2010 NC State Wolfpack Football: NC State vs Clemson

Memo to the Clemson Tigers: If you want to go bowling in 2010, win this game on Saturday against the North Carolina State Wolfpack.

Memo to Clemson coach Dabo Swinney: If you want to feel somewhat comfortable about your long-term employment prospects at the school you currently work for, win this game on Saturday against North Carolina State.

Those statements might sound very alarmist, but they’re very much a part of the backdrop to this weekend’s upcoming class between ACC Atlantic Division foes. It might seem hard to believe for a program with Clemson’s brand name and its status as the defending Atlantic champion, but it’s true: If the Tigers can’t hold down coach Tom O’Brien’s Wolfpack at Memorial Stadium, they’re staring at a losing season and the absence of a bowl game.

Clemson is 4-4 after spitting the bit at Boston College in a terrible and demoralizing loss which severely crippled the Tigers’ hopes of defending their Atlantic crown. The one shred of hope Clemson can still cling to is that it plays the top two teams in the Atlantic these next two weeks. This Saturday’s game against NC State is followed on Nov. 13 with a game against Florida State. If Clemson can sweep those two games and get one more loss from both NCSU and Florida State, the Tigers would still, improbably, claim the Atlantic with a 5-3 mark in conference play. The door is still open for Clemson, but the Boston College banana-peel-slip has reduced the size of the opening. A sense of desperation permeates the Clemson locker room right now, but that desperation must translate into a crisp and efficient performance against the visiting Wolfpack in order for the outlook to change in Death Valley.

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The short story on Clemson football in 2010 is that quarterback Kyle Parker – whom Tiger fans rightfully wanted to play at the beginning of the season, instead of beginning the pursuit of his big-league baseball dream with the Colorado Rockies – has performed with very little focus. It’s as though the signing of a contract with a Major League Baseball franchise has sabotaged Parker’s concentration. The field general Swinney depends on has not been very reliable over the first two months of this season. Crucial interceptions and untimely lapses have doomed Parker over and over again. A number of dropped passes have also prevented the Tigers’ offense from realizing its potential. Even this team’s ACC wins – over Maryland and Georgia Tech – were sloppy and ragged affairs in which Clemson left a lot of points on the field and did not play at a particularly elevated level. The time for this team to excel is now; actually, it should have been a full month earlier, but at this stage, there’s no margin left for error. If Clemson can’t come good against North Carolina State, a season will lie in ruins, and a team trying to escape the shadow of the unfulfilling Tommy Bowden years will feel as though it’s stuck in a time warp.

Again, memo to Clemson: Win this game against North Carolina State. The fallout from a loss will be ugly.

NC State Wolfpack vs Clemson Tigers Football Preview