Clemson (5-2, 2-2) @ Maryland (4-3, 1-2) Saturday, October 27th, 3:30 EST. ABC, XM 191, 98.3 FM in College Park.
The Line: Clemson -3.5
Edge goes to:
Offense: Clemson
Defense: Clemson, who is ranked higher in every defensive statistical category.
Special Teams: I'm willing to bet not Clemson.
Intangibles: Who knows? James Davis's recent guarantee that we'll beat Maryland will no doubt be bulletin board material for Maryland, but it should also fire up the Tigers. It's great to see him continue to step up and be a leader on this team.
Our Panel of Manbearpigs Say:
Chili: With Boston College's miraculous victory at Virginia Tech last night, Clemson's chances of wiggling into the ACC Championship Game went from slim to none. As Clemson and South Carolina fans are used to doing, expectations for the team need to undergo a mid-season adjustment. Playing into a decent bowl game is now the long term goal, with beating the Terps the immediate one. I am always prepared to see Clemson fall flat, but I think James Davis's recent tough talk is an indicator of the team's overall demeanor and I expect to see the Tigers come out swinging. Friedgen tends to out-coach Bowden and will probably do the same on Saturday. The weather looks to be rainy which may lend itself to a lower scoring affair, if that matters to anyone. I think it'll be a close game, with Clemson pulling it out or holding on to win... uh... or losing... either one.
Clemson 17, Maryland 14
Seigler: Keeping with the tradition of Clemson playing horribly against Maryland, I feel this game will be close, and of course, low scoring. I can really see a re-run of the 2004 game, a lackluster game that ends in a narrow (10-7) Clemson victory. Clemson proved to us last weekend that they still have an offense, and that it still is capable of scoring massive amounts of points, so let's hope they don't take the next few games off. Let's hope that special teams are good, because I can really see them costing us this game, like they have a few other games this decade. To be honest, it's so hard for me to get psyched up for these kind of games. I know Maryland is dangerous, they took down Rutgers, who was overrated, but still a good team, but then on the other hand, they've lost to the power houses of Wake Forrest and Virginia ( which, despite their wonderful ACC record, is still not a great team). Clemson should roll this weekend, but don't get your hopes up, Friedgen will out coach Tommy and put his team in a great position to win. I'm really looking for Tommy to start going for it on 4th down, especially when the field goal would be more than 45 yards. It seems our kicker has no confidence, Tommy should start letting him kick short ones for a while, and go for it when they'll be long. Just my opinion, but we need something to build confidence in our special teams. Against Maryland, in Maryland, Clemson puts up another lackluster performance.
Clemson 21 Maryland 20
Willy Mac: Everything about Maryland's offense is terrible. Their running back is ok, but for an offense centered around a terrible quarterback, there's not much hope for them on that side of the ball. Defense-wise, they're decent. As my buddies already said, Fridge is the better coach but there is something different about this new wind Clemson football team that I really like. I mean, we dropped 70 points on a team thats not Temple. Granted it was a non-BCS conference team, still, 70 points?!?! We may finally have found the rythm we need, if we can just keep the Terps away from Cullen. I'm going the opposite:
Clemson 38, Maryland 16
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