Re: Hill Watch...18 days!!!***

Clemson WR Jerry Butler made many great plays for the Tigers. For all of his greatness, he is particularly associated with a specific play – a Coot Killa play at that!

Clemson WR Jerry Butler (1975-1978) originally came to Clemson to run track. It did not take long before the football coaches took notice:

“Jerry Butler’s career at Clemson spanned from 1975-78. He originally was coming to Clemson on a track scholarship. He excelled in a summer all-star game attended by some Clemson coaches and was running up and down the field. One of the Tiger assistant coaches asked, “Who is that guy?” A coach from a different school answered, “He is going to your school to run track.”

Soon after, Tiger coaches asked Butler if he wanted to play football, and his scholarship was changed to the gridiron sport. He still exceeded in track for Clemson, setting a record in the 60m indoors that stood for many years.”

https://clemsontigers.com/butlers-lifetime-achievement/

ClemsonTigers.com describes Jerry Butler’s Clemson career:

“Butler started every game at Clemson and caught at least one pass in every game between 1976 and 1978. Following his senior season, he was named to the All-ACC first-team as well as the AP and Sporting News first-team All-America squads. He was also the co-winner of the Frank Howard Award with Steve Fuller.”

https://clemsontigers.com/jerry-butler/

Both Clemson and Gamechicken fans will forever remember “The Catch,” which later became “The Catch 1” after Rod Gardner performed his heroics (“The Catch 2”) in 2000. ClemsonTigers.com describes the 1977The Catch 1 game:

“In the 1977 game, Clemson built a 24-0 lead and was dominating South Carolina. The Gamecocks came charging back and took a 27-24 advantage with 1:48 remaining in the game.

“After we won at Georgia early in the year, Coach (Charley) Pell started giving us cigars after every win,” recalled Butler. “I looked at their bench as they scored, and some of the players had pulled up their jerseys to show off t-shirts that said, ‘No Cigars Today.’ I was very irritated.”

Then the “Butler did it” on Clemson’s next possession.

“I ran a corner route,” said Butler. “I came out of my cut and saw that Steve (Fuller) had been rushed and had to break containment. I knew he would get rid of the ball and wouldn’t take a sack.”

Fuller apparently fired a pass just to get rid of it.

“I saw the ball out of the corner of my eye,” continued Butler. “I went for it and made a leaping grab (moving backwards). I got my hands on it and came down in the endzone. It was something that we hadn’t worked on.”

The clock showed just 49 seconds left in the game, and the Tigers went on to win 31-27, a victory that clinched Clemson’s invitation to the Gator Bowl, the school’s first bowl bid since 1959.

He was named First-Team All-ACC that year, and in 1978 became an AP First-Team All-American.”

https://clemsontigers.com/where-are-they-now-jerry-butler/

Sports Illustrated described Butler’s amazing catch as follows:

“After he moved the ball down to the USC 20-yard line, thanks to a long pass to Dwight Clark, Fuller tried to throw away the next pass, but Butler made a leaping, twisting 20-yard touchdown catch in the final seconds to beat the Gamecocks.

It was such a great catch, no one in the series has made a catch like it since.”

https://www.si.com/college/clemson/football/i-love-football-but-i-love-clemson-south-carolina-game-more

After Clemson:

The Buffalo Bills selected Jerry Butler with the 5th Pick (1st Round) of the 1979 NFL Draft. He played for the Bills between 1979 and 1986. According to Pro-Football-Reference.com, Butler registered the following NFL statistics:

Jerry Butler (Bills: 1979-1986)
- 278 Receptions for 4,301 Yards (15.5 Average)
- 29 Receiving Touchdowns
- 4 Carries for 32 Yards (8.0 Average)

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/B/ButlJe00.htm

After his playing days, Butler returned to the NFL. According to Wikipedia:

“Butler coached wide receivers in 1999 and 2000 for Cleveland, then served as Director of Player Development for the Cleveland Browns until his contract ended in 2011. Butler was the Buffalo Bills- NFL “Man of Year” in 1981 and 1982, honored in 1983 by the Buffalo and Erie County YMCA with the Jackie Robinson Award, and Buffalo Bills Ed Block Courage Award recipient in 1985.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Butler_(American_football)

The Catch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC5x2zzT58g

CBProf®

All-In [27813]

TigerPulse: 100%

Posts: 1112

Joined: 5/11/17

18 - Return to Perfection! (One of Greatest College Football Teams of All Time)

Aug 13, 2024, 12:05 AM

One of the Greatest College Football Teams Ever!

There is significant debate over which teams are among the best teams ever. The 2018 Clemson team offers a strong case to be among the best of the best! You could even make a very strong case for 2018 Clemson as the best college football team ever created by man!

According to Wikipedia:

“They were the first undefeated College Football Playoff champion and the first major college football program to finish with a record of 15–0 since Penn in 1897. The team is considered by some analysts to be one of the greatest in college football history.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Clemson_Tigers_football_team#:~:text=They%20were%20the%20first%20undefeated,greatest%20in%20college%20football%20history.

In the first four games in 2018, Senior Kelly Bryant started at QB with Freshman Trevor Lawrence playing as a backup. That plan led to one close game in the first four:

- September 8: Clemson 28 Texas A&M 26: Clemson opened a lead and then held on as Texas A&M mounted a late comeback.

After Trevor Lawrence was named the starter going into Game 5, Bryant left. In the turmoil, Clemson had one more close game:

- September 29: Clemson 27 Syracuse 23: Syracuse opened a lead. Trevor Lawrence went down with concussion-like symptoms in the 2nd Quarter. However, Clemson comes back late under Chase Brice to win a close game. Trevor ETN scored a late touchdown to give Clemson its only lead in the 2nd Half.

Then October – January Happened: NO ONE even gave Clemson a game!!

Trevor Lawrence returned for the next game (October 6 at Wake). Once the calendar turned to October, Clemson became unstoppable! No team – not even the other playoff teams – stayed within fewer than three touchdowns of Clemson the rest of the season:

2018 Clemson Football Schedule/Results

9/1/2018: Clemson 48 Furman 7
9/8/2018: Clemson 28 Texas A&M 26
9/15/2018: Clemson 38 Ga Souhern 7
9/22/2018: Clemson 49 Ga Tech 21
9/29/2018: Clemson 27 Syracuse 23

10/6/2018: Clemson 63 Wake Forest 3
10/20/2018: Clemson 41 NC St 7
10/27/2018: Clemson 59 FSU 10

11/3/2018: Clemson 77 Louisville 16
11/10/2018: Clemson 27 BC 7
11/17/2018: Clemson 35 Duke 6
11/24/2018: Clemson 56 Gamechickens 35

ACC Title Game (Charlotte):
12/1/2018: Clemson 42 Pitt 10

Cotton Bowl in Dallas (CFP)
12/29/2018: Clemson 30 Notre Dame 3

National Championship Game in Santa Clara:
1/7/2019: Clemson 44 Bama 16

Trevor Lawrence later described the incredible talent assembled on the 2018 team:

“During an appearance on The Pivot Podcast, with former NFL players Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder, and Fred Taylor, Lawrence spoke about just how good that 2018 roster was. "I was fortunate to be surrounded with, honestly, one of the best college football teams of all time. In my opinion. It's a hot take. You guys probably got other opinions but we had Christian Wilkins, A.J. Terrell, Clelin Ferrell, Austin Bryant, Dexter Lawrence, myself, Justyn Ross, Tee Higgins, Travis (Etienne), Hunter Renfrow and so on and so on...Trayvon Mullen was in at corner, we had K'Von Wallace who plays for the Eagles now. We were loaded."

https://www.si.com/college/clemson/football/trevor-lawrence-claims-2018-clemson-team-is-one-of-the-goats

Banner Society offers insights on several teams that could make a valid argument for best ever. They compared 2018 Clemson against other several other contenders for the best ever title. In conclusion they determined the following:

“The 2018 Clemson argument

Forget era-adjusting. Which undefeated champ would win if you time-traveled all of them into a tournament and let them play on January 7, 2019?

How does Clemson stack up? 1891 Yale and 1917 Georgia Tech, you were great, but I do not think you can stop Justyn Ross from having a 500-yard game. As athletes get bigger, stronger, and faster, this will always tilt toward recency.

And since Clemson wiped the floor with one of Bama’s best teams ever, we can comfortably say the Tigers could’ve at least hung with any modern champ.

This is the most entertaining argument because it’s the hardest to prove one way or the other. Let’s just say Clemson would have a chance against anybody.
…
How does Clemson stack up? The 2018 Tigers hold their own in most of these criteria, and in some of them, they have among the best cases ever. They didn’t beat the toughest schedule, but “15-0” and “44-16” are great talking points. I think it’s fair to say this team should be an option in the debate.”

https://www.bannersociety.com/2019/1/11/20729179/clemson-best-team-ever

SEC fans love to point to the 2019 LSU team as the best – and many in the media would agree. Sports Illustrated, however, compared 2018 Clemson and 2019 LS and ended with the following conclusions:

“The verdict:
Offense: The 2018 Clemson team and the 2019 LSU team are very similar with respect to points per game, margin of victory and total offense — however, the prolific nature of the LSU offense with what Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow and company did gives the Bayou Bengals the nod for the best offense.

Schedule: The seven wins over Top 10 teams (at the time they played) is impressive, but so was Clemson's schedule — which featured wins over six teams ranked in the Top 25 (at the time they played) and was the nation's toughest schedule played, something that the LSU Tigers cannot boast. The slim advantage goes to the Clemson Tigers.

Defense: The 2018 Clemson Tigers finished the season with the nations top scoring defense, fourth-ranked rushing defense, 24th-ranked pass defense and the fifth-ranked total defense.

The LSU Tigers finished the season with the 31st-ranked scoring defense, 21st-ranked rushing defense, 59th-ranked pass defense and the 31st-ranked total defense.
Clearly the Clemson Tigers take this category.
…
With those things taken into consideration, along with the bevy of stats, it is our determination that the title of "The Best Ever" resides with the first 15-0 team — the Clemson Tigers.”

https://www.si.com/college/clemson/football/2018-clemson-vs-2019-lsu-who-is-the-best-team-ever#:~:text=The%20verdict%3A,nod%20for%20the%20best%20offense.

This team just looked like they were having fun!!

Honestly, this team was so good, there were times this team looked like it was just out there having fun over overmatched opponents! For example:
- Christian Wilkins runs onto the field to celebrate with the offense when they scored a touchdown (which was often).
- Massive DL are brought into the offense inside the five yard line – and then allowed to bull their way into the end zone over hapless defenders trying simply to slow them down.
- Clemson copies Bama’s ill-fated attempt at a shovel pass in the National Title Game. Bama’s attempt went nowhere as Austin Bryant stopped it cold. Then Clemson subsequently gave ETN a shovel pass to show that we (Clemson) could score on the play even though Bama could not.

FWIW:
Every ranking is different. Everyone has their own opinion and the debate cannot ever really be resolved. But I do know of one ranking that definitely has 2018 Clemson among history’s best:

CBProf’s ranking definitely has the 2018 Clemson team as one of the three best teams ever to play college football. Of course, in no particular order, CBProf’s other two teams in the Top 3 are 1981 Clemson and 2016 Clemson. (Honorable Mention to the other Top 5 teams: John Heisman’s 6-0 1900 team AND Frank Howard’s 11-0 1948 team!)

Top 10 Plays of this Great 2018 Season (This fun video is WELL worth the 2 and a half minutes to watch):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd8WARupFsE

Yes! Just That Good!

flag link

military_tech

thumb_down

thumb_up

Clemson: Academic Excellence! Athletic Excellence!

Hill Watch...18 days!!!

Team is getting ready