All-In [49613]
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Joined: 12/10/98
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Sunday sermon: Birth of a champion
Oct 2, 2016, 9:07 PM
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Forget that last night's was in Death Valley. Forget that the winning team was wearing orange.
Forget you have no voice, your head has been aching most of the day and generally probably feel like cr@p ... but there's a grin on your face you couldn't hide if you wanted to.
This team didn't just gut out a win last night. They didn't just "find a way." You believe you saw a great win by Clemson, and you did. But you saw something more. You saw Clemson take its place among teams that, for years, we wanted to be.
You saw the birth of a champion.
)
Look at the first half: You saw a confident squad that took care of its opponent with a smothering defense, taking advantage of its opportunities on offense and closed the half with a dagger just before the gun.
Look at the second half: You saw a team misstep, then fall behind, but never give up. And it stood up from a gut punch, assumed control and slammed the door on a foe that was close in talent ... but not in expectation.
The team you saw, and cheered, in the first half was Florida State in the early 2000s. Remember all the times we'd get on a roll, climb in the polls and head into Tally saying "OK ... this time it's going to be different."
And no matter what, no matter how much we hoped, how loud we talked, just before the end of the half, the Noles would pull out a dagger and stab us in the heart. Usually, that's all it took. By the fourth quarter, we'd be broken and worn out wondering what the #### happened.
The team you saw in the second half ... at least in the fourth quarter ... was Alabama. Remember last January, when we were poised to take our place as the new darlings of college football. We took the lead, had all the momentum. Bama was on its heels. We thought we had it all.
"Don't worry, coach ... life will be better in Baton Rouge"
Just like Louisville thought that had it last night. Then we rose up in response, shook off the third quarter and reclaimed the lead, with just enough heart and talent to endure.
And the third quarter? When we couldn't stop them and couldn't get out of our own way? That, to me proves Clemson's ability to be a championship team. It's easy to keep things rolling when you get all the breaks, when it only rains on the opposite side of the field.
You can lament the things that wen wrong, the guys who made mistakes. Or you can take pride in knowing that every person ... EVERY one of them ... came up big in that fourth quarter, rather then finger pointing and sulking.
Winning over a top 5 team when your quarterback is off the mark, when a few passes are either dropped or stripped and when everything spirals from a comfortable lead to a hole that we NEVER would have climbed out of in the past ... that, folks, is a team that will bring home a title.
None of us didn't like seeing things go sideways in the third quarter. And Louisville is good ... dang good. Better that Notre Dame last year. Better than FSU has been in years. But I knew that Clemson could come back. I knew that if we were going to be a championship team, we would come back.
It just remained for the Sons of Clemson to do it. When they did, I knew.
This team believes. This team has what Florida State had. What Alabama has.
Clemson has the heart of a champion.
And I'm d@mnn proud to stand with them.
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