The death march that is Clemson football trudges on.

The Tigers dropped another one Thursday, their second in a row, and their second conference loss with games against Georgia Tech, Boston College and Florida State still ahead.

So many things have remained the same since the Alabama debacle. Cullen Harper still locks in on his primary receiver, Rob Spence still calls a painfully predictable game and the Tiger coaching staff remains woefully inept in preparing and motivating their players.

Tommy Bowden and company had 12 days. Twelve days to gameplan, to prepare, to motivate – 12 days to put a winner on the field.

Instead, Clemson fans were handed the same defective product – an offense that, for all of its weapons at skill positions, mustered just enough firepower to put seven points on the board. Harper completed less than 50 percent of his passes while tossing an interception and Clemson managed a paltry 21 yards on the ground, amassing less than 200 total yards on offense. Yikes.

Wake Forest is a good football team, it’s true. But what stands out the most about Thursday night wasn’t the Tigers losing to the Deacs. It was how they did it. There was no drive at the line of scrimmage. No sense of preparedness. Little execution. Let’s face it – there was little good coaching. On the other side, Wake Forest, while not capitalizing on their opportunities, were superior in most technical aspects of the game. They blocked, limited penalties and were patient for their gameplan to play out. They adjusted. They executed when they needed execution the most. Quite simply, the score was close Thursday night – that was about it.

Now the Tigers must trudge along on their own funeral procession of a season knowing a shot at the ACC title has been left behind in Winston-Salem. It would take the Tigers winning out and other teams in the Atlantic to hit an inexplicable free fall for them to back their way into the title game.

So what is there for these kids to play for anymore? That is ultimately up to them to decide. All I know is it’s time for a conversation to take place in Clemson, despite it being a conversation no one is ever excited about having or even thinking about.

The players loaded up on a group of Young buses late last night to make the somber trek back to Clemson – a dark parade in remembrance of a team crushed by the gravity of its own expectations.