November 5, 2000

1. Bring it on, bro - I'll eat it stewed and barbecued, as well as screwed, blewed and tatooed. Yes, I was wrong - wrong, wrong, wrong!!! - and am happy to admit it. I should have believed that O'Leary's men would have the strength of character to win that showdown. Like Mike DuBose, I considered submitting my resignation as a football pundit after watching Tech manhandle the orange tiggers. The only problem is, our beloved webmaster would probably accept it.

   But seriously - this was one for the ages, a very special game that really becomes a defining moment for a program. Bobby Dodd's victory over Alabama in 1962 was that kind of game. Bobby Ross's win over Virginia in 1990 was that kind of game. Bill Curry's win over Georgia in 1985 may even have been that kind of game. Tech-Clemson in the year 2000 takes its place among the biggest games in the school's history. I'm honored that I had the chance to watch it.

   There are many, many things we could talk about as great moments from that victory, but for me, the essence of the game was the way Georgia Tech refused to let Clemson sustain a lead. The Tigers were up 14-3 with only nine minutes gone in the first quarter, and it looked like it might turn into a blowout. But no - Tech ran off 13 straight points in the second quarter to take a 16-14 lead at halftime. Clemson took the lead again on Brian Mance's 88-yard punt return in the third quarter, but again Tech fought back with George Godsey's 48-yard bomb to Kelly Campbell. Once again, Clemson went ahead with less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter, and once again Tech would not quit. It all came down to the last 1:52 of the game, with Tech 80 yards away from Clemson's goal line. This was when the current edition of the Tech team took its place among the other great teams of school history with THE DRIVE, marching down the field to an incredible score that snatched victory away from the Tigers with but seven ticks left on the clock. Let's take a couple of minutes and review those 12 plays that took the Jackets from defeat to victory:

   Tech had the ball on its own 20 yard line. On the first play of the drive, Clemson was called for pass interference when its DB almost ripped Kelly Campbell's jersey off. The ball was moved from the Tech 20 to the 35. First and 10.

   Godsey completed a short pass to Joe Burns for four yards, and Tech was forced to call a timeout when Burns was tackled in-bounds. Second down and six yards to go.

   Godsey hit Nate Curry on a sideline pattern for 10 yards to the Tech 49. First and 10, with 1:27 on the clock.

   Godsey threw an incomplete pass. Second and 10. 1:24 left on the clock.

   Godsey hit Kerry Watkins for five yards to the Clemson 46. Third down and five.

   Russ Matvay caught a short pass at the Clemson 41 for a first down and made it out of bounds. 56 seconds left.

   Godsey threw incomplete, but Tech was flagged for holding, moving the ball back to the Tech 49. First and 20.

   Godsey hit Watkins over the middle for 22 yards and a first down at the Clemson 29. 40 seconds on the clock.

   Godsey threw the ball away, out of bounds. Second and 10. 34 seconds to go.

   Godsey tried to throw to Jonathan Smith at the sidelines, but the pass was broken up. Third and 10. 29 seconds left.

   Clemson jumped offsides, moving the ball to their 24. Third and five.

   Godsey hit Watkins over the middle again for eight yards to the Clemson 16. First down. 20 seconds on the clock.

   Godsey tried to throw to Campbell in the end zone, but Darrell Crutchfield flattened Campbell before the ball ever got there. The official, for some reason, swallowed his whistle and didn't throw the flag on one of the most blatant pass interferences ever. Even the TV announcing crew couldn't believe it. A horrible, horrible no-call, similar to the one that killed Tech's last chance to score against FSU earlier in the season. Only 13 seconds left in the game. Tech called a timeout.

   Last chance to win it. Watkins lined up wide to the left and started running for the corner of the end zone at the snap. He either was pushed or stumbled halfway through his pattern, but recovered and ran to the back line, toward the spot where Godsey had thrown the ball. Unbelievably, miraculously, Kerry extended his left hand and somehow grabbed the pass, pulling it toward his chest where he steadied it with his right hand and cradled it for the touchdown. Tech wins! Tech wins! Tech wins! There were but seven seconds left on the clock. Godsey directed Tech on THE DRIVE - Watkins finished it with THE CATCH.

   The roll call of the game's heroes is a long one . . . George Godsey completing 35 passes (more than any Tech quarterback ever completed in a game) for 454 yards (another Tech record) and three scores . . . Kelly Campbell getting open all day under Clemson's deep zone for 14 receptions and 209 yards . . . Chris Young moving to cornerback, where he helped contain Rod Gardner to three catches for 27 yards (now we know why O'Leary closed last week's practices to the media) . . . Greg Gathers, Nick Rogers, Tito Claybrooks and the other defensive warriors who sacked Clemson's quarterbacks four times, knocked Woody Dantzler out of the game and kept up the pressure all afternoon . . . Joe Burns, who pounded the ball inside for 98 tough yards and caught passes for another 65 yards . . . Cory Collins, who started at safety and thwarted several Clemson attempts to run the ball wide with heads-up pursuit and tackling . . . Jeremy Muyres, who ran down J. J. McKelvey on that long pass play in the fourth quarter and caught him on Tech's 12 yard line. Clemson subsequently missed a field goal after Claybrooks nailed Willie Simmons for a two-yard loss and Young broke up a third-down pass . . . the offensive line (Chris Brown, Raymond Roberts-Blake, David Schmidgall, Brent Key and John Bennett), which gave Godsey plenty of time to throw and only allowed two sacks on 57 pass plays . . . the entire defense, which held Clemson to its lowest points and yardage totals of the season, and never let the tiggers establish an offensive rhythm . . . and Kerry Watkins, who made that miracle catch at the back of the end zone with seven seconds on the clock. Kerry Watkins, who quit the team last summer but asked the coaches if he could come back. We can all be thankful that Kerry was man enough to admit his mistake, and that the coaching staff was open-minded enough to give him another shot at playing. Tech might not have won the game otherwise. Kerry's touchdown catch - THE CATCH - ranks right up there with Gary Lee's 95-yard kickoff return in the fog to beat Georgia in 1985. A great, great play that will never be forgotten by true Tech fans.

1. It is impossible to overestimate the importance of this win, because it did so many good things for the program -

   It made Tech bowl-eligible for the fourth straight year. The Jackets haven't been to four straight bowls since the 1950s (when it was a lot harder to do that).

   It put Tech back in the national rankings. But Jesus Christ, how can the coaches' poll leave Tech at number 26? It shows you that coaches are even dumber than sportswriters, if that's possible.

   It was the fourth straight victory for a school that emphasizes academics over a school that's just a football factory. (Tech has a chance to beat another football factory on Nov. 25, and I imagine that all those mutt fans who marked this game down as an automatic W in preseason are having some second thoughts now.)

   It proved, once and for all, that the program WILL keep winning despite the departure of Joe Hamilton. Before this season started, the consensus among the sportswriters was that Tech would slide right back into a mediocre rut with Joe gone - a couple of Journal/Constitution writers predicted the Jackets would win only five games. It was important for Tech to prove that the program is bigger than any one player, which we knew all along, and the victory over Clemson proves it to the whole world.

   It was the kind of high-profile win over a Top 10 team on national TV that will make high school players everywhere want to come to Georgia Tech and be a part of this great program. Remember that when Tech played Clemson in 1997, a high school prospect named Joe Frank Burns attended the game on a recruiting visit. Burns was so impressed by Tech's dramatic victory that he immediately committed to the Jackets. How many commitments do you think the latest victory over Clemson finalized?

1. Three little words: down and out. The first pass pattern that young boys learn when they start playing football is the down and out - you run downfield five or six steps, then cut at a right angle to the sideline. Simple and easy; one of the most basic football skills. That, basically, is what Tech did to Clemson in Memorial Stadium. The tiggers' DC, Reggie Herring, rightfully feared the speed of Tech's wide receivers, so he had his defensive backs playing a soft zone in an attempt to keep the Jackets from getting open deep. Ralph Friedgen saw what Herring was giving him and jumped on it like a seagull on a mullet. Ralph called sideline patterns to Kelly Campbell all afternoon, and Kelly was open almost every time he ran them. Godsey connected with Campbell on 13 of those short patterns before finally pulling the ripcord on a deep pattern in the fourth quarter for that 48-yard scoring pass. Campbell wound up with 14 catches for 209 yards and Clemson wound up . . . down and out.

   This was similar to what happened in the Georgia game last year when the mutts' brilliant defensive coordinator used a soft zone to try to cut off the deep throw. Tech instead threw underneath to Dez White and Campbell all game, and Campbell was still able to burn Jamie Henderson on a deep pattern for a score. Don't coaches ever learn?

1. George O'Leary has said all season long that this is a blue-collar bunch of guys who aren't slick and flashy, but who'll keep working hard to do the things it takes to win. I think the Clemson victory vividly demonstrated that. Time and again Tech fell behind, but they never gave up and they came back from their deficits every time until the game was won. It's instructive to compare this game to one that was played in Jacksonville on the same day. Georgia was leading Florida 17-9 and driving for a score at the close of the second quarter that could have put the game away. Instead, LaVonya Quintelle Carter threw an interception that Lito Sheppard returned 60 yards to set up a Florida touchdown and a two-point conversion. Georgia was still tied with Florida 17-17 at the half, but all the fight went out of the mutts and they rolled over meekly in the second half (thanks in large part to two turnovers by Carter). Tech, on the other hand, fell behind Clemson with less than two minutes left in the game, but never gave up. Instead, the Jackets drove 80 yards down the field to grab victory by the throat in the closing seconds. Now, which team do you think displayed more mental toughness?

1. It would be hard to top the one that Dallas Tiger posted on the Hive:

   CU will cover the 12

   . . . Clemson is significantly better in all phases of the game - run O & D and pass O & D - other than special teams. Tech's actually been outgained by its opponents this year, compared to Clemson outgaining its opponents by 233 yards a game. Even if you exclude the GT-FSU game to compare the teams against similar competition, Tech is only outgaining its opponents by 35 yards a game. (If you exclude FSU, Tech's schedule is slightly weaker than Clemson's according to Sagarin; the teams have 4 common opponents.) Even excluding the effects of the FSU game on Tech's stats, Clemson has the better rush offense (5.0 ypr vs. 4.0 for GT), rush defense (2.2 ypr vs. 2.7 ypr), pass offense (8.7 ypp vs. 7.9 ypp) and pass defense (6.0 ypp vs. 7.0 ypp). Of course, Tech has a ton of sacks, so if this were the NFL Tech's rush defense would look a lot worse, and its pass D would look a lot better.

   Clemson will be more focused than in recent weeks (4 straight non-covers vs. Duke, NC State, Maryland, and UNC) because GT is a team they lost to last year, unlike UNC and Maryland. (NC State covered because of the 9 extra days of prep time they had, along with a 7-point gift from the officials, and Duke was a classic case of a backdoor cover.)

   Call it Clemson 41-21.

   What I'd call it is one helluva bad prediction.

1. The fans at SEC schools spend half their time taunting ACC fans about this supposed talent gap, but SEC coaches don't seem to agree with them. Consider what has happened with Tech players in recent years - Zach Pillar played one year at Tech and transferred to Florida, where he quickly became a key starter on the offensive line. Tim Castro played one year at Tech and transferred to Auburn, where he is now starting on the O-line. LaVonya Quintelle Carter didn't even bother to show up at Tech because he knew he'd be warming the bench behind Joe Hamilton, so he went to an SEC school where he's been a starter for three years. Doesn't it seem just a little odd to you that players from a supposedly inferior conference could go to a supposedly superior conference and become starters? If ACC talent is so bad, then why do SEC coaches not only give scholarships to ACC transfers, they put them in the starting lineup?

1. I wasn't smoking anything, although I have been known to have a drink or two. The expansion scenario I offered in my last column was written a bit facetiously - we all know good and well that the kind of realignment I described would never happen in the real world. Convoluted? Maybe. Confusing? Just possibly. But I draw the line at inane. I prefer to call it visionary.