We've written about some of ours before during our Countdown series of the Best of the 00's back in 2009. I figure nearly all of the younger people will go for one of the following two videos
This game will forever be known as the 63-17 game. Coming into this football game, I believe the South Carolina Gamecocks were a slight favorite. They were playing at home to a packed house and playing against a team that had been up and down all season. Clemson came into this football game with a lot of uncertainties. The Tigers struggled mightily at times over the early course of the season, and were really having a roller coaster-like season. The season-opening embarrassment to Georgia did not sit well at all with the Clemson faithful. A humiliating loss to Wake Forest on November 1 set into motion what everyone around the program thought would be the firing of Tom Bowden. A win over then #3 Florida State was the biggest win since his arrival and took a little heat off of Bowden, and started some momentum that he would be kept if the Tigers finished strong.
In the end, Clemson did whatever it wanted on this day. The Gamecocks opened the game with three consecutive 3-and-out series, Clemson opened with three consecutive TD drives, all completions up the seam to Derrick Hamilton, Airese Currie, and Ben Hall. Clemson led 21-0 at the end of the first period. South Carolina was able to answer on its next two drives with a field goal and a TD to draw the game closer (21-10), but just as quickly Clemson responded with a pair of Chad Jasmin TDs to give the Tigers a commanding 35-10 lead at half.
USC forced a punt on Clemson's first possession of the second half, but quickly gave the Tigers the ball back when Leroy Hill intercepted a Dondrial Pinkins pass. Chad Jasmin punched it in from there and expanded Clemson's lead to 42-10. South Carolina passed for a TD towards the end of the third quarter, but Clemson responded with a Charlie Whitehurst toss down the sideline to my main man Duane Coleman, putting Clemson up 56-17 at the end of the 3rd period. Both teams seemed content to run the clock in the fourth quarter, with the only real excitement being a 33 yard TD scamper by Chansi Stuckey to conclude the night's scoring.
The rest might pick a highlight from this game...
Clemson came into this contest the #12 team in the land, GT #13. Gameday decided to roll to town andit was also Homecoming weekend. Needless to say, Tiger fans were pumped up for this one. It was really a unique atmosphere, as tons of people flocked to Bowman to check out the Gameday set.
The second half was the tale of the tape in this one, and it quickly turned into the Spiller and Davis show. Spiller scored on a 50 yard rush and a 50 yard reception, both times breaking Tech defenders' ankles all the way to the end zone. Davis broke off several big gains and scoredhis second rushing TD of the night on a 5 yard carry that put the Tigers up 31-7 mid-way through the 4th quarter. Clemson successfully pounded the ball late in the game, and were the beneficiaries of quite a few big plays. Clemson's rushing stats tell the tale, as the Tigers' two feature backs both had monster games and Will Proctor only having to attempt 16 passes on the evening.
But I think those that remember the day in 1986 would say this one: