Texas A&M has a tradition in which a student is selected to walk the sidelines as the 12th man. This student is the embodiment of the entire student body as the last player to have an affect on the opposing team. This past weekend, the Tiger Faithful developed the 12th man to perfection. After a week of reading requests from coach Tommy Bowden to be louder than they were for the Texas A&M game, the fans came prepared. A crowd of approximately 79,000 fans stayed throughout the whole 4 hour and 10 minute triple overtime ordeal to support their Tigers. Throughout the game the crowd tried to keep the intensity up to deter the Hurricanes. Even when down 10 points, the Tiger faithful knew they had to keep up the noise. They had seen it before, twice to be exact, the comeback in the fourth quarter, so they cheered on.
Miami had prepared the previous week by bringing in loud speakers and blaring Tiger Rag, the Clemson fight song, and crowd noise. They probably thought that they had simulated the situation well. They probably thought wrong. I can honestly say that I have never, in my now 9 years of attending Clemson games, seen the stadium as loud and active as I did this past Saturday. Upon entering OT, the hurricanes probably thought that they had heard all the crowd could deliver. What they failed to realize is that every Clemson fan knew the 5-0 record in OT that the Tigers held for the past seasons. They also failed to realize that every fan knows that the defense feeds on the noise levels of Death Valley. The crowd is like Audio Adrenaline for the defense, when the defense takes the field you can see them get pumped by the crowd. And finally, the ‘canes probably did not expect the AC/DC or GNR over the loudspeakers motivating the crowd. The student section swelled as they all jumped in unison in the stands, the rest of the stadium stayed on their feet and waved whatever they could grasp hold of while screaming and giving what remained of their voices to the cause. I have not seen an article yet describing the crowds intensity or failure to give up, all I do know is that if the rest of the season plays out in similar fashion that this is a whole new Death Valley.
Bobby Bowden told his son that coming into the game, the crowd would be a big factor. Bobby knows well how deafening Death Valley can be, he is after all the main rival in the ACC for the Tigers. The ‘canes, although prepared, showed signs of faltering on the line. There were many times when the canes QB, Wright, would stomp his foot for a man to go in motion without results. He would then stomp again, and finally have to signal to the motion man with his hands to go. Another point was the ‘canes huddle. Usually a team can cover a 5 yard space in a huddle, the ‘canes often had every helmet touching in attempts to get their play call in.
Another way that the crowd responded to Coach Bowdens call was in their offensive prowess. I was VERY impressed at how uniform 79,000 fans were when it came to the Tiger offense. Coach Bowden added to the request for noise on defense to try to be quieter on offense. The PAWvision even had a screen that said “QUIET: OFFENSE AT WORK”. The crowd would be going nuts one minute and as soon as we came out of the huddle would drop to a relative whisper. A friend who was watching the game on TV told me that you could hear Charlie’s snap counts loud and clear through the TV and even the sportscasters were commenting on how disciplined the crowd was.
Even though it was a loss, I will have to say that it is probably the best loss the team could have. A loss that went into triple overtime against a highly ranked team and into the books as the longest game in Clemson history. After the shocking game ending interception, the crowd cheered the Tigers as they left the field, a definite sign of the hope and fervor they have left in them for the rest of the season. The crowd has established itself and it’s patterns. The offense and defense have both discovered holes as well as strengths, and the team has lost what was a great and thrilling game. This game may be the defining turning point for the Tigers as the next game is against BC in the Valley. BC is coming off of a loss but the Tigers are at home, with a team that is only getting better and a crowd that has realized it’s potential. And if the cards fall right, this game COULD be played again……for the ACC conference title. But that is up to the fans and the Tigers to decide. Hopefully we play this well every week, and with the crowd behind them, the Tigers usually do.

(heck of a sports write up if I do say so myself!)

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