November 19, 2009

Steve Megargee
Rivals.com College Football Staff Writer

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Or it might be irrelevant.

If North Carolina wins at Boston College on Saturday, Clemson already will have clinched its first ACC Atlantic Division title by the time its game kicks off. If BC wins, Clemson would need to beat Virginia to earn a ticket to the ACC championship game Dec. 5 against Georgia Tech at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium.

A Boston College victory and a Clemson loss Saturday would put the Eagles in position to capture their third consecutive Atlantic Division crown; a win at Maryland next week then would clinch it.

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney doesn't necessarily want his players to know the result of the Boston College-North Carolina game, but he knows it's an exercise in futility. Even if Clemson didn't put the result on the scoreboard or announce the final score on the stadium loudspeaker, the Tigers will find out what happened one way or another.

"In the world we live in nowadays, if somebody sneezes in California, you hear about it in Alabama," Swinney said. "That's just the way it is."

Swinney doesn't believe the Tigers' likely knowledge of the outcome will affect the way they play against Virginia. Clemson's focus during its five-game winning streak indicates the Tigers may have kicked this program's recent habit of coming up small in big situations.

Clemson has played solid defense all season and leads the nation with 20 interceptions, while the offense has shown remarkable improvement during the Tigers' second-half surge.

The Tigers averaged 24 points per game while getting off to a 2-3 start. They have scored at least 38 points in each of their past five games.

Clemson has done a better job of getting the ball in the hands of Heisman candidate C.J. Spiller, the ACC career leader in all-purpose yardage. Spiller threw a touchdown pass, ran for a touchdown and caught a touchdown pass last week in a 43-23 victory at North Carolina State.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Kyle Parker also has come on strong lately. Parker threw five touchdowns and five interceptions in Clemson's first five games. During the Tigers' winning streak, he has thrown 11 touchdown passes and four interceptions.

"Early in the season, [Parker's] skills were apparent, but clearly he was a player who hadn't had to make those decisions under the speed of ACC competition," Virginia coach Al Groh said. "Now that he's 10 games into the season, he's really doing a terrific job with it. They have some remarkable playmakers, and he's very tuned into getting the ball to those playmakers."

Clemson should have enough playmakers to beat a Virginia team that has lost four in a row. Perhaps the biggest hurdle facing the Tigers this week is a potential lack of focus if they're too distracted by what's going on at Chestnut Hill. Swinney believes his team is mature enough to avoid thinking too much about what it can't control.

"We won't have the TV going in our locker room or anything like that," Swinney said. "We have a [pregame] routine that we go through. I'm sure their game will be over when we're kicking off, but it really doesn't matter. That's never been a focus of ours, sitting around and worrying about somebody else. We have a job to do. Our job is to prepare and to go play our best football game. That's really all that matters to us.

"As far as knowing, I'm sure people will be chattering one way or another, but it doesn't affect how we're going to play at all."

BEST MATCHUP: Boston College WR Rich Gunnell vs. North Carolina CB Kendric Burney. BC's game with North Carolina pits one of the ACC's top receivers against the conference's hottest cornerback. Gunnell has caught 21 passes for 388 yards over the Eagles' past three games. He enters Saturday's game with 43 catches - 20 more than any of his teammates. Gunnell figures to spend at least part of the game lining up against Burney, who picked off three passes last Saturday in a 33-24 victory over Miami. Burney set an ACC record against Miami with 170 yards in interception returns. That included a 77-yard touchdown and a 90-yard touchdown, though he actually lateraled the ball to teammate Mike Williams on the 90-yard score. Boston College probably needs at least five catches from Gunnell - and none from Burney - to have a shot at winning the game.

PLAYER ON THE SPOT: Miami QB Jacory Harris. This sophomore was billed as a Heisman contender after leading Miami to victories over Florida State and Georgia Tech in the first two games of the season, but he has become increasingly interception-prone as the season has progressed. Harris has thrown 16 interceptions this season and was picked off four times against North Carolina last week. Harris has thrown a combined eight interceptions and three touchdown passes in Miami's three losses this season. Harris could develop into the next great Miami quarterback, but he must work on reducing his interception total down the stretch as he attempts to build momentum for the 2010 season. His job could prove even tougher this week. Harris injured a finger on his throwing hand during the North Carolina game. He was wearing a temporary cast early this week, though it was removed in time for Tuesday's practice.

NUMBERS GAME: Clemson running back C.J. Spiller has gained an ACC-record 6,860 all-purpose yards and is on the verge of becoming the fifth FBS player in history to reach the 7,000-yard mark. Leading the list is current Western Michigan RB Brandon West, who set the career record last week and now has 7,626 yards. The other members of the 7,000-yard club are Memphis' DeAngelo Williams (7,573 from 2002-05), Texas' Ricky Williams (7,206 from 1995-98) and Navy's Napoleon McCallum (7,172 from 1981-85). Tennessee Titans running back Chris Johnson fell 7 yards shy of the mark during his East Carolina career.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING:

"God was in a real good mood when he made C.J. Spiller. That's how he got to be who he is. He's just gifted. He's got everything that you could possibly want if you're going to create a football player. He's fast. He's explosive. He's quick. He's strong and powerful. He's tough. He has a great work ethic. He has great character. He's humble. He's just all these great things rolled into one." - Clemson coach Dabo Swinney.

"I blame everything on me. I've got to make things happen. I made the wrong read on a couple of throws. Without me making mental mistakes, we wouldn't be in this situation." - Miami QB Jacory Harris, to The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post after throwing four interceptions in a 33-24 loss to North Carolina

"I'm beat. My mom is going to be mad at me because when we go to dinner, I probably won't say two words." - North Carolina CB Kendric Burney, discussing his exhaustion with CarolinaBlue.com after picking off three passes against Miami. Burney set an ACC single-game record with 170 yards in interception returns

"As long as we're breathing, we've got something to play for. One another, first and foremost, more than anything else. Anything else, anything outside of the team, it doesn't matter right now. But we all have one another to play for." - North Carolina State DE Willie Young, to The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer about how the Wolfpack will find incentive now that they are out of bowl contention

"I am coming out in everything new. The whole team is going to be swagged out. We are going to look swagged out, and we are going to play swagged out." - Florida State DT Jacobbi McDaniel, to Warchant.com about the Seminoles' uniforms Saturday against Maryland. The Seminoles will wear black helmets and all-garnet uniforms supplied by Nike. The uniform design also includes a feather on the side of the pant legs

"I want to apologize to that officiating staff. I kind of lost it a little bit. You guys are just doing your job. I should have done my job a little better." - Virginia QB Jameel Sewell, to The Roanoke (Va.) Times. Sewell got angry Saturday about where the officials spotted the ball on his fourth-and-1 run on the Cavaliers' final offensive play of a 14-10 loss to Boston College. The ball was marked just short of the first-down marker at BC's 11

ETC.: Maryland RB Da'Rel Scott could return to action this week after missing five games with a broken wrist. Scott earned All-ACC honors and rushed for 1,133 yards last season. Maryland QB Chris Turner remains out with a knee injury. ... Florida State G Rodney Hudson's status for the Maryland game is uncertain because he has a sprained knee ligament. ... Virginia Tech's 2012 game with Cincinnati has been moved to FedEx Field in Landover, Md. The game originally was scheduled for Cincinnati's Nippert Stadium. ... Georgia Tech C Sean Bedford suffered an ankle injury against Duke last week, which leaves his status uncertain for the Nov. 28 game against Georgia. ... Boston College's second-quarter touchdown Saturday at Virginia marked the first time the Eagles had scored in the first three quarters of an ACC road game this season. ... North Carolina K Casey Barth made four field goals against Miami last week, but he wasn't the only productive kicker in his family that weekend. Barth's older brother, former North Carolina K Connor Barth, made three field goals - all from at least 50 yards away - in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 23-20 loss to the Miami Dolphins. ... ACC teams have topped the 40-point mark in a game 28 times this season, which sets a record. The previous record was set in 1999, when ACC teams broke the 40-point barrier 25 times. ... Virginia Tech RB Ryan Williams has rushed for 1,235 yards, which puts him 30 shy of the ACC freshman record set last season by teammate Darren Evans. Williams took over the starting job when Evans tore his anterior cruciate ligament before the season. ... Wake Forest has been knocked out of bowl contention, but the Demon Deacons still have at least something at stake in their Nov. 28 season finale against Duke. A victory over Duke would allow the 22 seniors on Wake's roster to end their careers as the winningest class in school history. A victory also would allow Wake Forest to finish the decade above .500. The Deacons currently own a 60-60 record since the start of the 2000 season. ... With two regular-season games remaining in his senior season, Duke QB Thaddeus Lewis is 239 yards away from Ben Bennett's school record of 9,614 passing yards. Lewis already owns the school's career records for touchdown passes (63), completions (829), pass attempts (1,425) and total offense (9,300).

Steve Megargee is a national writer for Rivals.com. He can be reached at smegargee@rivals.com.