UK Football Preview: Clemson Tigers

by Paul Jordan

2009 MUSIC CITY BOWL

12/27/2009 – LP FIELD, NASHVILLE, TN

8:30 PM EST – ESPN

CLEMSON TIGERS (8-5)

SERIES HISTORY:

UK LEADS 8-4

LAST MEETING:

2006 MUSIC CITY BOWL

UK 28 CLEMSON 20

The UK and Clemson football teams meet in a rematch of the 2006 Music City Bowl and in a way, this years bowl represents a “perfect circle” for both teams. The UK win in 2006 began a streak of three straight bowl wins for the Cats, while the loss set into motion three straight bowl losses for the Tigers. Neither team exactly had Nashville as their favorite holiday destination. Clemson came within a few points of a BCS bid while UK was a few play calls from a Florida Bowl possibly.

Clemson comes into this game favored by about a touchdown, but they were also favored in 2006. The big factor in this game will be which coach will have their team “up” for a “minor bowl” and which team can get off to a quick start. Let’s take a look at the Tigers.

OFFENSE

Clemson is led by QB Kyle Parker, who had a nice redshirt freshman season for the Tigers, passing for 2385 yards and 19 TD’s vs 12 INT’s. Parker is coming off a rough last game against Georgia Tech, going 10-17 for 91 yards and 2 INT’s. The big question about Parker is if the Wildcat’s are facing a “lame duck QB”. Parker is currently rated as the 71st best baseball prospect and there is speculation that he may end his brief football career to focus on baseball or be in position to sign a lucrative baseball contract this summer. Backup Willie Korn has only attempted 17 passes this year and has been sacked five times in limited play. By comparison, Parker has been sacked just 13 times on the year and he has 58 rushing attempts on the season.

Senior C.J. Spiller is the individual that is keeping UK’s defensive braintrust up at nights. Spiller can kill you in any way possible. He has 1145 yards rushing and 11 TD’s on the ground. He also has 33 catches for 445 TD’s and 4 receiving TD’s. He is also a big return threat, having returned 4 kickoffs and 1 punt for touchdown’s. If that’s not enough, Spiller also has one TD pass this season. Freshman Andre Ellington is a nice backup with a hefty 7.4 yards per carry average. Ellington has 4 TD’s rushing on the season, but is not as big a receiving threat as Spiller with just 12 receptions on the year. Jamie Harper is a short yardage back averaging 4.7 yards but a lot of that is courtesy of a 69 yard run.

Senior Jacoby Ford is the Tiger’s version of Randall Cobb. He has 735 yards receiving with 5 TD’s and is averaging 7 yards a carry on 17 rushes with two rushing TD’s. Ford has also completed two passes on the season. Ford is considered just as explosive a return specialist as Spiller is. Michael Palmer is a big (6’5) TE and is the Tiger’s second leading receiver. He averages over 11 yards a reception so it looks like he is the type of TE that can drag tacklers for a bit. Spiller is the third leading receiver, and then Xavier Dye is the next leading WR, but he has just 14 catches on the year and just two grabs in the last three games. He does appear pretty dangerous as three of those 14 receptions were for a TD and he averaged over 16 yards per reception.

DEFENSE

UK will probably need to keep the ball on the ground as much as possible since Clemson has a pair of bawl-hawking safeties. DeAndre McDaniel has had a breakout season for the Tigers with 8 picks, and 2 sacks on the season. Rashard Hall has 6 INT’s on the season for the Tigers so this can be a scary defense for any errant Morgan Newton throws. Ricky Sapp has great speed for a DE and he has been a terror for his career at Clemson. This year he has 15 tackles for a loss, with 5 sacks and 17 QB hurries.

As a whole, Clemson brings a pretty steady pass rush that sacks the QB about 2.5 times a game. Seeing that Clemson has the 11th best pass defense, once again, the opportunity for the Cats will have to be on the ground.

OUTLOOK

This is an interesting game as it has two groups of seniors looking to end their career with a W. UK’s seniors have a chance to cement their legacy with a fourth straight bowl, and the Tigers yet to taste the sweet nectar of a bowl win. Spiller vs Peters and Johnson is an interesting battle to watch and a healthy Lindley has a last chance to boost his bowl position. The biggest question is if Parker is looking at this as a lameduck game and has one foot in his baseball cleats already. The key of course is Spiller, but we already know Morgan Newton has a lot to play for. Just wondering if Clemson’s QB does as well.

UK needs to force a steady diet of Locke/Cobb/Russell at the Clemson defense and I still say Newton needs to pass for around 200 yards to keep the Clemson pass D honest. If Newton struggles and cannot his his receivers down the field, this can be a long, long game for UK.

On paper, this should be a solid Clemson win. Plus they have very hungry seniors. But all season long, UK has played tough for their games and displayed a sense of pride and fought back when previous teams have folded. As much as Clemson’s seniors want to win a bowl, UK’s seniors want to go out undefeated.

The Achille’s heel for Clemson is their run defense. In their past two losses, they have given up 222 yards to South Carolina and 333 yards to Georgia Tech. If Derrick Lock is seriously considering a run to the NFL, he will need a WOW type of game against this defense as he is currently rated as the 20th best RB prospect in the upcoming draft. Plus the Wildcats have the uncertainty as to whether Papaw Brooks will be back for next season. That certainly could be a rallying point for the Cats and it helps that there will be 40,000 Wildcat fans at the game. Going out on a limb, and drunk on the UK Kool-Aid, I pick UK to win 27-24.

Keep following www.http://wildcatbluenation.com for the best in Kentucky basketball and football news, rumors, and opinions. By Kentucky fans for Kentucky fans