Tigers survive Wake Forest in overtime, 37-30

Whew. With a capital whew. That was a thrilling game Saturday -- a little too thrilling, but I'll take it. Although I would have preferred a more comfortable margin of victory, I think that a win like this at this stage of the season is extremely important for the confidence of our players.

I also have a feeling that a lot of our games this year are going to be like this one, though hopefully other teams won't be running an offense like Wake Forest's.

Anyway, on to the coverage.

GAME STORIES: "Staying alive: Tigers hang on to win season opener," says the Anderson Independent-Mail; "Clemson rallies to win in OT," says the Augusta Chronicle; "Wake-up call?Yep," says the Greenville News; "Tigers avoid potentially devastating defeat," says The State; "Tigers stop Deacs," says the Winston-Salem Journal.

THE STATS: Here's a complete statistical summary of the game.

OTHER STORIES: The Anderson Independent-Mail rips off my "whew" idea in this story on Clemson's relief at winning. Columnist Bob Spear of The State echoes the relief theme here but with more emphasis on great performance of Chansi Stuckey, and the Greenville News' Bart Wright says a tough win like this will be good for Clemson's confidence, once again ripping off an idea I've already written today.

In an aside that I missed but Jeff Quinton of FanBlogs picked up, Wright also points out that Clemson center Tommy Sharpe is still puking all over the place. (Sharpe gained a bit of infamy a year ago when his football-puking proclivities were noticed during Clemson's 30-0 loss to Georgia. Here's what I wrote at the time.)

The Greenville News also has a story on Kyle Browning, who scored what proved to be the winning touchdown in overtime, and a piece on Jesse Pickens' first start. The State has a story on the great game by Wake Forest running back Chris Barklay. There's also this story on how the special teams helped Clemson win.

The Greenville News has a short story on the 750-odd "refugees" of Hurricane Frances who were given free tickets to Saturday's game.

And finally, there are notebooks here and here, and The State offers its usual package: Grading the keys to victory and that High Five thingee.