By Will Vandervort.
Clemson linebacker Tony Steward says the Tigers did not play as bad as people think they did in last year’s lopsided, 51-14, loss to Florida State in Death Valley.
The Seminoles head coach agreed.
Though the top-ranked Seminoles racked 565 yards and scored a Death Valley record 51 points by an opponent, Jimbo Fisher said the battle up front between his veteran offensive line and Clemson’s defensive front was a good one.
“They made plays up front on the defensive side,” Fisher said. “It was a great battle, if you really watched, we created some turnovers. But we were physical and they were physical, and they won some and we won some.”
Fisher said the battle his team really won was at wide receiver where Rashad Greene torched the Clemson secondary with eight catches for 146 yards and two touchdowns.
“One of our skill guys kept getting open,” Fisher said.
Actually, it was two. Tight end Nick O’Leary had five catches for 161 yards in the game as well. Greene and O’Leary combined for 307 of Jameis Winston’s 444 passing yards.
Steward will be one of the guys in charge of covering O’Leary, who is considered by some to be the nation’s best tight end.
“I felt like we made a couple of key mistakes and there were a few times when we did not hold when we needed to, but I can’t tell you exactly when I felt like it started to go wrong, but it was just one of those nights,” Steward said.
The 23rd-ranked Tigers are hoping it’s not one of those nights again in Tallahassee. In the last two years, Florida State’s offense has had its way with Clemson’s defense. The Seminoles have averaged 50 points and 616 yards a game against Brent Venables’ defense.
In the 2012 matchup in Tallahassee, Clemson gave up 49 points and 667 total yards.
So why would anyone expect things to be any different this year? Why would anyone give the Tigers a chance to beat the No. 1 team in the country, which currently owns an 18-game winning streak and is the defending national champion?
More than likely, they are not. In other words, it’s a Clemson-against-the-world scenario on Sept. 20.
“I guarantee nobody is giving us a chance to beat those guys except for us,” Steward said. “Honestly, I think we are kind of looking at it that way, but we are going to control what we can control and try to dictate the outcome of that game ourselves.”
Steward says he and his teammates already have the mindset that they can go into Doak Campbell Stadium and get a win.
“They are the number one team in the country and they are the number team for a reason,” he said. “As long as we play the way we are supposed to play and how we know we can play then we can make it a really good matchup.”
But Steward and Fisher both say the Tigers did that last year, and things did not turn out well for the defense or the Tigers in the end. So…
“I think you had a bunch of good players going at it. But we were able to be very consistent in that game,” Fisher said. “We played hard, and I think (Winston) made good decisions with the ball, and helped in that situation. But I thought our line was very physical last year, because they are extremely good up front.”
Obviously, they were not good enough.