Thoughts On Footballl

Here are a few football observations as we roll into November.

I’m impressed with USC redshirt freshman quarterback Stephen Garcia’s ability to throw on the run, especially when he throws back against the grain.

He did this on a big play when he came on in relief to lead the win at Kentucky and again this past Saturday night on one that went for a touchdown to Mike Davis in the win over Tennessee.

As he learns more under Steve Spurrier he’ll obviously become even more refined and a better decision maker. I’m still not certain if he’ll be able to scramble away from the better and faster SEC defenses but his mobility is well above average.

It will indeed be a little strange for the first Clemson/Florida State game in a decade this Saturday that doesn’t have Bowdens on each sideline.

When you think about it maybe such an encounter this season, one which by the time the game arrived this weekend Tommy Bowden would probably have known his days with the Tigers would be numbered had he stayed on, was too much for the younger Bowden to put himself and his family through. He was under siege in 2003 when Clemson pulled off the stunning upset. He’s likely relieved that such he’s not part of such drama this time. And he won’t be anywhere near the action, either. He told reporters recently that he plans to go watch his alma mater West Virginia play this weekend.

I do think that this game and the one with South Carolina, combined with the win at Boston College, will be the true litmus tests for Dabo Swinney’s long-term survival in his current job.

A victory this Saturday not only keeps whatever sliver of hope exists to still win the ACC Atlantic (depending on what else happens with Wake and Maryland) as well as keeping some hope for a bowl bid, but it also shows that he was able to not only motivate a team in consecutive weeks to win on the road but that he was again able to come up with a decent offensive strategy against one of the college game’s great defensive coordinators, Mickey Andrews, a former Clemson assistant in his own right.

Interestingly, Florida State has never lost four straight games to an ACC opponent. Clemson will attempt to achieve that on Saturday.

I’ve covered many state championship games over the years but the past two weekends in Spartanburg have had such atmospheres for regular season games. The first was in Dorman’s upset of Byrnes.

Last Friday, Boiling Springs achieved arguably the biggest win in its program’s history when it defeated Spartanburg for the first time in their 29 meetings. They’d come close before and finally got over the hump. As the final seconds ticked off, the Bulldogs ran on the field behind their head coach with an enthusiasm that the school had rarely experienced in its football history.

In Bruce Clark’s first season in charge he not only got his team to believe it could win this game, but many others. They’re 8-2 going into Friday’s game against Byrnes. They probably should have been considered the favorite in their match-up with the Vikings, who are now 5-5.

That they would have any confidence at all going into this week’s match-up with the Rebels says a lot about how much they’ve come along this season. A year ago, Byrnes put more than 60 points on them.

Just one year later, the Bulldogs will actually travel to Nixon Field confident they can at least hang around against the machine that is Byrnes and that tells you that Clark has accomplished some incredible things in a short period of time.