Simulated Gameday Experience

Clemson 40, Florida State 24

I’m a bit disappointed that The Simpsons took the obvious “so it came to this” opener, but somehow Clemson – perennially disappointing, losing to Maryland, full of talent but lacking in results, Clemson – has ended up in the driver’s seat of the ACC Atlantic.  This is probably a condemnation of the Atlantic as much as it is a statement of Clemson’s worth, but that’s how the breaks are sometimes.  All the Tigers need to do from here on out is beat either NC State or Virginia (combined record: 7-11, with the best win of that lot over Pitt with a huge gap after that; the second-best win might be over North Carolina) and they’ll be going to …well, to wherever the ACC Championship is played.

If they’re going to have a shot to make noise as the season wears on, it’ll be on the shoulders of one CJ Spiller.  You might remember Spiller from such Clemson adventures as “CJ Spiller and James Davis fail to live up to their billing” and “CJ Spiller can’t get the ball to save his damn life” (seriously, Simpsons are killing me on this), but after 29 touches yesterday, Spiller finally was able to get enough touches to have a true game-changing impact (that wasn’t of the “why the hell didn’t Spiller get more touches?  Clemson could’ve won).  Spiller was already among the nation’s leaders in all-purpose yards per game, but after the 312(!) total yards he picked up yesterday he has a legitimate shot to end up among the nation’s leaders in the race for the Golden Statue.

Even with that, it wasn’t easy; Florida State controlled most of the first half before Clemson slowly took control.  It seems weird to me that Spiller actually had more touches in the first half than in the second half, because the touches Spiller had in the second half seemed more devastating.  It started with a beautiful 58-yard TD after a wheel route.  From there, Spiller just wore Florida State down – and wore himself down; he was visibly hurting for most of the second half.  At the end of the day – shockingly – Florida State’s defense just wasn’t equipped to handle him, and even though Christian Ponder had yet another good game, that was more or less it.

A slight digression: Florida State’s in a weird place.  They should be able to get bowl-eligible, as they can beat Wake Forest and Maryland (who’s making FSU look competent), but if they split those, Bobby Bowden’s likely to fail to make a bowl in what may be his final season.  It’s an inglorious end for him, to put it mildly.

Regardless, Clemson – of all teams – is in charge of the ACC Atlantic, and with a win over the only other team who could possibly finish with a winning in-conference record (Boston College, at 3-2), it’s certainly likely that Clemson’s going to the ACC Championship Game.  In past seasons, this would be when Spiller gets 4 touches combined over the next two games and Clemson gacks both games up before rebounding to barely beat South Carolina.  We’ll have to see if this is the season they’ve finally decided to grow up.

Tags: wait what?, weekly reflections