Clemson - Wofford Game Notes |
Game Two: Clemson vs. Wofford
Saturday, Sept. 8, 2001 1:00 PM (EST) Clemson Memorial Stadium (81,474) Clemson, SC In the Rankings Clemson - #19 AP, #19 USA Today/ESPN Wofford - #24 USA Today/ESPN (DI-AA), #25 The Sports Network Television: None Radio: Clemson Tiger Sports Network Play By Play: Jim Phillips * Color: Mike Eppley * Sideline: Rodney Williams Series History: Clemson leads 9-3 Tickets: $25, Available 1-800-CLEMSON Clemson vs. Wofford Series This is the 20th anniversary of the last time Clemson and Wofford faced off on the gridiron. In 1981, Villanova dropped football in April. Clemson administrators called on Wofford and they agreed to come to Clemson for the season opener. Earlier this year, Tulane decided against coming to Clemson for a regular season game at Death Valley, forcing Clemson officials to look for a late addition to the schedule. Wofford again came to Clemson's aid. Clemson went on to win the National Championship in 1981, so Tiger fans are hoping this schedule change is a foreshadowing of success to come. Wofford, then an NAIA school, did not go quietly 20 years ago. In fact, the Terriers held a 3-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Clemson went on to a 45-10 victory, but the Terriers would end the game with 293 yards of total offense, including 201 in the first half. Only two other teams had more total offense than Wofford against Clemson's defense, which allowed just 8.2 points a game that year. Current Wofford offensive coordinator Wade Lang led the Wofford ball carriers that day with 76 yards on 17 attempts. He also completed two passes for 30 yards. Wofford scored a touchdown in the fourth period and that would be the only touchdown Clemson would yield over the first 22 quarters of the season. Current Terriers Head Coach Mike Ayers was an assistant coach on Wofford's staff the last time the two teams met. Clemson holds a 9-3 advantage in the series that dates to 1896, the first year of Clemson football. The Tigers won that game, 16-0 in Spartanburg in what was just the third game in Clemson football history. Clemson won the second meeting in the series by a 21-0 score in 1900, the second game in the head coaching career of John Heisman. Clemson also shutout Wofford in 1940, 26-0, in what was the second game in the Clemson coaching career of the legendary Frank Howard. Now, this year's game is the second game in the third year of Tommy Bowden's Clemson coaching career. Wofford's last win in the series took place in 1933, a 14-13 Terrier win in Spartanburg. Wofford won consecutive games by shutout over the Tigers in 1925 and 1926. The Tigers have won 35 games in a row over Southern Conference schools dating to a 6-0 loss to South Carolina in 1952. Clemson has won 45 in a row over teams currently in the Southern Conference, including 12 of the last 14 by shutout. Similar Styles at Quarterback If you like multi-faceted quarterbacks you have come to the right place. Much was made about Woodrow Dantzler's pursuit of a 2,000-yard passing, 1,000-yard rushing season in 2000. He finished the year with 1,028 rushing and 1,871 through the air. But, Wofford's Travis Wilson, a senior from Newberry, SC also could challenge that plateau this year. A year ago he quarterbacked Wofford to a 7-4 record by rushing for 779 and passing for 1,202 yards. For his career, he has 2,069 yards on the ground, ahead of Dantzler's 1,746. He has 3,039 career passing yards, giving him 5,000 career yards of total offense. This is believed to be the first time in the history of Death Valley that two quarterbacks with more than 5,000 yards of total offense will do battle in Clemson Memorial Stadium. Wilson already owns the top two total offense figures in Wofford history on a single season basis. His 5,108 career yards of total offense are second only to the 7,067 recorded by Shawn Graves between 1989-92. Facts on the Wofford Terriers * This is the seventh season of Division I-AA football for Wofford. Head Coach Mike Ayers has been the leader of the program since 1988. * Wofford has a student enrollment of 1,100 students, the smallest enrollment for any I-A or I-AA school. * Wofford had six Academic All-District team members last year, more than any other school. * Head Coach Mike Ayers has 77 career victories, tied for first in school history with Conley Snidow (1953-66). He was named Southern Conference Coach of the Year in 2000. * More than 70,000 fans are expected at today's game, making it the largest crowd Wofford has ever played before. The previous high was 60,000 set the last time the two teams met at Clemson in 1981. * Wofford owns a victory over a Division I-A team. Last year the Terriers upset Louisiana-Monroe, 24-6 for its first ever Division I-A victory. * Clemson has never had a player gain 100 yards rushing and 100 receiving in the same game, but Wofford has. Last year against Western Carolina, Jesse McCoy had 115 yards receiving and 114 rushing in a Wofford victory. * This will be a battle of teams that like to run. Wofford was seventh in the nation in rushing at the Division I-AA level in 2000, while the Tigers were 10th in rushing in Division I-A. * Wofford has just as much a national recruiting influence as Clemson. Eleven states are represented on the Wofford roster, including 10 players from Ohio. * Wofford secondary coach Terry Lantz does not need to search for advice when it comes to coaching against Clemson. His father, Rick Lantz, coached against the Tigers as defensive coordinator at Virginia for many years, including last season. Tigers Hope for 2-0 Start Clemson is looking for a 2-0 start to the regular season for the second year in a row and the third time in five years. But, over the last 30 years, gaining a 2-0 start has been hard to come by for Clemson. Clemson is just 11-18-1 in the second game of the season over the last 30 years. Clemson has been 2-0 just eight times in the last 30 years. In recent years Clemson has not gotten off to a great start, yet has been resilient, making improvement over the course of the season. Clemson has been to a bowl game 17 of the last 24 seasons, yet has been 2-0 just five times in that era. Clemson had a 12-0 season in 1981 of course, and was 6-0 to start 1987. Clemson was 2-0 in 1997 and jumped to an 8-0 start last year. Clemson was also 2-0 to open the 1991 season. Clemson in Top 20 for 20 Straight Polls Clemson is ranked in the top 20 in the nation in the latest Associated Press poll. The Tigers have been ranked in the top 20 in all three polls so far this year and for 20 consecutive polls over the last two years. This is the second longest streak of consecutive weeks ranked in the top 20 in the AP poll in Clemson history. The record for consecutive top 20 rankings is 41, set between the final poll of the 1986 season and the Oct. 10, 1989 poll. The Tigers were ranked between third and 17th in the nation in all 41 or those polls. The record for consecutive weeks in the top 25 is 50 in a row between Oct. 24, 1989 and October 19, 1992. The Tigers were ranked between 6 and 25 during that streak. Clemson was ranked between 21-25 in six of those 50 weeks. Clemson has had two other streaks of 14 weeks or more ranked in the top 20. One took place from Sept. 21, 1981 through Sept. 13, 1982, a 15-week streak, while the other took place between Oct. 12, 1959 and Oct. 10, 1960, a 14-week streak. Coaching Offspring Scores Winning Touchdown When Jeff Scott ran 22 yards for a touchdown on a fake field goal against Central Florida last week, one Clemson assistant coach was very proud. Assistant Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator Brad Scott must have been beaming from his seat in the coaches booth as Scott scored his first collegiate touchdown on the play. It gave Clemson a 21-7 lead and proved to be the winning touchdown. Both Scotts can take credit for the play. Jeff, a true coach's son, watched film of Central Florida's special teams over the summer and pointed out to his father that the fake field goal might work. Brad and Ron West are in charge of the field goal team and they worked on the play in the preseason. The coaches felt the time was ripe when Clemson lined up for a 29-yard field goal with 11 minutes left in the third period. It certainly worked as Scott ran the play with the option to pitch the ball, but ran through a large hole on the right side of Central Florida's line. He dove the last few yards into the endzone for the score. It marked the third time Scott had run with the ball out of a fake field goal in his 13 games as a Tiger. He now has three rushes for 40 yards. So, has a coach's son ever scored a touchdown for the Tigers before? You have to go back 38 years to the Clemson vs. South Carolina game in Columbia on November 28, 1963. Jimmy Howard, son of Clemson legendary Head Coach Frank Howard, scored on a seven-yard run, the Tigers first touchdown of the day, in a 24-20 Clemson victory. Howard, a reserve running back for the Tigers from 1961-63, had four rushes for 20 yards that day. Howard ended his career with two touchdowns, as he had scored earlier in the 1963 season against Virginina. Two other assistant coaches in the last 15 years have had their sons play for the Tigers during their coaching career in Clemson. J.C. Harper, son of Clemson defensive coordinator Tom Harper, played for the Tigers between 1985-88, while Les Herrin's son Deke played for the Tigers as a walk-on wide receiver in 1998. Neither scored a touchdown in their Clemson careers. One former Clemson coach's son who did not play for the Tigers, but has gone on to NFL fame is Brandon Stokley. Nelson Stokley served as an assistant for the Tigers from 1980-85 and a young Brandon could be seen at Clemson practices now and then throwing the football with his father. Nelson then became the head coach at SW Louisiana and Brandon played there for his father and became one of the top receivers in the nation. He now plays with the Baltimore Ravens and caught a touchdown pass in last year's Super Bowl. Dantzler Moving up Career Charts Woodrow Dantzler completed 15 of 25 passes for 154 yards and a touchdown in the season opener. He also contributed 46 yards on the ground, giving him a 200-yard total offense day to open the season, the 10th time in the last 13 games he has done that. He had one touchdown rushing and one throwing, giving him 39 career touchdowns rushing and passing. Dantzler continues to move up on the school's all-time lists. The 39 touchdowns rushing and passing rank in a tie for fourth best in Clemson history in terms of touchdown responsibility. He is tied with Ray Matthews, who had 20 rushing, 11 passing and eight other touchdowns via returns or receiving. Teammate Travis Zachery is now third with 40 touchdowns (33 rushing and seven receiving). The all-time leader is Steve Fuller, who had 22 touchdowns rushing and 22 passing in his career that spanned 1975-78. Nealon Greene, now in the Canadian Football League and a teammate of Dantzler in 1997, had 43. Dantzler also ranks in the top six in Clemson history in a number of other categories. He is currently sixth in passing yardage with 3613 and needs just 34 yards passing against Wofford to move into fifth place ahead of Homer Jordan's 3643. Dantzler is fourth in career total offense with 5,359 yards and needs just 152 yards to move into third place ahead of Rodney Williams. Williams will get to see Dantzler move ahead of him from close range, as the 1989 Clemson graduate, who led the Tigers to a record 32 wins, is the sideline reporter for the Clemson Radio Network. Clemson's career total offense leader is Nealon Greene with 6786, a number that is definitely in range for Dantzler. Heisman Candidate Woodrow Dantzler Clemson quarterback Woodrow Dantzler has been omni present on many of the preseason Heisman Trophy lists. The Clemson graduate is ranked as the number-two candidate for the award by CBS.Sportsline.com, Lindy's preseason annual, and Mel Kiper of ESPN. He is ranked eighth by The Sporting News. He is also listed by USA Today as a candidate. That publication listed 10 players in alphabetical order. He was also one of six favorites mentioned by ESPN's GameDay program. Dantzler was also listed as the first- team preseason All-America quarterback by Football News and Lindy's. Lindy's lists Dantzler as the top candidate for the Davey O'Brien Award and the Davey O'Brien Award. Lindy's and Street & Smith rank Dantzler as the number-one preseason candidate for ACC Player of the Year, while Sporting News lists him as the preseason Offensive Player of the Year. Zachery Goes over 2,500 For the second straight year, Travis Zachery opened the regular season having to prove himself after suffering a painful injury in a bowl game. The Doak Walker Award candidate suffered a broken ankle on a 23-yard scoring reception from Woodrow Dantzler in the Gator Bowl against Virginia Tech and that kept him out of the rest of the game and spring practice. He proved that he is back to full strength, leading Clemson in rushing with 48 yards and in receptions with five for 41 in the season opener against UCF. He scored a touchdown on a pass reception from Woodrow Dantzler, his 40th career touchdown and his seventh receiving. He now has 35 touchdowns in his last 25 games. Zachery enters the Wofford game with 2,530 career rushing yards, fifth best in school history. The greatest receiving running back in Clemson history, he has a record 65 career catches for 684 yards. He has 3,490 all-purpose running yards in his career, second best in school history. Zachery probably won't catch Raymond Priester when it comes to the career rushing record (he needs 1,436), but he will have a good chance to catch Priester in all-purpose yards. Priester had 4,282 all-purpose yards (rushing, receiving and kick returns combined), just 790 yards ahead of Zachery. Zachery has had at least 997 all-purpose yards in each of his first three years at Clemson. Mance Top Tackler, Kickoff Return Leader Brian Mance was Clemson's top tackler in the season opener with 10 tackles. It marked the first time since a loss to Wake Forest in 1993 that a cornerback led Clemson in tackles. Andre Humphrey led the Tigers in tackles that day with 10. Mance's performance marked the second straight game a defensive back had led the Tigers in tackles. Charles Hafley had a career high 14 tackles against Virginia Tech in the Gator Bowl. Mance, a junior from Alcolu, SC and Manning High School, was also a strong contributor on special teams in the return game. He had three kickoff returns for 98 yards and two punt returns for 21 yards. That gave him 119 all-purpose running yards for five touches, a 23.8 average. His 53-yard kickoff return in the second quarter set up a Clemson touchdown. Making big plays has been common in Mance's Clemson career. For his career he now has 255 yards on nine kickoff returns, 72 yards on three interception returns and 213 yards on eight punt returns. That totals to 540 return yards for the 20 returns, or an incredible 27 yards every time he touches the ball. He leads the ACC in kickoff returns after one game. His top return last year was an 88-yard punt return against Georgia Tech. Kopp, Special Teams Outstanding to Open Season In addition to Brian Mance's return efforts, Clemson also had an outstanding performance from punter Wynn Kopp in the opening win over UCF. The transfer from Georgia posted a 43.8 yards per punt average. He had 263 yards on six punts and allowed just 19 yards on three returns. That computes to a 40.7 net punting average. How good is a 40.7 net punting average? For the course of a season, Chris Gardocki, an All-Pro with the Cleveland Browns, never had a net punting average over 39.4 for the course of a season in his Clemson career. The last Tiger to have a net punting average over 40 yards was Dale Hatcher, who had a 42.4 net punting average in 1984. Kopp's best punt of the day might have been his shortest. In the fourth quarter, he fielded a bouncing snap, and under duress punted the ball down field to get the Tigers out of trouble. The punt rolled dead 32 yards down field instead of giving UCF the ball just 15 yards from Clemson's goal line. Five First-Year Freshmen Played in Opener Clemson played five first-year freshmen in the season opener against UCF. The list included three receivers in Roscoe Crosby, Airese Currie and tight end Ben Hall. On defense, Moe Fountain and Eric Sampson were first-year freshmen that saw action. Crosby started the game, the first first-year freshman to start at wide receiver in the season opener 1944 when Arthur Hagan started every game as a first-year freshmen. That was during WWII when the United States Armed Services drafted most of Clemson's upperclassmen. It didn't take Crosby much time to have an impact. He caught a Utah pass from quarterback Woodrow Dantzler on the first play of the season and he turned it into a 12-yard gain. He also caught 33-yard pass for Clemson's longest play of the day from scrimmage. Crosby finished the day with three catches for 64 yards. The yardage total led the Tigers against UCF. Hall also made his first career catch in the contest. Clemson Defense Stands out vs. UCF According to many of the preseason magazines, Clemson's "weakest link" was supposed to be an inexperienced defense. The Tigers returned just four starters from last year's 9-3 team. Four defensive players made their first start against Central Florida and two others were making just their second career start. Another was making just his fourth career start. But, the Tigers held the Golden Knights to but 13 points, 31 yards rushing and 328 yards of total offense in recording a 21-13 victory. In 2000, Central Florida averaged 30 points and 373 yards per game in total offense. John Leake led the first-time starters with nine tackles in 51 plays from his star safety position. The first-year sophomore has been a bright spot in the preseason. He had three quarterback pressures and a caused fumble to go with his nine tackles. Eric Meekins was another first-time starter who had a strong game. The strong safety had seven tackles in his 53 plays. The Clemson defense was hard hitting with five caused fumbles, including two by Braxton K. Williams. He became the first Clemson defensive player to record two caused fumbles in the same game since 1996 when Tony DeSue had two against N.C. State. It was a balanced performance for the Tiger defense. Six different players had a tackle for loss, eight different players were credited with a quarterback pressure and four different players had a caused fumble. Leake Defender to Watch Coach Tommy Bowden spoke in the preseason about players who needed to step up their play on defense to make the Tigers successful in 2001. The Tigers lost seven defensive starters from last year so many 2000 reserves have an opportunity to make a difference. One of the players who is taking advantage of an opportunity is star safety John Leake. The sophomore from Plano, TX is now starting at the star safety position. Defensive Coordinator Reggie Herring said he was Clemson's top defensive player in the first two weeks of the preseason work. He was the team's top tackler in both major scrimmages. He also had a team best three sacks. "His motor runs nonstop," said Bowden. "He reminds you of Keith Adams the way he practices and plays all over the field." Leake did not play a single play from scrimmage last year, but was a top special teams tackler with nine stops. He then had a breakout spring, highlighted by a 10-tackle effort in the spring game, a total that led all tacklers. He also had a 57-yard interception return for a touchdown. He was Clemson's second leading tackler in the first game of the season against UCF with nine tackles. Carson Moves into Top 10 in Career Tackles Clemson Butkus Award candidate Chad Carson had seven tackles in the opener against UCF and moved into the top 10 in Clemson history in career tackles. He now has 318 as a Tiger, and moved ahead of Doug Brewster (312), Jim Stuckey (314) and Henry Walls (316) in the game. Carson, who is applying for a Rhodes Scholarship and is a two-time Academic All-American, has had at least 10 tackles in 19 of his last 25 games. He ranked fourth in the nation in tackles per game last year with 13.3 per game. 2000 NCAA Tackle Leaders
Rk Player, School GP Tot /Game
1. Levar Fisher, Jr. N.C. State 11 163 14.82
Clemson Career Tackle Leaders
Rk Player, Pos Years No
1. Bubba Brown, LB 1976-79 515
2. Anthony Simmons, LB 1995-97 486
3. Jeff Davis, LB 1978-81 469
4. Ed McDaniel, LB 1988-91 489
5. Randy Scott, LB 1975-78 382
6. Keith Adams, LB 1998-00 379
7. Robert Carswell, FS 1997-00 374
8. Tim Jones, LB 1991-94 338
9. Henry Walls, LB 1983-85 316
10. Jim Stuckey, DT 1976-79 314
11. Doug Brewster, LB 1987-90 312
12. Chad Carson, LB 1998-01 311
Seven Graduate Students to Start for Tigers
Clemson has seven graduate students slated to hold starting positions
for today's game with Wofford. That is an all-time record for
graduate students on the Clemson football team.
The list is led by Heisman Trophy candidate Woodrow Dantzler, who
received his degree in marketing from Clemson in August. Dantzler
hugged Clemson President Jim Barker when he was presented his diploma
on the stage at Littlejohn Coliseum.
Starting defensive back Charles Hafley and starting defensive tackle
Nick Eason both earned their degrees in sociology that same day.
Eason's graduation was especially impressive because he still has two
years of eligibility. He earned the degree in three years and three
summer sessions and plans to earn a Master's degree before his
eligibility is up. He is the first Clemson football player to earn an
undergraduate degree with two years of eligibility remaining.
Four other Clemson players received their degrees prior to this past
August, and all four of them are starters on offense. Kyle Young,
starting center, and T.J. Watkins, starting guard, earned their
degrees in May. Young graduated Summa Cum Laude and is a two-time
first-team Academic All-American. Wide receiver Matt Bailey also
received his degree that day. Starting offensive guard Will Merritt
received his degree in December of 2000, just a few days prior to the
Gator Bowl.
Young Looks for Landmark Accomplishment
Clemson center Kyle Young has been named a first-team Academic
All-American each of the last two years. If he is chosen for a third
time at the end of the 2001 season he will become just the second
offensive lineman in college football history to be chosen a
first-team Academic All-American in three different seasons. He would
also become just the second ACC player in history to be chosen three
times.
The College Sports Information Directors of America have chosen the
academic All-America team every year since 1952, so the 2001 team
will be the 50th team selected. Players chosen to the team must have
at least a 3.20 cumulative GPA. Young had a 3.98 career GPA and
graduated in May, Summa Cum Laude.
Young will try to join former Colorado offensive lineman Jim Hansen
as the only three-time first-team selections. Hansen was named in
1990, 1991 and 1992. The only other ACC player to be a three-time
first-team selection, regardless of position, is Mike Diminick, a
defensive back from Duke, who was named first team in 1986, 1987 and
1988.
Overall, 12 different football players have been named first-team
academic All-American three times. Clemson's Kyle Young will attempt
to join that group in 2001.
Three-Time First-Team Academic All-Americans
Name Pos. School Years
Jon Abbott LB Arizona 1975-77
Ron Duncan TE Ball State 1985-87
Jim Hansen OL Colorado 1990-92
Mike Diminick DB Duke 1986-88
Dan Gregus DL Illinois 1980-82
David Patterson WR New Mexico State 1996-98
Joe Heap B Notre Dame 1952-54
John Bergren DL Stanford 1981-83
Scott Henderson LB Texas 1968-70
Kip Corrington DB Texas A&M 1985-87
Jason Hanson PK Washington St. 1989-91
Don Davey DL Wisconsin 1987-90
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