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This Team is Different….I Think
Editor’s Note: Because of the Thursday night game, we will postpone our E-Mail Bag until next Friday.

No one could possibly hate losing more than me. As I grow older, I try to cope with it better but it sickens me to lose at anything.

Also, I have never felt good about losing and would never know what a moral victory would feel like.

With that said, last night just felt different. We will not know if this team is different until the rest of the season plays out but my guess is this team will show us they are different.

Like most of you, I was feeling sick and embarrassed when it was a 24-0 game. Like many of you, I felt encouraged by the effort from that point on.

There were enough mistakes to last an entire season in that first quarter and the Tigers made other mistakes later. You also have to give Georgia Tech a lot of credit for making the plays when they had to.

I guess my main point this morning is that last night’s game could show us one of two things. It could show us that Clemson still has offensive line, wide receiver and special teams issues and this program has a hard time winning close games. On the flip side, it could us that this team is special because they were facing a 24-0 deficit in a hostile environment and came back to take a fourth quarter lead. Unfortunately, we will not know the answer until we see how this team responds.

In the past, this program has seen one loss beat you twice or even three times. So often in the past Clemson had its eyes set on a certain goal and when adversity struck, the ship took on more water. Last night looked different and most of us want to believe it means this team is different.

If Clemson is to take last night as a positive and build upon it then it will have to not repeat the past mistakes of other teams. Other teams stepped on their bottom lip for a few weeks and felt sorry for themselves. They lost focus. Remember, the football season is a long one and every goal Clemson had in the pre-season is still front of this team.

There are examples of something positive coming from a loss but I had to go back to 1977 for the best example. The Tigers were coming off a 2-9 season in 1975 and a 3-6-2 campaign in 1976. The season opener that year was at home to 10th-ranked Maryland. The Terps were a powerhouse in those days. They were 11-1 and finished 8th in the nation the previous season. In 1975 they won nine games and finished 11th. The previous four seasons Maryland had won at least eight games and finished in the top 25 each year.

The 10th-ranked Terps beat Clemson in the season opener of 1977 by a 21-14 score but that Clemson team was different. It was the sixth straight year Maryland defeated Clemson but again this team reacted different than the previous squads. This team found out they could play with a top ten football team. The 1977 Tigers gained confidence they were lacking and used that confidence the following week when they went to Athens, GA and upset the 17th-ranked Georgia Bulldogs 7-6. Some remember that was the game where Clemson head coach Charley Pell stopped the buses on the way home and bought victory cigars.

The 1977 Tigers went on a seven game winning streak after the loss to Maryland to earn a Gator Bowl bid and an 8-3-1 record. It was the school’s first bowl bid since 1959.

There are examples of how this program took a loss like last night and turned it into a negative. In 1992 the Tigers were 1-0 and were ranked 13th in the country. Florida State came to Death Valley ranked fifth in the country but Clemson jumped out to an early lead only to see the Seminoles comeback for a 24-20 victory. FSU went on the finish the season ranked second in the nation but they were on the ropes against the Tigers that night.

The following week a 16th-ranked Clemson squad went to Georgia Tech and lost 20-16 to a team that finished 5-6. The Tigers went on to lose four of their last five to finish the season 5-6 and seventh in the ACC.

So was last night a negative that will drain the program to the point that it did in the demoralizing loss to Florida State in 1992? Or will it be a spark that gives the Tigers confidence to build upon something special like it was to the 1977 and 1978 Clemson teams?

The answers will be found in the coming weeks. I would hate to look back at last night’s game and think it was devastating. However, I just don’t get that feeling. I guess I feel that way because of the faith I have in Dabo. If Dabo is anything, he is a motivator. I think he and this staff have this team’s attention and I think this team believes in him and his staff.

I am sure this will be the topic at hand over the next few days and weeks and I want to spend some time on the blog next week with this theme. Where do the Tigers go from here?

Losing stinks and I still don’t know what a moral victory feels like but I am sure I will be excited to welcome this football team back at Tiger Walk and at the top of The Hill next Saturday because I think this team is different.

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 Pollack.

Comments:

Mickey --- Great example ... the 1977 game against Maryland. We lost that game, but in the long run, we won.

New coaches, new attitudes, new ERA!!

Posted by apextiger on September 11, 2009 at 11:47 AM EDT #

That loss won't beat the Tigers twice. Clemson will beat BC- especially if the Clemson team that played in the 2nd, 3rd, & 4th quarters shows up, and we don't do too many fake field goal/punts. I won't be surprised if we get to play GT again this season.

Posted by Razzmatazz on September 11, 2009 at 12:03 PM EDT #

I thought we looked like the better team if you look at the entire game. It's not easy to play away in the ACC anymore, especially against a ranked quality team like GT was last night.

If we learn to focus the entire game and minimize the mental errors. (kick return for touchdown and fake FG) we can still have a special season IMO...

Posted by jjlove98 on September 11, 2009 at 12:19 PM EDT #

We sounds like a bunch of USC-East fans....

This who scene just goes round and round. New coaches (I'll argue that they shouldn't get much of a bye because, essentially, this is a roll-over of the old staff) always seem to get breaks and feel-good pops early in their careers that long-term coaches don't get. Remember the early Bowden games against really good Marshall, VT, FSU, etc? We thought those losses would lead to conference titles.

They didn't. Losing well doesn't matter.

Posted by Justwannaread on September 11, 2009 at 01:01 PM EDT #

They are champions.

One BS Holding Call and the score would say the same.

They're only motivation now... play like that for the rest of the year and you may get another shot at GT.

Only time will tell, they have to prove it.

Give them a short memory & a will that's outstanding and we'll see where they finish.

Posted by dchinners on September 11, 2009 at 01:35 PM EDT #

Seems like more of the same to me. Outcoached...again. Defense blew a 4 qtr lead...again. Couldnt punch it in from 2 yds out...again. Couldnt sustain a drive...again. Until they show differently, this is still more of the same old Tigers. But what do you expect when its basically the same coaching staff, especially with soft fat scott coaching the weak o-line.

Posted by DV_1981 on September 11, 2009 at 01:42 PM EDT #

Posted by DV_1981 on September 11, 2009 at 01:48 PM EDT #

MP, I'm pretty sure you now know what a moral victory feels like.

Posted by CUbuck on September 11, 2009 at 02:22 PM EDT #

Major differences between this team and those under Bowden. Bowden's teams would not have staged such a comeback. Also, this staff actually made adjustments that Bowden NEVER made.

Posted by 1983Grad on September 11, 2009 at 02:30 PM EDT #

Maybe this will remind you guys that Bowden had his success as a first year Clemson coach - and he took over a team with THREE wins the previous season. I'm no apologist, I think he needed to be out prior than when he was, but this total crap about how Swinney has them playing with heart that Bowden could never accomplish is just, well, WRONG.

http://www.theacc.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/123199aab.html

Posted by Justwannaread on September 11, 2009 at 02:34 PM EDT #

Losing well doesn't matter.

Posted by Biochem 98 on September 11, 2009 at 03:36 PM EDT #

Crass say keep 'em coming. Great comedy.

Posted by josephg on September 11, 2009 at 05:51 PM EDT #

The day after the Maryland loss in 1977, I watched the Charley Pell Show. The host asked Charley what we were going to have to do to get ready for a tough Georgia opponent the next week. Charley never hesitated and said, "The question is, What is Georgia gonna have to do to get ready for us?" The Tigers won, and the golden era of Clemson football began.

Posted by Old Green+Tom on September 11, 2009 at 07:15 PM EDT #

I've said it until, I am sure, y'all are tired of it. Our problem is, and has been for years, the OL. It has been the very weak link in our struggle for success, and I am convinced it won't get better until BS is gone. BS - what fitting initials for a coach who has taken some pretty highly recruited athletes and under-developed them. I'm so disappointed to see the talented skill players we have not reach their potential because of another inept OL. I hope we see some real inspired performances from the OL for the balance of the year. Until we do, I'm afraid same old same old.

Posted by Dugatiger on September 11, 2009 at 07:29 PM EDT #

Good information Mickey... I was surely pleased with the OL play and I saw the replay, on our holding call, I just didn't see it that way... go tigers

Posted by Gray_Court_Tiger on September 11, 2009 at 10:29 PM EDT #

A very good blog,Mickey.I ,for one don't believe in moral victories,no matter what you learn,or take from it,or.Any mistakes made in a game,whether you win,or lose need to be corrected.And I saw a lot of the same mistakes that plagued Tommy Bowden.But what makes this team different,imo,was the enthusiasm,and the emotion shown by Dabo Swinney.I seldon,if ever saw that under Tommy Bowden.Losing hurts,but not nearly as bad as being beaten before you tee it up{ref Wake last year}.

Posted by leftie on September 12, 2009 at 08:03 AM EDT #

Whatever the Ws and Ls may be at the end of 2009, there is new life in the football program. You learn a lot more about a group of guys after a loss than you do a win. If the second half effort Thursday night is an indication of this team's character and desire to win, we'll be talking about more good wins than tough losses this season.

Posted by CU81 on September 12, 2009 at 11:18 AM EDT #

Offensive line is still a problem.We seem to say this every year.Lambert at tackle is a joke.This team will only be as good as the offensive line will let it.

Posted by cubobby80 on September 12, 2009 at 09:12 PM EDT #

I'll have faith in Dabo & Staff when I see them put together a sixty-minute game. You can't play for only two and a half quarters and beat quality competition. That might work against MTSU, but it won't win win a division in the ACC, much less an ACC title or a BCS bowl game. Bottom line - we lost because Dabo & Staff got out-coached. He needs to show that he can learn from his mistakes before he earns any "faith".

Posted by Flying Tiger on September 13, 2009 at 02:54 PM EDT #

It kind of ticks me the effen off that, TDP hired Dabo. When he could have read just a few T-Nets post and found a winner for alot less. Ain't that a biotch!!!

Posted by tigercrazynut on September 14, 2009 at 02:30 PM EDT #