Clemson Tigers @ North Carolina Tar Heels Football Preview

The North Carolina football program is living on the edge of a cliff. The Clemson Tigers are in must-win mode after a bad loss at home. Urgency defines this ACC clash.

The North Carolina program remains in a state of red-alert panic this week. All the misdeeds that have come to light in Chapel Hill over the past few weeks have robbed this team of its ability to focus. A win over a mediocre East Carolina club on Oct. 2 is no indication that the Tar Heels are on their way back. At least 10 North Carolina players – due to a combination of agent-related scandals and tutoring-based scandals – have either been held back from playing this week or have not yet received rulings on their playing status from the NCAA. Even if some of those players have their eligibility reinstated in time to play against Clemson, they’re not likely to be emotionally prepared or physically sharp. It’s impossible to expect North Carolina to play crisp and precise football against decent opponents.

Coach Butch Davis is a dead coach walking; there’s no reasonable way to think that the embattled coach will last beyond this 2010 season, which has been disastrous for the Tar Heels off the field. Severe sanctions from the NCAA are just a matter of time now that it’s been confirmed by Yahoo! Sports that UNC assistant coach John Blake received wired payments from sports agent Gary Wichard, in a seminal case that could very well open the door for substantial reform in the college sports industry. North Carolina is living under a very dark – almost tornadic – cloud of crisis, and that’s no way to approach a big ACC game against a team with Clemson’s talent and athleticism.

Yet, if history tells us anything, one must be reminded that few teams screw up favorable situations the way Clemson does.

> Check out a great selection of Clemson Tigers Apparel & Merchandise & be sure to check out the ACC Football Scores & Standings!

A team which still hasn’t won an ACC championship since 1991 continues to display its baffling tendency to stub its toe on the big stage. The Tigers and the Miami Hurricanes played a terrible game last weekend in Clemson, but the Tigers and their own talented quarterback underachieved more than Miami did.

Clemson quarterback Kyle Parker is a very disjointed quarterback right now. Miami’s Jacory Harris might have gone 13-for-33 as a passer with two picks against Clemson, but Parker – a distracted and not-very-locked-in quarterback ever since he signed a contract with Major League Baseball's Colorado Rockies – set the bar even lower than Harris did this past Saturday. Parker completed only 14-of-33 passes and threw three interceptions. While it's true that Clemson receivers didn't help out their trigger man, the baseball-prospect-in-the-making continued the Clemson tradition of slipping on the banana peel in a big game. On a day when Clemson and coach Dabo Swinney – who clearly hasn't solved this team's psychological shortcomings – needed Parker to come up big, the veteran quarterback shriveled against a highly-touted conference foe. In addition to his three interceptions, Parker also coughed up one of the Tigers' three fumbles. Swinney and the rest of a stricken Clemson coaching staff had to endure the horror of seeing their cornerstone player commit four of the team's six turnovers. That's why Miami was able to assert control down the stretch and establish a two-possession lead on a 29-yard Matt Bosher field goal with 2:40 left. Miami won 30-21, leaving Clemson and Parker muttering to themselves. If North Carolina can avoid the big play and force Clemson to move the ball downfield in painstaking fashion, it can allow Parker to beat himself. Then, the Tar Heels – despite all their off-field headaches – could win this game.

Clemson should have the horses to prevail on Saturday, but nothing's ever a sure thing with the Tigers. In many ways, this game is Clemson versus Clemson. Which Tiger team will show up? The answer will tell us who emerges from this collision in Kenan Stadium.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer