Just because I was curious and because I think people's

memories of that era seem to trump the reality, I've looked up Danny's worst post-MNC seasons or worst losses each season (leaving out losses to ranked teams):

1983: 9-1-1 but got spanked by a 9-3 BC team

1984: 7-4 with loss to MD (and USuCk's "fabled" Black Magic team)

1985: 6-6 with losses to UK, MD, UNC, and Minn (bowl)

1986: 8-2-2 with loss to VT

1987: 10-2 with loss to NC State

1989: 10-2 with losses to Duke and GT

Basically, '81, '82, and '88 were the only years he beat everyone he should have.

Obviously, MNC trumps everything but people are overlooking the fact that Danny, more often than not, would have at least one head-scratcher knock us out of contention. We've won 10 games back-to-back and didn't lose to Duke, Wake, NC State, BC, or MD this year is something not even Danny Ford did often.

Sure Dabo ain't Danny but the "Danny Ford" that some people speak of in hushed reverent tones I'm not really sure existed at all.

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The difference is that Dabo has not beat any really good

Dec 26, 2012, 7:59 PM

teams, but instead almost always loses to them. So far, Dabo has only beaten one team that finished in the top 20, and that was Miami who finished 19th in 2009. At some point soon, he absolutely must beat somebody big, and gain that signature victory that gets him over the hump.

Having said that, the 80s were not one endless string of triumphs for Clemson football; and in fact, they weren't nearly as good as many here think they remember (including myself). I posted this a few months back:

In the entire decade of the 1980s, we played 8 teams that finished ranked in the top 10. We won 3 of those, lost 4, and tied 1. That's right, only 3 wins over top 10 teams in the whole decade: Georgia and North Carolina in 1981, and Florida State in 1989. Most of the time in the 80s when we played top 10 teams, we didn't win.

Against teams ranked 11-20 (the polls didn't go to 25 for much of that time), we were 8-6. So we fared a little better against those teams.

In the 80s, we didn't have those frustrating games where we got beat by lesser, unranked teams though, right? Not exactly. We lost or tied 17 times in the 80s to teams that finished unranked. We lost or tied against unranked teams every single year except 81 and 83.

The ACC has expanded a couple of times since the 80s, and that makes these comparisons a little trickier, so keep that in mind when considering:

In the 80s, excluding Clemson, only twice did an ACC team finish in the top 10: North Carolina in 1980 (10) and 1981 (9). Only 8 times in the decade did an ACC team, again excluding Clemson, finish ranked 11-20.

In the 3-1/2 years since Dabo has been our head coach, we have played 3 teams that finished in the top 10, and we have lost all 3. We have played 3 more teams that finished ranked 11-20, and we are 1-2 against them. During this time, The expanded ACC has had 1 team finish in the top 10, and 5 finish ranked 11-20.

This tells me that 4 years into the Dabo era, with no wins against top 10 teams, and no top 10 finishes ourselves, we are not yet at the level we were in the 80s. We have yet to even finish in the top 20.

This also tells me that while the 80s were a great time for Clemson football as we won a National Championship, finished in the top 10 three times, and became an NFL factory, we still lost to the top tier teams more than we beat them, and we still had plenty of frustrating losses against what were considered lesser teams. The memory of a stronger, tougher ACC in the 80s is a myth.

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"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."
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The difference is that Dabo has not beat any really good

You're right, that's the difference: Danny's teams could win

Yep - you don't get that many chances, and you have to win

Re: The difference is that Dabo has not beat any really good

I think much of this stems from the fact that Swinney's

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