By Ed McGranahan.

By Ed McGranahan

This game could mean the difference between an ordinarily good season and a great one.

Not because Furman is a threat to win. There are reasons why the wise guys haven’t posted a line. Furman isn’t App State of 2007. And typically letdowns of that magnitude frequently come on the heels of an earlier loss. Remember Virginia Tech’s back-to-back losses to Boise State then James Madison to open the 2010 season?

Sammy Watkins’ sheer presence makes Clemson better than the team that beat Auburn and Ball State. How much better his teammates and coaches cannot quantify. They just know it.

Quite simply, he makes this a pivotal game.

Dabo Swinney was angry following Watkins’ arrest in May, and considered a steeper penalty than a two-game suspension. Had he pouted and tried to play the prima donna card, Watkins might have missed Saturday’s game, too. Instead, he accepted his discipline with dignity and grace.

“He will make us a lot more explosive,” said offensive coordinator Chad Morris. “I think he gives us another dimension.”

As a freshman Watkins was the team’s most dynamic player, one of four freshmen ever to be selected AP first-team All-American – the others were Herschel Walker, Marshall Faulk and Adrian Peterson. His ability to deliver a game-breaking play was evident the first time he touched the ball in a Clemson uniform. Midway through the season he was mentioned as a potential Heisman Trophy candidate, later if not sooner, and some suggested he could successful immediately in the NFL.

“He brings that home run threat every time he steps on the field,” said senior center Dalton Freeman. “Sammy has that SportsCenter Top 10 kind of mentality.”

Two weeks ago he was working with the scout team, helping the Clemson defense prepare for Auburn, and last weekend he was on the sideline as the team beat Ball State. Yet as diligent and well-prepared as he’s wont to be, Watkins has not played. He hasn’t run a route at game speed, hasn’t been hit in defiance.

“He needs to play a good bit,” Swinney said Tuesday, “to get that good game under his belt like these guys have gotten.”

Furman provides him a stage for dress rehearsal. If Watkins had not been cleared to play this week, his first game would be next Saturday night in Tallahassee against perhaps the best Florida State team in a decade. It’s tough enough to win there in daylight, and after last year’s whipping in Death Valley, the Seminoles won’t be gracious hosts.

Beating Florida State on its own field would be a huge bump for a young team and launch it on a course toward another berth in the ACC Championship game and beyond. Andre Ellington and Boyd are also significant to the team’s potential as are Nuke Hopkins, a relatively young offensive line and a defense trying to find its cruising gear with Georgia Tech also in the headlights.

“The key to us as an offense this year is not forcing things, kind of letting things come to us,” said Boyd. “Having a player like him out there is something else and you want to get him the ball, but not if it means forcing it.”

In the shadow of Florida State, he may not be used in all his guises, but in the contemporary option scheme Watkins can play virtually every skill position including quarterback.

“I think you’ll see him pretty early,” Swinney said. “I don’t think it will take him long.”

Swinney said he didn’t have a specific number of times he wants him to touch the ball, though it is something he monitors during the game.

“He has to get in and get his work in,” Morris said. “We have to get him up to speed and get his timing right and those kinds of things.

“He’ll be ready for that.”

And only then will he be ready for Florida State.