Tigers focused on 'Pack with division title in reach

By Joedy McCreary - The Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Michael Palmer won't deny it. The Clemson tight end can't help but consider a division crown and a spot in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game.

Just not too much.

Definitely not with one of the league's strongest finishers up next.

“I'm not going to sit here and tell you that it's not in our mind,” Palmer said. “The ACC championship is just around the corner. Anybody that's around here understands that. … There's no point in looking to next week — if we don't win this week, it puts us in a real bad spot. We do understand what's at stake right now. We understand what's around the corner. But at the same time, we've just got to worry about this week.”

The ACC's title-game matchup could inch closer to being set with a pair of contests being played simultaneously Saturday some 25 miles apart in the Triangle region of central North Carolina.

While Georgia Tech can wrap up the Coastal Division by beating Duke up the road in Durham, Palmer and the 24th-ranked Tigers are more concerned with taking another step toward clinching the Atlantic against N.C. State. Clemson (6-3, 4-2 ACC) can sew up the division with a win against the Wolfpack and a Boston College loss to Virginia.

“You're going to think about it — that's regardless of whether the coach tells you or not,” Tigers defensive back Rashard Hall said. “You're going to think about it. But if you're smart enough to know how to get there, you're going to focus on the next game, the next play.”

That might be more challenging than it perhaps appeared a few weeks ago.

N.C. State (4-5, 1-4) is coming off a 38-31 victory against Maryland — one of two conference teams to beat the Tigers — and is 7-2 in November games under third-year coach Tom O'Brien. Last year, the Wolfpack reeled off four straight wins in that month to claim their first bowl berth since 2005, and they hope last week's win was evidence that another turnaround is forthcoming.

Before the win over the Terrapins, the Wolfpack dropped four straight while losing a total 12 players to season-ending injuries.

The seniors “know it's their last year,” O'Brien said. “I think one of them said to my wife the other day, ‘It certainly hasn't turned out the way we wanted it.' It is all that we have. This is it, and we'll make the best of the bad hand that we've been dealt and we are going to go on.”

N.C. State hopes its defense has solidified enough to slow down one of the country's most explosive players.

C.J. Spiller kept himself in the Heisman discussion with a pair of performances with more than 300 all-purpose yards, including last week's school-record 312-yard outing against Florida State. Through the years he has tortured the Wolfpack, racking up 479 all-purpose yards, including 339 on the ground with three touchdowns, while going 3-0 against N.C. State.

Perhaps lost in the buzz about Spiller is a Clemson defense that is the ACC's second-toughest to score upon, allowing an average of 17.3 points.

It will try to slow an N.C. State offense that under all-ACC quarterback Russell Wilson might be finding its rhythm, generating at least five touchdowns in two straight games.

“I think everybody's just believing in one another,” N.C. State offensive lineman Jeraill McCuller said. “Guys are flying around (at practice). It just speaks volumes about the character of this team, because we've been through so much. Guys are still in it, like we're undefeated. That's positive in itself, and it shows on (recent) Saturdays.”