This is definitely not an original thought, but sometimes you just feel like smacking Tommy Bowden upside the head hoping to knock some sense into the Clemson football coach.
Not that anybody in Tiger Town is complaining about the 2-0 start heading into Saturday's colossal meeting with the Miami Hurricanes. But how much easier might those two close encounters with defeat have been if Reggie Merriweather was a more significant part of the Clemson offensive gameplan.
Remember Merriweather? You should.
He's the guy that rushed for more than 2,500 yards his last season at North Augusta High School.
He's the guy who almost single-handedly revived the Tigers' offense and bowl quest in the second half of last season.
He's the guy who scored every Clemson touchdown in victories over Maryland, Miami and South Carolina that turned a 1-4 start into a 5-1 finish.
He's the guy who returned as the Atlantic Coast Conference's leading touchdown scorer with 11.
Now Merriweather is the guy who comes in for short-yardage grit or to spell the true freshman running back who Bowden is so enamored with.
Nothing against James Davis and his obvious potential. He's good, just ask him. But Merriweather would seem to have a legitimate gripe. He's just too nice and classy to present it.
"Any running back coming off the season I had last year ... when you got a new guy coming in and starting that's kind of hard," Merriweather said. "But as a team what we want to do as running backs is just win. That's our priority right now."
Team is what Merriweather is all about, which is the very reason his coaches should use him more. Yet at times you wonder if Bowden and Co. forgot what Merriweather did for the team in the last six games of 2004 - his only starts.
Rest assured, Miami hasn't forgotten him. The 5-foot-8, 210-pound back ignited the Tigers' stunning upset at the Orange Bowl stadium with a 114-yard, three-touchdown performance in the overtime win.
Two weeks later, he backed it up by slashing through South Carolina's defense for 125 yards and three more scores.
He finished his sophomore season with a team-leading 670 yards - the most by a Tiger since 2001. In the last six games, he had 508 on 115 attempts (4.4-yard average) to help the Tigers on that 5-1 closing tear.
All that got him was a secondary role in 2005 and another layer of humility.
"That's one thing that's helped me keep a level head," he said of the constant requirement to keep proving himself. "The big thing for me is I'm a part of a team. My daddy always taught me to be humble and never separate yourself because one day you might be on top of the world and the next day back at the bottom. It's not a huge thing for me to be No. 1, but I love to see the reactions on my teammates faces when I do something good or we win."
Typically those things tend to go hand in hand. Merriweather does something good, the Tigers win. Bowden recognizes that enough to say the coaching staff has singled in on Davis and Merriweather carrying most of the load.
"He's half of that running back duo right now so he's very important," Bowden said.
Only Merriweather gets half the number of touches as the freshman who stole his starting spot. If Merriweather had half the ego of Davis, he'd be complaining about the lack of respect. Being twice the man, however, leads Merriweather to a more dignified response.
"I'm not afraid to tell anybody that I'm not the starter," Merriweather said, "but when I get in the game I make it count."
Maryland can vouch for that. A year after Merriweather scored the Tigers' only touchdown with 23 seconds left in a 10-7 victory, he made the ultimate difference between winning and losing to the Terps again last week.
A week after Clemson's redesigned offense scored zero touchdowns while setting up six field goals against Texas A&M, Merriweather reacquainted the Tigers with the end zone.
In the first quarter, he scored the Tigers' first touchdown from 1 yard out. In the fourth quarter, he capped a comeback from a 10-point deficit with a 38-yard touchdown run that proved to be the game-winner.
For the day, Merriweather accounted for two touchdowns and 75 yards on 10 rushes (7.5 average) to Davis' 82 yards in 20 carries (4.1).
The week before Davis debuted with 101 yards on 19 carries to Merriweather's 22 in nine attempts.
"I think it's kind of my role," Merriweather said. "When the game gets tough they put me in to get a couple of hard yards. Sometimes it pays off."
Merriweather doesn't see Davis as a rival, only a teammate. He admits the freshman hits the holes quicker and possesses more talent outside the tackles.
But Merriweather's knack for following his downfield blocks and making those hard yards is invaluable.
Especially Saturday against the team he torched last year, prompting riotous celebrations in Clemson. This is the type of situation the North Augusta sparkplug is made for.
"You can feel the electricity, man," Merriweather said. "The first time the 'Canes have come to Death Valley and everybody is charged and everybody is hyped. We're 2-0 for first time since forever. Everybody senses this team can do something special."
As long as Bowden remembers Merriweather, the Tigers just might make it count.
Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.
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