2008 Week 2

Another Saturday in the fall and another win for the Clemson Tigers. Facing off today against the Aggies from Texas A&M, the Tigers were heavily favored to win the ball game and boy did they ever deliver. It seemed like it might be a long afternoon when the Aggies jumped out to a 10-0 lead thanks to a FG and an interception return on a careless pass by Cullen Harper, but the Tigers jumped right back in the mix with 14 unanswered points. Extraordinarily, both of those scores came from Jacoby Ford and the return game. He first found a seam and returned a kickoff 103 yards and then, after a stalled drive by A&M, he fielded a punt and made a couple moves to break off a 56 yard TD return. After this, Clemson never looked back. Scoring 30 points in the final 3 quarters while holding the Aggies to only 8 more.

The Aggie offense looked good in the first half, reeling off several big plays both passing and rushing. They never could turn their drives into points though, and they suffered greatly because of it. It seemed like the defense had a chance after the returned interception in the first, but this soon changed as well. Texas A&M bowed under the pressure and started giving up yardage to the powerful running game of Clemson. A big blow came to the Aggies came when their star QB, Stephen McGee got hurt midway through the 3rd. The backup came in, but was only able to muster one scoring drive. McGee was diagnosed with an ACL sprain and is rumored to be out 3 weeks.

The Clemson defense rolled for a second straight game, yet again holding the opposing rushing attack under 100 yards. The defensive line did a great job containing both the running backs and the quarterback, combining for 19 tackles and 3 sacks in the game. The secondary had their backs, contributing 2 interceptions, a sack and a touchdown. The Tiger's offense seemed lackluster for the second straight game as Cullen Harper only passed for 115 yards on 9 attempts. Yet again he managed to throw an interception, and this time the defense turned it into a touchdown. The running game was solid yet again, with Davis and Spiller combining for 118 yards and 2 scores. This game, however, was decided on the special teams front. Jacoby Ford had 248 all purpose yards on 5 return attempts and 2 touchdowns.

The Tiger squad looked great in their thrashing of Texas A&M, but several glaring problems need to be addressed. The main problem is Cullen Harper's tendency to turn the ball over. He has had 3 interceptions in the last 2 games and, if left unchecked, this problem could prove to be deadly for Clemson. Still on the same passing note, it seems that Clemson doesn't utilize their WRs very often in the game. This could prove harmful later when defenses start scheming to stop the run and not worry about the pass. Harper needs to be straightened out so Clemson can get their passing game back on track.