The Clowney-Lewan battle
Article at sportsline about the game's big matchup, notes that it shaped up as the blockbuster battle that everyone expected:
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/blog/rob-rang/21483627/clowney-vs-le….
Suggests that Clowney gave Lewan problems, but that Michigan's All American lineman largely held his own. Lewan was not responsible for Clowney on the big play that nailed Vince Smith in the backfield and resulted in a fumble.
EDIT: After the game, according to the News, Lewan sought Clowney out. "I went up to him after the game and told him, 'You're one of the best defensive ends I've ever played against.' He said, 'You're the best tackle I've ever played against.' So that's a great compliment to have, but none of this matters because we didn't win the damn game."
January 1st, 2013 at 10:20 PM ^
Obviously, the key words in your post are "at this point". He's only a sophomore...
January 1st, 2013 at 11:29 PM ^
IIRC, he's only 19 years old...
January 1st, 2013 at 11:56 PM ^
Correct.
January 1st, 2013 at 9:11 PM ^
Besides the total farse of giving the player of the game to Clowney over Ace, it was a very good battle. Lewan did well and cemented himself as a top 8-10 pick...HE gone
However...that hit was amazing. I wasn't even mad when that went down...reminded me of B. Graham vs State...but WAY better!
January 1st, 2013 at 9:15 PM ^
Really? You weren't mad when South Carolina forced a fumble that turned the game around and led to 7 points? I was pretty pissed. It was a huge play in a game that we lost.
January 1st, 2013 at 9:22 PM ^
I know it was a tough loss, but you have been taking it REALLY hard today.
January 1st, 2013 at 9:56 PM ^
Suxors that point system.
January 1st, 2013 at 9:27 PM ^
That previous first-down call was one of the most egregious refereeing errors I have ever seen, even it it was to our favor. Forcing the fumble on the next play was textbook karma...
January 1st, 2013 at 9:38 PM ^
the refs would grant a first down rather than measuring on third down or earlier.
Perhaps this ref didn't get the memo not to do that on 4th down w a change of possession hanging in the balance.
January 1st, 2013 at 9:39 PM ^
BINGO! I was glad that we got that call, even if it was totally wrong, but I am not going to get pissed when they make an amazing play and gets the ball that they deserved. Sorry, not happening
January 2nd, 2013 at 9:22 AM ^
The only thing I can see, is that the original spot was a bad spot (favoring SC). It was definitely the wrong call, but.... yeah i don't know. (scratches head.)
January 2nd, 2013 at 10:31 AM ^
that the spot had not been generous to begin with. I wondered is Spurrier should have been whistled for his on-field encroachment and reaction.
January 1st, 2013 at 9:45 PM ^
After that horrendous first down call I thought: the ball don't lie, the ball don't lie. And then Clowney decapitated Vincent.
January 1st, 2013 at 9:12 PM ^
Clowney getting player of the game was a joke. Dude had four tackles. Sure he forced the fumble, but are you telling me he was more valuable than the guy with 3 TDs? I think not. But what do you expect from sports? Objectivity is not exaclty highly-valued.
January 1st, 2013 at 9:15 PM ^
You beat me to it. Definitely don't agree with him getting the player of the game award.
January 1st, 2013 at 9:13 PM ^
I think Clowney was held in check for the most part. Yeah, he had a huge play on the forced fumble. I still don't agree with the decision to give him the player of the game award. I though Connor Shaw played out of his mind. And he was playing hurt.
January 1st, 2013 at 9:16 PM ^
He looked pretty damn healthy to me, unless you're talking about the injury with 11 seconds left.
January 1st, 2013 at 9:32 PM ^
Shaw came up limping numerous times throughout the game, and the announcers made frequent reference to a foot injury he suffered earlier in the year and had re-aggravated recently. For someone with so much to say about it, you don't seem to have given the game much attention.
January 1st, 2013 at 9:41 PM ^
I gave it enough attention to see him run for 60 yards on one play. He wasn't hurting on that play one bit.
January 1st, 2013 at 10:03 PM ^
So his limp back to the huddle after that run was just some sort of avant garde celebration, and not related to the foot injury he suffered against Tennessee and has re-injured repeatedly? Because it's impossible to make any plays while fighting through injury?
I get being mad about the loss, and we're all 14-year-olds at some point in our lives, but I think the board would benefit if your thought-to-post ratio would increase.
January 2nd, 2013 at 2:17 AM ^
Shaw suffered a bone bruise to the hip or thigh early in the season. He was cleared to play, but he's still not 100%.
January 1st, 2013 at 9:32 PM ^
He looked to be hobbling around before that.
January 1st, 2013 at 9:44 PM ^
How did Ace not get player of the game. He had a punt return TD and 2 receiving TDs didn't he?
January 1st, 2013 at 10:29 PM ^
Clowney did look amazing, but ya, that Ace fella won that game
January 1st, 2013 at 9:16 PM ^
That Vincent Smith's head was still in his helmet when it went flying off?
January 1st, 2013 at 9:18 PM ^
Due to the horrible uniforms, I actually thought it was Denard. And I thought he had died, and that made me very sad.
January 1st, 2013 at 9:26 PM ^
I thought it was D Rob also
January 1st, 2013 at 9:35 PM ^
Denard was also on the receiving end of a pretty hard Clowney hit later on.
January 1st, 2013 at 9:54 PM ^
Yup, the one play I remember Lewan getting beat cleanly on.
January 1st, 2013 at 10:00 PM ^
Did you play tuba or snare drum?
January 1st, 2013 at 10:14 PM ^
He's not talking about the hit on Smith which forced the fumble. Clowney beat Lewan once later and hit Denard for either a loss of a few or no gain.
January 1st, 2013 at 9:42 PM ^
I thought it was Denard as well. I was ready for the barrage of texts, tweets, & posts from my Domer pals (who all hate Denard like we hated Troy Smith, lol).
January 1st, 2013 at 9:42 PM ^
Don't forget that was the same helmet that smash Clowney's groin earlier in the game. I thought for sure there would be payback...
January 1st, 2013 at 9:24 PM ^
For keeping Clowney in check, but I'm not gonna lie. Having a DE like Clowney would be incredible for our defensive line. Kid is a straight beast.
January 1st, 2013 at 9:26 PM ^
So you're saying having the best player in college football on our team would be a good thing? Got it.
January 1st, 2013 at 9:48 PM ^
Because if he said otherwise, he'd be lying.
January 2nd, 2013 at 9:35 AM ^
That's the obvious part of the statement. To me, this game really accentuated a flaw on our defense: No organic d-line pressure. We constantly had to dial up blitzes with inexperienced/unestablished personnel in the secondary. We needed a guy this year who could cause match up problems (e.g. Martin, Graham). We didn't have that this year at all.
January 1st, 2013 at 9:31 PM ^
Lewan seemed to have kept him in check. Which worries me.
Sadly Lewan seems as good as gone. I hope to God I'm wrong for next year's OL. Only Schofield remains if he goes pro, which really worries me.
January 1st, 2013 at 9:43 PM ^
Why? Our Oline was a sieve this year.
January 1st, 2013 at 9:57 PM ^
I respectfully disagree. Our online this year was below average. I think it will be addition by subtraction next year, losing our interior lineman. We have some young studs ready to do work.
January 1st, 2013 at 10:02 PM ^
My only hope is that Lewan is a quirky guy, so maybe he'll stay. He strikes me as a guy that would enjoy college life. Stranger things have happened with projected high picks (Manning, Barkley, Teo).
January 1st, 2013 at 10:09 PM ^
I don't want to pee on your parade, but at this point I think we might have a better chance for Treadwell on team 134 than we do Lewan.
January 1st, 2013 at 10:24 PM ^
So you're saying there is a chance?
/s
January 1st, 2013 at 11:07 PM ^
What was all that one in a million talk?
January 1st, 2013 at 9:40 PM ^
Clowney was mostly held in check, but unfortunately his decapitation of Vincent Smith is what's going to be remembered, despite the fact that it was not Lewan's fault. People will look at that and assume Clowney just had his way with our offensive line all day. It was one missed assignment that just proved to be very costly.
If you ask me, holding arguably the best defensive player in the country to 3 tackles and 1 TFL tells me Lewan won the matchup. But tomorrow morning, all ESPN will talk about is how Michigan just can't handle the speed of the SEC, that we're not any good, blah blah blah more ESPN sucking SEC dick.
January 1st, 2013 at 9:50 PM ^
Can one perform fellatio on a gamecock?
I'll be interested to see which way the story is spun. Clockwise, I'm sure (the direction of the sec) Maybe its my maize tinted glasses (or a collection of McClure's bloody Mary tinted glasses) but it seemed that the speed/power thing was neutralized a bit. Other than some dreadful secondary play (by the 3 deep) our big(ish) guys kept their fast guys in check.
January 1st, 2013 at 11:17 PM ^
That killer SEC speed only played a factor on a hand full of plays. ( especially special teams) The majority of the big passing plays we gave up where all posts and double moves. Its funny because it Devin could have been more in sync with Gallon from the get go they would have demonstrated just as much speed. To me the issue is never speed. Its all technique, size and of course natural ability. They don't put any magical pill down in that southern water. They just have twice the opportunity to practice while growing up. Two football seasons a year down there in a area of the nation that already revolves around youth and high school football. Speed is not the issue. Many of those young men just have more opportunities to play the game. Its all natural when you do it every day. Just my opinion of course.
January 2nd, 2013 at 7:04 AM ^
So true ... football requires athleticism *and* skill. Guys in the south have more opportunities to work on the skill part.
January 1st, 2013 at 9:55 PM ^
Which just goes to show how good Lewan really is. All game long, Clowney gets nothing. One play where he pulls and the TE takes Clowney? DEATH.
January 2nd, 2013 at 12:47 AM ^
when they announced Georgia had "routed" Nebraska 45-31, It was 31-31 in the 4th Q and Georgia had just scored to tie the game.