With Alabama opening the 2008 football season with a Out of Conference opponent I'm immediately reminded of the 2001 year when we did the same versus Oklahoma. What makes these two games similar, besides the point of them being national broadcast against well known programs is the point when we face OU in 2001 both fan bases enjoyed talking with each other about the things the two teams had in common. Traditions, uniforms that any football fan across the United States would recognize at the first glimpse, championships and how a new coach pulled OU out of its slump and the faith we had in Coach Frachione doing the same with Alabama.
Clemson, to a degree, shares a lot of things in common with Bama as well. The famed Howard's Rock the school advertises as part of their pre-game ritual. This same Frank Howard is a Bama guy, played for the Crimson Tide in the late 1920's before moving into coaching as a profession. He is credited for building the Clemson program into what it is today.
Cecil "Hootie" Ingram, a defensive back at Alabama in the early 1950's also coached at Clemson. In fact, he's credited with bringing the "Tiger Paw" to Clemson which is yet another one of their traditions.
No one that is a Clemson fan can forget Danny Ford who brought their last National Championship to Death Valley. And, of course we all know, Danny was also a member of the Alabama teams in the late 1960's.
We can go on and on with these comparisons. Tommy Bowden, Clemson head coach, was on the Alabama staff in the late 1980's working under Bill Curry. Last, but certainly not least is Dabo Swinney who was a member of our last national championship team in 1992 and also a former coach who started under Stalling and was here for the last half of the 1990's.
Ah, but there is one more comparison which brings us in to the present day. With the late season collapse at Alabama last year we all have spoken about how this team needs to finish, be mentally tough to go full speed from the kickoff until the final gun sounds.
Read the entire preview at the RollTideBama.com Blog
