CORAL GABLES, Fla. - The stadium's nickname is simply chilling.
Death Valley.
It's an 77,381-seat, ultra-imposing, incredibly loud facility better known as Clemson Memorial Stadium - a building where only 11 first-time visitors over the last 63 years have escaped with a victory.
Yet the Miami Hurricanes aren't concerned about the ambiance that awaits them this weekend, when they get their first look at perhaps most mystique-loaded football venue in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
"We're not going to be intimidated going into Clemson, South Carolina," Miami coach Larry Coker said. "We're going to take a good football team there and we're going to play well there."
The 13th-ranked Hurricanes (0-1) visit No. 20 Clemson (2-0) on Saturday afternoon, with Miami trying to avoid opening a season with two losses for the first time since 1978.
Clemson has won more than 71 percent of its games played at Death Valley, and is 33-11-1 in matchups against teams making their first trip to the Tigers' home field. Since 1978, only one team - Marshall, a 13-10 winner in 1999 - has prevailed in its first-ever appearance at Clemson.
"It's loud, and I don't think it's going to get any louder than Florida State was," said Miami left tackle Eric Winston. "Once you can't hear, now you're just kind of splitting hairs. It's going to be fun. It's an exciting game."
The game marks the 14th occurrence of two nationally ranked teams meeting on Clemson's home field, and the first since Nov. 18, 2000, when No. 16 Clemson beat No. 25 South Carolina 16-14. And the Tigers are 70-14-3 when playing at home as a ranked team, but Coker and the Hurricanes are undeterred by history.
"We're not going to give the game to the Clemson crowd," Coker said. "If they win the game, they're going to win because they tackle better than us, they execute better than us and those type of things. The crowd, they're not going to make a lot of tackles and they're not going to pass and catch a lot."
Still, Clemson coach Tommy Bowden made a public plea this week, asking his team's fans to be particularly raucous when the Hurricanes have the ball.
"I want to encourage our crowd to make it extremely difficult," he said.
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INJURY REPORT: Running back Tyrone Moss had 102 yards in the Labor Day loss to Florida State, yet managed only eight yards after halftime. And cramping apparently wasn't his lone problem.
Moss' status for the Clemson game is questionable because of a bruised lower leg. It's unclear when he exactly suffered the injury, but Miami is preparing to use perhaps a combination of Quadtrine Hill, Charlie Jones and Derron Thomas at tailback against the Tigers.
"A little bit iffy," was how Miami coach Larry Coker described Moss' status.
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HISTORY LESSON: Miami and Clemson have played only six previous times, most recently the Tigers' 24-17 overtime win at the Orange Bowl last Nov. 6 - a game where the Hurricanes took a 17-3 lead into halftime.
The Tigers' other win in the series came in 1950. Miami prevailed in 1945, 1951, 1953 and 1956.
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MAXEY EMERGING: Much preseason attention centered around Devin Hester's play at cornerback, but the person who's actually ahead of Hester on the depth chart - senior Marcus Maxey.
In the 10-7 season-opening loss to Florida State, Maxey quietly had an exceptional game: four tackles, one pass broken up and the Hurricanes' lone interception - the first of his 35-game Miami career.
"He's really stepped his game up and developed a lot of confidence, and he's getting a lot of confidence in himself of being able to really contribute and being a marquee player for us," Miami coach Larry Coker said.
Maxey said the Hurricanes have spent the days following the Florida State loss desperately trying not to dwell on the disappointing outcome.
"It's a little phrase we use called FIDO. It's something that means 'forget it, drive on,'" Maxey said. "So as hard as it is to do, you still manage to do it somehow. If you don't, you're just going to drag that negative energy with you."
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COLORADO KICKOFF: Kickoff for Miami's home opener against Colorado on Sept. 24 has been set for noon, and the game will be aired by ABC.
Midday home kickoffs have agreed nicely with Miami coach Larry Coker. In his last eight games that began at noontime in the Orange Bowl, Coker's teams are 7-1 and have outscored opponents by a 264-85 margin. The loss was to Tennessee, 10-6 two years ago.
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HERE AND THERE: RB Charlie Jones, who was ejected in the first half of the Florida State game, will be eligible to play against Clemson. By league rules, Jones needs to sit out one half of a game because of the ejection; he satisfied that requirement in the second half against the Seminoles.... Greg Olsen's 137 receiving yards in the opening week loss represented the biggest day by a Miami tight end since Willie Smith caught eight passes for 140 yards against Maryland on Nov. 9, 1985.... Miami's record of 221-46 since the start of the 1983 season is the best among all Division I-A programs.
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