Learning to win

Someone on the board -- pretty sure it was TopGun -- wondered the other day how long it's been since Clemson squandered a 17-point deficit.

Said squandering sort of got lost in the crazy ending -- the missed passes that would've won it, the double-clutch snap, the missed field goal.

Sports information director Tim Bourret did some digging over the past couple of days and found this:

1984, South Carolina.

You older Clemson fans don't need to be told any more. That's the year Clemson went up 21-3 on the Gamecocks in the first half, only to see their rivals rally for a 22-21 win in Death Valley.

Here were my two reactions to Bourret's revelation:

Wow, it's been that long? Dang.

So, even a Danny Ford team blew a big lead.

To me, the most interesting thing about what happened Saturday is the psychological part of what happened Saturday. After sitting through the game in person, and then watching it again on the DVR, I suspected Clemson was a bit too exuberant late in the first half and into halftime.

Having listened to Billy Napier's reflections yesterday, those suspicions were pretty much confirmed. It's his belief this team got too happy, too satisfied, by building the 17-0 lead and taking a 14-point advantage into halftime.

When you hear that belief expressed, and you factor in the fact that Auburn completely turned the game around with a 21-0 bulge in the third quarter, it's hard not to think the mentality should've been a bit more subdued after 30 minutes.

I wasn't in the locker room, so I don't know how much back-slapping was going on at halftime. Maybe Dabo Swinney and his staff did their best to sober everyone up, to alert their players to the absolute certainty that Auburn was a good team and would make a run -- especially on its home field.

The most fascinating part of this is a question I cannot answer: Is a killer instinct something you can only pick up through experience, or is it something that's instilled by a staff?

Napier said yesterday the staff has "got to do a better job of coaching them."

"Hopefully, as we move forward, if we're instilling the right mentality and football values, to some degree, then hopefully that becomes habit. It's in them and they can't get rid of it. But we're not quite there. I think it's an offseason deal, it's a fall camp deal, it's a consistent message. It's them accepting a message."

But then, in the next breath, he gave credence to the theory that puts more weight on experience.

"As many times as you tell them, it's just who we are. We're human beings. Just like if we play good two or three weeks in a row, you see it in college football every week. These guys are 18 to 22 years old. They relax and a team gets beat when it's not supposed to get beat. I think that's maybe where some of the coaching -- anticipating that problem and hammering that home before you get to that spot. We can do a better job, I think."

In attempting to process the about-face that occurred in the third quarter Saturday night and the reasons for it, I thought back to the Clemson-Alabama game in the 2008 opener in Atlanta.

The Tigers were ranked No. 9 and were considered the favorite over the No. 24 Crimson Tide, but Alabama came out and completely mauled Clemson in the first half.

The Crimson Tide was up 23-3 after 30 minutes. I could be wrong, but I don't think there was much of a sense of accomplishment in Alabama's locker room. After a kickoff return for a touchdown by C.J. Spiller to start the second half, the Crimson Tide resumed the curb-stomping and won 34-10.

After the game, a reporter asked Nick Saban something about "what does this mean for the program, how big is it to get this kind of win in your second season," bla, bla, bla.

Saban basically lost it and told the guy to go jump in a lake. One could assume he also did his best after the game to sober his team up.

Looking back on that game -- and assuming there was no sense of satisfaction on Alabama's part halfway through it -- you tend to gravitate to the position that the keep-your-foot-on-their-throat mentality can be taught and instilled with little previous experience.

Keep in mind that Alabama was worlds away from being a juggernaut in 2007, Nick Saban's first season. The Tide lost six games that year, including one at home to Louisiana-Monroe.

(It should be noted that all six of those losses came by a touchdown or less. And the Tide could not close the deal on No. 3 LSU at home (41-34 loss), No. 21 Georgia at home (26-23 loss in OT), or Auburn on the road (17-10 loss). So maybe those experiences helped shape Saban's program into the cold-blooded juggernaut it became in 2008.)

Danny Ford's great Clemson teams in the 1980s were known for methodically tearing apart teams, even good teams. It's hard to imagine many self-congratulatory vibes at halftime in 1989 at Florida State, where his team stunningly was up 28-10 (Clemson won 38-23).

It's also hard to imagine Ford patting his players on the back in the locker room halfway through that 1984 game against the Gamecocks.

But those Tigers ended up squandering the big lead and losing in a most excruciating way imaginable.

So it happens. It happens to a second-year coach whose team lost its way four days ago in Auburn, and it happened to the man who achieved all the glory this program is still trying to duplicate.

A truly tragic story, one that's difficult to comprehend, with Kenny McKinley's death.

Gene Sapakoff weighs in from Columbia.

Did it really happen?

Why didn't Kenny McKinley reach out to just one of the many people who loved him, if not from two time zones and a mile high away in Denver, then during his recent visit to the Georgia-South Carolina game?

So many tears, so many questions.

"Kenny McKinley was a great guy. I mean great," Gamecocks team chaplain Adrian Despres said of South Carolina's all-time leading receiver, dead at 23 from what Denver police called a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. "Kenny and I talked a lot. I knew Kenny as well as I knew any player. We were close."

This Florida State beat writer gives his ACC rankings, and a big, fat "whoa" at the team he places No. 2 (N.C. State).

The Wolfpack's campus is buzzing over the 3-0 start.

Got to watch Florida State vs. BYU, and I gotta say I'm not that impressed with the Seminoles.

They have some really, really good tailbacks (Chris Thompson is fast), but the offense just seemed to sputter. And if new defensive coordinator Mark Stoops thinks his defensive line is good enough to play it conservative and rush four all season long, he's in for some trouble.

Randy Shannon wasn't impressed with his linebackers against Ohio State, and neither was I.

Gotta think Clemson's offensive approach against Miami will be similar to what it was last week against Auburn: Get Andre Ellington, Jamie Harper and Dwayne Allen matched up on the linebackers.

From the media becoming news category, here's a feature on controversial columnist Jason Whitlock.

So the NCAA is discussing the possibility of allowing losing teams into bowls.

Yipee.



LW