Bowden dealing with Wake Forest curse

CLEMSON, S.C. - Forget billy goats, Babe Ruth and South Carolina chickens - Clemson coach Tommy Bowden has a Wake Forest curse to overcome this week.

The past three Tiger coaches who lost to the Demon Deacons - Red Parker in 1976, Ken Hatfield in 1993 and Tommy West in 1998 - weren't on the Death Valley sidelines the following season.

Given Bowden's so-so history with some fans these past five seasons as evidenced on sports talk radio and Internet chat rooms, a defeat Saturday might be the last straw.

Bowden's focus is on preparing the Tigers (5-3, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) for a difficult, difficult contest with a huge bearing on the league race.

``It really is a big game,'' Bowden said Tuesday.

That's hard for several Tiger fans to swallow. Clemson owns a 53-14-1 record all-time against the Deacons. Since Charley Pell took over for Parker in 1977, the Tigers edge is 23-3.

And any Clemson stumbles since then are met with loud, dissatisfied rumblings from fans.

Hatfield's team in 1993 went 9-3, but its second-straight loss to Wake was unforgivable for some and he was replaced by West.

The former assistant to beloved national title coach Danny Ford fell out of favor in 1998 as the Tigers slipped to eighth in the ACC. The point of no return may have come when a stunned crowd at Death Valley watched Wake's 29-19 victory only its third in its previous 27 trips to Clemson.

Then in stepped Bowden who, except for a 55-7 whupping in 2000, has barely survived the Wake Forest upset.

His first year, Bowden called on injured quarterback Brandon Streeter to rally Clemson with a field goal and a touchdown in the fourth quarter of a 12-3 win.

Two years later, the Deacons were driving for a tying touchdown when Kevin Johnson intercepted Wake quarterback James MacPherson in the end zone with a little more than two minutes left in Clemson's 21-14 win.

A season ago, MacPherson had Wake Forest ahead 23-14 in the second half, but threw three interceptions in the Tigers' 31-23 comeback victory.

The days when teams can chalk up the ``W'' before taking the field against Wake Forest are over, Bowden says.

``This is a different team. I don't know their statistics, but when was the last time Wake Forest was bowl eligible three of the last four years?'' Bowden said. ``Probably never in their history. I know it's been a tough game for us.''

Bowden's taking every precaution. He held a full pad, lots-of-contact practice Tuesday something he won't normally do to correct the many tackling mistakes he bit his lip over in Clemson's 36-28 victory over North Carolina last Saturday.

Clemson center Tommy Sharpe said the team's ready to work hard this final stretch. ``It's not going to kill you,'' Sharpe said. ``If the coaches saw some stuff that we need to work on then we just have to suck it up and go.''

Bowden says his players know what's out there if they keep winning.

``What is there, like five or six teams with two losses?'' Clemson linebacker John Leake said of the ACC.

The Tigers are among the five in that group. A victory against Wake Forest on Saturday would leave them only games with likely league champion Florida State, the lone undefeated team in ACC play, and cellar-dwelling Duke a highly favorable scenario that could lead to the Gator or Peach bowls.

First, though, Bowden and the Tigers must get past the extremely improved Deacons. Wake Forest leads the league in rushing under coach Jim Grobe, who came before the 2001 season from Ohio.

Bowden remembered joking with Grobe that he ``should hurry up and leave and go back to the Big Ten or back where you're from. Then he signed that long term contract and I said, 'Well, that's not good for us.' ``

And it could get a whole lot worse for Bowden after Saturday.