Tigers set to embark on a great season?

The Tigers will need to get a huge season from Sammy Watkins if they are to make a run at Pasadena. (TigerNet Staff)

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Jul 13 15:27:42 GMT-04:00 2013

ESTES PARK, CO - General Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote a letter to the troops, sailors and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force in early June of 1944, telling them that they were about to embark on “a great crusade.”

As any of us who love history know, Eisenhower’s letter was written on the eve of the invasion of Hitler’s Fortress Europe, an invasion known in the annals of history D-Day.

The beginning of his letter went like this:

Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers in arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world. Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened, he will fight savagely.

I am vacationing in Colorado, and as I was walking down a hiking trail inside of Rocky Mountain National Park Wednesday, I was enjoying the solitude and the scenery and thinking about Clemson’s upcoming football season.

For whatever reason, that letter popped into my head as I pondered the possibilities of the season. Now, before anyone gets angry or decides I need to be blasted, please read my disclaimer now (I know I need a disclaimer, because people get cranky this time of year).

DISCLAIMER: I am not trying to compare in any way, shape, form or fashion football to the brave men of our Greatest Generation and the sacrifices they made when the world needed them the most. Any of us who enjoy our lives and liberty owe all the people of that generation our gratitude, admiration and thanks. They were the greatest generation for a reason. Nor am I comparing football to Dwight Eisenhower or his letter – the letter is simply in its scope and effect in limited words.

However, as I think about the season, I think that Clemson is about to embark on a great crusade, perhaps better equipped to make a run at a national title than at any time in the last 25 years or so. This team is loaded, has experience at a lot of key positions, and has the kind of schedule that will allow them to make a run.

This is a crusade for which Clemson fans have striven for many years, a crusade that has been 32 years in the making. The eyes of the country and the ACC are on the Tigers. Many look at the talent on hand and the schedule and think Clemson just might make that run.

There are others in the national media – and even in our own state – who are waiting for Clemson to fail. They are waiting for the Tigers to once again fall below expectations. They might be right – the task isn’t an easy one and the teams on the schedule will be well-coached and well-prepared.

Georgia, Florida St. and South Carolina all have the talent to make that kind of run as well, and those games loom large on the schedule. But for every power that has to be knocked off, there are two teams that Clemson will be heavily favored over, and those games are just as important to this season and each game has far-reaching implications. Each game is important, and the Tigers simply need to take the same approach they took last season when the “next game” was the most important.

That means Georgia, an SEC power that has designs on an SEC East title, an SEC Championship and a National Championship. Their goals are the same as Clemson’s, and they also have the kind of talent to take a run at Pasadena.

For those of you who have been waiting patiently, it begins for all of us next week. The media will meet with all of Clemson’s coaches next Tuesday at Dabo SwinneyDabo Swinney
Head Coach
View Full Profile ’s media golf outing, and the ACC Kickoff in Greensboro is the following weekend.