5 Plays I Want Back

By: Roy Philpott

There have been many plays during the last five years that have seen Clemson football pull off the unthinkable. However today, we take a look at what happens with the unthinkable goes against the Tigers.

Here are five plays from the last five years I'd like to have back. I excluded games that were arguably decided by a bad call or by penalty.

2003: Phantom Tackle vs. N.C. State
Remember this game? It was a Thursday night game in Raleigh during Phillip Rivers’ final season of his 17-year college football career. N.C. State scored the first 10 points in the second half to increase its lead to 17-6.

With Clemson driving early in the fourth quarter, wide receiver Derrick Hamilton, who had struggled the entire night with several dropped passes, appeared to have a wide open path to the end zone on a reverse from 35 yards out. However instead of scoring, Hamilton seemingly tackled himself in the open field and the Tigers were forced to settle for a field goal.

The play seemed to be a sure touchdown until Hamilton unexpectedly went down.

The Tigers would drive down to the State’s 4-yard line before Jad Dean would convert a 21-yard field goal to move the score to 17-9. Aside from not scoring seven points, the drive also wasted priceless minutes off the clock.

The Tigers would later score a touchdown, but miss the two-point conversion to leave the final score at 17-15, leaving Clemson fans to wonder, “what if” had Hamilton scored.

2006: Dean Missed Field Goal vs. South Carolina
This one, obviously, is still fresh in the minds of Clemson fans.

Trailing 31-28 with 7:51 left in the game, the Tigers began their final drive from their own 20 yard line. After methodically moving the ball down the field behind the tough running of Reggie Merriweather and C.J. Spiller, Clemson was poised to score the go-ahead touchdown.

Instead, with Spiller having to sit out with an ankle injury and an injured James Davis unable to carry the load, the Tigers had to settle for a 39-yard Jad Dean field goal attempt to tie.

Dean, who struggled during his senior season after being named one of the top three kickers in the country the year before, missed the attempt wide left as time expired.

Many would argue Clemson lost the game when Merriweather, a senior, wasn’t put back in to finish the drive after Spiller went out. After all, the crowd came to life with chants of “Reggie! Reggie!” and Merriweather seemed to provide an instant spark.

Still, it was Dean’s miss that will linger in the minds of Clemson fans through the years.

2005: Failed Fake Field Goal vs. Wake Forest
With just over two and half minutes left to play and clinging to a three-point lead, Jad Dean lined up for what appeared to be a 44-yard field goal. Upon receiving the snap from center, holder Cole Chason got up from his knee, took a few steps to the left and pitched it to Dean, who was immediately tackled by LB Alphonso Smith. It was an ugly play that was seemingly doomed from the very beginning.

The Deacs took over at their own 34 and promptly drove down the field for the winning score.

Had the Tigers converted the field goal, or punted, or converted a fourth down- they likely would have won the game.

Making matters worse is that Clemson actually made it to the Deacons’ 3-yard line after a Charlie Whitehurst completion to Curtis Baham on the following drive. But without any time outs, the clock ran out and the Tigers lost the game.

“I anticipated needing points, not a field goal,” Bowden said of his decision to call a fake field goal. “If they scored a touchdown, which they did, they would have won the game anyway. I was trying to win the game. We were just trying to make something happen and win the game. If we convert that and continue on, the game’s over."

2005: Whitehurst Misses Stuckey vs. Miami
Trailing 20-10 late in the fourth quarter against No. 13 Miami, Clemson’s defense stiffened and the offense did just enough to put the Tigers back in the game.

After Charlie Whitehurst culminated an 81-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown plunge on third down to move the score to 20-17, the Clemson defense needed one more stand to have a chance at the upset.

After Miami went three and out on arguably the loudest three plays in the history of Memorial Stadium, the Tigers set up shop on their own 44 with 1:20 left in the game. After moving down to the Miami 10-yard line, Whitehurst threw two incompletions to leave Clemson facing a 3rd-and-10.

After taking the snap, Whitehurst quickly realized the Hurricanes’ defense came with an all out blitz, forcing him to throw the ball a 1/10 second faster than he wanted to. With Chansi Stuckey breaking wide open on an out pattern, the ball sailed just over his head to force Clemson into a game-tying field goal.

Had the Tigers converted that play, Clemson would have started the season 3-0, with wins over Texas A&M, Maryland and Miami. Instead the Tigers would lose a heartbreaker in triple overtime, 36-30.

2004: Bad Snap vs. Georgia Tech
Following a four-game winning streak to close the 2003 season, including wins over nationally ranked Florida State and Tennessee, the Tigers seemed poised to take the next step at the start of the 2004 season.

After a double-overtime win over a scrappy Wake Forest team in the first game of the year, those thoughts only intensified.

Unfortunately it made the second game of the season that much more painful to lose.
After establishing two 10-point leads late in the fourth quarter, 20th ranked Clemson would fall to unranked Georgia Tech on a series of unthinkable plays.

The Tigers had the ball on their own 41-yard line with 1:50 left in the game, leading 24-21 after recovering an onside kick. On first down, Charlie Whitehurst rushed nine yards (and likely could have gotten more yardage before sliding) to setup a second and short. After two attempts to get the first down failed, the Tigers lined up in punt formation with less than 30 seconds remaining.
A punt covering any sort of distance would have been likely been enough to give Clemson the win.

Unfortunately, long snapper Geoff Rigsby rolled the ball back towards punter Cole Chason. Chason was unable to get away the kick and play resulted in a loss of 26 yards, all the way back to Clemson’s 11-yard line.

All it took was one play for Reggie Ball to connect with future all-world wide receiver Calvin Johnson to life the Yellow Jackets to the win.

While the snap was bad, the fact that cornerback Justin Miller was left in single coverage with a 6-5 receiver who had already caught two long touchdown passes earlier in the game was even worse.

The Tigers would go on to lose their next three games before ending the season at a disappointing 6-5.

How could Clemson lose at home to a team it pummeled 39-3 the previous season on the road? You tell me.

Sorry Charlie

By: Roy Philpott

I admit it. I made a mistake.

Last year, about this time, on this very same web site and on many sports talk shows around the Palmetto state, I made a mistake.

I made the mistake of thinking Clemson football wouldn’t miss a beat without its greatest signal caller of all time.

So allow myself to clear my conscience for a second by saying, “Sorry Charlie.”

It’s not that I thought you weren’t a great quarterback. That wasn’t it at all. I just didn’t know how good you really were. I don’t think I truly realized what you meant to the program.

Like most Clemson fans, I’ll remember you leading the Tigers to a 4-0 record against South Carolina. In particular, I’ll remember the 63-17 shellacking you put on the Gamecocks in 2003. I’ll also remember the wins over national powers like Florida State, Miami, Tennessee, Colorado and Texas A&M.

I even remember the come-from-behind win in your first start against Duke. Facing a 4th-and-10 in the fourth quarter, with the season on the line, you calmly delivered a quick pass to Airese Currie for a 47-yard touchdown.

Yes, I know your records as well.

You finished his career the holder of 42 different Clemson passing and total offense records, including career passing yardage with 9,656, career completions with 817 and career touchdown passes with 49.

You also finished your career with 25 victories, second in Clemson history, including eight fourth-quarter comebacks.

You took a pounding like I've never seen in the 2002 Tangerine Bowl against Texas Tech yet always kept your composure. You never spread the blame.

But for some reason, I thought Clemson’s offense would be better with a more mobile Will Proctor in the lineup in 2006. I thought the team wouldn’t miss a beat with you out of the lineup.

I thought wrong.

Turns out everybody who thought that was wrong. Your ability to stand in the pocket and deliver the football in the downfield passing game was sorely missed. Your ability to rush for 10 yards on 3rd-and-9 was missed.

And I should have known better because I was there for 99% of your snaps as a starting quarterback. I saw what you did when the offense was clicking on all cylinders.

I also was there to interview you after every great win, not to mention the strange losses.

The one thing I can say, regardless of what happened on the field, you could always be depended on to emerge from the locker room to talk about it.

The incredible win over No. 3 Florida State in 2003? Of course, you eagerly met with the media afterwards.

The thrilling upset over Miami in the Orange Bowl in 2004? You were there.

The “what in the hell happened” loss against Duke a week later? Yes, you were there to talk how the team went from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in the span of just seven days.
And yes, even after throwing the game-ending interception in the third overtime against Miami in 2005, you didn’t hide from anyone.

Maybe fans expected more from you during three and half years as the starter. I guess I can understand that. At times, it seemed like this program could beat any team in the country. At other times it seemed like it could lose to anybody. And it did.

Maybe that was one of the reasons I thought Clemson would be better last season. Maybe I thought there would be more consistency at quarterback.

After all, reflecting on your career as I write this blog has forced me to revisit the insane wins against the teams I mentioned above. Man, those were incredible days. It also has forced to remember the equally insane losses. Good grief those were some strange games.

But still, let me say one more time, “Sorry Charlie."

You were the best signal caller Clemson has ever had and Clemson football was not better after you left.

The Little Things

By: Roy Philpott

One of the most popular topics Clemson fans discuss this time of year is getting to the proverbial next level. I'm as guilty as anyone else. Like many fans, I've scratched my head this offseason wondering how an 7-1 start in 2006 turned into an 8-5 finish. I too wonder what it will take for the Tigers to get to the ACC Championship game.

If you are like me, you like quick fixes. You like to fix things without having to spend 17 hours actually fixing whatever it is that needs fixing.

So my quick fix, without breaking down the X's and O's, without discussing why Clemson should run the ball more or play more man-to-man on defense, can be best be said with just one sentence:

Do the little things it takes to win.

In each of the last two seasons, if the Tigers had done the little things they would have competed for the ACC Championship both years.

Sounds easy enough, right?

I would make the argument it’s actually easier than that.

In each of the last two seasons, a handful of close losses can be traced back to penalties, missed blocks or incomplete passes. If you are the diehard Clemson fan, you know them by now.

2005- at home against Boston College, the Tigers had multiple opportunities to beat the Eagles but failed to push the ball across the goal line in the second half. Moments after Reggie Merriweather was stopped for a loss on third and two deep in Boston College territory in overtime, the Eagles scored the game-winning touchdown in a 16-13 slugfest.

A win that day would have sent the Tigers to the first ever ACC Championship game.

The Tigers could have easily picked up another conference win on the road against Georgia Tech later that season when Charlie Whitehurst's 22-yard touchdown pass to Thomas Hunter was called back for not having enough players on the line of scrimmage. Clemson would go on to lose the game 10-9. (TE Cole Downer, who missed much of the season after having his spleen removed, was not in the game at the time resulting in just six men on the line of scrimmage instead of the required seven.)

And it doesn't stop there.

The Tigers also had a great chance to beat Miami earlier that year, before losing in triple overtime. That game saw a potential game-winning touchdown pass from Charlie Whitehurst to Chansi Stuckey fall incomplete in the closing stages of the fourth quarter.

In 2006, a penalty against Maryland, cost the Tigers another touchdown and ultimately led to a 13-12 loss. This time, freshman Michael Palmer, failed to report in the game causing an illegal formation. Clemson would kick a field goal, providing an uncomfortable two-point lead instead of a six-point advantage. The Terps, of course, marched straight down the field on the ensuing possession, converting a 30-yard field goal as time expired to win the game by a single point.

Again, a win there sends the Tigers to the ACC Championship game.

You could also argue an overturned replay against Boston College earlier in the year also cost the Tigers a chance at playing for the conference championship.

It’s the little things. It’s the stupid penalties negating big plays. It’s the inconsistent play on special teams leading to kickoff returns and blocked kicks for touchdowns. It’s turnovers in bunches. It’s missed field goals.

Sure, I’ll be the first to admit there were other games that Clemson could have easily lost that it won during the last two seasons– the Wake Forest game last year. The Texas A&M game in 2005. The Tigers were fortunate to win both of those games. Nobody can argue otherwise.

But for the most part, it’s been the little things that have kept this program from reaching greatness.

To further illustrate my point, consider this: it’s not like Clemson has faced an insurmountable schedule the past two seasons. Yes, there have been tough stretches, but no team on Clemson's 2005 or 2006 schedule was unbeatable.

And once again in 2007, no team on Clemson's schedule will be unbeatable. Virginia Tech, with nearly every key play returning, is certainly scary, but not unbeatable- especially at home.
10 years ago you couldn't say that. 10 years ago Clemson had to play the perfect game to stay within two touchdowns of Florida State. 10 years ago Clemson was overmatched by ~gasp~, North Carolina.

The Tar Heels! The same program that looked like a high school team in a 51-7 massacre last year in Death Valley was once a major thorn in the side of Clemson football.

Chances are if you are reading this blog, you follow college football recruiting. Chances are you know Clemson has recruited at a higher level during the last three seasons than it has at any point in the last 15 years.

Chances are you also know that Clemson’s recruiting efforts this year look as strong as any as the last four.

Simply put, the talent has been in place for quite some time and should be there for the foreseeable future.

But for this program, for this season, it’s all about doing the little things. It’s about turning special teams from a liability into a strength. It’s about staying mentally sharp against underdogs. It’s about putting teams away when you build a 14-point second half lead. It’s about not letting one loss ruin an entire season!

It’s not about talent.

My honest belief is that Tommy Bowden has recruited the players AND hired the coaches he needs to the next level.

James Davis and C.J. Spiller told me as much during a photo shoot for our magazine last month.

“We know we are capable of winning the ACC and going to the BCS,” Davis said. “We believe that about ourselves and the coaches believe in us. We just have to go out there and do it. This is the year we have to do it.”

“We can’t shoot ourselves in the foot,” said Spiller. “When something goes wrong we have to pick ourselves back up and make it right. We didn’t do that last year. It’s like something would go wrong and guys on the team would start to hang their head. We can’t do that.”

James and C.J. know what I’m talking about. Do the little things and the championships will follow.