Re: Hill Watch...11 days!!!

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11 years ago, 2011: Nearly ten long years after 9/11,

Aug 25, 2022, 8:48 AM

President Obama announced to a national TV audience, “We got him”, as a Seal Team Six raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan took out Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. In an inspired move, the American military buried his body at sea, so that there would be no future “shrine” available for radical extremists to celebrate their “martyr”. A huge earthquake and tsunami caused major damage at a Japanese nuclear plant, raising concerns about radiation releases.

Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford and several others are shot in Tuscon, Arizona. Massive protests in Egypt finally led to the ouster of long-time president Hosni Mubarak. “The Brother Leader” Moammar Gadhafi was killed in Libya when he was shot in the head during crossfire between rebel fighters and his own forces. Prince William of England and Kate Middleton have a fairy tale Royal Wedding.

The ACC Champions in football in 2011 are the No. 22 (6-2, 10-4) Clemson Tigers. They defeated the Virginia Tech Hokies 38-10 in the ACC Championship Game. But, the season ended on a very bad note, with a 70-33 loss at the hands of No. 17 West Virginia in the Orange Bowl. VT would lose 23-20 in OT in the Sugar Bowl, against No. 9 Michigan. The only other ranked ACC team was No. 23 FSU, 18-14 winners over Notre Dame in the Champs Sports Bowl.

2011 National Champions were the 13-1 Alabama Crimson Tide of Coach Nick Saban. It may be lost to history now, but there was a fierce debate at the time over whether Alabama should have even gotten a berth in the BCS Championship game. They had not even won their division in the SEC, and sat home while LSU won the SEC Championship game against Georgia. LSU had beaten the Tide 9-6 in a regular season OT dud of a game that featured just about zero offense, and not a lot of the nation was really all that keen to see a rematch of that. But, Coach Saban lobbied the BCS Computers hard, and wrangled the Sugar Bowl BCS Championship game invite. Bama found some offense the second time around, and won the game and the Championship, 21-0. Les Miles was left to chew grass and ruminate on what had happened.

Needless to say, after the way the 2010 season ended for the Clemson Tigers, we were unranked to begin 2011. But, there were some changes in the offseason that would prove critical to future success. Coach Swinney took a chance on a young, successful ex-Texas high school coach who was a Gus Malzahn offensive disciple, but had only one year of college coaching experience, at Tulsa. Coach Swinney made Chad Morris our Offensive Coordinator. He would introduce the Spread Offense to Clemson Nation. The other pivotal thing that happened was that a freshman wide receiver named Sammy Watkins arrived in Clemson, looking like an NFL All-Pro from the day he started practice. At the same time, another freshman with freakish athletic ability also arrived, named Martavis Bryant. He would have to split time behind Nuk Hopkins at the other wideout position. Running the show for the new Chad Morris offense was QB Tajh Boyd. As time went on, this offense would grow to suit Tajh Boyd VERY well.

But, when we opened the season in the Valley against Troy, the glitzy new offense got off to a TERRIBLE start, going 0 for 8 on 3rd downs, and actually trailing 16-13 at the half. Boo birds followed the Tigers to the locker room. But, late in the 3rd quarter, Boyd hit Dwayne Allen for a 54 yard touchdown for the 1st third down conversion of the game, and the offensive floodgates suddenly opened. The scoring run continued in the fourth quarter, ending in a 43–19 rout. Boyd finished the game 20-for-30 for 364 yards and three touchdowns in his debut as Clemson's starting quarterback. Sammy Watkins had seven catches for 81 yards while Andre Ellington rushed 18 times for 89 yards.

The next game was supposed to be a breather, but turned out to be anything but. Wofford featured a tricky triple option offense, and the Clemson defense had a hard time solving it all day. The Chad Morris offense finally put up enough points to win the game, 35-27, but the home crowd went home uneasy. Wofford was ranked No. 7 in the FCS division, and they lived up to it that day.

We faced a major step up in competition the next game, as the defending National Champion Auburn Tigers came to town, sporting the nations longest winning streak. This version was ranked No. 21 at the time, and jumped out to a 14-0 lead as the Clemson offense sputtered out of the gate again. But, we found the rhythm in the 2nd quarter, scoring 21 points of our own, to take the game into halftime tied at 21-21.

But, Clemson's defense would hold Auburn to 3 second half points, while our offense got 17 more. Clemson's offense totaled 624 yards, its record against an SEC opponent. We got the first of many future “Daboisms” at the end of the game, as an elated Coach Swinney remarked, "I couldn't think of a better place to end the streak than Death Valley, South Carolina, baby." Indeed.

No rest for the Clemson team after that win, though, as No. 11 FSU came to town for our 4th straight home game to start the season. We were now ranked No. 21, would this team play their way right back out of the rankings as so many Tommy Bowden coached teams had in the past? FSU was without their injured starting QB E.J. Manuel, and the Tigers were in control of this game much more than the final score of 35-30 would indicate, as FSU got two late touchdowns in “garbage time”.

Next up, Big Boy football continued, as we took a No. 13 ranking on the road for the 1st time all year, to face the No. 11 Virginia Tech Hokies in Blacksburg. The Clemson defense was the star of this game, shutting down the Hokies, while we put up 23 points, to win the game 23-3. This win marked the first time ANY ACC team had ever beaten three top 25 AP opponents in a row. The Tigers came home with a No. 8 ranking, to face Boston College. I can't explain why there were “only” 76,315 fans there to see the Tigers dominate 36-14. Sammy Watkins recorded 152 receiving yards, while Chandler Catanzaro hit a career-high 5 field goals.

Next, Clemson hit the road to play the Maryland Terrapins, and this turned out to be one of those “defense optional”, or “Big 12 type” games. The Tigers got down by 18 points before the offense roared back with 39 2nd half points to take a 56-45 win. The 18-point deficit overcome was the second largest in Clemson University history. Sammy Watkins also broke the school record for most all-purpose yards in a game (345 yards) held previously by Clemson great C.J. Spiller. (312 yards).

Back home against North Carolina, Coach Kevin Steele's defense still wasn't doing much stopping anyone, as Clemson won another offensive shootout, this time with a 35 point 3rd quarter, to take down the Heels by a score of 59-38. In retrospect, this should have been a storm warning of bad times ahead. And, who better to rain on the Tigers parade than our old friend Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta. We brought a No. 6 ranking in there to face Georgia Tech, and Pawl Johnson's triple option attack was seemingly unstoppable for the Clemson defense as Yellow Jacket quarterback Tevin Washington scampered for 176 yards on 27 carries and a touchdown. Tajh Boyd and the Clemson offense sputtered all day, and the result was a 31-17 Georgia Tech upset of the Tigers.

The Pollsters were kind, as that result only dropped us down to No. 9, for a home date with old “monkey-wrench-in-the-works” foe Wake Forest. This game could clinch the Atlantic Division title for Clemson. But, things looked bleak as we lost Sammy Watkins to an injury on a punt return, and Wake took a 28-14 lead late in the 3rd quarter. But, the Tigers rallied back late to tie the game at 28-28 on two Tajh Boyd touchdown passes. Following a missed 47-yard field goal try by Demon Deacon kicker Jimmy Newman, the Tigers orchestrated a drive to set up a 43-yard game-winning kick by Chandler Catanzaro as time expired. This win secured a trip to Charlotte for the ACC Championship game, and also gave Clemson the first undefeated home season since 1990.

But, just when things were looking really rosy, and the Tigers were back up to No. 7 in the rankings, a trip to Carter-Finley Stadium to face the Mike Glennon led Wolfpack of N.C. State turned out to be a bad idea. The Tigers just played a terrible game, no way to sugar coat it. Tajh Boyd played so badly, that after his 2nd interception on the day, he was benched in favor of Cole Stoudt late in the game. The Pack prevailed easily, 37-13.

The road got a lot harder to end the regular season, as South Carolina was sporting a No. 14 ranking against the now No. 18 Tigers. Steve Spurrier had been recruiting well, and a defensive Unicorn named Jadeveon Clowney was now on campus to bolster an already capable Gamecock defense. He was the third straight "Hr. South Carolina High School Football" player that South Carolina had signed. Clowney and the Carolina defense hounded Tajh Boyd all game long, and the Gamecock offense was sure and steady behind QB Conner Shaw. The result was an “easy” 34-13 South Carolina victory. Clemson now leads the series 69-40-4.

So, Clemson was not exactly roaring into the ACC Championship game, and a lot of pundits figured our regular season win over VT was merely an anomaly, and the true Hokies would show up for this one. Virginia Tech came into the game ranked No. 5. It was a hard fought, defensive game, tied at 10-10 for the 1st half. But, the slumbering Clemson offense woke up in the 3rd quarter, scoring 21 points, 28 for the 2nd half, while the Clemson defense held the Tech offense scoreless, to win the ACC Championship 38-10. We would go to our first Orange Bowl since 1981 as No. 14 ranked ACC Champions, to face No. 23 West Virginia.

The Orange Bowl turned out to be a case of “If it can go wrong, it will” for the Tigers. What was an early offensive shootout by both teams turned on an Andre Ellington fumble at the Mountaineer goal line, that instead of being a Clemson touchdown, was a 99 yard fumble recovery touchdown for West Virginia. Clemson had no answer for QB Geno Smith all game long, as he threw for 407 yards and 6 touchdowns. Four Clemson turnovers on the day just added to the 70-33 misery. It was a sad end to a season of a lot of positives for Clemson, but over the long winter, that last game would linger.

Kevin Steele would be fired as Defensive Coordinator, to be replaced by Brent Venables, who Coach Dabo Swinney had somehow managed to lure away from Oklahoma. Since the Big 12 was not exactly known as a defensive conference, opinions were mixed on how this hire would pan out.

Troy W 43–19
No. 7 (FCS) Wofford W 35–27
No. 21 Auburn W 38–24 (I couldn't think of a better place to end the streak than Death Valley, South Carolina, baby!)
No. 11 Florida State No. 21 W 35–30
At No. 11 Virginia Tech No. 13 W 23–3
Boston College No. 8 W 36–14
At Maryland No. 8 W 56–45
North Carolina No. 8 W 59–38
At Georgia Tech No. 6 L 17–31
Wake Forest No. 9 W 31–28
At NC State No. 7 L 13–37
At No. 14 South Carolina No. 18 L 13–34 (Clemson leads the series 69-40-4.)

December 3
No. 21 Clemson vs. No. 5 Virginia Tech
Bank of America Stadium
Charlotte, NC (ACC Championship Game)
W 38–10

January 4, 2012
No. 14 Clemson vs. No. 23 West Virginia
Sun Life Stadium
Miami Gardens, FL (Orange Bowl)
L 33–70