Tigers Arrive in Atlanta

by TigerNet Staff - Mon Dec 27 00:38:30 GMT-04:00 1999

ATLANTA, GA -- The Tigers arrived in Atlanta on Sunday and practiced for the first time at the Georgia Tech facilities.

"I am very excited," said Coach Bowden. "This is the most exciting time for the players, and the staff is really excited. The fact that they missed a bowl last year helped from a motivational standpoint.”

There will only be three more practices before the Tigers face Mississippi St on Thursday in the Georgia Dome so practice management becomes crucial to the success of the team.

"We conditioned longer and harder today and will taper off a bit tomorrow," said Coach Bowden. “We went pretty good today and we won't condition much tomorrow. Being a relatively small team, speed and quickness will be to our advantage so we will want to go in there with fresh legs."

Curfews Are In Effect - Team rules are always important when numerous athletes have a long wait for a bowl game. Team curfews are a good way to keep close tabs on all the players.

"I will go 1:00 AM tonight but I will be pairing it down as it gets close to game time," said Coach Bowden. "I think it will be 11:00 Tuesday night and around 10:30 Wednesday. They need to have a little flexibility and freedom to go out but I don't want to give them too much cause they will hang themselves," said Bowden jokingly.

More to Come - Tiger fans can be certainly be excited about this season and the upcoming Peach bowl. But, Tiger fans are already excited about the 2000 season. With seven home games and seventeen returning starters, the outlook is indeed bright for the second year of the Bowden Era.

"I think regardless of the outcome, it’s been a productive year since this is our first year at Clemson," said Coach Bowden. "It can help us in some regards. We changing the offense around and set twenty seven school records and twelve school records on defense is a big deal so we have accomplished some things that I am very pleased with. Regardless of the win or loss at the Peach Bowl, I think we will have a positive spring and a win would give us even a bigger boost.”

Bowden Christmas -

"I got pajamas," said Coach Bowden laughing. "A peach bowl win would be a good Christmas present. That would give us some momentum going into the Spring.”