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Time for an uprising?
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By Tim Peeler, Special to CNNSI.com
This is the year, we promise. This is the year that the eight dwarfs from the ACC are going to jump up and bite Florida State right on the butt.
Terry Bowden said so when he predicted that Georgia Tech would beat the Seminoles when the two meet in Tallahassee, Fla., on Sept. 15. Everything is set up perfectly for a Seminole dethroning. They have no quarterback, now that Chris Weinke has retired ... er, graduated. They lost 25 seniors from a group that played for three consecutive national championships and only 10 starters return from the team that should have beaten Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. They have a new offensive coordinator. Yep, this is the year the Yellow Jackets or even Tommy Bowden's Clemson Tigers could unseat Father Bobby and his charges.
Yeah, right.
"I think that is just wishful thinking," said former Seminole assistant head coach Chuck Amato, who is now the head coach at N.C. State.
That may be all the coaches in the ACC have left, after nine consecutive years of Seminole dominance. At least the schools are trying. The league had a massive offseason overhaul, with four schools changing head coaches. In addition, eight of the nine schools (including Florida State) enter this season with a new offensive coordinator. The schools called on people who were familiar with their programs (three of the four new coaches are at their alma maters), while two of the schools went after NFL coaches, including New York Jets head coach Al Groh, who replaced the retired George Welsh at Virginia.
Bobby Bowden claims to be concerned, more concerned than he's been in a decade. Neither of Weinke's possible replacements, converted receiver Anquan Boldin nor redshirt freshman Chris Rix, exactly overwhelmed the coaching staff during the spring. The Seminoles say they would like to run the ball more, but it will be by committee unless junior Nick Maddox can hold on to the starting job throughout preseason. And the corps of receivers isn't as deep as Bowden is used to.
"Jimminy Christmas," said Clemson's Bowden, when someone suggested that the Seminoles might not be their dominant selves this year. "Don't say that. You'll have those guys down there foaming at the mouth."
That's kind of what Daddy wants. The elder Bowden thought his team -- which has finished in the top four in the nation and won at least 10 games for 14 consecutive seasons now -- got too complacent when it lost to Oklahoma 13-2 in the BCS title game.
And the 71-year-old Bowden is more into things this year. He handed over the offense to youngest son Jeff, but promises that he will be more involved in the day-to-day operations than he had been.
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N.C. State linebacker Levar Fisher, who was last year's ACC Defensive Player of the Year, wants to be more recognized. Though he led the nation with 166 tackles last year, by the count of Amato and linebackers coach Joe Pate, Fisher probably missed 166 more, thanks in part to a shoulder injury that was surgically repaired in the offseason.
Fisher spent the summer rehabilitating and watching film, hoping to become a more efficient tackler and a more attractive NFL prospect.
"A lot of guys think they are the best linebacker in the country," Fisher said. "I know I am the best linebacker in the country. I just have to let everybody else know that. I have to show them." Fisher is an engaging guy, one with a deep commitment to his hardworking parents. This summer, he opened his apartment to a troubled nephew, in hopes of providing him with a strong male role model.
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HOT: Georgia Tech quarterback George Godsey
Recovered from the severe knee injury he suffered in last year's Peach Bowl, while earning his degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering in four years.
NOT: Florida State's quarterbacks
Neither Boldin nor redshirt freshman Rix distinguished himself enough in spring practice to win the starting job. Will things heat up for them during fall practice?
HOT: Stealing from the pros
NFL experience was practically a prerequisite during the offseason shuffle. Virginia hired Jets head coach Groh and UNC hired Saints assistant John Bunting.
NOT: Clemson's recruits
As many as five newly signed Tigers won't make it academically, including highly regarded wide receivers Tymere Zimmerman and Derrick Higgins.
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N.C. State's Amato touched off a mini-firestorm within the state of North Carolina last week when he suggested that his alma mater faced a "lose-lose" situation in playing Conference USA member East Carolina, a traditional rival about 90 miles from Raleigh, because of a "non-level" playing field. The school admits five in-state partial and non-qualifiers per recruiting class. The Pirates, who have built a stellar program under Steve Logan, are the only Division I-A program in the state not in the ACC. In recent years, they have been the best team in the state. And Amato's argument was lost when it was revealed Indiana, an N.C. State opponent last year and this year, has three more partial and non-qualifiers on its roster this year than the Pirates.
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Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden
Needs only nine victories to pass legendary Bear Bryant on the all-time list.
N.C. State QB Philip Rivers
He got married in the spring, but the 19-year-old sophomore spent more time studying film and working out with his teammates than just about anyone on the squad.
North Carolina head coach John Bunting
It may not be the smartest way to begin a career, but Bunting deserves credit for agreeing to play Oklahoma in the Hispanic Classic preseason game Aug. 25.
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The ACC's game of the year will be Nov. 3 when Florida State goes to Clemson for the third installment of the Bowden Bowl. Maybe. The Tigers think they can compete with the Seminoles, especially in Death Valley, where the margin of victory has been more than a touchdown only once since 1988.
But there is a slight hitch. Since Tommy Bowden became the head coach of the Tigers, he has never beaten Georgia Tech, which at the moment seems to have the best shot of dethroning the Seminoles. (The teams tied for the ACC title in 1998.) Li'l Bowden says his team can't think about beating the Seminoles until it can beat Tech.
So the game of the year could really be much earlier, on Sept. 29, when Clemson travels to Atlanta to face the Yellow Jackets, who hope to extend their winning streak against the Tigers to five games.
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Clemson is pushing Woodrow Dantzler for the Heisman Trophy, but hardly on the scale that Oregon is pushing quarterback Joey Harrington. The Ducks paid $250,000 for a 100-by-80-foot billboard in New York to push their guy. Dantzler, who doesn't like much attention, said, "They don't need to spend that money on me. They need to give it to the soccer team or someone who needs it. I don't need it." For the record, Clemson will spend about $5,000 on promoting Dantzler, including a Web site that chronicles his successes. ... With the offseason hiring of Groh at Virginia, Bunting at North Carolina and Ralph Friedgen at Maryland, more than half of the league's head coaches are now leading their alma maters. Amato at N.C. State and Carl Franks at Duke also played for the teams they now coach. And new Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe played at Virginia. ... The league is still trying to finalize the move this season of what was once in the Micronpc.com Bowl in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to Orlando, Fla. The game, which will be Dec. 21 or 22, will fall under the umbrella of the Citrus Bowl, but will have its own title sponsor and identity. The league has one more year remaining with the former Oahu Bowl, which has moved from Hawaii to Seattle. It hopes to have a new agreement for its No. 5 team with a new bowl for 2002 in Charlotte, N.C., which has all the necessary NCAA approval for a December game in Ericsson Stadium, but must wait for another bowl to fold before it is granted a postseason game.
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Tim Peeler covers the ACC for the Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record. His "This Week in the ACC" column will appear weekly during the season.
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