I enjoyed listening to Larry’s podcast with Roy. I listened to it as a took a walk for exercise around my neighborhood only to get caught in torrential downpour at the apex of my walk. Despite having to ring myself out when I got home, their stories of the past, especially the Bowden era, reminded me of all the drama that use to surround the program. I was on Roy’s site back then, and I’d kill to be able to re-read some of the old threads. Just as soon as Tommy would get a little momentum in the program going, he’d stub his toe and take a step back.
Feeling nostalgic after the podcast, I decided to watch an old game: the 2003 Clemson v FSU game. More on that later.
2003 started with a thud. I had been on a detachment to Norway with the Navy in August. I had haul butt home from the det in order to get to Clemson on time for the big opener versus Georgia at Death Valley. The scorching heat of that game was the only thing worth remembering. We got bashed by UGA 30-0.
September and October were lackluster as well. Win one, lose one. We finished October sitting at 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the ACC: far below fans expectations. The good news was we’d just beaten UNC in Death Valley and were headed up to Winston Salem to take on a 4-4 Demon Deacon team. It was a much needed win to get bowl eligible before we’d go up against #3 FSU the following week.
The Tigers were scheduled to play a Jim Grobe led Wake on November 1st. Since Winston Salem is a fairly easy drive from Columbia, and the game was a gentlemanly 3:30 kickoff, a small group of friends decided to go. Our IPTAY high roller, Jay, got tickets for us. Our group rallied at my home and I drove everyone up in my SUV. There were five of us.
We arrived at in Winston Salem to find game day traffic isn’t an issue in the area. We parked near the stadium and watched the Tigers get off the bus and enter the stadium. The one thing we all could recall was the lack of energy the team seemed to have. “Oh well,” we agreed, “it’s just Wake.”
We strolled to a sports bar to get some food and watch the Chickens play Ole Miss. Late in the 3rd quarter, Eli Manning had built a 43-14 lead over Lou Holtz’s chickens. Looks like it was going to be a good day when something happened. The chickens, led by Dondrail Pinkins, caught fire. They came back. Only two failed 2 point conversions cost them the game. They lost 43-40. The chicken curse was alive and well.
Now, I have to say, I like watching a game a Wake Forest. There isn’t a bad seat in the stadium. Half the 35,643 that were there that afternoon seemed to be wearing orange. Somehow though, the excellent view of the field was not benefit this Fall. We saw a Clemson team unable to stop Wake Forest. Wake rushed for 321 yards that night. Whitehurst threw an embarrassing 85 yard pick 6 in the second quarter to send Wake up a jaw dropping 21-0. There was another fumble scoop and score. Wake was up 45-0 at the end of the third. Bowden sat Charlie to give Chanci Stuckey some playing time. He led the Tigers to a 45-17 finish.
We were all in shock. The ride home was quiet until someone asked the question, “So who do we get?” We’d all liked the Bowden hire. He brought a new energy to a program that hoped to put the Ford firing finally in the rear view mirror. He also was going to move us from the ground and pound game into the 20th Century passing game. Tommy got us moving in the right direction the first two years, but slowly the wheels started to come off. There were too many head scratching losses. Too often we failed to take the next step forward. Back to back pummelings by Texas Tech and UGA did nothing to quell the rumblings of Bowden detractors. This bad loss to Wake, coupled with next week’s beating we’d take by #3 FSU would surely be the end of the Bowden era.
Yes, in our heart of hearts, we knew Bowden was gone.
FSU had long been the measuring stick for Clemson since they’d entered the league. Each summer, Clemson fans would circle the game. Tigernet will be full of Tiger Fans saying why we’d beat FSU this year: it’s at Death Valley, our defense is great, their QB is unproven. Each year the result would be the same: an FSU victory. I’d looked at the talent Poppa Bowden had amassed at FSU and wonder home come we couldn’t recruit just a couple of players as talented as theirs. FSU had beaten us 11 times in a row coming into Death Valley on November 8th, 2003. There was no reason to think there wouldn’t be a twelfth.
Still the Tiger faithful filled Death Valley. After all, it was still a game we had circled. There was also the feeling that should the Tigers fail this night, it wouldn’t be because the fans let them down. We’d give Tommy every home advantage we could muster and let the chips fall where they may.
There was electricity in the air at the real life Radio rubbed the Rock and was walked down the Hill. The game started and Clemson, to their credit, was there to play. The defense stood tall early. The offense moved the ball well but, settled for field goals. This was ominous cloud and all Clemson Nation knew it. FSU had an explosive offense. Two nice drives that settled for field goals wasn’t going to win the game for us. A moral victory wasn’t going to cut it tonight. We had to win. We scored before halftime to go up 17-0 and like that, we all started to believe. Can this be the night? Can we do what none of us who witness the ineptness a week ago thought we could do?
When Charlie’s pass connected to D Ham for a 58 yard TD in the third, we all knew the game was over. FSU had mustered nothing against the Tiger D all night. Rix was pulled by the elder Bowden in favor of Fabian Walker. At some point during this, Ann Bowden, had to start crying internally. I was among the Tiger faithful who rushed the field that night. Bill Curry, who chastised Tiger fans for doing so (“Act like you’ve been there before.”) can kiss my ass. He has no idea how big a win that was for the program.
We all know the run we went on from there. For any sins Tommy had at Clemson, he can always be forgiven for giving us 63-17 as part of our historical lexicon. Beating FSU was a huge monkey to get off our back. FSU was what Bama is today. It’d be another half decade before we’d part ways with Tommy. But we all knew this program could compete with the FSU’s of the world. Since that faithful night, we are 13-5 versus FSU and have won seven, should be eight, in a row. If in 2000 I’d told our fans that we’d dominate FSU from 2003 on, I’d been called crazy.
So why did I write this rambling post? Well a few reasons.
Paws
Feeling nostalgic after the podcast, I decided to watch an old game: the 2003 Clemson v FSU game. More on that later.
2003 started with a thud. I had been on a detachment to Norway with the Navy in August. I had haul butt home from the det in order to get to Clemson on time for the big opener versus Georgia at Death Valley. The scorching heat of that game was the only thing worth remembering. We got bashed by UGA 30-0.
September and October were lackluster as well. Win one, lose one. We finished October sitting at 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the ACC: far below fans expectations. The good news was we’d just beaten UNC in Death Valley and were headed up to Winston Salem to take on a 4-4 Demon Deacon team. It was a much needed win to get bowl eligible before we’d go up against #3 FSU the following week.
The Tigers were scheduled to play a Jim Grobe led Wake on November 1st. Since Winston Salem is a fairly easy drive from Columbia, and the game was a gentlemanly 3:30 kickoff, a small group of friends decided to go. Our IPTAY high roller, Jay, got tickets for us. Our group rallied at my home and I drove everyone up in my SUV. There were five of us.
We arrived at in Winston Salem to find game day traffic isn’t an issue in the area. We parked near the stadium and watched the Tigers get off the bus and enter the stadium. The one thing we all could recall was the lack of energy the team seemed to have. “Oh well,” we agreed, “it’s just Wake.”
We strolled to a sports bar to get some food and watch the Chickens play Ole Miss. Late in the 3rd quarter, Eli Manning had built a 43-14 lead over Lou Holtz’s chickens. Looks like it was going to be a good day when something happened. The chickens, led by Dondrail Pinkins, caught fire. They came back. Only two failed 2 point conversions cost them the game. They lost 43-40. The chicken curse was alive and well.
Now, I have to say, I like watching a game a Wake Forest. There isn’t a bad seat in the stadium. Half the 35,643 that were there that afternoon seemed to be wearing orange. Somehow though, the excellent view of the field was not benefit this Fall. We saw a Clemson team unable to stop Wake Forest. Wake rushed for 321 yards that night. Whitehurst threw an embarrassing 85 yard pick 6 in the second quarter to send Wake up a jaw dropping 21-0. There was another fumble scoop and score. Wake was up 45-0 at the end of the third. Bowden sat Charlie to give Chanci Stuckey some playing time. He led the Tigers to a 45-17 finish.
We were all in shock. The ride home was quiet until someone asked the question, “So who do we get?” We’d all liked the Bowden hire. He brought a new energy to a program that hoped to put the Ford firing finally in the rear view mirror. He also was going to move us from the ground and pound game into the 20th Century passing game. Tommy got us moving in the right direction the first two years, but slowly the wheels started to come off. There were too many head scratching losses. Too often we failed to take the next step forward. Back to back pummelings by Texas Tech and UGA did nothing to quell the rumblings of Bowden detractors. This bad loss to Wake, coupled with next week’s beating we’d take by #3 FSU would surely be the end of the Bowden era.
Yes, in our heart of hearts, we knew Bowden was gone.
FSU had long been the measuring stick for Clemson since they’d entered the league. Each summer, Clemson fans would circle the game. Tigernet will be full of Tiger Fans saying why we’d beat FSU this year: it’s at Death Valley, our defense is great, their QB is unproven. Each year the result would be the same: an FSU victory. I’d looked at the talent Poppa Bowden had amassed at FSU and wonder home come we couldn’t recruit just a couple of players as talented as theirs. FSU had beaten us 11 times in a row coming into Death Valley on November 8th, 2003. There was no reason to think there wouldn’t be a twelfth.
Still the Tiger faithful filled Death Valley. After all, it was still a game we had circled. There was also the feeling that should the Tigers fail this night, it wouldn’t be because the fans let them down. We’d give Tommy every home advantage we could muster and let the chips fall where they may.
There was electricity in the air at the real life Radio rubbed the Rock and was walked down the Hill. The game started and Clemson, to their credit, was there to play. The defense stood tall early. The offense moved the ball well but, settled for field goals. This was ominous cloud and all Clemson Nation knew it. FSU had an explosive offense. Two nice drives that settled for field goals wasn’t going to win the game for us. A moral victory wasn’t going to cut it tonight. We had to win. We scored before halftime to go up 17-0 and like that, we all started to believe. Can this be the night? Can we do what none of us who witness the ineptness a week ago thought we could do?
When Charlie’s pass connected to D Ham for a 58 yard TD in the third, we all knew the game was over. FSU had mustered nothing against the Tiger D all night. Rix was pulled by the elder Bowden in favor of Fabian Walker. At some point during this, Ann Bowden, had to start crying internally. I was among the Tiger faithful who rushed the field that night. Bill Curry, who chastised Tiger fans for doing so (“Act like you’ve been there before.”) can kiss my ass. He has no idea how big a win that was for the program.
We all know the run we went on from there. For any sins Tommy had at Clemson, he can always be forgiven for giving us 63-17 as part of our historical lexicon. Beating FSU was a huge monkey to get off our back. FSU was what Bama is today. It’d be another half decade before we’d part ways with Tommy. But we all knew this program could compete with the FSU’s of the world. Since that faithful night, we are 13-5 versus FSU and have won seven, should be eight, in a row. If in 2000 I’d told our fans that we’d dominate FSU from 2003 on, I’d been called crazy.
So why did I write this rambling post? Well a few reasons.
- I am nostalgic for the old times. No, I don’t want to go back to losing but I did enjoy the more competitive regular season back then. The CFP era seems like an “all or nothing” era. If you don’t go undefeated, the season isn’t fun. College football shouldn’t be that way. 8-4 and a Bowl win can be fun, the games you played in were entertaining. It’s said that we’re at the point we think 10-3 is a failure of a season.
- I think we all can’t wait for August to get here and real football news to start. Dabo and Riley have been VERY quiet since January. I have no doubt this is on purpose. I don’t think any of us will know what sort of team we have until we play FSU this year. Hopefully, this little bit of football talk, helps you get one day closer to August.
- Finally, when pundits say FSU will be ranked ahead of Clemson this year, I laugh. Clemson is still in a different stratosphere than FSU as a program and a team. September 23, 2023 will prove that yet again. It took us 11 years to climb the FSU mountain. For the challenges Clemson had in the 90’s, we never have been as low as FSU has been the last decade. FSU has a long road to walk before they can compete with the Clemson’s of the world. Jacksonville State wasn’t that long ago Nole fans. If you want to beat Clemson, you need to use the portal: time portal that is. And go back to sometime before 2003 and find the team to beat us. FFSU.
Paws
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