Clemson Football (long)

Nov 29, 2022, 9:20 AM

I have been a Clemson fan for a while. I remember staying up to see the Tigers lose to Pitt badly in the 1977 Gator Bowl. I was young and didn't know that I had witnessed the beginning of the first "golden age" of Clemson football. I wasn't a huge fan at the time but beginning with the 11-1 season the next year where a young head coach would return to the same Gator Bowl and win his first game as head coach against mighty OSU in a hall of fame coaches last game which I'm sure Charlie Bauman remembers better than I. Over the next eleven years as I figured out my path in life and finally swore my undying allegiance to Clemson University when I began classes in 1989 and attended most of the home games in 1988 and 1989, the team won a lot of games, ten or more in 6 of 13 seasons beginning with the 11-1 1977 season and ending with the 1990 season. As I sat in the stands in the 1988 and 1989 seasons I heard many fans comment that Danny couldn't get back to the national championship and football had passed him by, while winning ten games both years. At the end of the 1989 season I witnessed probably the most dominate win ever over SCar, a 45-0 slaughter that would have been much worse if Danny hadn't slowed things down. Then the Tigers ended the year with one of their most dominate bowl wins ever in that same Gator Bowl. Pundits were picking the Tigers to win the 1990 national championship, and they probably would have but as I was sitting in the canteen in the loggia eating breakfast between classes on January 18, 1990 I heard on the radio that Danny Ford had resigned. Hatfield was hired and he took Danny's championship caliber team and went 10-2. From there we began twenty years with less than ten wins including six years where we won less than seven games and a 19 year gap between ACC championships. In 2011 we made it back to ten wins and an ACC championship and we haven't won less than ten games in a year since. This second "golden age" of Clemson Football has far exceeded the first and it may have some run left but when I hear individuals wanting new coaches I look back to 1990 and remember what happened then.

I like Dabo and I love what he has done. I understand that many of you haven't been around the program for an extended period but I can tell you that I prefer 10-2 to 3-8 and I believe what Dabo has accomplished has earned him the coaching job as long as he wants it. Take a look at teams who have pushed out or fired a legendary coach and you will see what usually happens when the school and fans forget what the great coaches have given them. Great examples are UT after Fullmer, VT after Beamer, and Bama after Stallings. Enjoy the ten win seasons and try to support the school. Dabo took over a team that had been ho hum for years, improved by Bowden but could not reach ten wins and we have won ten plus for a dozen years and I hope it continues for many more. One year though it will end, I just hope we don't have another twenty year gap because I may not have twenty years left to wait.

GO TIGERS!!! Gut the goats!

Message was edited by: 1994CUTIGER®

flag link

military_tech

thumb_down

thumb_up

"Heavyweight fights have their ring walks. CFB has Clemson's grandest entrance in sports."
Chris Fowler

Rather, they should evolve with our program, our resources, our challenges, etc.

Simply saying that 10 wins now is a good year, just because it was good to us decades ago, fails to consider several important factors:

-We play more games each season now.
-We have shown an ability to win much more than 10 games a year in the recent past.
-Our talent level being in the top 5-10 nationally suggests that 10 wins shouldn't be very difficult, especially based on the competition we play.
-We invest in our program (e.g., what we pay coaches, what we spend on facilities, how many fans show up) at a level far beyond what would be expected for just winning 10 games.

Most college football teams would be thrilled to win 10 games, but that has nothing to do with what we should expect at Clemson, right now, in 2022.

Looking at our schedule this year, we are more talented than every team we play. The only team that comes close to our talent level is Notre Dame, and they beat us by 21 points.

I don't see any programs on our list with the staff payroll we have or the facilities we have.

In short, winning 10 games makes for a nice talking point by Dabo or by fans to portray this season as a success, but the reality is that we were predicted to be a playoff team this year and fell far short of that despite playing a relatively easy schedule.

Clemson Football (long)

Re: Clemson Football (long)

Re: Clemson Football (long)

Re: Clemson Football (long)

I hope we are not headed to another ending like 1990. Seems

I don't believe that our expectations should be constant.

TigerBoard POTD