Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Should I be excited about the Clemson-NC St. game?

Confession: I watch Clemson games intensely in the hopes the Tigers will lose. The bigger they lose, the more I enjoy it.
But in Saturday's game, I feel the Wolfpack is so pathetically weak, it would be hard even for even Clemson to lose vs NC. St.
Still, the Wolfpack is capable of beating Clemson because the Tigers have shown very little in the way of power.
So as it is in the Tommy Bowden era, patsies on the Tiger schedule become monumental contests that grip Tiger-nation along with its multitude of adversaries.
And if Tommy can beat the Pack, expect a cascade of accolades from media sources like The State newspaper. The media will play it straight, hardly mentioning the feeble nature of the current Wolfpack squad.
But, as one who devours even the slightest morsel of hope that NC St. can win, I also know the odds are against me and the Pack.
If Tommy gets any credit, it's because he is able to schedule the most pathetically weak jokes in college football out of conference, and then his "big" games are versus the ACC.
BUT: if he slips, the consequences will be sizable. He will be crushed out of state and you can expect it to unravel at break-neck speed up there.
Yes, The State newspaper's Paul Strelow will make excuses. Expect him to build the Pack into some sort of up-and-coming national power, but the rest of the sports world will recoil with disgust that comes with a pretender coach who continually cowers from legitimate D-1 football games.
That being said: the hope for a Clemson loss is why the match-up is compelling for me.
Of course I know that Tommy has become an expert at winning against this miserable level of competition, and ACC fans actually BUY tickets to see it...and they will treat the win as an accomplishment.
And Tommy has laughed all the way to the bank for years while it has happened...

No comments: