**** ATTENTION SUBSCRIBERS: You can now read the premium message boards at Gamecockcentral.com, Warchant.com, UGASports.com and other sites in the Rivals.com network. Click HERE to get access to their premium message boards!

****************************************

CLEMSON | After the first game of the Dino Babers era at Syracuse, the hot new sensation looked at the number of plays his team ran against Colgate (81) and said it wasn't enough.

"That'll be the slowest game you ever see us play," he said in 2016. "Did you see the paint drying? I did. We'll never be that slow again."

The past three years have brought cold buckets of wet paint and reality to Syracuse as Babers' fast-paced, veer-and-shoot offense appears a thing of the past.

And in the broader context, a question surely comes to mind about the viability of full-bore tempo at other places including Clemson:

If a coach whose very brand was built on tempo decides to junk it in favor of a more plodding, ball-control style, what does it say about the efficacy of it in general?