There’s a scene in the movie “Friday Night Lights” where Billy Bob Thornton (head coach) and his wife come home from a disappointing loss to find numerous “for sale” signs in the yard.  Certainly we all assume that they understand the magnitude of coaching high school football in a Texas town.  ANd what happens next?  Thornton leads the team all the way to the state title game.  The same situation is going on in Clemson, South Carolina.  The only difference is the coach of the Tigers can’t seem to get motivated by the for sale signs and get his team going.

I stated in a previous blog that this past weekend’s matchup with Maryland was more important than many Tiger fans were willing to realize.  The last time Maryland came to Death Valley, they walked out with a one-point win in a dismal game in which the Tigers didn’t even score a touchdown.  But last year, Clemson drilled Maryland in College Park, and certainly felt no reason why they couldn’t repeat that offensive domination again in this year’s meeting.  Boy were they (and many Tiger fans) wrong.

 

Failing to score at all in the second half, Clemson lost to Maryland 20-17 Saturday.  The game started with all the making of a Clemson blowout.  The running game was working to near perfection, with James Davis and C.J. Spiller both gaining near 100 yards in the first half.  They key though was a muffed punt return by Jacoby Ford and a batted backward pass from Cullen Harper that turned into a fumble recovery for Maryland.  Both of those turnovers only accounted for two Terps field goals, but really one was all they needed.

 

By far the play of the day was when Maryland ran a double-reverse pushing wideout Darrius Heyward-Bay to the left side for a 76 yard run to the Clemson 4, which set up a Maryland TD pass to get them within 4, 17-13.  It was the longest run a Clemson defense has given up in 8 years.

 

The bigger problem may be that the offense failed to show up in the second half for the Tigers.  For that, I blame the coaching.  Spiller and Davis ran lights out in the first half, yet hardly touched the ball in the second half.  Davis had 6 second half carries, while Spiller had 4.  Why in the world does this team not use their stud RBs more on a regular basis?  I understand the need to balance things out, and yes, you’ve got a great receiving corps and a decent quarterback.  Still, let the stars carry you during a tight game. 

 

So now, it’s back to the drawing board.  Clemson gets a week and a half off before a tough Thursday night game at Wake Forest.  It’s safe to say that will be a must-win game.  Clemson has yet to play a complete game against a Division I opponent this year.  They got drilled by Alabama, played sloppy in a win over NC State, and got shut down by Maryland.  Something has to give.  This team was a preseason top ten.  There’s a reason that in the latest top 25 poll Clemson didn’t get a single vote.  Maybe people are starting to see what Tiger fans have been seeing for years: great talent means nothing when there’s not good coaching.