CLEMSON - One day after his team's 21-13 victory over Central Florida,
Clemson head coach Tommy Bowden was in a surprisingly good mood.
Chalking up most of his team's struggles to the usual first-game jitters,
Bowden said a look at Saturday's game tape showed all was not doom and gloom.
"After you go back and look at it and look at all the circumstances, you look
at how we entered the game," he said Sunday. "We didn't have Kevin
Youngblood, field position was tough, we had eight new starters on defense,
and we hit their quarterback twice and he laid it on the ground and we didn't
get either one of them.
"Most of the mistakes we saw on the film were correctable, and that's the
important thing. We might not have won this game two years ago."
One thing missing from film study was Rod Gardner.
The former Clemson standout and current Washington millionaire continues to
loom large in the current landscape of the Tigers' returning wide receivers.
Though the young nucleus of Roscoe Crosby, Derrick Hamilton, Airese Currie
and Ben Hall have shown steady improvement, Bowden still finds himself
searching for a playmaker.
Jackie Robinson is in Gardner's old spot at the moment, and Crosby and Currie
are "pretty much locked in" to their spots in the offense. But Bowden
indicated changes could be in order, maybe as soon as today.
"Where we got in trouble (is) our backside receiver, where Rod Gardner played
the last two years," Bowden said. "You get in a comfort zone, where if you
need an answer to your problems you go to Rod. We've got to find a solution
to the backside receiver. Jackie played good, but I don't know if he's the
answer back there."
The area most concerning Bowden was the play of his defensive line.
Though satisfied with the ultimate outcome, the third-year coach tired of
watching his front four flail helplessly in their attempts to rush UCF
quarterback Ryan Schneider. Only when Clemson brought two or three
linebackers did it get consistent pressure on Schneider.
That put the secondary under the gun, an ominous reminder of 2000.
"We had some problems back there with soft coverage, but you have to look at
the defensive line for part of that," Bowden said. "If we can't get pressure
out of those four guys, we're in for a long year."
UCF Game Participation
ALT. CAPS - STARTERS
CLEMSON OFFENSE
LT: 79 BYRD, 61 Smith
LG: 73 WATKINS
C: 59 YOUNG, 51 Outlaw
RG: 50 MERRITT, 78 Walker
RT: 71 BRANTLEY
TE: 83 Woodward, 87 Hall
QB: 1 DANTZLER
TB: 8 ZACHERY, 20 Rambert
FB: 10 Jasmin, 44 Lee
WR: 21 HAMILTON, 25 CROSBY, 16 Reames, 14 Elliott
WR: 80 BAILEY, 82 ROBINSON, 9 Currie, 84 McKelvey
CLEMSON DEFENSE
DE: 91 McNEAL, 58 Howard
DT: 98 EASON, 96 Washington
DT: 95 BUSH, 97 Polk
DE: 56 VAUGHN, 99 Fountain
WLB: 46 CARSON, 41 Thomas
SLB: 48 WILLIAMS, 47 Feaster
STAR: 45 LEAKE, 38 Sampson
LCB: 2 MANCE, 26 Francis
SS: 40 HAFLEY, 33 Delusme
FS: 3 MEEKINS, 30 Houskin
RCB: 27 JOHNSON, 22 Hemby
CLEMSON SPECIALISTS
PK: 19 HUNT
P: 32 KOPP
KO: 39 Lazzara
LS: 63 Owen
HO: 12 Scott
PR: 2 Mance, 16 Reames
KOR: 2 Mance, 82 Robinson
ST Only: 12 Scott, 13 White, 32- Kopp , 35 Huey, 39 Lazzara,
55 Williams, 63 Owen, 65 Johnson, 81 Gardner
ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll
RANK TEAM RECORD PTS PVS
1. Florida (26) 1-0 1,439 1
2. Miami Fla (22) 1-0 1,423 2
3. Oklahoma (9) 2-0 1,370 3
4. Nebraska (1) 2-0 1,248 4
5. Florida State 1-0 1,244 5
6. Texas (1) 1-0 1,184 6
7. Tennessee 1-0 1,090 8
8. Oregon (1) 1-0 1,083 7
9. Virginia Tech 1-0 985 9
10. Michigan 1-0 879 10
11. Kansas State 0-0 850 11
12. Oregon State 0-0 826 12
13. Georgia Tech 2-0 684 14
14. UCLA 1-0 676 15
15. Washington 0-0 632 13
16. LSU 1-0 594 16
17. Notre Dame 0-0 527 17
18. Mississippi St. 0-0 489 19
19. Clemson 1-0 480 18
20. Northwestern 0-0 365 20
21. South Carolina 1-0 285 22
22. Ohio State 0-0 260 21
23. Wisconsin 1-1 132 23
24. Georgia 1-0 105 NR
25. Purdue 0-0 88 NR
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
Louisville 79, Auburn 62, USC 53, BYU 41, Toledo 40, Fresno State 33, Pittsburgh 24, Illinois 23, N.C. State 21, Alabama 19, Michigan State 19, Texas A&M 19, Southern Miss 18, Colorado 13, Oklahoma State 13, Boston College 12, TCU 12, East Carolina 11, Arkansas 8, Mississippi 8, Stanford 7, Maryland 6, Western Michigan 6, Air Force 4, Colorado State 4, Texas Tech 3, Iowa State 2, Iowa 1, Marshall 1.
DROPPED FROM RANKINGS
Colorado State 24, Alabama 25.
