Clemson's penchant for blowing early leads

In light of the basketball team blowing leads against North Carolina in the ACC Tournament and again against West Virginia in the NCAAs, I'm reminded that Clemson's football team has a huge problem in this area as well, and it goes back a ways.


Let first define and early lead: having one in either the first or second quarter. With normally-functioning football programs with championship-caliber coaching and an actual supportive university, this kind of thing is capitalized upon. Momentum is established and rarely, again with good football teams, is that momentum taken away.


But at Clemson, it's not rare - it's pretty damn common. At Clemson, early leads cause anxiety and stress, because we all know that an early lead only translates to plenty of chances to blow them. So let's go through, year by year, and showcase yet another wart on the Tigers' collective backside:


2010 Blown leads, early or not


vs. South Carolina: Clemson jumped out early to a 7-0 lead within two minutes of 1st quarter; lost lead eight minutes later, never scored again and proceeded to lose 7-29.


@ Florida State: 10-3 advantage entering second half; lost lead in 4th quarter, never scored another touchdown and proceeded to lose 13-16.


@ Boston College: 10-3 advantage entering second quarter; lost lead in second quarter, never scored again and proceeded to lose 10-16.


vs. then-No. 16 Miami: 14-7 advantage soon after second quarter began; lost lead just over a minute later and proceeded to lose 21-30.


@ then-No. 16 Auburn: 17-3 advantage entering second half; lost lead with under four minutes to go in third quarter and proceeded to lose 24-27 in overtime.


**Among Clemson's seven total losses, five were where Clemson blew an early lead (in either the first or second quarter). (Clemson never had a lead against USF nor UNC at all so they're not listed as blown early leads above.)


Before I go any further, let me make you aware of something - in the lists above I've included all instances where Clemson lost after having a lead at some point in the game, whether an early lead or they finally gained a late one. I write this because if I didn't showcase late leads, a lot of you numbnuts out there would whine and bitch and use it as some sort of retarded excuse to discredit facts as so many of you are prone to do.


So there are three tiers of losing at Clemson: 1) not having a lead at all (which is not in the lists above), 2) blowing late leads and 3) blowing early leads. The lists above detail both late and early leads but our focus here is early leads. Let's continue.


2009 Blown leads, early or not


vs. GT (ACC Title Game): 7-3 advantage entering second quarter; lost lead inside two minutes of second quarter and never gained another lead until 6:11 to go in the game when the Tigers went up by one point. Lost lead again at 1:20 mark in regulation and proceeded to lose 34-39.


@ South Carolina: Jumped out to early 7-0 advantage via C.J. Spiller's opening kickoff return; lost lead about nine minutes later, never regained a lead, and proceeded to lose 17-34.


@ Maryland: 13-3 advantage up until 4:32 mark in second quarter; lost lead with 35 seconds left in the half and proceeded to lose 21-24.


vs. then No. 15 TCU: 3-0 advantage at 8:21 mark in first quarter; lost lead about five minutes later, regained 10-7 lead in second quarter but lost lead again just inside fourth quarter, and proceeded to lose 10-14.


@ GT: Didn't get a lead until 11:33 in fourth quarter when the Tigers went up 27-24; lost lead six minutes later and proceeded to lose 27-30.


**Among Clemson's five total losses, four were where Clemson blew an early lead.


2008 Blown leads, early or not


vs. Nebraska (Gator Bowl): 21-10 advantage in under five minutes into the second half; never scores again, loses lead with 1:40 left in third quarter and proceeds to lose 21-26.


@ Florida State: 10-0 lead up until about six minutes into first quarter; loses lead with 4:16 left in first, regains lead at 8:17 mark in second quarter, loses lead again at 1:25 mark and proceeds to lose 27-41.


vs GT: No lead until 2:16 mark in third quarter when Clemson went up 17-14; lost lead with 5:22 left in game and proceeded to lose 17-21.


@ Wake Forest: Grabbed 7-3 advantage with seven seconds to go in third quarter; lost lead at 5:28 mark and proceeded to lose 7-12. (NOTE: This was Tommy Bowden's final game.)


vs. Maryland: 10-0 advantage entering second quarter; lost lead with 10:25 to go in game and proceeded to lose 17-20.


**In Clemson's six total losses, three were where Clemson blew an early lead. (Clemson never had a lead at all against Alabama so it's not listed as a blown early lead above.)


2007 Blown leads, early or not


vs. Auburn (Chick-fil-A Bowl): 7-3 advantage entering second half; lost lead about four minutes into third quarter, regained lead at 11:24 mark in fourth, lost lead three minutes later, regained three-point lead in overtime but lost lead on a Kodi Burns scoring run, proceeding to lose 20-23.


vs. Boston College: 10-3 advantage entering fourth quarter with Atlantic Division title on the line; lost lead a minute-and-a-half later, regained lead at 5:28 mark but lost lead again with under two minutes to go, and proceeded to lose 17-20.


@ GT: "Whopping" 3-0 lead in just over a minute into first quarter; never scored again, lost lead at 5:05 mark and proceeded to lose 3-13.


**Of Clemson's four total losses, three were where Clemson blew an early lead. (Clemson never had a lead at all against VT so it's not listed as a blown early lead above.)


So in short, over the past four seasons (and I included Bowden's last years intentionally so you Dabo Dipshits won't think I'm beating up only on him), Clemson has lost a grand total of 22 losses. Of those 22, 15 of them were where Clemson had a lead in the first or second quarter then proceeded to blow it. That's 68 percent, and this two-thirds-plus leads-blowing crap has cost the Tigers wins against arch-rival South Carolina (twice), an ACC championship, an Atlantic Division title, bowl games and a win over an ensuing national champion on their own turf.


Face it: there's absolutely no way in hell Clemson will ever get over any humps if they can't maintain early momentums for any significant length of time. And because these early leads aren't all that large to begin with (most are only 10 points), there's no way you can expect your defense to keep any good offenses out of the endzone while your offense sits on the rock and plays conservatively to run out the clock. As if you can magically speed up 30 or 45 minutes of remaining gameclock that much to keep a measly 10- or 14-point lead. Please.


If this trend continues, will Swinney lose his job? Probably not, because as long as Terry Don Phillips is running the athletics department (into the ground), Swinney will be there. Swinney is TDP's golden child, and to fire Swinney is an admission of failure by TDP, and he's way to proud for that. But with Swinney at the helm, you can count on blowing early leads and continue Clemson's fine tradition of "WTF" losses.


Swinney can scold the fans countless more times for being quacky, crazy and irrelevant, and he can ban media access to this person or that all he wants. But the continues losing will happen because, well, he's Dabo Swinney - a former real estate agent who thinks he can actually talk his way out of losing.