The NCAA and ESPN pulling off a Buffalo Wild Wings-type hatchet job on Clemson is a lot harder with this unfair practice rule getting media attention. That’s why they fixed it.
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TigerNet — Clemson athletic department officials received word from the NCAA on Wednesday its request for relief in regards to the football team’s preparation for the College Football Playoff National Championship will be granted. Clemson’s spring semester began with classes on Wednesday, beginning the limit on countable athletically related activity. Clemson requested permission to exceed the daily-hour limitation on a very limited basis and for student-athletes to miss class Thursday afternoon with professor approval. Clemson will not exceed the weekly 20-hour maximum. “We’re appreciative of the NCAA working with us in granting this waiver to assist in our preparations for next Monday’s game while maintaining our commitment to student-athlete welfare,” Director of Athletics Dan Radakovich said. “As Coach Swinney pointed out, this was not going to be a big difference maker in our team’s schedule, but it’s great they’ve reached a solution that prioritizes the well-being of our student-athletes while allowing them to adequately prepare for the National Championship.”
Good new for Clemson, right? We get equal practice hours! Maybe the NCAA doesn’t hate us! Maybe ESPN isn’t going to rig this for the SEC again! This is awesome, right? WRONG.
This is terrible news for the Tigers. Absolutely terrible. Look, these practice hours aren’t that big of a deal. Doesn’t matter if we practice for 20 hours a day or 20 hours total, we’re going to beat Alabama. We’re a better football team. We’re the team of destiny. We’re going to destroy the evil empire.
That was happening even without that practice waiver.
What worries me is the repercussions of this. When you’re already blatantly screwing over one team with a practice hours rule that everyone knows was implemented to benefit the SEC, it’s harder to get away with everything else. Anyone with a brain already knows that ESPN and the SEC will attempt to rig this game. Like I said on Monday, they have to. They can’t risk Clemson blowing Bama’s doors off. That’s a ratings disaster. This has to be close. And pulling off a Buffalo Wild Wings-type hatchet job on Clemson is a lot harder with this unfair practice rule getting media attention.
The easy fix? Grant Clemson a waiver. Sure that extra practice time for Clemson will probably result in an even bigger potential blowout, but they have the means to neutralize that. I mean they are the NCAA after all. They can do whatever they want. Sprinklers go up when Gallman is ripping off a big run? Sideline penalty on Dabo to call back that Jake Coker pick? Lights go off in the stadium to kill momentum when Clemson takes a two touchdown lead? Phantom pass interference penalty every time Mackensie shuts down a deep ball? Who knows what it’ll be? All I know is that this move opens the door for a lot of tomfoolery on the NCAA/ESPN/SEC’s part. And I don’t like it one bit…
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