Coasting, er, Coastal forecast

OK, no need to mince words here. Let’s cut to the chase.

Clemson lambasts Coastal Carolina.

These aren’t your slightly older brother’s Chanticleers that had four future NFL players as well as future South Carolina sportswriter of the year Josh Hoke as kicker.

Beyond seeing whether C.J. Spiller can sustain his Heisman buzz in presumed limited playing time, I’m anxious to see how a number of the backups fare: QB Willy Korn, WR Jaron Brown, LBs Corico Hawkins and Jonathan Willard and S Jonathan Meeks and Spencer Adams, among others.

The real intrigue is how the Atlantic Division race unfolds around Clemson.

The Tigers (3-2) win out, they go to the ACC title game. Boston College (3-2) and Wake Forest (2-2) could both match its final record if they win out, too, but Clemson holds the individual tiebreaker over each, plus would win the three-way tiebreak because it is 2-0 against the trio.

The greater question, then, is how much leeway the Tigers have to incur another loss. And that probably depends on whom Clemson loses to.

Boston College appears to me to be the biggest threat to win the division because it has a really weak remaining schedule.

The Eagles are out of conference Saturday, too, hosting 7-1 Central Michigan.

The bad news for Clemson fans is that the rest of Boston College’s league games are against three awful offenses – Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland.

The good news would be that the Eagles are 0-3 on the road this year, and two of those games (Virginia, Maryland) are away from home.

Wake Forest – well, Jim Grobe has proven anything is possible. But I don’t see that defense holding up against the likes of Miami today as well as Georgia Tech, FSU and Duke. The Deacs will do well to reach bowl eligibility.

All you need to know about this division is that the game of the day belongs to N.C. State (0-3) at FSU (1-3).

Clemson hosts FSU next week and travels to N.C. State the following week.

And if I’m the Tigers, I don’t want the ‘Noles, a k a Jon & Kate Plus 85, coming in with sustained confidence after last week’s 30-27 comeback win at UNC. FSU’s offense is every bit as dangerous as Miami’s when it puts its mind to it.

Either way, it will be interesting to monitor the pulse of Clemson’s next two opponents following this outcome.

As for the Tigers, well, I just hope this one wraps up neatly in time for me to snag some Reese’s products with the ninos.

Coastal Carolina can see my son’s outfit coming down the tracks. 

PREDICTION: CLEMSON 55, COASTAL CAROLINA 7