The Clemson Insider went back and ranked Clemson’s 25 best teams of all-time.
What classifies a certain team as one of the best? Of course winning a championship—national or conference—will be the first qualification. The other qualifications are overall record, national ranking and where they fell in the conference standings.
We continue our rankings with the No. 7 team on our list:
The 1982 Tigers (9-1-1, 7-0 ACC, ACC Champions, ranked No. 8)
It was built up by ABC as the biggest game of the season in college football. The Georgia Bulldogs, the 1980 National Champions, were hosting the Clemson Tigers, the defending National Champions.
ABC thought so much of the 1982 contest between these two champions they put the game on national television on Labor Day Night. In other words, it was Monday Night Football, the first time a regular season college football game was played on this night.
But like all big games that are overhyped, the overall play of the two teams disappointed the country. Clemson quarterback Homer Jordan, a native of Athens, Ga., threw four interceptions in his homecoming, while Heisman Trophy contender Hershel Walker played very little due to a broken thumb.
In all there were six turnovers, and though the game was very dramatic at times, the offenses combined for only 490 yards in the seventh-ranked Bulldogs’ 13-7 victory over No. 11 Clemson.
“It just wasn’t a very good game by me or our offense,” Jordan said. “We really could not get anything going and when we did, we would turn the ball over or do something that would hurt the drive. It was a pretty frustrating night.
“It’s one I obviously don’t like to remember.”
Georgia went on to finish the regular season undefeated and played in the Sugar Bowl for the National Championship, where it lost to Joe Paterno and Penn State. Walker, of course, went on to win the Heisman Trophy as well that year.
As for the Tigers, the next week they tied Boston College, 17-17, who had a kid by the name of Doug Flutie playing quarterback that afternoon in Death Valley. After that, they won nine straight games to finish the year 9-1-1 and won their second straight ACC Championship.
However, because of pending NCAA sanctions, Clemson withdrew its name from consideration to any postseason bowl game.
“We had a great team that year, too, but Georgia just made a few more plays than us,” Jordan said.
The 1982 season was a year of what could have been had the Tigers found some way to beat Georgia on that Labor Day night, but an ACC Championship was still pretty darn good as well.
After the Boston College game, Clemson got on a roll as it beat Western Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia, Duke and NC State with very little trouble, setting up a another key date with No. 13 North Carolina in Death Valley.
The Tar Heels had won the ACC Championship in 1980 thanks in part to a dramatic 24-19 victory in Memorial Stadium, a game in which the Tigers were stopped on four tries nearly the goal line in the final minutes of the game.
In 1981, Clemson’s defense was tenacious and used a Jeff Bryant fumble recovery on a lateral secure the Tigers’ 10-8 victory on their way to the national championship.
Like the previous two games, the 1982 meeting went down to the wire as well as Clemson beat the Tar Heels, 16-13.
The Tigers did not get to celebrate the win too much as they traveled to Maryland to play the 18th-ranked Terrapins the next week, a game in which they won 24-22 to clinch the ACC Championship.
After beating Maryland, Clemson took out rival South Carolina the following week, 24-6. It was the Tigers’ third straight win over the Gamecocks.
Terry Kinard, who was Clemson’s first unanimous All-American, became the program’s first national award winner when CBS Sports named him its National Defensive Player of the Year. Kinard led the Tigers with 89 tackles, 12 passes broken up and six interceptions.
Linebacker Johnny Rembert was also named an All-American that season, while five other players earned All-ACC honors.