First I would like to remember my uncle Haywood Bostic who fueled my love for Clemson football and helped me understand the game as a young man. While he is always on my heart, the week leading up to the Championship game he was front and center as I headed to Charlotte to see my Tigers play for an ACC Title. As much fun as the beat down of the Hokies was his absence was felt in a profound way and I know he was smiling down as we finally busted down the door to a conference championship.
I had commented what a difference three weeks makes as I was perusing Clemson message boards and saw numerous posts of people selling their tickets to the Championship game. The bandwagon had thinned out and looking back, I want thank those folks who did not have the character or the intestinal fortitude to stay by your team. Ultimately the Clemson Faithful who rolled in to Charlotte Saturday night rolled in leaner and meaner than they had all season.
A lean and mean machine football team showed up in Charlotte on a cool crisp Saturday night. I did not have high expectations for the outcome but we were in the game as the Atlantic Division Champions and that gave us a chance.
Upon arrival in Charlotte, we were welcomed to a Bowl-like atmosphere. The ratio of Clemson fans to Hokies was roughly 2 to 1. On a side note, Charlotte has grown into a dynamic city. It is a city with southern genteel, coupled with professional exuberance that has allowed it to make tremendous strides in the last 20 years. Our colleagues from Blacksburg were walking around with a quiet yet smug confidence. Coming into the game the Hokies had won seven in a row and had risen to number five in the BCS rankings.
Early in the week I think I was like a lot of Clemson fans who found themselves reeling from the loss to South Carolina. I am not sure what was more disturbing the fact that our Tigers had lost or the fashion in which the Gamecocks seemingly dispatched Clemson with relative ease. Then what was a ho-hum week, changed profoundly the Thursday prior to the ACC Championship game as Coach Swinney met with the press after practice.
Coach Swinney responded to comments tied to South Carolina College coach Steve Spurrier regarding Clemson. While the comments may or may not have been made by Coach Spurrier, Coach Swinney’s response created a buzz throughout Clemson Nation that there was no reason for Clemson fans to be walking around with their heads down and with their tails tucked between their legs. We may never know who the comments were directed to but it served as a wake up call to a fan base that had lost its way just like its football team’s offense.
Not that Clemson fans could have dreamed up what was about to transpire on the field in Charlotte, it was a shot in the arm that Clemson fans did not need to make any apologies to anyone about going to Charlotte and playing for an ACC Title. Prior to Thursday’s comments, there were offers all over Clemson message boards with people trying to off load their tickets to Charlotte. The feeling was not good surrounding this Clemson team. More time was being spent on Coach Swinney’s comments and the post-South Carolina game aftermath than the game in Charlotte.
Luckily for Clemson fans, they are fans and not players. It was reported that Coach Swinney had a 2-hour meeting with his team the Monday leading up to the rematch with the Hokies. The meeting was about accountability to themselves and to each other. Football is a game of execution and it does not take Knute Rockne to know that this Clemson team was not executing well in any phase of the game. Despite the cloud and uncertainty surrounding the Clemson team, they took the field with an opportunity to emerge Champions.
It was clear from the get go, that this was a different Clemson team than what fans and coaches had seen in the closing weeks of the season. We saw a team that was focused on the task at hand and prepared to do what the coaches had prepared them to do. Despite the 10-10 score at half, it was becoming apparent it was one of those Saturdays where Clemson was the only team in the stadium that could stop Clemson.
What transpired on the field of Bank of America Stadium during the first 16:56 of the second half was art in motion. Our Tigers came out like a team that was 30 minutes away from fulfilling its destiny and the execution, the poise displayed during the 3rd quarter will be appear in coaching clinics for years to come and may go down as one of the finest 3rd quarters in Clemson Football history. This team could not be stopped in any phase of the game.
You saw coaches on the sidelines giving chest bumps and high fives. There was an energy and swagger on the Clemson sideline that had been missing since prior to the Georgia Tech game. Our good friend Mo Mentum picked a great night to reacquaint himself with the Clemson football team and fan base.
There is so much in the third quarter that I see with each time I watch the replay on DVR. First and foremost is the fact that Clemson ran more running plays than pass plays. The offensive line held up after losing Phillip Price. Andre Ellington is the engine that makes this team go and he is one of the best backs to play at Clemson in recent history. Dwayne Allen is a beast. Sammy is Sammy. Do not forget about DeAndre Hopkins and Jaron Brown making big catches for this team. Andre Branch, Brandon Thompson those defensive linemen have played well all year. Coty Sensabaugh a late addition when he signed with Clemson has been superb all year in the secondary. It is amazing when linebackers play downhill and with good run fits.
A week later I am up on a Sunday morning still in disbelief of what happened last Saturday in Charlotte. Leave no doubt the Clemson University Fightin’ Tigers are the 2011 Atlantic Coast Conference Champions!!!
I am thankful for my friends and their wives who took the time to travel to Charlotte and gather together with the opportunity reconnect, laugh and bond. There is not another group of people who I would have rather shared last Saturday night with than my boys.
Our Tigers are Orange Bowl Bound. I cannot wait for the January 4, 2012 match up with the West Virginia Mountaineers.
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