Coach Bowden Speaks With Press

Oct. 24, 2000

Clemson Head Coach Tommy Bowden’s comments on:

Concerns for his team at this point in the season “Because we have played eight straight weeks without an open date, the mental fatigue of our team is a concern. It is tough to get a team to peak that many Saturdays in a row. I would say that physical fatigue of the players coming down the home stretch is also a worry of mine.”

The BCS ranking system and how he feels about Clemson’s #7 ranking “I think it is a good system. I think it is effective because it has been in place two years and both times the best two teams in the country have played in the championship game. Where we are in that ranking is not important until after the season. It is a system that works and what we have to worry about now is playing Georgia Tech on Saturday.”

How Willie Simmon’s performance against North Carolina will effect future offensive game plans for Clemson “The one thing it does is that it increases the comfort level of the staff if Woody can not play Saturday. We have a little better idea of how Willie can perform against good competition with the game on the line. I am pretty sure that it will increase Willie’s confidence as well. His peformance will not effect our rotation of the quarterbacks in any way and we are not going to change what we do offensively from week to week.”

The Status of Woody Dantzler’s leg “I talked with the trainer this morning and not much has changed since yesterday. He hobbled more than I thought he would yesterday at practice, but we will have to look at him every day before practice to see where he is. I don’t feel nearly as good about the situation as I did on Saturday night after the game or on Sunday.”

Georgia Tech defense “They are playing much better defensively this season than they were last season. They have many players back from last year and they are playing more much more aggresive now. They are very athletic and they put a great deal of pressure on you. They are not quite as big as North Carolia but they are faster and quicker. Becuase of our lack of size on the offensive line, we match up better agasint teams that are bigger and do not have as much quickness on the defensive front. Georgia Tech is very quick defensively so it is not a very favorable matchup for us.”

Georgia Tech offense “Offensively they run a very efficient, complicated, multiple formation offense that has given us problems for several years. They have several players back on offense from last season and it is an offense that scored 45 points on us last season. With our tendancy to give up big plays the last few weeks and their ability to throw the ball down the field, I am definatley concerned about being able to stop the big plays.”