Tigers Whip Bulldogs, 38-0

by Tommy Hood - Correspondent - Sat Sep 02 22:16:46 GMT-04:00 2000

CLEMSON, SC -- What you’re about to read won’t shock you. Clemson whipped up on The Citadel, 38-0. The game was essentially over when the Bulldogs saw the Tigers arrive at the top of The Hill. The Citadel’s flexbone offense never made it off the bus. It saw Clemson linebacker Keith Adams and turned around and went home. However, there will be those that will look back at this game, if Clemson has a breakout season, and say they knew the Tigers were going to have a big season when they left Death Valley on Saturday. Woody Dantzler was impressive passing the ball, Clemson’s receivers were equally impressive and Clemson’s defense was dominating and didn’t let up even when the subs went in against the Bulldogs. While a big win over a division I-AA opponent historically doesn’t point to big season for the Tigers, they showed enough Saturday to calm the nerves of the 76,000 in Memorial Stadium. “I think the defense is on schedule,” said Clemson coach Tommy Bowden. “I think (defensive coordinator) Reggie (Herring) and his staff have done a good job getting he defense ready. But the second team offense is behind the first team offense and will get most of our attention and work as we prepare for Missouri.” Dantzler completed 16 of 17 passes for 192 yards and three touchdowns and was out of the game early in the second half. Clemson scored on its first four possessions (three touchdowns and a field goal by true freshman Aaron Hunt) to lead 24-0 with 8:52 left in the first half. Dantzler completed a 26-yard pass to Travis Zachery and a 14-yard pass to Jackie Robinson for touchdowns. Bernard Rambert rushed 8 yards for the other touchdown and the game was essentially over. The Citadel didn’t cross into Clemson territory in the first half and actually passed for more yards than it gained on the ground. He completed another touchdown pass to Morgan Woodward on fourth-and-three at The Citadel 36-yard line with 1:46 left in the first half. He gave way to Willie Simmons late in the first half and then made a brief appearance in the second half before calling it a night. Clemson scored just once more, on the first drive of the second half. Travis Zachery scored on a 2-yard run with 10:34 left in the third quarter to put Clemson up 38-0 and cap a 12-play 65-yard drive. “Overall, I think we did a pretty good job for a it to be a first outing,” said Bowden. “Dantzler showed that he still has the touch. We wanted to give Willie and Matt (Schell) some playing time. We had seen pretty much what the offense can do. And as you saw, the second team offense needs a lot of work.” The Citadel never mounted a scoring threat and didn’t get into Clemson territory until late in the fourth quarter. Bulldog quarterback Joe Call was still running the flexbone late in the game and the results were predictable. A couple of penalties on Clemson pushed the ball deep enough into Clemson territory for The Citadel to think about scoring. Bulldog placekicker Brice Stefanick missed a 36-yard field goal with 2:00 left in the game to end any chance The Citadel had of scoring. BOX SCORE

  1st  2nd  3rd  4th  TOTAL  
 The Citadel  0 0 0 0 0 
 Clemson  21 10 7 0 38 
 
 Clemson- Rambert 8 run (Hunt kick) 
 Clemson- Zachery 26 pass from Dantzler (Hunt kick) 
 Clemson- J Robinson 14 pass from Dantzler (Lazzara kick) 
 Clemson- FG Hunt 22 
 Clemson- Woodward 36 pass from Dantzler (Lazzara kick) 
 Clemson- Zachery 2 run (Lazzara kick) 
 
               The Citadel   Clemson (18) 
 Rushed-yards        42-57   47-223 
 Passing yards          48   222 
 Sacked-yards lost    3-20   1-7 
 Return yards           11   24 
 Passes             6-16-1   21-33-0 
 Punts              9-36.5   6-40.8 
 Fumbles-lost          1-1   1-0 
 Penalties-yards      5-42   12-124 
 Time of possession  30:30   29:30 
 
 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
 RUSHING
 The Citadel-Murphy 20-62, Hall 3-6, Zobel 1-5, M Healy 1-5, Breaker 2-1, Doyle 1-0, Mahoney 7-minus 4, Call 7-minus 18. Clemson-Zachery 13-86, Rambert 9-51, Dantzler 12-44, Schell 3-24, Kelly 6-19, J Robinson 1-3, Simmons 3-minus 4. 
 PASSING
 The Citadel-Call 6-16-1-48. Clemson-Dantzler 16-17-0-192, Simmons 5-16-0-30. 
 RECEIVING
 The Citadel-M Healy 4-37, Murphy 1-6, Mahoney 1-5. Clemson-Gardner 6-64, Zachery 4-51, J Robinson 3-42, Rambert 2-23, Reames 2-3, Youngblood 2-2, Woodward 1-36, Jasmin 1-1. 
 Att: 76,000