Football | Poll accuracy worries Tigers
PINEHURST, N.C. — On one hand, coach Tommy Bowden found solace in the fact Wake Forest won the ACC title last year after being predicted to finish last in its division.
The bad news was the ACC media accurately pegged the Tigers for second place.
And for an upcoming season that could determine Bowden’s future with the program, Clemson is slotted to do worse.
In a poll of 83 voters at the ACC’s media kickoff, the Tigers were picked to finish third behind Florida State and Boston College in the Atlantic Division, the league announced Monday.
The Tigers received 332 points, just seven ahead of defending champ Wake Forest, which actually received 13 first-place votes to Clemson’s eight.
As expected, Virginia Tech was overwhelming selected as the favorite to claim the Coastal Division as well as the ACC championship game title.
Bowden spent most of his 1½-hour session with print reporters answering questions related to his future at Clemson.
He recalled that former Texas Tech coach Spike Dykes once said a coach loses 10 percent of his fan base support each year.
“We just set a record for ticket sales, so I have bunch of people who don’t like me — most in Clemson history,” Bowden said.
Ground rules. New Miami coach Randy Shannon has already allowed some flexibility in his attempt to crack down on the team’s discipline problems.
Shannon has instituted three major rules: 1) any player caught with a firearm will be automatically dismissed from the team; 2) if a player’s cell phone rings during a team function, every player at that function will have his phone taken away for two weeks; and 3) if Shannon receives a phone call about a player after midnight, the player is suspended for the next game.
Freshman tailback Graig Cooper recently telephoned Shannon at 11 p.m. to ask if he could go bowling. Graig Cooper then called again at 1 a.m. to inform Shannon he had returned home.
“We can settle a lot of problems this way,” Shannon said. “Guys are buying into it.”
Peeking ahead. For the third consecutive year, the Tigers could wind up playing at least eight freshmen because of depth and upgraded talent.
But with potentially 18 returning starters and 53 lettermen in 2008, Bowden said the immediate dipping into Clemson’s top-25 recruiting hauls should be coming to an end.
Asked if that were all the more reason he is hoping to survive this season, Bowden laughed and said, “I wouldn’t dare say that,” then displayed crossed fingers on both hands.
Extra points. Bowden, on appearing on a SI.com list as one of the nation’s five worst coaches: “I always wanted to be in SI, so I’m in there.” ... Upon his return to Clemson from the media kickoff, Bowden planned to call the family of former defensive back Charles Harper (1999-2002), who was shot and killed outside a Tallahassee, Fla., nightclub Friday night. ... Bowden said he had expected both offensive coordinator Rob Spence and receivers coach Dabo Swinney to bolt for higher-paying jobs at Minnesota and Alabama, respectively, but their returns could only signify the direction of Clemson’s program.
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