CLEMSON — Quarterback Cullen Harper just sat there and shook his head during class Monday while a fellow student rambled on about how his life was ruined because the Clemson football team had just lost to Maryland.

“Oh, come on,” Harper thought to himself.

His professor tried to make things better, but the negativity in the classroom was all over the place as it was all over Clemson University and the small town it surrounds. But the Clemson Tigers are doing all they can to turn a deaf ear to it.

“We still have so much football to be played,” Harper said following Thursday’s practice. “Everybody is disappointed and people are saying ‘What is going on in Clemson?’

“We got beat by a really good Alabama team and we kind of let one slip away against Maryland. If we can learn from that, I think we will be alright.”

The negativity around campus was so bad Monday Clemson center Thomas Austin called a players' meeting only in hopes of getting the team focused on the task at hand, and not on what people are saying about them.

“The coaches are in their own little bubble because they are up here all the time,” the redshirt junior said. “But we hear classmates talking about it across campus. We are hearing them saying fire this coach, and so and so doesn’t need to start so it kind of gets down on you, so I felt like I wanted to say something to the team.

“The coaches do a good job motivating us, but ultimately it has to come from us. We are around each other all the time, so I wanted to remind them that we just have to keep our eyes on the goal.”

And that goal is winning the ACC, which is very much attainable, but only if the Tigers (3-2, 1-1 ACC) beat No. 25 Wake Forest next Thursday night and then try not to slip up the rest of the way.

“We have a lot of football ahead of us,” Austin said. “There are people throwing us under the bus a little bit, but there has never been an ACC team to win this division with seven wins, so it is still wide open.”

Austin understands the negative talk is impossible for the Tigers not to hear, but he wanted to make sure, especially to the younger players, that those are not the opinions that matter.

“I wanted to make sure we all kind of zoned it out and put our blinders on,” he said. “We just have to keep our focus on the goal and not be distracted by what is being said in the media and that kind of stuff.”

Harper and running back James Davis are two others that have reminded their teammates to not lose focus on the prize, and what’s at stake against Wake Forest. They both talked to the team in the locker room immediately following the loss to Maryland.

“It was a very disappointing loss. It was a tough one to deal with. A lot of people were down,” Davis said. “I wanted to make sure everybody knew we still have a lot left on the table and that we still have a lot of football left to play.

“Last year we lost two really big ACC games early on to Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech and then in November we were still playing for a chance to play in the ACC Championship game so I wanted to get that point across.”

Stock rising. Bowden has been pleased with the play of junior Cory Lambert. The 6-foot-6, 310-pound offensive line graded well in the Maryland game and Bowden said he has played well during practice at left guard. Lambert was moved to guard at the beginning of the week to help with the team’s depth there, especially considering it could be without starting left guard David Smith for a second straight week. Lambert started the first two games this season at right tackle and then the last three at left tackle after Chris Hairston suffered a bruised knee from a moped accident following The Citadel game.

Quote of the day. “What really matters is your teammates and those who are close to you and those who support you. We are like a big family in there. A lot of people are going to try and cut us down and break us apart on the outside, whether it’s fans or people in the media. We just have to really stick together in times like this. It can be tough because there is a lot of distractions outside, but we just have to draw from one another and just be a big family.”

—Harper on blocking out the negative comments said about the football team this week.

Day off. Clemson will be off Friday before coming back Saturday for a specialty practice. The Tigers will also practice Sunday afternoon in preparation for the Wake Forest game.

Injury report. Clemson offensive guard Barry Humphries practiced for a second straight day Thursday, but was still wearing a green jersey, which means he can’t participate in contact drills. However, he will not play in the Wake Forest game.

Freshman safety Spencer Adams, who is being redshirted, suffered a partial ACL tear in his left knee during scout team drills in Wednesday’s practice. Team doctors are supposed to reevaluate the injury next week. Adams says he will have the knee scoped in two weeks.