Reputation. Retribution. Revenge. Three themes that have come to occupy an unusually important role for two very unlikely bedfellows: the University of North Carolina Tarheels and the Clemson Tigers. It begs the question: who has more to prove—and more to lose—in the ACC showdown tonight between the Tarheels and the Tigers?
Last weekend saw the Tarheels gave up 70 points to the East Carolina Pirates before collapsing in a loss with a deficit of 29 points. The Tigers stumbled through a 23-17 loss in overtime against the #1-ranked Florida State Seminoles. Both teams are desperately seeking a solid victory today to cool the blush of public embarrassment.
More To Lose, Or More To Prove? Clemson Tigers vs UNC Tarheels
This is the second year in a row that the Tarheels have found themselves at the losing end of an ECU game, a pattern of mediocrity which head coach Larry Fedora can no longer downplay as an unexpected blip on the radar, although he may try:
“All right, the world didn’t come to an end; the sun came up yesterday, it’s back up today. We’ve evaluated the film, broke it down, made the corrections and have moved on and we are preparing for Clemson at this time,” said Coach Larry Fedora.
The Tarheels could easily end up with at least two more losses for the season: one to #8-ranked Notre Dame on October 11th, and again to the Virginia’s Cavaliers solid defensive line on October 25th. Although the Tigers aren’t currently ranked, a win against one of the ACC’s most recognizable names would help slow the Tarheels spiral to conference irrelevancy, and keep UNC in the hunt to go bowling at the end of the season.
North Carolina is in the top 25 scoring offenses in the nation and has averaged 42.7 points per game. The Tarheels have yet to face an ACC opponent this season (in addition to East Carolina, UNC has played Liberty and San Diego State), which certainly lends to the total number of points they’ve been able to rack up, but if the Tarheels can harness the momentum of their first three contests it will put them in the best possible position to keep up with the Tigers.
The bright spot in Clemson’s 1-2 start to the season is undoubtedly Deshaun Watson. He should easily be able to capitalize on a weak Tarheel defense, a defense which allowed East Carolina’s quarterback Shane Carden to rack up 438 yards in the air only a week ago. Watson, a true freshman, went for 19-for-28 for 266 passing yards, with 30 yards rushing and a touchdown against Florida State the same day. With talents for throwing the deep ball and using his legs when defenses drop back, Watson is a threat who comes coupled with a promise—a promise to develop into one of the most powerful, agile, difficult-to-defend quarterbacks Clemson has had to date. For the remainder of the 2014 season, however, Clemson needs nine wins to close out the season to a respectable 10-2 finish. A 9-3 or 8-4 season would makes thing awfully uncomfortable in Dabo Swinney’s chair.
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