Sports

Media taps Tigers as preseason pick to win ACC

Scott Chancey

GREENSBORO — It was an awkward moment for Florida State coach Bobby Bowden.

On Monday, his Seminoles were not picked to at least win their Atlantic Coast Conference division for the first time since they joined in 1991. His team, which has won 12 overall conference crowns, including 10 outright (they shared with Virginia in 1995 and Georgia Tech in 1998), was instead picked third in the ACC Atlantic Division at the ACC Football Kickoff, receiving only one first-place vote.

The Bowden name, however, would remain at the top.

Except this time it was associated with the Clemson Tigers, who are coached by his son, Tommy.

The ACC media not only picked Clemson to win the division, but also the conference title game against Virginia Tech, receiving 59 of the possible 65 first-place votes.

“I’ll be very happy for him if he wins every game but one,” the elder Bowden joked, referring to the Nov. 8 game his Seminoles will play against his son’s Tigers at Doak Campbell Stadium.

Georgia Tech, under first-year coach Paul Johnson, was picked to finish fourth in the Coastal and received one first-place vote.

“I’m surprised we didn’t get more first-place votes,” Johnson said, tongue in cheek. “I don’t pay any attention to that stuff.”

The preseason pick of Clemson is the first times it’s happened since 1991 when, coincidentally, the Tigers went on to win their last ACC crown.

“This is the first time we have been the preseason favorite since I have been at Clemson,” said Bowden, who took over at Clemson in 1999. (My) father usually carries that burden.”

Tommy Bowden, in recent years, had carried another type of preseason burden: his job security. Hounded in recent years for his team not living up to high expectations, the Tigers would have reached last year’s conference title game had they not lost against Boston College at home.

It was an improvement, and now the expectations are even bigger for when Clemson opens the season against Alabama on Aug. 30 in the Georgia Dome.

Bolstered by arguably one of college football’s best running back tandems, C.J. Spiller (768 yards, three touchdowns in 2007) and James Davis (1,064 yards, 10 touchdowns), the maturation of quarterbackCullen Harper (2,991 yards, 27 touchdowns) might have the Tigers looking to playing in the national championship game Jan. 8.

Tommy Bowden has not received any fatherly advice about how to handle the situation — and for good reason.

“He hasn’t given me any because we had not been ranked preseason No. 1 in the conference before,” Tommy laughed.

Hokies coach Frank Beamer, whose team lost five starters on defense and four on offense, was especially surprised about his team’s preseason pick, considering the changes in player personnel.

“We play a lot of our tough games at the other teams’ places, so I’m not excited about that either,” Beamer joked. “We lost a lot of good players, but this speaks a lot about our program. I just hope (the media) knows what they are talking about.”

REESE MOVED TO SLOT

Former Deerfield-Windsor star and 2006 Herald Dynamite Dozen player Paul Reese has been moved, according to Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson, fromreceiver to slot back after joining the team in 2007 as a walk-on.

“He came out in the spring, and he’s been working hard,” Johnson said.

Johnson said, considering that Reese is a red-shirt freshman, he has plenty of time to prove himself worthy of maybe one day making a big impact on the team, maybe even as a scholarship player.

“For him to do that he’ll have to be in the rotation as a player, and he’s still got that in front of him,” Johnson said. “He’s still a young kid, he has time.”

NEEDS SOMETHING SPECIAL

North Carolina went 4-8 last year but lost six games by seven or fewer points.

Second-year coach Butch Davis, who has won a Super Bowl as a Dallas Cowboys assistant and a national title as a University of Miami assistant, feels special teams can be the difference between going 4-8 and perhaps a good-enough record to return the Tar Heels to their first bowl game since the 2004 Continental Tire Bowl.

“Special teams played a big part, we just didn’t dominate in that area like we should have,” Davis said. “And also, last year we had only four seniors who played. We need more senior leadership.”

QUARTERBACK U?

Now that David Cutcliffe is Duke’s coach, interest from prep signal-callers around the country has increased.

Cutcliffe, who was offensive coordinator at Tennessee while grooming Peyton Manning and was coach at Mississippi while tutoring his younger brother, Eli, has quite the Super Bowl résumé of late.

Eli Manning was this year’s Super Bowl MVP with the champion New York Giants, and Peyton Manning was the previous year’s Super Bowl MVP with the champion Indianapolis Colts.

“It doesn’t hurt,” Cutcliffe laughed. “All the potential recruits are very aware of the relation. I don’t know what the exact percentage of interest in how it has gone up, but whoever plays quarterback in high school (are) now likely interested in us.”

More Sports>>