CLEMSON — Seven days.

Clemson has had seven days to think about what happened in the Georgia Dome last Saturday night.

Abject humiliation. Domination. And a 34-10 season-opening loss to Alabama which sent the Tigers from No. 9 in the preseason Associated Press poll to completely out of it this week.

Seven days to prepare for today’s 3:30 p.m. home opener against The Citadel (1-0).

The Georgia Dome debacle was terrible for Clemson, no question. But it might be even worse for the Football Championship Series Bulldogs if the Tigers come out in the right frame of mind.

“Maybe (the loss) will be good for us,” said Clemson quarterback Cullen Harper. “Maybe we’ll respond well to that. Maybe we’ll come out with a chip on our shoulders. We’ve got to get better, we can get better. We just have to respond.”

Clemson coach Tommy Bowden sought answers in last week’s aftermath, calling Alabama coach Nick Saban for advice on his team’s tendencies. But his calls to Georgia coach Mark Richt and Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer might prove just as important — he wanted to know how their teams responded from ugly defeats.

Bowden bemoaned his team’s lack of intensity and “viciousness,” two qualities he’d like to see more of today.

That means the problems are less physical and more mental.

“From a game management standpoint, we didn’t have the typical breakdowns (against Alabama). We didn’t have that,” he said. “It’s the attitude of why didn’t we respond. That I don’t know. That’s inside the human mind. The mental aspect? Obviously that’s a pretty tough challenge. We’ll see if we have one.”

All week, Bowden and his players have hammered home the “just one game” credo — one down, 11 to go, never mind the severe damage Alabama applied to Clemson’s national reputation on its way to this week’s cover of Sports Illustrated.

The ACC championship remains well within reach, but first they must show signs of recovery today.

“We know we have to bounce back,” said tailback C.J. Spiller. “We knew we were going to face adversity, and it came faster than what we thought. That’s just one game. We have to be able to forget that game.

“We said last week, if we win or lose the game, we still have another game next week. Guys are buying into that right now. We know that we’ve got a game this week. It’s not a must-win game, but we’d love to win it and get some confidence into younger guys and get on the right track.”

And the Bulldogs can be dangerous if not taken seriously. Last fall, they went to the locker room at Wisconsin tied 21-21 before eventually falling 45-31. Coach Kevin Higgins’ team finished 7-4, 4-3 in the always tough Southern Conference.

“If you don’t play with the proper intensity and you turn the ball over,” Bowden said, “you get a Wisconsin type of game.”

Spiller agrees.

“It’ll be the type of game The Citadel can come in here and steal, damage a season,” he said. “We’re taking this game very seriously. We’re not overlooking them, laying off and just relaxing because it’s The Citadel. We’ve got to play above what we played last week.”

The Bulldogs are led by FCS All-America wide receiver Andre Roberts, who had 78 catches for 1,060 yards and 10 scores as a sophomore in 2007.

Clemson defensive coordinator Vic Koenning has plenty of respect for Roberts and the Bulldogs’ entire offense.

“He’s a really good player. It would be helpful to know where he’s at all the time. Somebody told me they were fourth in the (FCS) in offense last year. I can see why,” Koenning said. “They’ve got every play, every kind of option, zone reads, vertical passing game, screen game, etc. They get into two backs and run power. They’ve got everything. Now, they’ve got it. We’re going to have to be sound and not get ourselves out of position.”

Harper and the rest of the Tigers’ leaders have worked hard this week to keep younger players’ spirits up. After all, this isn’t the first time Clemson has suffered through an ugly loss in their careers. In 2006, the Tigers were No.10 nationally before falling 24-7 at Virginia Tech, a defeat which spiraled into a 1-4 season-ending skid.

Last fall, they recovered from a two-game losing streak to the Hokies and Georgia Tech and nearly made the ACC title game, suffering a difficult 20-17 defeat to Boston College. But the Tigers bounced right back and took a thrilling 23-21 win at South Carolina the following week.

“We’ll continue to encourage, make sure nobody gets too down,” Harper said. “We’ve got a lot of older guys playing. Those guys have been there the past few years, we were up at Virginia Tech when we got beat and threw in the towel for the rest of the season. We’re optimistic on how we’ll respond.”