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Rex Brown

Clemson senior associate athletic director for external affairs Bill D'Andrea talks with C.J. Spiller following the Tigers' loss to Alabama last Friday at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

CLEMSON — It’s as simple as tying your shoes. To win in football, a team has to control the line of scrimmage.

Case in point, Clemson’s 34-10 loss to No. 13 Alabama last week. The Crimson Tide physically dominated Clemson up front. The offense had no answer for nose tackle Terrence Cody (6-5, 365), and the defense had no answer for a veteran offensive line that plowed through the Tigers’ vaunted defensive front for 239 rushing yards.

“I never thought we would lose like that, being the type of team that we have,” Clemson running back C.J. Spiller said. “Whenever you can’t control the line of scrimmage, your chances of winning are very slim.”

And that’s why the Tigers (0-1) never had a shot at Alabama. The Crimson Tide played with an edge and intensity Clemson teams have failed to come up with in big-game atmospheres.

Besides allowing Alabama’s offense to waltz up and down the field on four, five and six yard clips, the Tigers’ offense managed very little, seemingly always playing behind the eight ball. Clemson finished the game with zero yards rushing, while running backs James Davis and Spiller combined for 20 yards on eight touches. Spiller himself carried the ball just twice all evening.

“I have bought into what Coach (Tommy) Bowden says. It’s not about how many times I touch the ball, it’s about what I do when I touch the ball,” Spiller said. “I’m pretty sure everyone has seen that when I touch it, I can really help this team.”

That’s why people want to know why he isn’t touching it more. Besides getting two handoffs, Spiller only had two passes thrown his way, while gaining 27 yards.

When Spiller does get the ball often, he shows why it’s so important. He touched the ball five times total on punts and kickoffs and racked up 161 return yards, 96 coming from the opening kickoff of the second half.

In all, he averaged 38.0 yards per kick return against the Crimson Tide.

“Being the leaders of this team we have to be examples to the young guys and don’t let our frustration show out there so those guys won’t get down,” Spiller said. “If they see us down, that could take a toll on the whole team and could be like a virus spreading.

“We just try to have high spirits when winning or losing. Right now, our spirits are high.”

The Tigers will see how high those spirits are when they take on The Citadel on Saturday to kick off the home part of their schedule. And odds are those spirits will be high if Spiller touches the ball a few times. He does after all own the school record of 11 touchdowns of 50 yards or more.