2008 Week 1

The Alabama Crimson Tide traveled to Clemson today to face off with the Tigers at Memorial Stadium. The two teams were ranked #22 (Alabama) and #11 (Clemson) and it seemed this match up would be a fight to the death in the trenches. Dabo Swinney, Clemson's newly anointed Head Coach had other things in mind however. Clemson came out swinging and soon put the Tide into a 14-0 hole. Alabama would never recover.

Clemson's defense ruled the day, accounting for 14 points off of interception returns including a 102 yarder by Crezdon Butler. Not only did the secondary play its part, but the defensive line held their own, allowing only 19 rushing yards on the day. Bama's QB, John Parker Wilson, seemed to be overwhelmed the entire evening. Even though he was never sacked, he had to evade blitz after blitz and this no doubt played a part in the 3 interceptions he threw. He did, however, connect on an 80 yard TD strike to wide out Mike McCoy. This was the only time Alabama was allowed to score the entire game.

The Tiger offense seemed a little lackluster. There were no big plays on their side of the ball, but rather a grind it out offense was employed. This attack was headed by the dual threat of James Davis and C.J. Spiller in the backfield. Both rushed for 60 yards and they combined for 3 scores. Red shirt Senior Cullen Harper was miffed throughout the game, throwing for only 70 yards on 9 completions with no touchdowns. He did manage to give the ball away twice on interceptions though.

Overall it was an excellent first outing for Coach Swinney and the Tigers. In the weeks to come they will need to work on getting the ball to their backs more and letting Davis and Spiller make the plays. If they do decide to throw, Harper will need to be a lot more accurate and must settle down in the pocket. On defense, the Tigers need to keep up the good work. Putting pressure on the QB, bottling up the runs, and defending passes will lead to wins on the board.