It all starts at High Noon in Atlanta. The top 25 anticipated matchups are the most anticipated games in week 1. With Georgia favored by 13.5 points, Clemson is the biggest underdog they have been in 12 years. However, the Tigers have won 2 of its last 3 Games against ranked teams in the AP Poll and view these games as a barometer for the program.

Not many who turn on the TV Saturday to watch the game will pick Clemson but I disagree. If Clemson can hang around, keep it close, and keep the mistakes at a minimum, the Tigers have a chance. Besides they have nothing to lose. The pressure is on Georgia and I feel that the improvements on the Offensive line in the offseason are key. If Cade has time in the pocket and Phil Mafah can pick up 4 or more yards a carry on a first or second down, Clemson opens up the playbook to many possibilities.

On the other side, Georgia’s offensive line vs Clemson’s defensive line is also an important battle to watch. Georgia may have the best offensive line in the country. They have 4 out of 5 starters back from last season. The one new starter is Jared Wilson and the word is he is a freak of an Athlete. But don’t forget on Clemson’s defense we have Peter Woods and TJ Parker returning. Those are battles to watch! TJ Parker and Peter Woods are back for their second year and they were great as freshmen. Peter Woods is at 320 lbs and 6’4 and he’s got crazy speed for his size. He’s a beast and he should give Georgia some headaches Saturday and all they can handle upfront.

Georgia’s Defensive line is the biggest question mark of the game. Jordon Hall is hurt and Warren Brinson is banged up. Georgia will have to have guys to step up because Matt Luke the new Offensive Line Coordinator is leading the pack at Clemson and we saw significant improvement in the offensive line in the Gator Bowl Back in December.

QB battle Cade vs Carson. Cade didn’t have the season we expected last year but I’m confident he’s improved a lot over the offseason and he has so many more weapons this year. He has to be a better decision maker and he’s got to make the easy throws. Dabo has said he has taken many steps over the offseason for the good and he has won the team over with leadership which is key for a quarterback.

ESPN was referring to Georgia’s Carson Beck as a young Tom Brady and watching him I can see a similar style especially how he was able to plant his feet on a dime and execute a completion. According to the Georgia staff he has taken his offseason seriously and honed in on improving the long ball. He’s a real threat. Clemson’s defense needs to keep the pressure on the whole game and not let off the throttle if they want to rattle Carson. We can’t let him get comfortable or we could have trouble.

Clemson’s key to victory is they have to do the little things well. Make good punts, and make your field goals but by all means, have little to no turnovers. We know how bad that hurt us last year, especially during the opening game against Duke. We have a little margin of error here. We are playing the number one team in the nation. Phil Mafah has to have a huge game and open up the playbook with good 1st and 2nd down yardage. The offense was our biggest problem last year. We need to be the Clemson we have become over the offseason and I have faith in our Defense. We were good last year we are even better this year. I’m so excited for the season to get started. Spot the Ball and Go Tigers!

Written by: Josh Starnes

I Bleed Orange wants to welcome our newest sponsor Imagine Studios! Imagine Studios is the official photographer for the Clemson University Tiger Band! They offer photographic services for weddings and engagements, students and graduating seniors, family and group portraiture, maternity, newborns, headshots, special events, and more! Here is their contact info:

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We’re here for another week of news, which means we’re getting closer and closer to our very first Kickoff of the season! Today we’ll discuss a veteran linebacker eligible for yet another award! We’ll also discuss the preseason polls, and where our Tigers ranked in. We’ll finish off with some heartbreaking news, and the passing of yet another former Tiger.

Barrett Carter, a senior linebacker for the Tigers, has made it on another award watch list. He is one of 51 players in all of college football to be nominated for the Butkus Award. The Butkus Award is given to the best linebacker in College Football, named after the late Dick Butkus. Carter is one of only 7 ACC players to have been nominated, with the Big Ten having the most nominees at 16.

The College Preseason AP Poll was released a couple of days ago, and Clemson ranked in at No. 14. Many think that this is too high of a number and that our Top 5 defense will make much more of an impact than expected. Some people, however, have stated that we are lucky to even be in the poll after a decline last season. Now over here at IBO we’ve discussed Dabo, his legacy, and how he runs his program. With that being said, we don’t see these Tigers slowing down any time soon. We expect No. 14 to be high, compared to where we will finish at the end of the season. 

Former Clemson WR, Kelvin Grant, passed away at the age of 40 this past week. Grant played for the Tigers from 2003-2005, but his career was cut short when he suffered a torn ACL in practice. He racked up 45 catches for 437 yards (9.7 YPC) and 1 TD before being sidelined due to his injuries. The Tiger community mourns his loss and sends prayers to his family in their time of mourning. 

If you haven’t already, join the I Bleed Orange Facebook Group to make sure you don’t miss a beat on any and all things Clemson! Tune in for Live Podcasts, even more articles and news, and general tiger talk! 

Click the link below to join today:

https://www.facebook.com/share/g/jsqrB97C8gdBeK5e/?mibextid=CTbP7E

Written by: Brandon Cannady

We want to give a big welcome to IBO’s newest sponsor, Color Chaos! Grab some friends or family and go have a blast. Literally!

One name you’re probably familiar with is Clemson RB Phil Mafah. He saw the field quite a bit last season as a junior but remained behind star running back Will Shipley. Mafah is expected to step up as the starting running back this year after Shipley was drafted by the Eagles in the 2023 NFL Draft. A lot of people are excited to see Mafah finally get his starting spot, as many fans thought he should’ve taken over as RB1 last season. This was due to Will Shipley facing early season struggles, whereas Mafah seemed to succeed when he was on the field.  Nonetheless, his time is now, and we expect him to show the league who he truly is in a breakout season. “Breaking 1,000 yards is one of my goals. . .” he stated at Media Day, “It’s more to it than that. . . this being my last year I just want to leave a mark on my team and my university.” With Mafah being a part of the 2021 class, there’s a chance he will have more years of eligibility available after this season. Ultimately, it will come down to his chances of being drafted, and if they are high, you can bet this will be the last we see of him.

For the first time in nine years, Clemson is not predicted to win the ACC. Now if you’ve been a Tiger for a long time, you know we don’t let these polls decide our season, but it brings to question are the Tigers on a decline? We don’t believe so, as we’ve got a ton of young talent that is more than ready to develop, but it seems to be a popular belief amongst college football fans nationwide. 

One thing that stands out about Clemson and its program, is that it’s about so much more than football. This proved right with Senior LB Barrett Carter, who is 1 of only 111 college football players to be nominated for the Wuerffel Award. The Wuerffel Award is given to a college football player who shows great service to his community, and we are honored to say one of our Tigers is on the watch list! 

Day one of Fall Football Camp for the Tigers started yesterday, and there are some improvements we hope to see before the first kickoff. There’s no question, after the BIG Weigh In, that this team is in great shape. The question is will it be properly utilized, or can we expect to see short-passing plays and a panicked quarterback? Tigers staff have stated that Cade Klubnik has come a long way since last season, but only time will tell, and that time is coming soon. 

If you haven’t already, be sure to join the Facebook Group for daily updates and posts about everything Clemson! You can also follow us on X, @IBOSportNetwork. 

Written by: Brandon Cannady

We want to welcome our newest sponsor Kia of Anderson! They have some amazing deals on vehicles! They also have exceptional staff. Go check out their inventory and show them a huge I Bleed Orange Welcome!

It’s been a very long week in Clemson football, and I Bleed Orange is ready to give you updates on it all! We’ll start with some recruitment news, where we’ve been both hot and cold. From there we’ll discuss the new changes to the NCAA, and how they can possibly affect a program like Clemson. We’ll finish off with an update on one of our defensive linemen Tigers, who was charged with marijuana possession this past weekend.

It’s no secret that our Tigers have struggled in the past years with recruiting on the offensive line, and it appears as though we continue with that bad luck for the 2025 class. Top recruit David Sanders Jr, who was once crystalballed to Clemson, has recently removed the Tigers from his list of interests. This puts us at a stalemate with offensive line recruits, as we don’t quite have the roster space to have people lining up on the depth chart. Clemson already has 3 OL commits for the 2025 class, so we can expect to see them focus their interests on different positions before closing out this year’s recruitment process. They started to pick up heat with 4 Star DL Bryce Davis, who committed just last week. This is a huge pickup for us, however it should’ve been expected, as we’ve always recruited well on the defensive line. Davis ranks in as a Top 100 Player in the Nation, and he’ll be a key player on the Tiger defense when his time comes. We stayed hot with the defensive recruits, securing ILB Logan Anderson a few days later. Anderson currently sits as a 4-star recruit with a strong commitment to the Tigers.

The next story we have for you is regarding the NCAA, as they have made some rule changes for this upcoming season. The commission plans to increase the scholarship limit from 85 to 105, but this number would also be the maximum roster size. This means that every player on the roster would be on scholarship, and the story of a walk-on changing a program around becomes no more. It also states that players can receive partial scholarships now, which may lead to more difficulty in securing recruits down the line. For Clemson, this rule change hits home. Many of you know that head coach Dabo Swinney is a former walk-on himself, and there have been many great walk-ons to come through this program since adding him to the coaching staff in 2008. The most memorable comes in WR Hunter Renfrow, who single-handedly took over the league in receiving stats while at Clemson. He also caught the game-winning touchdown against Alabama in the 2016 National Championship, before moving on to the NFL in 2019. One advantage that the Tigers have is their limited, if not absent, use of the transfer portal. With scholarships and roster sizes already thinning down, it’ll be easier to not have to worry about an extra player coming through from a different program.

Last weekend, Clemson Tigers defensive lineman Caden Story was charged with marijuana possession. The Tigers have refused to speak on the situation, but with the recent rule changes of the NCAA, he will not be formally punished. This doesn’t mean that he won’t be punished within the program, whether by Dabo or Story’s respective position coach. We will be on the lookout for more updates on this, and if Story will plan to play this upcoming season.

For those of you not already following our socials, it’s a great way to stay in touch with all things Clemson! Be sure to join our Facebook Group to get daily Clemson news, updates, and so much more.

Written by: Brandon Cannady

We start with the talk of the town, the ACC conflict. It’s been no secret that the ACC has been a subpar conference for Clemson for quite a few years, and many fans have pushed for better competition in a different conference. More so, we are just 135 miles away from a team that participates in the SEC, so many think it only makes sense for us to join a conference more suited for our area. We will do our best to simplify this whole legal process for you and make it as easy as possible to understand. 

It started with Clemson suing the ACC over their grant of rights deal and withdrawal penalty. The reason Clemson filed this is because they want to leave the conference, with the rights to their games being televised. As of right now, the ACC won’t allow Clemson to look at the contract, so they have no idea if it is a binding contract or not. They don’t know if they can leave with their TV right, or not. The issue comes in the ACC’s countersuit, where they state that even if Clemson were to leave the ACC, they’d still own Clemson’s grant of rights until 2036. What makes things even more confusing, is that Clemson’s suit was filed in South Carolina, whereas the ACC’s countersuit was filed in North Carolina. The most recent update is that the judge has ordered the ACC to submit the contract (unredacted) into evidence. We hope to have more on this for you next week. 

Next up for Clemson news is the unfortunate passing of former Tiger, Arthur Bussie Jr. The “Camden Bear” passed away in a car accident just a few weeks ago. Arthur was a top defensive lineman during his tenure at Clemson, before transferring to complete his college career elsewhere. From there he was drafted by the Chicago Bears. If you would like to support Arthur’s family during this time, you can donate to their GoFundMe link below.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-arthur-bussie-jrs-family

Our previous article stated that we had been on a cold trail in terms of recruitment. The name we were looking forward to last week was Samari Reed, 4 Star WR out of Pompano Beach, FL. The streak remained cold on July 4th, as Samari committed to Ole Miss. It wasn’t long after that though, when we were able to celebrate a victory—as the #1 Recruit in Arizona for the Class of 2026, QB Tait Reynolds, announced his commitment to Clemson! We hope to keep the heat rising with 4-star safety, Jordan Young, who plans to announce his commitment on October 12th. Clemson recently made his Top 4 List, amongst Florida State, Michigan, and NC State.

We’ll close off with the Orange and White Weekend planned for August 2nd-4th! There are so many fun events planned and awesome Clemson legends scheduled to show up. Take your chance at meeting some of Clemsons favorite athletes and celebrities, while also enjoying fun games and laughs! You can find Josh from IBO sitting in a dunk tank, ready to take a splash! You can find more information in our IBO FB group, and be sure to get your tickets soon! The link to access tickets is below. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/orange-and-white-gala-opportunity-to-mix-and-mingle-with-clemson-legends-tickets-787558999167

Each week we get closer and closer to our first gameday, and we couldn’t be more excited. We’re stoked to continue bringing you guys weekly content, and updates, and to continue filling that orange blood. Be sure to follow IBO on Twitter @IBOSportNetwork and if you haven’t already, join our Facebook Group !  

Written by: Brandon Cannady

We want to shout out a huge WELCOME to our newest sponsor Momma Donnas Thrift Store. They have some outstanding finds so go check out Momma Donna!

If you were on social media or watching football at all last season, then you have probably heard about the ACC expansion. For those who haven’t heard, the Atlantic Coast Conference set forth plans to add 3 new teams to the Conference. Those teams are Southern Methodist University (SMU), University of California-Berkeley (Cal) and Stanford University. Now these three teams aren’t teams that we are concerned about losing against, however, we can’t help but ask; what are they doing in the ACC? This move will put the Conference at just under 20 teams.

In other news, Clemson Football has had its fair share of fire and ice regarding the recruits. The Tigers missed out on some top names like Hardy Watts, Zae Thomas, and Cortez Mills. The most frustrating for most fans is missing out on IOL Hardy Watts. The 4-star recruit, who would’ve been an amazing pickup for Clemson, set his eyes on Wisconsin instead.  The Tigers also have their eyes set on 2025 WR Samari Reed, who plans to commit today, July 3rd. As many of you know, Clemson had a monster year in terms of recruits last season; and we will get to see many of those recruits play as freshmen this season. Let’s just hope these Tigers can pick up some more heat and secure some top names as the season progresses.

We are just under 2 months away from the first kickoff of the season, and our blood is as orange as ever!! If you don’t already know, we’ll be hosting our first IBO show of the season on Saturday, August 31st, at Vapor Nation, which was the host of our first IBO Show last season! We’re excited to show you our improvements since last season, and also show off our amazing sponsor as we discuss Clemson Football on Gameday! If you can’t attend in person, be sure to tune in to IBO socials to gain access to the live feed.

Tonight at 9:00 pm, you can catch the “Light The Lake” Fireworks Show over Lake Hartwell! Clemson University has partnered with the City of Clemson to bring you all an amazing sight tonight, so be sure to come out and light the lake with IBO! For more information on this event, please check the I Bleed Orange Facebook group, or you can find more information on Clemson University socials.

If you would like real-time updates, be sure to join the I Bleed Orange group on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @IBOSportNetwork. 

Written by: Brandon Cannady

A big IBO Welcome to our newest sponsor, KUK SOOL WON OF CLEMSON! They have over 20 years of experience in Martial arts! They also do many events throughout the year so check them out!

Another raucous crowd of over 6,000 fans at Doug Kingsmore Stadium welcomed their home Tigers with hopeful optimism to have a reason to come back to the ball park on Monday. It wouldn’t be enough, as Clemson Baseball would fall short 11-10 on a walkoff hit by Florida’s Michael Robertson in the bottom of the thirteenth inning – which included a game-tying home run by Cam Cannarella in the ninth and a solo home run to take the lead by Alden Mathes in the final inning.

Bakich’s Reaction:

When asked about Erik Bakich‘s counterpart Kevin O’Sullivan yesterday after the loss, he had this to say: “Nothing.” Today’s handshake at the plate was noticeably more icy, with Bakich’s Tigers against the ropes. Clemson would hope the home plate officiating would give a favorable strike zone as well, as Bakich would spend a little more time with the officials before returning to his players in the dugout. That gesture wouldn’t make much of a difference on this day, with all of the pauses and ejections seen throughout the game.

Game Highlights:

• Starting Plays: Mathes would start the game against the pitching version of Jac Caglianone.
• Bench-Clearing Moment: A shove between the players would ignite a bench-clearing from both teams.
• Tense Moments: With the game tied, tensions rose as both teams battled fiercely for the lead.
• Extra Innings: The game stretched into extra innings, with both teams refusing to give in.
• Walkoff Drama: Florida ultimately secured the win with a walkoff hit in the thirteenth inning.

Players’ Reflections:

After the game, players from both teams reflected on the intense match and their hopes for the future. Emotions ran high as they expressed gratitude for their coaches and pride in their team’s efforts.

Looking Forward:

Winning their ninth straight supers, Florida will head back to the College World Series looking for redemption from last year’s winner-take-all loss to LSU. Clemson will go home upset and disappointed, maybe mostly due to how it happened – but not without their heads held high. The first super regional appearance in more than a decade, this Clemson program should be proud of the way these “cardiac cats” fought through adversity and injury to leave the Tiger fans hopeful for future seasons.

This article is sponsored by our friends at Ollies Tavern in Greer SC.

The game began with the Tigers taking an early lead. Jack Crighton’s wild pitch and a bases-loaded walk scored two runs with two outs in the first inning. Jarren Purify kept the momentum going with a leadoff triple in the second, crossing the plate on another wild pitch.

Ashton Wilson’s sacrifice fly in the top of the third to put Florida on the board.

Then Jimmy Obertop’s 21st homer of the season gave the Tigers a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the third.

Florida’s Tyler Shelnut answered with a solo homer in the fourth.

The fifth inning turned the tide for Florida. The Gators erupted with seven runs on four hits, seizing a 9-4 advantage. Jac Caglianone’s three-run homer was pivotal, putting Florida ahead. Luke Heyman followed with a run-scoring single, and Michael Robertson capped the inning with a crucial two-out, run-scoring single.

Clemson attempted a comeback in the bottom of the fifth with Tristan Bissetta’s towering solo homer, his seventh of the year. The sixth inning saw Jacob Hinderleider’s sacrifice fly and Blake Wright’s groundout bringing in another run. Heyman added a solo homer for Florida in the ninth, securing the victory.

Fisher Jameson (5-0) claimed the win in relief, pitching 4.0 innings, while Brandon Neely also pitched 4.0 innings to notch his fourth save of the year. Clemson’s starter Tristan Smith (2-1) took the loss, surrendering five hits, five runs, and three walks with four strikeouts over 4.0 innings.

The series continues with Game 2 of the Clemson Super Regional on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN.

Coach Erick Bakich expressed heartfelt gratitude to the fans, acknowledging the electric atmosphere at DKS, likening it to a concert. From the onset, the Tigers dominated the game, setting the tone with early runs from players like Blake Wright and Jimmy Obertop. Notably, Wright’s cunning hidden ball trick in the second inning thwarted Coastal Carolina’s momentum, showcasing the Tigers’ strategic prowess.

The third inning witnessed Obertop’s explosive home run, further extending Clemson’s lead, while Jacob Hinderleider’s clutch performance throughout the series earned him the coveted Clemson Regional MVP award. Despite Coastal Carolina’s persistent efforts, Clemson maintained control, with players like Nolan Nawrocki contributing crucial plays to secure the team’s commanding lead.

In the eighth inning, Cam Cannarella’s powerful home run ignited both the crowd and his teammates, propelling the Tigers to an offensive explosion. Alongside stellar pitching performances from Reed Garris and Austin Gordon, Clemson’s victory was a testament to the team’s resilience and skill under pressure.

Looking ahead, the Tigers are primed for the Clemson Super Regional, boasting an impressive season record of 44-14. The unwavering support of Clemson fans further amplifies the team’s determination as they continue their pursuit of excellence in the upcoming series.