What Has Happened To Clemson

The Clemson Tigers were suppose to carry ACC banner to a BCS bowl this season. Right now the Congressional Bowl is looking good for the Tigers.

Clemson's 12-7 loss to Wake Forest may have finished off the Tigers. The loss puts Clemson at 3-3 overall but most importantly 1-2 in the ACC Atlantic Division. Here it is October 10th and the Tigers have all but exited the road to Tampa Bay, site of the ACC Championship Game.

The Tiger offense couldn't claw their way through the Wake Forest defense only gaining 198 of total offense. The running back duo of James Davis and C.J. Spiller combined for 35 yards. Nothing worked for Clemson's offense against a dominant Demon Deacon defense.

"We tried everything, if you watch. We tried going deep to Aaron [Kelly] and throwing deep over the middle to the tight end." Clemson head coach Tommy Bowden said. "We tried reverses, we tried fake punts, we tried C.J. [Spiller] on the outside and James [Davis] in the middle. They were playing really well defensively. We just couldn't develop any kind of continuity and we sure tried everything we had."

So where does Clemson go from here? Hard to say. I said before the season kicked off that the Alabama game was the kind that would make or break a team and that's proving to be true. The Tigers lost to the Crimson Tide 34-10 and it seems Clemson has yet to recover. The loss to Maryland at Death Valley was bad. Wake Forest is really good but the Deacs struggled too. Clemson had plenty of chances to win, just couldn't get it done offensively.

Clemson's schedule coming up: a much better Georgia Tech team at Death Valley followed by a pair of really difficult games on the road. First a trip Boston College and the Eagles are pretty good this year, then down to Tallahassee where Papa Bobby won't have much sympathy for his son because Florida State needs to keep winning, and the Seminoles are getting better. Running that table will be a tall order for Clemson.

There will be talk about Tommy Bowden's future at Clemson. I'm hearing the natives are very restless. None the less, Clemson is in a difficult position to make a change at the end of the year because of the extension and raise Bowden received in the off-season to prevent him from bolting to Arkansas. How Clemson finishes 2008 will be telling.

Photos Courtesy: Jeff Blake/The Columbia State