“There were a lot of guys in that locker room that are extremely hurt”, Fisher said Saturday. “I mean, Maguire beat us last year and Golson has had a heck of a year for them this year”. Top-ranked juniors like defensive end Zachary Carter, linebacker Jordan Anthony and cornerback Trajan Bandy are all scheduled to visit, and the Clemson coaches know this weekend isn’t your average game.
Advertisement
“Obviously Clemson-Florida State has been a huge game for a long, long time”, Tigers coach Dabo Swinney said, “but none bigger than these last several years”. If Stanford loses that day and wins the conference championship, the Pac-12 is likely out of the playoff.
For the moment, Clemson University is the No. 1 football team in America … an astounding development given that 2015 was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Tigers, who lost their top two defensive stars to the first round of this year’s NFL draft.
Hale: Glad you mentioned the deep ball, because this is the one area of Clemson’s passing game that seems to have evolved the most.
Fisher is confident his players will rebound, starting next week at home against North Carolina State.
No. 15/17 Florida State (7-1, 5-1 ACC) literally took things to another level on Tuesday spending a good portion of the afternoon practicing with amplified crowd noise blaring in the background at the Albert J. Dunlap Athletic Training Facility in preparation for Saturday’s showdown against No. 3/5 Clemson (8-0, 5-0 ACC).
“He’s a great preparer”, Swinney said. You still want to win.
The Tigers appear to be able to glide into the playoffs with games remaining against Syracuse, Wake Forest and rival South Carolina, who have a combined record of 9-18. It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which the Tigers aren’t among the four playoff teams.
“We’re not anxious about that now”, said Watson, who rallied Clemson from the 10-6 halftime deficit. “We’ve taken it game-by-game, prepared the same way and gotten these results”.
Deshaun Watson threw a go-ahead touchdown pass to Deon Cain and Wayne Gallman came through with a game-sealing scoring as No. 3 Clemson held off No. 17 Florida State and Dalvin Cook for a 23-13 victory Saturday to clinch the ACC Atlantic Division.
“It’s good to control our destiny. It’s good to be in the driver’s seat”, Swinney said. The Seminoles haven’t said if Cook will play Saturday, but reports say he has practiced all week.
Clemson kicker Creg Huegel added three field goals during the game, while FSU’s Roberto Aguayo added two for the Seminoles.
When it was over, thousands of orange-clad supporters rushed the field to celebrate Clemson’s 12th straight win.
“We’re not concerned about the poll five weeks early”. “Y’all are just catching up”. Clemson, however, is a completely different animal and will exploit the young line if the Seminoles do not play with the poise that has largely eluded them this season.
“Everett actually passed an ImPACT test, but he still had a few symptoms when they did a few more things on him late Friday”, Fisher said.
READY TO COOK: Also on the sidelines last week was Florida State runner Dalvin Cook, the ACC’s leading rusher who sat out with an ankle injury.
Last year, Sean Maguire led the Noles to a come-from-behind, overtime victory over the Tigers thanks to 304 passing yards including a 74-yard strike to Rashad Greene with 6:04 left in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 17-17.
Advertisement
Cook initially committed to Clemson out of Miami-Central High before flipping to Florida and eventually signing with FSU.
