Hotmail
Clemson continues underachieving ways
Bowl season roundup
 |
Bowl recaps and analysis:
-
EagleBank: Wake 29, Navy 19 | CFN
New Mexico: Colo. St. 40, Fresno St. 35
St. Petersburg: S. Florida 41, Memphis 14
Las Vegas: Arizona 31, BYU 21 | CFN
New Orleans: SMU 30, Troy 27 (OT) | CFN
Poinsettia: TCU 17, Boise St. 16 | CFN
Hawaii: Notre Dame 49, Hawaii 21 | CFN
Motor City: FAU 24, Cen. Mich. 21 | CFN
Meineke: W. Virginia 31, UNC 30 | CFN
Champs Sports: Fla. St. 42, Wis. 13 | CFN
Emerald: Cal 24, Miami 17 | CFN
Independence: La. Tech 17, NIU 10 | CFN
Papajohns.com: Rutgers 29, N.C. St. 23
Alamo: Mizzou 30, N'west. 23 (OT) | CFN
Humanitarian: Maryland 42, Nevada 35
Texas: Rice 38, W. Michigan 14
Holiday: Oregon 42, Oklahoma St. 31 | CFN
Armed Forces: Houston 34, Air Force 28
Sun: Oregon St. 3, Pittsburgh 0 | CFN
Music City: Vandy 16, BC 14 | CFN
Insight: Kansas 42, Minnesota 21
Chick-fil-A: LSU 38, Georgia Tech 3
Outback: Iowa 31, South Carolina 10 | CFN
Capital One: Georgia 24, MSU 12 | CFN
Gator: Nebraska 26, Clemson 21
Rose: USC 38, Penn St. 24 | Analysis
Orange: Va. Tech 20, Cincinnati 7
Cotton: Ole Miss 47, Texas Tech 34
Liberty: Kentucky 25, East Carolina 19
Sugar: Utah 31, Alabama 17
International: UConn 38, Buffalo 20
Fiesta: Texas 24, Ohio St. 21 | Analysis
GMAC: Tulsa 45, Ball St. 13
BCS title: Florida 24, Oklahoma 14
Photo gallery:
Shopping:
While the Ralph Friedgen redemption tour just gained some significant momentum for the Terps, the first, last and most significant story of this Saturday surprise has to be the latest in a series of chronic collapses by a Clemson program that now finds itself behind the eight ball in its attempt to win the first ACC division championship (let alone the first conference crown) of the much-maligned Tommy Bowden era. It's one thing to lose an occasional conference game; it's quite another to do so on an annual basis, at least to the extent that eminently winnable conference championships pass by the boards, claimed by other programs such as Wake Forest, who now enjoys an extra degree of leverage in the ACC Atlantic.
This huge setback for Clemson could, in an immediate sense, be connected to three turnovers and a game-changing 76-yard run by Maryland's dazzling receiver, Darrius Heyward-Bey. But on a larger level, this result can be attributed to nothing more than the unclean air pervading the Clemson program. The lungs of Tiger players just aren't liberated — no one on that nervous sideline in Death Valley knows how to breathe freely. The pressure of having to live up to expectations once again choked a talented roster that's long on ability but short on championship poise.
When the same train wreck keeps taking place at the same point on the tracks, year after year, there's only so much that remains to be said. This senior-dominated group was supposed to have had the experience — and the memory of sobering sequences of setbacks suffered in past seasons — needed to finally put all the pieces together this year ... at least to the extent that the ACC would be conquered by Clemson in 2008. That could still happen, mind you, but the odds now favor Jim Grobe's Demon Deacons in Winston-Salem.
Clemson fans have more reason to gripe than any other fan base in college football. Their team has now lost two straight home games to Maryland and has scored a grand total of just 29 points in its last three home games against the Terrapins. Those stats alone do a good job of showing how far short the Tigers have fallen in this decade of ACC agony.
The Chicago Cubs might finally break their 100-year World Series drought, but in the state of South Carolina, no relief appears to be in sight
Add a comment
advertisement
