Editor’s note: From 1977-’87 no rivalry in the country was more intense or competitive than the Clemson-Georgia Series. In those 11 years, the two teams battled to a 5-5-1 record, which started with a one-point Clemson victory in 1977 in Athens and ended with a one-point Clemson victory in 1987 in Clemson. The average margin of victory in the series during that 11-year stretch was 4.7 points per game. Nine of the 11 games were decided by a touchdown or less.
Most times in life it takes failure in order to reach great success. Expectations entering the 1978 season were at the highest at any point in the previous 20 years at Clemson. The Tigers were coming off an 8-3-1 season in 1977, one in which they went to their first bowl game in 18 years and finished the year ranked 19th in th final Assoicated Press top 20 poll.
Clemson began the 1978 season looking as if it was going to exceed its lofty expectations. The ACC’s preseason favorite rolled over The Citadel in the season-opener as eight different Tigers scored in a 58-3 victory.
“It was easy because we worked hard for four weeks to make it look easy,” fullback Marvin Sims said afterwards to the media. “I wasn’t surprised we did this well, I expected it.”
The eighth-ranked Tigers expected to the samething in Week 2 as they rolled down the road to Athens, GA to play unranked Georgia. The Bulldogs were still smarting from the 1977 matchup when Clemson knocked down a two-point converstion pass on the last play to sneak out of Athens with a 7-6 win.
Clemson players were feeling good and felt this was their year to shine. Georgia quickly brought them back down to earth.
The Bulldogs forced six Clemson turnovers and kept the Tigers out of the end zone, while limiting the Tigers’ strong running game to 156 yards.
The defense held its own, limiting Georgia to two first half field goals, but the Bulldogs opened the second half with an 80-yard drive, capped with a 13-yard Jeff Pyburn touchdown pass to flanker Carmon Prince. Georgia had seized control of the game and finished the afternoon with 205 rushing yards against Clemson’s proud defense.
“We gave a good solid Georgia team a chance to whip us,” said Clemson head coach Charlie Pell.
The Tigers were stunned. Just three hours earlier they were boasting about being unbeatable and being the best in the country, now they’re 1-1 at were trying to figure out what went wrong in a 12-0 loss.
“It seems like we spent the whole game inside Georgia’s 30-yard line,” Clemson quarterback Steve Fuller said afterwards. “It’s pretty bad to get the ball into scoring position as many times as we did and not score any points.”
Clemson actually reached the the Bulldogs 28-yard line four times in the game with three of them ending with turnovers and the other ending in a David Sims punt. The Tigers also missed on a 49-yard field goal attempt by Obed Ariri just before the end of the first half, and then a Fuller fumble from the Georgia 28 in the fourth quarter and an intercpetion on a pass attended to wide receiver Perry Tuttle allowed the Bulldogs to perserve the shutout.
“We learned our lesson quick,” linebacker Bubba Brown said. “After the Citadel game we were on top of the world, and when we went to Athens as the favorite, I think we were beginning to believe all the stuff people were saying about how good we were.”
The Tigers used the humbling experience at Georgia as a learning experience. They rolled off 10 straight victories after that on their way to their first ACC Championship in 11 years. They finished fifth in the nation in scoring offense at 32 points per game, and fifth in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 10.5 points per game.
Clemson, who finsihed ranked sixth in the Final AP Poll, was fourth in the nation in total offense at 436.7 yards per game, and 15th in total defense, allowing 254 yards a game. The Tigers were also sixth in rushing offense and fifth in turnover margin.
Even the special teams were among the best, as the Tigers finished second in the nation in punt returns, while Ariri was 12th in scoring.
“The Georgia game brought us back down to earth,” Brown said. “We learned that even though we had talent, we had to work for everything we got.”