Best Foot Forward

Clemson 25, Texas A&M 24

Or rather, Dean & Stuckey 25, Texas A&M 24

Last night in Death Valley, I came away with a very positive feeling about the new direction of our team. Tommy Bowden couldn't have made a better decision than to hand over control of our tired offense to new coordinator Rob "Mad Scientist" Spence. The change was immediate. Gone was the "Hurry Up and Wait" offense that wore on both the players and the fans. In its place came a whole new scheme founded on establishing the run to set up the pass. Folks, you might have heard that term many times before, but it's been a rarity in the Tommy Bowden era of Clemson football. His philosophy has almost always been pass-first, run never; his claims to the contrary. But now that we have a coach firmly controlling the offense with a dedication to transforming our running game into a real force, I think we're in for some good times. Good teams get it done on the ground and in the trenches.

Granted, we're far from where we need to be in that regard. Our sole touchdown of the night came as a result of a beautiful 47-yard punt return by Chansi Stuckey. Sooner or later, the offense has got to find the endzone if we expect to stay in contention. We still looked too tight, too conservative at times when we pushed into the A&M redzone. Don't get me wrong; more often than not, conservative football wins more games than going for the kill. But we've got to show some real fire when we drive into a goal-line situation. Granted, we did take a couple of shots; a Charlie Whitehurst-to-Cole Downer pass fell two yards behind the coverage with Downer wide open.

Dean, Dean, Dean. What more can I say? After last night, I'm inclined to check his DNA and birth certificate to find out if he's the son of fabled CU kicker Chris Gardocki. Six field goals, including the game winner. Add that to his kickoffs, and I wouldn't blame Tommy if he took it easy on him in practice. His leg's got to be killing him.

Speaking of playmakers, how about James Davis? If you watched him in his collegiate debut last night, you saw the future of Clemson's rushing attack. James has that killer instinct and breakaway speed that we haven't had in many years. A true freshman playing his first game in front of 80,000 screaming fans, and he was shrugging off tackles and turning upfield like a seasoned veteran. Every time he touched the ball, it sent a jolt of electricity into the sellout crowd. How about his eight straight carries that set up Dean's winning FG? That shows a lot of faith and confidence the coaches put in his ability to make things happen and give us the yards we needed. The jury's still out, but sorry, Shamecocks. I'd say we got the better kid in the Davis family. :)

By the second quarter, Whitehurst was back to his 2003 form. The offensive line took several plays to gell, but once they did, man did that make a difference. The new motions, new wrinkles in the line opened up the routes that were absent last year for Charlie. We actually used the tight ends on multiple occasions! He was well on his way to 200+ yards passing before he went down to a mild concussion. Sorry, Maryland. He's back next week.

Of course, with Charlie gone for much of the 4th quarter, that gave junior backup QB Will Proctor a chance to show what he could do. Wow, Clemson fans just love the backup quarterback. I think he received one of the loudest cheers of the night. And he filled in admirably, made no mistakes, and our offense didn't miss one beat.

In fact, that's what pleased me about last night. Save for using Duane Coleman instead of Reggie Merrieweather in the red zone, we played hardnosed, mistake-free football. You could see the much stronger focus on nailing the fundamentals from years past. Pounding the ball up the middle, winning the time of possession battle, and committing zero turnovers (while forcing one). No fancy trick plays, no cute schemes or formations that tended to blow up in our face. Just tough, grind-it-out football in which we did just enough things right to win the game. For all of the focus on the Longhorns, the Aggies of A&M are not to be taken lightly. Last year's Cotton Bowl performance aside, they are a powerful team, and Reggie McNeal is going to get some attention on the Heisman ballots before it's all over. All we could hope to do was contain him and limit his action. Mission accomplished.

So despite the lack of offensive TDs and McNeal's Herculean performance, we're 1-0. I think we showed a lot of folks something last night. It's not the complete package yet; that's still a long way off. But we're getting there. Next up: a trip to College Park to take on Ralph Friedgen and Maryland, who had to sweat through a difficult clash with the Navy Midshipmen on Saturday. Hopefully, we can do without the dramatics next time around. I love Jad Dean, but I'd rather not come to rely on him to haul us out of the fire every single week. GO TIGERS!!

Song of the Day: Casting Crowns - "Lifesong"

Verse of the Day: "So when you make a promise to God, don't delay in following through, for God takes no pleasure in fools. Keep all the promises you make to him. It is better to say nothing than to promise something that you don't follow through on." - Ecclesiastes 5:4-5