Tonight's Chick-fil-A Bowl matches two teams that actually played well enough in the regular season to be on the verge of deserving a postseason appearance. Ranked 15th in the nation, Clemson, at 9-3, will take on Auburn, ranked 22nd with an 8-4 record.
While many of the early bowl games have had offensive excitement, and given gamblers reason to turn on the television, the level of overall play has been sloppy at best, and just poor in several instances. Last night's Independence Bowl between Alabama and Colorado was a perfect example of teams that just aren't skilled enough to warrant the reward of a bowl trip; of course, a trip to Shreveport, in the heart of Bible-belt country, for New Years' may be regarded by participants as punishment.
Clemson and Auburn share more than the common mascot of tigers; they also each have defenses ranked in the top ten in the country. Four losses by Auburn may seem to indicate a team less than solid, but Auburn does play in the nation's toughest conference, the SEC, and showed it can hang by beating Florida and playing LSU to the wire.
Auburn's regular season drawback was an ineffective offense, but head coach Tommy Tuberville just hired a new offensive coordinator, Tony Franklin. Franklin has been installing elements of the spread offense so popular currently.
Clemson features a sterling rushing attack led by running backs James Davis, who ran for 992 yards and 9 touchdowns, and C. J. Spiller, who added 656 yards on the ground. Quarterback Cullen Harper threw 27 touchdowns for Clemson, a school record.
It may seem Clemson has an advantage because their offence has been more efficient through the year, but the big-play potential of the spread, combined with the physical play common in the SEC, lead Marty Michaels, Casino Gambling Web sports analyst, to favor Auburn in tonight's game. Clemson is listed as a two-point favorite on the point spread. |
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