Final Clemson Football Notes From 2001

Jan. 2, 2002

Final Notes on Clemson Football, 2001

Team Notes *The 2001 Clemson team finished the season with 5184 yards of total offense, just the third Clemson team in history to exceed 5000 yards for the season and the second highest total in Clemson history. The figure is just 58 yards short of the total recorded by the 2000 Clemson team. Tommy Bowden has now coached three of the top five Clemson offenses in school history in his three years with the program.

This Clemson team also finished the season second in Clemsonhistory in points scored (369), touchdowns (49), yards per play(5.68), and completions (226). Clemson also set a school record forfirst downs in a season with 282. Clemson defeated five teams withwinning records in 2001, tied for the third most in school history.Only the 1989 and 1990 teams had more with six wins over rankedteams. Clemson’s Humanitarian Bowl win over Louisiana Tech alsomarked the first time since 1993 that Clemson had won a bowl gameand closed the season with consecutive victories. The victory givesTommy Bowden 22 wins through his first three years with theprogram, trailing only Danny Ford (26) and Ken Hatfield (24) interms of victories in the first three years as Clemson coach.Bowden is the first coach in school history to take the Tigers to abowl game each of his first three years. Bowden now has 40victories in his five years as a head coach, an average of 8.0 winsper year. That is one win more than his father had in his firstfive years as a head coach. Clemson’s bowl victory gave the Tigersa 13-12 record in bowl games all-time. Clemson has never been under.500 in terms of bowl winning percentage in any point in itshistory. Clemson gained 273 yards rushing and 275 passing in itsvictory over Louisiana Tech in the Humanitarian Bowl. Clemson hadnever had a game in which it gained at least 270 yards passing and270 yards rushing in the same game in its first 106 years offootball. Now the Tigers have done it in consecutive games. Clemsonhad 280 rushing and 328 passing in its final regular season winover Duke on December 1. Rushing offense is certainly a goodindicator of a Clemson victory. Clemson is now 15-1 under TommyBowden when it rushes for at least 200 yards. Clemson is also 22-2under Bowden when leading heading into the fourth quarter and 20-3when it out-gains the opposition. Clemson had six sacks and threeinterceptions against Louisiana Tech, season highs in bothcategories. Clemson finished the year with a 24.3 average onkickoff returns, a school record in that category.

Individual

Kyle Young tied the Clemson record for starts by a center whenhe started in the Louisiana Tech game. He and Jeff Bak (1985-88)both have 36 starts at center. He also went over 3000 career playsin that game, joining Glenn Rountree and Jim Bundren as the onlyTigers in history to play that many snaps on offense in a career.Young had 40 career starts, including four his freshman year as aguard. Woodrow Dantzler broke three more records in his final gameas a Clemson quarterback, giving him 52 for his career. His 15-23for 218 yards and four touchdowns performance moved him ahead ofMark Fellers into first place in Clemson history in career passingefficiency. He finished his career with 460 career completions in796 attempts for 6037 yards, 41 touchdowns and 24 interceptions.That computes to a 132.47 passing efficiency. Dantzler also becameClemson’s career leader in completions, as his 460 are two morethan Nealon Greene accumulated between 1994-97. Dantzler also brokehis own record for yards rushing by a quarterback in a season. Hehad 57 against Louisiana Tech, giving him 1061 for the season.Derrick Hamilton finished the season with 1221 all-purpose runningyards. He had 123 in the win over Louisiana Tech, 94 on fourreceptions, 17 on rushing plays and 12 on punt returns againstLouisiana Tech. He broke the previous Clemson freshman record of1126 set by Terry Allen in 1987. Clemson had four differentfreshmen score touchdowns in the win over Louisiana Tech. RoscoeCrosby scored on a 53-yard pass reception from Woodrow Dantzler,Ben Hall scored on a five yard pass from Dantzler, Airese Curriescored on a 19-yard run and Derrick Hamilton caught a 57-yardscoring pass from Willie Simmons. Bernard Rambert had 101 yardsrushing on 16 attempts in the win over Louisiana Tech, his careerhigh. He also had 3-77 receiving, also a career high. That was themost receiving yards by a 100-yard rusher in Clemson history.Roscoe Crosby had 4-69 and a touchdown against Louisiana Tech inthe bowl game. The freshman had 18 catches for 311 yards and fourtouchdowns over his last four games of the season.Tommy BowdenAudioMedia Player Event Date Audio Download the Free Real Player.Bowden: Season Recap 01/02/02 Tommy Bowden