Damn ... y'all remind me of how old I am some times. I've got daughters older than y'all who were born in '85.

I've told the story many times about what Clemson did after the '75 loss ... how B.C. Inabenit was called in and how they went full blown nuclear cheating in football and basketball.

They kept doing it. They've never stopped.

As far as the series record goes, it's important to remember that much of that lead was established early-on in the series when Clemson had a decided advantage of being an all-male military agricultural and mechanical school. Those were the days when Army and Navy ruled CFB along with Yale and Notre Dame ... and they built up big series advantages that are likely to never be overcome.

I made a point on wiki to put things into perspective. Pre WWII, post WWII and then SEC vs ACC.

Note were had evened things out post WWII up until '75 and it was after '75 that they begin to separate from us again ... while cheating their asses off.

Joining the SEC was not helpful to us in terms of our rivalry for the first twenty years really because we had to improve our facilities but we also limped into that game for a lot of years thanks to SEC scheduling where we were coming out of the UT and UF games headed into the Clemson games and we're decidedly more beat-up by the time we got to Clemson.

That's all only part of the issue. This current success Clemson is realizing is relatively new and it will not last. Dabo is due to be exposed, they'll get him on the cheating soon enough.

In the meantime, as stated earlier, we've upped our facilities game and now we have a little bit of success to show ... recruiting is improving by leaps and bounds and our time is coming. Just gotta be patient. We do not wanna cut off our noses to spite our faces.

First step will be keeping it close this weekend ... covering the spread. Making it tough on Clemson.

Next step is closing with a strong recruiting class - and we will.

Next step is we start winning some we're not supposed to win and that is coming next season, I really believe that.

It takes time. Like I tell my kids ... I may not live to see it but y'all should.

As far as paying players is concerned, I can tell you from first hand knowledge that it's rampant out there and expected by the highest rated players, football and basketball. Some call it the price of doing business and no one is innocent. Some just do it bigger than others. It's so hush hush and so well coordinated these days I'm certain it would shock some fans to learn just how screwed up it's become. Phat Phil Fulmer was the most corrupt of all time ... and I've seen some corrupt stuff in my lifetime.

We are aware of just how crafty Clemson is ... but we're getting close, it's just a matter of time now.

Until the playing field is leveled we're just going to have to be smarter about things and we're going to have to trust this staff and be a little bit lucky.

Winning more cures a lot of ills and we're meeting or exceeding Vegas expectations at the moment. At some point consistency will take effect and then we'll be on our way.

Look at it this way. We could be in far worse shape like UNC or Va Tech or even NC State. These used to be peer programs but we've surpassed them, so we're making progress.