Atlantic Division Champions!

In the weakest division in one of the weakest conferences, I'd like to think Clemson wouldn't have any trouble winning it consistently. However, that hasn't been the case, and that's why I'm about to wet my pants in excitement since they've finally done it.

Clemson faces a rematch against the Gimmick Tech Yellow Jackets in the ACC Championship Game in Tampa, Florida the week after the Soccer Liner Chicken game.

Now that Clemson has wrapped up the Atlantic division, I have to get this off my chest:

I hate Georgia Tech's offensive system with a burning passion.

Why? ...because it's cheap and gimmicky, and their coach, His Royal Highness Paul Johnson, is an arrogant d-bag about his beloved system.

In my eyes, Gimmick Tech is in a no-win predicament even if Clemson loses to them in the ACC Championship Game. They are illegitimate posers no matter how many games they win. They don't deserve any respect because of how they play.

There's an author named Timothy Ferriss who is a National Chinese Kickboxing Champion. That sounds impressive, right? Well, in the tournament in which he became a champion, they weighed-in all their fighters the night before, and Mr. Ferriss practiced extreme dehydration methods to get into the lower weight classes, then rehydrated himself overnight for the "fight". During the bouts, all he had to do was push his much smaller opponents out of the ring to disqualify them. So he really didn't do any fighting, and he gets to call himself a kickboxing champion and sell a lot of books.

Gimmick Tech bends the rules in a similar way with their cut blocking in the trenches.

Without going into it too deeply, a cut block is when a player dives at the opposing player's knees to block them -- an extremely dangerous situation for the defensive player, since having 300 pounds straining the ligaments in their knee is not going to turn out well for the defender. So, instead of giving the defense a sporting chance to find the ball-carrier and make a tackle, what Georgia Tech and other cut blocking teams do is take a bunch of big guys who are short on talent and have them fling themselves at the defense's knees in an effort to distract them from tackling, or to deliver a devastating knee injury.

It's a crying shame that isn't against the rules, and, win or lose, Georgia Tech and HRH Paul Johnson deserve nothing but derision. When confronted with this, a lot of Gimmick Tech fans will laugh it off as whining, but answer this: Why should cut blocks in the trenches be legal when holding, blocking in the back, and pass interference are not?

And even for those who don't want the rule thrown out because of
the injury concerns, take a look at it from a competition standpoint.

Why would
you give one side, the offense, such a devastating tool and leave the other, the
defense, without? Wouldn't a more effective way to tell who is better, who wins
and loses, to be to have the two linemen standing up and battling each other on
equal footing? Your best vs. My best. Isn't that what football is all
about?

| Posted in » ACC, clemson, cut blocking sucks, football, Georgia Tech