(UPDATED at 6:41 p.m.)

Tommy Bowden: Motivational speaker

Clemson coach Tommy Bowden shared tales of his up-and-down 2003 football season at an event sponsored by the Anderson Independent-Mail. Check it out.

ELIOTT GETS POSTGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP: Receiver Tony Elliott has been awarded a Weaver-James-Corrigan Postgraduate Scholarship by the ACC. Congratulations, Tony.

WE'RE NO. 2? Here's something I gleaned from the Tigernet message board. It's a ranking of gameday atmospheres in the ACC. Clemson is rated the second best in the league behind Florida State.

Second best? I've never been to Tallahassee for a football game, but I can't imagine it's better than Tigertown. I guess they gave the Seminoles the nod because they've had tremendous success over the past couple of decades, while Clemson has been up and down (mostly up, thankfully).

THE FRIDAY FIVE: OK, here goes:

1. Are you superstitious?
Only a little bit.

2. What extremes have you heard of someone going to in the name of superstition?
I've heard of people planning their lives around superstitions, but I don't know anybody who does this.

3. Believer or not, what's your favorite superstition?
The black cat one.

4. Do you believe in luck? If yes, do you have a lucky number/article of clothing/ritual?
I'm only a slight believer in luck (more so when I was younger). For some reason, five has always been my number, lucky or not.

And on a football-related matter, when my father and I used to go to Clemson football games when I was a teen, I had a ritual of sorts. I'd go into the stadium early and walk all around it in the same way. Then, I'd try to be near the locker room when the opposing team got off the bus. It seemed to work; the Tigers sure were great in the 1980s.

5. Do you believe in astrology? Why or why not?
I don't believe in astrology, because it's just so illogical. However, I do think it's a fun diversion, and I check my horoscope in the newspaper just for kicks. (I'm an Aries, by the way.)

ACC to sign huge television contract

Here's another benefit of expansion. According to USA Today, the Atlantic Coast Conference is close to completing deals that would bring nearly $40 million a year into the league's coffers -- doubling the current income.

"What this means is that the ACC, in my view, is one of the three premier conferences," said ACC negotiator Barry Frank of IMG. "Combined with its strength in basketball, it's on its way to being the premier conference."

And once Boston College joins as the 12th team in 2005, there will be additional revenue generated by a football championship game. For example, CBS pays the Southeastern Conference $8 million to televise the league's championship game.

SCHEDULE ANALYSIS: College Football News takes a look at the 2004 football schedules for teams in the ACC. Check it out.

RECRUITING ANALYSIS: College Football News also examines how ACC teams ended up ranked after recruiting season. (Clemson finished eighth.)

More on the staff reshuffling

The Augusta Chronicle and the Anderson Independent-Mail catch up on the story of changes made to coach Tommy Bowden's staff.

BOWDEN SPEAKS: The Myrtle Beach Sun News has a story from Bowden's visit to a coach clinic over the past weekend. He talks about the adversity he faced during the 2003 season. Check it out.

ACC OUT OF LAWSUIT: Once again, the ACC won't be a defendant in a lawsuit brought by the Big East Conference that alleges the ACC, Miami and Boston College were in cahoots to destroy the Big East. If you haven't been following this, it's all related to the ACC's expansion last year.

Bowden shakes up coaching staff

Clemson coach Tommy Bowden has made some changes to the football coaching staff for the 2004 season. Brad Scott has been demoted from offensive coordinator to offensive line coach, and Mike O'Cain has been elevated into the offensive coordinator job. Other changes:

Ron West, who had coached the offensive line for five seasons, will work with the defensive line. Defensive line coach Thielen Smith moves to coaching safeties. Rover/whip linebackers coach Jack Hines shifts to coaching tight ends.

Defensive coordinator John Lovett, linebackers coach David Blackwell, running backs coach Burton Burns and wide receivers coach Dabo Swinney are unaffected by the changes.

(More here.)

I think we were all hoping to see something like this, and I hope it pays off. I think Scott's (and Bowden's) crappy play-calling early in the season really hindered Clemson. We certainly don't need that this year.

Also, it's interesting to see who got moved and who didn't. It's an obvious statement about who's in Bowden's good graces and who isn't.

Tigers add Florida receiver; more recruiting postmortems

After being snubbed at the last minute by all-star receiver Mike McIntosh, Clemson got a boost with the late signing of receiver Andrew Diomande of Miami. (More here and here.)

'THE RECRUITING GEEKS HAVE HAD THEIR FUN': The Greenville News' Bart Wright has a spot-on column today about the mini-industry surrounding college football recruiting.

THE FRIDAY FIVE: OK, here goes:

1. What's the most daring thing you've ever done?
I'm not going to say here.

2. What one thing would you like to try that your mother/friend/significant other would never approve of?
Skydiving, I think.

3. On a scale of 1-10, what's your risk factor? (1=never take risks, 10=it's a lifestyle)
Probably a four or a five.

4. What's the best thing that's ever happened to you as a result of being bold/risky?
Can't really say.

5. ... and what's the worst?
Again, no comment. I will say I've been arrested a couple of times for alcohol-related offenses, but that was a long time ago when I was young and foolish.

And now, the recruiting season postmortems begin

It seems the late addition of Akeem Robinson helped ease the sting of the last-minute snub by Mike McIntosh. (More here, here, here and here.)

Once again, here's a link to bios of the players we signed.

BLACKWELL PLEASED: Clemson recruiting coordinator David Blackwell says he's happy with the players who signed with Clemson. Coach Tommy Bowden was pleased, too.

HOW'D WE DO: Recruiting "expert" Mike Knobler gives Clemson's incoming class a C. But check out Maryland; the Terps signed 11 SuperPrep All-Americans. And according to Rivals.com, we had the nation's 53rd-best class. (No link available.)

GET AN ICE CREAM MACHINE: Still upset about Mike McIntosh changing his mind at the last minute? Check out this anecdote from a recruiting story in the Boston Globe:

Stories of last-minute changes of heart are legendary. Some are funny, some are sad, as kids struggle with the fame that is about to be cast upon them. Former Wake Forest coach Bill Dooley tells about a recruit he thought he had until the signing date. It was Wake Forest and Clemson, in that order. Or so Dooley thought. But when the announcement was made, the recruit signed with Clemson.

Dooley, as was his practice with recruits he did not sign, called the player to wish him well and ask what he had done wrong so he could do better next time.

"Coach," said the recruit, "the difference was that Clemson served soft-serve ice cream in the cafeteria, and Wake Forest didn't."

Needless to say, Dooley had a soft-serve ice cream machine installed the next day.

Great. Now the NCAA will probably launch an investigation into Clemson's Dairy Sciences center.

Today is National Signing Day; who will we get?

We're already starting to find out who Clemson has signed. The official Clemson site will be updating a page on signings all day. The page will have links to player bios and photos of signees in Clemson jerseys. Check it out. Again, this page will be updated throughout the day, so check it often.

RECRUITING OVERVIEWS: Stories from The State and the Anderson Independent-Mail.

A LOOK AT LAMBERT: The Greenville News has an article about offensive lineman Corey Lambert, one of the top recruits in the nation, who committed early to Clemson.

BLACKWELL'S MAGIC: The Anderson Independent-Mail takes a look at the hard work put in by David Blackwell, the Tigers' recruiting coordinator.

ALL-ACADEMIC TIGERS: Three Clemson players -- Justin Miller, Tony Elliott and William Henry -- were named to the All-ACC Academic Team. Congratulations, guys.

Media emit low-pitched whistle over Clemson's schedule

The newspapers that cover Clemson football all agree -- that's one tough road schedule. (More here, here and here.)

Here's more on the rest of the 2004 ACC schedule.

RECRUITING UPDATE: Where will defensive tackle Akeem Robinson of Miami choose to go to college? Hopefully, Clemson.

(UPDATED at 6:40 p.m.)

2004 football schedule announced

The Tigers will play six home games, but must make three difficult road trips; to Texas A&M, Florida State and Miami. Top home games include South Carolina, Georgia Tech, N.C. State and Maryland. Here's how it looks:

Sept. 4 WAKE FOREST
Sept. 11 GEORGIA TECH
Sept. 18 at Texas A&M
Sept. 25 at Florida State
Oct. 2 OPEN DATE
Oct. 7 at Virginia
Oct. 16 UTAH STATE
Oct. 23 MARYLAND
Oct. 30 NC STATE
Nov. 6 at Miami (FL)
Nov. 13 at Duke
Nov. 20 SOUTH CAROLINA

And here's a look at the composite ACC football schedule.

RECRUITING UPDATES: With National Signing Day almost here, there were a couple of recruiting-related stories out there this weekend. The Anderson Independent-Mail has a story on the importance of recruiting to a strong program. The State examines Clemson's recruiting class so far, and also looks at the S.C.-based prep stars who could sign with Clemson or USC.

PANTHERS FALL SHORT: Man, but what a great game. At least we didn't get killed out there.

Although they didn't win, I'm very proud of the Panthers, and my home town.