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SPORTSSaturday 5 December 2015
ACC Championship Preview:
Clemson Tigers face North Carolina Tar Heels in epic battle
Associated Press In this Nov. 14, 2015, photo, Clemson’s Jordan Leggett, left, dives for a loose ball that he fumbled its own high-flying attack,
(AP) Clemson defensive with several Syracuse players in the first quarter of an NCAA college football game in Syracuse, which leads the ACC in
coordinator Brent Venables N.Y. Syracuse recovered the fumble. Turnovers is an area of concern the top-ranked Tigers need total yards and can be as
has spent a lot of time to shore up before facing No. 8 North Carolina for the ACC championship Saturday night. quick-strike as the Tar Heels.
watching No. 8 North Caro- ‘’We’re used to going
lina score quickly. And he’s (AP Photo/Nick Lisi) against their offense be-
sharing it with players in film cause that’s what our of-
sessions that get quite re- If that wasn’t enough, line- sion crown. more points against the Ti- fense does against us when
petitive. backer Korrin Wiggins hurt Venables called North gers. Clemson has given up we’re going to practice ev-
‘’It’s ‘How you like this play? his knee in camp and start- Carolina the best offense an average of 25 points in ery week,’’ he said. ‘’So it’s
How about this play? How ing defensive tackle D.J. Clemson’s faced all sea- its past five contests. not a big challenge for us.
about that score?’’’ Ven- Reader took an extended son, including Notre Dame Three-win South Carolina We’ve just got to be ready
ables said Tuesday. ‘’First leave of absence from the and Florida State. If the Ti- notched its highest point to play.’’
play of the Duke game, team for personal reasons gers don’t bring their best total of the season in a A resurgent North Carolina
it’s all jacked up, in-state in late August. effort, the perfect season 37-32 loss to the Tigers last defense adds to the chal-
rivalry, then they run the Despite all that, Clemson and trip to the College week - most of it coming lenge, though the Tar Heels
flea flicker. Touchdown, 80 ended the regular season Football Playoff could eas- after the Tigers had taken a have had a few hiccups
yards.’’ seventh in the FBS, allowing ily slip away. 28-10 lead. in recent weeks. Some of
Venables knows the difficult 288 yards a game. North Carolina coach Larry Lawson said the Tigers have those, however, can be
challenge ahead for No. 1 ‘’I thought we had a Fedora is equally awed by been prepping for their chalked up to the team
Clemson (12-0) in slowing chance to be solid,’’ Ven- Clemson’s defense. league title game all sea- being in an unusual posi-
down the Tar Heels (11-1) ables said. ‘’But probably ‘’This is best football team son and will be ready to go tion: playing entire second
in the ACC championship not to the same level’’ as we’ve have faced,’’ he at North Carolina. halves against ACC oppo-
game Saturday night. 2014. said. ‘’I mean, they’re the The Tar Heels’ worst offen- nents in what amounted
North Carolina is 16th na- They’ll need to approach No. 1 team in the country. sive showing was their first to garbage time with the
tionally in yards gained at it to corral the Tar Heels, And they’ve been that way game, an inexplicable 17- outcome long since decid-
495.7 a game. More im- who’ve scored 38 or more for how many weeks? So 13 loss to the Gamecocks ed by the Tar Heels’ over-
pressive, in Venables’ view, points in eight of their 12 they’re really good.’’ at the title game site, Bank whelming starts.
is how fast the Tar Heels games. That defense, though, has of America Stadium. UNC led 38-10 by halftime
can strike. gone through a late-sea- ‘’Ever since then they’ve of the 66-31 win over the
‘’There’s a lot of explosive They scored 66 points son slide. been on fire,’’ Lawson said. Blue Devils, was up 31-0 at
play-makers’’ on UNC’s of- against the Blue Devils In the first seven games, But Clemson’s defense has halftime and 45-0 in the
fense, Venables said. and had 59 a week later only the Fighting Irish and been practicing all sea- third quarter of the 59-21
But Venables isn’t without against Miami on the way Georgia Tech scored 20 or son, Lawson said, against victory over the Hurricanes
options; Clemson has a few to the ACC’s Coastal Divi- and jumped to a 35-7 lead
play-makers on defense, in the first quarter of Satur-
too. Defensive end Shaq day’s 45-34 win at North
Lawson leads the country in Carolina State.The Tar
tackles for loss. Linebacker Heels gave up 17.0 points
B.J. Goodson and Ben Boul- per game through the first
ware have combined for eight.
234 tackles, 22 of those be- ‘’I really do think we gave
hind the line of scrimmage. up too many points this
No one at Clemson was past week, gave up too
completely sure how long many yards,’’ linebacker
it would take this year’s de- Shakeel Rashad said. ‘’And
fense to come together. we have to go back and fix
The Tigers lost eight start- that.
ers off last season’s No. 1 But at the same time, it’s
ranked unit, including first- not like we’re losing confi-
round NFL draft picks in end dence over it, because ev-
Vic Beasley and linebacker erything that we’re messing
Stephone Anthony. up is very fixable.’’q
