Clemson Football: Fallen

Clemson Football: Fallen

I didn’t expect to see this story line, but well, there it is. It was recently reported that Clemson Head Football Coach Tommy Bowden decided to step down as the head coach of the Clemson Tigers, in light of the titanic fall this team has had this year.

Clemson, currently 3-3 has fallen hard from grace. At the beginning of the year the Clemson Tigers were ranked about #8 in the nation, and were the favorites to compete for the ACC Championship and a BCS bowl. But that dream ended immediately with an embarrassing loss to Alabama 34-10. The Tigers might take some comfort in the fact that currently this same team is #2 in the nation.

A win over Citadel wasn’t that impressive, but a win over NC State at the time seemed like the promise could still come true for the predicted ACC Champs. Another win over South Carolina State gave Clemson a winning record, but nothing to be proud of.

Then two ACC losses in a row, losing to Maryland 20-17 and losing to Wake Forest 12-7 seemed to be too much to endure.

I personally don’t know if the NCAA will count the wins over Citadel and South Carolina State as legit Division I wins. If they don’t then technically Clemson has only 1 quality win, needing 5 more just to qualify for a bowl. That means they’d have to win 5 of the last 6 games just to qualify for a bowl, and that does not look possible considering how they have played so far this year.

In a year where the ACC has looked VERY soft, it makes it even harder to see how Clemson can be playing so poorly when some had them in the ACC Championships, and possibly in the Sugar Bowl. So now if you are a Clemson fan, you have to look at what can be salvaged, now with a head coach gone.

First things first…can you qualify for a bowl?

As mentioned, I don’t know if the NCAA counts the Citadel and South Carolina State games as quality wins. Let’s go on the idea that it does not count. If so, Clemson then has to win 5 of their last 6 games just to qualify. Their next game is at home against Georgia Tech. IF there is any hope to saving this team, it starts here.

If you look at how Georgia Tech barely survived Gardner-Webb, then maybe there is a chance that Clemson, at home could take that. Lots of times a team plays much more inspired after something dramatic happens to a team…say losing a head coach. It is conceivable that Clemson could win this emotionally charged game, although I might say that Georgia Tech may win this game.

The next two games are AT Boston College and Florida State. I am not too sure about FSU because it seems that the Bowden there is having trouble keeping his team together too. Clemson might be having a bad year so far, but I do think they have the talent to split these two games.

The Tigers then have a home game against Duke…that ought to be a win… I mean, it IS Duke, right?

And then an away game vs. Virginia. Now, if Clemson did beat Georgia Tech and split the two away games, they have a good chance of making it to a bowl with a win here. At this point (still considering the Citadel and South Carolina State games are not valid) Clemson needs to be 6-4 before this game, and needs to beat Virginia. If so, the entire season lies in a state rival…South Carolina.

I gotta tell you, this may not be good for Clemson. If they get to this point, they have to be on a strong roll and need to play inspired ball to beat South Carolina. It may be a mirror game, because South Carolina could be playing for a bowl as well. Clemson could be fighting for their post season life at this point, unless it was already lost earlier in the season.

No doubt this is a very difficult season for Clemson and their fans, and their head coach stepping down did not help, but sometimes a team can play “inspired ball” in light of a very dramatic change. But right now, Clemson University will have to learn to get up after falling down…and the future for these players is going to be very tough. We’ll see how this turns out as the season goes on….