Landon Walker remembers the Wake Forest loss of 2008 clearly, the last game of Tommy Bowden's reign at Clemson.
Clemson left that game with a 3-3 record and will travel to Winston-Salem, N.C. with a .500 record Saturday. Despite the similar records, Walker says the football program has made great strides under Dabo Swinney, the third-year Clemson coach who has been criticized by a portion of the fan base for Clemson's disappointing record this season.
"From an outsider's view, just looking at the record and not seeing what's going on with the team you'd say these coaches aren't getting it done, the players don't care,'"
Walker said.
"It comes down to the bottom line, which is whether or not we win or lose we've showed up Monday and focused on the next team."
Walker said Clemson is a better program under Swinney than it was in the later stages under Bowden. When Clemson walked off the field at Wake two years ago, Walker felt the Tigers had not played to their ability levels.
This season, Walker says Clemson has competed to the last second of every game.
"There's a lot of accountability,"
Walker said under Swinney. "Going into every game you know you have to do your job. It's not necessarily done (correctly) all the time, but people show up to do their job. I think he does a good job of portraying the image of what we are doing as a team relates to everyone doing their part."
"I think everything feels a need to do their part and everyone feels a sense of belonging around here. The scout team realizes every week they have to show up and give us their best in order for us to be good. and we realize we have to go hard against the scout team to be good."
Walker said he'll be prepared to play Wake Forest despite Clemson falling out of contention in the Atlantic Division.
"I speak for myself on this one, but when I play a game I don't think about who we beat or who we lost to,"
Walker said. "That game is on my mind, and what we have to do to win that game. I think that's the majority rule."
USC-Clemson kickoff time announcement on hold
The kickoff time for the South Carolina at Clemson football game Nov. 27 probably won't be known until Sunday. The game is part of the ACC television package and ESPN/ABC has invoked its six-day option, which means the networks have until noon Sunday to announce their TV lineup for games scheduled the following Saturday. The time slots available are noon, 3:30 and 7 p.m.
Who's the boss?
There remains confusion regarding the offensive play-calling structure at Clemson.
Said Swinney of the fourth-quarter interception following the loss at Florida State: "I would have called that play 20 times."
Said Clemson offensive coordinator Billy Napier of the call: "It was our call. It was our team's call. It was a Clemson Tiger football call."
Swinney said he vetoed very few of Napier's play calls last season, but Swinney does signal in plays and carries a call sheet on the sideline.
Wrong call or right call
Regarding the fourth quarter interception Saturday, some have questioned whether Clemson should have been more committed to the run in the red zone.
Clemson ran 13 red zone plays, running six times for 16 yards.
Walker sounded as if he wanted to run the ball more at Florida State and indicated he told the staff as much during the game. However, Walker also says he doesn't play Sunday morning quarterback.
"We ran the ball really well on those guys all night,"
Walker said.
"Sometimes you wonder if you ran it what would have happened. Sometimes coaches take chances, calling plays is a difficult thing to do. .. (If Hopkins didn't slip) that would have been a touchdown."
Zimmerman the kicker?
Clemson punter Dawson Zimmerman said he might practice some placekicking this offseason to be an emergency kicking option next season. Zimmerman said the last time he kicked was in high school, where he was rated as the nation 's No. 2 punter by Scout.com and the No. 6 kicking prospect by ESPN. The Clemson staff did let him attempt one field goal in practice several weeks ago. Zimmerman said he has plenty of leg as a kicker but his accuracy is questionable.
