Josh Pate on Clemson fans at the halfway point of the season
Here at the bye week, which also doubles as the halfway point of the regular season, it has certainly been a roller coaster of a season. Admittedly the dips on this particular coaster seem greater than the highs thus far.
Josh Pate, of CBS Sports and his show Late Kick Live, gauges where he sees the mood of the Clemson fan base currently at. "I categorize the mood of the fanbase right now as uncertain behind the curtain," the podcast host started.
Clemson Athletics
"I think behind the curtain, I think when Clemson fans are, amongst themselves, they're willing to verbalize some discomfort. They're willing to verbalize some uneasiness about the direction of the program. Not catastrophic by any stretch. JP Poll later tonight (Pate's personal power ratings) Clemson is still a top 20 team, but, they used to be a top 5 team."
So what's the reason that Tiger fans aren't screaming these concerns from the mountaintop like most southern college football fans are known to do? Well, the well-connected analyst has his theory on that as well.
"Here's the thing Clemson fans know though, there is a portion of the college football media, there is a portion of the college football public at large that just hates Dabo Swinney. And so they'll never verbalize it publicly where the rest of those folks can hear it because they do not want to sound like them."
Pate is on to something here and it's the idea that the minute Clemson as a program started faltering, or at least not keeping up the usual pace they have in recent years, people were going to jump on Swinney for the unusual methods he runs his program with. The question then becomes whether that lack of public outcry that most coaches experience is helping Clemson stay stable or preventing them from realizing the need to grow.
Either way, even for this season, everything isn't all negative. Pate finished with this positive note, "I thought it was very admirable that they got off the deck and went and beat Syracuse like they did. I didn't think that was easy to do. So let's just see where they go the rest of the way."
