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Florida State looks to turn tide in "Bowden Bowl" with Clemson

Sep 3, 2007 - 10:25 AM No. 19 Florida State at Clemson 8:00 pm EDT

CLEMSON, South Carolina (Ticker) -- All of a sudden, Bobby Bowden is finding it hard to beat his son Tommy.

Bobby Bowden looks to avoid a fourth loss in the last five "Bowden Bowls" when his 19th-ranked Florida State squad begins its 2007 campaign against Atlantic Coast Conference Atlantic Division rival Clemson on Monday night.

Florida State won the first four "Bowden Bowls," but Clemson has taken three of the last four, including a 27-20 win in Tallahassee last year.

The 2006 season was a relative disaster for Bobby Bowden, the all-time winningest coach in college football history with 366 victories.

The Seminoles posted just a 7-6 record - their worst since a 5-6 mark in 1976, his first season with the program. Florida State also went 3-5 in the ACC, a league they dominated not that long ago.

Embattled offensive coordinator Jeff Bowden, Bobby's son and Tommy's brother, resigned and was replaced by Jimbo Fisher, who had done wonders with Louisiana State's offense. Last week, quarterback Drew Weatherford beat out fellow junior Xavier Lee to run Fisher's first Seminole offense.

Clemson got off to a 7-1 start last season before the team sputtered to a 1-4 finish, including a 28-20 loss to Kentucky in the Music City Bowl.

The end of the season certainly did not help the job stability for Tommy Bowden, who is 60-37 at the program since 1999.

Cullen Harper will make his first start at quarterback for Clemson. No Tigers signal-caller has beaten a top-20 team in his initial start.