Clemson regroups under new coach Swinney

Scattershooting around the ACC, while saying farewell to Clemson’s Tommy Bowden, who got the axe from his school on Monday morning ...

This has been a bittersweet week for Bowden’s replacement, Dabo Swinney, who was named interim coach amidst all the chaos in the Tigers’ program.

Swinney said during Wednesday’s ACC coaches teleconference that it had been an emotional few days for him and the entire team. Bowden had coached Swinney at Alabama, then hired him at Clemson and promoted him during his six years in Death Valley.

“He’s a friend and I love him dearly,” Swinney said of Bowden. “Coach Bowden has been incredibly supportive of me [since the firing]. “Now, it needs to be about these players, not Coach Bowden or myself. There’s a lot left on this table for this team.”

Clemson hosts Georgia Tech on Saturday, but all sorts of problems are swirling around the Tigers’ program. Offensive coordinator Rob Spence bailed out after Bowden’s firing, the remaining coaches have decided to stick with Bowden’s decision to change quarterbacks. Both of the Tigers’ starting offensive guards were injured against Wake Forest (although one of them may make it back Saturday) and running back C.J. Spiller is injured as well. Clemson will likely start its sixth different offensive line combination this season against the Yellow Jackets.

“There’s only so much you can do under the circumstances,” Swinney said. “We’re playing young guys up front. Monday was kind of a lost day. We’ve got all these things going on and I can’t even begin to tell you the chaos. Oh, and by the way, we have a pretty good football team coming in here Saturday to prepare for.”

QB controversy

That may be putting it mildly. Bowden had decided to bench starter, record holder and team captain Cullen Harper and replace him with Willy Korn, a highly-regarded redshirt freshman.

The move didn’t go over well with the team as evidenced by Harper and some of his teammates’ quotes supporting the firing of Bowden. However, has all this split the team?

Korn and Harper were reported to have walked past one another on the Clemson practice fields the night before the firing and neither spoke to the other, nor even glanced at one another.

“It’s not an easy situation to deal with,” said tight end Michael Palmer.

“I don’t know how to feel,” said senior tailback James Davis. “Chemistry-wise right now, it’s kind of really quiet. Nobody knows what to expect.”

Harper holds 22 school records, all set last season. But he hasn’t played as well this year and that’s why Swinney said he and his staff decided to stick with Korn for this week’s game.

“Hopefully he can create some plays with his legs,” Swinney said (Harper was sacked four times against Wake last Thursday). “I felt like it would be something to give this young man an opportunity. Sometimes you need to just try something different.”

Daddy’s not mad

Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, the father of Tommy Bowden, said he wasn’t mad at Clemson for firing his son.

“You might feel like [lashing out], but it’s the nature of the game these days,” the senior Bowden said. “When a coach gets the feeling he is stymied, that it’s not working, well, I think Tommy was wise enough to know that it would be best for Clemson if he stepped out.

“I have no hard feelings ... Tommy doesn’t either,” Bobby Bowden said. “It’s the nature of the game. They’ve (his sons) seen me when I should have been fired. They’ve seen me hanged in effigy [at West Virginia]. They know the pitfalls of the game. I didn’t encourage them to get into coaching. I didn’t want any of them to do it.”

The 78-year-old Seminoles coach did admit though, that it was a bit strange that he is the only Bowden still coaching.

Bobby’s son, Terry — the former Auburn coach— was fired several years ago. Another son, Jeff, was fired as Bobby’s offensive coordinator at Florida State two years ago, and now Tommy, axed after 10 years as Clemson’s coach.

“I’ve been telling them that for 20 years,” Bobby said. “They kept on predicting I’d be gone in two years. I told them, I’d ‘outlive you guys,’ and my statement came true.”

Bobby Bowden said Terry is itching to get back into football after a long time out of the game, and that he believes even though Tommy said he won’t coach again, that he’ll eventually change his mind.

“Let him sit around for about five or six months of fishing and he’ll get that bug again,” Bobby predicted. “It does seem strange, doesn’t it?”

What about Anne Bowden, the mother?

“Well, you didn’t mention her,” Bobby chuckled. “You know how mommas are ...”

Birthday Hokie

Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer has never coached on his birthday before, but he will on Saturday when his Hokies travel to Boston College.

Beamer will be celebrating his 62nd birthday.

Quote of the Week

Asked what makes Virginia’s 6-foot-6, 315-pound All-America offensive tackle candidate Eugene Monroe tick, linebacker Clint Sintim had this response:

“I don’t know ... food?”

Stat of the Week 1

Maryland is one of only five teams in the nation that has beaten two ranked teams this season, and Virginia has played three of those five (and beaten two of them): The Terps, East Carolina, Southern California, Alabama, and Vanderbilt.

Stat of the Week 2

Wake Forest has been held to just seven three-and-outs on offense in five games.

High Heels

How long has it been since North Carolina had a decent running game?

The Tar Heels used to be one of the top running teams in the country and always seemed to produce a solid tailback. Maybe sophomore Shaun Draughn will be the next one.

Draughn, from Tarboro, asked Coach Butch Davis in early summer to move him from safety to running back and Davis gave him a look. Draughn had caught the eye of former UNC tailback Kelvin Bryant, also a Tarboro native, with his performances in high school.

“[Bryant] was a big push for me to ask Coach Davis about playing running back,” Draughn said. “He watched me when I was in high school. He said, ‘You remind me of me.’”

Bryant is still No. 4 on the Heels’ all-time rushing list with 3,267 in the early ‘80s.

Against Notre Dame last week, Draughn rushed for 91 yards and had 109 against UConn the previous game, kind of stealing the thunder from starting tailback Greg Little, who had only five carries during those two games.

The older, the better

Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe, whose team is 4-1, has gotten plenty of acclaim for his redshirting policies. The Deacs have 33 fourth- or fifth-year players on this season’s squad.

Grobe believes the older, the better.

“It gives you a little better idea week-to-week how your players are going to perform,” Grobe said of the veteran team. “Younger players are more up and down and miss more practice time with injuries.”

Still, Grobe says you can’t live without the younger guys.

“No matter how veteran your football team is, you still have to rely on a good number of freshmen and sophomores, especially on special teams,” he said.

Short yardage ...

UNC’s star receiver and return man Brandon Tate, who suffered a season-ending knee injury against Notre Dame last Saturday, had successful surgery on both ligaments in his right knee on Wednesday. ... Jordan Steffy, who was Maryland’s starting quarterback to begin the season and suffered a fractured thumb, has been throwing in drills this week even though his right hand is taped. ... Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe said that kicker/punter Sam Swank probably won’t be available again this week. ... Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said that he’s concerned about Boston College’s defensive strength at the tackle spots and at middle linebacker, places his team traditionally likes to run: “That’s hard yardage in there,” he said. ... A new NCAA report on graduation rates pointed out that the ACC had graduated 72 percent of its football players in the most recent survey compared to only 60 percent by the SEC, which ranked 10th among all conferences in that category. One scribe suggested that perhaps the ACC is too smart for its own good ... Hmmm.

The picks

Last week: 4-1. To date: 40-15. Tonight: Florida State 33, N.C. State 20. Saturday: Georgia Tech 24, Clemson 17; Miami 36, Duke 21; Virginia Tech 27, Boston College 24; UPSET SPECIALS, Maryland 28, Wake Forest 24; Virginia 23, North Carolina 20.