By Will Vandervort.

When he thinks back to the influences he had on the Clemson-Georgia rivalry, former Clemson kicker David Treadwell does not think about his 46-yard field goal as time expired to beat the Bulldogs in 1986 or the 21-yard kick he made with two seconds to play in 1987 to beat them, again.

Instead, he flashes back to his freshman season in 1984, when as a walk-on, he stood on the Clemson sideline in Athens, Ga., and watched as Georgia’s Kevin Butler made a 60-yard field goal to beat the Tigers.

“That was a memory that I will never forget,” he said.

But it’s a memory that motivated Treadwell two years later when he stood on the same field at Sanford Stadium, but this time he was the one lining up to kick a game-winning field goal.

“Of course it was not 60 yards,” Treadwell laughed. “I did not have the kind of leg Kevin Butler did, but I had a 46-yarder with four seconds left on the clock and truly it is a great memory. It was a great time celebrating with the team and it was a very memorable game.

“It was also a very impactful game for us as we moved forward.”

Clemson’s win over the Bulldogs in 1986 kick started the Tigers on a run that saw them win four Atlantic Coast Conference Championships over the next six years—three straight from 1986-’88—as well as recording 57 total victories along the way. It is still the greatest six-year stretch in Clemson history.

But the kick also motivated Treadwell for the rest of his career. Six times he won or tied a game for Clemson in the last three minutes, including four more times after his winning kick in 1986.

“That kick was huge for my confidence,” said Treadwell, who was a consensus first-team All-American in 1987. “At the time it was early in my junior year. I was coming off a pretty good sophomore campaign and I wanted to back that up. Anytime you can make a kick like that in hostile territory against a big rival, it’s huge for your confidence.

“I was able to take that and continue to get better and better. I think with kicking, and there are a lot of guys that have the physical abilities, but it is the mental toughness that will get you through those situations. They are not going to all go through (the uprights) unfortunately, no matter how hard you work. You just can’t let those few that don’t get to you.”

In the week leading up to the Georgia game, Clemson head coach Danny Ford simulated in practice what the game was going to be like.

“Our practices were like games,” former wide receiver Keith Jennings said. “He knew if he hit us a whole lot that week, he would have us prepared for what we were going to see.”

As he stood up in front of the locker room before the Tigers journeyed on to the field on September 20, 1986, Ford pounded his right fist into his left palm over and over again as he spoke to his players.

“I remember this, and I will not ever forget it,” Jennings said. “He said, ‘If you hit them on every play, there will be a play in the fourth quarter when you will see they will quit.’

“Lo and behold, he was right. They did not want to get hit anymore. And we made plays.”

Clemson did make plays and like Ford predicted, they came in the fourth quarter. First it came from the defense.

For the most part, the Bulldogs had their way with what was usually a stout Clemson defense. Quarterback James Jackson threw for a career-high 211 yards against the Tigers, including touchdown passes of 32 and 78 yards, while also running 15 yards for another score.

But like their head coach requested, the Tigers kept hitting the Bulldogs and perhaps the biggest play of the game came off one of those hits. With the game tied at 28, Georgia was driving for the go-ahead score late in the fourth quarter when on an option keeper from the Clemson 15, Jackson was stripped of the football and bandit end John Johnson recovered it on the Tigers’ nine-yard line.

“We had our chances to win, and it is unfortunate James Jackson fumbled late in the game,” Georgia head coach Vince Dooley said. “But again, give Clemson the credit for making such a big play.”

But the defense’s work was still not done. After a promising drive bogged down at midfield, Georgia got the ball back with 2:06 to play at its own 20-yard line. However, Clemson’s defense rose to the occasion again and forced a three-and-out as two of Jackson’s passes fell harmlessly to the turf.

With the defense finally making stops, it was the offense’s turn to make some plays and those plays came from running back Terrance Flagler and quarterback Rodney Williams. On second-and-11 from his own 35 with just over a minute to play, Flagler took a deep handoff from Williams and bounced it outside where wide receivers Ray Williams and Ricardo Hooper held their blocks long enough to allow Flagler to get around the left corner for 16 yards.

On the next play, Williams kept the ball around left end on an option play and rumbled 15 yards to the Georgia 35. The Tigers were now only a few yards from being in kicker David Treadwell’s range.

“Our offense showed great composure,” Williams said.

That composure showed as on the next two plays as Clemson moved the football five yards closer to the Georgia 29, setting up Treadwell for a possible game-winning kick with four seconds to play.

“We had a little slogan coming down here – I can, I will, I want to and I see a great opportunity,” Ford said.

That want to, that will and that opportunity was staring Treadwell right in the eye and even though Dooley tried to ice the Clemson kicker by calling a timeout as he lined up for the kick, nothing was going to keep him from winning the game.

After he lined up his spot from the left hash mark, the guy who became known as “Mr. Clutch” at Clemson nailed the 46-yard attempt as time expired for a 31-28 victory. For a few seconds Treadwell just watched the football as it sailed through the uprights, and then one of the most memorable celebrations in Clemson history occurred as holder Todd Schonhar lifted Treadwell in the air from behind with his legs kicking while their Clemson teammates dog piled them.

“I hit it well, and it felt good,” Treadwell said. “We talked all week about desire, and I said, ‘I will make this field goal.’”

The Tigers’ desire to win was evident all afternoon in Athens that day. They overcame five turnovers, a missed field goal, an injury to star tailback Kenney Flowers and a record-setting performance from Georgia’s quarterback.

It marked only the second time since 1914 a Clemson team won a game in Athens. It was also the last time – something the 2014 team will try to change this Saturday when the Tigers and Bulldogs hook up once again “Between the Hedges.”

Yet, like Ford predicted in the Tigers’ locker room just moments before the game started. If they continue to play hard and hit Georgia over and over again, they will make the plays that will win the game for them.

“He looked over at Treadwell and he told him he was going to ‘make the winning field goal today.’ And lo and behold, he did it,” Jennings said.

Treadwell went on to make a 21-yard field goal with two seconds remaining the next year in Death Valley as Clemson beat Georgia in back-to-back years for the only time in the last 100 years of the rivalry.

“For that to happen back-to-back, it’s epic in my mind,” Treadwell said. “No one thought it was probably going to come down to that again, except me. The placekicker has to put himself in that situation and have that mindset that this type of game between two big rivals can come down to a field goal.”