Clemson vs. Alabama LIVE blog

There are days -- more of them lately -- when sportswriters wonder why we ever got in the newspaper business.

Then there are days like Saturday.

 I love college football. I love the fervor. I love the tailgaters. I love the bands. I love the early-season sundresses. (I hate the BCS, but that's another story for another day.)

So when a day comes along when you can spend a muggy August afternoon in Sanford Stadium with the nation's No. 1 team and then spend the evening in the air-conditioned, decibel defying Georgia Dome with a sensational matchup between No. 9 Clemson and No. 24 Alabama, you make the commute no matter what the price of gas.

Georgia did what Georgia was supposed to do -- beat Georgia Southern with room to spare a few meaningless late touchdowns against the backups. Walking off the field next to the new (3-year-old) Uga VII capped a serene afternoon between the hedges.

But the electricity in Atlanta was on another level altogether. Fans had already spent a long day getting lubricated for the primetime showdown, so the scene outside the dome was already entertaining. Fans were begging for tickets, with some particularly fetching Bama coeds making inappropriate offers for a seat inside (even your lap). Scalping isn't what it used to be.

Once inside the refurbished facility, it was apparent just how big this opener  really was. A louder, even more inebriated version of the game formerly known as the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party was taking place indoors. The Georgia Dome was split right down the center of the uprights, with a sea of orange on one side and a crimson tide on the other. And with a roof overhead it was way louder than any Georgia-Florida game.

The moments before kickoff were among the most sublime. Promise hovered in the air for both teams before the coin toss. This must have been what it was like to be in Mile High Stadium on Thursday night when Barack Obama was delivering hopes and dreams to a standing-room only crowd of true believers.

But as in two-party politics on election night, there is a point in the evening when the momentum and enthusiasm start shifting to one side as the exit polls pour in. The Alabama fans kept the party going as all the mistakes and breaks fell in the Tide's favor en route to a quick 13-0 lead.

But like a major swing state, Cullen Harper hit Jacoby Ford for 47 yards and the Tiger fans were back in the game and all the promises were back on the table. Mark Buckholz field goal makes it 13-3.

This is what college football is all about, especially in the South. This is why we love it. This is why we live it.

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Augusta native Pat Dye (and former Auburn coach) sparked a controversy in 2002 when he said that his alma mater Georgia "wasn't man enough" to go into Alabama and beat Alabama.

If Dye had said the same thing about Clemson going to the Georgia Dome and taking on the Tide, this time Dye would have been right.

There's still more than half a game to go, but the vaunted Tigers are getting pushed around all over the place by Bama. All the fears about Clemson's inexperienced offensive line are being realized. And the fears about its defensive line probably should have been greater.

Alabama is moving almost at will against the Tigers defense, building a 20-3 lead with 6:01 still remaining in the second quarter. All the Clemson offense has to show for itself is that one long strike to Ford as the Crimson Tide defense is disrupting whatever gameplan Tommy Bowden had drawn up for this game.

Forbes Magazine recently dubbed Alabama coach Nick Saban "the most powerful man in college football." Given an entire offseason to get ready for the best Clemson team since the 1981 national championship season, Saban is proving his worth on that $4 million-a-year contract.

And so far, Clemson isn't "man enough" to keep up.

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If ACC Commissioner John Swofford is in this building somewhere, he's probably hiding. He has some splaining to do about his grand expanded football conference. I'm not sure any amount of spinning can make anyone swallow this.

Oh dear, the ACC is awful. Putrid. Dismal. If they didn't have each other to play later this season, there might not be any bowl contracts filled.

Defending league champion Virginia Tech lost to Skip Holtz's East Carolina this afternoon. Virginia suffered a 52-7 smackdown in Charlottesville by Southern Cal. N.C. State only managed to engineer a likely quarterback switch in a 34-0 loss on Thursday at South Carolina. As I write this, Clemson is getting a facial from Alabama, North Carolina has its hands full in a 14-all tie with McNeese State, Duke is deadlocked 7-7- with James Madison.

Thank goodness for the conference power Wake Forest, which has the league's only opening week victory against a Division I-A BCS-conference opponent (Baylor, which is situated deep down the Big 12 depth chart). Maryland barely edged Division I-AA Delware while Boston College was handling the MAC's Kent.

Georgia Tech (which throttled Division I-AA Jax State) might be a big threat in the ACC after all. It seems Paul Johnson's unique offense is more than ready for a conference that is barely above Division I-AA.

This just in: McNeese State takes the lead on UNC. But Duke goes up on the Dukes.

Go ACC!

(Post-game update: Carolina escaped McNeese and Duke beat JMU. So in Week 1 the ACC went 1-4 against BCS conference foes, 2-0 vs. the MAC and 4-0 vs. Division I-AA.)

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Halftime: Alabama 23, Clemson 3. For Tiger fans, that's the good news.

That the Tide isn't already up 35 or more points is astonishing. It was that lop-sided in the first half. The total offense figures were skewed 245-89 in Alabama's favor.

Tommy Bowden has a real chance to redraft his reputation with a second-half adjustment because as bad as the first 30 minutes were, only three scores separate these teams. I'm not holding my breath, I'm just saying it's still doable.

Judging from how quiet the Clemson side of the field is, they might actually be holding their collective breath. But I doubt it. Especially when Alabama's marching band is now on the field playing Queen's "We are the champions" while bearers are carrying 12 flags proving that to be true.

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Bowden is brilliant. This Pontiac Game-changing moment was brought to you by C.J. Spiller, whose lightning-strike 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown brought the Tiger fans back through the portals to their seats.

The plot thickens ... and not a moment too soon. The press box conversation was already turning to whether or not U.S. Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger should use one of his four captain's picks on Kevin Streelman (the answer is yes or else Azinger has been lying all season long about saying he'd evaluate these extra three weeks and take the hot American hands).

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A prominent Palmetto State sports writer predicted before the game that this would be a "blowout" in Clemson's favor.

Said journalist just walked past my workspace and said, "I was wrong."

Indeed. 

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Geez, Clemson can't even win a replay review.

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With only 68 percent of the precincts reporting, this blog officially projects Alabama as the winner of the inaugural Chick-Fil-A College Kickoff.

Tide leads 31-10 (going for two was a nice touch that tells Clemson that Saban and the Tide can do anything they freakin' want at any time and there's nothing the Tigers can do about it).

Game over despite 19:08 remaining. Only a few Clemson fans are scaling the stairs to the exits, but that flow should increase soon.

Too bad. This game (and this Clemson season) had potential to be truly great, but these may be paper Tigers. At least the ACC carrot and the ill-deserved automatic BCS bowl bid that goes with it is still firmly within range.

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It has gotten very quiet inside the dome. The Clemson fans have nothing to scream about and the Bama fans are getting tired of shouting.

Not so coincidentally, I'm getting tired of typing.

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Moral victory alert!!!!

That was a very nice punt (47 yards) by Dawson Zimmerman.

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The hits just keep coming. Harper's 42-yard hook-up with James Davis on what would have been the final play of the third quarter got called back by an illegal block in the back. On the bright side, the net gain was 1 yard after the 11-yard play and 10-yard penalty. With a pass interference on the next play, Clemson got two untimed downs. By the time the quarter officially ended after a 19-yard completion to Spiller, Clemson advanced the ball 35 yards anyway without a single second ticking off the clock.

Any help in a 21-point deficit storm is welcome

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Just spoke with ESPN's Lee Corso as he watched the monitors in the back of the press box.

Did you see this coming?

"No," said Corso. "I didn't think Alabama was this good. But if Clemson played them 10 times in a row, they (the Tide) would beat them 10 times. They're just dominating them up front on both sides of the ball. And I don't know who's coaching their quarterback (John Parker Wilson) but he doesn't look like the same guy."

So if Clemson is supposed to be the best team the ACC has to offered and Alabama is projected as the sixth best in the SEC, what does that say?

"I don't think this is the sixth best team in the SEC," Corso said. "They're better than that."

For Georgia fans, that is more bad news on the scheduling front. Just the Dawgs' luck that with their best team in nearly 30 years, they have to face the three toughest juggernauts in the SEC West in addition to the SEC East minefield.

If Georgia runs the regular season table, they should be named national champs by acclimation and not have to play a title game at all.

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Ouch. With 11:11 remaining and Clemson's latest drive thwarted by turnover, the "S.E.C.! S.E.C!" chants have started.

The chant grows louder, but that just may be the echo off the empty seats on the other side of the field.

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Based on tonight's performance in Atlanta and this afternoon's game in Charlotte, this blog now officially projects Alabama the winner of the 2009 Chick-Fil-A College Kickoff against Virginia Tech.

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Final score: Alabama 34 million, Clemson 10 (as Sweet Home Alabama is drowning out the Tiger Rag)

It might as well have been that wide. Of the two football games I've witnessed today, Clemson wasn't remotely as competitive with Alabama as Georgia Southern was with Georgia.

Stat justification for previous comment.

Georgia Southern ran 71 offensive plays to Georgia's 59 and compiled 290 total yards and 18 first downs.

Alabama ran 80 offensive plays (unbelievable) to Clemson's 48. The Tigers gained a measley 188 total yards and 10 first downs.

Clemson had 0 -- that's right, ZERO -- yards rushing. Holy cow!

I don't know what else to say.

Ugh!

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Tommy Bowden is speaking. I'm no stenographer, but here's some truncated snippets:

"We never established any control of the game at any point."

"Obviously we're not the ninth ranked team in the country. No doubt about that."

"We were whipped pretty bad."

"I've not seen us dominated like that since I've been here ... at least not in the last three years."

"As I told the team, I didn't get them prepared and that's my responsibility."

"Highlights? Kickoff return and the freshman punter. That's about all I can think. ... I cannot see a lot of positives."

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The end.