Wake Forest - Clemson Postgame Notebook |
CLEMSON - An advertisement on the Death Valley scoreboard lauds Clemson as
"The Talk of the Town in 2002." After last week's disappointing loss to Virginia, most of that talk wasn't good. Local sports talk radio was inundated with fans upset at everything from play calling to personnel, and even a few radicals who wanted to see head coach Tommy Bowden fired. Following Saturday's 31-23 win over Wake Forest the mood had changed slightly, though concerns were still evident. "It seems like they were continuing from the Virginia game for the first three quarters," said Joe from Easley, calling on a car phone. "When they got the crowd into it, they seemed to play better. And scoring right before the half was big there, too." "It's a great win, any win's big. But I'm still concerned about motivation," said Sterling, also on car phone heading back to Atlanta. "They came out flat and played that way for a long time. When the fourth quarter rolled around they were fine. How can the team not get motivated when they're 3-3 and fighting for their life in the ACC race? I don't see it coming from the top. At some point the coach has to step in and come up with something to get them motivated." NEED A MAP? Bernard Rambert's second-half touchdown run (2 yards) was just his second score of the season, his first since the season-opening loss at Georgia. Rambert missed three games with tendonitis in his foot, then did not play in the second half of last week's loss to Virginia due to bruised ribs. "It's been a while since I got into the end zone," he said. "It felt good being in there and being able to put my team into position to win the game." STATS LIE, PART II In keeping with a recent trend, here's another example of why statistics can mean absolutely nothing in determining the outcome of a football game. Wake Forest outgained Clemson 523-280 Saturday at Death Valley. The Deacs outrushed the Tigers 365-72, doubled Clemson's rushing attempts 64-32, and won the time of possession battle 31:59 to 28:01. They also had almost twice as many kick return yards 115-64, and had more third down conversions than Clemson, 7-4. But Wake Forest also led in a pair of dubious categories - turnovers (5-0), and penalties and penalty yardage (14-125 to 7-56). The 523 yards allowed is the most ever in a Clemson victory. SHORT STUFF - Willie Simmons' 13-yard touchdown run in the first quarter was the first of his career; - Holder Jeff Scott has now run the fake field goal five times in his career for a total or 48 yards; - The five turnovers forced by Clemson was a season high, and the most since it forced five against Missouri in 2000, a span of 29 games. Saturday also marked the first time this season the Tigers' offense did not commit a turnover; - Wake Forest's Tarence Williams reached the 2,000-yard career rushing mark with a two-yard run on the final play of the first quarter. Later, he moved into a tie for fourth place on the Deacs all-time career touchdown list with Anthony Williams and Brian Piccolo; - The announced attendance of 81,000 was the largest at Death Valley so far this season; - Saturday was the first time that a Tommy Bowden Clemson team has won when behind entering the fourth quarter. The Tigers previously were 0-11 in those circumstances.
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