To win the ACC, the Wolfpack will have to get it done on the road. Three of its final four games, starting with this weekend’s noon showdown with the Tigers, will take place outside the friendly confines of Carter-Finley.
While the Pack has gotten off to a hot start this year (6-2 overall, 3-1 ACC), it has not fared well in recent battles with the Tigers (4-4, 2-3), dropping each of its past six Textile Bowls. After beating Florida State and BC for the first time since he arrived in 2007, Coach Tom O’Brien and Co. are looking to make it three wins over teams O’Brien did not defeat in his first three seasons.
While the Tigers, at 2-3 in conference play, have not gotten off to the start many expected them to, they have at least one big advantage for every home game, regardless of their record. Memorial Stadium, commonly known as “Death Valley,” is home to one of the loudest crowds in the nation, as bleacherreport.com recently rated it the No. 8
“Loudest College Football Stadium.”
“Clemson and Virginia Tech are the loudest venues that we have to go to,” O’Brien said. ”Other than our crowd, this is probably one of the loudest places to play in the conference. That’s also what makes it fun. Our kids like to play in that atmosphere and be part of that excitement.”
O’Brien said his team will look to build on a victory and start a
winning streak, especially since his team has gone 3-2 over the last five weeks, with each win followed by a loss.
“Inconsistency has been pretty apparent for us over the past few weeks,” O’Brien said. ”We win at Georgia Tech, than we can’t beat Virginia Tech. We win against Boston College, but can’t win at East Carolina. We have addressed it, and hopefully they will listen to us this week.”
Though Clemson will be without injured leading rusher Andre Ellington, the ACC leader in all-purpose yards, senior defensive end David Akinniyi still expects a smash-mouth attack from the Tigers.
“Clemson’s more of the type of offensive line that will just try to maul you and run the ball down your throat,” Akinniyi said. “I think it’s probably going to be one of the most physical games we’ve been in so far.”
The trip to Death Valley will also be a homecoming for freshman running back Mustafa Greene, who was born in Irmo, S.C., and was offered a scholarship by Clemson and a number of other schools coming out of high school.
“Mustafa [Greene] has grown because he has more experience now,” O’Brien said. ”He really hit the wall there before the break, which a lot of freshmen do, but he is one of the guys who really listens and used the break to his advantage.”
State is coming off of a big victory against Florida State (6-2, 4-1), but O’Brien knows the Pack is still a long way away from playing in the conference title game in Charlotte December 4. With championship implication’s picking up each week, O’Brien said his team is aware it has no margin for error.
“There is a lot on the line this week,” O’Brien said. “Certainly this is a big football game. Each and every week they just keep getting bigger, but that’s the exciting part about being in this situation and playing for what we are playing for.”
With the Pack’s sixth win of the year, the team became bowl eligible before November for the first time under O’Brien. But with a chance for a 10-win season still alive and well, redshirt junior tight end George Bryan said his team has his sights set on far loftier goals.
“We aren’t really concerned about being bowl eligible,” Bryan said.”We want to go to a bowl that really means something. The talk about going to the ACC championship game is buzzing around right now, but we have four more games to win. That is what we need to be thinking about.”
