Texas A&M looks to start fast at Clemson

CLEMSON, S.C. - Texas A&M's season got off to an ugly start last year in Utah.

The 17th-ranked Aggies hit the road again to begin 2005, and coach Dennis Franchione is expecting a more poised team to better handle a hostile environment when they visit Clemson's Death Valley on Saturday night.

As far as that 41-21 loss at Utah last fall, Franchione said "very few realized they were BCS caliber at the time. That wasn't fun."

"Hopefully, this team is a little more mature, a little more prepared to handle what they're going to face" at Clemson, he said.

They're certainly a lot more confident. A few weeks after the Utah debacle, Texas A&M easily handled the Tigers, 27-6.

The Aggies who inflicted most of that damage, quarterback Reggie McNeal and tailback Courtney Lewis, are back.

McNeal accounted for more than 300 yards, while Lewis ran for 165 yards and two touchdowns.

McNeal agrees with his coach - and that could mean more bad news for the Tigers and every other team who faces Texas A&M this year. "I'm a way smarter player now," he said.

Clemson points to a number of things in its defense. It saw the Utah defeat as well, and perhaps, some players say, took Texas A&M too lightly.

On game day, the Tigers faced a 90-minute ride to College Station through the Texas heat of September on a bus with broken air conditioning. New Tiger defensive coordinator Vic Koenning said Clemson players looked tired on the game film.

Some Clemson players - and even coach Tommy Bowden - think the club wasn't totally over its defeat from a week earlier, when it squandered a 24-14 lead with less than two minutes to go to lose to Georgia Tech.

"You don't want last week to beat you this week," Clemson defensive end Charles Bennett said. "But..."

There are no such excuses this time around. The Tigers have been fixed on Texas A&M since last season ended.

Clemson could not stop McNeal a year ago because each time defenders closed in, the quarterback found a way to slip through or get the ball to Lewis.

McNeal thinks Lewis is ready to do the same thing this time. "Me, personally, I like to toss him the rock and watch him shake and break ankles," McNeal said. "I could watch that all day."

Ask the Tigers; that's what they did all game a year ago. Defensive back Jamaal Fudge said they've spent most of the offseason thinking about how to stop Texas A&M's attack. "We've just got to defend everything," he said.

With McNeal running the Aggies' offense, that might not be enough for Clemson.

McNeal passed for 2,791 yards and 14 touchdowns last fall. He was also the team's second leading rusher behind Lewis with 718 yards and eight touchdowns.

Even more, Franchione said McNeal sees the game much better than in the past.

The coach recalled a goal line play from a scrimmage last month when McNeal saw his receivers covered before casually rolling to the right and letting a player break open for a touchdown.

"I characterized that play with our coaches by saying the game is slow for him right now," Franchione said, "and the game two years ago was probably faster for him.

"I think that's just another way of saying that he has command of things."