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How important was CP7's MVP Performance?

What seemed like a meaningless all-star game became one we won't soon forget. Just how important was Christian Ponder emerging as the star of the Senior Bowl and winning the game's MVP honors? Important on at least three levels, actually.

1. For Ponder. Number seven reported to Senior Bowl practice in a cloud of question marks. Is his wounded elbow close to being able to make all the throws? Is his brain still scrambled from bouncing off the Georgia Dome surface? Has he been able to rebound into reasonable shape while healing over the past month? Ponder's two touchdown performance squashed all doubts and proved the naysayers wrong. Add other intangibles like poise and maturity, and CP7's NFL stock went from "sell" to "buy".

2. For fans. It's been two months since we've seen Ponder at his peak, or close to it. As well as E.J. played in the ACC title game and Chick-fil-A Bowl, many of us felt cheated out of seeing a big and fitting finish to CP7's FSU career -- just as we felt he was cheated out of a heroic finale. Adding insult to injury was seeing the brainy QB looking dazed and confused after leaving the bowl game. But there he was on Saturday in Mobile, looking sharp and confident, moving in the pocket and hitting receivers like his best days as a Nole. It was a gift for FSU faithful to see him one more time in a gold helmet, playing his heart out. And tell the truth. Have you ever rooted so hard and felt so proud of a Nole QB -- on and off the field -- as you did for Ponder over the last three years?

3. For the program. How great was it to see Ponder and FSU dominate the post-game highlights and headlines. How great that the last chapter of the 2010 college football season featured a Seminole in the spotlight. And how great that it all happened right before national signing day. The impact for Florida State's program was the cherry on top of a season that saw the Noles become relevant again, while generating more buzz for the future under Fisher.

A Two-TD Swan Song: Congrats, Christian

Tigers claw sleepwalking Seminoles

by Bill from Tampa

If you were an FSU basketball fan and had something else to do or just wanted to spend the early afternoon outside and missed Florida State’s game against Clemson, you were probably glad you did.

If you did watch it, you were probably wondering why you did as FSU got off to one of THOSE kinds of starts, falling behind the Tigers 17-4 just 6:10 into the game, en route to a 62-44 pasting at Littlejohn Coliseum.

The Seminoles could not have done much more wrong in the loss. They were outhustled, outworked, outrebounded, outshot 38% to 32%, were at one point 0-10 from three point land finishing 4-17, made little attempt to drive the lane, and made even less of an attempt to move without the ball.

The ‘Noles did lead Clemson in one key statistic however. Turnovers, 23-17 to be exact, racking up 15 by halftime.

“To tell you the truth, we lost this game in practice last week,” Leonard Hamilton said afterwards. “We were lethargic and didn’t handle being the hunted.”

“Monday’s practice was great. Tuesday was nowhere near as good. Wednesday was worse and I was not very happy with Thursday’s.”

Clemson started off on fire connecting on three straight three pointers, two unlikely ones by Devin Booker.

Booker added a slam dunk in transition at the 12:29 to give Clemson a 19-6 lead before the Seminole defense finally got on track. It was the last basket the Tigers would score in the half while FSU clawed its way into single digits down 27-18 at intermission.

And then the second half began.

The King of College Football sees no improvement for 2011 Noles regular season

Chuck Oliver, aka "The King of College Football," didn't wait for spring practice or even national signing day to issue his 2011 prediction for FSU. The guy knows his stuff, but he's more pessimistic than expected about a team coming off a ten win season with a boatload of promise for the future. Read it and judge for yourself.

If you'd like to give Oliver some grief about his prediction, call him during his show, "Chuck & Chernoff," Noon to 3pm weekdays on 680 the Fan in Atlanta (listen on-line here). Oliver is also a TV color analyst on college games during the season.

Tre Jackson dropped by Georgia Tech just for scheduling a visit to FSU

Georgia Tech Coach Paul Johnson doesn't fool around. Once a player commits to Tech, Johnson demands total loyalty, with zero tolerance for a roving eye for other schools.

The latest victim of the Yellowjacket's policy (he's not the first) is Tre Jackson of Jesup, Georgia. The Rivals 3-Star DT pledged himself to Tech in early December. Now it looks like GT's inflexible policy may be FSU's gain.

Funny, but Johnson doesn't respect the commitments that players make to other schools. After 5-Star DE Stephon Tuitt verbaled to Notre Dame, Tech coaches kept working on Tuitt to switch to the Jackets. He did. But before you could say "Knute Rockne", Tuitt flipped back to the Irish.

Don't count Jackson in the fold for FSU just yet. One Miami site reports that after Jackson visits Tallahassee he'll be heading to Coral Gables to check out the Canes. The same site rumors that the Noles want Jackson at OL, while Miami needs him as a nose guard in what may be a 3-4 defense under Al Golden.

Will it take ten years for FSU to regain the attendance it lost in the past decade?

A nasty recession. Soaring gas prices. A team that went from dynasty to disappointing, complete with a coaching controversy that divided the fan base.

There's no shortage of reasons for the empty seat phenomenon that plagued Doak during the last few years. Despite the 10-win success of Jimbo Fisher's first season at the helm, average attendance was the lowest in more than 20 years.

So how long will it be for fans to do their part in "taking back the house"? Let's hope not nearly as long as it took for the attendance slide you see in the graph above.

And you thought the ACC was above cheesy stunts like this

The ACC's reputation of being a classy conference takes a hit if this crazy idea becomes a reality. North Carolina is close to finalizing a deal to play a basketball game against Michigan State -- on an aircraft carrier.

The game would be played next Veteran's Day -- an obvious promotion to hype Navy recruiting -- on an aircraft carrier, presumably docked, in San Diego. UNC vs. Sparty may be the feature game of a doubleheader that includes an opener with two service academies.

If the TV ratings are good, get ready for the ACC to push FSU to play East Carolina (hey, they're Pirates, right?) aboard the USS John Kennedy at Mayport Naval Station in Jacksonville.

What will the 2011 Clemson offense look like attacking FSU? Two words: Gus Malzahn

Buckle your seat belts, ACC defenses. Clemson's new offensive coordinator is going to run you ragged eight ways to Sunday. Chad Morris comes to the Tigers from Tulsa, where he installed a high pressure attack. After one season it ranked fifth nationally in yardage and eighth in scoring. Morris learned the secrets of the ultimate hurry-up offense from the master. As a floundering high school coach, he heard of a guy in Arkansas whose team was running circles around the competition. It took awhile, but Morris convinced the mad genius behind the offense, Gus Malzahn, to teach it to him (the full story here). But it all starts with the philosophy, which Morris explained right after he took the Clemson job:

“With a typical college football team, a touchdown is scored every 15 to 17 snaps. With some teams it may be every 12 snaps. When you look back on the number of snaps per game here (at Clemson) or any traditional huddle-up offense, you’re probably somewhere around 60 to 68… Well, if we can increase our snap total -- let’s say get it to 12 or 15 more per game. And say you just get 10 (more) points out of the deal. That’s one of the things coach (Swinney) and I talked about. I asked what would’ve ten more points per game meant to you? And he said, ‘Well, we’d be playing on Monday night’
(the national title game).

"Is there a definite goal we have? Absolutely: 80-plus plays a game. We’re gonna control the tempo of the game. We’re not gonna allow a defense to control and dictate to us how we’re gonna do things. So, yes, we’re gonna be moving at a pretty good clip.”

To emphasize the difference between his offense and a traditional one, Morris pointed out that his Tulsa team had 1008 snaps last season, while Clemson had 798.

BFT on Florida State's newfound killer instinct and Saturday's B.C. blowout

If Saturday night’s 67-51 win over Boston College wasn’t the best game Florida State has played this season, it certainly is among the top three. Which coincidently all have occurred in the last week and a half.

With four players in double figures for the second time in the last three games, that is an indication that this team is starting to get it. They are learning to play as a team and understand their roles as evidenced by shooting 62% in the second half.

Combine that improvement on offense with the killer defense FSU has and Leonard Hamilton very well could be proven correct when he said before the season began that this squad had a lot of potential to do something exciting.

This team seems to be developing a killer instinct, as well. Not once in the second half of the Duke game did I have a sense that the Blue Devils would go on one of those long scoring runs and overtake the Seminoles.

Against NC State the ‘Noles put the hammer down in the second half completely dominating the Wolfpack.

In Miami, despite an offense that even had Hamilton’s wife pacing the floor at home as she watched the game on TV, FSU displayed a determination in the end part of the game that said they were not going to lose.

Former FSU Off. Coordinator Brad Scott out as Clemson assistant coach

Brad Scott is the latest casualty in Dabo's extreme makover of Clemson's coaching staff. He's been replaced by Robbie Caldwell, whose most recent gig was interim head coach at Vanderbilt. Indications are that Scott himself agreed to the change. Which helps explain why Scott is moving to a desk job, apparently so he can get three more years in the state system to retire.

Scott spent ten seasons on Florida State's staff. He was the offensive coordinator for the Noles first national title team in '93, which led to a head coaching job at South Carolina. But lady luck frowned on Scott upon leaving Tallahassee. After leading the Gamecocks to their first ever bowl game (that's not a typo), he got the axe -- then flipped to an assistant's job at Carolina's in-state rival.

Here's his bio, still on Clemson's official website. Check back later today and see if Scott is still there.