Published: Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008 / Updated: Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008 04:51 PM

Walker, Tigers try to focus on Duke

CLEMSON -- Landon Walker speaks for several Clemson underclassmen who'd love for interim coach Dabo Swinney to get the job permanently.

The freshman offensive guard and his Tiger teammates can give Swinney's candidacy a boost Saturday with a victory over Duke (4-5, 1-4 ACC).

Walker, brought to school by former coach Tommy Bowden, thinks there's an energy the past month in a program that had grown stale as the Tigers lost their opener to Alabama and then consecutive ACC games to Maryland and Wake Forest by mid-October.

Swinney has the Tigers thinking success, no matter the obstacles.

"The players want to play for him, they want to win," Walker said. "I wouldn't say that we didn't want to win with Bowden. But sometimes, change kind of revives people a little bit and brings something they didn't have before."

Clemson (4-5, 2-4) has won just one of three games since Swinney took over last month.

And while the Tigers haven't lost at home to Duke in nearly three decades, the improved Blue Devils figure to present Swinney's group with problems in this one, too.

Duke is led by first-year coach David Cutcliffe, one of the top offensive minds in the Southeast. He's guided quarterback Thaddeus Lewis and receiver Eron Riley into one of the ACC's top pass catching combos.

Lewis leads the league with 207 yards passing a game. His 14 TD throws are also a conference high.

Riley is second in catches and yards per game. He's also excelled against Clemson in the past, catching a touchdown both times he's faced the Tigers.

Clemson gave Riley a look four years ago and defensive coordinator Vic Koenning recalls trying to lure him to his former school, Troy.

"I knew he was a good player," Koenning said. "I can remember distinctly sitting in the library at his school trying to talk him into going to Troy. He said, 'Where is that?"'

Riley knows where he is now and where he and the Blue Devils would like to wind up. A win at Death Valley, which would be the program's first since 1980, would push them closer to their first bowl appearance in 14 years.

Senior tight end Tielor Robinson says the club is committed to making the most of the regular season.

"We are promised at least three games," Robinson said. "We know that and try to go out and have fun and make the most out of it. You don't want to look back on your last season and think that you left some things on the table that you could've done more."

Clemson's younger players hope they can overcome the distractions that a coaching search can bring.

The school's athletic director Terry Don Phillips would only say that Swinney is a candidate. He's reportedly talked with former Oakland Raiders coach Lane Kiffin and defensive coordinators Brent Venables of Oklahoma and Bud Foster of Virginia Tech.

Swinney hasn't let the meetings bother him. He has said he's been promised nothing more than six games and wants to go full speed until season's end.

Even in a 41-27 loss at Florida State last week, Swinney found reasons to hope. The Tigers offense, dreadful in its final six quarters under Bowden and ex-offensive coordinator Rob Spence, looked crisper than it had all season last week. "We've got to plant the right seeds, the seeds of hope," Swinney said.

Walker doesn't expect the players to fold under the uncertainty of Swinney's status. "I feel like we've been under enough pressure this year that there's no more pressure situations," he said.

Linebacker Scotty Cooper, Clemson's sophomore linebacker, understands that the Tigers must sweep their final three games to keep alive a streak of bowl eligibility that began in Bowden's first season of 1999.

"But as a player, you can only worry about what you can control," he said. "And we can't control who's going to be the coach and what's going to happen. We can only control what happens on the field."