Best Music from One Tree Hill

As I wrote about in my Dan Scott appreciation blog back in May, I finished up One Tree Hill just this year because I finally had some access to Netflix and got some persuasion from enough people that I caved and gave it a shot. Terrific fucking show. Great drama (yeah I know that's more of a chick thing but I dig it), great cast of characters, and absolutely awesome music. Which is why I'm writing this now.

When I finished the show I started diving into the music of each episode to try and make a playlist. Well I finally finished that playlist Monday night. The Playlist King refused to quit despite facing adversity (laziness). Kings stay kings. Now I have to admit I did not do as thorough a job in the first couple of season in my review of songs. If they didn't have good popularity on Spotify I assumed it wasn't good. I did my due diligence once I came up with the strategy to cue up songs during work and just save them if I liked them enough. This whole process still took me a solid 4 months to go through every episode of every season. 9 seasons, over 20 episodes in most seasons, I'd say an average of 8-10 songs an episode. That's a lot of fucking songs to listen to folks. But, I managed to come up with 347 playlist worthy songs. Almost a day's worth. But like I said, HERE is the website I used to find every song from the show so if you (Nick and Gina mostly since you're the only ones that will care about this) think I missed some good ones, tell me to add them. But I think I did a pretty good job. Playlist King indeed.

Now, that ain't all I got for ya. That playlist isn't just soundtrack songs, some of them were from live guest appearances on the show by the bands and artists and some of them were by cast members themselves. I'm gonna break down some of my favorites of each.

Top Live Musical Guest Appearances

7. The Wreckers

What a duo, what a song. And it comes at a pivotal moment too. Clutch gene like you read about from the Wreckers.

6. Sheryl Crow

Although it's just one acoustic song at the cafe, Sheryl Crow crushes this song. What a tune too. Plus I appreciate the other songs featured on the soundtrack by Sheryl so gotta give her some credit for the cameo as well.

5. Angels & Airwaves

Angels & Airwaves headlining Tree Hill's USO concert was sweet. Gotta love a couple A&A songs getting dropped into the show. Tom Delonge's secondary band puts out some jams as well. Blink 182 is obviously better, but hey these songs are solid too. Tom is a weird dude but if you don't fuck with his unique voice, I don't fuck with you.

4. Gavin DeGraw

The theme song of the show, Gavin crushes the live performance in the cafe. I never realized what a bonafide superstar Gavin DeGraw was until this show. Countless hits in the soundtrack. Stud.

3. Fall Out Boy

Bonus points for two separate appearances. And two quality tracks too. They have plenty of good songs on the soundtrack overall, but gotta love these guest performances. Almost underrated as a band. Some absolute jams in their catalog. 

2. Jack's Mannequin

Got a little sneak peak at JM in that last Fall Out Boy video, but they have some terrific songs and I love them having the guest appearance at Tric. Good shit having two of their songs played at the show too. "Dark Blue" is the better song of the two but I think you only hear it good at the end of the song in that FOB video. 

1. Jimmy Eat World

I mean just electric performances outta Jimmy Eat World. Three songs all in the episode, but I could only find a video for "Hear You Me." "Work" and "Polaris" are fucking great songs though so I wish I could find videos of those in the show as well. Solid repertoire of soundtrack songs too. Underrated band. They're better than just "The Middle." 

Honorable mention: Kid Cudi, The Noisettes, Lupe Fiasco - in that order. Don't ask why I only felt like writing about 7.

Top Cast Member Singers

7. Erin (Laura Izibor)

The Irish girl who calls into the suicide hotline actually has pipes! Who knew?!

6. Jake (Bryan Greenberg)

Jake with a sneaky good voice just using his guitar to make Peyton fall for him. Their whole thing was cool for a bit but we all know where she belonged.

5. Grubbs (Michael Grubbs)

Grubbs, the bartender at Tric for a little while, just killin it with his band Wakey!Wakey!. Fuckin odd name for a band but who cares, Grubbs can crush hits!

4. Haley (Bethany Joy Lenz/Galeotti)

There from season 1 til the end, Haley is obviously a main character and a staple of the show. Late in season one we get a taste of what she can do with the pipes, and her music career ends up being a big part of the show. Love it.

3. Chris (Tyler Hilton)

How bout Chris fuckin Keller? Guy sucked for the first few seasons, just a total dickhead. But he eventually became a low key hero and hilarious character. And he puts out jams, gotta love it.

2. Mia (Kate Voegele)

Peyton and Haley's first find with the record label, Mia Catalano drops absolutely continuous heat on us for the rest of the show. Love her as a character and her music is pretty damn good.

1. Alex (Jana Kramer)

Alex was only on the show for like 2 seasons but Jana Kramer dropped some of her first career singles as her character. And Jana Kramer's career now is pretty much singing so it's pretty clear to me she's the best artist of any of the OTH characters. Jana's got some heaters for sure.

Top Music Moments
Just sit back and enjoy these moments. Perfect music to go along with these.

10. Everybody Hurts

9. I Shall Believe

8. Wedding Dress

7. Babe I'm Gonna Leave You

6. Here Comes A Regular

5. Feeling A Moment

4. Maybe Tomorrow

3. Lavinia

2. Heartbeats

1. Dare You to Move

Some absolutely iconic shit in these scenes. Gotta love the contributions that the soundtrack make to the show. These songs are engraved in my brain with these scenes. What a show, folks. 

Packers Come Back from Down 14 to Beat the Bengals in OT

For the 3rd straight week, the Packers played an absolute garbage first half (offensively especially), and for the 2nd time in those 3 weeks they were able to make some plays in the 2nd half and snag a win. 

One might say that a team with Aaron Rodgers at QB facing an 0-2 Andy Dalton team at home should be a bit more relaxing of a game, but it's the NFL. They're all professionals, anything can happen. Andy Dalton has made the playoffs 4 times in his career and the Bengals defense hasn't been the problem for them this year so far either. I missed most of the first half but the Packers offense was dogshit after their lone TD drive of the half. Rodgers threw a pick six and he seriously needs to stop throwing interceptions. Kinda sick of that garbage. The defense let up a couple of TD drives and it was 21-7. Hard to blame the defense when the offense only gained like 75 yards or something in the first half. 

Rodgers came out of halftime firing and closed the gap to 21-14 pretty quickly. The defense kept the Packers in the game with some key stops, and Rodgers was able to lead a field goal drive as well. The Bengals tacked on a field goal eventually, and the Packers offense was tasked with scoring a TD in the final minutes of regulation. Rodgers made some great throws, receivers made some great plays and they were able to score a TD and tie the game up with under a minute to go. Geronimo Allison and Jordy Nelson made some clutch catches down the stretch and G-Mo would make one more in OT.

With the game tied, it headed to overtime where the Bengals won the toss and elected to receive obviously. Aaron Rodgers had never won a game in overtime entering Sunday. Largely because he had only ever attempted 6 passes in the 7 overtime games combined. He rarely even gets an opportunity in OT. But the Packers defense forced an awesome 3 and out and would give Rodgers that chance. After two incompletions Rodgers induced his classic free play off an offsides on the hard count and hit G-Mo down the left side for a 72 yard catch and run. Fucking awesome play and Crosby was able to knock in the 27 yard game winning field goal. 

It was really nice to see the defense step up, albeit against another iffy offense, and give the offense a chance to catch up in the second half. Gotta love the effort from those guys on D, down quite a few players once again. Absolutely LOVE Josh Jones. The second round pick is a stud who is a safety/linebacker hybrid. He had two sacks on Sunday and I'd like to see more of him going forward. I hope Rodgers will have a game without a pick this year, but he's played well in second halves this year which is always nice. Knowing you're never out of a game because you have a stud at QB capable of making any throw at any point in the game is a good feeling. 

The Packers have to turn around and play Thursday night against Chicago so it's unlikely they can get completely healthy before Thursday. But hopefully they can be closer to 100% on both sides of the ball when they travel to Dallas in a week and a half. Go Pack Go.

Also, another thing I wanted to mention is that Tony Romo is wonderful as an announcer. Dude cracks me up and actually has fantastic points and insights during the game. Love the Nantz/Romo combo on CBS' big games.

Clemson Struggles for 3 Quarters, Pulls Away from BC in the 4th

Wasn't able to watch this one, but I think I'm glad I didn't. By all accounts Clemson's offense sucked for 3 quarters before finally pulling away in the 4th quarter. I'm gonna try and give my main takeaways just from watching highlights, but this probably won't be one of my better recaps. I'm also not gonna totally freak out about the non-blowout as I've been known to do. It might be because I didn't watch, but I also think that the Tigers will be just fine.

Obviously not a great passing game for Clemson in this one. Two interceptions for KB and no passing TDs. Not ideal, but it seemed like he was under a little bit of pressure for a lot of the afternoon. Hopefully they clean up the air attack before Virginia Tech this week because Bud Foster's defenses are always pretty damn solid. I still believe in KB even after he struggled. Maybe this game was a bit of a wake up call for him - not every game is gonna be as easy as they say on paper, and you don't get to face Louisville's defense every game. 

KB didn't let his poor performance passing affect his running game as he posted over 100 rushing yards and 2 TDs on the ground. He's a smooth but strong runner and he can make people miss tackles in multiple ways. His running game will always be a key in games to keep defenses on their toes. Against a more quality opponent, you won't be able to rely on just one aspect, in my opinion. Also, before I move on from talking about KB I should mention that his 3rd down throw to Overton in the 4th quarter when it was still tied was one of the more impressive throws I've seen him make this year. And it was a huge play in the game.

The rushing attack was one of the bigger question marks facing the Tigers coming into the season. And all they've done is rack up almost 275 rushing yards a game, good for 13th in the country so far. Dabo wanted to give CJ Fuller and Adam Choice their chances as "veterans" of the group but Tevian Feaster and Travis Etienne are top tier talents at the position, and have emerged as the go-to guys. Fuller and Choice have their strengths for sure, but Feaster and Etienne are much more talented and fun to watch. Feaster didn't have his best game in his first start, but he's the right guy to give the most playing time to right now. I can't say enough about Etienne though. He leads the team in rushing yards despite only having 23 carries and not playing in the Auburn game. And he is a threat to break one to the house every time he touches the ball. I fucking love this kid. It looks like we'll be seeing more of him too going forward which is quite good news.

And I'd be remiss to not mention the defense, who kept BC scoreless for so long despite the offense giving them some pretty good field position a few times. The defense continues to dominate games and they figure to only get better. Hopefully some of the injuries in the secondary aren't too serious (Mullen and Fields both left the game Saturday) but the front 7 is so insane right now I'm still confident in the defense as a whole. 

The Tigers go on the road to another top 15 team this weekend, facing Virginia Tech. One of the tougher venues to play in in college football, I'm more nervous about this game than I was about Louisville. It helps that VT is starting a freshman QB but he seems to be pretty damn good so far. I imagine KB and the offense will have a little bit harder time getting going than they did at Louisville so I'm hoping the defense can remain dominant and stuff VT until the offense gets rolling. I think KB will bounce back but it might take a couple of series to do so. Go Tigers. 

Packers Get Stomped in Atlanta Again

Welp, as much fun as watching Clemson destroy Louisville was, watching the Packers get trounced by the Falcons again was as painful. The 34-23 loss was worse than the final score and eerily similar to the blow out loss in the NFC Championship last season. The team was injured, the defense looked lost, Aaron Rodgers was under duress, and he struggled to make plays even when he wasn't pressured. 

The defense got off to a HOT start allowing an easy TD drive on the first Falcons series. I'm a big defer to the second half guy, but giving Matt Ryan and Julio Jones the ball first against your suspect defense is just a weird move. Especially when you cough up a fumble and TD on your opening drive to start the second half anyway (more on that later). But anyway, predictably Ryan and Jones carved up Damarious Randall and co. on the opening drive for a 7-0 lead. To make matters worse, Mike Daniels left the game with a hamstring injury and never returned. However, Rodgers and the Pack responded nicely tying up the game on their first drive. It was all downhill from there though.

The Packers defense just could not stop Atlanta at all, and Rodgers was under fire with two starting tackles missing the game. Atlanta opened up a 17-7 lead all of a sudden and it was looking pretty grim. Aaron Rodgers is a tremendous quarterback, the best talent the league has ever seen at the position. But you can just tell when it's one of those games where he doesn't have it. The pressure caused him to fuck up a few times and he was just missing throws, rushing throws, holding it too long, just struggling to come up with anything. Also, Jordy Nelson left during the first drive with some kinda quad injury. Not ideal and I'm sure that didn't help Aaron out.

Before the half it looked like the Packers were cooking something up. Randall Cobb caught a pass over the middle and ran until he was tackled at midfield. But the fucking jabroni refs called pass interference on Martellus Bennett for an illegal pick at the line of scrimmage. From what the announcers were saying and from what the Packers said after the game, you're allowed to pick within one yard of the line of scrimmage. And it sure as fuck looked like Marty was not further than a yard down field when he came in contact with the defender. The worst part is that Rodgers and Marty and Mike McCarthy all said that he was just running his drag route and not even trying to screen the defender. Obviously that could just be an excuse, but why would they have to come up with excuses when it was a legal play anyway? Anyway, they got a half the distance to the goal penalty instead of gaining 25-30 yards and being at midfield. It went from a very good possibility of being 17-14 or 17-10 at halftime to Rodgers throwing an interception two plays later. He tried to make up for the penalty and he threw it down the sidelines to Geronimo Allison who just stopped like he was expecting a back shoulder throw or something. I don't know, I like Allison but this is the kinda shit that happens when you don't have your number one receiver on the field who you've thrown to for the last 8 years or so. 

But anyway, that interception led to another Atlanta touchdown and it was 24-7 at halftime. 17 points is a lot to overcome in one half of NFL football against a team that made the Super Bowl the year before, but given how said team lost said Super Bowl (lay up joke, crushed it) and given the quarterback on the team currently losing the game, I'd say the Packers chances of coming back were as good as anyone's. But a few plays in my hopes were completely dashed by a fumble picked up and brought into the end zone for an Atlanta touchdown. Rodgers was pressured, and he tried to move to his left but there was more pressure and when he turned back to the right there was a dude just totally in his face so he tried to get rid of the ball while being tackled. He was able to make a throwing motion so if the ball went forward it woulda been an incomplete pass. However the refs ruled it a backwards pass even after review and the Atlanta TD stood. Absolutely mind boggling how they ruled it a backwards pass when it went about a half yard forward. Yeah the Packers sucked on Sunday night, yeah it wasn't Aaron Rodgers best night, but my god a little help from the officials woulda been nice. Rodgers would eventually put up a few touchdowns to make the final score a little less terrible but I can't imagine it was anything more than Atlanta's defense just playing relaxed coverage. I don't know, I went to bed after the fumble.

I just hope the Packers can get relatively healthy on both sides of the ball this week and recover against weak-ass Cincinnati at home. Bulaga and Bahktiari are huge on the offensive line and obviously Jordy is necessary to make the passing attack truly unstoppable. Cobb is also a little banged up so hopefully he's okay - he's also a crucial part of the offense. And can Dom Capers stop putting Damarious Randall on teams' best receivers? The guy can't cover anyone, let alone Julio Jones or AJ Green. I think Kevin King is ready to step up and make an impact as a rookie. The Packers didn't draft King and Josh Jones for them to sit on the sidelines and watch Damarious Randall and Quinten Rollins get carved up over and over. Make the switch Dom you fucking "I'm gonna coach from the booth" nerd.

Another thing I want to add is why the fuck are the Packers always the team who is on the receiving end of the "We've always had an absolute DOGSHIT venue to play in, here's our brand new billion dollar awesome stadium opening night!" dick caving. They had to do it week 2 in Minnesota last year and they did it again in week 2 this year. Schedule someone else next time a stadium opens Goodell you piece of shit. 

Clemson Obliterated Louisville to Move to 3-0

One of the more dominant and satisfying wins I've seen from Clemson in recent memory. Just completely outplayed Louisville in every aspect of the game, and that was possibly the most fun I've had watching any game since the shutout performance against Ohio State in the playoffs. 

Kelly Bryant has made it so clear that Dabo made the right choice naming him the starter out of camp. He has looked so calm early on and two of the three games have been against top 15 opponents, with this one being his first career road start. He's in complete control of himself and the game at all times it seems, and he's been a delight to watch. I've loved his poise on third downs especially so far this season, both running and throwing. Hunter Renfrow is his go-to third down guy making clutch catches all over the place. KB got it going early Saturday with an absolute DIME throw to Renfrow for 40 yards which set up Bryant's first rushing TD. Louisville would tie it up for a bit, but Clemson was still in total control. 

KB led a field goal drive to put Clemson up by three, and then threw a 79 yard TD to Ray Ray McCloud to extend the lead and really put Louisville away for good. Ray Ray has been a pleasure to watch as well, save for the fumble last week when he was fighting for extra yards. He's been an Artavis Scott type guy just all over the field making plays and I love it. The receiving core looks pretty great right now and Deon Cain hasn't even gotten going yet! He's only got 8 catches through the first 3 games. Imagine if they get him going. This offense will be almost as unstoppable as the defense.

Speaking of the defense, I mean there's just not much to say other than they rolled Lamar Jackson up, stuffed him in a bottle and tossed him in the sea. The (undeserving) Heisman winner looked absolutely flustered the entire night and it was awesome to watch. I started cracking up when Dorian O'Daniel picked that ball off early in the second half and ran it back for the TD. Just hilarious watching that fraud get stuffed in a locker by a real defense. Of course Bobby Petrino let him stay in down by a billion points so he could get 300 yards and 3 TDs against 2nd and 3rd teamers in the fourth quarter. That's the kinda program they are. Just all about individual stats and achievements and not about the team. I love watching this Clemson team cheer on each other and rally around each other and just come together to completely dominate the opponent. It's amazing. 

Another notable takeaway from the game Saturday is the running game. Every running back was able to find space pretty much. I believe Tavien Feaster took over the RB1 job with his production. CJ Fuller struggled to start and Feaster gave the Tigers a nice spark when he came in. Adam Choice had some good runs and then Travis Etienne just took the fuck off on an 81 yard TD run. Simply stunning speed and acceleration in that run and he's just another glimpse at how deep this team is and how scary it is. 

The best part of this game was that Clemson was +1 in the turnover differential. Last year the Tigers struggled mightily with turnovers and were I think -3 this season coming into the game. KB was fantastic not turning it over and no one coughed the ball up in the run game either. O'Daniel had the pick for the first turnover created this season. If turnovers start to come with the rest of the domination by the defense, I mean just watch out. I don't want to overhype this team but they looked REALLY good Saturday on the road and I'm confident they're only going to get better. Now let's dominate BC at home before thinking about another primetime road contest against VT. Go Tigers.

Highlights:

Packers Open Up 2017 with a Gritty Win Over Seattle

I just wrote about how Clemson and Auburn played an old school defensive battle on Saturday. Well up in Green Bay yesterday, the Packers and Seahawks played a similar contest and luckily the good guys came out on top in this one as well. 

I missed most of the first half because I was driving but the offense was pretty sluggish by all accounts early on. I mean Rodgers threw a pick six that got called back because of a holding on the return. Still a pick but the defense forced a 3 and out right away rather than Seattle scoring a defensive TD. Also on the play there was an absurd ejection for Seattle for "punching" even though it wasn't a punch, but I'll take it because Seattle is full of fucking punks that I hate so I don't care. Anyway, the offense didn't get anything going at all in the first half and the defense played pretty much perfect until Mike McCarthy screwed them over with about 45 seconds left in the quarter. With the ball inside their own 15 with something like 50 seconds left it looked like Seattle was just gonna run the ball out and not go for any points before the half. But Mike McCarthy had two timeouts to use so he called one after a run stuff on first down. Then another on second down so it was 3rd and short with 40 seconds or so left. Seattle got a first down and then called a timeout just for the fuck of it. Why not right? So they go ahead and run off two plays of 34 and 29 yards and actually had 2 shots at the end zone before kicking a field goal as the half expired. Unreal use of his timeouts by McCarthy and it cost them.

Green Bay's defense helped get the offense going by stripping Russell Wilson inside his own 10 yard line at the beginning of the second half. Ty Montgomery scooted into the end zone for the first points of the season for the Pack. Tough defense to run against for Montgomery but I love him as a running back. Rodgers seemed to get going in the second half, the defense was on fire going after Russell Wilson and kept them out of the end zone, and eventually Rodgers and Jordy burned the Seahawks with 12 men on the field for a sweet TD connection. Rodgers led another good drive that resulted in a field goal, and then was clutch protecting the 8 point lead on the final drive of the game. Aaron scrambled for a big first down and KJ Wright tried to go for his head when he dove. Martellus Bennett immediately shoved Wright to the ground. Absolutely bullied that fucker to the turf. Loved every second of it. Got a penalty but it was after the play so it really didn't affect the game that much. He made up for it too by catching and running for 25+ yards on a big play later in the drive. Game sealer. 

Great team effort week one. Offense got rolling in the second half, the defense looked much improved. Tough test at Atlanta on Sunday but loved the victory over those losers from Seattle. Any time we beat those insufferable douchebags led by the 9/11 truther Pete Carroll, it's a good win. Check out the highlights below. If they aren't great, not my fault. NFL doesn't let you embed their highlight videos.

Clemson's Defense Absolutely Dominates Auburn in Week 2

A little old school football took place in Death Valley this past Saturday and the good guy Tigers came out on top 14-6 thanks to a defense that relentlessly smothered Auburn. Ho hum, another victory over an SEC team and a ranked opponent. Clemson moves to 2-0 on the young season and I've generally liked what I've seen from them so far.

The offense didn't light up the scoreboard obviously, but Kelly Bryant has shown that he can clearly move the ball effectively and consistently. Some penalties and a couple of fumbles - one by a WR and one by a RB - ruined a few drives, some of those being drives where KB was looking pretty good. The fumble by Ray Ray McLoud on their second possession was at their own 10 and led to 3 points for Auburn. But KB was finally able to lead a scoring drive before the half, with a sweet 3rd and 10 throw down the left sideline to McLoud and then finished it off down at the goal line by himself. Absolutely bullied the Auburn defense into the end zone. 

Early into the 3rd quarter the game saw its last points when Bryant finished off another TD drive himself, this time scampering in from 27 yards out. He's a very smooth runner and he made some awesome moves on this TD run to go up by 8. Even though the Tigers were held scoreless the rest of the game, I loved how KB made plays down the stretch. Big throws on 3rd down, runs on 3rd down, he did a little bit of everything and he didn't turn the ball over. Clemson did have the two fumbles lost but neither of them were his fault. Protecting the football is the first order of business for a first time starter quarterback and he did that Saturday.

Now let's talk about the defense. I mean they were simply unbelievable. Simply bending Auburn over basically all game. Penalties and the fumble led to 6 points in the first quarter for Auburn but that was it. And they stopped them at the goal line pretty impressively on those field goal drives. This front four is SCARY. Christian Wilkins, Dexter Lawrence and Clelin Ferrell have all been touted as potential future first round draft picks and Austin Bryant is the fourth guy on the line and he had fucking FOUR sacks on Saturday. Eleven total for the Tigers defense. Motherfucking ELEVEN sacks. One shy of the school record. Just relentless pressure on Jarrett Stidham, and after Pettway had some success running the ball in the first quarter, they shut the run down too. And don't sleep on the pass defense either. Only 79 passing yards allowed. Obviously this is in part thanks to the pass rush but I liked what I saw from the secondary for the most part as well. It was especially nice to see considering Stidham was supposed to bring a solid passing attack to Auburn this year, and Clemson didn't really get a decent test against Kent State and their 5 pass attempts in week one. I can't wait for this defense to stuff Lamar Jackson in a locker this weekend and shut up Louisville again. Those fuckbags are insufferable.

Another prime time game awaits against Louisville this Saturday. Would love to see the Clemson fans just totally take over Louisville like Georgia fans did in South Bend this past Saturday. Let's see if a Louisville receiver steps out of bounds short of a first down on fourth down in the closing minutes of a one possession game again. Probably not. This one should be all Tigers. Check out the Auburn game highlights below. 

Clemson Kicked Off Their Title Defense by Handling Kent State Saturday

I wasn't able to watch the game because I was in the bleachers of Yankee Stadium watching Masahiro Tanaka jam his Japanese cock down the throats of the Boston Red Sox, but Clemson destroyed Kent State in just the manner I'd like to see in week one. Given that Death Valley and Yankee Stadium are 1 and 1a on my list of favorite places in the world, I wouldn't say I was jealous of the folks on hand to watch Clemson begin their title defense, but if I swapped locations with someone I wouldn't be angry at all either.

For all intents and purposes, Kelly Bryant looked like he can handle being QB1 for the Clemson Tigers, which is obviously a great sign. And if he falters at some point at least the Tigers were able to get Zerrick Cooper and Hunter Johnson some game action too. Remember when Clemson had to replace legend Tajh Boyd 3 years ago and Dabo gave the job to the "experienced" Cole Stoudt? Yeah everyone knew Deshaun Watson had more talent but Dabo was loyal to the guy who waited in the wings. It didn't turn out great since Cole Stoudt is a certified ASS quarterback and Deshaun would step in by week 3. This situation is similar except in the fact that Kelly Bryant is immensely more talented than Cole Stoudt, and I don't think anyone is gonna be comparing Hunter Johnson to Deshaun Watson any time soon despite being a 5 star QB recruit. I think I'd be comfortable trotting out KB, Zerrick or Hunter on any given Saturday but KB had two years behind Deshaun and I'd say sticking with him for now is a good call.

The talent around KB was on full display as well. The team had over 300 yards in the air as well as around 350 yards on the ground. I imagine against a more formidable foe, Dabo and the OCs will try and stick with one or two running backs for most of the game but basically everyone who got a carry on Saturday ran well which is a great problem to have. I'd love for Tevian Feaster and Travis Etienne emerge as the main backs but CJ Fuller and Adam Choice aren't slouches I suppose. Deon Cain showed off his big play explosiveness with a 61 yard touchdown catch, and the Tigers' new tight end Milan Richard had a great game as well, making some big plays. Speaking of explosiveness, Kelly Bryant showed off his own running ability with a fucking smooooooth scramble for over 40 yards. 

As far as the defense goes, they only allowed 120 yards and 3 points. They only allowed 1 passing yard (LOL) but that's because Kent State only attempted 5 passes. I imagine as Clemson starts to face real teams with some more traditional offenses, they'll be giving up more passing yards than rushing as that front 4 is STACKED and the secondary has a few more question marks. 

All around, it was a great week one for the defending national champion Clemson Tigers, and I can't wait until 7pm this Saturday to watch them take on Auburn in the Valley. Check out some highlights below from week one.