20 December 2011
This year’s Clemson football season has really been historic! In a matter of months this team has experienced the highs, the lows, and the occasional 89 yard kickoff return that I’ll just categorize as AMAZING!
The Clemson Tigers and the West Virginia Mountaineers will be going head to head in the Discover Orange Bowl on January 4, 2012. The 9-3 Mountaineers are ranked number one in the Big East and 23rd in the NCAA. Clemson needs to be sure to take their A game, swag, and passion down to Miami in order to defeat this West Virginia team.
The Mountaineers’ season may be familiar to Tiger fans because it is somewhat similar to that of the Tigers. Both teams only lost three of their games. The Tigers and Mountaineers alike started off really well but began to unravel during that last few weeks of the season. West Virginia won its first three games, and they won six out of the first eight games by at least a touchdown. They lost one of their last four games, but the scores were within three points for the other games. Heavy hitters for this team are junior quarterback Geno Smith, freshman running back Dustin Garrison, and sophomore wide receiver Stedman Bailey. No doubt the Clemson defense will definitely be targeting these guys.
The overall results of the teams’ seasons were similar but the ways they played were on opposite ends of the spectrum. West Virginia is 7th in overall passing yards according to FBS rankings. That’s no surprise with Geno Smith having a 65% completion rate for the season. The 6-3 quarterback out of Miami almost always throws to the Mountaineers leading receiver Steadman Bailey who is also from Florida. He leads the team with 1,197 receiving yards. West Virginia’s leading rusher, Dustin Garrison, has 742 yards for the season. It is evident that passing contributes greatly to the points scored by West Virginia, while Clemson’s game play places more emphasis on rushing.
The Clemson Tigers are ranked at number 15 in the NCAA and are heading to the Orange Bowl after a 10-3 season. Clemson is ranked 21st in overall passing with quarterback Tajh Boyd completing 60.5% of all passes. Wide receiver Sammy Watkins is the leading receiver with 1,153 yards. He is also the only player on the team to be amongst the top three in receiving, rushing, and passing. He threw a pass during a play earlier in the season that he completed for nine yards. This is definitely one of the guys the Mountaineer defense should try to stop. This should be fairly interesting considering the fact that Watkins is friends with West Virginia defensive back Brodrick Jenkins. Both young men are from Ft. Myers, Florida. The picture on the right is Watkins during his high school career and a picture featuring Jenkins is below.
Running back Andre Ellington rushed for 1,062 yards this season, making him the number one rusher for the Tigers. Second string running back Mike Bellamy has been suspended from the team and will not be joining the team in Miami for the Orange Bowl. The loss of Bellamy may negatively affect the Tigers’ scoring, but with great defensive players like Brandon Thompson, Andre Branch, and Kourtnei Brown it’s going to be hard for the Mountaineers to put up points.
But if tragedy strikes and Boyd should suffer due to “swag reason” again, if Watkins is stopped by West Virginia’s defense, or if Ellington comes up short the Tigers should not fret. Kicker Chandler Catanzaro has an 80% completion rate making 20 out of 25 field goals this season. It was his 43 yard field goal kick in the last seconds of the Wake Forest game that knocked the Tigers over the top for the win, and ultimately won them the ACC Atlantic Division Title.
The Tigers and the Mountaineers have both had great seasons. Both teams began in September on a high note that went flat as the weeks went by. Neither Clemson nor West Virginia finished as strong as they started but even with the hardships each team only lost three games.
Clemson Head Coach has talked about taking his Clemson talents down to South Beach. But with the ups and downs of this football season it will be interesting to see just which group of Clemson Tigers shows up in Miami to face West Virginia.
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