Tuesday October 27, 2009

Landmark at Land Shark

Landmark at Land Shark
For weeks Dabo has said this team has to learn how to win. He said it after the Tigers could not the close one against Georgia Tech. He said it again after the close loss to TCU and again with the loss at College Park.

I never really understood how a team could learn how to win. I have never seen that text book or taken that class. But apparently some learn how to win the close ones and my guess is that is comes with the experience of doing it.

Well Clemson did it with a landmark victory in Land Shark Stadium Saturday.

What does the victory mean?

Well, to this team it means they control their own destiny in the race to win the Atlantic Division of the ACC. Clemson and Boston College are both 3-2 but the Tigers own the tiebreaker over the Eagles because of the win over BC in September.

It means the Tigers tied the school record for a win over the highest ranked opponent by beating the nation’s eighth ranked team.

Saturday’s game was the 538th Clemson has played as the visiting team and it was just the 20th time the Tiger have defeated a ranked opponent on the road. It was just the seventh time Clemson had beaten a top ten team on the road and the 13th top ten opponent the Tigers have ever defeated.

The win broke an overtime losing streak also. Clemson had won its first five overtime games including a win over Miami in 2004. The Canes’ triple overtime win the following season not only broke the unbeaten streak in overtime, it started a new streak. The Tigers had lost their last four overtime games before Saturday.

The game also gave a lot of national attention to several individuals. C.J. Spiller has been named the National player of the week by several websites. DeAndre McDaniel and Kyle Parker have also won prestigious national awards.

Spiller jumped into several media outlets’ Heisman picture. At one time in the pre-season, I thought it would be next to impossible for anyone outside of Tim Tebow, Sam Bradford or Colt McCoy to get an invitation to New York for the ceremonies. However, Bradford is out for the season and Tebow and McCoy have not been able to match their 2008 campaigns. At this point the Heisman race is still undecided and Spiller has a chance to impress voters even more in November (more on this tomorrow).

Those are some of the things we know and those things are exciting. However, maybe even more exciting is what we don’t know. We don’t know what this mean to this football team’s future or the future of the program.

TigerIllustrated.com’s Larry Williams wrote a terrific commentary Sunday entitled “Defining Moment.” In it Williams tells the story of Alabama’s national title in 1992. He said that players from that team pointed to a game at Tennessee two years earlier as the turning point of their program. Players credited that game as the one where they grew up and learned how to win a close one on the road. It was that 9-6 win in Knoxville that helped Bama gain the confidence it needed to go on to bigger and better things.

Can Saturday’s win do the same for the Tigers?

Maybe it won’t mean a national title but will we look back at this win in a couple of years and think this was the defining moment of Dabo’s career at Clemson?

Confidence has to be a bigger factor because now the Tigers have done it. There is a difference in thinking you can do it and knowing you have already done it. Now these players know they can beat a top ten team. They know they can win a close game. They know they can win on the road. They know they can win in overtime.

There have been changes on the offensive line but now the line, Chad Diehl and Jamie Harper know they can be successful in short yardage situations. Clemson’s wide receivers now know they can catch the football on crucial drives. The Tiger tight ends now know they can be a big part of the offense.

Maybe the fans can have more confidence too. Maybe the fans can trust this staff more when difficult times come about because they know this staff can win a big game on the road.

Division titles? Conference titles? BCS bowl game? Those things won’t be known for several weeks but a more confident football team will have a better chance as a result of Saturday’s win.

We do know that marquee wins help recruiting. This week prospects all across the region have access to stories about the individual accolades for Spiller, McDaniel and Parker. You can bet that Clemson coaches will use this win as a message to prospects in the South Florida area. Only three teams have beaten the Canes at Land Shark Stadium and the Tiger staff will be sure to let prospects know.

There is always the chance the Tigers will not be able to take advantage of the momentum. That was the case often times under Tommy Bowden. But I think many of us see something different from this group. At least that is the hope among Clemson Nation.

Hopefully we can look back at this win in a couple of years and call it the turning point of the program.

The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency

Prayer List
We have started a prayer list on the blog. Here are the guidelines:
*If you are offended by prayer or prayer lists then I apologize in advance. The blog is free and the prayer list will be on the bottom of the page so you don’t have to read it.
*If you would like to add someone to the list please e-mail me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com
*If you want the reason for the prayer to be added to the name please specify in your e-mails.
*Please let me know when it is appropriate to take the person off of the prayer list

Those who need our prayers include:
Finn Brookover, Larry in Naples, FL, RTG-Pawsitive Tiger, Mary-Louise Pawlowski (John's daughter), Jo Ann Bachman, Frank Taylor, Kenneth Bryant, Pruitt Martin, Got igers and his family, David Rowland, Leonard Gillespie and his family, Jim S, Christine Hepfer, Daniel Rosborough, Amy Murphey, Jack Huffman, Nancy Winkler, Dr. Nancy Strom Morgan, John Reeve, Eileen Woodrum, Ethel Southard, Vinnie Brock, Jean-Pierre Bailey, Kaitlyn L, Delores Weaver, Eric Boessneck, John Bowers, Jimmy Ness, Susan Miller, Joyce Harley, Steve Proveaux, John Petrey, Chalmers Carr, Drayton Melton, Jeffrey Greene, the Hutto family, Sherl Drawdy, Caleb Kennedy, Ann Fallaw, Bob Pollock, Teresa O'Connor, Matt Jacobs, Mike Kingsmore,Perrin Seigler, Carole White Begley.