CLEMSON, S.C. --- When C.J. Spiller stands beside Howard's Rock for his solo, Senior Day run down Clemson's famed hill today, he won't think about the friends he's made, the highlight reels he's filled or the nearly four miles he's run since picking the Tigers four seasons ago.
He'll focus, as he always has, on the 60 minutes ahead and guaranteeing his Tigers come out on top.
"It might be emotional, it might not," Spiller said. "Once the game starts, I'll block all that out. My objective will be to position myself to help my team win (today)."
The 18th-ranked Tigers (7-3, 5-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) are heavily favored to do just that against Virginia (3-7, 2-4).
A win would wrap up the Atlantic Division and send Clemson to Tampa, Fla., in two weeks to face Georgia Tech for the conference title.
There's a chance the Tigers could wrap things up before kickoff since those Eagles, at 4-2 the only division team that could catch Clemson, play North Carolina at noon with the results known before Clemson's 3:30 p.m. start. The Tigers, who have won their past five games, hold the tiebreaker over Boston College because of a 25-7 win in September.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said that won't matter.
He won't talk about the result to his players or let them discuss it before the game.
"Let's line up and play," he said. "I don't want anything given to us. Let's go to work and earn what we get."
First things first, though, and that's solving Virginia's 3-4, prostyle scheme, one the Tigers haven't come up against this year.
It helps to have Spiller, a rising Heisman Trophy contender, on your side.
The fleet Spiller needs just 140 yards to become the NCAA's fifth player to surpass 7,000 all-purpose yards.
HIGH STAKES
FOR THE TIGERS: If they win today's game against Virginia, they would head to Tampa, Fla., in two weeks to face Coastal champion Georgia Tech for the conference title.
FOR SWINNEY: A trip to the ACC title game would earn coach Dabo Swinney a raise of about $1 million, more than doubling his paycheck. Currently, he earns $800,000 -- at the bottom of ACC coach payrolls
TODAY'S GAMES
- The Citadel at Ga. Southern, 2 p.m. (No TV)
- Virginia at Clemson, 3:30 p.m. (ABC-Ch. 6)
- Kentucky at Georgia, 7:45 p.m. (ESPN2)
JOHNSON'S CONTRACT EXTENDED
ATLANTA -- Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson agreed Friday to a one-year extension of his contract, which now runs through 2016.
Johnson initially signed a seven-year deal worth about $11 million when he came from Navy before the 2008 season. He got a new seven-year, $17.7 million deal after the Yellow Jackets won nine games in his debut.
No. 7 Georgia Tech (10-1) has already clinched a spot in the ACC title game Dec. 5.
Johnson is 19-5 at Georgia Tech, the highest winning percentage (.792) in school history.
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C.J. Spiller is the most talented and most loyal player Clemson has ever had. An unlikely recruit from Florida, he said he loved Clemson at first sight. Shunning the NFL, he is staying around to graduate in hopes of bringing Clemson an ACC Championship before he hits the NFL. It just may work out. Along the way, he has also become a genuine Heisman candidate. Clemson is an improbable story this year and may get to play Ga Tech in the championship and if they win that, TCU in the Orange Bowl. I don't remember any team ever getting to face two teams that beat them again in the same season. Incredible. The only thing is that they have to wait until next year to get retribution on lowly Maryland.
A couple of random thoughts...1. when your game has a female announcer, you know things are not going great that year. 2. An ACC game at Boston College on TV where the referee with the mike explaining things to the audience has a Boston accent makes me uneasy. Go UNC.