Final Thoughts: Clemson and Georgia in 1987 fueled an enduring love of the game |
To say that I am excited is an understatement.
Clemson and Georgia kick off the 2021 season in grand style tonight in Charlotte, and I can’t wait to see old friends, meet new people, watch some pretty good football, and take in the sights and sounds of a full stadium. I will also have a different view for the proceedings. I’ve covered somewhere around 220 Clemson games in my career, and every one of them (except for a few early on) have been spent in the pressbox. Sure, I go down to the field for pregame and usually head to the box with about 20 minutes to go before kickoff, and there’s been a few times when I’ve managed to head to the sidelines with about five minutes to play. But most of my time is spent in the world of laptops and social media and stats at the ready. As for those early games – I’ve written here before that the first college football game I “covered” was in 1987, and it featured Clemson and Georgia in Death Valley. I was working for the Greenville News as a college student – putting together what we called the agate page (scores and stats) and answering phones and sometimes filling in as the Piedmont Picker. Sports Editor Dan Foster, the man who hired me, dropped by the office early that day and threw me a press credential and asked if I wanted to ride with him to Death Valley. That is what we call a dumb question. I was supposed to be there to help the photographers, but I spent a lot of time sitting beside the legendary Coach Frank Howard in the early going, running back and forth to get chocolate milk, but I headed to the sidelines in the second half to do some actual work and run film back and forth. I was standing in the corner of the endzone when Gene Beasley forced Georgia quarterback James Jackson into the corner where three Tigers corralled him for a safety, and I was almost underneath the goalposts when David Treadwell hit the game-winner in a 21-20 thriller. I was hooked and spent the entire ride back to Greenville asking Foster how I could do this for a living. That cloudy afternoon is memorable for so many reasons, but it made me understand how much I loved the sport, how much I loved the bands and the fans and the pageantry and the excitement of a college game. Much of that was taken away last season, but it looks like we get a chance at some kind of normal this season, and it’s fitting that it’s Clemson and Georgia to once again get it kicked off. I was offered the chance by Crump to come to the sidelines and help him shoot photos and I jumped at the chance – it’s not often you get to see the game from a different perspective. And because I tend to watch and observe and take it all in, I am not sure how many photos he will get out of me, but I am excited to bring you this different look. Of course, this is an ESPN GameDay game and analyst Kirk Herbstreit will be on the call with Chris Fowler. Herbstreit and David Pollack met with the media in Charlotte Friday to discuss the matchup, and Herbstreit compared the quarterbacks - Clemson’s DJ Uiagalelei and Georgia’s JT Daniels. "We are going to learn a lot more about both of them," Herbstreit said. "JT Daniels has experience not just last year in those four games but going back to USC as a freshman. He's poised. He's got to avoid the disastrous play. With D.J. Uiagalelei, I was so impressed last year when he stepped in when Trevor Lawrence was out. He just needs to take what the defense gives him. He's got so much talent around him. He just has to get the ball to the playmakers and let them do their thing." Herbstreit said he thinks Uiagalelei will play a major role in the Tigers’ run game. "Going back to Tajh Boyd Deshaun Watson, and Trevor Lawrence, I've done so many big Clemson games, and the bigger the game, the more the quarterback run game is a factor," Herbstreit said. "I think if they follow that, they're going to have to use DJ's legs. Usually, it's 15-18 carries a game in the bigger games. I haven't seen DJ enough as a runner; I mean he's 250 pounds, he looks like more of an in-between-the-tackles runner. Like a tight end. Think about Trevor when he would get out in the open, he had such a long stride. DJ is not that kind of threat. So, I'm interested in seeing how Tony Elliott comes up with a new way of attacking. I think DJ looks like he's running to throw. He's gonna scramble but he's not looking to run like Trevor would-- he's looking to buy time and throw downfield. Not having as dynamic of a runner, we'll see how Clemson adjusts to that. "Let's face it: Clemson last year could not run the football. Since they've been on this run for the past seven years, the quarterback run has been a big part of that. I think if you go back to '18 and '19, they led the nation in yards per carry. Last year, they couldn't run so they had to throw. I think the biggest story for me for Clemson is what do they do without Travis Etienne more than what are they going to do without Lawrence?" We will find out Saturday what will happen. I told linebacker James Skalski earlier this week that I was as excited about this one as I’ve been in years, and he smiled and agreed. Last season weighed on everyone, and to be able to get back to some sense of normalcy and have it come against a top-tier opponent like Georgia is all you can ask for. More from the sidelines later.
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