Monday, May 05, 2008 | Posted by Marc Hudgens

I'm not sure that Mickey Plyler's blog was exactly suggesting that everyone should merely be satisfied with the season no matter how it turns out. I think he was offering the "enjoy-the-ride" scenario as one of several possible scenarios that could lead to fan "satisfaction". Other satisfaction scenarios included an ACC title, an Atlantic division title, a BCS bowl, or a 10-win season. Though Plyler did spend a lot more time discussing the "enjoy-the-ride" scenario more than the others.

I think that the simple truth is that, although many fans want championship-caliber football to return to Clemson, there is a larger body of religiously-motivated fans that don't care much about that, as long as the football team is led by a religiously outspoken, born-again Christian, southerner like Tommy Bowden. Year after year, those religiously bigoted fans will make the most ridiculous excuses for Bowden's mediocre performance, ignoring the simple fact that in nine years, Bowden has gone:
Vs. ACC teams: 42-30 (.583)
Vs (non-ACC) BCS: 12-10 (.545)
Vs non-ACC BCS (not SoCar): 5-8 (.385)
Vs AP Top 25 finishers: 6-28 (.214)

And he's shown no improvement:
TB's ACC record 1st 2 years: 11-5 (.688)
TB's ACC record last 2 years: 10-6 (.625)

TB's 1st 2 years vs AP Top 25 finishers: 1-7 (.143)
TB's last 2 years vs AP Top 25 finishers: 1-6 (.167)

Nonetheless, I think that this could finally be Clemson's year for an ACC title. VT is off the regular season schedule. VT, GT, & BC are rebuilding. FSU has a lot of suspensions. And Clemson has 9 or more days to prepare for most of its toughest games; Bama, Wake, GT, & BC. At the start of the season should be favored to win the ACC and should be favored to win each regular season game. Of course replacing 4 starters on the O-line will be the key. And the OC, Rob Spence, needs to learn from his past mistakes and open up the offense, rather than running on 1st down all the time. Spence's play-calling has improved over the last few years, so there is hope.

I completely disagree that pressure for an ACC title hurts the team. If anything, I think it helps by making the team train harder. When you're lined up across from your man, you're not thinking about the ACC title. You're thinking about beating him.