By Will Vandervort.
By Will Vandervort
CLEMSON — Chad Morris knows what it is like to be Ball State this week. He knows the role of being the underdog, and more importantly, he knows what the coaches are selling to the players at the Indiana based university.
Morris did the same thing when he was the offensive coordinator at Tulsa. He said they looked forward to the opportunity of playing a team from a BCS conference or one of the “Big Boys”, remembering how they circled their game at Notre Dame on the schedule that year.
“They will be striving to make a statement this week,” Clemson’s offensive coordinator said. “There is no doubt in my mind that’s what they will try to do. They have an opportunity to kind have a landmark (win) or staple point game for their program, and this is it.
“They are not scared to play anybody.”
Morris is right. Though the Cardinals (1-0) are a 27-point underdog heading into Saturday’s clash in Death Valley, they are not at all scared to play 12th-ranked Clemson. Last year, the Cardinals made a trip to Norman, OK where they gave then No. 1 ranked Oklahoma all they had.
Ball State opened the game with a surprised onside kick, which it recovered. The Cardinals actually only trailed 10-6 in the second quarter before Oklahoma took over in route to a blowout victory.
“This will be their Super Bowl,” Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables said. “You always talk about it, but you try not to focus on the opponent. It’s more about us. Sometimes that is a cliché, and yes, you do mean it, but these boys better get ready to strap it on because Ball State is going to (come to play).”
This will not be the first time Clemson (1-0) has faced Ball State. The Tigers have played the Mid-American Conference team twice before, winning both in 1992 and in 2002. In both instances, Ball State was able to give the Tigers fits before Clemson’s depth and superior talent took over.
But this year’s Clemson players understand this is a different year and the mindset at Ball State is a whole lot different than it was maybe 10 or 20 years ago.
“It is going to be a challenge,” Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd said. “This is not going to be a slack team at all. They are going to bring everything they have. Coming into a stadium like Death Valley, you know they are going to bring it all.
“Again, it comes down to us going out there performing and competing.”
To understand that the Tigers cannot afford to overlook anyone, just go back to last year’s first two games of the season. Troy led the Tigers 16-13 at halftime before Clemson rallied in the second half and took control of the 43-19 victory.
The next week against Wofford, the Terriers had the Tigers tied at 21 at the break, and entered the four quarter down just a point, 28-27, before a 17-yard touchdown pass from Boyd to DeAndre Hopkins gave Clemson some breathing room in the 35-27 win.
“We’ve had a tendency here in the past that we play down to our opponent,” Clemson center Dalton Freeman said.
Boyd said it is about Clemson playing the way Clemson is capable of playing. If it does that, then everything else will take care of itself.
“We have to play our game,” he said. “We have to play consistently to the point where we are not playing up or down to a level. It’s about Clemson and how we perform in situations. Again, that is a challenge this week, but I’m excited and encouraged about it.”
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney is encouraged about it too, and he doesn’t see his team having a letdown or overlooking what he thinks is a pretty good Ball State football team.
“If it is difficult, then we are not going to be a championship team,” Swinney said. “It’s that simple. If it is difficult to get ready to play one of twelve games that you work for all year, spending ninety seven percent of your time to prepare for three percent, and if it is difficult to get excited to play on game day, then we will not be a championship team.
“If that is the mentality of our individual players, then we will not be a great team. I will be very disappointed if that is the case. We tell them all the time that everybody is a faceless, nameless opponent. Here is the standard that we all agreed upon that we have to play to. That’s what you play for. Nothing else matters.”