|
With Thunder & Lightning in the Forecast, Tigers are Yearning for More in 2007
By Al Featherston for theACC.com
Tommy Bowden can't help hearing from his critics - especially since, as he points out, the number keeps growing.
"We set a season record in the history of Clemson for all-time season ticket sales [almost 58,000]," the Tigers head coach said. "So I've got a bunch of people that don't like me - the most in Clemson history."
Bowden, starting his ninth season at Clemson, has coached the Tigers to bowls in seven of his eight seasons. His teams have finished second in the ACC three times and third twice. Just three coaches in ACC history have compiled more wins in their first eight seasons than Bowden's 60 victories at Clemson.
"No, I'm not satisfied, but it's not like we're way far off and have to reinvent the wheel," the Clemson coach said at the ACC Football Kickoff. "If I have to be somewhere other than the championship, I'd rather be real close. Where that is, I don't know."
Clemson was real close to an ACC championship last season - at least through the end of October. The Tigers got off to a 7-1 start and were ranked as high as No. 10 nationally. During that stretch Bowden's team won at Florida State, crushed North Carolina 52-7 and beat both Wake Forest and Georgia Tech, the two teams that would eventually meet in the ACC title game.
But just when it appeared that Clemson was the class of the league, the Tigers were manhandled at Virginia Tech, lost a heartbreaker to Maryland on a last-second field goal and blew a big lead in the regular season finale against South Carolina.
The team's 1-4 finish soured the perception of a solid 8-5 season.
"This is a tough place to coach," Bowden said. "You know you're going to be on the hot seat. You understand the environment."
Bowden was as frustrated as anybody by the way the 2006 season ended. What made the late-season slump especially hard to take was that his Clemson teams usually finish strong. His 2005 team won six of its last seven, including the last four. The 2004 Tigers won four of their last five. The 2003 Tigers won the last four games.
With that kind of finish in 2006, Tommy Bowden would be as popular in Clemson as his father Bobby Bowden is in Tallahassee.
But growing up in the Bowden family, Tommy saw how tough it can be to meet the expectation of a hungry fan base. During his teenage and college years, Bowden saw the fans at West Virginia turn on his father after one bad season.
"He knows the pitfalls of our profession," Bobby Bowden said. "He's seen me go through it. I've been through the same thing."
Bobby Bowden went on to build a Hall of Fame career at Florida State. Tommy Bowden is still looking for his breakthrough at Clemson.
Could it come this year?
The Tigers have a lot of holes to fill on offense, especially up front where graduation wiped out the ACC's best collection of run blockers.
Senior Offensive Tackle
Barry Richardson
|
Senior tackle Barry Richardson, a potential All-American, is the only returning starter. He hopes to anchor a re-built line that can match last year's impressive unit.
"There's not a lot of experience right now," Richardson said. "But, if we stay at everything, work at everything, I think we're going to have a good offensive line."
Bowden also has to find a quarterback to replace Will Proctor, who threw for 2,353 yards in his one season as a starter. Cullen Harper, who threw for 155 yards and two touchdowns last season in a limited role, emerged from spring practice as the probable starter, although prep All-American Willy Korn, who enrolled at Clemson in January, goes into the season as the No. 2 man on the depth chart.
Whichever quarterback emerges as the starter will have the good fortune to work with the most explosive pair of running backs in the ACC - and maybe all of college football.
Junior "Thunder" James Davis, the 2005 ACC Rookie of the Year and a first-team All-ACC running back last season, has rushed for 2,066 yards in two seasons and has averaged 5.6 yards a carry. Sophomore C.J. Spiller, nicknamed "Lightning", was even more effective, averaging 7.3 yards a carry as he rushed for 936 yards and 10 touchdowns as a freshman last year.
Bowden has to figure out the best way to maximize the talent of his two spectacular running backs.
"We have to create different ways to get them the ball - just not in the same backfield, probably," Bowden said. "There is an advantage to [alternating them so they can have] fresh legs. We can do some of the things Arkansas did. We can do a lot of things."
If Clemson can get the line play and enough production from the passing game to help Davis and Spiller prosper, the Tigers will have a chance to be very good, since Bowden expects to have a very solid defense.
Senior Linebacker
Nick Watkins
|
Seven starters return and that doesn't count linebacker Tramaine Billie, a starter in 2004 and 2005 who missed last season after suffering a broken ankle in preseason practice. He'll team with Nick Watkins and Antonio Clay to give the Tigers one of the league's best linebacking corps.
"We should be solid on defense," Bowden said. "We've finished in the top 25 [nationally] in four major defensive categories in each of the last two years. That's a credit to [defensive coordinator] Vic Koenning and the job he's done."
Maybe one day, Bowden will get similar credit for the job he's done. But he knows what it's going to take to satisfy the Clemson faithful.
"I'd like to play in a BCS bowl game, win a national championship," he said. "That's been done around here. Florida, three years ago, lost to South Carolina and then won eight games, and then they won a national title. So it's not being unrealistic."
STRENGTHS: The running tandem of Davis and Spiller is as good a duo as any in the country ... the return of Billie gives the Tigers a trio of talented, experienced linebackers.
CONCERNS: Bowden must replace both his kickers - Cole Chason, who handled the punting duties for four years, is gone, along with placekicker Jad Dean, who finished fifth in school history in career field goals ... While the defense returns a strong core, Bowden must replace All-American DE Gaines Adams and both starting cornerbacks.
EARLY BELLWEATHER GAME: Clemson replaces Miami as Florida State's opponent in the Labor Day Monday night game on ESPN Sept. 3. The Tigers have won their last two against the Seminoles in Death Valley.
| 
