TCU Preview

TCU vs. Clemson, 9/26, 3:30pm, Death Valley

Always feels good to type "Death Valley".

Tigermax:

I find the circumstances surrounding this game intriguing for several reasons:

1) It's a battle between a top three Mountain West team and, well...I think its pretty fair to say Clemson is top five in the ACC right now. But just how good is a top three Mountain West team relative to a top five ACC team? Sure, TCU crushed Virginia. But this is the same Virginia that lost to William & Mary the week before. I can't believe I just wrote that. (As an aside, I had a relative that attended William & Mary law school a while back. I happened to be living in the area at the time and paid a couple of visits. I was shown the campus and I immediately mistook the football "stadium" for a practice field. I even caught a couple of their games on a local channel that would broadcast Colonial League Football. It was a lot like high school football. What if Clemson lost in week one to that William & Mary team I saw on those Saturday afternoons not so long ago? I think my head would explode.) Anyways, TCU went on to struggle against Texas State the next week before pulling away in the fourth quarter. In the process, they gave up 21 points to a Division II team while playing their starters. All this is to say, while TCU has a reputation for a dominant defense, it hasn't exactly shown up yet this year.

2) Related to #1. FSU is coming off a trouncing of a different top three Mountain West team, on the road. A strong showing at home against TCU is necessary to show the Clemson program is moving in the right direction, too.

3) USuCk just beat the #4 team in the country in Columbia. We have the #15 team tomorrow.

4) Depending on how many "I can't believe they just lost" games FSU has between now and November 7th, this could be the highest ranked team to visit Death Valley this year.

5) Swine flu. How many players have it? How many will be affected by it? Don't give me that "its been contained to five players and no new names have been added to the list crap." You don't "contain" swine flu. And you don't let the other team (or even your own players) know how badly you are hurting going into the game.

Lots of factors coning together before the game, combining to make this the biggest question mark on the schedule. As for the game itself, despite not being totally convinced of TCU's defensive abilities, I'm expecting a low-scoring struggle. Clemson's best strategy to win the game might be to emulate last week and turn the game into a field goal shootout, using special teams to exert control on field position. If TCU shows up and starts driving the ball on possession #1 though, we're in for an ugly afternoon. I don't think its gonna happen, though. Call me crazy and full of this unexpected confidence, but Kevin Steele has made a believer out of me. At least for one week.

Clemben:

I have a slightly different take on TCU than TigerMax for this reason. I think Gary Patterson is a good coach and his entire season is riding on beating Clemson. His BCS chances hinge on this game. He didnt have to show much offensively or defensively these past two weeks so we may see TCU light years ahead of there last two performances show. That being said I think our D is as stout as theirs and we have Mr. Spiller. I think its going to be a tough match-up and a lot depends on if and how much Chris Hairston plays. If he is unable to go I think we win by one point 17-16 and if he is in and plays well then 4 points 17-13. Hows that? We need Parker to be on his A game for sure.

Look for TCU to give us all they got but its time to get fired up--we get another chance at a top 15 team and hopefully Miami can beat VT and Oklahoma so we can go and beat them at home on route to our second national championship. Oh did I mention the ALL IN, ALL ORANGE food fast has begun. Oh yeah, I'm drinking the orange kool-aid already....

Go Tigers!! Beat those horned frogs!!