(UPDATED at 5:25 p.m.)

Bowden manages to find positives in blowout

Clemson coach Tommy Bowden says the Tigers' 30-0 loss to Georgia wasn't so bad when you look at it closely:

"After looking at the film, we just needed to make a play," Bowden said. "Turnovers hurt us, things you thought pretty much might have been the problem. I thought the effort was good."

Uh huh. Ken Tysiac's last line perhaps explains why Bowden seems to be living in Cloud-Koo-Koo Land:

By focusing on the positives, he may be trying to build the morale of a team that is down.

Yeah, either that, or he's trying to avoid the painful facts brought up in this story: In his entire career, he's just 2-18 against teams that finished the season ranked in the Top 25.

This column by John Brasier of the Anderson Independent-Mail not so subtly suggests that Bowden was engaged in some heavy-duty spinning at Tuesday's weekly press conference. I'll second that.

Meanwhile, athletic director Terry Don Phillips says he's confident the team will improve, but ducked questions about Bowden's job security.

HOT SEAT WATCH: CBS Sportsline weighs in on Clemson's shoddy performance against Georgia and Bowden's rapidly declining stock, and points out some little-known history for those clamoring to bring back Danny Ford (little known to me, anyway):

Now there is speculation Clemson athletic director Terry Don Phillips could pull the trigger on Tommy Bowden before the season ends. That leads to another question: Has a Bowden ever been fired?

It has not slipped some people's attention that Phillips was the senior associate AD at Arkansas in 1992 when Frank Broyles canned coach Jack Crowe after a season-opening loss to The Citadel. Coincidentally, Ford had the Razorbacks' job by 1993.

What is more likely to happen is Phillips will assemble a short list behind the scenes during the season rather than put the program through such upheaval.

I wasn't aware Phillips was at Arkansas when Ford got hired. Very interesting, as is the whole column.

LINE SHUFFLE: Some linemen were injured in practice, and their backups got more work. Fascinating stuff.

CU/FURMAN MEMORIES: The official Clemson site has posted some video highlights of Clemson's 33-0 victory over Furman in 1998. My father and I were at that game, and if I remember correctly, that was the one where quarterback Woodrow Dantzler made his debut. He led the Tigers on a drive late in the first half, running the ball himself on nearly every play. It was one of the strangest drives we ever saw in Death Valley.

By the way, I was glad to hear that Dantzler was picked up by the Atlanta Falcons after being cut by Dallas.

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