Matt Connolly
@MattConnollyOn3
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Writing about college sports for @On3Sports. Previously: Senior writer covering Clemson for On3, Clemson beat writer for The State newspaper (Columbia, S.C.).
South Carolina, USA
Joined September 2011
NEWS: Clemson is hiring Chattanooga women's basketball coach Shawn Poppie as its next head coach. Former Va. Tech assistant led Mocs to NCAA Tournament in both seasons as HC. Had interest from multiple other power conference programs. Excellent hire.
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Justyn Ross — dominated college football when healthy . Justyn Ross — dominated preseason . Justyn Ross — caught his only target tonight . Justyn Ross — stood on the sideline and watched Chiefs WRs drop pass after pass with the game on the line.
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Trevor Lawrence and his girlfriend started a GoFundMe page to try to help coronavirus victims. NCAA rules forced it to be shut down
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Dabo Swinney asked about NIL: "We built this program on NIL. We really did. We built this program in God's Name, Image and Likeness.".
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Amari Rodgers asked why he went to Clemson instead of Tennessee "Because I wanted to win.".
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Perhaps the conference that has won 13 of the past 18 national titles and sends the most players to the NFL every year should get the benefit of the doubt moving forward 🤷♂️.
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South Carolina had 5 wins better than any win on Indiana’s resume. Alabama had 4. The committee rewarded IU for beating up on bad teams. This isn’t revisionist history.
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Looks like the UCF baseball team celebrated its sweep of Clemson by running down the hill at Death Valley. Not sure how they got in 🤷♂️
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Feel for Chad Holbrook, whose Charleston team went 41-14 and was left out. Covered Holbrook’s SC team that was 13-17 in the SEC, reached SEC tourney semis, had a 32 RPI and missed the tourney before he got fired. This year five 13-17 SEC teams made it
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Forget Duke-UNC. the greatest rivalry in sports is NC State vs. the NCAA.
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I still can't believe ESPN cut away from the most entertaining college football game of the day 4 times to watch Aaron Judge go 0-3 with a walk while trying to tie for the 7th-most homers in a single season.
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Interesting that Florida State gets knocked for not looking as impressive without Jordan Travis against Louisville but not much is said about Bama needing a miracle to beat a 6-6 Auburn team.
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1-loss LSU: ranked. 1-loss Florida St: not ranked. Wish those teams would've played so we could see who is better.
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Everyone in the crowd had their phones out except for my guy ready to Stone Cold Steve Austin 2 beers while wearing a championship belt. 🐐
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The point Nick Saban and Greg Byrne are making is that if SEC teams aren’t going to get credit for playing tougher league schedules, they’re not going to play tough OOC games and risk another unnecessary loss. It’s not about the fact that Bama didn’t lose a OOC game this year.
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I typically use Twitter for sports, humor and entertainment, but it’s been a difficult couple of days for my family. My wife and I could really use some prayers
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Brad Brownell called out Big 12 teams for manipulating the NET:."Their nonconference scheduling, they’re playing 300 level teams and winning by 40-50 points to increase their efficiency numbers. Our league is actually 9-3 against the Big 12."
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D.J. Uiagalelei said he has his dad blocked on Twitter because he doesn't like seeing all the posts about how great he is. He's had him blocked since his sophomore year of HS hahahaha.
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ESPN just said Hunter Renfrow had injury issues in college. ummm, no. He played in every game his last 2 years and missed 4 games his entire career (broken hand) as sophomore. He also holds the record for most starts by a Clemson WR.
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If Klubnik continues to play like this and Clemson rolls it's obviously great for Clemson, but you also have to ask what the hell took so long.
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BREAKING: Clemson DE Xavier Thomas is returning for a sixth season
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Can’t wait to use this speech when I start coaching my daughter’s 5 year old church league team.
Coach K told the team when they were down 23:. “I don’t coach losers. Go out there and win the game.”
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I can’t believe letting Clay Travis run its coaching search didn’t work out for Tennessee.
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Dabo said he told Nyles to act like he had been there before after he danced in the end zone: "He reminded me that he had not.".
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Looks like former FSU kicker Graham Gano had some fun at the expense of former Clemson DT Dexter Lawrence (via Gano’s Instagram)
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South Carolina beats the No. 12 team in the country on its home field for its sixth straight win and moves up one spot.
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James Skalski on College GameDay talking about South Carolina: "Why do I hate them? Because they wanna be us so bad and they can't.".
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If Clemson and Alabama are going to meet in the national title game pretty much every year it would really make it easier if it could be played on the East coast.
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Paul Finebaum on ESPN on Dabo: “What did he say that was wrong?”. Stephen A. Smith: “I completely side with Dabo Swinney on this matter. I don’t think he said one word that was false.”.
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Clemson fans weren't thrilled with the Tigers players who transferred to SC on Friday. Guessing this caption by Jonathan French isn't going to help that. Sheesh.
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Spurrier 😂😭💀: "I almost feel sorry for Tennessee. They’re not going to win the division. they’re not going to get in that final four. They’re just going to have a little bit better than average year. Someone told me, ‘Tennessee is probably headed for the Citrus Bowl now.’".
Sapakoff: Spurrier congratulates Dabo, ‘almost’ feels sorry for Vols
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Former Clemson CB Derion Kendrick announces on Instagram that he's entering the NFL draft. "I would also like to thank coach Swinney and the great fans of Clemson."
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Steve Spurrier tells @ESPNUpstate needling your opponent and making them mad has nothing to do with the outcome of the game “If talking mattered Georgia would’ve beaten us a lot more.”.
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Dabo said last night that Christian Wilkins is going to finish up his Master's Degree next week. so undergrad and Master's in 3.5 years. I've never felt worse about my college performance.
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I haven't seen a group of people this mad in Myrtle Beach since Ohio State lost to Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl.
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If Alabama loses next week we should have Clemson, Alabama, Ohio St. and Oklahoma play a 4 game tournament before the real playoff just to keep the tradition alive.
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Gamecocks QB Jay Urich shipped Clemson RB Darien Rencher his sign that went viral to use for today’s protest. The two are close friends. “He’ll be in my wedding.”
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Hunter Renfrow doing Hunter Renfrow things in the Senior Bowl
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Imagine watching Mitchell Trubisky and Deshaun Watson in college and then getting to pick between the 2 to be your franchise QB and picking Trubisky.
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In Clemson's 3 biggest games of the season -- at Wake, vs. NC State and at FSU -- DJ Uiagalelei has 12 touchdowns and 0 turnovers.
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An update on this: Trevor Lawrence and other athletes will be allowed to raise money for coronavirus victims. The NCAA is making an exception: "We applaud Trevor for his efforts."
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Dabo Swinney: "That’s an instant classic, that’s for sure. That was an unbelievable college football game.".
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If Clemson players can wear a mask while lifting weights and working out, you can wear a mask while going to the store to buy chips and dip. And if you’re still refusing to wear a mask, don’t get mad this fall if there’s not football.
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Clemson QB signee Cade Klubnik named All-American Bowl Player of the Year.
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Deebo Samuel led the 49ers in rushing yards, receptions and receiving yards (tied) through 3 quarters and had 0 touches in the 4th.
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Clemson vs. South Carolina should be a top 15 matchup with the winner having a strong case to make the College Football Playoff. Sign me up.
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Everyone: "Dabo, you're wasting your time trying to get Justyn Ross and Peter Woods to leave Alabama.". Dabo Swinney:
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Word count from this morning's press conference-.Brian Kelly- 696.Dabo Swinney- 3,159.
Brian Kelly is learning this morning that a joint press conference with Dabo Swinney means a lot of listening.
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Dabo Swinney: "I love @chasebrice7, man. To go to Texas A&M and win, that ain't easy. What an unbelievable win for App State and for Chase. I know that's something he'll never, ever forget.".
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Miami coach Mark Richt on Clemson’s defensive line- “I thought they had all turned pro. I guess they like the slide.”.
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Clemson has a speaker playing the alma mater in the end zone. Team all gathered together
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We need a "recent legends" option on the new NCAA game. Put Deshaun Watson, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, etc. on there. Like the top 5 players from each year the game wasn't out.
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The fact that Clemson started a softball program from scratch, won the ACC in its first full season, sold out tickets for 2022 and has dominated a longtime program in South Carolina in its first two rivalry games is truly incredible.
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Clemson players Trevor Lawrence, Cornell Powell, Darien Rencher, Mike Jones and Bryton Constantin have arrived for today’s event.
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33 years ago Kendall Joseph's father immigrated to America from Haiti. Last month he watched his son make history, becoming the first person from his family to graduate college
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If you’re wondering how much Isaiah Simmons loves Clemson watch this video. He did not want to leave the field Monday.
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Former Clemson cornerback A.J. Terrell has earned a starting job with the Falcons as a rookie.
We have released our first depth chart of the 2020 season.
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Garrett Riley and his family have arrived in the Upstate. Just landed, along with Dabo Swinney
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I get the frustration from Clemson fans about Cade not playing more earlier in the year, but to be fair to the Clemson coaching staff, UNC has the No. 121 rated pass D and was down 2 starters in the secondary. Don't think it's fair to assume Cade would've done that all year.
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I don’t know if South Carolina will get in the playoff or not but they should. And if it was a traditional power and not South Carolina it probably wouldn’t even be a discussion.
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Brent Venables said his favorite part of game was when Lamar Jackson was still in late in 4th and Clemson's reserves got a goal line stop.
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Former Clemson star Seth Beer with the walk-off homer on national beer day. It's only right.
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OK this made me laugh. Dabo asked how his birthday was- “I had an all expenses paid trip to Tallahassee and back. It was wonderful. Had a carrot cake in my room. It was great.”.
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Cornell Powell over the final 6 games of the season- 39 catches for 730 yards and five touchdowns. That's an all-time great stretch.
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Mack Brown said he sat down with a UNC starter last week who told him he has 15 offers to go play somewhere for money next year. Said it's an issue with college football that has to be fixed.
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I've watched about 10 Texans games the past 3 years and I feel like every one ends with Deshaun Watson putting his team ahead late and then the defense/Bill O'Brien blowing it.
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An idea of how banged up Clemson was at WR this year -- the only Clemson receiver who played in all 13 games this season was Will Swinney.
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From Instagram. looks like Dexter Lawrence, Christian Wilkins, Clelin Ferrell and Austin Bryant are reunited and hanging out on Broadway at the musical Hamilton
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People were upset with Wes Goodwin at times over the past two years, but his defense balled out late this season with an offense that did next to nothing. Goodwin deserves a ton of praise.
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Mike Williams asked about dragging Jamarcus King into the end zone for a touchdown "Which one was that? I don't even know their names.".
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Twitter when Dabo Swinney takes a stance on college football . Vs . Twitter when another high-profile coach takes a similar stance
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So excited to announce that Aiden Robert Connolly was born this afternoon. He was born about a month early and his lungs aren’t quite fully developed yet, so any prayers and positive vibes you can send this way would be greatly appreciated
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Here’s the full video from last night of Dabo Swinney, Christian Wilkins and the sun chips “Are we shooting a commercial?”
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BREAKING: Clemson has landed a commitment from 5-star DL Peter Woods. Incredible job by Dabo Swinney, Nick Eason and the Clemson staff
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Clemson football players graduating today:.Matt Bockhorst.J.C. Chalk.Peter Cote.Travis Etienne.Justin Foster.K.J. Henry.Trevor Lawrence .Cornell Powell.Luke Price.Darien Rencher.Amari Rodgers .Will Spiers.Xavier Thomas.Tyler Traynham.Nolan Turner.Blake Vinson.Jordan Williams.
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BREAKING: Ohio State’s entire team has been suspended for the Fiesta Bowl for an NCAA violation. The game has been cancelled.
Thank you @KingJames for the holiday gift of @beatsbydre, but more importantly, the motivational words that came with it ‼️ We always appreciate your support!. #GoBucks #ToughLove
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This is one of the greatest moments of 2020, somehow made better after reading this
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From Tee Higgins’ Instagram- Several Clemson players, including Higgins, Isaiah Simmons and Cornell Powell, went to Missouri’s spring game to support Kelly Bryant. Pretty cool and says a lot about how Bryant’s former teammates feel about him.
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Dabo Swinney: "We had to go 94 yards against the best defense in the country to get the lead, and then we had to stop the best offense in the country to keep it.".
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Clemson athletics had 622 tests this week, with no positives.
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Trevor Lawrence took over at QB for a 1-15 team and in Year 2 took them to the playoffs.
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Dabo Swinney owns losses as well as any coach in the country. Takes all the blame. Credits the opponent. Never makes excuses.
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The Clemson locker room is right by the media room and I can confirm. Clemson won and Clemson is dancing.
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Drake posted this picture on his Instagram of him in a Zion Williamson Spartanburg Day School jersey. I believe that means you've made it.
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Dabo Swinney on the pass defense: "I was about to go play corner.".
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Christian Wilkins also said he’s going to start talking with Kathleen Swinney (Dabo’s wife) because she’ll fight to make sure he gets his shot at QB.
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Deon Cain on Lamar Jackson/Heisman talk "He was on the sideline watching today. Our quarterback was playing.".
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South Carolina just went on an 18-play drive that took 7:23 off the clock while trailing by 14 with 8 minutes left.
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Dabo Swinney praising Deshaun Watson and Nuk Hopkins for pushing for Honors College change: “They both brought us a lot of joy. We should no longer expect them or our players to hear our cheers if we do not hear their cries.”.
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ESPN ranked the top 25 players in the Final 4. Sindarius Thornwell comes in at No. 1.
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Nick Eason about to be the first coach in college football history to sign a contract with a school and deserve a raise before ever coaching a game.
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Beating Kentucky in the Gator Bowl isn’t quite the same as beating Alabama for the national championship, but anyone else have flashbacks to Dabo and Jeff Scott after this TD?
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Clemson LB Shaq Smith on if he has a memory that sticks out in this rivalry "My redshirt year Mike (Williams) taking buddy on a ride to the end zone.".
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Clemson's Andrew Mukuba named ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year. Big-time honor for the freshman.
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Arguably your best player realizing early on during Week 1 that he needs to be in better shape seems like a bit of a concern.
Barrett Carter said he didn't feel like he was in 'game-shape' for Clemson's opener against Duke. "I realized early in the game I need to get in better shape . I'll definitely be ready for these next games."
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