After All, Shouldn't This Be Clemson's Year?

If you know your Southern college football history, you will know for a fact that the Clemson Tigers have won more ACC championships in football than any other member school, with 13 of them in 55 years of membership.

And if you really know your Southern college football, you will know that the last time the boys from Death Valley won the conference championship, Bush 41 was in office and MC Hammer was the biggest rapper around.

The year, my friend, was 1991.

Seventeen years have passed since an ACC championship in football came to Clemson.  With the stars aligning in perfect form, it looks like the Tigers, like it or not, are the odds-on favorite to win the ACC along with Virginia Tech in what will be a down year for the rest of the conference.

In most publications, Clemson is ranked in the preseason top 10—and with good reason.

They have Cullen Harper, who along with Sean Glennon at Va. Tech is one of the best QBs in the conference.

They also have one of the best receiving corps in the ACC, as well as an outstanding defense.

For Clemson, high expectations like these have been known over the last 17 years to go up in smoke around the second week of September.

One prime example is the 2006 game at Boston College in which the Tigers, prime favorites to win the ACC Coastal Division, lost a heartbreaker in double overtime.

Boston College went on to a 10-win season, while Clemson would lose to Kentucky in the Music City Bowl.

Come Aug. 30 in Atlanta, Clemson will either shine or crumble in another season with high expectations.

Hopefully, they'll shine.