Clemson may strike first

Internet rumors are rampant that Clemson is interested in Oklahoma's assistant coaches, especially defensive coordinator Brent Venables, to replace Tommy Bowden.

There have been photos published of Clemson athletic director Terry Don Phillips visiting Oklahoma this week, and one sign pointing to Venables is he missed an interview session.

So who is Brent Venables?

He has been on the OU staff since 1999, most recently as the Associate Head Coach and Co-Defensive Coordinator since 2004. He was considered a finalist for the Arkansas job last year, as well as a finalist for the 2006 Broyles Award.

He played at Kansas State under coach Bill Snyder. He coached on Snyder's staff at K-State from 1993-98.

ACC Report

Special Report

Retired Coach Rick
ACC Correspondent

Everything is starting to fall into the right place (my predictions) for the ACC.

Florida State and Maryland are getting ready to battle it out for the Atlantic Division, while Virginia, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Miami battle it out on the Coastal side.

FSU could help everyone if it beat Georgia Tech. Virginia is the only surprise, but its bubble is about to burst. Wake Forest, Boston College and Virginia Tech have been overrated all year. Clemson was my original pick but that doesn't count because coach Tommy Bowden resigned. I thought he had bigger gonads. He gave up too quickly.

North Carolina State close but no cigar. No not even a cigarette. My dream now is for Duke to make it to a bowl game. Coach David Cutcliffe will be named the new head coach at Tennessee at the end of the year. Phil Fulmer is and has been a good coach for the University of Tennessee, but everything that happened to Johnny Majors is coming back around.

I am making my last prediction on the championship game in the ACC. I will not mention it after this until we definitely know the opponents. FSU vs. UNC. The winner will be the team with the most points.

ACC Report

Special Report

Retired Coach Rick
ACC Correspondent

Miami and Florida State lived up to my prediction. North Carolina was a disappointment, but not real big. They had won a big one the week before and Coach Butch hasn't had the chance to teach them how to get ready for a game after a big win. Next year they will be ready. The UM quarterbacks are handling their situation very well.

Virginia Tech and Wake Forest are definitely overrated. Maryland did exactly what I thought they would-- WIN-- becausethey are one of the better coached teams in the ACC.

Boston College has been the biggest surprise. They are starting to get in my vision. The new coach at Clemson is a Tommy Bowden look-a-like on the sidelines. I don't care who the next coach is they will be the same. All potential and no substance.

The Duke story was fun while it lasted, but a little reality is hitting now. Georgia Tech is better than I thought they would be. The Jackets could be in the conference championship game. The University of Virgina might be the best college team in the state of Virginia. Sorry VT fans.

North Carolina State will always be the tough luck team in this conference. I am picking Georgia Tech to win the Coastal Division and Maryland to win the Atlantic Division. Maryland will win the championship. FSU is my sleeper.

The ACC has the best collection of head coaches in the country. They will win the BCS within the next five years.

Dr. Lou sath ETHPN ith hiring

Someday, if things go right, I'll be able to quit my job in the middle of the busiest time of the year and collect a $3.5 million severance.


Bowden was 72-45 at Clemson and 42-32 in ACC play. Which, let's face it, ain't exactly like playing the Steel Curtain week in, week out.

Of course, Clemson players were distraught with the decision and demanded Bowden return. Or, umm, maybe not.

Quarterback Cullen Harper, who had just been told he was getting demoted, was ready to pounce on Bowden's barely rotting corpse.

"I'd call it karma," he said. "I thought it needed to be done. I think anytime a head coach or someone in a leadership position starts to place blame on his coaches and players, it weakens their respect on the team. His past experiences have shown he's done that."

Awesome. Three Bowdens down (i'm assuming Jeff is working at a car wash somewhere), one very old one to go.

Bowden's teams were notoriously neurotic. It peaked this year with a No. 9 preseason ranking and lots of big talk, only to get smacked by Bama in the opener. Typical. Some weeks Bowden's teams look they invented the game. Other weeks, it looked as if they'd never seen a football.

Now, talk turns to who is next for the Tigers. Lane Kiffin's name is already coming up as is Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. Other big, pie-in-the-sky, your-school-just-isn't-that-big-of-a-deal names include Butch Davis and Rich Rodriguez.

Whoever takes the job should be very, very wary. Clemson is fool's gold. They've got a fan base who thinks quite a bit more of this school's potential than history would agree with. That's a dangerous combination.

I hear Danny Ford's available.

Clemson at Wake Forest

Okay, I've been sort of paying attention to this game. A few points:

- Clemson is really poor at tackling in space. They've got big, athletic kids who get to the right spot at the right time and then miss the tackle. It's no secret they were better in the red zone. Less chance to miss. Wake only has 12 points, but they moved the ball up and down the field with out much problem.

- With 4:26 left, trailing 12-7 and out of timeouts, Tommy Bowden went for a 4th and 17 on their own 25 and got it. ESPN's announcer Chris Fowler questioned the call, but color analyst Craig James gave some spiel about the season being on the line, blah, blah, blah. of course they failed to mention that Wake's backup kicker has already missed twice and even if he does make a field goal, Clemson is only down eight points. Certainly giving up a TD would put the game out of reach, but so would have punting the ball and giving up two first downs. Clemson didn't make it's second attempt at a long fourth down.

- Wake's offense is fun to watch with all the misdirection. I'm not sure why this doesn't work better at WVU with Pat White. Seems to be a fairly complex blocking scheme, maybe WVU just hasn't picked it up yet.

- That's three losses for Clemson after beginning the year ranked #9. What does Tommy Bowden have to do to get fired? I think a couple more losses might do it.

- Final score: Wake Forest 12, Clemson 7. That's the second win this year where Wake scored 12 points.

- the ACC is just a weird conference. one game we haven't talked about was Virginia's 31-0 win over Maryland last week. How in the hell did that happen? Virginia is God-awful and Maryland has been rolling. The ACC may not be good football this year, but it's interesting.