Clemson's Bowden tamps down expectations

SUNSET, S.C. (AP) _ With a new, long-term contract and nearly every offensive impact player back, it sounds like a carefree summer for Clemson coach Tommy Bowden.

"Never," Bowden said Tuesday. "You're never relaxed before the season."

Still, there are many in Tigertown excited about Clemson's prospects for an Atlantic Coast Conference championship and beyond in Bowden's 10th season.

The Tigers went 9-4 a year ago and featured a multifaceted attack with record setters in quarterback Cullen Harper and receiver Aaron Kelly. If that wasn't enough, the team's "Thunder and Lightning" duo of James Davis and C.J. Spiller was there to control the clock and strike for long, stunning touchdowns.

Despite missing out on the ACC title game because of a 20-17 November loss to Matt Ryan and Boston College, Bowden was rewarded with a raise and a deal that ties him to the Tigers through 2014.

Things continued to go Clemson's way after the season ended.

Harper and Kelly quickly turned aside notions of leaving after their junior years. Davis, who initially declared for the NFL draft, changed his mind a week or so later and returned to the team.

On defense, standouts in safety Michael Hamlin and lineman Dorrell Scott also chose to play one final season.

The lone junior star who left was defensive lineman and sack leader Phillip Merling, drafted in the second round last April by Miami. Clemson, though, brought on first-year lineman Da'Quan Bowers, considered by some the country's top prospect, to fill in.

The returnees and newcomers make Clemson the likely choice to win the ACC, and perhaps challenge for more.

Bowden, in typical coach summer-speak, isn't so sure.

He's worried over his offensive line, which has only center Thomas Austin as a returning starter. Bowden's also concerned about his linebackers, all three starters gone from last fall.

"I don't see this as a veteran team," Bowden said.

Of rampant talk of coming success, he says, "I would say it was premature."

Bowden's opinion probably won't keep Clemson from a spot in the preseason top-10.

It may, though, get his players focused on completing a job they couldn't the past two seasons. In 2006, an unexpected 13-12 loss at Death Valley to overmatched Maryland cost the Tigers a spot in the ACC's title game.

Last fall, Clemson fell victim to Boston College in a showdown for an ACC championship slot.

The Tigers had rallied to a 17-13 lead in the last six minutes. But a scrambling Ryan found Rich Gunnell for the winning 43-yard TD catch with 1:46 left.

Clemson had a good look at answering back down the stretch. However, Harper's pass fell through the hands of Kelly near the goalline.

The Eagles were off to the ACC's title game. Clemson's streak without an ACC crown grew to 16 years.

Bowden says he thinks about that loss every day and understands he'll be marked by the Tigers failings until they bring home a championship. "My father carried that for a long time," Bowden said.

His dad, Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, won the first of his two national titles with the Seminoles in 1993 — 17 years after he was hired.

Until you succeed, the reputation that you'll stumble as the Tigers have done, "is deserved," Tommy Bowden said.

What Bowden won't do is overhaul a program that's been close. If Clemson had contained Ryan at the Boston College game, not allowed Gunnell to get so wide open, or caught the TD pass at the end, the Tigers title drought might already be over.

"And then I won't have to answer that question anymore," he said.

Maybe these Tigers will make sure he won't have to next year.