1981 National Championship · PDF file1981 National Championship Season ... 91 Mike Wade DE...

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1981 National Championship Season25th Anniversary of the 1981 National Championship Team

2006 Clemson Football ClemsonTigers.com126

# Player Pos. Cl.89 Kendall Alley WR So.69 Vernie Anthony MG Jr.1 Vandell Arrington CB So.7 Cliff Austin TB Jr.

71 Dan Benish DT Jr.76 Steve Berlin DT Fr.63 Tony Berryhill C Sr.37 Fitzhugh Bethea WR So.57 Nick Bowman DE Sr.73 Don Brinegar OT So.68 Gary Brown OT Jr.9 Ken Brown SS So.8 Lockie Brown PK Sr.

72 Ray Brown DE So.47 Roy Brown LB So.99 Jeff Bryant DT Sr.62 Brian Butcher OG Jr.19 Richard Butler WR Fr.56 Andy Cheatham OG Fr.55 Randy Cheek LB Sr.26 Tim Childers SS So.70 Brian Clark OG Sr.39 Craig Crawford FB Fr.38 Brendon Crite RB Jr.33 Kenny Danforth DB Fr.24 Billy Davis FS So.45 Jeff Davis LB Sr.36 Dean Day LB Jr.48 Pete Demery WR Sr.94 William Devane MG So.85 Bubba Diggs TE Jr.81 K.D. Dunn TE Fr.64 Joe Ellis OG So.60 James Farr OG So.61 Brad Fisher OT Sr.59 Bob Frierson C Jr.41 Jerry Gaillard WR Sr.11 Mike Gasque QB Sr.95 Kevin Gemas LB So.53 Joe Glenn DE Jr.29 Hollis Hall CB Sr.5 Dale Hatcher P Fr.

12 Andy Headen DE Jr.16 Richard Hendley P Jr.

Alphabetical# Player Pos. Hgt. Wgt. Cl. Exp. Hometown High School1 Vandell Arrington CB 6-0 185 So. SQ Fayetteville, NC E.E. Smith HS2 Frank Magwood WR 6-0 188 Jr. 1VL John’s Island, SC Saint John’s HS3 Homer Jordan QB 6-0 180 Jr. 1VL Athens, GA Cedar Shoals HS5 Dale Hatcher P 6-2 195 Fr. HS Cheraw, SC Cheraw HS6 Bob Paulling PK 6-2 188 So. 1VL Saint Matthews, SC Saint Matthews HS7 Cliff Austin TB 6-0 190 Jr. 2VL Scottdale, GA Avondale HS8 Lockie Brown PK 5-10 166 Sr. SQ Tucker, GA Tucker HS9 Ken Brown SS 6-2 185 So. 1VL Hartwell, GA Hartwell County HS9 Mike Isaacs DB 5-11 180 Fr. HS Pickens, SC Pickens HS

10 Jeff Parker QB 6-2 180 Fr. HS Gordo, AL Gordo HS11 Mike Gasque QB 6-2 190 Sr. 1VL Elon College, NC Western Alamance HS12 Andy Headen DE 6-5 224 Jr. 2VL Liberty, NC East Randolph HS15 Jeff Stockstill WR 6-2 180 Jr. 1VL Fernandina Beach, FL Fernandina Beach HS16 Richard Hendley P 5-11 185 Jr. 1VL Greenville, SC Wade Hampton HS17 Anthony Parete QB 6-0 190 Fr. SQ Jacksonville, FL Bishop Kenny HS18 Donald Igwebuike PK 5-8 172 Fr. ---- Anambra, Nigeria ----------19 Richard Butler WR 6-0 185 Fr. HS Ware Shoals, SC Ware Shoals HS21 Anthony Rose CB 5-9 175 Sr. 2VL Sumter, SC Mayewood HS22 Perry Tuttle WR 6-0 180 Sr. 3VL Winston-Salem, NC North Davidson23 Jeff Suttle SS 6-1 185 So. 1VL Lafayette, GA Lafayette HS24 Billy Davis FS 6-4 190 So. 1VL Alexandria, VA Mount Vernon HS25 Randy Learn FS 5-10 174 Jr. 2VL Belvidere, NJ Belvidere HS26 Tim Childers SS 6-1 180 So. SQ Gaffney, SC Gaffney HS27 Kevin Mack FB 6-1 197 So. 1VL Kings Mountain, NC Kings Mountain HS28 Rod McSwain CB 6-2 190 So. 1VL Caroleen, NC Chase HS29 Hollis Hall CB 5-10 174 Sr. 2VL Seneca, SC Seneca HS31 Carl Martin SS 5-7 152 Jr. SQ Elloree, SC Clarendon Hall HS32 Jeff McCall FB 6-3 220 Jr. 2VL Fayetteville, NC Pine Forest HS33 Kenny Danforth DB 6-1 189 Fr. HS Aiken, SC Aiken HS35 Chuck McSwain TB 6-2 190 Jr. 2VL Caroleen, NC Chase HS36 Dean Day LB 6-1 210 Jr. SQ North Augusta, SC North Augusta HS37 Fitzhugh Bethea WR 5-9 175 So. SQ Dillon, SC Dillon HS38 Brendon Crite RB 5-10 198 Jr. 1VL Brevard, NC Brevard HS39 Craig Crawford FB 6-2 190 Fr. HS Springlake, NC Pine Forest HS40 Randy Vereen TB 5-10 177 Fr. HS North Myrtle Beach, SC North Myrtle Beach HS41 Jerry Gaillard WR 6-0 172 Sr. 3VL Yuma, AZ Enterprise HS42 Edgar Pickett DE 6-3 218 So. 1VL Lexington, NC Central Davidson HS43 Terry Kinard FS 6-1 190 Jr. 2VL Sumter, SC Sumter HS44 Otis Lindsey LB 6-3 230 Jr. JC Chester, GA Dodge HS45 Jeff Davis LB 6-0 223 Sr. 3VL Greensboro, NC Dudley HS46 Duke Holloman TB 6-2 198 So. SQ Myrtle Beach, SC Myrtle Beach HS47 Roy Brown LB 6-1 202 So. 1VL Myrtle Beach, SC Myrtle Beach HS48 Pete Demery WR 6-1 187 Sr. TR Kingstree, SC Kingstree HS49 Ronald Watson DB 5-11 175 Fr. HS Jefferson, GA Jefferson HS

Numerical

1981 Team25th Anniversary of the 1981 National Championship Team


1981 Team25th Anniversary of the 1981 National Championship Team

Alphabetical (cont’d)Numerical (cont’d)# Player Pos. Hgt. Wgt. Cl. Exp. Hometown High School

50 Scott Williams C 6-4 218 Fr. HS Hixson, TN Baylor HS51 Jeff Lytton C 6-3 230 Fr. HS Blue Ash, Ontario Moeller HS52 Cary Massaro C 6-5 231 So. 1VL Canonsburg, PA Canon-McMillan HS53 Joe Glenn DE 6-3 216 Jr. 2VL Columbia, SC A.C. Flora HS54 Jim Hohler LB 6-2 218 Fr. HS Sandusky, OH Perkins HS55 Randy Cheek LB 5-11 200 Sr. 1VL Augusta, GA Butler HS56 Andy Cheatham OG 6-4 240 Fr. HS Mableton, GA Pebblebrook HS57 Nick Bowman DE 6-2 200 Sr. 2VL Crossville, TN Cumberland HS58 Dale Swing C 6-3 239 Fr. HS Lexington, NC Central Davidson HS59 Bob Frierson C 5-11 207 Jr. SQ Lexington, SC Lexington HS60 James Farr OG 6-4 225 So. 1VL Thomson, GA Thomson HS61 Brad Fisher OT 6-4 234 Sr. 2VL Fostoria, OH Fostoria HS62 Brian Butcher OG 6-5 235 Jr. 1VL Roswell, GA Crestwood HS63 Tony Berryhill C 6-5 240 Sr. 2VL Thomaston, GA Robert E. Lee HS64 Joe Ellis OG 6-4 249 So. SQ Toms River, NJ Toms River HS65 Scott Weeks OG 6-2 234 Sr. SQ Jackson, SC Jackson HS66 William Perry MG 6-3 300 Fr. HS Aiken, SC Aiken HS67 Jim Scott DT 6-5 240 So. 1VL Alexandria, VA Mount Vernon HS68 Gary Brown OT 6-3 244 Jr. 2VL Philadelphia, TN Loudon HS69 Vernie Anthony MG 6-3 233 Jr. SQ Collins, GA Reidsville HS70 Brian Clark OG 6-7 254 Sr. 2VL Fort Meyers, FL Cypress Lake HS71 Dan Benish DT 6-6 242 Jr. 2VL Hubbard, OH Hubbard HS72 Ray Brown DE 6-4 231 So. 1VL Rome, GA East Rome HS73 Don Brinegar OT 6-2 240 So. SQ Clemmons, NC West Forsythe HS74 Bob Mayberry OG 6-5 238 Jr. 2VL Sharon, PA Hickory HS75 Dean Herman DT 6-6 260 Fr. HS Wise, VA J.J. Kelly HS76 Steve Berlin DT 6-5 242 Fr. HS Bethel Park, PA Bethel Park HS77 Lee Nanney OT 6-4 260 Sr. 2VL Spartanburg, SC Dorman HS79 Tony Shirley OT 6-5 275 Fr. HS Gordo, AL Gordo HS80 Jim Wurst TE 6-4 210 Jr. 1VL Atlanta, GA Lakeside HS81 K.D. Dunn TE 6-3 215 Fr. HS Decatur, GA Gordon HS82 Danny Triplett LB 6-4 224 Jr. 2VL Boone, NC Watauga HS84 Bill Smith DE 6-5 220 Sr. 3VL Duncan, SC Byrnes HS85 Bubba Diggs TE 6-3 220 Jr. 2VL Augusta, GA Butler HS87 Eldridge Milton WR 6-3 220 Fr. HS Folkston, GA Charlton County HS89 Kendall Alley WR 6-0 182 So. SQ Salisbury, NC North Rowan HS90 Johnny Rembert LB 6-3 227 Jr. JC Arcadia, FL DeSoto HS91 Mike Wade DE 6-3 204 Sr. SQ Greer, SC Eastside HS92 Mark Richardson DE 6-1 194 Jr. SQ Spartanburg, SC Hill HS94 William Devane MG 6-2 250 So. 1VL Jacksonville, NC Jacksonville HS95 Kevin Gemas LB 6-1 190 So. SQ Plymouth, WI Plymouth HS96 Chuck Meeks LB 6-0 207 Jr. SQ Augusta, GA Belton-Honea Path (SC) HS98 Cliff McLellan LB 5-9 190 Sr. SQ Pendleton, SC Pendleton HS99 Jeff Bryant DT 6-5 260 Sr. 3VL Atlanta, GA Gordon HS

# Player Pos. Cl.75 Dean Herman DT Fr.54 Jim Hohler LB Fr.46 Duke Holloman TB So.18 Donald Igwebuike PK Fr.9 Mike Isaacs DB Fr.3 Homer Jordan QB Jr.

43 Terry Kinard FS Jr.25 Randy Learn FS Jr.44 Otis Lindsey LB Jr.51 Jeff Lytton C Fr.27 Kevin Mack FB So.2 Frank Magwood WR Jr.

31 Carl Martin SS Jr.52 Cary Massaro C So.74 Bob Mayberry OG Jr.32 Jeff McCall FB Jr.98 Cliff McLellan LB Sr.35 Chuck McSwain TB Jr.28 Rod McSwain CB So.96 Chuck Meeks LB Jr.87 Eldridge Milton WR Fr.77 Lee Nanney OT Sr.17 Anthony Parete QB Fr.10 Jeff Parker QB Fr.6 Bob Paulling PK So.

66 William Perry MG Fr.42 Edgar Pickett DE So.90 Johnny Rembert LB Jr.92 Mark Richardson DE Jr.21 Anthony Rose CB Sr.67 Jim Scott DT So.79 Tony Shirley OT Fr.84 Bill Smith DE Sr.15 Jeff Stockstill WR Jr.23 Jeff Suttle SS So.58 Dale Swing C Fr.82 Danny Triplett LB Jr.22 Perry Tuttle WR Sr.40 Randy Vereen TB Fr.91 Mike Wade DE Sr.49 Ronald Watson DB Fr.65 Scott Weeks OG Sr.50 Scott Williams C Fr.80 Jim Wurst TE Jr.


1981 Reserves & Support Staff25th Anniversary of the 1981 National Championship Team

1981 Game-By-Game Starters

Position WOF TUL UGA KEN UVA DUK NCS WFU UNC UMD USC NEBOT Nanney Nanney Nanney Nanney Nanney Nanney Nanney Nanney Nanney Nanney Nanney NanneyOG Clark Clark Clark Clark Mayberry Mayberry Clark Clark Clark Clark Clark ClarkC Berryhill Berryhill Berryhill Berryhill Berryhill Berryhill Berryhill Berryhill Berryhill Berryhill Berryhill BerryhillOG Farr Farr Farr Farr Farr Farr Farr Farr Farr Farr Farr FarrOT Fisher Fisher Fisher Fisher Fisher Fisher Fisher Fisher Fisher Fisher Fisher FisherTE/WR Diggs Diggs Magwood Diggs Diggs Magwood Magwood Diggs Magwood Diggs Butcher DiggsSE Tuttle Tuttle Tuttle Tuttle Tuttle Tuttle Tuttle Tuttle Tuttle Tuttle Tuttle TuttleQB Jordan Jordan Jordan Jordan Jordan Jordan Jordan Jordan Jordan Jordan Jordan JordanTB Austin Austin Austin Austin C. McSwain Austin Austin Austin Austin Austin Austin AustinFB McCall McCall McCall McCall Mack McCall McCall McCall McCall Mack Mack McCallFLK/TE Gaillard Wurst Stockstill Magwood Wurst Gaillard Gaillard Gaillard Gaillard Gaillard Gaillard Gaillard

DE Glenn Glenn Glenn Glenn Smith Smith Smith Smith Glenn Smith Smith SmithDT Benish Benish Benish Benish Benish Benish Benish Benish Benish Ra. Brown Benish BenishMG Devane Devane Devane Devane Devane Devane Perry Devane Devane Perry Perry PerryDT Bryant Bryant Bryant Bryant Bryant Bryant Bryant Bryant Bryant Bryant Bryant BryantDE Headen Headen Headen Headen Headen Headen Headen Headen Headen Headen Headen HeadenLB Triplett Triplett Triplett Triplett Triplett Triplett Triplett Triplett Triplett Triplett Rembert TriplettLB J. Davis J. Davis J. Davis J. Davis J. Davis J. Davis J. Davis J. Davis J. Davis J. Davis J. Davis J. DavisCB Hall Hall Hall Hall Hall Hall Hall Hall Hall Hall Hall HallSS Childers Childers Childers Childers Childers Suttle K. Brown Childers Childers Childers Childers ChildersFS Kinard Kinard Kinard Kinard Kinard Kinard Kinard Kinard Kinard Kinard Kinard KinardCB Rose Rose Rose Rose Rose Rose Rose Rose Rose Rose Rose Rose

PK Igwebuike Igwebuike Paulling Igwebuike Igwebuike Igwebuike Igwebuike Igwebuike Paulling Igwebuike Paulling IgwebuikeP Hendley Hatcher Hatcher Hatcher Hatcher Hatcher Hatcher ---------- Hatcher Hatcher Hatcher Hatcher

Note: Bold denotes a Clemson home game.

Reserves & Red-ShirtsPlayer Pos. Cl. HometownRick Bailey OG So. Melbourne, FLTim Basich LB So. Delta, OHSteve Berlin DT Fr. Bethel Park, PAWilbur Bullard TB So. Laurel Hill, NCMatt Carr WR Fr. Stony Point, NCMark Calhoon FS Fr. Lexington, SCDavid Clayton OT Fr. Lyman, SCJeff Cruce OT So. Lake City, FLTyrone Davis FS So. Athens, GAEric Dawson LB Fr. Anderson, SCLee Day LB Fr. North Augusta, SCRichard Donaldson SS So. Fayetteville, NCJohn Duncan DB Sr. Mooresville, NCSteve Duncan LB Fr. Erwin, TNMike Eppley QB So. Charlotte, NCFrank Fredere TE Fr. Winston-Salem, NCPreston Gillespie DB So. Liberty, SCBilly Green QB So. Columbia, SCBob Hardaway DB Fr. Atlanta, GAAlex Hudson OT Jr. Spartanburg, SCReid Ingle OT So. Calhoun, GADon Inman E Fr. Atlanta, GAMike Isaacs SS Fr. Pickens, SCJay Lundstrom WR Fr. Naples, FLByron May LS So. Seneca, SCDavid Noelte DE Fr. Reisterstown, MDReggie Pleasant DB So. Pinewood, SCChuckie Richardson LB So. Thomasville, NCJames Robinson DT So. Charleston, SCSonny Sealy SS Jr. Blacksburg, SCCaulder Settles DE Fr. Laurinburg, SCGuy Varn DB So. Martinsville, VARandy Vereen RB Fr. North Myrtle Beach, SCWillie Ward FS Fr. Jackson, GAJeff Wells TE So. Rome, GABraxton Williams RB Jr. Greensboro, NCRay Wrenn QB Fr. Columbia, SC

Other Assistant CoachesCoach PositionSteve Hale .................................... Defensive Ends CoachRex Kipps .............................................. Tight Ends CoachRick Whitt ..................................... Defensive Backs CoachGeorge Caine ........................... Graduate Assistant Coach

Bo Blanton .................................. Student Assistant CoachDavid Bounds .............................. Student Assistant Coach

Strength Training CoachesCoach PositionGeorge Dostal ................................. Head Strength CoachJim Beatty ................................. Assistant Strength CoachCraig Bryson ............................. Assistant Strength CoachJim Speros ................................ Assistant Strength CoachDon Telle ................................... Assistant Strength CoachSam Varner ............................... Assistant Strength Coach

Equipment StaffManager PositionLen Gough ............................................................ DirectorBobby Douglas ....................................... Assistant DirectorLawrence Mudge .......................... Head Student ManagerRicky Steen ................................... Head Student ManagerMark Garrison ........................................ Student ManagerBen Massengill ....................................... Student ManagerEric Rivers .............................................. Student ManagerJimmy Ray Seay .................................... Student ManagerJeff Singletary ........................................ Student ManagerJim Weldon ............................................ Student ManagerAlan Wertz ............................................. Student ManagerJeff Wright .............................................. Student Manager

Athletic Training StaffAthletic Trainer PositionFred Hoover ...................................... Head Athletic TrainerBert Henderson ........................... Assistant Athletic TrainerLarry Sutton ................................ Assistant Athletic TrainerDr. Jud Hair ............................................... Team PhysicianDr. Byron Harder ....................................... Team PhysicianDr. Roland Knight ............................... Orthopedic SurgeonMark Abel ...................................... Student Athletic TrainerJay Bennett ................................... Student Athletic TrainerTony Blackwell .............................. Student Athletic TrainerMike Bowman ............................... Student Athletic TrainerStephanie Brake ........................... Student Athletic TrainerJoel Bullard ................................... Student Athletic TrainerRobby Corley ................................ Student Athletic TrainerGreg Craig .................................... Student Athletic TrainerBob Easley .................................... Student Athletic TrainerJoe Franks .................................... Student Athletic TrainerBill Long ........................................ Student Athletic Trainer

Danny Moss .................................. Student Athletic TrainerChip Winchester ............................ Student Athletic TrainerVann Yates .................................... Student Athletic Trainer

Athletic Department StaffStaff Member PositionBill McLellan .............................................. Athletic DirectorEarle Ambrose .......................... Assistant Athletic DirectorBob Bradley ............................ Sports Information DirectorTim Bourret ............. Assistant Sports Information DirectorKim Kelly ................. Assistant Sports Information DirectorVan Hilderbrand ........................................ Ticket ManagerRick Brewer ................................ Assistant Ticket ManagerAllison Dalton ..................................... Promotions DirectorLes Jones ........................................... Director of FacilitiesJoann West ................................................. Staff AssistantJoe White .............................................. Academic AdvisorDon Denning .................. Football Administrative AssistantJune Roach ........................................... Football SecretaryElaine Swearingen ................................ Football SecretaryKen Vickery ................................. NCAA Faculty ChairmanJoe Turner ............................... IPTAY Executive Secretary

Radio NetworkAnnouncer PositionJim Phillips ........................................... Voice of the TigersScott Shannon .................................... Color Commentator

CheerleadersCheerleader PositionRicky Capps .................................................. Tiger MascotMark Barhyte ......................................... Head CheerleaderKathy Anderson .............................................. CheerleaderRick Conte ..................................................... CheerleaderScott Gallaway ............................................... CheerleaderBill Grainger ................................................... CheerleaderGeorge Helmrich ............................................ CheerleaderJennifer Hemphill ........................................... CheerleaderPat Hook ........................................................ CheerleaderKaren Lawing ................................................. CheerleaderMary McNeil ................................................... CheerleaderSheri Nix ........................................................ CheerleaderDanny Pechthalt ............................................. CheerleaderDavid Pinion ................................................... CheerleaderRussell Ragen ................................................ Cheerleader


1981 Stats25th Anniversary of the 1981 National Championship Team

Clemson OpponentsDate Opponent (AP,USA) W-L Score Attend. CU Rk FD Car Yds TD C A I Yds TD PL Yds FD Car Yds TD C A I Yds TD PL Yds9-5 Wofford W 45-10 59,313 21 54 285 4 8 16 2 186 2 70 471 17 51 165 0 11 23 2 128 1 74 2939-12 at Tulane W 13-5 45,736 18 68 161 1 7 16 0 114 0 84 275 12 35 40 0 13 29 4 137 0 64 1779-19 Georgia (4,4) W 13-3 62,466 15 57 101 0 11 18 0 135 1 75 236 16 40 122 0 12 26 5 133 0 66 25510-3 at Kentucky W 21-3 57,453 14,14 17 58 223 3 4 11 0 55 0 69 278 20 39 49 0 15 31 2 168 0 70 21710-10 * Virginia W 27-0 63,064 9,10 17 53 265 3 9 17 0 161 0 70 426 14 41 110 0 12 24 2 127 0 65 23710-17 * at Duke W 38-10 26,000 6,7 25 59 323 4 14 20 1 240 1 79 563 23 36 82 0 17 28 3 243 1 64 32510-24 * N.C. State W 17-7 62,727 4,5 21 59 304 2 3 14 3 43 0 73 347 11 38 87 1 11 25 1 114 0 63 20110-31 * Wake Forest W 82-24 60,383 3,4 35 68 536 10 11 19 1 220 2 87 756 24 32 88 1 27 43 2 270 2 75 35811-7 * at North Carolina (8,9) W 10-8 53,611 2,3 17 61 171 1 7 10 0 83 0 71 254 16 42 84 0 13 30 0 179 0 72 26311-14 * Maryland W 21-7 63,199 2,2 28 52 199 0 20 29 1 270 3 81 469 18 30 44 1 18 45 0 192 0 75 23611-21 at South Carolina W 29-13 56,971 2,2 23 64 254 3 7 13 1 80 0 77 334 17 43 105 1 9 28 2 100 1 71 2051-1 ^ Nebraska (4,4) W 22-15 72,748 1,1 17 54 155 1 11 22 1 134 1 74 289 13 40 193 1 6 17 0 63 1 57 256

* - ACC game; ^ - Miami, FL (Orange Bowl); Note: Home games in bold; official home attendance - 371,152 (61,859 per game); Head Coach - Danny Ford; Assistants - Willie Anderson(DL), Curley Hallman (DB), Tom Harper (AHC,DL), Les Herrin (LB), Lawson Holland (WR), Buddy King (OL), Chuck Reedy (RB), Nelson Stokley (QB), Larry Van Der Heyden (OL).

Team StatsCU Opp.

TOTAL OFFENSE 4698 3023Total Plays 910 810Touchdowns 42 11Yards Per Play 5.2 3.7Yards Per Game 391.5 251.9

RUSHING YARDS 2977 1854Attempts 705 461Touchdowns 32 5Yards Per Rush 4.2 2.5Yards Per Game 248.1 97.4

PASSING YARDS 1721 1854Attempts 205 349Completions 112 164Had Intercepted 10 23Touchdowns 10 6Completion Percentage 54.6 47.0Yards Per Attempt 8.40 5.31Yards Per Completion 15.4 11.3Efficiency 131.5 84.1Yards Per Game 143.4 154.5

PUNTING YARDS 2059 3105Number of Punts 49 77Average Punt 42.1 40.3Had Blocked 1 1Net Punting 39.5 36.0

PUNT RETURN YARDS 323 127Number of Returns 37 15Average Return 8.7 8.5

INTERCEPTION RETURN YARDS 190 87Number of Interceptions 23 10Return Yards Per Interception 8.3 8.7

KICKOFF RETURN YARDS 409 659Number of Returns 20 36Average Return 20.5 18.3

FIRST DOWNS 254 201By Rushing 167 79By Passing 79 106By Penalty 8 16First Downs Per Game 21.2 16.8

PENALTIES 80-734 61-552Penalties Per Game 6.7 5.1Penalty Yards Per Game 61.2 46.0

FUMBLES-LOST 30-14 36-18SACKS 44-366 14-85THIRD-DOWN CONVERSIONS 87-186 63-176

Percentage 46.8 35.8TIME OF POSSESSION PER GAME 32:05 27:55POINTS 338 105

Points Per Game 28.2 8.8FIELD GOALS 14-23 8-12PAT (KICKS) 38-41 9-9

Scoring By Quarters1 2 3 4 Tot

CLEMSON 49 133 96 60 338Opponents 39 15 22 19 105

Individual Offensive & Kicking StatsRUSHING G Car Yds Y/C TD LG Y/GC. Austin 12 163 824 5.1 9 77 68.7C. McSwain 12 144 692 4.8 7 30 57.7H. Jordan 12 168 486 2.9 6 30 40.5J. McCall 10 96 457 4.8 5 24 45.7K. Mack 12 76 287 3.8 2 13 23.9B. Crite 12 23 87 3.8 1 17 7.3C. Crawford 3 2 78 39.0 1 72 26.0D. Holloman 4 11 63 5.7 1 12 15.8R. Vereen 3 6 26 4.3 0 8 8.7P. Tuttle 12 3 21 7.0 0 22 1.6A. Parete 12 5 7 1.4 0 7 0.6M. Gasque 6 5 9 1.8 0 3 1.5TEAM 12 3 -60 -20.0 0 NA -5.0CLEMSON 12 705 2977 4.2 32 77 248.1Opponents 12 461 1854 2.5 5 26 97.4

PASSING G C-A-I Yds TD C% Y/G Eff.H. Jordan 12 107-196-9 1630 9 54.6 135.8 130.4M. Gasque 6 5-8-0 91 1 62.5 15.2 199.3C. Austin 12 0-1-1 0 0 0.0 0.0 -200.0CLEMSON 12 112-205-10 1721 10 54.6 143.4 131.5Opponents 12 164-349-23 1854 6 47.0 154.5 84.1

RECEIVING G Rec Yds Y/R TD LG Y/GP. Tuttle 12 52 883 17.0 8 80 73.6J. Gaillard 10 19 218 11.5 1 24 21.8F. Magwood 12 17 345 20.3 1 42 28.8B. Diggs 12 9 88 9.8 0 24 7.3J. Stockstill 12 4 81 20.3 0 42 6.8K. Alley 7 4 51 12.8 0 18 7.3K. Mack 12 3 23 7.7 0 11 1.9C. Austin 12 2 18 9.0 0 10 1.5C. McSwain 12 2 14 7.0 0 14 1.2CLEMSON 12 112 1721 15.4 10 80 143.4Opponents 12 164 1854 11.3 6 30 154.5

FIELD GOALS FG Pct 0-29 30-39 40-49 50+ LGD. Igwebuike 10-17 58.8 2-2 6-7 1-4 1-4 52B. Paulling 4-6 66.7 2-4 2-2 0-0 0-0 37CLEMSON 14-23 60.9 4-6 8-9 1-4 1-4 52Opponents 8-12 66.7 NA NA NA NA 46

PUNTING P Yds Y/P LG HB NetD. Hatcher 44 1908 43.4 64 1 40.5R. Hendley 4 151 37.8 43 0 37.8TEAM 1 0 0.0 0 -- 0.0CLEMSON 49 2059 42.1 64 1 39.5Opponents 77 3105 40.3 62 1 36.1

PUNT RETURNS PR Yds Avg TD LGB. Davis 34 275 8.1 0 47R. McSwain 1 28 28.0 0 28K. Brown 2 20 10.0 0 14J. Rembert 0 0 ---- 1 0CLEMSON 37 323 8.7 1 47Opponents 15 127 8.5 0 19

Individual Defensive & Miscellaneous StatsTACKLES G Hit Ast Tot TFL Sacks PBUJ. Davis 12 119 56 175 10-37 4-27 6T. Kinard 12 74 21 95 1-5 0-0 6J. Bryant 12 69 23 92 19-74 8-61 2D. Triplett 12 54 32 86 4-7 1-2 2D. Benish 11 48 19 67 10-39 2-15 1H. Hall 12 41 12 53 2-3 0-0 11A. Headen 12 34 19 53 4-26 0-0 8W. Perry 12 33 15 48 9-50 4-44 0B. Smith 10 22 20 42 4-37 4-37 1T. Childers 11 26 15 41 3-26 2-22 5J. Suttle 10 31 7 38 2-14 1-11 4W. Devane 12 24 8 32 4-30 4-30 0M. Richardson 12 13 14 27 0-0 0-0 0R. McSwain 12 20 6 26 1-1 0-0 1

INTERCEPTIONS Int Yds Avg TD LGT. Kinard 6 51 8.5 0 19H. Hall 5 55 11.0 0 28T. Childers 3 13 4.3 0 9B. Davis 2 32 16.0 0 21J. Rembert 2 15 7.5 0 11A. Rose 2 11 5.5 0 8J. Suttle 1 8 8.0 0 8D. Triplett 1 5 5.0 0 5R. McSwain 1 0 0.0 0 0CLEMSON 23 190 8.3 0 28Opponents 10 87 8.7 0 27

KICOFF RETURNS KOR Yds Avg TD LGP. Tuttle 12 266 22.2 0 38K. Mack 2 45 22.5 0 25C. Austin 2 34 17.0 0 17B. Crite 2 29 14.5 0 20D. Holloman 1 19 19.0 0 19J. McCall 1 16 16.0 0 16CLEMSON 20 409 20.5 0 38Opponents 36 659 18.3 0 33

SCORING TD R-P-Re FG PAT 2PC PtsC. Austin 9 9-0-0 0-0 0-0 0 54P. Tuttle 8 0-8-0 0-0 0-0 0 48B. Paulling 0 0-0-0 4-6 34-35 0 46C. McSwain 7 7-0-0 0-0 0-0 0 42H. Jordan 6 6-0-0 0-0 0-0 0 36D. Igwebuike 0 0-0-0 10-17 1-1 0 31J. McCall 5 5-0-0 0-0 0-0 0 30K. Mack 2 2-0-0 0-0 0-0 0 12F. Magwood 1 0-1-0 0-0 0-0 0 6B. Crite 1 1-0-0 0-0 0-0 0 6D. Holloman 1 1-0-0 0-0 0-0 0 6C. Crawford 1 1-0-0 0-0 0-0 0 6J. Gaillard 1 0-1-0 0-0 0-0 0 6J. Rembert 1 0-0-1 0-0 0-0 0 6L. Brown 0 0-0-0 0-0 3-5 0 3CLEMSON 43 32-10-1 14-23 38-41 0 338Opponents 11 5-6-0 8-12 9-9 3 105

12-0 Overall, 6-0 ACC, 6-0 Home, 5-0 Away, 1-0 Neutral, 10-0 Day, 2-0 Night

Game-By-Game Results & Stats


1981 Honors & Records25th Anniversary of the 1981 National Championship Team

Team• Associated Press National Champions• United Press International National Champions• Sporting News National Champions• Sports Illustrated National Champions• Football Writers National Champions (Grantland Rice

Bowl)• Football Coaches National Champions• Football Hall of Fame National Champions (MacArthur

Bowl)• First Interstate Bank Athletic Foundation National Cham-

pions• Washington Touchdown Club National Champions• Fans National Champions (Chicago Tribune)• Kickoff National Champions• Orange Bowl Champions• Only undefeated Division I team in the nation• First National Championship in Clemson athletic history• ACC Champions• Established the nation’s longest winning streak• #2 in the nation in scoring defense• #7 in the nation in rushing defense• Tied for #7 in the nation in turnover margin• #8 in the nation in total defense• #1 in the ACC in total defense• #1 in the ACC in scoring defense• #1 in the ACC in interceptions• #1 in the ACC in interception avoidance• #1 in the ACC in turnover margin• #1 in the ACC in first downs• Set school record for wins in a season• Set or tied 21 Clemson or ACC Records• Had more All-Americans (5) than any team in Clemson

history

Danny Ford, Head Coach• Football Writers Association of America National Coach-

of-the-Year• UPI National Coach-of-the-Year• American Football Coaches Association (Kodak) National

Coach-of-the-Year• Washington Pigskin Club National Coach-of-the-Year• WTBS National Coach-of-the-Year• Washington Touchdown Club National Coach-of-the-Year• Columbus (OH) Touchdown Club National Coach-of-the-

Year• First Interstate Bank Athletic Foundation National Coach-

of-the-Year• ACC Coach-of-the-Year• UPI National Coach-of-the-Week after Georgia win• Youngest head coach to win the national title at age 33

Cliff Austin, TB• State Offensive-Back-of-the-Week vs. Duke

Dan Benish, DT• Honorable Mention AP All-American• All-ACC• All-State

Tony Berryhill, C• Honorable Mention AP All-American• Honorable Mention Football News All-American• All-ACC• Academic All-ACC• All-State• Participated in Senior Bowl• State Offensive Lineman-of-the-Week vs. Georgia• Ninth-round draft pick of the Baltimore Colts

Jeff Bryant, DT• Second-Team Football News All-American• Honorable Mention AP All American• Honorable Mention Sporting News All-American• Strength All-American• All-ACC• All-State• Participated in East-West Shrine Game• Participated in Olympia Gold Bowl• ACC Defensive Lineman-of-the-Week vs. Duke• ACC Defensive Lineman-of-the-Week vs. N.C. State• State Defensive Lineman-of-the-Week vs. N.C. State• ACC Defensive Lineman-of-the-Week vs. North Carolina• State Defensive Lineman-of-the-Week vs. Maryland• First-round draft pick (#6 overall) of the Seattle Seahawks

Brian Clark, OG• State Offensive Lineman-of-the-Week vs. North Carolina• 12th-round draft pick of the Denver Broncos

Jeff Davis, LB• First-Team Kodak All-American• First-Team UPI All-American• First-Team Football Writers All-American• First-Team Football News All-American• Second-Team AP All-American• Honorable Mention Sporting News All-American• First-Team Football News Bowl All-American• Strength All-American• ACC Player-of-the-Year• All-ACC• All-State• Set school record for tackles in a season (175)• Participated in East-West Shrine Game• Selected for Japan Bowl• Clemson Team MVP by Schiltz• ACC Defensive Lineman-of-the-Week vs. Kentucky• ACC Defensive Back-of-the-Week vs. N.C. State• State Defensive Back-of-the-Week vs. N.C. State• State Defensive Back-of-the-Week vs. Maryland• ACC Defensive Back-of-the-Week vs. South Carolina• Clemson MVP vs. South Carolina• Most Valuable Defensive Player vs. Nebraska• Fifth-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Bubba Diggs, TE• ACC Offensive Lineman-of-the-Week vs. Virginia

Dale Hatcher, P• First-Team Football News Freshman All-American• #19 in the nation in punting• #1 in the ACC in punting• Set school punting record vs. Kentucky (51.0)• ACC Rookie-of-the-Week vs. South Carolina

Andy Headen, DE• State Defensive Lineman-of-the-Week vs. Tulane

Homer Jordan, QB• Honorable Mention AP All-American• Honorable Mention Football News All-American• Second in voting for ACC Player-of-the-Year

• All-ACC• All-State• Led ACC in passing efficiency• Most Valuable Offensive Player vs. Nebraska• Tied for 12th in the nation in passing efficiency• State Offensive Back-of-the-Week vs. Maryland• ACC Offensive Back-of-the-Week vs. Maryland• Team MVP as selected by his teammates

Terry Kinard, FS• First-Team AP All-American• First-Team NEA All-American• First-Team Football Writers All-American• First-Team WTBS All-American• Honorable Mention UPI All-American• Honorable Mention Sporting News All-American• All-ACC• All-State• Set school record for tackles by a defensive back (95)• State Defensive Back-of-the-Week vs. Wofford• ACC Defensive Back-of-the-Week vs. Tulane• ACC Defensive Back-of-the-Week vs. Kentucky• State Defensive Back-of-the-Week vs. Duke• State Defensive Back-of-the-Week vs. South Carolina

Jeff McCall, FB• ABC Player-of-the-Game vs. North Carolina

Chuck McSwain, TB• ABC Player-of-the-Game vs. Kentucky• State Offensive Back-of-the-Week vs. South Carolina• State Fair Association Clemson MVP vs. South Carolina• ESPN Player-of-the-Game vs. South Carolina• ESPN National Amateur Athlete-of-the-Week vs. South

Carolina

Rod McSwain, CB• State Defensive Back-of-the-Week vs. South Carolina

Lee Nanney, OT• Second-Team UPI All-American• Honorable Mention AP All-American• Honorable Mention Sporting News All-American• Honorable Mention Football News All-American• Strength All-American• All-ACC• All-State• Jacobs Blocking Trophy (ACC)• Jacobs Blocking Trophy (South Carolina)• State Offensive Lineman-of-the-Week vs. Kentucky• State Offensive Lineman-of-the-Week vs. Wake Forest• State Offensive Lineman-of-the-Week vs. Maryland• State Offensive Lineman-of-the-Week vs. South Carolina

William Perry, MG• First-Team Football News Freshman All-American• Converse Freshman All-American• Set school record for tackles by a freshman (48)• ACC Rookie-of-the-Week vs. North Carolina

Danny Triplett, LB• ACC Defensive Lineman-of-the-Week vs. Georgia• State Defensive Lineman-of-the-Week vs. Georgia

Perry Tuttle, WR• First-Team NEA All-American• First-Team Sporting News All-American• Second-Team Football News All-American• Honorable Mention AP All-American• Honorable Mention UPI All-American• First-Team Hartford Insurance Senior All-American• Special award recipient from Washington Touchdown Club• All-ACC• All-State• Participated in Hula Bowl• ACC Offensive-Back-of-the-Week vs. Wake Forest• Set school season record for touchdown receptions (8)• Set school career record for receptions (150)• Set school career record for reception yardage (2,534)• First-round draft pick (#19 overall) of the Buffalo Bills

Defensive tackle Jeff Bryant was a second-team All-American in 1981, and later wasthe #6 overall pick of the 1982 NFL draft.


Game 1The 1981 Wofford Game

Wofford 10Clemson 45

September 5, 1981 • Memorial Stadium • Clemson, SC

Editor’s note: The following 12 game stories fromthe 1981 season were written by Sports InformationDirector Tim Bourret.

I still remember the day in March of 1981 whenBob Bradley got the word that Villanova was goingto announce it was dropping football the next day.Clemson was previously scheduled to play the Wild-cats on September 26, 1981, and that meant Ath-letic Director Bill McLellan was going to have toscramble to find an 11th opponent in a short periodof time.

The first thought was to call the other schoolswho were on Villanova’s schedule, but a matchupwith any of those northeast schools could not beworked out.

As a last resort, McLellan called then NAIAschool Wofford of Spartanburg, SC with a financialoffer that would easily balance the Terriers’ budget.Wofford was very competitive at its level (7-2-2) andhad taken Southern Conference Champion Furmanto overtime in 1980. Furman’s only loss that yearhad come to ACC Champion North Carolina.

Wofford took the opening kickoff and marchedto the Tiger seven, where Don Hairston kicked a 24-yard field goal to give Wofford a 3-0 lead. DonaldIgwebuike kicked a 52-yard field goal late in the quar-ter on his first career field-goal attempt to tie thescore at 3-3.

That was the score at the end of the first quar-ter. Think of the odds you could have gotten in LasVegas against Clemson winning the 1981 NationalChampionship after that first quarter of the season!

In the second quarter, quarterback Homer Jor-dan connected with Perry Tuttle on an 80-yard scor-ing pass, the longest reception of Tuttle’s career. Itwas his 100th career reception and 10th careertouchdown catch.

Clemson held a 17-3 lead at halftime, then putthe game away in the third quarter when FrankMagwood caught an 11-yard touchdown pass fromJordan for a 24-3 lead. That was the first touch-down catch of Magwood’s career, and the firstClemson touchdown reception by someone otherthan Tuttle since 1978.

Clemson won the game 45-10. The Terriersscored a late touchdown on a pass in the fourthquarter, the last touchdown the Tiger defense wouldyield until mid-October. Wofford’s “Wingbone Of-fense” moved the ball that day, gaining 165 yardson the ground on 51 rushes. Only Nebraska wouldgain more yards on the ground against the Clemsondefense than Wofford in 1981.

Jordan had a strong day rushing and passing,as he gained 58 yards on nine carries on the ground,and completed 7-15 passes for 177 yards and twotouchdowns through the air. Tuttle had just fourcatches, but they went for 134 yards.

One of my lasting memories of this day wasthe play of first-year freshman defensive linemanWilliam Perry. At 305 pounds, he was considered afreak of nature in 1981. No one at 300 pounds couldpossibly run well. But early in the game, he chaseddown a Wofford running back on the sideline (seephoto), much to the cheers of the Clemson fans inattendance. Perry was credited with seven tacklesin his first game as a Tiger, fourth-best on the after-noon in just 28 plays.

Stars of the GameOffense - Homer Jordan threw for two touchdownsand ran for two more in gaining 235 yards of totaloffense.Defense - Terry Kinard had 11 total tackles, includ-ing 10 first hits, in providing key run support againstWofford’s innovative Wingbone offense.

Stat of the GameWofford had 165

yards rushing againstthe Tigers. Only Ne-braska had more rush-ing yards in 1981against Clemson thanWofford. The Tigersended the season allow-ing just 89 yards pergame on the ground, theseventh-best figure inthe nation.

Note of InterestWofford had the

ball for 35 minutes onoffense compared to just

Game StatsWofford 3 0 0 7 10Clemson 3 14 14 14 45

WOF Hairston 24 FG, 1st, 8:16CU Igwebuike 52 FG, 1st, 6:37CU Tuttle 80 pass from Jordan (Paulling kick), 2nd, 9:37CU Jordan 14 run (Paulling kick), 2nd, 4:23CU Magwood 11 pass from Jordan (Paulling kick), 3rd, 10:46CU Jordan 3 run (Paulling kick), 3rd, 1:15CU C. McSwain 5 run (Igwebuike kick), 4th, 11:54WOF Derrick 15 pass from Thompson (Hairston kick), 4th, 4:36CU McCall 10 run (Paulling kick), 4th, 1:05Attendance - 59,313

Team Statistics WOF CUFirst Downs 17 21Rushing 51-165 54-285Passing 11-23-2 8-16-2Passing Yards 128 186Total Offense 293 471Yards/Play 4.0 6.7Fumbles/Lost 3-0 3-1Turnovers 2 3Penalties 6-55 8-81Interceptions 2-6 2-21Punt Returns 0-0 6-50Kickoff Returns 5-89 2-63Punting 8-42.6 4-44.8Third-Down Conversions 4-15 6-14Sacks By Defense 0-0 4-20Time of Possession 35:00 25:00

Rushing (Rush-Yards-TD)WOF Lang 18-76, Gaines 15-63, L. Best 4-12CU Austin 18-95, Jordan 9-58-2, McCall 8-57-1

Passing (Cm-Att-Yards-I-TD)WOF Bradshaw 6-13-70-1-0, Thompson 3-8-28-1-1CU Jordan 7-15-177-2-2, Gasque 1-1-9-0-0

Receiving (Rec-Yards-TD)WOF Derrick 3-45-1, Moore 2-21, Taylor 1-22CU Tuttle 4-134-1, Magwood 2-34-1, Gaillard 2-18

Interceptions (Int-Yards)WOF Tuthill 1-6, Renfrow 1-0CU Rembert 1-11, Kinard 1-10

TacklesCU J. Davis 13, Bryant 11, Kinard 11, Devane 7,

Perry 7

SacksCU J. Davis 1-6, Bryant 1-5, Headen 1-5, Devane

1-4

25 for the Tigers. The Terriers were the only teamall year to have a time-of-possession advantageagainst the Tigers.

Impact on the PollsClemson’s 45-10 victory over an NAIA school

had no impact on the polls, as Clemson remainedoutside the top 20 and did not receive a single votein either the AP or UPI poll.

It Was Said“Wofford had the best gameplan for us of any

opposing team since I have been at Clemson. Theyran us ragged in the first half with the misdirectionplays. They did a super job. That is a tribute toCoach (Buddy) Sasser and his staff, and the youngmen who are playing for him.”Clemson Head Coach Danny Ford

Wofford had the Tiger defense on its heels in the first half beforeWilliam Perry and company took control in the second half.


Game 2The 1981 Tulane Game

Clemson 13Tulane 5

September 12, 1981 • Superdome • New Orleans, LA

Perhaps the most impressive athletic accom-plishment of the Tulane game took place during pre-game warmups. Clemson was playing the GreenWave in the Superdome, Clemson’s first-ever indoorfootball game (there have been many since in theGeorgia Dome and one game in Japan).

Freshman punter Dale Hatcher had alreadymade a name for himself with his booming punts,and his teammates were interested to see if he couldhit the gondola near the Superdome roof. It was awell-known stat that then Oakland Raider punter RayGuy and Texas punter Russell Erxleben had beenthe only ones to hit the gondola during pregamewarmups.

With most of the team watching during pre-game, Hatcher accomplished the feat after a fewwarmup tries.

Ironically, Hatcher went on to average just 39.3yards a punt in this game, his second-worst gameof the year. And, a snap from center from theClemson 26 went over his head and all the way tothe endzone for a safety to give the Green Wave a5-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. It was thefirst safety allowed by Clemson in six years.

Senior Joe Glenn had perhaps his best gameas a Tiger in just 34 snaps. He had a sack, a recov-ered fumble, and assisted on two other sacks. Hisrecovered fumble at the Tulane 25 in the secondquarter set up the only touchdown of the game foreither team, a five-yard run by Cliff Austin with 8:22left in the second quarter.

Austin did not know it at the time, but it wouldnot be his last game in the Superdome. He wasdrafted by New Orleans after his senior year (1982)and played 11 games for the Saints in 1983 beforehe was traded to Atlanta in 1984.

Clemson’s offense struggled throughout thisgame, gaining just 275 yards of total offense andscoring only one touchdown. The Tigers had two

Game StatsClemson 0 7 0 6 13Tulane 5 0 0 0 5

TUL Manella 46 FG, 1st, 6:30TUL TEAM safety, 1st, 4:47CU Austin 4 run (Paulling kick), 2nd, 8:22CU Paulling 31 FG, 4th, 14:53CU Paulling 37 FG, 4th, 12:28Attendance - 45,736

Team Statistics CU TULFirst Downs 18 12Rushing 68-161 35-40Passing 7-16-0 13-29-4Passing Yards 114 137Total Offense 84-275 64-177Yards/Play 3.3 2.8Fumbles-Lost 3-2 4-3Turnovers 2 7Penalties 6-64 4-42Interceptions 4-42 0-0Punt Returns 1-0 1-19Kickoff Returns 2-19 2-14Punting 3-39.3 6-35.5Third-Down Conversions 9-21 7-17Sacks By Defense 5-48 1-4Time of Possession 33:06 26:54

Rushing (Rush-Yards-TD)CU Austin 17-60-1, McCall 16-50, Jordan 19-43TUL Lewis 15-50, Reginelli 6-15, Robinson 2-5

Passing (Cm-Att-Yards-I-TD)CU Jordan 7-15-114-0-0, Gasque 0-1-0-0-0TUL Elmore 10-21-95-4-0, Catanese 3-8-42-0-0

Receiving (Rec-Yards-TD)CU Tuttle 4-50, Magwood 2-40, Gaillard 1-24TUL Franz 5-65, Lewis 2-18, Robinson 2-16

Interceptions (Int-Yards)CU Kinard 1-16, Childers 1-9, Hall 1-9, Rose 1-3

TacklesCU J. Davis 20, Kinard 12, Benish 9, Triplett 8, Bryant

7

Recovered FumblesCU J. Davis 1, Glenn 1, Pickett 1

costly fumbles, including one at the Tulane seven,and six penalties for 64 yards, including one on apass play that would have given Clemson first-and-goal at the Tulane one.

Clemson got two second-half field goals fromBob Paulling, who had hit .410 for Bill Wilhelm’s ACCChampionship baseball team the previous spring.That gave Clemson a 13-5 lead, but the threat ofone drive for a score and a two-point conversionkept Tulane in the game.

But, the Tiger defense was at its best in thesecond half, holding Tulane without a point, and lim-iting the host team to 50 yards and five first downs.With the game on the line during Tulane’s last op-portunity, Tom Harper’s pressure defense forced theGreen Wave into a fourth-and-40 situation. You hadthe feeling Tulane would not have scored again ifthe game lasted until Tuesday.

Tulane had to punt with 2:30 left and never gotthe ball back, as Homer Jordan ran for a first downon a fourth-and-four option play from the Tulane 32.

The Tiger defense forced seven turnovers, fourinterceptions, and three fumbles. The starting sec-ondary of Terry Kinard, Tim Childers, Hollis Hall, andAnthony Rose all had at least one interception, thefirst time in Clemson history every member of thestarting secondary had a pick in the same game.

One of the lasting memories of this game wasthe amount of Tiger fans who made the trip to NewOrleans. The Clemson ticket office sold 8,000 tick-ets to this Saturday evening game. Many Tiger fanspicked up the train in Clemson and took it all theway to the Superdome.

It was an impressive turnout, because allClemson had done was beat Wofford in the sea-son-opener after a 6-5 record the previous year. The“Bandwagon” had not yet kicked into high gear. Butthat all changed the following Saturday when de-fending National Champion Georgia came to town.

Stars of the GameOffense - The offensewould tell you to a manthere were not a lot ofcandidates for this honoragainst Tulane, but wewill go with Cliff Austin,who had 17 rushes for60 yards and scored theonly touchdown of thegame.Defense - Jeff Davishad 20 tackles on 10first hits and 10 assists,the high-tackle total bya Tiger during the 1981season.

Stat of the GameClemson held Tulane to 177 yards of total of-

fense, the best performance by the Tiger defense inthat category all year.

Note of InterestClemson improved to 2-0 for the second time

since 1965. Also, all four starting defensive backshad an interception, a first in Tiger history.

Impact on the PollsClemson’s 13-5 victory was impressive from a

defensive standpoint, but the Tigers did not moveinto the top 20 in either poll after the game.

It Was Said“There were a lot of mistakes in this game. I

don’t know how many there were, but they camefrom both sides. I feel lucky to get out of here alive.We made too many mistakes on offense, so we didn’tscore a lot of points. Tulane was a lot better teamthan they showed on the game film.”Clemson Head Coach Danny Ford

The Tiger defense held Tulane to just 177 yards of total offense in a13-5 win that moved Clemson to 2-0 for the first time since 1970.


Game 3The 1981 Georgia Game

Clemson’s defense forced Georgia into nine turnovers,including two lost fumbles by Herschel Walker. He suffered

the only regular-season loss of his career on this sunny day.

Game StatsGeorgia 0 0 3 0 3Clemson 0 10 0 3 13

CU Tuttle 8 pass from Jordan (Paulling kick), 2nd, 7:13CU Igwebuike 39 FG, 2nd, 0:11UGA Butler 40 FG, 3rd, 11:24CU Igwebuike 29 FG, 4th, 14:01Attendance - 62,466

Team Statistics UGA CUFirst Downs 16 15Rushing 40-122 57-101Passing 12-26-5 11-18-0Passing Yards 133 135Total Offense 66-255 75-236Yards/Play 3.9 3.1Fumbles-Lost 5-4 4-2Turnovers 9 2Penalties 2-16 5-55Interceptions 0-0 5-47Punt Returns 2-19 3-3Kickoff Returns 1-14 0-0Punting 4-44.0 7-43.0Third-Down Conversions 6-13 7-19Sacks By Defense 1-11 2-19Time of Possession 25:17 34:43

Rushing (Rush-Yards-TD)UGA Walker 28-111, Stewart 2-8, Young 2-8CU Jordan 25-59, McCall 12-32, Austin 8-16

Passing (Cm-Att-Yards-I-TD)UGA Belue 12-26-133-5-0CU Jordan 11-18-135-0-1

Receiving (Rec-Yards-TD)UGA N. Brown 3-34, Scott 3-32, Kay 2-26CU Tuttle 5-57-1, Magwood 3-43, Alley 2-31

Interceptions (Int-Yards)CU B. Davis 1-21, Kinard 1-19, Childers 1-4, Rose

1-3, R. McSwain 1-0

Recovered FumblesCU Ra. Brown 1, Perry 1, Smith 1, Suttle 1

Georgia 3Clemson 13

September 19, 1981 • Memorial Stadium • Clemson, SC

When I reread a feature on Jeff Davis by thenAssistant Sports Information Director Kim Kelly inthe 1981 Clemson-Georgia game program, I ranacross the following quote from the Tiger captain.

“I am anxious to go up against the top back inthe nation. Last year, Herschel (Walker) was a fresh-man who played like a senior. But it’s going to bedifferent when he comes to Death Valley. He’ll findthat he won’t be able to do as well against this se-nior.”

Wow, what was I thinking as the editor of theprogram to let that get by! Those were differenttimes...the Muhammad Ali era of sports.

But as I look back, perhaps it was the bestthing. Davis showed his teammates he had the con-fidence to beat the defending national champions,a team that had never lost with Walker in its lineup.In fact, Clemson’s 13-3 victory that September 19day would be the only regular-season loss ofWalker’s three-year career with the Bulldogs.

Once again, it was the defense that carried theday for Clemson. The Tigers forced nine turnovers(five interceptions and four fumbles), and 25 yearslater, that is still the Tiger record for turnovers forcedin a game. The nine takeaways were recorded bynine different players, the best stat that shows thatthis was an all-around team effort. It gave Clemson16 forced turnovers in two games, the best back-to-back takeaway totals in school history.

Buck Belue threw five interceptions and lost afumble for six of the nine turnovers. Walker had lostjust one fumble his entire freshman season whenhe gained over 1,600 yards, an all-time NCAA fresh-man record. He had three fumbles in this game,two that were recovered by the Tiger defense, in-cluding one by William Perry when he seeminglyjust shoved Walker aside to scoop up the ball.

Walker would get 111 yards rushing on 28 car-ries, but he never reached the endzone. In fact, hewould play three games against the Tigers in hiscareer without scoring a touchdown, joining HeismanTrophy winner George Rogers of South Carolina withthat career note against Clemson’s defense.

This was a true rock-em-sock game from theoutset, as the two teams combined for only 491 yardsof total offense. Clemson had just 236 yards on theday, but still won by double-digits. Field positionwas a big issue, and Dale Hatcher was an unsunghero, as he averaged 43 yards on seven punts.

Clemson scored 10 points in the second quar-ter, and they held up. An interception by Tim Childersset up the only touchdown of the day, an eight-yardpass from Homer Jordan to Perry Tuttle. DonaldIgwebuike kicked two field goals, one in the secondquarter and one in the fourth quarter. Georgia’s onlypoints came on a Kevin Butler field goal on the Bull-dogs’ first drive of the second half.

The Bulldogs had won 15 consecutive games,the longest active winning streak in college footballat the time. Their #4 national ranking was the high-est-ranked team Clemson defeated in Death Valleyover the first 107 years of Clemson football, and wasonly eclipsed when Tommy Bowden’s Tigers beat#3 Florida State in 2003.

When Rod McSwain intercepted a pass in theendzone with 1:08 left to clinch the win, the defensecame off the field whirling their index fingers. Theywere giving notice that they had defeated last year’s#1 team, and that Clemson was #1 on this day.

But as it turned out, that celebration was a fore-shadowing of things to come.

Stars of the GameOffense - Athens, GA native Homer Jordan threw

for 135 yards and a touchdown,and had 25 rushes for 59 yardsto lead the Tiger offense.Defense - On a day that Clemsonforced nine turnovers, DannyTriplett was the only Tiger de-fender to win ACC Player-of-the-Week honors. He had a then ca-reer-high 11 tackles to help stuffthe Georgia run.

Stat of the GameClemson forced nine turn-

overs (five interceptions and fourfumbles) in the win over Georgia,giving the Tiger defense 16 forcedturnovers over consecutivegames against Tulane and theBulldogs. The nine forced turn-overs are still a Clemson record.

Note of InterestClemson would go on to score 316 points in

the 11 regular-season games of 1981, the exactsame total Georgia scored the previous seasonwhen it won the 1980 National Championship.

Impact on the PollsClemson’s 13-3 victory over the #4 Bulldogs

finally put the Tigers on the national map. Clemsonmoved to #19 in the AP poll and #18 in the UPI pollafter this victory.

It is interesting to note that Clemson had theweekend of September 26 open. Clemson jumpedto #14 in both AP and UPI without playing, and thatwas Clemson’s ranking heading into the Kentuckygame on October 3.

It Was Said“We’ve got no excuses. They beat us. We

made a lot of mistakes. They played a good gameand we didn’t.”Georgia running back Herschel Walker

“Georgia wanted to go toe-to-toe and jaw-to-jaw, and I think our guys accepted it real well. That’sthe same thing we told our players. We just wantedto prove we could play with them...and we did.”Clemson Head Coach Danny Ford


Then on Kentucky’s first possession of thesecond half, William Perry registered one of the long-est sacks in Tiger history, a 17-yard sack. It putKentucky in a third-and-27 situation. On the nextplay, Andy Headen recovered a fumble at the 21. Afew players later, Jordan scored on an option play,and all of a sudden the Tigers were ahead 14-3.

Clemson scored a third rushing touchdown inthe fourth quarter to come away with a 21-3 victory.The second half was by far the most complete halfClemson had recorded to date in the 1981 season.Chuck McSwain was the biggest individual exampleof the Tigers’ second-half comeback, as he had just22 yards in a frustrating first half, then ended thegame with 107 yards.

This game was broadcast on a regional basisby ABC, the first live broadcast of a Tiger game in1981. ESPN was just in its third year, and it didmore live soccer than football. CBS did not have abroadcast package, so there were four regionalgames on ABC, and that was it. Even though theTigers struggled, they jumped all the way to #9 inthe AP poll after this game.

Stars of the GameOffense - Chuck McSwain had the first 100-yardrushing game by a Tiger running back in 1981 whenhe totaled 107 yards in the win at Kentucky. He wasnamed Chevrolet Player-of-the-Game by ABC.Defense - While he was not on the field making tack-les, Dale Hatcher’s punting was a key to the Tiger

defense’s success. Hehad six punts for a 51.0-yard average, still thebest punting average bya Tiger given a minimumof six punts.

Stat of the GameClemson scored

all 21 of its points in thesecond half. It had notscored 21 points in anentire game against aDivision I team prior tothat in 1981.

Note of InterestClemson trailed at

the end of the first quar-ter 3-0. It was the fourthstraight game that theTigers did not hold thelead at the end of thefirst quarter.

Clemson’s de-fense forced five turn-

Game 4The 1981 Kentucky Game

Game StatsClemson 0 0 14 7 21Kentucky 3 0 0 0 3

KEN Griggs 40 FG, 1st, 6:54CU Mack 11 run (Paulling kick), 3rd, 9:02CU Jordan 3 run (Paulling kick), 3rd, 4:25CU C. McSwain 3 run (Paulling kick), 4th, 2:48Attendance - 57,453

Team Statistics CU KENFirst Downs 17 20Rushing 58-223 39-49Passing 4-11-0 15-31-2Passing Yards 55 168Total Offense 69-278 70-217Yards/Play 4.0 3.1Fumbles-Lost 1-0 4-3Turnovers 0 5Penalties 6-51 6-63Interceptions 2-5 0-0Punt Returns 4-15 4-28Kickoff Returns 2-32 2-34Punting 6-51.0 5-47.8Third-Down Conversions 8-19 7-14Sacks By Defense 5-69 2-10Time of Possession 30:59 29:01

Rushing (Rush-Yards-TD)CU C. McSwain 20-107-1, Jordan 14-40-1, Mack 7-

31-1KEN Abraham 18-55, Adams 9-33, Henry 5-10

Passing (Cm-Att-Yards-I-TD)CU Jordan 4-11-55-0-0KEN Jenkins 15-30-168-2-0, Henry 0-1-0-0-0

Receiving (Rec-Yards-TD)CU Diggs 1-24, Magwood 1-18, Austin 1-8KEN Massie 7-107, Adams 3-28, Watson 2-18

Interceptions (Int-Yards)CU Triplett 1-5, Hall 1-0

TacklesCU J. Davis 13, Triplett 12, Benish 7, Bryant 6, Kinard

6

Recovered FumblesCU Bryant 1, Headen 1, Perry 1

Clemson 21Kentucky 3

October 3, 1981 • Commonwealth Stadium • Lexington, KY

The nation had finally taken notice of Clemsonwith its win over defending champion Georgia onSeptember 19. The Georgia game had not been onany live television, but it sent shockwaves in thecollege football world, because Herschel Walker hadan air of invincibility until he was finally defeated.

Clemson had moved into the top 20 in bothpolls after the win, a #19 ranking in AP and a #18ranking by UPI, which was the coaches poll backthen. Clemson had two weeks to prepare for Ken-tucky, the fourth game of the season, and moved upfive spots in AP and four in UPI during the opendate. I remember my boss Bob Bradley kidding thatwe should just sit out the rest of the season, and wewould move up to #1.

The Kentucky game contributed to two basicfootball theories we still carry today:• Theory I - Teams that pull off a big upset one week

will have a hangover the very next game and willnot play well, at least at the start.

That was the case for Clemson this Octoberafternoon, as the Tigers trailed the Wildcats (whowould end the season with a 3-8 record) by a 3-0score at halftime. Clemson was awful on offense,gaining just 57 yards rushing and eight yards pass-ing in the first 30 minutes. Had it not been for thedefense and a record-setting punting performanceby Dale Hatcher (six punts for a 51-yard averagethat is still a school record for a minimum of sixpunts), Clemson would have trailed by double-dig-its at halftime.• Theory II - The first

five minutes of the sec-ond half are the mostimportant time periodof any football game.

How many Tigerplayers in 1981 and onfuture Tigers teamsheard Danny Ford pro-claim that axiom of foot-ball at halftime. Aftergaining just 65 yards oftotal offense in the firsthalf, Clemson took itsfirst possession of thesecond half 83 yards fora score. Clemson hadnot converted a thirddown during the firsthalf, then convertedthree in this first drive ofthe third quarter, includ-ing the six-yard touch-down run by sophomorerunning back KevinMack.

The defense kept the Tigers in the gameuntil the offense, behind Kevin Mack and

others, put up 21 points in the second half.

overs, giving it 21 in the last three games, the mostin any three-game period in school history.

Impact on the PollsThe impact of television can be shown in re-

gards to the polls following this game that was shownon regional television by ABC. Even though Ken-tucky was not a highly-regarded team at the timeand would finish the year with a 3-8 record, Clemsonjumped five spots in the AP poll to #9 and four spotsin the UPI poll to #10 after the victory.

It Was Said“We had much-better execution in the second

half. We came in at halftime and talked things over.Sometimes you have days like that. When we cameout for the second half, we were fired up to play.”Clemson quarterback Homer Jordan

“We were taking licks instead of giving them inthe first half. We didn’t pressure them enough. Butin the second half, we played our type of defense,which is to kill them. We dominated the second half.”Clemson defensive tackle Dan Benish


Game 5The 1981 Virginia Game

Game StatsVirginia 0 0 0 0 0Clemson 3 7 14 3 27

CU Igwebuike 22 FG, 1st, 0:22CU Austin 42 run (Paulling kick), 2nd, 5:40CU McCall 5 run (Paulling kick), 3rd, 9:42CU Austin 1 run (Paulling kick), 3rd, 1:16CU Igwebuike 32 FG, 4th, 10:42Attendance - 63,064

Team Statistics UVA CUFirst Downs 14 17Rushing 41-110 53-265Passing 12-24-2 9-17-0Passing Yards 127 161Total Offense 65-237 70-426Yards/Play 3.6 6.1Fumbles-Lost 3-0 0-0Turnovers 2 0Penalties 3-11 6-49Interceptions 0-0 2-21Punt Returns 2-9 3-33Kickoff Returns 3-25 1-20Punting 7-35.3 4-42.3Third-Down Conversions 9-17 6-15Sacks By Defense 0-0 4-28Time of Possession 28:53 31:07

Rushing (Rush-Yards-TD)UVA Jenkins 11-41, Whitehead 13-24, Taylor 11-22CU Austin 14-89-2, C. McSwain 14-71, McCall 7-

36-1

Passing (Cm-Att-Yards-I-TD)UVA Whitehead 12-24-127-2-0CU Jordan 9-16-161-0-0, Gasque 0-1-0-0-0

Receiving (Rec-Yards-TD)UVA Johnson 2-34, Riccio 2-29, Fears 1-12CU Tuttle 3-59, Diggs 3-30, Magwood 2-57

Interceptions (Int-Yards)CU Hall 1-13, Suttle 1-8

TacklesCU J. Davis 11, Triplett 11, Hall 10, Childers 9

Virginia 0Clemson 27

October 10, 1981 • Memorial Stadium • Clemson, SC

With a 4-0 record for the first time since 1958,the bandwagon was bulging at the seems whenClemson hosted Virginia on Homecoming in 1981.

The 63,064 fans (sellout in those days) sawClemson play its most complete game of 1981. Theoffense proved the second half of the Kentucky gamewas no fluke by scoring 27 points, three touchdowns,and gaining over 400 yards for the first time all year.

It was vintage Danny Ford football, as the Ti-gers gained 265 yards rushing, including 161 fromthe tailback duo of Cliff Austin and Chuck McSwain.Austin had 14 carries for 89 yards, and McSwainhad 14 rushes for 71 yards. The two fullbacks, KevinMack and Jeff McCall, had seven carries apiece, sothe running stats had perfect symmetry.

What was not vintage Danny Ford football wasthe play of tight end Bubba Diggs. He caught threepasses for 30 yards in the game (Clemson tight endswould catch just five more passes the entire sea-son), and he had an 87-percent blocking grade.Diggs was named ACC Offensive Lineman-of-the-Week for his performance, the only time all year aTiger offensive lineman was accorded that weeklyhonor.

The offense scored in every quarter for the firsttime all year, and Clemson actually had the lead atthe end of the first quarter for the first time in 1981.What was very impressive was that Clemson wentits second consecutive game without an offensiveturnover. It marked the first time since the 1940season (games against Wofford and N.C. State) thatthe Tigers had gone consecutive games without one.

The defense pitched its first shutout of the year,holding Virginia to just 237 yards of total offense and14 first downs. Clemson had moved into the na-tional lead in scoring defense, allowing just 4.2 pointsper game, and also led the nation in forcing turn-overs with 25 through five games.

Jeff Davis led Clemson in tackles (11), includ-ing nine first hits. He led Clemson in tackles in ev-ery game in 1981, and had at least double-figuresin all 12 games as well. Supporting Davis was JeffBryant with nine stops. Danny Triplett, Tim Childers,and Dan Benish all added eight stops apiece.

The offense again made the first drive of thesecond half count, driving 77 yards in 5:18 to scorea touchdown. Clemson faced a fourth-and-two fromthe Virginia eight, but the normally-conservative Fordgambled a bit, and Cliff Austin picked up the firstdown. Jeff McCall scored from five yards out laterin the drive, and Clemson had a 17-0 lead.

Donald Igwebuike had quite a weekend. Hehad two field goals against Virginia to firmly estab-lish himself as the first-team placekicker. The nextday, the freshman striker scored two goals inClemson’s soccer victory over rival South Carolina.Igwebuike played on two ACC Championship teamsthat ranked in the final top five of the respective pollsthat fall, and the two teams were a combined 30-2(18-2 in soccer and 12-0 in football).

In all fairness, this was your father’s Virginiateam. Future Head Coach George Welsh had notgotten to Charlottesville yet, and the Cavaliers wenton to a 1-10 record. But, it was noteworthy thatClemson had taken care of business in all areas.

With #7 Alabama’s tie against Southern Mis-sissippi, Clemson was now destined to move pastthe Crimson Tide in the polls. What must Bear Bryanthave thought that night when he went to bed? Hisformer player Ford, just 33 years of age, now had ateam ranked ahead of his Crimson Tide.

Stars of the GameOffense - Tight end Bubba Diggs had a career-highthree catches for 30 yards. He graded 87 percentas a blocker, the best of all the Tiger offensive line-

men, and was namedACC Offensive Line-man-of-the-Week.Defense - Jeff Bryanthad nine tackles, eightof which were first hits,and three tackles forloss, leading the Tigerdefense to the shutout.

Stat of the GameThere was only a

difference of three firstdowns in the game (17-14 in favor of Clemson),but a near 200-yard dif-ference in total offense(426-237) and a 27-point difference.

Note of InterestThis was Clemson’s 21st consecutive victory

over Virginia. The streak would run to 29 before theTigers suffered their first loss in the series at Vir-ginia in 1990. The game was also played in a steadyrain, the first time in over three years that it had rainedduring a Tiger home game.

Impact on the PollsWith the shutout of Virginia, Clemson moved

to #6 by AP and #7 by UPI. It was Clemson’s high-est ranking by AP since the final poll of 1978.

It Was Said“We got tired of seeing those three-pointers

on the scoreboard. We wanted a goose egg.”Clemson linebacker Jeff Davis

“The fans down here are the best in the coun-try. They are such good people. This is what foot-ball should be all about. At our hotel, you don’t seea bunch of drunks, you see families. They havechildren coming to the game with their parents, andthey have parties like you are supposed to have.This Clemson operation...I can’t say anything nega-tive about it.”Virginia Head Coach Dick Bestwick

Bubba Diggs (#85) had a career-high three receptions and wasClemson’s top-rated blocker in the Homecoming win over Virginia.


Game 6The 1981 Duke Game

Game StatsClemson 7 17 14 0 38Duke 0 3 7 0 10

CU Crite 4 run (Paulling kick), 1st, 11:54CU Paulling 20 FG, 2nd, 13:55CU Austin 15 run (Paulling kick), 2nd, 9:05CU Jordan 1 run (Paulling kick), 2nd, 3:07DUK McKinney 29 FG, 2nd, 0:41CU Austin 2 run (Paulling kick), 3rd, 9:03DUK Jones 21 pass from Bennett (McKinney kick), 3rd, 6:25CU Tuttle 29 pass from Jordan (Paulling kick), 3rd, 4:13Attendance - 26,000

Team Statistics CU DUKFirst Downs 25 23Rushing 59-323 36-82Passing 14-20-1 17-28-3Passing Yards 240 243Total Offense 79-563 64-325Yards/Play 7.1 5.1Fumbles-Lost 2-2 3-2Turnovers 3 5Penalties 11-83 5-45Interceptions 3-4 1-1Punt Returns 1-9 1-5Kickoff Returns 3-50 2-32Punting 2-31.5 3-40.3Third-Down Conversions 9-13 3-9Sacks By Defense 2-12 0-0Time of Possession 34:02 25:58

Rushing (Rush-Yards-TD)CU Austin 19-178-2, Jordan 14-47-1, C. McSwain

11-47DUK Grayson 18-51, Bennett 11-25, Boone 1-4

Passing (Cm-Att-Yards-I-TD)CU Jordan 13-19-198-1-1, Gasque 1-1-42-0-0DUK Bennett 17-25-243-1-1, R. Frederick 0-1-0-1-0,

Salley 0-1-0-1-0

Receiving (Rec-Yards-TD)CU Tuttle 5-86-1, Stockstill 3-75, Gaillard 3-40DUK R. Frederick 7-126, Jones 5-74-1, Militello 1-14

Interceptions (Int-Yards)CU Kinard 2-0, Rembert 1-4DUK Obremskey 1-1

TacklesCU J. Davis 18, Kinard 11, Triplett 8, Bryant 7, Hall

7

Recovered FumblesCU J. Davis 1, Hall 1

Clemson 38Duke 10

October 17, 1981 • Wallace Wade Stadium • Durham, NC

Over the course of the 1981 season, Clemsonhad five “revenge games.” And what we mean bythat is the 1981 schedule featured five games againstteams that had defeated Clemson during the 1980season. While many Tiger players would haveranked the Georgia game as revenge game #1, mostof the players looked at the Duke game as revengegame #2.

The Blue Devils had ruined Clemson’s 1980season with an embarrassing 34-17 victory in DeathValley. The Tigers were on their way to a very good1980 season with a 4-1 record, and the only losswas by four points to a Georgia team that went onto win the National Championship.

Clemson had a 17-3 lead at halftime over Duke,then fell apart in the second half when Ben Bennettthrew the ball all over the yard and added an excla-mation point when he taunted the Tiger defense ona scoring run that clinched the victory for RedWilson’s team. Clemson went on to finish 6-5.

The image of Bennett rubbing it in the Tigers’face on that touchdown apparently had remained atthe forefront of their collective minds, becauseClemson took control of the game from the outset inevery phase.

Cliff Austin gained 21 yards on Clemson’s firstplay, and Homer Jordan connected with FrankMagwood on a 22-yard pass a few plays later.Brendon Crite completed the 64-yard touchdowndrive with a four-yard run, and Clemson led 7-0.

With the lead up to 17-0 in the second quarter,Clemson put together a 98-yard touchdown drivethat was highlighted bya 77-yard run by Austin.It did not go for a touch-down, as he was caughtfrom behind at the fouryard line by DennisTabron. There was a bitof irony there becauseTabron had been the de-fensive star of the 1980game when he hadthree interception re-turns for 128 yards andwas named Sports Il-lustrated National De-fensive Player-of-the-Week. Austin’s run isthe longest non-scoringrush in school history.Jordan scored from ayard out to put Clemsonup 24-0.

Clemson gained325 yards in the first halfon 244 yards rushing

and 81 yards passing. Austin had 11 carries for 155yards in the first half, and it looked like Don King’sClemson single-game rushing record of 234 yardswas in jeopardy. But he had just eight carries in thesecond half when Ford called off the dogs.

The only disappointment of the day came inthe second half when Duke scored a touchdown ona 21-yard completion from Bennett to Cedric Jonesin the third quarter. That ended a streak of 18 con-secutive quarters without allowing a touchdown forthe Tiger defense, a streak the defense took greatpride in. That streak has not been duplicated since.

Jeff Davis led the defense on this day with 18tackles, helping the Tigers force five turnovers. TerryKinard had two diving interceptions, and JohnnyRembert added a theft. Those two Tigers went onto play a combined 15 years in the NFL, and eachplayed in the Pro Bowl.

Clemson finished the day with 563 yards oftotal offense, including 323 rushing and 240 throughthe air. It was the most-balanced performance ofthe season by far, and one of just two games in 1981in which Clemson gained 500 yards of total offense.

Stars of the GameOffense - Cliff Austin had 178 yards rushing on 19carries and scored two touchdowns. The 178 yardsrushing were the most by a Tiger in 1981. He had a77-yard run in that game that is still the 12th-longestrun in school history and the longest run by a Tigerduring the 1981 season.Defense - Jeff Davis was all over the field, record-

ing 18 tackles to lead theTiger defense. Six timesin the second and thirdquarters, Duke ran aplay from the Clemsonone yard line withoutscoring, and it seemedlike Davis was disruptingthe Blue Devil offenseon all six plays.

Stat of the GameClemson had 323

yards rushing and 240yards passing. It wasthe only game during a10-year period thatClemson had at least300 yards rushing and200 yards passing in thesame game.

Note of InterestGerald Austin was

one of the officials for

this game. In those days, Austin was both an ACCfootball official and an ACC basketball official. He isstill an NFL official 25 years later.

Impact on the PollsClemson moved into the top five in both polls

after this victory. Clemson jumped to #4 in AP and#5 in UPI after the victory at Duke. The #4 rankingin the AP poll was the highest in school history atthe time, and the first ranking in the top five for theTiger program since September 21, 1959.

It Was Said“Clemson deserves to be ranked #6 in the na-

tion. They are a great football team. They may de-serve an even higher rating. There is no doubt theyare one of the best football teams in America.”Duke Head Coach Red Wilson

Cliff Austin gained 178 yards on the groundat Duke, the top figure by a Tiger in 1981.


Game 7The 1981 N.C. State Game

Game StatsN.C. State 7 0 0 0 7Clemson 3 7 0 7 17

NCS Lawson 13 run (Auten kick), 1st, 7:04CU Igwebuike 39 FG, 1st, 3:36CU Austin 1 run (Paulling kick), 2nd, 0:13CU McCall 15 run (Paulling kick), 4th, 8:30Attendance - 62,727

Team Statistics NCS CUFirst Downs 11 21Rushing 38-87 59-304Passing 11-25-1 3-14-3Passing Yards 114 43Total Offense 63-201 73-347Yards/Play 3.2 4.8Fumbles-Lost 1-0 3-2Turnovers 1 5Penalties 7-63 3-30Interceptions 3-52 1-5Punt Returns 0-0 5-31Kickoff Returns 2-24 2-29Punting 9-36.6 4-45.0Third-Down Conversions 5-17 5-13Sacks By Defense 1-2 1-9Time of Possession 28:13 31:47

Rushing (Rush-Yards-TD)NCS McIntosh 15-39, Lawson 11-36-1, Sullivan 5-12CU Jordan 21-104, Austin 14-75-1, McCall 7-46-1

Passing (Cm-Att-Yards-I-TD)NCS Avery 9-21-94-1-0, Laraway 2-4-20-0-0CU Jordan 3-14-43-3-0

Receiving (Rec-Yards-TD)NCS Quick 5-72, McIntosh 2-17, Longmire 1-10CU Tuttle 2-22, Gaillard 1-21

Interceptions (Int-Yards)NCS E. Williams 2-36, Etheridge 1-16CU Hall 1-5

TacklesCU J. Davis 19, Bryant 12, Benish 10, Headen 7

N.C. State 7Clemson 17


Clemson entered the N.C. State game with a6-0 record, Clemson’s best start since 1948, andthe Tigers’ #4 national ranking by AP was their bestin history. Coming off a 38-10 win at Duke, Clemsonwas flat for some reason from the outset against theWolfpack. It was especially surprising from an of-fensive standpoint, because Clemson had gainedat least 200 yards of total offense in each of the lastfive halves entering this game.

N.C. State had been a thorn in Danny Ford’sside since he became Clemson’s head coach. Hewas 0-2 against the Wolfpack so far, including closelosses in 1979 and 1980. In the 1980 game,Clemson had committed five turnovers that led di-rectly to 21 of their 24 points in a 24-20 N.C. Statewin in Raleigh. Monte Kiffin was a 1964 Nebraskagraduate, and it would not be the last time Clemsonwould face a Cornhusker alum in 1981.

It appeared the first quarter of the 1981 gamewas going to be the fifth quarter of the 1980 contest.On Clemson’s first possession of the game, CliffAustin, who would be Clemson’s top rusher in the1981 season, fumbled and N.C. State recovered atthe Wolfpack 41. N.C. State then drove it downClemson’s throat on the ensuing possession, andLaramount Lawson scored on a 13-yard run to putthe Wolfpack up 7-0.

Incredibly, that was the first rushing touchdownof the season against the Tiger defense, and it wasthe longest touchdown run of the regular seasonagainst the Tigers.

Faced with the 7-0 deficit at home, Clemsoncame back and drove to the N.C. State 23, whereDonald Igwebuike booted a 39-yard field goal. Thatscore might have calmed Ford’s fears for a while,

but Jordan threw two interceptions in the secondquarter, giving Clemson three first-half turnovers.

The Tigers got the ball back with 3:10 left inthe quarter and made its final drive of the half count.It was the most important drive of the game, andone of the most under-appreciated drives of 1981.

Jordan, who completed just three passes inthis game for 43 yards, connected with Perry Tuttletwice on this 65-yard scoring drive for key plays,especially a 17-yard gain to the N.C. State six withjust under 30 seconds left. Austin scored on a one-yard run with just 13 seconds left to give Clemson a10-7 lead and momentum heading into halftime.

Clemson had to feel good in that it had com-mitted three turnovers, something it had not done inthe last three games combined, yet had the lead.

The third quarter belonged to Clemson, as theTigers allowed just one first down. The Tigers couldnot score either, but controlled the tempo. Finally,with 8:30 left in the game, Jeff McCall bulled in from15 yards to complete a 52-yard drive, and Clemsonhad a 17-7 lead. That would be the final score, asClemson’s defense dominated the rest of the game.

Davis entered the game needing 20 tackles toreach 400 for his career. He ended the game with19, but he joined future NFL veteran Jeff Bryant tolimit N.C. State to 76 total yards, three first downs,and 21 yards rushing in the second half. Bryanthad four tackles for loss and 12 tackles overall.

Jordan had thrown just three interceptions allyear, but he threw three on this day and completedjust 3-14 passes for 43 yards. It was his worst-pass-ing game as a Tiger, but he had a career-high 104yards rushing on 21 carries.

Every national championship team has amidseason game in which it is flat andneeds to overcome some doldrumsto keep the streak going. Texas hadit in 2005 when it fell behind Okla-homa State by three touchdowns inthe first half. This was Clemson’s trapgame of 1981. But it kept the un-beaten streak alive.

Stars of the GameOffense - Cliff Austin had 14 rushesfor 75 yards and one of Clemson’stwo touchdowns.Defense - Jeff Bryant had a career-high 12 tackles, including four tack-les for loss, most by a Tiger in 1981,in the victory over N.C. State.

Stat of the Game When Laramount Lawson scoredon a 13-yard touchdown run in thefirst quarter, it gave the Wolfpack a

7-0 lead. Although Clemson trailed at some point inseven of the 12 games, that 7-0 deficit tied for thelargest that it faced all season.

Note of InterestClemson had a season-low 43 yards passing,

but rushed for 304 yards in the win over N.C. State.Clemson is 99-3-1 all-time when rushing for at least300 yards, including 3-0 in 1981.

Impact on the PollsClemson improved to #3 in the AP poll and #4

in the UPI poll after the victory over N.C. State.

It Was Said“State got a lot of enthusiasm after they scored

first, and we knew we had to start controlling thefootball or it was going to be a long day. So wefigured if they didn’t get any more first downs, therewouldn’t be much else they could do.”Clemson linebacker Jeff Davis

“I was afraid N.C. State would play like that.We always seem to turn the ball over against them.There are not a lot of teams in the country that are7-0. I was very impressed with our performancetoday.”Clemson Head Coach Danny Ford

Clemson’s defense gave up its first rushing touchdown ofthe season when Laramount Lawson scored on a 13-yard

run in the first quarter. But the defense did not allow apoint over the last three quarters against the Wolfpack.


Game 8The 1981 Wake Forest Game

Game StatsWake Forest 7 7 3 7 24Clemson 14 35 20 13 82

CU Austin 4 run (Paulling kick), 1st, 10:40CU Austin 3 run (Paulling kick), 1st, 6:13WFU Duckett 17 pass from Schofield (Denfeld kick), 1st, 3:06CU C. McSwain 1 run (Paulling kick), 2nd, 14:58CU Mack 10 run (Paulling kick), 2nd, 8:12CU Jordan 7 run (Paulling kick), 2nd, 6:07CU McCall 24 run (Paulling kick), 2nd, 5:40CU C. McSwain 16 run (Paulling kick), 2nd, 3:23WFU Cunningham 1 run (Denfeld kick), 2nd, 0:39CU Tuttle 75 pass from Jordan (L. Brown kick failed), 3rd, 14:42WFU Denfeld 22 FG, 3rd, 9:32CU Tuttle 25 pass from Gasque (L. Brown kick), 3rd, 5:17CU C. McSwain 12 run (L. Brown kick), 3rd, 4:16CU Holloman 3 run (L. Brown kick), 4th, 10:08CU Crawford 72 run (L. Brown kick failed), 4th, 5:40WFU Duckett 5 pass from Schofield (Denfeld kick), 4th, 2:59Attendance - 60,383

Team Statistics WFU CUFirst Downs 24 35Rushing 32-88 68-536Passing 27-43-2 11-19-1Passing Yards 270 220Total Offense 75-358 87-756Yards/Play 4.8 8.7Fumbles-Lost 3-2 0-0Turnovers 4 1Penalties 4-45 5-50Interceptions 1-27 2-17Punt Returns 0-0 3-20Kickoff Returns 5-109 3-77Punting 6-46.5 0Third-Down Conversions 1-10 12-12Sacks By Defense 0-0 4-39Time of Possession 29:11 30:49

Rushing (Rush-Yards-TD)WFU Cunningham 9-48-1, Owen 9-40, Cockerham 5-

24CU Austin 13-101-2, C. McSwain 15-90-3, McCall

8-77-1, Crawford 2-78-1

Passing (Cm-Att-Yards-I-TD)WFU Schofield 21-35-229-2-2, Webber 5-7-34-0-0CU Jordan 8-14-180-0-1, Gasque 3-4-40-0-1, Austin

0-1-0-1-0

Receiving (Rec-Yards-TD)WFU Denfeld 12-115, Duckett 3-42-2, Ruffner 3-37CU Tuttle 7-161-2, Magwood 2-39, Diggs 1-10

Interceptions (Int-Yards)WFU Threat 1-27CU B. Davis 1-11, Kinard 1-6

TacklesCU J. Davis 10, Kinard 8, Triplett 7

Recovered FumblesCU Benish 1, J. Davis 1

Wake Forest 24Clemson 82


One of the most odd moments of my 29-yearClemson sports information career took place onHalloween, 1981. As Bob Bradley’s assistant thatyear, it was my responsibility to have an accurategameday roster in the game notes for the media.But on this day, one got by me.

The Tigers had a 76-24 lead with under sixminutes left in the fourth quarter, and Danny Fordhad long since emptied his bench. He would play75 players on this day, including eight running backs,all of whom carried the ball.

With Clemson trying to run out the clock, a Ti-ger wearing #44 took a pitchout and raced 72 yardsfor a touchdown (see photo). At the time he crossedthe goal line and for a few minutes thereafter, I hadno idea who that player was.

While Wake Forest was not a strong team in1981, we did not expect such a rout that would leadto Ford playing just about everyone eligible. Afterall, Al Groh’s team (yes, the current Virginia headcoach) had played a 35-33 game with Clemson theprevious year under Head Coach John Mackovic.

But Clemson was heavily favored and Fordadded a few to the roster late in the week, even tothe point of using some players with the same num-ber. I never got the memo. I knew the #44 on de-fense, that was Otis Lindsey. But I doubt he hadsuddenly decided to switch positions in pregame.

When #44 scored, outside public address an-nouncer Freeman Martin gave the touchdown toLindsey, but I knew that could not be right. On theinside press box P.A., we had to say, “guys, we don’tknow who scored that touchdown.” That broughtgreat laughter from the media.

We did not have cell phones or walkie-talkiesin those days, but there was a phone line to the side-lines. I got on the phone, and it rang and rang untilsomeone picked it up. I asked the manager on the

other end to find out who that #44 was on offensethat scored to give Clemson an 82-24 lead.

I was finally told that it was Craig Crawford,who had never carried the ball until this day. I hadnot even noticed him on the scout team that week.We finally issued a correction. Crawford would moveto defensive end in 1982 and became a starter bythe end of his career.

The other memory of this game that jumps outconcerns the Tiger mascot. Clemson was scoringtouchdowns at an alarming rate, and Tiger mascotRicky Capps was running out of gas. The DemonDeacon mascot could see Capps was struggling todo his pushups after each score, so after a DukeHolloman touchdown gave Clemson a 76-24 lead,he came over to the Tiger side of the field, and hedid the pushups for him.

Capps still set all kinds of pushup records thatday for a Clemson mascot, performing 464 overall,even without the 76 done by the Demon Deaconmascot after Clemson’s 11th touchdown.

It took me some time to figure out all therecords Clemson set on a team and conferencebasis on this day. Many still stand today, includingrushing yards (536), highest perfect third-down con-version percentage (12-12), points in an ACC game(82), touchdowns (12), yards of total offense (756),points in a quarter (35), and first downs (35).

Stars of the GameOffense - Perry Tuttle had seven receptions for 161yards and two touchdowns. The reception yardagetotal is still fourth-best in Clemson history enteringthe 2006 season. His day included a 75-yard scor-ing catch from Homer Jordan and a 25-yard scoringreception from Mike Gasque.Defense - On a day when the offense had 756 yards,it is difficult to concentrate on a defensive player,

but we will go with Jeff Davis,who had 10 tackles while play-ing less than half the game tolead all Tiger tacklers.

Stat of the GameClemson was a perfect 12-12

on third down in this game, andthe record 100-percent rate hasnot been duplicated by a Tigerteam since.

Note of InterestClemson punters could have

stayed home. Clemson did notpunt, as the Tigers were 12-12on third-down conversions, andscored 12 touchdowns in thegame by eight different players.

It took a while for someone in the press box to identify CraigCrawford after his 72-yard touchdown against Wake Forest.

Impact on the PollsClemson improved to #2 by AP and #3 by UPI.

It Was Said“I don’t think Clemson tried to run up the score.

I’ve always felt it was my job to stop them. Clemsonwas more than gracious. I thought Clemson playedlike a class football team. They played the way theyare suppose to play. When a football team playslike that, I appreciate their efforts.”Wake Forest Head Coach Al Groh


Game 9The 1981 North Carolina Game

Jeff McCall was the top rusher and scoredthe only touchdown against the Tar Heels.

Game StatsClemson 0 7 3 0 10North Carolina 0 5 3 0 8

UNC Barwick 22 FG, 2nd, 12:44CU McCall 7 run (Paulling kick), 2nd, 6:54UNC TEAM safety, 2nd, 0:14CU Igwebuike 39 FG, 3rd, 6:17UNC Barwick 26 FG, 3rd, 0:30Attendance - 53,611

Team Statistics CU UNCFirst Downs 17 16Rushing 61-171 42-84Passing 7-10-0 13-30-0Passing Yards 83 179Total Offense 71-254 72-263Yards/Play 3.6 3.7Fumbles-Lost 4-1 4-2Turnovers 1 2Penalties 4-30 4-40Interceptions 0-0 0-0Punt Returns 3-43 1-19Kickoff Returns 1-14 3-48Punting 7-31.4 7-39.1Third-Down Conversions 6-17 4-15Sacks By Defense 6-31 4-31Time of Possession 32:52 27:08

Rushing (Rush-Yards-TD)CU McCall 16-84-1, Austin 10-39, Mack 9-29UNC Burrus 5-38, Anthony 8-31, Bryant 13-31

Passing (Cm-Att-Yards-I-TD)CU Jordan 7-10-83-0-0UNC Stankavage 8-21-93-0-0, Elkins 4-8-65-0-0,

Anthony 1-1-21-0-0

Receiving (Rec-Yards-TD)CU Gaillard 4-27, Tuttle 3-56UNC Richardson 4-48, Smith 3-41, Griffin 2-51

TacklesCU J. Davis 15, Triplett 11, Bryant 9, Kinard 9, Benish

8, Richardson 7

Recovered FumblesCU Bryant 1, Hall 1

Clemson 10North Carolina 8

November 7, 1981 • Kenan Stadium • Chapel Hill, NC

It certainly took a while for the national mediato catch on to the fact that this Clemson team justmight be a factor in the national title race. Enteringthe North Carolina game in Chapel Hill, Clemsonwas #2 in the AP poll and #3 in the UPI poll.

The week of the game, Alexander Wolff, thena very young writer for Sports Illustrated who isnow renowned for his books about basketball, cameto Clemson to do a story on the Tigers. “The PawsHave Given Cause for Pause,” was the title of thefour-page article on the Tigers. The game was tele-vised to 60 percent of the nation by ABC.

Not only had Clemson’s high national rankingand an outrageous 82 points against Wake Forestthe previous week brought attention to this game,but North Carolina was 7-1 entering the contest andranked #8 in the nation in the AP poll. This was thefirst matchup of top-10 ACC teams in history, and itwould be the only top-10 ACC matchup in the first43 years of the league.

Much of the pregame talk centered around thehealth of North Carolina running back Kelvin Bryantand quarterback Rod Elkins. Bryant had receivednational attention by scoring 15 touchdowns in thefirst three games of the season, but he had suffereda knee injury and had not played in the last fiveweeks. Elkins had suffered an ankle injury in NorthCarolina’s loss to South Carolina.

This was a defensive battle from the get-go,and the hard-hitting was a reason there were sixcombined fumbles by the two teams in the first quar-ter. However, only one resulted in a turnover, a re-covered fumble by Clemson’s Hollis Hall.

North Carolina had a 3-0 lead when Clemsonfinally got a drive going in the second quarter. TheTigers drove 81 yards in 14 plays, 12 of which wererunning plays. Jeff McCall, the unsung hero in thisgame with 84 yards rushing, scored on a seven-yard run to give Clemson a 7-3 lead.

Clemson had the momentum until the end ofthe half. Dale Hatcher stood near his own goal linepreparing to punt on a fourth-and-14, but his puntwas blocked by Danny Barlow and rolled throughthe endzone for a safety with just 14 seconds re-maining. It made the score 7-5 and gave the TarHeels all the momentum going into halftime.

Danny Ford’s first five minutes of the second-half theory proved to be true in this game. NorthCarolina had the ball first in the second half, but theTar Heels went three-and-out thanks to a 10-yardsack by Jeff Bryant.

Clemson then used 6:17 off the clock on thenext drive and scored on a 39-yard field goal byDonald Igwebuike, giving the Tigers a 10-5 lead. Itwould be Clemson’s only third-quarter possession.

North Carolina came back on its next posses-sion to drive 79 yards in 17 plays. Again, it was a

key play by the defense that forced the field goal.With a first-and-goal from the Clemson four, JeffDavis and Terry Kinard combined on a five-yard lossfor Bryant on a sweep play.

The game came down to the final North Caro-lina possession. After Hatcher’s coffin-corner kickpinned the Tar Heels on their own two with 2:19 left,Scott Stankavage guided North Carolina to its own40 with over a minute left. Stankavage actuallycaught a 14-yard halfback option pass from Bryantto move the ball to the 40.

But on first-and-10 from the 40, Stankavagethrew what he thought was a forward pass in theright flat to Alan Burrus. The ball was behind Burrusand sat on the ground for what seemed to be aneternity. Bryant was the only player on both teamswho thought it might be a lateral. He sprinted overand dove on the ball. The officials gave Clemsonpossession and that was the game. There wouldhave been a replay today, but not in 1981.

The Greenville News Sunday morning addi-tion had what might be the best headline I have seenin my 29 years at Clemson...“Tigers are 10-8-cious.”

Stars of the GameOffense - Jeff McCall gained a season-high 84 yardsfrom his fullback position to lead all rushers. Healso scored the only touchdown for either team.Defense - Jeff Bryant had eight tackles, includingtwo sacks, and recovered the most important fumbleof the season in the 10-8 victory.

Stat of the GameFreshman Dale Hatcher had his worst aver-

age of the season with a 36.6-yard mark on six punts,but he also had his most important punt of the sea-

son, a 47-yard boot with 2:19 left that pinned the TarHeels back on their own two.

Note of InterestOne of the interesting side-battles of this game

involved the Richardson brothers. Mark was a re-serve defensive end (all 194 pounds of him) forClemson, and Jon was the top wideout for NorthCarolina. Jon led North Carolina in receptions withfour catches for 48 yards, and Mark had a career-high seven tackles. Both now work together as presi-dents with the Carolina Panthers.

Impact on the PollsClemson remained #2 in the AP poll and

moved to #2 in the UPI poll with the win.

It Was Said“We were preparing to play against Kelvin

Bryant, Rod Elkins, and even Lawrence Taylor incase he came back from the pros. It was a verytight ballgame. We played too tight emotionally andhad a lot of breakdowns. But we played some gooddefense when we had to.”Clemson Head Coach Danny Ford


Game 10The 1981 Maryland Game

Homer Jordan threw for a career-high 270yards and had 312 yards of total offense inthe ACC title-clinching win over Maryland.

Game StatsMaryland 0 0 0 7 7Clemson 7 14 0 0 21

CU Tuttle 14 pass from Jordan (Paulling kick), 1st, 0:04CU Tuttle 5 pass form Jordan (Paulling kick), 2nd, 6:06CU Gaillard 12 pass from Jordan (Paulling kick), 2nd, 2:00UMD Wysocki 7 run (Atkinson kick), 4th, 13:38Attendance - 63,199

Team Statistics UMD CUFirst Downs 18 28Rushing 30-44 52-199Passing 18-45-0 20-29-1Passing Yards 192 270Total Offense 75-236 81-469Yards/Play 3.1 5.8Fumbles-Lost 2-0 3-2Turnovers 0 3Penalties 4-20 11-119Interceptions 1-1 0-0Punt Returns 1-5 2-22Kickoff Returns 2-37 0-0Punting 8-41.8 4-44.0Third-Down Conversions 7-19 5-12Sacks By Defense 1-8 5-35Time of Possession 25:50 34:10

Rushing (Rush-Yards-TD)UMD Wysocki 15-59-1, Milkovich 2-6, Brkovich 2-4CU Austin 15-55, Mack 18-54, C. McSwain 8-48

Passing (Cm-Att-Yards-I-TD)UMD Esiason 15-38-167-0-0, Milkovich 3-7-25-0-0CU Jordan 20-29-270-1-3

Receiving (Rec-Yards-TD)UMD Brkovich 5-37, Tice 4-53, Nash 3-39CU Tuttle 10-151-2, Magwood 3-50, Gaillard 2-30-1

TacklesCU J. Davis 16, Kinard 9, Bryant 7

Maryland 7Clemson 21

November 14, 1981 • Memorial Stadium • Clemson, SC

For the fourth time in the last five weeks,Clemson was playing against a team that had de-feated the Tigers during the 1980 season. For a 15-year period in the 1970s and 1980s, it seemed likeMaryland and Clemson had played a game that waspivotal towards deciding the ACC Championship.While Maryland entered this game with a 3-5-2record, Clemson needed the victory to clinch theoutright ACC title.

It was Senior Day at Clemson, and one of theschool’s greatest classes in history was playing itsfinal home game. It seems the final home gamecan bring out the best in a senior. Just a year ear-lier, Willie Underwood had a career game in his finalgame as a Tiger. He had never had an interceptionin his four years, then had two in the home victoryover South Carolina that jumpstarted Clemson to-wards success in 1981.

In 1981, it was Jerry Gaillard’s turn. AmongClemson’s top-10 wide receivers of all time in termsof catches entering his final home game, Gaillardhad never caught a touchdown pass. Incredible asit may seem today, Perry Tuttle had been the onlyTiger to catch a touchdown pass in both 1979 and1980. And while Gaillard had 12 catches at this junc-ture in 1981, he still had not scored a touchdown.

Homer Jordan was a junior, but he played likea senior quarterback with no tomorrow, especiallyin the first half. Danny Ford’s headset must not havebeen working in the first half, as Offensive Coordi-nator Nelson Stokely called pass play after pass play.And everything seemed to work.

Jordan was 15-18 for 214 yards and threetouchdowns in the first half, unheard of numbers forClemson in those days and very good numbers bytoday’s standards. He led the Tigers to 308 yardsof total offense in the first half and a 21-0 lead.

He also led the Tigers on a 61-yard drive for ascore in the first quarter, connecting on a 14-yardscoring pass to Tuttle with four seconds left in thequarter. Then on Clemson’s first possession of thesecond quarter, he led the Tigers on an 88-yard drivethat ended with a five-yard scoring pass to Tuttle.

Tuttle would finish his final home game with10 catches for 151 yards and two scores, amongthe top receiving games in school history. His 10catches moved him into first place in school historyin career catches with 142, three more than JerryButler had from 1975-78. Ironically, Tuttle would seehis career record eclipsed 12 years later when TerrySmith surpassed his record in his final home game.

While the crowd was rejoicing in Tuttle’s suc-cess, the team, and Tuttle for that matter, were mostexcited on the next possession when Jordan com-pleted a 12-yard scoring pass to Gaillard, the popu-lar senior from Yuma, AZ. He had finally scored,and Tuttle was the first player there to congratulatehim. That score gave Clemson a 21-0 lead, and allbut assured the ACC Championship.

I started searching the Clemson recordbooksfor the passing marks at halftime, but Maryland madea few changes at intermission. Jerry Claiborne wasone of the top coaches of the era and made someadjustments that kept Clemson out of the endzoneduring the second half. Still, Clemson finished with270 yards passing, a career high for Jordan, and469 yards of total offense.

The defense allowed one touchdown in thefourth quarter, something I am sure made Jeff Davisupset, as the senior wanted a shutout in his finalhome game. Still, he was credited with 16 tackles,many against Maryland star Charlie Wysocki, whohad run through Clemson for three touchdowns theprevious year in a 34-7 Maryland romp.

The Maryland quarterback this day wasBoomer Esiason, the future NFL star who took Cin-cinnati to the Super Bowl. Esiason started threegames against Clemson in his career and finishedwith an 0-3 record.

A look back to the postgame quotes from Fordwas revealing in one sense. “This group of seniorsdeserves a lot of credit. When they came back inAugust, they had their goals set. First, they wantedto win the ACC title. Second, they wanted to winthe state title. And third, they wanted to go to a majorbowl. They accomplished the first goal today.”

Interesting to note that there was never a men-tion of a national title as a legitimate goal, even witha 10-0 record.

Stars of the GameOffense - Homer Jordan completed 20-29 passesfor 270 yards and three touchdowns. He also added42 yards rushing for a career-high 312 yards of totaloffense. He was named ACC Back-of-the-Week.Defense - Playing in his final home game, Jeff Davisled the Tigers with 16 tackles, including 10 first hits.

Stat of the GameThe Tiger defense forced at least one turnover

in every game but the Maryland game. Clemsonalso had a season-high 119 penalty yards, penal-ties that kept it from winning by more than 18 points.

Note of InterestJerry Gaillard waited until his final home game

to score his first career touchdown, a 12-yard catchfrom Homer Jordan in the second quarter.

Impact on the PollsClemson remained #2 in both polls.

It Was Said“Perry Tuttle is fast and has good hands. I

was there, but Jordan made a perfect throw on thefirst touchdown. On the second touchdown, I madesure Tuttle wasn’t going to beat me on the outside.He went inside, and again the throw was on themoney. It was one of those days.”Maryland cornerback David Taylor


Game 11The 1981 South Carolina Game

The McSwain brothers had a huge impact on Clemson defeating theGamecocks. Chuck (left) rushed for 151 yards, and Rod (right)

blocked a punt that changed the momentum of the game.

Game StatsClemson 6 9 7 7 29South Carolina 7 0 6 0 13

USC Wright 1 run (Fleetwood kick), 1st, 9:05CU Rembert recovered blocked punt (Paulling kick failed), 1st, 5:28CU Paulling 24 FG, 2nd, 12:10CU Jordan 11 run (pass failed), 2nd, 4:39USC Smith 10 pass from Beckham (run failed), 3rd, 10:28CU C. McSwain 1 run (Paulling kick), 3rd, 4:07CU C. McSwain 23 run (Paulling kick), 4th, 9:32Attendance - 56,971

Team Statistics CU USCFirst Downs 23 17Rushing 64-254 43-105Passing 7-13-1 9-28-2Passing Yards 80 100Total Offense 77-334 71-205Yards/Play 4.3 2.9Fumbles-Lost 4-2 1-0Turnovers 3 2Penalties 8-65 8-88Interceptions 2-28 1-0Punt Returns 3-39 2-11Kickoff Returns 2-35 5-110Punting 4-41.5 8-36.4Third-Down Conversions 6-15 3-14Sacks By Defense 5-44 2-9Time of Possession 31:28 28:32

Rushing (Rush-Yards-TD)CU C. McSwain 25-151-2, Austin 17-66, Jordan 12-

25-1USC Wright 16-68-1, Hagood 12-48, Blasingame 2-3

Passing (Cm-Att-Yards-I-TD)CU Jordan 7-13-80-1-0USC Beckham 9-28-100-2-1

Receiving (Rec-Yards-TD)CU Tuttle 3-46, Gaillard 2-17, Mack 2-17USC Smith 5-57-1, Blasingame 2-19, Berry 1-13

Interceptions (Int-Yards)CU Hall 1-28, Childers 1-0USC Pealotte 1-0

TacklesCU J. Davis 15, Bryant 12, Kinard 6

Clemson 29South Carolina 13

November 21, 1981 • Williams-Brice Stadium • Columbia, SC

That orange scourge was in the form of run-ning back Chuck McSwain, Rod McSwain’s olderbrother. He was not to be outdone this day by hissibling, as he had a career-high 151 yards rushingand two scores. Both scores came in the secondhalf when he had 111 yards and two touchdowns.He was the big reason Clemson gained 254 yardson the ground and controlled the flow of the game.

Clemson needed McSwain’s big second half,because the Gamecocks actually cut Clemson’sadvantage to 15-13 on their first possession of thethird quarter. Gordon Beckham, who’s son with thesame name is the current starting shortstop at Geor-gia, threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to HoraceSmith with 10:28 left in the third quarter. It markedjust the second time all year an opponent had scoredmore than one touchdown against the Tiger defense.

The next drive was classic Clemson. SouthCarolina stopped Perry Tuttle at the 14 on his kick-off return. But the Tigers then drove 86 yards in 18plays. Chuck McSwain had 29 of those yards rush-ing, including the touchdown with 4:07 left, puttingClemson in front 22-13. Two possessions later,McSwain gained 52 yards on an 80-yard drive, againending with a touchdown, this time from 23 yards.

South Carolina totaled just two first downs inthe fourth quarter thanks to a defense led by BillSmith, who had two sacks in the game. The Game-cocks ended the contest with just 205 yards of totaloffense and a 32-percent completion mark.

Tiger fans, who were certainly concerned thatthis South Carolina team was capable of ruining their“dream season,” could now breath again.

Stars of the GameOffense - Chuck McSwain gained 151 yards on 25carries, including 110 yards in the second half. He

was named the NationalAmateur Athlete-of-the-Week by ESPN.Defense - Bill Smith hadfive first hits, includingtwo sacks of GordonBeckham, to key the de-fense that held theGamecocks to 205yards of total offense.

Stat of the GameThe victory com-

pleted a perfect regularseason for the Tigers.The last time Clemsonhad a perfect regularseason was 1948, theyear Danny Ford wasborn.

“Sometimes you just can’t make this stuff up,”my former boss (the late Bob Bradley) used to say.That was the case with the odd coincidence con-cerning a blocked put in Clemson’s victory overSouth Carolina in 1981.

Clemson entered the 1981 game with a per-fect record and needed just one more win to closeout its first perfect regular season since 1948. Inthat season, the Tigers had defeated South Caro-lina by a score of 13-7 at midseason (it was the BigThursday era of the rivalry) thanks to a blocked puntby Phil Prince. With the line of scrimmage the SouthCarolina 28 and Clemson trailing with under five min-utes left, Prince blocked a punt. The ball was re-covered at the 11 by Oscar Thompson, who ran it infor a touchdown with just 4:15 left in the game.

Thirty-three years later, Clemson trailed SouthCarolina 7-0 in the first quarter. With the line of scrim-mage the Gamecock 28, Chris Norman waited toreceive the punt snap. Rod McSwain came in fromthe left and blocked the punt. Johnny Rembert, wholater became a teammate of McSwain in the NFL,pounced on the ball in the endzone for a touchdown.

Two undefeated seasons and two blockedpunts 33 years apart led to scores in the sameendzone in the same stadium. And the line of scrim-mage was the same at the same end of the field.

While that 1981 blocked punt took place in thefirst quarter and Clemson still trailed after the play(the Tigers missed the extra point), the momentumhad definitely swung to Clemson’s favor.

As noted columnist Furman Bisher of the At-lanta Constitution wrote, “The momentum hadswitched. The Tigers were back on top of their game,doing what they do best, playing defense, and it wasa matter of time before they would ride over theGamecocks like an orange scourge.”

Note of InterestRod McSwain’s blocked punt in the second

quarter was recovered in the endzone by JohnnyRembert. Both would go on to be teammates withthe New England Patriots for seven years and playedin the 1986 Super Bowl against the Chicago Bears.

Impact on the PollsClemson remained #2 in the country in both

polls after the contest. The following weekend, PennState thrashed undefeated Pittsburgh by a score of48-14, allowing Clemson to move to #1 in both pollsentering the bowl season. Clemson had 63 of the67 AP first-place votes and 33 of the 42 UPI first-place votes.

It Was Said“Our seniors have given us great leadership.

We’re proud of everyone associated with this team.If everyone hadn’t done their part, we couldn’t haveaccomplished what we’ve done so far. We havedone a lot, but there is still a lot to play for.”Clemson Head Coach Danny Ford


Game 12The 1982 Orange Bowl vs. Nebraska

William Devane’s recovered fumble on the game’s third play told JeffDavis, “This isn’t going to be any different from the previous 11 games.”

Nebraska 15Clemson 22

January 1, 1982 • Orange Bowl • Miami, FL

After Clemson defeated South Carolina 29-13to close the regular season, the Tigers were stillranked #2 in the nation behind Pittsburgh and quar-terback Dan Marino. The future NFL Hall of Famerhad actually narrowed his decision out of high schoolto Clemson and Pittsburgh, because he was con-sidering playing both football and baseball.

But on Thanksgiving weekend, Penn Statetrounced Pittsburgh 48-14, moving the Tigers intothe #1 position entering the bowl games. Lookingback, that was huge for the Tigers, because thereprobably would not have been a Clemson-Pittsburghmatchup because teams had made deals with bowlsprior to Thanksgiving.

When Pittsburgh lost, it dropped like a rock inthe polls, all the way to #10 by AP. So entering thebowl games, Clemson was #1, the seventh different#1 team in 1981, and Georgia was #2. That meantif Clemson won, it would be national champions. HadPittsburgh also been undefeated heading into thebowls, Clemson could have been 12-0 and not wonthe national title if Pittsburgh was also undefeated.

Nebraska was hoping for dominos to fall, justas it had for Notre Dame in 1977 when the Irish wentfrom #5 to #1 on January 1. Even though TomOsborne’s Cornhuskers had lost two games in theregular season, the Cornhuskers were ranked #4entering the bowl games and were on an eight-gamewinning streak. They knew if they beat Clemson inthe Orange Bowl, Pittsburgh beat Georgia in theSugar Bowl, and Texas beat Alabama in the CottonBowl, they could jump all the way to #1 and giveOsborne his first national title.

Despite Clemson’s unbeaten record, the onlyunbeaten team in college football entering the bowlgames, there was still a feeling that Georgia could

leapfrog the Tigers with an impressive victory overPittsburgh and an unimpressive Tiger victory overNebraska. That might seem absurd since Clemsonbeat Georgia head-to-head, but Herschel Walker andthe Bulldogs had a national following and had wonthe title the previous year. And, they had won everygame since losing to the Tigers back in September.

That is why the lead story in our media packetfor the Orange Bowl was an article by Dan Foster(Greenville News) that had the headline, “Herschelwould vote for Clemson if both teams win.” Walkerwas just being honest, but I am sure Georgia HeadCoach Vince Dooley wished he had not been quitethat honest with Mr. Foster.

Even though Clemson was the only undefeatedteam in the nation and Nebraska had two losses,the Cornhuskers were a four-point favorite enteringthis clash that would be nationally televised, the onlytime all season someone in California could see theTigers play. The Cornhuskers had great traditionand they still do, but they had won two NationalChampionships in 1970 and 1971, and had the third-best record in college football during the 1970s.

In fact, they had won the 1971 national title inan Orange Bowl win over Alabama and AssistantCoach Danny Ford, so Ford was trying to erase hisown demons in the Orange Bowl 10 years later.

The media did not give the ACC much respect,calling it a “basketball conference.” In fact, Ford’sparting comment to the media after this game was,“Well, it’s on to basketball season.” (And North Caro-lina did win the national title that next March, thefirst time the conference won the two major titles inthe same academic year.)

While looking back, it seems odd that Nebraskawas favored in this game...they did come in riding

an eight-gamewinning streak,averaging 330yards per gameon the ground.They had justwon at Okla-homa by a scoreof 37-14, onlythe second timein the last nineyears they haddefeated theCornhuskers .And, they had abackfield that in-cluded MikeRozier, the win-ner of the 1983Heisman Tro-phy, and Roger

Craig, who would go on to a successful NFL careerwith the San Francisco 49ers. They had played atough schedule, with non-conference games againstIowa, Florida State, Penn State, and Auburn.

The Clemson players were excited enoughprior to the game, but NBC held the start of the game17 minutes due to the length of the Rose Bowl gamebetween Penn State and Southern California. Thegame finally kicked off at 8:17 PM, and it did nottake long for things to go Clemson’s way.

On Nebraska’s first drive and third play fromscrimmage, Cornhusker quarterback Mark Mauerfumbled and William Devane recovered at the Ne-braska 33. Mauer had been the second-string quar-terback for Nebraska much of the season, but wasthe starter in this game due to an injury to TurnerGill, who was a sophomore at the time. Gill is nowthe head coach at Buffalo.

“We had been forcing turnovers all year, andthat play told us that this game would be no differ-ent,” said Jeff Davis. “It gave us confidence.”

Game StatsNebraska 7 0 0 8 15Clemson 6 6 10 0 22

CU Igwebuike 41 FG, 1st, 11:39NEB Steels 25 pass from Rozier (Seibel kick), 1st, 6:43CU Igwebuike 37 FG, 1st, 1:03CU Austin 2 run (pass failed), 2nd, 3:56CU Tuttle 13 pass from Jordan (Paulling kick), 3rd, 6:12CU Igwebuike 36 FG, 3rd, 2:36NEB Craig 26 run (Craig run), 4th, 9:15Attendance - 72,748

Team Statistics NEB CUFirst Downs 13 17Rushing 40-193 54-155Passing 6-17-0 11-22-1Passing Yards 63 134Total Offense 57-256 76-289Yards/Play 4.5 3.8Fumbles-Lost 3-2 3-0Turnovers 2 1Penalties 8-64 7-57Interceptions 1-0 0-0Punt Returns 1-12 3-58Kickoff Returns 2-50 4-93Punting 6-43.0 4-45.8Third-Down Conversions 6-15 7-17Sacks By Defense 2-10 1-12Time of Possession 27:54 32:06

Rushing (Rush-Yards-TD)NEB Craig 10-87-1, Rozier 15-75, Bates 6-24CU McCall 12-48, Jordan 16-46, C. McSwain 12-

24, Austin 7-22-1, Mack 5-15

Passing (Cm-Att-Yards-I-TD)NEB Mauer 5-15-38-0-0, Rozier 1-1-25-0-1, Fryar 0-

1-0-0-0CU Jordan 11-22-134-1-1

Receiving (Rec-Yards-TD)NEB J. Williams 2-8, Steels 1-25-1, Brown 1-13,

Rozier 1-11, Wilkening 1-6CU Tuttle 5-56-1, Gaillard 3-26, Diggs 2-10,

Magwood 1-42

TacklesCU J. Davis 14, Smith 10, Benish 8, Bryant 5, Hall

5, Headen 5, Triplett 5

Recovered FumblesCU J. Davis 1, Devane 1


Game StatsRk Team Head Coach W-L1. Clemson Danny Ford 12-02. Texas Fred Akers 10-1-13. Penn State Joe Paterno 10-24. Pittsburgh Jackie Sherrill 11-15. Southern Methodist Ron Meyer 10-16. Georgia Vince Dooley 10-27. Alabama Bear Bryant 9-2-18. Miami (FL) Howard Schnellenberger 9-29. North Carolina Dick Crum 10-2

10. Washington Don James 10-211. Nebraska Tom Osborne 9-312. Michigan Bo Schembechler 9-313. Brigham Young LaVell Edwards 11-214. Southern California John Robinson 9-315. Ohio State Earle Bruce 9-316. Arizona State Darryl Rogers 9-217. West Virginia Don Nehlen 9-318. Iowa Hayden Fry 8-419. Missouri Warren Powers 8-420. Oklahoma Barry Switzer 7-4-1

Game 12The 1982 Orange Bowl vs. Nebraska

Quarterback Homer Jordan was namedOffensive MVP of the 1982 Orange Bowl.

Clemson could not score a touchdown afterthe fumble, but Donald Igwebuike came on to boothis first of three field goals, this one a 41-yarder thatwould have been good from 60 yards.

The Cornhuskers came right back and drove69 yards for a score in just eight plays on the ensu-ing drive. They used a trick play to score, as Rozierthrew a 25-yard halfback pass to Anthony Steels forsix points. It is the only touchdown pass over TerryKinard that I can remember over the last two yearsof his career. Clemson added a field goal and trailed7-6 after the first quarter, the eighth time in 12 gamesClemson went to the second quarter without hold-ing the lead in 1981.

The second quarter was the most dominantfor the Tigers in 1981, outscoring the opposition 133-15 for the season, and this game was no different.A fumble by Nebraska’s Phil Bates that was recov-ered by Davis, his record fourth recovered fumbleof the season, gave Clemson the ball at the Ne-braska 27. A series of runs brought the ball to thetwo, where Cliff Austin scored on a sweep.

It had been quite a day for Austin, who wastrapped in an elevator for two hours in the Clemsonteam hotel that afternoon. Frank Howard was quotedin the Miami Herald as having said in the press box,“Well, Coach Ford told the players to stay off theirfeet as much as possible.”

Clemson held a 12-7 lead at halftime. WhileClemson did not score on its first possession of thesecond half, it did record a touchdown on its secondpossession. The Tigers drove 75 yards in 12 playson their best drive of the night. Homer Jordan con-nected with Perry Tuttle on a 13-yard scoring passin the left corner of the endzone.

For Tuttle, it was his eighth touchdown catchof the season, establishing a school record. His post-touchdown celebration was captured on the coverof Sports Illustrated, the only time a current Tigerathlete has made the cover of the publication. Thatgave Clemson a 19-7 lead.

Clemson forced a three-and-out on the nextNebraska possession, and freshman Billy Davis re-turned the punt 47 yards to the Nebraska 22. It wouldbe the longest punt return of his career. Igwebuikebooted a 36-yard field goal to give Clemson a 22-7lead. The Tigers had scored 19 consecutive points.

On the first play after the kickoff, Mauer at-tempted a pass in the left flat. Johnny Rembert, abackup linebacker on this team who would go on toa 10-year NFL career, jumped in the passing laneand had the ball in his hands for an easy touch-down. But he could not hang on. Had he done so,this game might have turned into a rout.

Nebraska was a championship team and cer-tainly was not down, even with a 15-point deficit.Mauer took the Cornhuskers 69 yards in eight plays,and Nebraska scored on a Roger Craig 26-yard run.It was the longest run all year against the Tigers.

Nebraska lined up to go for two points, but waspenalized for delay of game. Much to everyone’ssurprise, they still went for two, and Craig scoredfrom the eight on a pitchout to the left. Momentumappeared to have shifted with over nine minutes left.

The momentum really shifted for Nebraskafans when it was learned about this time that Pitts-burgh was going to beat #2 Georgia in the SugarBowl. Texas had already beaten #3 Alabama in theCotton Bowl earlier in the afternoon. This meant a

Cornhusker victory over the top-ranked Tigers wouldin fact give them the national title.

Clemson then went three-and-out, so Ne-braska took over the ball at its own 37 down justseven points with 7:49 left. But, the Cornhuskerswere called for holding on their first play, and a badpitchout by Mauer on third-and-four forced a punt.

Clemson then took over the ball with 5:24 left,and Jordan and the Tiger offense worked their ball-control magic. Nebraska could not stop Clemson’soffensive line. The Tigers converted two importantthird downs, including a 23-yard run by Jordan onthird-and-four from the Tiger 37.

Jordan was physically dehydrated after thisdrive, and one has to wonder if he would have beenable to come back for another possession. He wasvirtually carried off the field after the game and wasgiven IVs. Even though he was voted OffensiveMVP, you will not find any quotes from him after thegame, because it was far past the media’s deadlinebefore he came out of the locker room.

Clemson ran the clock down to six secondsbefore giving the ball up. The Cornhuskers had onelast chance from their own 46, but Andy Headenknocked away their final long pass, and Clemsonbecame the first ACC team to win the national titlesince 1953.

Stars of the GameOffense - Homer Jordan completed 11-22 passesfor 134 yards and a touchdown, and gained 46 yardson 16 carries.Defense - Jeff Davis was named Defensive MVPthanks to his 14 tackles that held the Nebraska of-fense to just 15 points and 256 yards.

Stat of the GameCliff Austin scored a touchdown to put Clemson

up 12-7 in the second quarter. As a freshman in1978, he scored what proved to be the winningtouchdown in the 1978 Gator Bowl against OhioState. In both bowl games that Austin scored atouchdown, Clemson allowed the opposition just 15points. Those were the only two games between1972-89 that the opposition scored exactly 15 points.

Note of InterestPerry Tuttle was on the cover of Sports Illus-

trated the week following the Orange Bowl. It wasthe first of consecutive weeks with a Tiger connec-tion on the cover. The following week, Dwight Clarkwas on the cover for “The Catch” in the 49ers’ NFCChampionship game victory over Dallas.

Impact on the PollsClemson was the unanimous #1 team in the

nation in both polls following its win over Nebraska,giving Clemson its first national championship in anysport. In addition to the AP and UPI polls, Clemsonwas also proclaimed national champion by Sport-ing News, Sports Illustrated, Football Writers As-sociation, Football Coaches Association, ChicagoTribune, and Washington Touchdown Club.

It Was Said“All I can say is that Clemson has a great team.

We want to congratulate them. Our inability to movethe ball and commit five or six major penalties werea factor, but Clemson played great defensively.Clemson has the best defense we faced all year.Offensively, they did a great job, particularly in thefirst half when they dominated the line of scrimmage.I didn’t think they could do that to us. Also, wecouldn’t contain their quarterback Homer Jordan.This is probably the most disappointing loss I’ve everhad. There was so much at stake, and I thought wewere good enough to win. It (winning the nationaltitle) was in our hands, and we let it get away.”Nebraska Head Coach Tom Osborne

“Are we #1? Well, we’re the only team in thecountry that beat the #2 team (Georgia), the #4 team(Nebraska), and the #8 team (North Carolina). Nomatter what they say on the West Coast or in theSoutheast, no one else did that this year. We justwanted to stay close to them in the first quarter andmake sure it was close at the half. Our play was totry to whip them in the fourth quarter. I think we didthat. We reacted a little better than they did. Wemight have been more used to it. I’m glad its over.Nebraska is by far the best team we played all sea-son. I hope I’m not undercutting anyone on ourschedule, but they were the best.”Clemson Head Coach Danny Ford

1981 National Championship · PDF file1981 National Championship Season ... 91 Mike Wade DE...

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