Gameday

And here we are, right where we were to start the season -- in Atlanta, at the Georgia Dome, against an SEC team with Tigers as the mascot.

The storyline after that 26-19 victory over Auburn was how Clemson overcame late-game mistakes, most notably an interception by Tajh Boyd that gave Auburn the ball deep in Clemson territory, to win in a city where it hadn't won since the 2003 season.

At the time we didn't know what to make of Auburn, and surely no one thought they'd be as wretched as they were. But at the time, they were thought to have an elite defensive front and Clemson wore down that front with an inexperienced offensive line.

“It was a chance for us to show what Clemson football is really about,” Andre Ellington said that night after rushing for 232 yards.

In the aftermath of that victory, if someone would've told you Clemson would end up back in the Georgia Dome for the Chick-fil-A Bowl you'd have probably said: "Yeah, sounds about right." And you'd have probably also thought: "Not bad for a team that lost so much from 2011."

But as much as this team thought it accomplished that night, four months later they enter this game against LSU trying to prove the same thing. Auburn's total ineptitude, coupled with Clemson's losses to Florida State and South Carolina, have had a way of diminishing the opening victory in terms of how people perceive Clemson.

The statement that will be made tonight, one way or another, will be much more lasting.

Some links from the LSU side:

-- Interesting column here on SEC fatigue. The writer gives his take on Clemson being pretty much an SEC school and says the Tigers would've been a better fit when the league took South Carolina in the early 1990s.

Clemson, though, is an odd choice to be defending the bruised feelings of the ACC.

To my way of thinking, at least, Clemson has always been more SEC than ACC, at least in spirit.

Clemson doesn’t buy into the Tobacco Road thing with the ACC. It’s a school that has always, with no apologies, put football first and let the basketball fortunes fall where they may, que sera sera.

It’s a good old, way-out-in-the-sticks country football school, with an athletic department and reputation built on the same ideals — nutty, crazy, insane, unrealistic, demanding, occasionally delusional — that was the business model for the SEC long before its dominance kicked in.

To my of thinking, back in the day Clemson would have been a far more natural fit to join the SEC than South Carolina was when it joined in 1992.

Clemson had the SEC mentality at the time —ready to fire coaches at the drop of the hat, complaining about the aesthetics of victories, obsessing over recruiting, etc. — while South Carolina always seemed just content to watch their lads play each Saturday and cheer them on regardless.

It took Steve Spurrier four or five years to educate the Gamecocks to the point they finally quit applauding hard-fought losses.

-- The same writer riffs on the clash of styles that will be present tonight -- and that has been present at Clemson's team hotel.

By some kind of oddball coincidence at the Chick-fil-A Bowl, the media and the Clemson football team are sharing a downtown hotel with an eclectic and chatty group attending some sort of mega-national convention of university philosophy professors.

Perplexing group, the latter.

Hundreds of them, running around philosophizing all day and holding the lobby lounge hostage by night with their light banter and wit.

It makes for an awkward mix on the atrium elevators, as you might imagine, with the tweed coats and scholarly beards clashing noticeably with the orange warm-ups and tattoos of the Clemson lads and the cheap windbreakers preferred by the media types.

Several philosophers have wondered aloud if the Clemsons are the Atlanta Falcons, so maybe they’re not as brainy as they claim.

Just imagine if LSU, which is quartered across the street at the Hilton, was here.

I don’t know how LSU would fare in the raging existentialism debate I happened to overhear at breakfast.

But LSU would clash with Clemson football just about as glaringly as all these latter day Platos and Sartres do. It’s hard to believe they’re both Tigers.

And that’s basically what Monday night’s Chick-fil-A Bowl comes down to.

Two different styles — two vastly different, well, philosophies.

-- This article in the New Orleans Times-Picayune gives a good sense of Les Miles' form of leadership. He can be zany at times, but it seems he commands the eternal respect of everyone who works for him and plays for him.

Junior defensive end Sam Montgomery, who will likely be playing his final game for LSU Monday, said he sometimes runs afoul of Miles' discipline but appreciates his serious side as much as the goofy one. Miles will sometimes sing or dance in front of players to lighten the mood, and required them to sing Christmas carols at team meetings last week to ensure Christmas spirit. He also piped carols into practices.

"I just love going to war with Coach Miles," said Montgomery, who is expected to enter the 2013 NFL Draft. "When you are a senior, you fully appreciate all the hard things he's made you do, that extra sprint, you understand what that was all about. He's helped me become a man.

"He's one of the people who does not know when to give up and that's something that has rubbed off on me."

-- LSU players have nice things to say about Tajh Boyd.

"He's the key," LSU defensive end Barkevious Mingo said. "He's exactly like Johnny Manziel. We have to prepare the same way: try to contain him and force him to make bad decisions. We can't let him get outside the pocket because he makes plays with his feet, and he's got those deep-threat receivers."

LSU linebacker Kevin Minter said Boyd may be better than Manziel, that he has a "stronger arm" and is a "more accurate" passer.

-- And Andy Staples breaks down tonight's matchup, concluding what most people are concluding:

Clemson's two losses have come to an SEC team (South Carolina) and an ACC team built like an SEC team (Florida State). Unfortunately for Clemson, LSU is a better version of those teams with the same concept. LSU defensive ends Sam Montgomery and Barkevious Mingo should offer flashbacks to Florida State's Bjoern Werner and South Carolina's Jadeveon Clowney. Meanwhile, LSU has a stable of tailbacks (Jeremy Hill, Kenny Hilliard, Spencer Ware and Michael Ford) that should allow the Bayou Bengals to control the clock as well as South Carolina did during the Gamecocks' 27-17 win against Clemson on Nov. 24. In that game, South Carolina hogged the ball for 39 minutes and 58 seconds. To keep Clemson's offense off the field, LSU's attack may be equally greedy.

The pick: LSU 34, Clemson 24

LW