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Rex Brown

Clemson's James Davis crosses the goal line for a touchdown during the first half of the Tigers' loss to Maryland earlier this season at Memorial Stadium in Clemson.

CLEMSON — There is no secret about the importance of Thursday’s ACC showdown with No. 21 Wake Forest.

Win and the Clemson Tigers again control their own destiny in the race to the ACC Championship game. Lose, and depending on some kind of miracle, the Tigers will play themselves right out of the title hunt just three games into the conference season.

“We set our goal to play for the ACC Championship game,” Clemson safety Michael Hamlin said Monday. “The only team in our division right now who is undefeated is Wake Forest. This is probably the biggest game we have played all year.”

The Tigers (3-2, 1-1 ACC) find themselves in this must-win situation thanks to a 20-17 loss to Maryland on Sept. 27 – a shocking revelation for a team that was the overwhelming favorite to win the ACC when the season started.

“It’s not over,” running back James Davis said. “We still have a chance. We just have to do everything we can to win games from here on out no matter what the scenario is.”

Clemson coach Tommy Bowden believes the one thing his Tigers have to do is take it one game at a time, and do not panic while doing it.

“You want to win all your games and it is a conference game,” he said. “It’s your next game, and you want to win your next game. If your next game is a conference game, it is more important.

“If the next game is a conference game, and you have a loss, it is a more important. If the next game is a conference game, and you have two losses, then it is even more important than that. In the pecking order of importance that is kind of where we are.”

Though the Tigers don’t feel as if they are in a state of desperation right now, they do understand what the consequences of Thursday’s game mean. Lose and winning the ACC’s Atlantic Division would be even more of a challenge considering it would put them two games behind Wake Forest (3-1, 1-0) in the loss column, while also potentially turning up the heat on their head coach.

“It is kind of going to define our season,” Hamlin said. “If we go in there and get a win this week, it is going to take a heavy burden off of everybody’s chest.

“Last week was terrible for everybody. Everybody was kind of upset and hurt about it. I think with a win, it will make everybody feel a whole lot better.”

But what if they don’t, then what?

“It could be impossible to get it back, but then again, we could lose and Wake could lose the rest of the games. You never know,” quarterback Cullen Harper said. “We are definitely looking at it as a must win. You want to go out and win every game, but all we can do is take it game-by-game and week-by-week, and see how the season unfolds.”

If Clemson is able to knock off Wake Forest, then it will give itself a little leeway perhaps on its schedule, barring it doesn’t lose another game within the division. Considering every Atlantic Division champion has lost at least two conference games since the ACC went to its current format in 2005, the Tigers could possibly survive a loss to a Georgia Tech, Duke or Virginia – the three teams from the Coastal Division on their schedule – and still qualify for the ACC Championship game.

“We still have a lot of football to be played and it starts this week, and this game is the most important game of the season,” Harper said.

As it should be.