UNC Preparation Difficult for Tigers |
CLEMSON -- A tape of one of Bobby Bowden's old Burger King commercials would
have done as much good as the tape Tommy Bowden saw of his dad in action from last weekend. Tommy was hoping for a close game between Florida State and North Carolina. Clemson (1-2 overall, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) faces North Carolina (1-2, 0-2) at Death Valley this Saturday. There was just a couple of minutes of a close game. The rest was nothing useful. "It would have been more helpful if it would have been closer," said Bowden. Florida State scored 28 points in the first seven minutes. It was never close. Florida State scored its first touchdown 94 seconds into the game. A fumble by quarterback Ronald Curry led to another touchdown. Florida State safety Sean Key intercepted a pass by Curry and returned it for a touchdown. Peter Warrick returned a punt to give Florida State a 28-0 lead with 5:03 left in the first quarter. "When a team gets ahead that quickly, the film study is not that productive," said Bowden. At least Tommy Bowden could turn the VCR off when he got really disgusted with the tape. That's more than Curry could do. "It was like playing PlayStation," he told the Raleigh News and Observer. "We got skunked early. But when you get down 21-0 in PlayStation, you turn the game off." Maybe that's what North Carolina did, sort of. Still, Bowden knows that Curry is dangerous. "He is probably the most skilled person on their team," he said. "He is a Peter Warrick type guy and he is like a tailback paying quarterback. When they are in a one back formation, it is almost like they have two backs in the game with him at quarterback" Virginia Tech freshman quarterback Michael Vick ran for 41 yards last Thursday against the Tigers. Bowden knows he can't afford to let Curry do the same. Vick's inexperience cost the Hokies. Bowden figures Curry, a sophomore, won't make as many mistakes. "We are going to have to do some different things scheme wise that we might not do against a quarterback like Chad Pennington or Ellis from Virginia," said Bowden. "I think he is even quicker than Michael Vick at Virginia Tech." Virginia Tech rushed for 286 yards the most since rushing yards against the Tigers since South Carolina rushed for 314 yards in 1996. That meant plenty of business for ACC defensive back of the week Robert Carswell, who had 16 tackles. "I'm very concerned that our safety is our leading tackler," said Bowden. "Anytime your safety is your leading tackler, either for a half, a game or a season, it's a concern." Curry is averaging 42 yards a game on the ground. He's tied for the team lead in rushing. Bowden would have liked to have seen more of Curry last Saturday - if for no other reason than to make his dad sweat a little more. "You see the skill level of Florida State in the conference and their separation from everybody else," he said. "North Carolina was in a position that we're going to be and everybody's going to be when we play them."
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