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Rock Defender [54]
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For those old enough, what's it like to win a NT?
May 7, 2015, 9:04 AM
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I think Mr. Dabo is getting us pretty close to possibly winning another one soon. I can't even imagine what that would feel like to watch Clemson bring in a National Title. So tell me, what is it like?
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Orange Blooded [4098]
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Re: For those old enough, what's it like to win a NT?
May 7, 2015, 9:14 AM
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absolutely wonderful!!!!!!!!!!! I sat there as the clock ran down wondering what could go wrong! So many things had gone wrong for so long that I was not comfortable until the final clock reading was 00.00 and still I wondered if the refs could screw us like they had done so many times in the past.
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Head Coach [785]
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Re: For those old enough, what's it like to win a NT?
May 7, 2015, 9:20 AM
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I don't think any of us saw it coming..even when we beat Georgia and Hershcel Walker....the toughest game was UNC and the USC game was worrisome because they could have very well screwed everything up for us...even sitting in the stands at the Orange Bowl, I remember thinking back to the ND game in 1977 where we thought we had everything in hand and lost the last minute....one thing I took away from the Nebraska game that night; not all fans are like UGA, Alabama and USuC...pretty classy people and we were on par with the best of the best...just took a while for being champions to sink in...have to experience the feeling to understand it.
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Orange Blooded [3194]
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I hope i can experience that in my lifetime
May 7, 2015, 3:01 PM
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I'm in my 20s so hopefully I'll get to experience it more than once. I remember going over to my parents house the night that we won the Orange bowl against OSU and we were all so excited, kinda felt like we did win a national championship. I honestly don't know how i would react to winning a national championship
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Orange Blooded [2894]
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I was 10 years old and it felt incredible!***
May 7, 2015, 9:15 AM
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CU Guru [1400]
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It was awesome
May 7, 2015, 9:23 AM
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What made it even more special for me wouldn't reveal itself until a few months later when my dad died in a car wreck. Under his suit we made sure he was wearing his Clemson National Champs t-shirt for eternity.
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CU Guru [1308]
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Re: For those old enough, what's it like to win a NT?
May 7, 2015, 9:27 AM
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It was an unbelievable feeling to sit there in the old Orange Bowl and watch that game. If you get a chance, you tube that game and watch it from start to finish. They say that defense wins championships and it was obvious that the Clemson defense came to play that night. Nebraska came in with the Outland Trophy winner and huge offensive line. Plus, Mike Rozier and Roger Craig at running back. Nebraska scored 2 touchdown, one on a halfback pass. If I reemeber correctly, we held the ball 4 or 5 minutes on the last drive.
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Rock Defender [54]
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Re: For those old enough, what's it like to win a NT?
May 7, 2015, 9:28 AM
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> If you get a chance, you tube that game and watch it from start to finish.
I already have 
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Athletic Dir [855]
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Still a great period in time for me
May 7, 2015, 9:31 AM
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my senior year at Clemson. To describe the environment then, I would say "electric."
All through the season, after games, we could not wait until the week's edition of the "Kickoff" was out on Monday or Tuesday, so that we could follow the Tigers' rise in the rankings. We didn't have any other sources of info, so we would pick it up at the Holiday Inn on our way back from Mac's. Great games with UNC, Georgia, and the greatest with Nebraska. We ran the triple option then, but our plan was pretty much smash mouth in your face football. That time was indeed electric at Clemson. Don't get me wrong, it is always great to be a Clemson Tiger, but that was a pretty special period. I believe that we are close to a repeat under our current coaching staff.
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Rock Defender [54]
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Re: Still a great period in time for me
May 7, 2015, 9:36 AM
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> I believe that we are close to a repeat under our current coaching staff.
Boy I hope so
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Freshman [7]
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Re: Still a great period in time for me
May 7, 2015, 2:55 PM
[ in reply to Still a great period in time for me ] |
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The allegations made during the UNC game was deflating. When we won the Orange Bowl, we knew that probation was soon to follow.
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Oculus Spirit [76015]
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Did we know going in that winning the
May 7, 2015, 9:36 AM
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game meant we were the champions? Funny stuff could go on back then about how the votes went.
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CU Medallion [60325]
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it was a sure thing, being the only undefeated team left
May 7, 2015, 10:25 AM
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all year we were underranked and disrespected, the lowest of the undefeated teams. Couldn't really blame the pollsters as we came from "nowhere" as they say, being 6-5 the previous year.
It was amazing how the stars aligned in the season. We kept winning as #1 teams kept getting picked off every week. Michigan, Notre Dame, USC, Penn State, Texas. There were like 7 or 8 teams that year ranked #1.
Then the kicker was that Pitt (w/Dan Marino) got beat at home on Thanksgiving weekend by Penn State, who was a huge underdog. Beat them bad too. We had already finished the season and was #2, but that game put us at #1 without playing that week. In those days bowl games were set up before the season was over, so we already were committed to the Orange Bowl vs #4 Nebraska. If Pitt hadn't lost, they would have been #1 playing #3 UGA in the Sugar, and THAT game may have decided it all instead of ours.
The weird thing about winning a football NC is that school was out at the time (New Years) and campus was closed, so there could be no student "mass celebration". That had to wait a week or two. For the first time as a student, I couldn't wait to get back to school.
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All-TigerNet [10917]
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Re: Did we know going in that winning the
May 7, 2015, 10:27 AM
[ in reply to Did we know going in that winning the ] |
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yes, we entered the game #1, thanks to Penn St knocking off previous #1 Pitt.
We ended the year as the only undefeated team back when it meant something with no television network pimping out a particular conference.
We beat top ten teams in UGA...UNC...and Neb. Had Neb beaten us, they would have won the NC...thanks to UGA losing the Sugar bowl to Pitt.
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Athletic Dir [855]
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Still a great period in time for me
May 7, 2015, 9:40 AM
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my senior year at Clemson.
To describe the environment then, I would say "electric."
All through the season, after games, we could not wait until the week's edition of the "Kickoff" was out on Monday or Tuesday, so that we could follow the Tigers' rise in the rankings. We didn't have any other sources of info, so we would pick it up at the Holiday Inn on our way back from Mac's. Great games with UNC, Georgia, and the greatest with Nebraska. We ran the triple option then, but our plan was pretty much smash mouth in your face football. That time was indeed electric at Clemson. Don't get me wrong, it is always great to be a Clemson Tiger, but that was a pretty bittersweet period for me.
My father had passed away during my Junior year, and as one would expect, I did not handle it well. He was the big reason I chose to go to Clemson. He never attended college, but he loved the Clemson Tigers. I remember his big smile that day I told him that I had decided on Clemson. And I wish that he had lived to had seen the Tigers win it all.
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110%er [9106]
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Pretty frikken awesome. Especially around dirt peckers***
May 7, 2015, 9:56 AM
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CU Guru [1188]
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Re: For those old enough, what's it like to win a NT?
May 7, 2015, 10:25 AM
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It was the best night of my life other than family related special occasions. I was not married at the time, and along with my girlfriend and another couple, we watched the game sitting in an outdoor hot tub on the banks of Lake Norman outside of Charlotte, with the water dyed orange, wearing nothing but a smile and Clemson caps, sipping Bailey's Irish Cream and rooting the Tigers to victory. I will never forget it if I live to be 115 years old and have forgotten everything else that ever happened to me.
Lets do it again this year, and then just for fun, repeat in 2016. It's doable. GO TIGERS!!!
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Rock Defender [54]
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Re: For those old enough, what's it like to win a NT?
May 7, 2015, 10:53 AM
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Would williams brice implode if we actually did manage two win 2 in a row?
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110%er [6851]
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I think it was orgasmic. Although I can't remember what that
May 7, 2015, 11:12 AM
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was like. 
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All-TigerNet [10402]
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Re: For those old enough, what's it like to win a NT?
May 7, 2015, 11:34 AM
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I was 9 and at the game, that was the best vacation I ever had. The long ride home was great everybody had the biggest smile on their faces and my parents didn't yell one time.
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Head Coach [751]
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Re: For those old enough, what's it like to win a NT?
May 7, 2015, 1:01 PM
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I was excited but I will never forget the look on my father's face! The tears of joy, the shock and excitement all rolled into adulation....he had lived through the Frank Howard, Hootie Ingram, Red Parker lean years. He was there when Charley Pell screwed us and went to Florida and left a little unknown coach, Danny Ford to lead our program. In 3 years 1979, 1980 and 1981 Danny showed the world the Clemson Tigers! When Dabo wins he will silence all of the critics, mindless pendants and the washed up, drunk Old Ball Sack and that my friends will be GOLDEN!!! Go Tigers!
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All-In [25473]
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I was 34, and no one had any idea even as the season
May 7, 2015, 1:52 PM
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progressed that we'd go all the way.
The victory over Georgia opened eyes, but most folks remained guarded throughout the season. As the bowl game neared, Nebraska had such a reputation that few believed we could defeat them.
Throughout the game I was happy to have like-minded folks around me, as the swearing was loud, down and dirty, and when the game was over, the reality took some time to grasp.
Fast forward and I've said it since the Ford days that all coaches have been held to Danny Ford's success: we want another title, and any coach found wanting in that regard are going to be given short shrift soon enough. Fans of programs that have never won the title don't understand our "delusion," as they call it, but once you've reached the mountaintop, you're never satisfied unless you reach it again. Hence, the difference in attitudes between the Clemson fan base and say, one like South Carolina's.
I tend toward being pragmatic; yet, the old Clemson rabble-rousing spirit within me craves for another title...in my lifetime, preferably. And that's why I hope that Dabo Swinney will be the one to lead us again to the Promised Land!
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Athletic Dir [866]
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Re: For those old enough, what's it like to win a NT?
May 7, 2015, 1:56 PM
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I was 13 years old, watched the Nebraska game with my dad, a life-long USCjr fan. It is by far one of the greatest memories of my youth. IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!
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Varsity [201]
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Re: For those old enough, what's it like to win a NT?
May 7, 2015, 3:27 PM
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I was 10 years old and in fifth grade and I remember it like it was yesterday. I can still see Perry Tuttle wrestling the winning touchdown pass away from the Nebraska DB just over the goal line. I think that image made the cover of Sports Illustrated also. I remember my dad saying afterward that he didn't think we were going to beat Nebraska, but I never doubted it for a second. Ah, the unwavering faith of a 10 year old diehard Tiger. And yes, it feels like Dabo has us knocking on that door again. Great time to be a Tiger.
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