For those of you who do not know, Florida State and Clemson played a football game last night (Saturday). The coach of FSU is named Bobby Bowden and his son is Tommy Bowden. Tommy has lost five years in a row to dad. Then, last night Tommy Bowden beat his father for the first time! Florida State was number 3 in the nation. Clemson was unranked. Clemson won.
Yes, unranked teams do beat ranked teams for time to time. In college football, there is usually an “upset Saturday” where a number of teams who should of won did not, and a bunch of underdogs did.
I did not see the game but it smells to me. First off Clemson is 6-4, FSU is 8-2. Clemson lost to Wake Forest 45 to 17. This same team was beaten by FSU by 25 points on October 25th. They beat the doormat of the ACC, North Carolina by only 8 points, YET beats dad home team by 16 points.
Tommy has been on thin ice with the Clemson athletic department especially since he lost that Wake Forest game. Bobby (dad) is 74 years old. Unless he is convicted of murdering a child, he has a job at FSU for life. Bobby Bowden is one hell of a football coach (AMEN)…
but does Bobby have the power to throw a football game to his son to keep his job? Would this be possible? I doubt some 19-22 year old kid to call Bobby a dumbass and usurp his own plays. I think (not believe) that this game might have been a set-up by a loving father to his son, so he will succeed.*
GRADY
*By the way Tommy is a hell of a coach. Why? Before he went to Clemson, he coached TULANE to an undefeated season. If GOD came down as a football coach, he could not do this, not to mention Rockne or anyone else. I just think the old man threw the game. Parents do that for their kids.
Your thought is not believable. FSU had a shot at the National Championship. Losing to Clemson cost them that.
Beating FSU does not guarantee that Tommy keeps his job. As you pointed out yourself, upsets do happen.
A conspiracy of the sort you suggest would necessairly have to involve many people. It would come to light immediately, and discredit the entire “First Family of Southern Football”.
Why not just give the Clemson team credit for playing an inspired game?
If Cal can take down USC, there’s no reason that Clemson couldn’t beat FSU. Frankly, there’s no way Bowden sacrifices his national title shot to save his son’s job for another week. It’s not like Li’l Bowden will be starving or out of work for long if he gets fired.
Haha, I have to be honest, I’m rooting against USC for a few reasons.
a) I’m a UCLA fan.
b) I love the Rose Bowl and believe that the best team in the Pac-10 and the best team in the Big 10 should be playing in it every year regardless of where the national championship is being played. Which means Ohio State vs. USC this year. So I’m hoping USC wins just enough to overtake Washington State, but not enough to make it to the whatever it is this year (Sugar?) Bowl this year.
So I’ll be rooting for LSU for a while now. Here’s to a USC-OSU Rose Bowl.
No way this would ever happen without people finding out about it. Do you think those players who had a shot at a national title would throw it all away for thier coache’s son? No way.
And in case you didn’t notice, Bobby has little to do with the team while the game is actually being played. He makes no calls during the game and rarely can be seen speaking to his players. He is just a figure-head at this point in his career.
Now let’s talk about money. I don’t have the figures to quote, but I know that a national championship birth would bring an enormous payday to Florida State. They might be knocked out of contention for any BCS bowl after the loss to Clemson.
Dads do love thier sons, but there are too many variables involved for Bobby to get away with such a scandal.
Snoooopy has the truth of it. As a Tallahassee denizen who teaches at FSU and follows the games, I can attest to that – Rix is perfectly capable of having an incredible game one week, then playing the exact opposite the next.
“dispatch the Okies”?
Somehow, I have the feeling that it doesn’t matter who ends up in the BCS #2 slot. The prize for getting there is getting to be Oklahoma’s next punching bag. I’m not really sure anybody can beat them this year… I’m still shaking my head at that 77-0 score this weekend…
FSU has played only one ranked team (a not-so-great Miami), and got blown at home by them. That number 3 ranking was one of the biggest jokes in the polls I’ve seen in a while. They barely squeaked by a lousy Georgia Tech team at home. It was only a matter of time before Rix had a bad game and team imploded. And Clemson actually has some decent talent, they just tend to follow up a good game with a bad one (which is why Tommy might get fired.) So sometimes a team can come together and play their best in defense of their coach.
Oh yeah, and anyone who plays OU is going to get blown out. I can’t imagine that Sooner team losing. They seem to be the best team since team since '95 Nebraska.