Dabo's biggest wins

Since Saturday's big win over Georgia Tech, I've been pondering exactly where that victory falls on the list of Dabo Swinney's biggest in his 28-game tenure as head coach at Clemson.

It was a big win, no doubt. But it might take some time before we're able to put it into proper context.

If Georgia Tech ends up finishing 5-7 or 6-6 in a dramatic descent from last year's ACC title season, and Clemson ends up finishing 6-6 or 7-5, the win wouldn't be all that significant.

If the Tigers end up winning out and winning their division yet again, and follow it by bringing home their first ACC title since 1991, then we'd look back on last Saturday as a huge moment in that ascent.

This week's game at Boston College -- site of Swinney's first victory as a head coach -- provides a good opportunity to rank Swinney's biggest wins thus far.

Certainly, others will come up with a different pecking order than mine. I don't really think there's a right or wrong order, because strong arguments could be made for a number of combinations.

Here goes...

1. 27-21 at Boston College, 2008

Here's the logic: If Clemson does not pull this game out, does Swinney get the interim tag stripped from his title?

I suppose the Tigers could've gone on to reel off four consecutive victories, but the chances of that were not good at all with a trip to Florida State looming the next week.

Swinney suffered a 21-17 loss to Georgia Tech in his first game as interim coach, and an 0-2 start to his audition probably would've been too much to overcome.

Clemson went up 17-0 at halftime before watching Boston College reel off three touchdowns to take a 21-17 lead. The Tigers scored 10 points from there to seal the victory, and maybe the confidence gained from this experience helped them gut out a close win at Virginia three weeks later.

And don't forget all the heartache Boston College caused for Clemson the previous three years, winning all three meetings -- including that 20-17 gut punch at Death Valley the previous year with the Atlantic Division on the line.

As it happened, Boston College won four straight games thereafter and ended up playing in the ACC title game for the second consecutive year.

2. 40-37 in overtime at Miami, 2009

This one was about credibility outside the program, and Swinney gained it by knocking off the No. 8 Hurricanes in South Florida.

Not many pundits were giving Clemson much of a shot to beat Miami, which had started the season 5-1 with huge wins over Oklahoma, Florida State and Georgia Tech.

Clemson was coming off a total dismantling of Wake Forest the week before, but the Tigers were still 3-3 and weren't getting much respect.

On several occasions in this game, Miami seemed on the verge of turning it into a rout. But every time knee-buckling adversity struck, the Tigers responded.

3. 31-14 over South Carolina in Death Valley, 2008

Swinney was given the job for good a day after this butt-whipping, so I wouldn't argue with someone putting it at the top of the list.

But I think Terry Don Phillips would've gone with Swinney even had Clemson lost this game. The only thing, perhaps, that would've caused him to change course would've been a dominating Gamecocks win.

This was an impressive showing by Clemson, and to gain a full appreciation of it you have to take yourself back to the week of the game.

There was very little confidence from Clemson fans that their team would win this game. I don't think it'd be an exaggeration to say there was a sense of dread.

A lot of this stemmed from the Tigers' inability to run the ball. They'd rushed for 56 yards on 39 carries a week earlier at Virginia. They'd rushed for 21 agianst Wake Forest, 51 against Georgia Tech, 87 against Boston College, 79 against Florida State and a big, fat zero against Alabama.

How were they going to run the ball consistently against a team from the ESSSSS....EEEEEEEE.....SEEEEEEE?

They ended up smashing the Gamecocks up front and rushing for 184 yards on 47 carries.

In the waning moments, the fans chanted "Dabo! Dabo!" The interim coach was lifted onto the shoulders of his players and carried to midfield for the post-game handshake with Steve Spurrier.

And Terry Don knew he had his man.

4. 27-13 over Georgia Tech at Death Valley, 2010

This is similar to the 2008 win over Boston College, because there were so many demons associated with facing the Yellow Jackets.

Six losses in the last seven tries. Four consecutive losses since Clemson's curb-stomping of Georgia Tech on national TV in 2006.

And yeah, the three excruciating defeats to Paul Johnson and his annoying flexbone.

As stated earlier, we'll have to wait a while to put this one in proper context. But it was huge for Swinney to finally vanquish Johnson, and to do it convincingly.

If Clemson loses this game to fall to 3-4, things get ugly around here. And it becomes significantly more difficult for Swinney to back up his belief that he's moving this program forward.

It also happens to be Kevin Steele's most important game in his 20-game tenure as defensive coordinator.

5. 21-13 over Kentucky in the Music City Bowl, 2009

An argument could be made for last year's 40-24 win over Florida State in this spot, but pulling out a victory in frigid Nashville before a partisan Kentucky crowd was a major moment.

Consider how rough the offseason would've been had Clemson followed a six-game winning streak and a division title with losses to South Carolina, Georgia Tech and Kentucky.

This game was also big for the development of the offensive line. Kentucky's defensive front was formidable, and the Tigers rushed for 180 yards on 33 carries.

They also drained the final 5:27 off the clock, with C.J. Spiller and Jamie Harper rushing for 53 yards.

On to some Thursday linkage...

Terrible, terrible news out of South Bend, where a member of the Fighting Irish film crew died during practice.

South Bend was under a wind advisory until 9 p.m. Wednesday, and gusts at the time of the accident reached 51 mph, according to the National Weather Service. The lift, when fully extended, reaches just a bit higher than a football goalpost.

The lift either blew back or collapsed, gashing a fence and line of bushes. The top of the lift landed in the middle of the road. The football team evidently continued to practice, leaving the field roughly 20 to 30 minutes after the accident.

Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly said Sullivan "was a diligent student worker in our video department and had a tremendous personality and great sense of humor. He brightened the days for all that had the privilege to work with him, and the Notre Dame football family will dearly miss him."

When you are around a football program on a daily basis, you gain an appreciation for the assortment of people who bust their tails to make the operation run but get little to no credit for it.

They are the trainers, the video guys, the equipment guys. They are largely nameless and faceless when it comes to recognition from the public, but they are the nuts and bolts in the machinery.

These are the people who work the hardest of everyone, and in many cases they do it merely for the love of their team.

These are the people who are probably taking this hard across the country today.

In The Boston Globe, a story on Alex Albright's replacement.

But when Albright, a defensive cocaptain, went down in the first half last week with what was later diagnosed as a fractured fibula, Holloway knew his chance had arrived.

“At halftime of the Maryland game, he said to me, ‘The job is yours, go do your thing,’ ’’ said Holloway. “I feel terrible for Alex, especially since he is our team captain. He was a guy I looked up to the last three years.

“People are starting to look up to me the way I was looking up to Albright. I have to step it up.’’

And here's an update on two other injured defensive players:

Senior safety Wes Davis, who suffered a neck injury against Maryland, is out for Saturday’s game. “Wes is going to have a meeting with the doctors and we should get an update by the end of the week,’’ said Spaziani . . . Cornerback DeLeon Gause, who injured his knee against Maryland, did not practice yesterday. Official word on his status for Saturday should come today.

Big game in Raleigh tonight. Caulton Tudor says N.C. State must reduce Christian Ponder's field of vision.

Various Oklahoma defenders said they put the highest priorities on two tactics - keeping Ponder contained in the pocket and preventing mid-range sideline passes.

"We wanted to keep everything in the middle of the field," Sooner cornerback Jamell Fleming told reporters after the game. "Ponder sitting in the pocket really helped us defensive backs because it gave us the chance to just guard our receiver."

Junior linebacker Travis Lewis credited the strategy to condense the field on Ponder for winning the game.

"Our coaches had a great game plan today, not a good one but a great one," Lewis said.

Ponder was sacked four times. FSU's offense converted just 5 of 16 chances on third down and second-string quarterback E.J. Manuel, in a mop-up role, had the Seminoles' only significant completion.

Ponder also had a bad game against Boston College, which also took away the outside stuff in picking off three passes -- including one for a touchdown.

So Todd Dodge gets canned at North Texas. No surprise there.

Here's what the Mean Green did after racking up 269 passing yards and 193 rushing yards in a 35-10 loss at Clemson:

Rice L 32-31--296 passing, 124 rushing
Army L 24-0--106 passing, 95 rushing
Fla. Atlantic W 21-17--146 passing, 257 rushing
La. Lafayette L 28-27--191 passing, 187 rushing
Ark. State L 24-19--77 passing, 215 rushing
Fla. International L 34-10--142 passing, 143 rushing

And looks like the Mean Green has settled on Chuck Neinas as a consultant for its coaching search.

What a racket for this guy. He gets paid an arm and a leg to ... do athletics directors' jobs for them?

And from the Verne Lundquist "oh ... my ... goodness!" department, courtesy of Dr. Saturday, here's a complete and total meltdown from Florida Atlantic's radio announcer.

This is one disturbed individual. Dude, it's Florida Atlantic.



LW