36 years ago, 1986: A Soviet Nuclear reactor at Chernobyl

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Jul 31, 2022, 11:34 AM

explodes, causing release of radioactive material across much of Europe. The Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates 73 seconds after launching, killing all seven astronauts on board. The Oprah Winfrey Show debuts nationally. Halley's Comet reaches the closest point to the Earth during its second visit to the solar system in the 20th century.

The stage musical "Phantom of the Opera" debuts in London's West End. The Soviet Union launches the Mir space station. Richard Branson, skippering the 72 ft powerboat Virgin Challenger II breaks the world record for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic. There is an outbreak of Mad Cow Disease. Information comes out on what would become known as “The Iran-Contra Affair”, where President Ronald Reagan's administration sold arms to Iran. Oliver North would become a household name.

Clemson's football fortunes were on a definite upswing in 1986, The Tigers won the ACC Championship with a record of 5-1-1, 8-2-2. At No.17, we were the only ranked ACC team at season's end. The team's statistical leaders included quarterback Rodney Williams with 1,245 passing yards, Terrence Flagler with 1,258 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns, and Ray Williams with 280 receiving yards.

National Champions for 1986 were the undefeated, 12-0 Nittany Lions of Penn State. They took down the previously undefeated and No.1 ranked Miami Hurricanes of Coach Jimmy Johnson in the Fiesta Bowl, by a score of 14-10. Even though Miami lost, Jimmy Johnson's hair never moved. Penn State had some very good regular season wins, including a 23-3 road win over No.2 (at the time) Alabama, and a 24-19 road win over Notre Dame in South Bend. They also smoked their rival, Pitt, 34-14 in their regular season finale in Happy Valley.

Meanwhile, at Clemson, Danny Ford's Tigers seemed to have a problem in season openers. We hosted Virginia Tech as our first game of 1986, and the Hoagies left Clemson with a 20-14 win. But, in Athens against the Dawgs, the following week, ROD-NEE got the Clemson offense going, leaving some bawling pups behind with a thrilling 31-28 Clemson win due to the clutch kicking of one David Treadwell, as he nailed a 46 yard field goal for the win as time expired. Take that, Kevin Butler.

The good vibes continued the next week in Atlanta, with the Tigers taking a satisfying 27-3 victory over Georgia Tech in the Grant Field House of Horrors. Then came a series of alternating home / road games. Clemson downed the Mini-dawgs of The Citadel at home, 24-0. Next up, a No.20 ranking rode to Charlottesville, and a 31-17 Clemson cruise control win was the result. Back in Death Valley the next week, the now No.17 Tigers ran roughshod over Duke, 35-3.

But next, a trip up to Raleigh for the No.16 Tigers, against the No.20 NC State Wolfpack, got us trimmed 27-3 in “The Textile Bowl”. The Wuffies had a new coach in D.ick Sheridan, and he would always have his team playing hard. Still on the road, and now unranked, Clemson got by Wake Forest 28-20.

We would finish the regular season with two Carolinas sandwiched around a Maryland. The sammich got started on a huge high note, with a 38-10 pasting of North Carolina. That got us back into the rankings temporarily, at No.15. But, a road 17-17 tie against Maryland dropped us to No.19 going into the rivalry home game against the Coots. 82,500 fans were disappointed, as the teams fought to a 2nd tie in a row this season for Clemson, 21-21. Clemson now leads the series 49-31-4.

Our 7-2-2 regular season record got us another invite to the Gator Bowl, where the Tigers have appeared many more times than any other individual bowl game. This year's opponent would be the No.20 Stanford Cardinal, of Coach Jack Elway. He had a son named John Elway, had previously played for Stanford before Jack Elway came there to coach. John Elway turned out to be a pretty decent football player in the NFL, even though he never had enough talent around him in the college ranks to make a bowl.

Ranked No.21 entering the Gator Bowl, the Clemson 27-21 victory moved us up to a final No.17 AP ranking, No.19 UPI for the season. All results below:

Virginia Tech L 14–20
at No. 14 Georgia W 31–28
At Georgia Tech W 27–3
The Citadel W 24–0
At Virginia No. 20 W 31–17
Duke No. 17 W 35–3
At No. 20 NC State No. 16 L 3–27
At Wake Forest W 28–20
North Carolina W 38–10
At Maryland No. 15 T 17–17
South Carolina No. 19 T 21–21 (Clemson leads series 49-31-4.)

December 27
No.21 Clemson vs. No. 20 Stanford
Gator Bowl
W 27–21
Clemson final season ranking was No.17.