.There is still a bit of room for improvement | Forum
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Nov 6 '18
Clemson faces a very different kind of challenge less than a week after defeating Louisville in what might go down as the best game of the college football season. Phil McConkey Jersey .Tigers coach Dabo Swinney might have to tell his players to B.Y.O.E to Boston College on Friday night: Bring your own energy. Literally and figuratively, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, is a long way from Death Valley.Each game is very exciting, Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson said. You only get 12 opportunities to play. You work so hard over the offseason and throughout the week preparing for those 12 Saturdays. Each game is very special. Each game is a championship game for us.The Eagles (3-2, 0-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) should have their largest crowd of the season by far after averaging 23,465 at Boston College Alumni Stadium, capacity 44,500, for their first two home games. And its a Red Bandanna game at BC. The Eagles uniforms will be trimmed in a red bandanna theme to honor Welles Crowther, a former BC lacrosse player who was killed in the south tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. That should help inject some juice into the stadium.Fortunately for BC, it does not have to go head-to-head with the Red Sox playoff game against the Indians in Cleveland on Friday afternoon. That should be close to wrapping up when the Tigers and Eagles kick off at around 7:30 ET. Still, Boston College has lost 10 straight conference games, so it is understandable if a visit from the No. 3 team in the nation produces more dread than excitement among Eagles fans.The Eagles three wins have come against Massachusetts, Buffalo and Wagner. The best team they have played so far was Virginia Tech, and they lost 49-0. Clemson (5-0, 2-0) is another level up.The issue youre going to have is youre just playing against some of the finest players in the country, BC coach Steve Addazio said. Thats the issue youre going to have. Therere no weaknesses.The Tigers won last seasons meeting 34-17 and Watson threw for 420 yards. As has been the case the last couple seasons at BC, the defense is solid but there is just not much offense. The Eagles rank first in the ACC in yards per play allowed (3.53) and second-to-last in yards per play gained (5.02).Some things to know as Clemson attempts to extend its winning streak against BC to six straight games:ROAD WARRIORS: Clemson has won seven straight road games, one shy of matching the school record set from 1978-79. This trip is extra tricky because the Tigers had less time to recover from that draining 42-36 victory against Louisville.Getting rest, catching up on film and taking care of your bodies, Watson said about the short work week.The last time Clemson played a regular-season Friday game was 1956 at Miami. The Tigers lost that one. The last time they won a regular-season Friday game was 1952 against Boston College.WHAT A RUSH: Clemson is third in the ACC with 18 sacks and Boston College is tied for fourth with 16.For the Eagles, defensive end Harold Landry leads with 5.5 sacks and is one of the most unheralded stars in the ACC.The Tigers have one of the deepest and most talented defensive lines in the country. Carlos Watkins and Albert Huggins are tied for the team lead with three sacks each.HOMEBOY: The best of Clemsons defensive linemen is from Massachusetts. Christian Wilkins grew up rooting for the Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins, Celtics and Boston College in Springfield.Wilkins said this week he was doing his best to trade tickets for future games with teammates to accommodate all the requests he has from family and friends. He figures he would need about 100 tickets to fill all requests.Wilkins could also be seeing more time at his more natural defensive tackle spot starting this week with defensive end Austin Bryant set to return from a broken foot. The 308-pound Wilkins was moved outside more often to compensate for the missing starter.UPSETS: The Eagles are looking for their first victory against a top-10 team since they beat Southern California 37-31 on Sept. 13, 2014, which was also a Red Bandanna game. Boston College has not defeated a top-five team since a 14-7 victory at No. 4 Notre Dame in 2002.---Follow Ralph D. Russo at www.twitter.com/ralphDrussoAp and the APs college football website at www.collegefootball.ap.orgJonathan Stewart Jersey . -- San Francisco 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks was fined $15,570 by the NFL on Wednesday for his hit on Saints quarterback Drew Brees last Sunday. Connor Barwin Jersey . Schenn scored the game-winning goal and added two assists to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday. http://www.cheapgiantsjerseyssale.com/?tag=kaelin-clay-jersey-sale . Instead of dwelling on the negative, Oates focused on what was good about the clubs recent play. It worked. It wasnt just that England gave India a scare on the final day. It was that, after the wretched final session in Dhaka, their batsmen proved to themselves they could succeed in these conditions and their spinners lost nothing in comparison to their Indian counterparts. Even their seamers, on a surface offering them little, could take pride in the manner they hurried and harried the Indian batsmen.They proved to India and, perhaps more importantly, to themselves, that they could challenge in this series.No-one was talking of us having a chance in this series, Alastair Cook said afterwards. But the way we played showed were in there. Its been a good five days and weve proved to everyone else that we can play.Perhaps we should have known that already. After all, England had won nine (and lost only two) of the last 13 Tests between these sides.But the defeat in Dhaka - and the manner of that defeat - evoked memories of Englands long-term struggles against spin. And, given Indias daunting home record of late, the makeshift appearance of Englands top-order and the relative lack of experience of their spinners, there were few people predicting success for them.They probably exceeded expectations on the final day. Having taken 160 overs to bowl India out in the first innings, it seemed attempting to do so in 50 overs in the second was a gesture more than a serious proposition.But when the sixth wicket fell with 10 overs left, it seemed real enough. And it wont have gone unnoticed by England that, under pressure, a couple of India batsmen made some odd choices. Ravi Ashwin drive to cover, W Saha seemed determined to hit his way out of trouble and Gautam Gambhir looked intimidated by the pace of Chris Woakes (who hardly bowled a poor ball in the match) on a slow wicket. Virat Kohli looked wonderfully solid, but elsewhere several chinks in the armour became apparent. And, as Arnold Schwarzenegger almost put it: if it bleeds, England can kill it.Criticism of Cooks declaration seems harsh. While it is true we may look back on the final afternoon in Rajkot as Englands best chance of winning a Test on this tour, it was never realistic to expect Cook to risk wasting four-and-a-half days of hard work by giving India an opportunity in the opening match of a series. Especially as this India side contains, in Kohli, one of the great chasers in the history of limited-overs cricket. The eventual target was 310 in a minimum of 49 overs but, with England scoring 34 in the final five completed overs of their innings, even a slightly earlier declaration might have given India a chance. Cook says he never considered keeping India in the field all day.We just didnt want to give India a sniff, he said. Maybe a braver person would have set them 240 but I thought it was a fair declaration, especially in the first game of the series. We had just been 180 without loss on that wicket. It wasnt a minefield.There was that outside chance, that 20-to-1 chance that we could win and youve got to take that opportunity to do that.Any analysis of the England performance has to acknowledge the substantial advantage they had in this match. Winning the toss was crucial and, had Indias fielders held on to their first-innings chances, the match might have taken a different direction. But it also has to acknowledge history. Before this game, no visiting batsmen had made a century in India since 2013. For four to now have done so reflects wwell on an England batting line-up that, at last, might be coming together. Nate Stupar Jersey. . The continued development of Ben Stokes, who has gone from looking hapless against spin to looking one of Englands best players of it, is particularly obvious but we may well look back on the Rajkot Test of 2016 as the debut of a special talent in Haseeb Hameed.Hameed missed out on a debut century - selflessly trying to up the pace in an attempt to set-up the declaration - but he still registered the highest score by a teenager in Englands Test history. It would be a major surprise if he was not one of Englands openers in the Ashes in 12 months time. It has been a long, long time since they have been able to look that far ahead.The performance of Englands spinners was almost as encouraging. After struggling in Bangladesh, they responded with a much-improved display that included the best performance of Adil Rashids Test career to date. Moeen Ali, who was named man of the match, conceded fewer runs per over than Ashwin and also took as many wickets in fewer overs, while Zafar Ansari had a better strike-rate than his left-arm counterpart Ravi Jadeja. The influence of Saqlain Mushtaq, who seems to have inspired more confidence in all of them, has been telling.Our three spinners came in for a lot of criticism after Bangladesh, Cook said. But they bowled a lot better. It has been great to have Saqlain Mushtaq here and he has made a massive difference for those guys. They bowled really well.Cook looked exhausted at the end. Despite admitting he had been struggling for form, he still managed to compile his 30th Test century - only 10 men have more now - but he accepted that his side had put a lot in for little tangible reward. For both sides, managing tired players is going to be an issue as the series progresses.Its been a hard five days, Cook said. A tough Test. Weve put everything on the line and played some really good cricket. Its disappointing not to get over the line, but it was a great Test and everyone can be proud of the way they played. If we hit the same standards as weve done there, well be okay. Its just about repeating it.Im feeling fairly jaded now and I think the lads. Its been bloody hard work, I can tell you that.With that in mind, England may refresh the side with the addition of James Anderson for the second Test starting on Thursday. While it remains more likely he will return for the third Test, it could be that he replaces a spinner - probably Ansari - if England decide the pitch will offer him anything. It seems more probable that the Visakhapatnam surface will encourage spinners.England know that tougher challenges lie ahead. They know the pitches will turn more and they know that they wont always win the toss. But this performance means they will face those challenges with confidence in their own games high and the knowledge that they are up against an opponent that can be beaten.There is still a bit of room for improvement. Had Cook held on to a relatively simple chance offered by Mohammed Shami in the first innings, England would have taken a first-innings lead of 77 and, had their over-rate been better on Friday, they would have had another four overs at the India batsmen in the second innings.But these are minor quibbles. This was an encouraging start. 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