Maybe it was me. I don’t know. For some reason over the last 8 years Tommy Bowden could not get the Tigers over the hump. No 10 win season, no ACC championships, no BCS bowl appearances. Now that I’ve moved away, Tommy has the boys in a one game playoff for a bid in the ACC championship game. Tomorrow they will play Boston College and a win gets them the nod. If they lose, they can still win the division if BC loses the next week. However, it would be better for Bowden and everyone if they just took care of business themselves. Otherwise, it’s another week of “Tommy can’t win the big one.” Now, there has been no more vocal critic of Bowden than me. I think everyone who knows me knows how I feel about his coaching skills(or lack thereof), but I won’t rehash that or my disdain for Superman Returns. I will say this. If the man gets the job done and wins the last 3 to stand at 11-2 with an ACC championship then I will be the first to praise him. Frankly, in the 8 wins they have looked like we’ve been hoping for since Bowden arrived. They now run different formations AND different plays. Cullen Harper has been so good that QB-n-waiting-since-his-11th-grade-year Wily Korn will probably redshirt. 7 months ago this would have been unthinkable. I don’t know if it’s the absence of my negativity in the Clemson area, a weak ACC and non-conference schedule, or everything finally coming together, but this year has been different. It makes you wonder what we’d be talking about if we had shown up against Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. I firmly believe we’re better than both those teams and 2 wins there would have us atop the BCS standings. Instead, we’ve got Saturday. I would be there, but I don’t want to rehash THAT story either. I will be firmly rooting for the Tigers. I will put my personal feelings about Tommy Bowden aside and cheer for a solid victory. Even a skeptic like me can see…he ain’t going anywhere. This morning I went to change my son Drake. I almost put on his Clemson outfit, but I stopped. I wanted him to wear it tomorrow night for the big game. The Tigers are 0-2 when Drake wears the outfit. Maybe it’s him.