Three-and-three. That's the combined record of Clemson and Georgia Tech, the two teams meeting in this week's ACC game of the week. Clemson is 2-1, with its two victories coming at home against Middle Tennessee State and Furman, hardly the peak of Division I athletics. And the one loss? A 30-0 opening-weekend thrashing at the hands of Georgia.
On the opposite side, Georgia Tech is 1-2, with its biggest accomplishment of the season coming not from that sole victory, but in the form of a moral victory against Florida State. The Yellow Jackets led the whole way until FSU stormed back to steal the game in the fourth quarter, 14-13.
Tech's only victory that counts in any tangible way came against Auburn in the second week of the season. That victory, however, carries less and less weight as Auburn has failed to live up to its preseason hype. The Tigers started the season as the No. 6 team in the nation but have since fallen out of the top 25 and off the national radar.
And so the scene is set for Clemson-Georgia Tech 2003.
The hosting Yellow Jackets will enter as the 4 1/2-point favorite and are anchored by a defense that is ranked 22nd in the nation in total defense. Against Auburn, Tech held the Tigers to 40 yards rushing and kept them out of the end zone. The next week against FSU, the Tech defense limited the Seminoles to 26 yards of total offense in the first half.
"Defensively, they're really playing at a high level of intensity," Clemson coach Tommy Bowden said Tuesday. "Even though they won the Auburn game and lost the Florida State game, I think they played better defensively against Florida State than they did against Auburn."
Georgia Tech's defense will provide the first test for Clemson's offense since the Tiger's loss to Georgia. Georgia shut down Clemson, allowing only 199 total yards, but since then, the offense has found its rhythm. The Tigers put up 28 points and 425 yards of offense on Furman and followed that with 37 points and 481 yards against Middle Tennessee State.
The bullets will come faster this week against Georgia Tech, Bowden said.
While Tech dominated FSU's offense in the first half of last week's game, the Yellow Jackets wilted in the second half, allowing 225 yards and two fourth quarter touchdowns. The defense's lack of depth concerns Tech coach Chan Gailey.
"I think it will always be a problem, unless we do like we did in the first half of the FSU game and play 16 people on defense," said Gailey. "The second thing we can do is try and develop some depth at some point by playing more people."
Play on the other side of the ball for Tech has been a different story, however. The Yellow Jackets average only 244 yards of offense and have scored only three offensive touchdowns for the season.
Gailey said the offense is nowhere close to where he wants it to be. "Our offense has played in spurts very well, at times," he said. "But we are not close to where we need to be in some areas, and it will take time."
Let the battle of mediocrity begin.
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