DATE: Wednesday, August 27, 1997            TAG: 9708270773

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CLEMSON, S.C.                     LENGTH:   62 lines

SOON, THERE MAY BE NO HOLDING THE TIGERS FLORIDA STATE'S BOWDEN, FOR ONE, SUSPECTS CLEMSON'S RETURN TO ITS GLORY DAYS ISN'T FAR OFF.

Virginia was the first ACC team to give Florida State a league loss. North Carolina may be the next.

But the school Florida State coach Bobby Bowden worries about most when he looks into the future is Clemson.

``You wonder when that sleeping giant is going to wake up,'' says Bowden. ``Things seem to be getting in place for that to happen.''

Despite all the preseason talk about North Carolina and Florida State, this might be the season for the Tigers to growl again.

They have the league's best offensive line, anchored by seniors Jim Bundren and Glenn Rountree; the best rusher in Raymond Priester and the best linebacker in Anthony Simmons.

Just as important, they have the best schedule.

The only ``bowl'' teams on the schedule are ACC foes FSU, North Carolina, and Virginia. All three games are in Clemson's ``Death Valley,'' where North Carolina hasn't won since 1980.

``It is fine with us if people don't want to talk about us as being a challenger,'' says Bundren. ``I see ourselves as being the silent factor in the whole mix. But with the talent we have back, this definitely could be our season.''

The Tigers once dominated the ACC, winning five titles during the '80s and the '81 national championship. The program sagged under unpopular coach Ken Hatfield, but has been on the way up since Tommy West took over in 1994.

``We have come a long way from where we were three years ago,'' says West, a linebacker coach during the Tigers' glory years under Danny Ford.

Clemson has finished 6-2 in the league the last two seasons and has beaten every team except Florida State during the last three years.

``The only promises I made when I came here was that no one would work harder and we would do it the right way,'' West says. ``We have done both of those things.''

West says the league has improved considerably since he was an assistant under Ford.

``Virginia and North Carolina are much better, and we didn't have Florida State back then,'' he says.

Even so, West knows Clemson fans annually expect the Tigers ``to win 12 games and the national championship. That is what makes this a great job,'' he says.

``Football is important here and people expect you to win. I like being in that kind of situation and I think we can do it here.''

West explains that doing ``it'' means winning another national championship.

``Once you win one, that's always your goal,'' he says.

West isn't predicting it will happen this season, but he says any team that wins the ACC could be in the championship hunt.

The Tigers plan on being in the ACC picture, despite predictions of a two-team race.

``We enjoy not being in the limelight now,'' says quarterback Nealon Greene, ``because it is just talk. Let's wait and see what happens when we get those guys in the Valley.''

Thursday: Georgia Tech

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