1.) Well, here we go. I tend not to believe in omens, but Thursday's clean injury report...that's the football gods saying, "okay, we're done messing with you for a while, and please accept this and an ACC title run as our apology," right? Right. Let's go with that.
2.) It's not lost on me that the November schedule is set up for MAXIMUM TEARS OF AGONY. There's Carolina, of course. And then there's Maryland, a team that I dislike very much. Losing to those teams is unbearable even when there are no stakes. Should we get past Clemson and Wake Forest, which teams get back-to-back shots at ending the party? Yeah. A very small part of me will be relieved if we lose to the Tigers tomorrow. As a State fan, these are the things I'm conditioned to think about.
If we somehow manage to roll through this final month, though, nothing will be sweeter than clinching with a big win in College Park. The final seconds tick off, our fans drown those idiots in oranges, and I die happy. So I'm holding a nine-year-old grudge. It is what it is.
3.) I worry that Tajh Boyd will be the Jeff Godfrey to Kyle Parker's Rob Calabrese, and that Clemson will discover this much faster. That's probably a little extreme on the pessimism scale, but I would feel better if Dabo Swinney had simply decided to play Parker full time and keep the x-factor out of the equation. On the optimistic side, maybe playing both guys prevents both from getting into the flow of the game.
4.) Clemson placekicker Chandler Catanzaro lost his job after missing a couple of field goals at Boston College. He's being replaced by Richard Jackson, who has not attempted a field goal this season. (Though he was the starter in 2009.) Showing no rust whatsoever, Jackson will make four 50+ yard field goals, and after the game he will remove his helmet and reveal to everyone that he is in fact Sam fucking Swank. Not to be outdone, Josh Czajkowski will make five 50+ yard field goals, including the game winner in the closing seconds, and later reveal that he is indeed Mike fucking Nugent. (For one day, we'll be okay with that.) And that's this week's lock of the week.
NC State 22, Clemson 19. Field goals!