To begin.. no, I'm not over it and I will never be over the fact that I feel we were robbed of an amazing championship match up between Ohio State and Joe Burrow. I will forever linger in the "anger" stage when reminiscing the 2019 season. 

So when I saw a new member to my gym was wearing a Clemson football hat and shirt, I of course had no other choice but to talk to him and ask him a few questions - calmly. 

(And yes, I know some of you are thinking "who cares what a Clemson fan thinks" and that is perfectly fine. Just felt like sharing nonetheless.)  

Here are a few notes/comments that were gathered from our lengthy conversation:

• He says he will go to the grave believing it was not a catch and fumble. 

"He never made a football move after those steps," so he claims. He also admits if the same thing were to have happened in the end zone then he would have ruled it a touchdown, and then proceeds to ask me if I still would have thought it was a catch and fumble if it were an Ohio State receiver and Clemson defender - which results in a definitive "yes, of course." 

• He says the targeting call was correct, but the rule needs to be changed.

Generally this is something I agree with. I believe that while Wade was playing full speed and had no control over what had happened due to Lawrence dropping his head into the path of Wade's, helmet to helmet contact was made and it is irrefutable. Now, the ruling is where I and the Clemson fan believe changes should be made.

Perhaps a Flagrant 1 and Flagrant 2 penalty (similar to the NBA) should be initiated and ruled on whether or not the hit/contact was meant to be malicious or not, which would then decide whether a player is ejected for the penalty. (A malicious hit would be depicted by what Oklahoma's DB did against LSU's RB which would result in yardage gained and an ejection, and Wade being an example of a non-malicious hit and would result in only yardage gained by the opposing team.)

• He says Ohio State's defense would have been a better match up against LSU, but doesn't think the Buckeyes would have won in the end.

Well we'll never know, will we? This is an obvious statement to make, Clemson's secondary would all be third string on our roster (a bit of an exaggeration to some degree). Although Burrow played spectacular and deserved everything he earned, its hard for me to not want to believe that him playing against his former teammates/team/coaches could have thrown him off a little bit and perhaps made a hell of a game out of it. I will continue to dream about this game.

Get ready for this hot take...

• He says.. Oregon will beat Ohio State (and Clemson will beat Notre Dame "easily") but both will make the CFP

Perhaps the second part of that is true, but I would really like to believe that won't be the case since Clemson's winning streak is finished and since the blueprint to beat Lawrence is public.

As for the first part, he believes Oregon has the second-coming of Chase Young in Kayvon Thibodeaux and that he will have a field day (despite the returners we have on the offensive line) on us. He also states that it will be a defensively dominated game and be kept relatively low (also since Herbert is gone) that will result in a win for the home team. 

Maybe Thibodeaux is the real deal, we'll find out - but I will continue on to disagree with this hot take based off the returners we have on our offensive side of the ball. 

(He also states that Alabama will take back the SEC throne next season and that'll be the fourth team in the CFP, whatever.)

We argued talked a bit more after that, mainly about recent news with MSU and recruit rankings or upcoming players but nothing really worth mentioning further. 

I made sure to tell him to "enjoy Dabo until Saban retires" regardless if I really think Dabo will end up at Bama once Saban is gone just cause I know it makes Clemson fans mad as hell. 

Agree or disagree with anything? (I wonder if I'll get crucified for thinking the Wade call was targeting or not.)