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. 6 team on our list:
The 1950 Tigers (9-0-1, 3-0-1, SoCon, ranked No. 10)
In 1948, Clemson running back Fred Cone scored seven touchdowns and gained 635 yards on the ground during the Tigers 11-0 season, which concluded with a Gator Bowl win over Missouri. Given what happened in 1948, there were great expectations for the 1949 squad. But the likes of three-sport star Frank Gillespie, school career offensive leader Bobby Gage and blocking back Bob Martin were out of the picture and the Tigers broke even at 4-4-2.
It wasn’t the year everyone was hoping for. So no one knew what to expect when the Tigers opened the 1950 football season. Despite a down year in 1949, Cone gained more rushing yards (703) and scored more touchdowns (9) than his sophomore year.
Joining Cone on the 1950 team was Bob Hudson, Dick Hendley, Jackie Calvert, and Ray Mathews, while Glenn Smith, Billy Hair, Pete Manos, Dan DiMucci and Jack Brunson were coming into their own.
After recording its usual win over Presbyterian to start the season, Clemson faced preseason No. 17 Missouri on the road the next week. On the first play from scrimmage Calvert dashed 80 yards to score and Clemson was off to a 34-0 romp. Cone gained 111 yards in 21attempts, one of three Tigers over the 100-yard mark that day.
The Tigers always departed from Anderson airport on road trips then and an Anderson merchant, the late Sarge Murchison, was always there to wish the team good luck. On that particular day Murchison had a farmer friend bring a Missouri mule to the airport. Cone was pictured in the papers the next morning on the day of the game riding the mule.
Big crowds were always on hand at the airport when the team returned after the game. Howard, in his pregame dressing room remarks, told his players, “If you don’t win this game, the only thing that will be at the airport tonight to meet you will be that jackass.”
That victory over Missouri apparently put everybody in step. The Tigers blanked NC State the next week, 27-0, beat a 17th-ranked Wake Forest team and routed Boston College and Furman. The Tigers were enjoying another undefeated season, and the only scar was a 14-14 tie with South Carolina.
Cone had his third 100-yard rushing and scored twice against the Gamecocks, but Steve Wadiak was unstoppable that day, out-gaining the entire Clemson team with 256 yards on the ground.
The 1948 and 1950 seasons mark the only time in Clemson history there have been two undefeated seasons over a period of three years. Cone and Mathews were the only common denominators in the starting lineup on those two teams.
In 1950, Clemson scored 50 points in three different games, but Cone saved his best performance of the year until the last regular season game against Auburn. Rumor had it that if Clemson scored over a certain number of points on Auburn that an Orange Bowl bid was in its pocket.
Clemson beat Auburn, 41-0, as Cone gained 163 yards and scored three touchdowns on the ground. His only pass reception was good for 28 yards and also went for a score.
The icing on the cake on another undefeated season came against Miami in the 1951 Orange Bowl. Sterling Smith’s tackle of Fred Smith in the end zone for a safety late in the game gave Clemson a 15-14 victory.
Cone gained 81 yards on the ground on that hot afternoon in Miami, as he scored once, punted four times and returned one kickoff. Cone’s number of carries (184), rushing yards (845) and touchdowns (15) were all single-season records at the time. Also, he became Clemson’s first 2,000-yard rusher in a career (2,183) and his 31 career touchdowns set a school record as did his 189 points.
The Tigers finished the season 9-0-1 and No. 10 in the final Associated Press top 20 poll, the program’s first Final top 10 ranking.
–Photo courtesy of Clemson Athletic Communications