| 04 January 2012
Surprisingly under the radar, considering it’s a BCS bowl game, the Discover Orange Bowl has the potential to be another high-scoring classic like the Fiesta and Rose Bowls. ACC champion Clemson makes it first-ever BCS bowl appearance and will face Big East champion West Virginia.
Like the Fiesta and Rose Bowls, the Sugar Bowl offers a matchup between two teams that are very similar to one another. Oregon and Wisconsin both like to run all over their opponents. Oklahoma State and Stanford featured balanced, prolific offenses with elite quarterbacks.
West Virginia and Clemson have high-scoring offenses, potent passing attacks, and shaky defenses.
Clemson was a surprise team this year, starting the season unranked with whispers that Dabo Swinney was on the hot seat. People began to take notice when the Tigers walloped defending national champion Auburn, defeated then-#11 Florida State, and then went into Blacksburg and trounced ACC perennial ACC heavyweight Virginia Tech in successive weeks.
Clemson won eight straight games and reached the top ten before losing to Georgia Tech. The Tigers stumbled down the stretch, losing three of their last four games before righting the ship in the ACC title game and crushing Virginia Tech for the second time this season. This year marked the first ACC title for Clemson in 20 years and was the school’s first 10-win season since 1990.
In a Big East that seemingly every team had a chance to win, West Virginia emerged as the champion. The Mountaineers had a tumultuous offseason in which Dana Holgorsen was brought in to be the team’s offensive coordinator and head-coach-in-waiting.
Allegations that Bill Stewart, the head coach at the time, tried to get reporters to dig up dirt on his replacement surfaced, and Stewart was forced to resign. The Mountaineers started the season 3-0 before losing a highly-anticipated night game to LSU.
West Virginia was 6-3 after a close loss to Louisville on November 5 but rallied to win its next three games by a combined seven points to clinch the Big East title.
Key matchup: West Virginia QB Geno Smith vs. Clemson’s defense
WVU QB Geno Smith (L) will have to contend with DE Andre Branch (Right, orange) and the Clemson pass rush
West Virginia’s Geno Smith is one of nation’s best quarterbacks but has been overshadowed by the likes of Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Matt Barkley, and Brandon Weeden. Smith has already set single-season school records for attempts, completions, and passing yards. He completed 65 percent of his passes for 3,978 yards with 25 touchdowns and only seven interceptions and orchestrated the nation’s seventh-best passing attack. He’ll need to be on top of his game since West Virginia struggles mightily to run the ball and will be going up against a Clemson defense that held ACC player of the year David Wilson to a meager 32 yards rushing. For Clemson, if they stop Smith, they win. West Virginia can’t run the ball, and the Mountaineers’ offensive line has struggled all season. If the Tigers’ defensive front can overwhelm West Virginia’s line, shut down the running game, and harass Smith so that he doesn’t have time to find his playmaking receivers, it will go a long way towards a Clemson victory.
Why you should watch: Well for one thing, Psych’s on hiatus, so there’s no television competition. This should be a high-scoring, entertaining affair between a couple of fairly evenly-matched teams. Both teams score about 33-34 points a game while giving up 26. It could be a back-and-forth game like the Fiesta and Rose Bowls were.
Playmakers abound on both sides. I’ve already covered Smith, but Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd completed 60.5 percent of his passes for 3,578 yards with 31 touchdowns and ten interceptions. Both quarterbacks have a bevy of talented weapons at their disposal. Smith will be looking for Stedman Bailey, who caught 67 passes for a school-record 1,197 yards and 11 touchdowns, and Tavon Austin, who caught 89 passes for 1,063 yards and averages 191.2 all-purpose yards a game. Austin is also one of the best return men in the country, averaging 26.5 yards a return. Boyd can counter with sensational All-American freshman receiver Sammy Watkins (77 receptions for 1,153 yards and 11 touchdowns) and All-American tight end and John Mackey Award winner Dwayne Allen (48 catches for 577 yards and 8 touchdowns, all Clemson school records).
If Boyd’s arm gets tired, he can always hand off to running back Andre Ellington (1,062 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns). Both teams should be motivated and excited to be here. Clemson is making its first appearance in a BCS bowl game while the Mountaineers are returning to the BCS for the first time since their memorable 48-28 upset of Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl in 2008.
Why you shouldn’t watch: Clemson may suffer from stage fright and come out tentative and tight in its first BCS bowl game. The Tigers won big in the ACC title game but had scuffled along before then, losing three-of-four after an 8-0 start. West Virginia didn’t really play anybody this year besides LSU, and Les Miles’ boys beat them by 26 points. This one could turn into a blowout if one team’s offense can’t keep up with its opponent’s.
Clemson figures to score early and often against an undersized and suspect West Virginia defense. Asking Smith to go blow-for-blow with the balanced Clemson attack may be asking too much, especially with no running game a suspect offensive line. On the flip side, West Virginia did torch LSU’s excellent secondary for almost 500 yards. If Smith and his receivers have a big day, can Boyd and Co. keep up? The Mountaineers use a unique 3-3-5 scheme that Clemson isn’t used to seeing. If they can get consistent pressure on Boyd, they can slow down Clemson.
Prediction: I’m expecting this one to be a shootout. It very well could come down to the wire or even overtime a la Wisconsin-Oregon and Oklahoma State-Stanford. In the end, though, Clemson is just too balanced and has too many weapons. Smith will give a valiant effort, but it won’t be enough. Clemson wins a close one, provided it doesn’t succumb to the pressures of performing on the big stage.
