Fowler

[UFreak]

Originally Posted by gatormoe1

Umm, Auburn wasn't even a top 25 team last year.

Do you realize how close we came to being in the national title game this year? Recall some of our wins from this year?

[gatormoe1]

Originally Posted by UFreak

Do you realize how close we came to being in the national title game this year? Recall some of our wins from this year?

Whats your point? USC was never winning a National title this year or last year, or any other year for that matter.

[GatorAvatar]

Originally Posted by int1974

Can he get close to what Clowney is as a player? Can we expect 8 plus sacks and 12-15 TFL next year? I think He is a special player and will end up a top 10 pick in 2 years..

Clowney has good hands and is fast and explosive. Not sure how Fowler compares against Clowney on those traits. However, what I have noticed about Fowler is his brute force...scary $h!+

[amangator08]

Originally Posted by UFreak

I'm not sure I can agree with that. They had arguably the best running back in college football and the best defensive player in college football on the same team this year. And a coach who has proven he can win at the highest level.

They were 11-2 last year and this year. Lost to Auburn by three two years ago. Could have beaten LSU this year. If they win either of those games, they go to the SEC championship game. And of course the SEC champ always plays for the national title. So I would say he came pretty durn close.

I agree they were very close to the nat'l title game the last 2 years, but I doubt a win against LSU would have sent them to the SEC title game this year. That would have caused a 3-way tie for the East, and they wouldn't have been the highest ranked of the 3 after the blowout loss to us.

[UFreak]

Originally Posted by gatormoe1

Whats your point? USC was never winning a National title this year or last year, or any other year for that matter.

My point is that I disagree and that they were very close to a national title game berth the last two years. If you were basing your arguement that they didn't have a chance to get there two years ago because of a narrow loss to a team that was not in the Top 25, then you must realize how close we came to losing to teams that weren't very good this year. And we were extremely close to playing for the national title. USC had a great chance of going to the national title game over the last two years. Much, much better than most.
In short, if you lose one or zero games in the regular season and you are in the SEC, there is a VERY strong chance that you will be playing for all the marbles. They were one-loss short of that.

[UFreak]

Originally Posted by amangator08

I agree they were very close to the nat'l title game the last 2 years, but I doubt a win against LSU would have sent them to the SEC title game this year. That would have caused a 3-way tie for the East, and they wouldn't have been the highest ranked of the 3 after the blowout loss to us.

If they beat LSU, perhaps the game they have with us is completely different. The main point here is that it wasn't a crazy notion afterall for Clowny to think USCe would have a chance at a national title while he was being recruited. And I'm sure it was part of the recruiting pitch.

[gatordee]

I would not be surprised if Clowney is the #1 pick next year with an invitation to the ceremony at the Best Buy Theater in Times Square, New York, N.Y.

[sleeze]

Were gonna be scary on passing downs on Defense.

[SJB612]

The most impressive thing about that video is that it has 12 minutes of 5 second highlights. That's a lot of sacks, TFLs, INT's, Forced Fumbles, TD runs, etc. It's like every play his senior year was a highlight. Hilarious watching 5'-8", 150 lb running backs try to "chip" him only to get blown up on his way to another sack/forced fumble.

[corpgator]

Originally Posted by gatormoe1

Umm, Auburn wasn't even a top 25 team last year. USC has been fortunate to play a fairly easy schedule the last two years with their only losses coming against teams that are actually good/elite. The only team they beat this year that was really good was Georgia and that game was kinda a fluke. Also, last year they didn't play LSU or Alabama

Fairly easy schedule the last two years? This year they had LSU and Clemson. UGA and Alabama both played much much weaker schedules.

[UFreak]

gatormoe1

And how was the USCe win a fluke over Georgia. That was a severe beatdown. There wasn't any miracle in that game. They beat Georgia in every phase of the game. Truth is, USCe is a very good football team that was one loss away from perhaps playing for marbles this year and last year.

[socraticsilence]

Originally Posted by StrangeGator

If I remember right, his forty time was not absurd, somewhere between 4.6 and 4.7, but he has a ridiculous ten yard burst and great football speed. Powell and Fowler were faster against a stop watch, both under 4.6. The trick will be to get both of them on the field as much as possible and often at the same time. That might mean putting Fowler on the strong side or moving Powell back to Sam. Bullard has to be on the field too. He could easily move inside.

10 yard burst is all that really matters at most positions- it is explosiveness, the 40 can be really, really misleading- you have big WRs who post low 4.4s who no one would call explosive- they just reach top speed at 30 yards where it doesn't matter.

In comparing Clowney to Fowler or Powell I'd look at the size of each.

[socraticsilence]

Originally Posted by UFreak

Shoot, I don't know. With consecutive 11-win seasons and being in the SEC, I would say he wasn't too far from doing it. If they would have lost just one less game each of the last two years, that means they would have won a national title - right?

This, I;m glad players don't think the way the original poster on this line does- we never would have built up to begin with, neither would Miami or FSU- all the Southern Talent would go to Bama and Texas, after all why waste your time at a school that couldn't even win a conference title till the early 90s much less a national title.

[socraticsilence]

Originally Posted by gatormoe1

Umm, Auburn wasn't even a top 25 team last year. USC has been fortunate to play a fairly easy schedule the last two years with their only losses coming against teams that are actually good/elite. The only team they beat this year that was really good was Georgia and that game was kinda a fluke. Also, last year they didn't play LSU or Alabama

They beat Bama the last time they played them, its not like they play an UGA schedule. Additionally, are we going to argue Clemson isn't good, and finally how was the Georgia game a Fluke- if that was a fluke our win against USCe was a fluke, turnovers happen.

[socraticsilence]

Originally Posted by amangator08

I agree they were very close to the nat'l title game the last 2 years, but I doubt a win against LSU would have sent them to the SEC title game this year. That would have caused a 3-way tie for the East, and they wouldn't have been the highest ranked of the 3 after the blowout loss to us.

How about this- Lattimore doesn't go down, they run the table.

[socraticsilence]

Originally Posted by SJB612

The most impressive thing about that video is that it has 12 minutes of 5 second highlights. That's a lot of sacks, TFLs, INT's, Forced Fumbles, TD runs, etc. It's like every play his senior year was a highlight. Hilarious watching 5'-8", 150 lb running backs try to "chip" him only to get blown up on his way to another sack/forced fumble.

Thought he might throw that one kid at the QB.

[Gatorrick22]

Fowler is going to be a beast in his own right when he's done at Florida. Fowler's a true freshman....... I don't think Clowney was all that great - good yes - great no, as a true freshman either.

We'll learn a lot more about just how good Fowler's compares to Clowney after his sophomore season.