Clemson schedule custom-built for run at national title

By Chris Preston  |   Thursday, July 10, 2008  |  Comments( 9 )

 Clemson Tigers
Look closely at Clemson’s 2008 schedule. I mean really sink your teeth into it – lord knows you’re already chomping at the bit for the college football season to finally commence. I realize this is an extremely dangerous exercise when you consider the Tommy Bowden Tigers’ knack for losing games they should win (going 8-8 in the last 16 in...
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CommentsComments: 9
 No.1
RazzMaTazz		 05:59 AM
07/10/2008
Chris:

Clemson plays Alabama at the Geogia Dome in Atlanta (not at Clemson) so you may want to revise the article (and delete this line).

I hope you didn't jinks the Tigers by saying it, but as an eternally over-optimistic Clemson fan, I've been thinking along the same lines. And since you already said it, officially, I can't be blamed for jinxing Clemson, right? At this point Clemson would be favored in every game, so "there's a chance" that Clemson will go undefeated in the regular season and play VT (or maybe Miami) in the ACC title game. An undefeated season would probably get Clemson a spot (deserve it or not) in the national title game against OSU, USC, or UGA, where Clemson would need a freaking miracle to win. But there's a chance.

Now in reality, it's just hard to imagine Clemson going undefeated. But the schedule does set up well for an ACC title. VT decimated and off the schedule. Tenuta left GT (and hopefully GT's athletes will be a mismatch for the new option offense). BC lost Ryan, Callender, and Challenger.

And, very importantly, Clemson has 9 or more days to prepare for most of it's toughest foes (Bama, Wake, BC, & GT).

The big concern for me is the trip to Talahasee just 7 days after the trip to BC. (Jimbo Fisher seems to be the de facto head coach of FSU's top tier athletes now, so I don't think FSU's slump will continue much longer. And how many in a row can Clemson win against FSU?) If Clemson loses to FSU, then a key game for Clemson may be Wake's game at FSU which happens on the first week that 20-or-so FSU players come off of suspension. I suspect Clemson may need Wake to beat FSU.

Oh, and there's just one other little concern... Will we have an offensive line?
 No.2
 12:26 PM
07/10/2008
Undefeated? Tough schedule tough words and one heck of a fantasy football minded prediction
 No.3
Chris Preston		 02:22 PM
07/10/2008
RazzMaTazz,

You are correct--the Alabama game will be played in the Georgia Dome. Somehow the Clemson schedule I was looking at didn't make any mention of that and simply denoted the 'Bama game as a home date. Weird. I apologize for getting that wrong.

Still, that doesn't alter my feelings about the game. The Georgia Dome is only about a 2-hour drive from Clemson (about 3 hours from Tuscaloosa), and I'm sure there will be plenty of Tigers fans in attendance that will at least neutralize the noise generated by the chants of "Roll Tide". All things being equal on a neutral field will make the game a bit more challenging, but Clemson is simply the better team and will prove it on opening night.

Again I apologize for the error. Thanks for reading.

Chris
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