Clemson's offensive explosion was in the signs thanks to this Clemson fan

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Clemson’s offensive explosion against Appalachian State surprised most people, but we should have seen it coming. After all, the signs were there.

The Tigers cast aside three years of pedestrian offense for a 66-point, 712-yard performance against a Mountaineer team that is used to beating Power Five programs. Clemson’s offense managed just two plays of 50-plus yards all of last season but had touchdowns of 76 yards and 83 yards in the first three drives Saturday.

As Clemson fan Tim Cowan sat in the stands and watched, he knew his hunch had been right.

Cowan, a Clemson alumnus who lives in Marietta, Georgia, is a familiar sight to Clemson fans who not only watch the games in Death Valley but on television. He brings the sign that says “D – fence”, but with a fence instead of the letters fence. It’s a tradition he started early in the Dabo Swinney era.

“I think it was right around that 2009 season. That was back when we used to have a whole bunch of offense, but our defense couldn't stop anybody,” Cowan told TigerNet this week. “So, we needed a defense back then. When I first did it, I made a kind of a temporary sign and I was just trying to figure it out. But as we progressed and I started bringing it more and more, I've made it out of wood and that wooden sign lasted for a while. I think the Notre Dame night game at home, it was just a monsoon and we came through it ok, but one of the Ds got broke after one of those games celebrating, we kind of fell on it in the parking lot.

“But I taped it up and that one continued through to win a national championship. So, I retired it. The defense I've used, every time we won a national championship, I made this new one that's got the trophies on it, and they didn't expect it to last this long, but it's probably the longest reigning defense that I've had and it’s a permanent one.”

It has brought Cowan a certain notoriety.

“A lot of people I know just from going up there, and I see walking around before the game and stuff like that, they always get a kick out of it, like getting a picture made and stuff like that,” Cowan said. “But yeah, there'll be other people that I don't know that'll mention it and say something. But it's always fun. But I always try to get to know the people that when they talk about it, and I'll stop and talk to them and figure out if I know something about them or not. It's a good conversation piece for sure.”

However, it’s been the Clemson defense that has carried the day for much of the past three seasons, and Cowan teased on social media that a change was in the offing.

“I had a couple people that have brought it up to me, and the way our offense looked here recently, I know we needed something and I thought it was time for a change,” Cowan said. “And a lot of people had mentioned, oh, you need an offense sign. I said, you know what? Looking back at the Georgia game, I said, we weren’t quite as bad as everybody. We were right in that game and hung with him for a long time and just a little bit of offense would've changed that whole game around, because the defense absolutely played his heart out.

“And then I went and watched the Aaron Murray video and he was breaking it down. I was watching, I was like, man, we're a lot better. We're just barely missing some of these plays. And they were good. And I said, I just have a feeling that it was going to be an explosive kind of offensive performance coming sooner or later.”

Cowan made his offense sign, took it to the game, and had fans sign it in the motor home lot and tailgate areas. Each fan would write on the “O” and write down what they wanted to see out of the offense that night.

“As I was going around the tailgate, I said, we're going to take requests,” Cowan said. “Everybody's got something to say about the offense, so y'all write it down and put it on here. So, I'd go around and have my little dry erase marker and let everybody write their kind of stuff on there of the different things they wanted to say to the offense and make their request. So that was kind of a fun little thing to do with it.”

Sixty-six points and 712 yards later, his hunch proved correct.

“It couldn't have been more magical than the timing of saying, ‘Hey, we're going to release an offense.’ And man, released an offense, it was like we kept scoring in that first quarter,” Cowan said. “We were in the seats and I said, this is working out pretty good right here. All the people around me were saying it. As soon as I sat down, the guy behind me goes, man, I sure hope you got a O with you this time. I was like, yep, I brought it this time.”

Cowan made sure that tight end Jake Briningstool and running back Phil Mafah took pictures with the sign after the game, and he said fans will likely see both signs when NC State comes calling next week.

“I feel if I don't take both, and then we lose, and they're going to hate me forever,” Cowan said with a laugh. "So, I feel like I'm obligated. But it was unique on this one because I actually made it out of a piece of dry-erase board kind of thing.”

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