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The Mazda Tangerine Bowl figures to be an exciting, fast-paced contest that keeps the scoreboard operator extremely busy. Both teams have the offensive arsenals to light it up, but their defensive units weren't able to demonstrate the consistency necessary to stop opponents in their tracks.

Texas Tech began the season way back on Aug. 24, falling to Ohio State in Columbus 45-21 in a game that saw things begin to unravel for the Red Raiders just before halftime. The rest of the season, coach Mike Leach's squad posted some statement-type victories but lacked consistency in the highly competitive Big 12.

The Red Raiders lost a tough overtime thriller 51-48 to a quality N.C. State squad on Sept. 21, then two weeks later pulled out a 48-47 come-from-behind overtime victory against Texas A&M.

Despite road losses to Iowa State and Colorado, the Red Raiders appeared to be finishing on quite a roll, winning in Lubbock against both Oklahoma State (49-24) and Texas (42-38).

But they caught Oklahoma at the wrong time, concluding the regular season with a 60-15 loss. Oklahoma's defense had struggled mightily in a loss to Texas A&M a few weeks before and was supremely motivated to re-establish its superiority against a high-profile quarterback like Texas Tech's Kliff Kingsbury.

Clemson's season began Aug. 31 at Georgia. In what turned out to be quite a game, the Tigers fell 31-28. I was there along with the entire College GameDay on ESPN Radio crew, and all of us came away with a sense that Clemson was poised to put together a good season.

This appeared to be the case early, as the Tigers rebounded from the Georgia loss to win three straight. But they hit a major bump in the road around midseason, losing three of four games and falling to .500. At the crossroads, coach Tommy Bowden's squad managed to go 3-1 down the stretch, keyed by the emergence of redshirt freshman QB Charlie Whitehurst. The 6-3, 209-pounder proved to be a good decision-maker, tossing only two interceptions and completing 62 percent of his aerials.

The matchup to watch in this bowl game is the battle between Red Raider cornerbacks Joselio Hanson (5-9, 170 pounds) and Ricky Sailor (5-10, 195) against the taller Clemson wideouts: 6-4 sophomore Derrick Hamilton, 6-5 junior Kevin Youngblood, 6-4 senior J.J. McKelvey, 6-1 senior Jackie Robinson and 5-11 sophomore Airese Curry.

When Texas Tech has the ball, all eyes will be on senior QB Kingsbury. The 6-3

come on Tigers- win this one for the ACC!