A solid 4-4 Clemson squad with bowl eligibility tantalizingly close rolls into Wallace Wade Stadium Saturday at noon to face an embattled Duke team coming off its worst performance of the season. Duke, with nothing to play for but stats, pride and next year, will have to raise its level of play to have a chance at victory versus the Tigers.
The entire Blue Devil football community remains embarrassed about last week's error-prone performance. The team lost 45-12 to reigning conference champion Maryland, falling to 2-7 overall and 0-5 in the ACC.
Without a chance at a bowl, the Blue Devils seem resolved to avenge last week's poor performance.
"I've never seen in my three years any quit with any of our players," sophomore quarterback Adam Smith said. "We are more excited coming off last game. We never want to play like that again."
The week's practices were in line with Smith's observation and very intense. Despite rain and cool temperatures at Tuesday's session, the players were yelling after almost every play trying to encourage each other. The entire squad cheered when the special teams executed an onside kick to culminate practice.
"Today was one of the best practices we have had all year--if not the best," linebacker Ryan Fowler said afterwards.
The team is trying to address some of the problems that resulted in last week's disappointing performance. The defense and special teams are working on improving tackling by focusing on fundamentals.
"We are trying to emphasize the importance of everybody doing their assignment," head coach Carl Franks said. "You are accountable to everybody else on the field."
Like Duke, Clemson is coming off a difficult loss, falling to undefeated NC State 38-6. The Tigers were outplayed all over the field and were disappointed with their effort.
After the hype and excitement of last week's game, head coach Tommy Bowden is worried that the subdued environment of Wallace Wade Stadium could cause his players to lose focus and look beyond the game before they even step on the field.
"There probably will be a small crowd relative to what we have seen the last two weeks there and not much noise," Bowden said. "You have a hard time getting the kids' attention before the game and getting them to be serious."
Duke has not fared well against Clemson in the Tommy Bowden era, allowing the Tigers to score over 50 points in each of the last three contests. In the 2000 and 2001 meetings the Clemson rushing attack has trampled Duke, gaining over 300 yards in each game.
Fowler is confident that the Blue Devil defense is better than it was in years past and will present a much stronger challenge to the Tigers' ground game.
"I don't think any team, and I say this confidently, in the country could rush for three hundred yards against us right now," Fowler said.
Offensively, Duke will likely look to rush the ball extensively. Alex Wade, coming in with 762 yards, has the opportunity to rush for 1,000 yards on the season and should expect to get a large number of carries.
"We certainly have always wanted to run the ball and that mindset is not going to change," Franks said. "We need to get back to running the ball like we did in the beginning of the year."
Clemson has a pair of talented cornerbacks, Brent Mance and Justin Miller, who have helped the Tigers' pass defense move from 66th in 2001 to ninth nationally this season. Clemson is allowing just 160 yards a game in the air and has not allowed a passing play over 36 yards through eight games.
"You've just got to play a lot smarter," Adam Smith said. "We are still going to go out there and challenge those guys. That's what we love being able to do."
Individually, Fowler has 97 tackles, recently furthered by a 12-tackle performance against Maryland. He is also trying to become the second player in Duke history to lead the team in tackles for three consecutive seasons.
Fortunately for Duke, avenging embarrassment and reversing disappointment is always good motivation.
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