Clemson game is extremely big in my opinion.

The Jacket

The Jacket

The Coat
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Jun 17, 2002
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I've seen this said twice now - that the Clemson game isn't that important - and I would hate to see such a train of thought continue. If not for the standings aspect of the season, then I think this game means the world for the following reasons:

If we win this game, we are likely catapulted into the top 10 heading into a huge game for this program against Miami next week at home. If we lose, we drop back down into the 20-somethings of the ranks and will essentially fall out of the national spotlight.

Personally, I would much, much, much rather have an 8-0 ACC record this year to go to the ACC title game, than be 7-1 or 6-2 and win by a tie-breaker. I think that if we knock off the Tigers saturday night - who I happen to regard as a very good team - then we have asserted ourselves that much more this year as one of the better squads in the country.

The idea is to be a bright light amongst the topsy-turvy ACC. Nobody has high regard for a school that went 9-3 (6-2), got into the title game off of a tie-breaker with three other schools and defeated a team with similar standing in the other division. But everyone will turn their head to see a team that went 11-1 (8-0), got into their conference championship game with no if's, and's or but's and showed that there was a reason they were there. The former finishes #18 or so in the country because that's just where they happened to fall when the bowls were all done. The latter finishes in the top 5 in the nation because they earned it and they are a hell of a football team.

If we knock off the Tigers, this team will be riding very, very high and will be much more prepared mentally heading into the game against the Canes. If we lose, we become far more liable to stumble emotionally and lose our fire. That is not to say that a loss to the Tigers equals a lost season, but the possibilities and fantasies that we have about what this season can be all hinge on the momentum this team has going.

And this is Clemson, guys. These folks stole our dream season away in 2001, gave us a slap in the face in 2002 and punched our teeth out in 2003. By contrast, know that they want nothing but to beat us and avenge the losses handed to them by Kerry Watkins and Calvin Johnson.

To hell with whether we'll play them again or not and to hell with Miami or any other game out there.

Clemson is our next opponent, therefore Clemson is our season.
 
Agree with you there. A loss whether it be by a point or 20 points, means we back i the high teens or low 20s in the polls and makes the scUM game a absolute must win game.

I am confident as our guys pulled through in Blacksburg, they will do the same in Death Valley. Look at Clem's Son's schedule if you want a reason for my high confidence level about this Saturday.
 
What scares me about this game is that their sched. doesn't matter. Thjeir O is firing on all cylinders. It doesn't matter who it is, but if your O is that ON, then it will help against better defenses. If we win, it will be a mid/high scoring game. Who will control the run game? That will be the decider. I don't see BOTH teams having a great run game.
 
76tornados said:
What scares me about this game is that their sched. doesn't matter. Thjeir O is firing on all cylinders. It doesn't matter who it is, but if your O is that ON, then it will help against better defenses. If we win, it will be a mid/high scoring game. Who will control the run game? That will be the decider. I don't see BOTH teams having a great run game.
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I recall this same concern in regards to VT's Brandon Ore, if memory serves he only rushed for 50 yards. Point being, run D is formidable and this will be Clem's Son's undoing, as their passing game is nothing great and will be in jeopardy with Stuckey out. The only way Clem's Son wins this game is special teams.
 
76tornados said:
What scares me about this game is that their sched. doesn't matter. Thjeir O is firing on all cylinders. It doesn't matter who it is, but if your O is that ON, then it will help against better defenses. If we win, it will be a mid/high scoring game. Who will control the run game? That will be the decider. I don't see BOTH teams having a great run game.
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That offensive juggernaut Minnesota beat Temple 62-0. At this point, Samford could give Temple some trouble. I can't imagine they exist for any purpose any more, except for collecting money as a SURE DI-A win.

Really, Clemson's wins against Temple, UNC and La. Tech are just worthless as any guage for their football team. For the other three games, BC, FSU and Wake, Clemson either played those teams close or lost.

So, I'm not absolutely sold on this all-powerful Clemson offense. If BC and Wake somehow kept Clemson from scoring these astronomical numbers, then GT can too.
 
floridajacket said:
So, I'm not absolutely sold on this all-powerful Clemson offense. If BC and Wake somehow kept Clemson from scoring these astronomical numbers, then GT can too.
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Excellent point. They only scored 27 on Wake, remember Duke scored 13 on them. Like Floridajacket, I'm not sold on their so-called "juggernaut" offense. I will only be sold on it if they dominate our D, which will not happen.
 
We should be aware of Clemson's running game, but we should take comfort with the fact that we have the nation's 7th best run defense.
 
I don't have a good feeling about this one. This game is huge IMHO, but some are calling the miami game more important. Also if we lose we still control our destiny in the conference, while if clemson loses they're in trouble. I just hope the players are up for this one, if they are are we will win, and probably be favorites the rest of the way!
 
Look, Clemson is HUGE! It's as big as it gets. Win this one and we will STILL be in the National Championship picture. Yes, it will be a long shot where all the intangbles have to fall into place, but it happened in 1990, hell, it happens virtually every year where unusual circumstances determine a National Champion and one thing is for sure:

Lose to Clemson and we'll be out of the NC picture.

Yeah, we can still go to the Orange Bowl, but why set limits? All we can do is win 'em all and let the chips fall where they may!
 
Clemson is as big as it gets, except for Miami and UGA.
 
I have a question for everyone that does not think this is a big game:

How will you feel if we end up at 9-4 after losing in the ACCCG and end up playing on blue turf?

I know a lot of you are going to say that can't happen, but do you really trust the ACC folks to take care of us? Need I remind you that:

- BC was a 9-win team last year and ended up in Boise.

- ACC officiating FB and BB is the worst and most biased BCS officiating

- FIU kicked like 4-5 guys off the team for the brawl, but the ACC gives 1 game suspensions. Heck, the DL on the Titans that stomped the Cowboy OL got like 4-5 games and I saw plenty of stomping going on.

Do we really want our bowl destiny in Swofford's hands?

**THE ACC WILL SCREW US GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY.**

**WE NEED TO WIN OUT SO WE CAN CONTROL OUR OWN DESTINY.**
 
JTS, what happened to us in the bowls last year cannot happen this year under the new bowl selection rules. Two 3-5 teams were taken in front of us at 5-3 and that is no longer allowed.

If GT is 9-4 after the ACCCG, we will have gone 6-2 in the league and no 4-4 team can be taken above us. Only a 5-3 team could.

Clemson is a huge game and a big opportunity to make a statement, but losing it is not the end of the world nor the end of the season.

We could lose at Clemson and win out and it would be very much like 1998, except we'd then get a chance to play for the "tied" league title.

Beat them in Jax and then we'd have our best season since 1990. Probably second best since 1956.
 
Hrmm. Good points JT.

If GT is 9-4 after the ACCCG, we will have gone 6-2 in the league and no 4-4 team can be taken above us. Only a 5-3 team could.
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Yeah, but VT and Miami and NC State and Clemson and BC and Wake could all be 5-3 by the end, putting us in the #6 spot per Swafford.

Jeff's right. We have two options in the Swafford ACC - the Orange Bowl or the Nut Bowl. We need to win out.
 
beej67 said:
Yeah, but VT and Miami and NC State and Clemson and BC and Wake could all be 5-3 by the end, putting us in the #6 spot per Swafford.
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Don't forget FSU.

Because the ACC has 3 teams (Duke, UNC, and UVA) that will pretty much lose all of their conference games this year, we could end up with a lot of 5-3 or better teams. You don't think there's some bowl chairman out there drooling over the idea of getting a 5-3 FSU, Miami, or VT and you know the Tire Bowl will want NC State.

If we do not win the ACCCG, it's a free for all. Who knows where we will end up?
 
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floridajacket said:
That offensive juggernaut Minnesota beat Temple 62-0. At this point, Samford could give Temple some trouble. I can't imagine they exist for any purpose any more, except for collecting money as a SURE DI-A win.

Really, Clemson's wins against Temple, UNC and La. Tech are just worthless as any guage for their football team. For the other three games, BC, FSU and Wake, Clemson either played those teams close or lost.

So, I'm not absolutely sold on this all-powerful Clemson offense. If BC and Wake somehow kept Clemson from scoring these astronomical numbers, then GT can too.
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I agree 100% with your post. Clemson's numbers against those schools tell me nothing about there team.There games against Wake,BC,and an average at best FSU team tell me everything. IMO we are a much better team then Wake,BC, or FSU on both sides of the ball. I said in another post we will probably win 28-24 or something like that, but I would not be surprised if we jump on them like we did VThug and blow them out either.
 
JTS said:
I know a lot of you are going to say that can't happen, but do you really trust the ACC folks to take care of us?

**THE ACC WILL SCREW US GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY.**

**WE NEED TO WIN OUT SO WE CAN CONTROL OUR OWN DESTINY.**
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I'm a big believer in all of this!
I hate to bring up officiating on a Tuesday night, but really do have a bad feeling about Saturday. Not just tic-tac calls, but those of the vtech variety.
If we start getting "conferenced" early on, everyone should realize the league office did a better job of being prepared.

If we win Saturday, we will really have accomplished something.

I would rather have sec officials in this one.

Nevertheless, 30-26 Jackets.
 
pocket_watch said:
I'm a big believer in all of this!
I hate to bring up officiating on a Tuesday night, but really do have a bad feeling about Saturday. Not just tic-tac calls, but those of the vtech variety.
If we start getting "conferenced" early on, everyone should realize the league office did a better job of being prepared.

If we win Saturday, we will really have accomplished something.

I would rather have sec officials in this one.

Nevertheless, 30-26 Jackets.
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They failed in their attempts to screw us against VT and they will fail again.
 
They failed in their attempts to screw us against VT and they will fail again.
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But they tried really hard, so this Clemson game could be tough.
 
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