Walking outside in South Carolina, one can just feel it. It's not the heat, it's the humidity, right? Wrong. It's the pressure. Blood pressure, fan pressure, peer pressure. With football season just around two months away, the pressure is already upon us. Much is being made now of the situation in which Clemson head coach Tommy Bowden finds himself in. His team loaded with talent, his schedule very favorable, yet he has a bad habit of losing games he should win. National sports media adds fuel to the fire, calling attention to the high level of expectation for this year's coming campaign. Tiger fans, nearly bursting with anticipation, are telling anyone and everyone they can that this is, finally, the year. No choking. No blowing winnable games. Not letting a spot in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game slip through their fingers. Not this year. Others, cautiously optimistic, point to the tons of talented recruits Clemson is bringing in. Wait, they say, next year could be the year.

Next year?

Wait until next year?

Waiting until next year has been a bad habit for citizens of the Palmetto State, but its usually reserved for those wearing garnet and black. The Gamecock nation has been waiting for next year since at least 1983, and surely many years prior to that. Every time that last second field goal goes wide, every time the opposing receiver pushes off yet goes unpenalized, every time defeat is inexplicably pulled from the jaws of victory, there is always next year. When the talented junior enters his senior season with something to prove, next year is there waiting. When will next year finally arrive?

Next year could be now for Clemson. An extremely important date with Alabama will set the tone for the Tigers' season. Win, and they cruise until New Year's Day. Lose, and the pressure will continue to build, and self doubt may begin to settle in. Is there a "kitty curse"? It probably seems that way. There is really no reason that Clemson should not have at least appeared in a BCS bowl before now. Maybe the supernatural is the only explanation.....if the Tigers fall short of their goals this year. Until then, the only otherworldly element this season will be the old man in the funny hat smoking Chesterfields under the goalposts during the Alabama game. Besides, all of this preseason speculation is really meaningless, since the games are played on the field, one at a time.

Both the Tigers and the Gamecocks could be in for a rude awakening. Expectations are building so high, anything less than BCS bowl appearances may take on the appearance of a letdown. Of course, neither head coach is officially under any sort of pressure from their respective schools. Bowden's buyout is so large that he's not going to be reading the classifieds anytime soon. Steve Spurrier is still retooling, not rebuilding, and so his leash remains lengthy. The fan bases, though, are running rampant in their optimism. It's great to see the glass half full; why not? The South Carolina football program has won just around half of its games. Or does that mean it has lost just around half of its games?

Some are actually calling for South Carolina to be the "sleeper" team in the SEC. Even the Amazing Kreskin, er , um, Phil Steele thinks that the Cocks are basically a shoe in for an 8-10 win season. Call me Paul the Pessimist, but I don't see where the schedule allows 8 wins, and 10 would involve such a stretch of the imagination that opiates may have to be involved. Carolina's defense looks impressive, but the offense may need some sprucing up. For example, maybe ditching that play where Mike Davis runs into a pile for a gain of less than one yard. Yeah, you know, that play that seems to get called entirely too often. At first I thought it was called a "sleeper". Of course it could be worse. Much worse. It could be a quarterback draw.