ESPN's Tom Luginbill, long a respected voice in college football, recently visited Clemson and watched the entirety of an August-camp practice.

He came away impressed with what he saw and heard.

Luginbill says there is a different edge to Dabo Swinney in the wake of last season's six-loss debacle that came nowhere close to the Top 5 expectations just about everyone had -- including Swinney himself.

Luginbill is also high on Clemson's offensive line. He says quarterback Christopher Vizzina is managing the offense crisply, and he loves the dynamic that freshman Tait Reynolds can bring with his size, arm strength and ability to run the ball.

Luginbill believes this team is every bit capable of getting back to Charlotte, challenging for an ACC title and landing in the College Football Playoff.

Roddy Jones recently spent time at Clemson's football facility visiting with Dabo Swinney and others.

Jones is high on this team's chances of getting back to the ACC championship game, but he still senses uncertainty after last year's six-loss disaster.

"I think they think they're good," said the ESPN analyst and SiriusXM Radio co-host. "But I don't know if they know they're good yet. And I understand how that feels as a player. You wouldn't say this out loud, but LSU is going to prove to them that they're good or it will confirm some doubts they have. I think it's a team that's cautiously confident."

Jones played A-back for Georgia Tech and Paul Johnson from 2008 to 2011. He ranks first in the school's record books in career games started (52), third in career games played (52) and 12th in career rushing yards (1,846).

Jon Blau has been in Baton Rouge for two months. It feels more like 10 months.

Seems there's a new controversy every other day involving Lane Kiffin and LSU football. Blau's job is to follow it all in his new position covering Kiffin's program for The Advocate/Times-Picayune newspaper.

Blau, who spent the previous five years covering Clemson for The Post and Courier of Charleston, shares why he decided to make the move.

He also shares that he hasn't had an introduction to Kiffin because Kiffin isn't much for one-on-one conversations. Quite the change-up from the always approachable Dabo Swinney.

Blau has spent years covering games in one Death Valley. This Saturday he'll get his first experience in LSU's Death Valley when Kiffin plays host to Swinney.

Once upon a time, Clemson was preparing for a game against LSU and not many folks gave the Tigers a chance.

Eric Mac Lain was a player then, back in December of 2012, and he remembers how a brutal few weeks of bowl practices ended up giving Clemson the mental and physical toughness to hang with Les Miles' powerhouse program.

The 25-24 triumph will always go down as one of the landmark breakthroughs of the Dabo Swinney era.

"We went into that game wondering who we were and what we were about, and then we decided to kick the door down," Mac Lain said.

Is a similar breakthrough possible Saturday night in Baton Rouge?

Mac Lain thinks so, and he explains why in a return visit to The Clemson Dubcast.

Andy Staples has covered college football for decades and has had a close knowledge of Dabo Swinney's program since the very beginning.

Staples isn't troubled only by what he saw on the football field Saturday at LSU. He's also concerned about how Swinney is publicly addressing some of the problems and questions surrounding his football program -- including the roster-management topic that produced Swinney's controversial response in Tuesday's press conference.

Staples vividly remembers how it ended with Bobby Bowden and Florida State. Are Clemson and Swinney headed down the same path?

Staples joins The Clemson Dubcast to discuss the state of affairs in Tigertown and what it all looks like from afar.

Clemson's 22-7 win over Georgia Southern ended at 1:07 AM on Sunday.

Wes Durham was in Pittsburgh by 9 AM to call that day's 1 PM game between the Falcons and Steelers.

Durham, who works for the ACC Network, ESPN and SiriusXM College in addition to being in his 23rd year calling games for the Falcons, joins the podcast to talk the logistics of getting from one point to another -- and this after an almost two-hour weather delay before the Clemson game.

Durham also doesn't hold back on his concern about Clemson's football program. During the offseason he thought Dabo Swinney's 18th team could finish anywhere from 8-4 to 4-8.

"They don't scare people now. And they haven't scared people in a while," Durham said. "They are a good football program. But the thing that would concern me right now is would you say they're better than Miami? Better than SMU? Better than Louisville? Would you say they're better than Virginia? I wouldn't right now."

Clemson is a slight favorite at home Saturday against North Carolina, a team it thrashed in Chapel Hill last season.

Roy Philpott moved on from covering Clemson years ago, but the topic of his alma mater still comes up in his jobs doing ESPN play-by-play and a daily show on SiriusXM College.

This season, Ole Miss coach Pete Golding shared with Philpott the sales pitch he presented to Lane Kiffin when Kiffin was being pursued by LSU last year.

"We can be Clemson in the teens," Golding said, referring to the dominant run under Dabo Swinney and how it was accomplished.

Philpott, who's in Louisville preparing to call Saturday's SMU-Louisville game, goes in-depth with his thoughts on the decline of Swinney's program.

Can Dabo pull it out of the ditch? Philpott still has optimism that he can, and that he can make the decision to go all-in on portal talent.

Clemson is a slight favorite over North Carolina in Saturday's noon game at Death Valley.

Tron Foster, 23, had been suffering from cancer for many years and wasn't doing well in recent weeks.

He wanted to do something he'd never done before: Attend a Clemson-South Carolina game and watch his beloved Tigers play.

Russ Lloyd, an ardent Gamecock fan, heard about Tron's story and hosted Tron and his family at his tailgate in Columbia before the game.

Tron also got to visit with Dabo Swinney two hours before the game when Swinney walked off the team bus.

Swinney gave him a hug, told him he loved him and handed him a cross.

Lloyd arranged for Tron to have sideline passes to the game, but Tron was having trouble breathing so his family had to take him back to the Upstate before the game began.

After the game Swinney talked about Tron in his press conference.

Back home, Tron watched a replay of Swinney's words and smiled wide.

"Now I'm famous," he said.

Tron passed away later that evening.

In this podcast we speak with Lloyd, and the Kyle family (Kristina, Wayne and son Caleb) to learn more about Tron's story.

Tron was like a sixth son to Kristina and Wayne, and like a brother to Caleb.

Tron was an avid, gifted fisherman who was beloved by everyone he met.

The final day of his life was one of the best days of his life.