2009 Gator Bowl
Nebraska (8-4) vs. Clemson (7-5)
Jan. 1, 1:00 p.m. ET, CBS
Payout:
$2.25 million Location: Jacksonville Municipal Stadium,
Jacksonville FL
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2009 Gator Bowl
Player Profiles, Histories, & More
 |
|
National
Rankings |
|
Nebraska |
Clemson |
|
Total Offense |
|
12th 458.25 ypg |
81st 339.33 ypg |
|
Total Defense |
|
65th 361.50 ypg |
15th 294.83 ypg |
|
Scoring Offense |
|
18th 36.17 ppg |
62nd 25.5 ppg |
|
Scoring Defense |
|
84th 29.17 ppg |
9th 16.58 ppg |
|
Run Offense |
|
36th 173.50 ypg |
95th 120.5 ypg |
|
Run Defense |
|
29th 125.83 ypg |
33rd 127.58 ypg |
|
Pass Offense |
|
14th 284.75 ypg |
53rd 218.83 ypg |
|
Pass Defense |
|
90th 235.67 ypg |
10th 167.25 ypg |
|
Turnover Margin |
|
105th -0.83 |
72nd -0.17 |
|
Nebraska
West Mich W 47-24
SJSU W 35-12
NMSU W 38-7
Va Tech L 35-30
Missouri L 52-17
at TTech L 37-31 OT
at Iowa St W 35-7
Baylor W 32-20
at Oklahoma L 62-28
Kansas W 45-35
at Kan St W 56-28
Colorado W 41-30 |
Clemson
Alabama L 34-10
The Citadel W 45-17
NC St W 27-9
SC St W 54-0
Maryland L 20-17
at W Forest L 12-7
Ga Tech L 21-17
at Bos Coll W 27-21
at Florida St L 41-27
Duke W 31-7
at Virginia W 13-3
S Carolina W 31-14 |
|
Position
Ratings
relative to each
other |
|
N |
5
highest
1 lowest |
C |
|
4.5 |
Quarterbacks |
4 |
|
4 |
RBs |
5 |
|
3 |
Receivers |
4 |
|
3.5 |
O
Line |
2.5 |
|
4 |
D
Line |
3 |
|
3.5 |
Linebackers |
3 |
|
2 |
Secondary |
5 |
|
4 |
Spec
Teams |
3 |
|
4 |
Coaching |
2.5 |
|
By
Pete Fiutak
All of you who really and truly
believed on October 31st
that Clemson would be playing in
a bowl game, raise your hands.
Liar.
And for those of you who really
did think the utter mess of a
Tiger season would end up with a
13th game, did you
really believe a New Year’s Day
game was even a remote
possibility? Yeah, right.
Clemson was supposed to be
playing in Florida on January 1st,
but all the preseason picks had
the Tigers going to the Orange
Bowl after winning the ACC
title. Things didn’t quite work
out as planned with a blowout
loss to Alabama to open the
season and after losing three
straight ACC games in a rough
midseason stretch. Tommy Bowden
“resigned,” some guy named Dabo
Swinney took over and started
chest bumping everyone, and the
2008 season was supposed to be
in a holding pattern before a
new A list coach could come in
and start anew.
And then a funny thing happened
… Clemson responded to Swinney.
There was a blowout loss to
Florida State along the way, but
the Tigers won four of their
last five games including a
gut-check, turn-the-season
around win at Boston College and
a 31-14 blowout of arch-rival
South Carolina in a must-win
game to get to a bowl. 6-6
wasn’t going to cut it after
taking part of September off
against Citadel and South
Carolina State. Clemson needed
to come through with a clutch
finishing kick, and it did.
But this is what Bowden’s teams
always have done. The maddening
inconsistency, and no ACC title
appearances, he was in hot soup
year after year only to be saved
at the last possible instance by
the win the team had to have.
Now the pressure is on the
Clemson administration as it
bought Swinney when it probably
should’ve rented him, and now a
bowl win is a must to prove it
was right to take the interim
tag off.
While Clemson is just trying to
figure out its world, all
appears to be right in Nebraska
as first year head man Bo Pelini
has things back on track. The
long, dark, Huskerwide nightmare
of the Bill Callahan era is long
gone, and after going a solid
8-4 with the losses coming to
eventual ACC champion, Virginia
Tech, Missouri, Texas Tech (in
overtime) and Oklahoma, it’s
time to make a statement.
Of course, the Gator Bowl is a
nice step for Nebraska,
considering the problems over
the last few years, but it’s the
BCS that the fans need to know
that the program is back to
being considered among the
elite. Pelini is still a ways
away from having a team good
enough be in the national title
hunt, but the North should be
there for the taking next season
and the off-season will be full
of expectations no matter what
happens against the Tigers.
However, a win would likely make
Nebraska the hot team from the
upper division going into 2009.
Nebraska hasn’t been to a BCS
game since getting blasted by
Miami in the 2001 national
championship (the 2002 Rose
Bowl), but by winning five of
the last six games, and with a
good nucleus in place going into
next season, getting into one of
the big money games is expected
to happen sooner than later.
The Gator usually gets lost in
the shuffle of New Year’s Day
early games, if the Iowa – South
Carolina Outback bowl is close,
it’ll take a while for many to
make the flip over to CBS, and
attention will be taken away by
the Georgia – Michigan State
Capital One Bowl and, yes, that
hockey game played in Wrigley
Field. However, these are two
teams that will give a maximum
effort; there are no worries
here about either team taking
this game lightly. There should
be plenty of points and enough
interesting subplots to keep the
off-season message boards
rolling.
Players to watch:
Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy, Graham
Harrell, Chase Daniel, Zac
Robinson, Todd Reesing, Robert
Griffin, Josh Freeman … there
have been so many great
quarterbacks in the Big 12 this
season, Joe Ganz went
totally unnoticed. In any other
year, the Nebraska quarterback
(this program isn’t that
far removed from the forward
pass being nothing more than a
rumor) throwing for 3,332 yards
and 23 touchdowns would be a big
deal. Ganz threw ten
interceptions, with five of them
coming in the four losses, but
he did what he needed to do to
keep the offense moving with his
legs as well as his arm. He’s
not going off to the NFL and
he’s not nearly as talented as
his counterpart, Clemson’s
Cullen Harper, but he’s good
enough to give the strong
Clemson secondary a few fits.
In the past, Nebraska would have
the big edge in running back
talent, but Clemson’s 1-2 tandem
of C.J. Spiller and
James Davis are among the
best in the nation; even if they
weren’t able to show it
throughout this year. Spiller is
the speedster who has first
round draft pick potential
if/when he chooses to come out
early. Banged up a bit, he had a
disappointing season with just
612 yards and seven touchdowns,
with three of those scores
coming in the win over Citadel,
but he’s close to 100% now and
needs to put on a show for the
NFL scouts. However, he won’t be
the workhorse with Davis taking
on a bulk of the load. The
senior flirted with turning pro
early, but he came back and ran
for 725 yards and 11 scores
including three against South
Carolina. Nebraska’s run defense
hasn’t been bad this year and
Spiller and Davis won’t have an
easy time finding room to move.
Looking to clog things up on the
inside for the Huskers is junior
DT Ndamukong Suh, a
Second Team All-Big 12 selection
after being a bit of a
disappointment in his first few
years. The star interior pass
rusher came up with 5.5 sacks
and was strong against the run
all season long. He holds the
strange distinction of taking
both his interceptions for
touchdowns, and he has caught
one pass for two yards and a
score. Mostly he’s about being
the anchor up front, but he
should be able to get into the
backfield and get to Harper.
Harper was supposed to be
working his way into an early
round draft pick, but the senior
suffered the most this year with
an underwhelming campaign
throwing 12 interceptions, 11
touchdowns, and getting benched
for a stretch. However, he
started to become more
efficient, he stopped throwing
interceptions, and the team all
of a sudden finished strong. He
got picked off three times in
the win over Boston College, and
once against Florida State as he
was under constant pressure in
both games, but he didn’t throw
an interception over of the
final three games.
Clemson will win if...
run for three touchdowns.
Nebraska gave up 24 rushing
scores on the year allowing
three touchdown runs in each of
the four losses. Baylor was the
only other team to get more than
two, but it didn’t have nearly
the passing game Clemson has the
ability to crank out from time
to time. The Tigers have to get
Spiller and Davis going early on
to keep Ganz and the Husker
offense off the field, and
Harper has to make his third
down throws. This isn’t a
Clemson team used to dealing in
shootouts and lost the three
games it played against good
offenses (Alabama, Georgia Tech
and Florida State). Clemson
would likely want to keep this
game in the 20s.
Nebraska will win if... Ganz
is able to keep the chains
moving and if the Husker
defensive front gets to Harper.
Clemson doesn’t rush the passer.
Sacks have been scarce and the
defense has been fortunate to
not have played a passing
quarterback with a pulse (after
the season opening loss to
Alabama). Ganz is mobile enough
to buy time against what little
pressure he’ll be under, and he
should be able to shock a
Clemson secondary that ranked 10th
in the nation in passing yards
allowed and ninth in pass
efficiency defense. Clemson,
welcome to Big 12 football. Ganz
would’ve been a first team
all-star in your league.
What will happen:
It’s Clemson. New coach, new
attitude, same team in a big
game. You know what’s going to
happen. The Tigers will look
like world-beaters for about 40
minutes, but Nebraska will be
hanging around just enough to be
within striking distance. And
then the one big Tiger mistake
will come, followed up by the
one big Husker drive, and the
snowball will keep on rolling.
Clemson simply hasn’t had to
deal with an offense that’s used
to playing in the 40s, and with
a healthy Marlon Lucky
back to add more pop to the
running game, and more balance
to the Husker attack, Nebraska
will pull away late.
Line: Clemson -2.5
... CFN Prediction:
Nebraska 38 … Clemson 30
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2009 Gator Bowl
Player Profiles, Histories, & More