Music City mishmash

Few quick thoughts from Sunday night’s Music City Bowl, beyond the fact Clemson trumped my prediction.

Don’t know how much Clemson will really gain by the victory other than the chance to feel good about the season – which, actually, is pretty substantial.

But beating Kentucky was so important in the sense that the coaches and players get to avoid eight months of scrutiny and venom that would have spewed if the Tigers had lost to another middle-of-the-pack SEC squad to close on a three-game skid.

I don’t know if Swinney will guide Clemson to the level its fans desire or deem reasonable. But I don’t think there’s any question he and staff are held to a much higher standard because some are leftovers from the Tommy Bowden era, and I think the firestorm that would have ensued if they had lost would have been unfair considering the Tigers finally won the Atlantic.

We’ve kinda known this for awhile, but the game was validation that Clemson will probably be alright at running back despite C.J. Spiller’s departure.

Jamie Harper was Ron Dayne with another gear. Was speaking with former Detroit Lions prez Matt Millen beforehand about how C.J. Spiller will fit in the NFL, and Millen brought up Andre Ellington on his own.

Don’t know if that’s a compliment or curse given Millen’s track record, but I like Millen, so I’m going with the latter.

That said, as I write in tomorrow’s 5 future questions piece, the biggest concern might be who will the QB have to throw to in order to unclog the line of scrimmage? TE Dwayne Allen is the leader in the clubhouse, but there still isn’t a receiver who has shown capable of handling even the No. 2 pass-catcher role.

Spiller got bowl MVP, and when putting the value in valuable, it’s hard to argue otherwise.

But I’m not sure anyone had a better game than senior weak-side linebacker Kavell Conner. He was a beast in run support.

And what a stellar one-armed tackle by senior DE Ricky Sapp on Kentucky QB Morgan Newton, stopping Newton a half-yard short of a first down on the fourth-and-8 scramble with 5:37 left. It’s indeed a game of inches.

My siblings were in Montana last week when it was minus-22 degrees. I’d argue it might have felt colder in blustery LP Field. Don’t know if you could tell it on TV, but it was actually snowing in the second half.

Interesting decision by Kentucky to use/waste its second timeout at the end of the third quarter in order to force Clemson to punt into the wind. But the conditions definitely impacted both teams, from Kentucky’s 14-yard punt to Richard Jackson’s 44-yard field goal attempt that was batted down by the jet stream.

Swinney joked afterward that Spiller and Sapp had consequently proven capable of excelling in cold-weather NFL climates like Green Bay or Buffalo.

Defensive coordinator Kevin Steele maintained he didn’t make any different calls against Kentucky’s “wildcat” package with receiver Randall Cobb at quarterback. But after the Wildcats chewed them up with it for more than a quarter, whatever they did to improve execution worked.

Telling stat for Clemson’s defensive struggles down the stretch — in the fourth quarter, Clemson forced its first three-and-out in 22 series, a drought dating to the USC game.