2008 Woodie Awards
Buried in the 'valley'
Central allows 656 yards of total offense, suffers biggest loss in 10 years
By: Brian Manzullo
Issue date: 10/22/07 Section: Sports
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Clemson coach Tommy Bowden said the Chippewas just caught his team at a bad time.
Both of them were right.
The Tigers overcame an opening touchdown drive and an ensuing interception to beat Central 70-14 in front of 81,000 fans clad in orange at Memorial Stadium.
"We're not that much better than Central Michigan," Bowden said. "The open date really helped us. … We were able to prepare better and know what they were going to do."
Clemson was coming off a bye week, Bowden said, giving the team extra time to scout CMU after losing two consecutive games to Atlantic Coast Conference opponents.
The Tigers outgained CMU 656-292 in total yards, including 341-76 in rushing. Clemson averaged 7.5 yards per offensive play.
In addition, CMU committed four turnovers and three critical holding penalties that halted offensive drives.
"(Clemson) is a very good team - they strike early," said sophomore quarterback Dan LeFevour. "So, if we make mistakes like holding penalties, that's going to cost us."
The Tigers kept Central's offense off the field with their running back duo of James Davis (22 carries, 90 yards) and C. J. Spiller (15 carries, 96 yards). They combined to hold the ball for 35 minutes and 25 seconds in the game.
"Anytime you leave your defense on the field for an extended period of time, you see what happens," Jones said. "You see the results."
Starting right
CMU had difficulty starting fast against Kansas and Purdue earlier in the season.
It corrected that Saturday with a 13-play, 68-yard opening drive, capped by LeFevour's eight-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Duane Brooks.
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jayroddy
posted 10/22/07 @ 9:49 AM EST
Why schedule Georgia if you're going to blow off Clemson? You'll never have more than 15k fans at a home game if you only try to win MAC games. Mental note: All the nationally televised games (out-of-conference) this year have been more embarrasing than any performance in the past. (Continued…)
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