrick Locke???  Freshman QB??? Who would do that?

Well folks, at my count, the Cats hold an advantage of playmakers, and ultimately exceed on the defensive side of the ball.  Stopping the run has been a problem for the Cats for 100 years, so keeping Spiller to 150 or less will be a positive.  No one seems to mention what Clemson brings to the table other than Spiller, but all outlets are quick to forget the playmakers UK has on both sides of the ball. 

I’m not going to make a prediction, however, I see a high scoring game with the team controlling field position (Tydlacka) holding the advantage.

GO  CATS!!!!

if you have money to lose.

With the end of the year upon us, it is always a good time to look back on the year that was 2009.

Over the final weeks of the year, I will be trying to post a couple top five lists, starting with the top five games I saw from 2009.

Now there are a few criteria I have. First, I had to have seen the event in its entirety. It doesn’t count if I saw the highlights the next day or heard about it later on.

Second, when I refer to ‘games,’ I mean any sporting event that took place, which also involves races, Olympics, and much much more.

Here is my Top 5 Games from 2009:

#5 – Clemson vs. South Carolina, Baseball, Carolina Stadium, April 7th, 2009

The Gamecocks were trailing hated rival Clemson by a run entering the bottom of the 9th after leading 4-2 at the end of the 1st. An Adam Matthews lead-off single, a Casey Rihn walk, a sacrifice bunt by Jackie Bradley Jr. and a intentional walk to Whit Merrifield set it all up for DeAngelo Mack. Mack pulls a single to right field, under the glove of Clemson Right Fielder Kyle Parker (name sounds familiar, doesn’t it?) to win the game 7-6. Definitely one of the most memorable games in the young history of the new Carolina Stadium.

#4 – NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway; April 26, 2009

Everybody loves the restrictor-plate racing which brings clusters of cars together and drivers bumping each other to advance their position. Drafting is the name of the game, but when racecars are allowed to touch each other, it could mean disaster. The idea was that you wanted to great timing and the right drafting partner on the last lap to win the race. Coming to the checkered flag, it was down to four cars, #09-Brad Keselowski, #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr., #39-Ryan Newman, and #99-Carl Edwards. However, unlike most race tracks, the start-finish line is located heading down a short straightaway into turn 1, not in the middle of the tri-oval. It was down to two cars after the final corner, when Edwards pulled down over Keselowski, who was holding his position at the bottom of the race track. Edwards was spun around, flew up into the air, landing on top of Newman’s car before flying into the catch fence. Keselowski won his first career Sprint Cup Race, and the actions of this race would change how the fall race at the track would be run. (Eight people were injured, the worst being a broken jaw.)

#3 – Super Bowl XLIII; Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Arizona Cardinals; Raymond James Stadium; February 1, 2009

Keeping with the past NFL championship deciding games, it was a matchup of David versus Goliath in Tampa, Florida. After Steelers LB James Harrison’s long return at the end of the first half, the Cardinals hopes were all but dashed, as the Steelers led 17-7. The Steelers extended their lead to 20-7 with a Jeff Reed field goal in the third quarter. Going into the 4th quarter, the Cardinals shifted to a no-huddle offense led by veteran QB Kurt Warner. Warner led the team on two scoring drives, and with a defensive safety, the Cardinals led 23-20 with only 2:37 to go. However, Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger led a scoring drive ending with a spectacular catch in the end zone by WR Santonio Holmes. It was the first time that back-to-back Super Bowls had game winning touchdowns in the final 1:30. The Steelers would hold onto win 27-23 for the team’s 6th Super Bowl victory.

#2 – 2009 Men’s Final at Wimbledon; Roger Federer vs. Andy Roddick; July 5, 2009

For me, tennis is a sport I only watch during the majors, of which most are overseas, meaning they air early on a Sunday morning. Defending champion Rafael Nadal withdrew from the tournament with knee problems, opening the door for Roger Federer to become the record holder in the number of major titles won in tennis. However, it would first mean he would have to get by a tough foe in American Andy Roddick. What happened was a back and forth affair last for over four hours. In the fifth set, Roddick and Federer were tied, sending the match into a tiebreaker situation. With the final set being 16-14, it cemented Federer place in history of the best men’s singles tennis player in history, surpassing Pete Sampras’ record with 15 grand slam titles.

#1 – #24 Florida vs. South Carolina; Men’s Basketball; Colonial Life Arena; January 21, 2009

The night started off with the unveiling of The Garnet Army, the newly formed student section for basketball. (Click Here for an earlier story on the creation of The Garnet Army.) First-year coach Darrin Horn had just lead the Gamecocks through the non-conference schedule and just getting into the heart of SEC play. On this night, the mighty Gators were supposed to show the Gamecocks where they really belong in the SEC race, but it was not meant to be. Trailing 67-60 with less than three minutes to go, it looked like the Gamecocks would be denied on their special night. With 4.7 seconds, Zam Frederick missed a game tying free throw. Florida’s Chandler Parsons quickly got the rebound and was fouled quickly and with 3.3 seconds, two free throws would certainly seal the deal. Parsons missed the first half of the one-and-one, with the shot rebounded by the Gamecocks’ Mike Holmes. Holmes threw a pass the length of the court to Zam Frederick whose lay-up won the game as time expired. It was pandemonium in the Colonial Life Arena. On a personal note, I was standing in the second row as a member of the Garnet Army as this unfolded, and the sights and sounds that occurred at the shot and afterward is something I will never forget.

Well there you have it, my top 5 games from 2009. Instead of choosing the ones that have sentimental value (South Carolina’s win over Clemson in football), I chose the ones that I saw and legitimately remember what happened in the moments leading up to the ending.

I’m sure some of you will disagree and wonder why I didn’t choose the 6 overtime game during the Big East Championship. The reason is I did not watch it all the way through and can not make that type of judgment.

I trudge onward.

No pictures… No real explanations… Just the picks…

Fresno State Over Wyoming

Rutgers over UCF

Southern Miss over Middle tennessee State

Oregon State over BYU

Utah over California

Nevada over SMU

Ohio over Marshall

North Carolina over Pitt in an upset…

BC over USC

Clemson over Kentucky

Georgia over Texas A&M

Temple over UCLA

Miami over Wisconsin

Bowling Green Over Idaho

‘Zona over Nebraska in an upset of mild proportions….

Houston over Air Force

Oklahoma over Stanford

Missouri over Navy

Minnesota over Iowa State

Va. Tech over Tennessee (Against The Gut)

Auburn over Northwestern

Saint Bobby and the ‘Noles over West Virginia!!!!

LSU over Penn State

Ohio State over Oregon

Florida over ‘Nati

Soth Florida over Northern Illinois

South Carolina over UConn

Ole Miss over Okie State

Arkansas over East Carolina

Texas Tech over Michigan State

TCU over Boise again

Ga. tech over Iowa

Central Michigan over Troy

AND….

Texas over ‘Bama in a monumental upset… I picked Texas at the beginning of the year. I’m stickin’ with ‘em… Texas wins the National Championship over the Tide!