Clemson Not Scared of Blue Devils

Clemson and Duke square off tonight at 9PM ET in Death Valley with, kind of surprisingly, a lot on the line. That's not an insult to the Tigers necessarily, but this game has "marquee win" potential written all over it. Duke's ranked fourth in the country (first in the ACC) and the Tigers, despite an 18-2 record and a 10th overall national ranking, still aren't getting everyone's respect.

And despite the high octane nature of the Devils' offense, the Tigers simply aren't scared. In fact, they're confident.

"My mindset has always been different -- we can play with everybody," said Clemson senior K.C. Rivers. "It's just a matter of who brings it on any given day."

[...]"It would be a delight to beat them," Clemson's Terrence Oglesby said.

Now, these aren't brash words (like the ones you hear coming out of College Park these days) but they do show the nature of a Clemson team that has a different make up than years past.

It wouldn't have been a surprise -- to anyone, really -- if Clemson had folded last week following back-to-back losses to Wake Forest and North Carolina, but the Tigers rallied and won two crucial games against Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech.

However, they still haven't beaten a top-five ranked opponent in nineteen (/Stein'd) tries; in other words, it's probably acceptable for people to look at the Tigers in a skeptical manner, at least until they beat a big name opponent. But, hey, on the bright side, they're not scared.