Top-10 ranking a rickety pedestal for Tigers

By Marc Hudgens  |   Monday, August 18, 2008  |  Comments( 5 )

Clemson Tigers
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As great a reward as Clemson's ninth-place ranking in the AP's preseason Top 25 is, one can’t help but get the feeling that the Tigers won't last long as a highly rated team; after all, coach Tommy Bowden’s Tigers have had trouble in the past maintaining their place among college football's elite.

For instance, after its big win over Georgia Tech in 2006, Clemson reached the AP’s No. 10 spot. The next Thursday, the team traveled to Blacksburg, Va., and coughed up its ranking in a 24-7 loss to Virginia Tech; afterward, Clemson dropped to 19th in the nation. The Tigers went on to lose four of their last five games that season, with the only win being a close one over a weak N.C. State squad.

Going back to 2000, No. 4 Clemson lost to Georgia Tech in the Valley, 31-28. The team fell to a respectable 10th, but it lost by 47 to Florida State the next week and sunk four more spots. The Tigers closed that year by losing three of their last four, barely surviving in a 16-14 victory over South Carolina.

This season's premiere against Alabama on Aug. 30 is a must-win contest for Clemson and Bowden. It won’t affect ACC play or have any impact on the Tigers’ chances of winning their first conference crown since 1991, but Bowden’s squads are 1-5 versus SEC teams other than South Carolina. Beating Nick Saban’s bunch will say volumes about Clemson, which would then appear to be unique from its counterparts of years past.

If Clemson, with all its talent, hype and a bigger contract for its coach, loses right out of the gate to the Tide, it’ll be enormously difficult to believe the Tigers will be anything else than just another bipolar Bowden squad.
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About Marc Hudgens

Marc Hudgens has been with RealFootball365 since 2007, covering college football, specifically Clemson and Oregon. He also writes for SouthernPigskin.com covering the ACC. He enjoys the acidic wit of Hunter S. Thompson, is a freelance graphic designer and has written several screenplays. He...
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CommentsComments: 5  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
NB		05:03 PM
08/18/2008
I tend to totally agree with the writer here. The Alabama win is a MUST for Clemson, if they are to be considered a true elite...
No.2
RazzMaTazz		07:37 PM
08/18/2008
Clemson seems to have been schizophrenic during the Bowden era. (In last week's ESPN preseason college football review TV...
No.3
NB		11:23 AM
08/19/2008
Razz, I have to say that Jimmy Grobe has done a better job than any coach in the ACC up to date. You cannot count WF out of the...
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