Coach Jim Grobe of Wake Forest doesn't have a death wish, but four days before his fourth trip to Clemson he did express a Death Valley wish.
"I wish they didn't call that place Death Valley," Grobe said. "That has a bad ring to it, doesn't it?"
The place to which Grobe was referring is formally known as Memorial Stadium, which is usually filled with 81,500 leather-lunged Clemson fans wearing bright orange. The team playing there this season is struggling along with a 2-3 record in Dabo Swinney's first full year as head coach, but Grobe knows from his previous three trips that playing at Clemson is never an easy assignment, regardless of the circumstances.
Memorial Stadium is the only stadium in the ACC's Atlantic Division where Grobe has yet to win. His teams lost 31-23 in 2002, 37-30 in overtime in 2004 and 44-10 in 2007.
Senior linebacker Dominique Midgett has been warning his younger teammates all week of what to expect come Saturday's noon kickoff.
"I told them there's nothing that you can do to prepare for that," Midgett said. "You can sit in your car, roll your windows up, play loud music and try to talk to the person beside you -- and drive at the same time.
"My true freshman year (2005) I got to travel to Nebraska and that was loud. It was ‘like, wow' loud. Then I went to Clemson and that was louder. You're sitting right next to the (defensive) coordinator and he's trying to tell you something and you can't even hear him.
"I'm trying to relay the message to my young guys that you won't be able to hear."
Some of the noise raining down Saturday could turn out to be boos directed at the home team, that is if the Tigers don't play better than they did in a 24-21 loss at Maryland two weeks ago. They had last week off, which Grobe considers fortunate for Clemson and unfortunate for Wake Forest.
Swinney has had an extra week to prepare for a victory he needs badly. Plus, offensive tackle Chris Hairston, who played a bit against Maryland after injuring his knee against TCU on Sept. 26, is expected to be back at full speed.
"We'll get their best shot," Grobe said. "There isn't any question about that, with the extra week to get ready for their game plan. And they felt like they didn't play their best football up at Maryland."
Grobe said that the extra week that Clemson has had makes it harder to anticipate the Tigers' strategy.
"It does give them a chance to game-plan a little more and put more things in. I'm sure we'll get down there and there will be some wrinkles we haven't seen and we'll have to adjust to," Grobe said. "That's scary for us, with some of the inexperience that we have."
Hunter Haynes, a junior linebacker who started the first six games, did not practice Monday or yesterday because of a sprained knee he suffered against Maryland. No decision will be made concerning his availability until later in the week.
"That's the nice thing about where we are right now," Grobe said. "We've got quite a few linebackers. A guy that probably needs to play more is (Scott) Betros. With him, that gives you some flexibility there."
Dennis Godfrey, a sophomore offensive lineman, is expected to miss Saturday's game with a sprained knee sustained against the Terps. Both tight end Cameron Ford and running back Kevin Harris returned to practice on Monday and will play at Clemson. Ford has been sidelined by a hamstring injury and Harris by a groin injury.
dcollins@wsjournal.com.
727-7323
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement