Thursday October 25, 2007

National Titles, ACC Titles, Suspensions and Fights

National Titles, ACC Titles, Suspensions and Fights
My 16-year old son and I had dinner with one of my best friends Tuesday night and my son got a little history lesson on Florida State football. My good friend, Kevin, told my son, “Ryan, you don’t remember this but my Seminoles used to be a football powerhouse. We won 10 or more games 14 consecutive years and finished each of those seasons ranked in the top four of the AP Poll.”

Ryan was not born yet when the Seminoles started their run and really did not start following college football until the five or six years. As far as he is concerned FSU is an average program. Ryan has been there to see Clemson beat the Noles four of the last five years. He remembers Chris Rix and Drew Weatherford and remembers Charlie Ward as an NBA player and Chris Weinke as a third-team quarterback for the Carolina Panthers. Ryan is not did not have to suffer through the 57-0 and 48-0 games. When I say “Puntrooskie” he gives me a strange look.

Kevin tried to convince Ryan FSU was a power but I am not sure it worked.

The conversation got me thinking that out there somewhere is a 16-year old that has applied to Clemson that was not alive the last time Clemson won the ACC championship in football. There are some freshmen at Clemson that were not alive the last time Clemson won ten football games in one season. (Don’t get too happy about that Gamecock fans because there are 37-year old USC fans that were not alive the only time the Gamecocks won a conference title in football.)

The trip to College Park feels different now than it did back in my formative years so I want to give our young people a little history into what was once a terrific rivalry.

Clemson and Maryland had a decade to remember on the gridiron with some of the biggest games in each school’s history. The games from 1977-1986 were often epic games that led to conference titles.

*The 1977 game was what some people described as the turning point in Clemson football history. The Tigers had just one winning season in the previous nine years and had not been to a bowl game in 17 years. However, Clemson athletic director Bill McLellan hired Charlie Pell to take over in 1977 and his impact was felt immediately. Pell’s first game was against 10th-ranked Maryland in Death Valley. The Terps were the power in the conference and some in College Park felt this was a national title contender. I remember Maryland ran a defense called the “wide-tackle six” and Terps were explosive on offense. Maryland defeated Clemson that day 21-14 but the Tigers played well and confidence was gained by standing toe-to-toe with a top ten team. The next week the Tigers went to Athens and defeated 17th-ranked Georgia 7-6. On the way home Pell had the team bus drivers pull over at a local convenience story and he bought boxes of cigars for the team to smoke as victory cigars. Many say the loss to Maryland that year played a big part in the Tigers going 8-3-1 and going to the Gator Bowl that December.

*In 1978 the Tigers enjoyed one of their top five victories in school history. Maryland came into the game ranked 11th in the country and the Tigers entered the contest ranked 12th. It was the highest ranked opponents in any ACC game at the time. I remember the November 18th day because I had to listen to the Clemson game on the radio because my family did not make the trips to College Park back then. My grandfather took me to Wake Forest-South Carolina game that day in Williams-Brice but many in the stands were doing the same thing I was. We were glued to Jim Phillips’ call of Jerry Butler’s and Dwight Clark’s long touchdowns as the Tigers defeated the Terps 28-24. The game was a see-saw affair that some called the greatest game in ACC football history at the time and few Clemson fans would argue. The game clinched Clemson’s first ACC title since 1967 and it helped propel the Tigers to a 11-1 season, a Gator Bowl win over Woody Hayes and Ohio State and the sixth spot in the final AP and UPI polls. Back then you did not have BCS rankings or USA Today so our two major polls were the Associated Press and the United Press International (sounds strange doesn’t it.)

*In 1979 Clemson had a new coach and Danny Ford suffered his first loss of his career on the second game of the season against Maryland 19-0. Neither were ranked and Clemson finished 8-4 while Maryland was 7-4.

*The 1980 contest was a hard pill to swallow for Tiger fans as Maryland beat the Tigers 34-7 and Clemson had lost four of its last five games. I remember feeling bad that day because South Carolina was set to beat the Tigers handily the following week. Little did I know the Orange pants would make their debut and Willie Underwood would play the role of Superman against George Rogers, Gary Harper and the Gamecocks the following week.

*In 1981 Clemson came into the November 14th game ranked 2nd in the country. On this day Jerry Gaillard caught a touchdown pass and Homer Jordan actually turned into a passing threat as the Tigers disposed of Maryland 21-7. The win was another on the way to the National Championship. The other thing I remember that day had a little to do with our in-state rival. Clemson and Maryland often played the week before the Carolina-Clemson game and I remember the “cock-a-doodle-do cheer” breaking out early in the fourth quarter of this contest. This game wrapped up another ACC title for the Tigers.

*The 1982 game was a thriller played on national television (Note to our younger readers: national TV games were rare back then.) The Tigers were led by Terry Kinard and this 24-22 thriller helped Clemson clinch yet another ACC championship.

*The 1983 game was a once-in-a-lifetime memory. Clemson students wanted to celebrate coming off of NCAA probation so they decided to break the world record for balloons released. The sight of that many balloons was truly amazing. When they released the balloons the entire sky was covered to the point where there was no sunshine. The entire stadium was under shade at that moment. Some say Maryland players took notice and it had an effect on the game. Kevin Mack had a huge game and Mike Eppley helped the Tigers to a 52-27 win over 11th-ranked Maryland. The Tigers entered the game ranked 17th and ended the season 10th.

*The 1984 game was the Terps’ revenge. Clemson could not stop Maryland’s running game in the 41-23 loss in Baltimore’s old Memorial Stadium.

*The 1985 game was a strange one. The Terps had one of the best teams I ever saw come into Death Valley but an out-manned Clemson team held strong. Some awful officiating helped the Terps to a 34-31 win but not before Danny Ford let the officials (and a national TV audience) know what he thought about the officiating. The two teams fought at the end of the game as things got ugly in the Valley.

*Speaking of strange, the 1986 game featured something I had not seen before or since. The ACC suspended Ford for his outburst the previous year and Maryland coach Bobby Ross for running after an official the previous week (Ross tore his hamstring on the run). Therefore both head coaches had to coach from the coaches’ box. The Tigers kicked a field goal late to secure yet another ACC title. This was another game in Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium and remember it quite well leaving the stadium seeing Clemson and Maryland fans fighting just outside the dump of a stadium.

Maryland’s program fell after Ross left and Clemson went on to ACC titles in 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1991 but the game has not been huge since.

In that decade from 1977-1986 the Maryland-Clemson game had at least one ranked team in seven of the ten games and the ACC champion came out of that game in seven of the ten years. National titles, ACC titles, coaches’ suspensions, fights and excitement defined the great ten games.

In their last 40 games the Terps are 21-19 and Clemson is 25-15. Hard to believe things could have changed this much in 21 short years. Man I’m getting old.

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