Cupcake limits

Excessive cupcake consumption is a problem in college football ... and not just inside press boxes.

Clemson might get some flack for scheduling Ball State and Furman this year, but this week's game actually is somewhat interesting on some levels.

As opposed to Florida State, which edged Murray State 69-3 and now gets ready for Saturday's visit from Savannah State.

Same Savannah State that went to Oklahoma State and was gutted by a score of 84-0. And thank goodness Mike Gundy called off the dogs relatively early.

Check out the lead paragraph from Savannah State's in-house release that "covered" that game:

Savannah State opened their 2012 football season with a 84-0 setback from 19th ranked Oklahoma State.

Talk about spin jobs. How would they describe a 48-0 loss? As being a nerve-jangling thriller?

The interesting part of Savannah State's plight is the head coach apparently wanted no part of these trips to butcher shops in Stillwater and Tallahassee.

Here's what Steve Davenport said in the release:

“Our number one goal was not to win either of these games. Our goal is to win the conference championship. We have got another preseason game in Tallahassee next week then our season gets underway. That is where we are."

And here's what he told ESPN.com's Gene Wojciechowski in this column:

So, I asked Davenport, is it worth it?

"No," he said. "I think embarrassment lasts a lot longer than $860,000."

And this:

The Tigers had no business signing up for matchups against 2011 Big 12 champion Oklahoma State or against a Florida State team that has been picked by some to reach the BCS Championship Game. Asked if he was consulted about this season's Savannah State schedule, Davenport paused and said, "You have to define, 'consulted.'"

If I'm Clemson, I kind of like the fact that my team will enter the Sept. 22 showdown in Tallahassee having been tested in a big-stage setting. The closest thing Florida State will get is a Sept. 1 visit from Wake Forest. The Deacons have beaten the Seminoles four times in the last six years, so that's a game FSU can't look past. But it's not a game that'll present the Seminoles with the level of talent, speed and intensity they'll see when Clemson comes to town.

At Warchant.com, a look at the replacements for injured defensive end Brandon Jenkins.

Cornelius Carradine will start on the right side in place of Jenkins while Bjoern Werner will stay on the left side. If Giorgio Newberry subs in for Werner, Carradine will move to the left side while Newberry will play to the right.

"I don't like the way that it happened," Carradine said of his opportunity to start. "But that just tells me that I just have to step up now because the team needs me and I need the team. We all have to make it happen for Brandon."

Fisher also reversed course on his plans to redshirt true freshman defensive ends Chris Casher or Mario Edwards He expects at least one, and possibly both, will play on Saturday against Savannah State.

"The one that takes the next step and jumps up will be getting the reps," said Fisher, who told reporters Monday that he planned to redshirt both players this fall. "How fast things can change in 24 hours."

Fisher said he will decide based on what he sees from the two players in practice and didn't rule out the idea of both Casher and Edwards playing.

"We'll put them in with (The No. 2 defense in practice this week), mix them in the reps, try to get them as many as we can and see which one is ready and can comprehend game plans and things like that," Fisher said.

So the ACC's 13th and 14th members both suffered home losses Saturday, Pitt getting smoked by Youngstown State and Syracuse losing to Northwestern.

And Big East associate commish Nick Carparelli tweeted this zinger in presumed response:

"The #BigEast will be a better football conference on the field next year than it has ever been!"

Before Pitt's unsightly defeat, the Big East was the only FBS conference without a loss to an FBS team since 2004.

David Teel of the Newport News Daily Press interviews Wake Forest president Nathan Hatch, who says he loves the new additions. He also gives his take on all the Big 12 hysteria from this summer.

Indeed, the only school ever to leave the ACC was South Carolina in 1972. But this spring and summer, some media insisted that Florida State and Clemson were poised to join the Big 12.

Then-Florida State Regents chair Andy Haggard started the firestorm with half-baked criticism of the conference’s new television contract with ESPN. Equally uninformed media pronounced the ACC DOA – in their fantasy world, Virginia Tech was negotiating a move to the Southeastern Conference.

Conversations with presidential peers told Hatch differently.

“Schools like Florida State and Clemson have been pretty resolute about liking where they are,” he said, “although they have board members, many of whom are state politicians, and they say a lot of things. …

“I think it was exaggerated in the press. … It’s another whole issue of the nature of public boards, as you all in Virginia know (from the aborted attempt to oust UVa president Teresa Sullivan). You have people on boards who get there in a variety of ways and have different kinds of interests. It’s much harder to have the necessary coherence between the administration and its board than at a private institution.”

LW