Normally around this time in March, by this time of the night, the second day of the NCAA Basketball Tournament would be wrapping up.
Since we don’t have the tournament this year, The Clemson Insider will continue to have a little fun with March Madness to try and help our readers forget about, just for a little while, what is going on in the world right now with COVID-19 pandemic.
If you read our story on Thursday, you saw a tournament field involving the 64 best Clemson Football teams of all-time. We seeded them and but them in four regions—the West, Midwest, East and South. The top four seeds were the 2018 team (West), 1981 team (South), 2016 team (East) and the 2019 team (Midwest).
Thursday kicked off the tournament with Day 1 and on Friday we had Day 2. We had 16 games on Friday, just like we would have if the NCAA Basketball Tournament was playing.
All the matchups for Day 2 were posted on Twitter this morning and the polls stayed open until just after 8 p.m. As expected, the best matchups of the day were from the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds and both No. 7 vs. 10 seeds.
The only upset in Day 2 was a mild upset as the 1993 Tigers, the No. 9 seed in the South Region, beat the No. 8 seed, the 1902 Tigers, with a 51-49 percent vote. The 1993 Tigers were led by wide receiver Terry Smith on offense and Brian Dawkins on defense as they finished 9-3 and ranked No. 22 in the final AP Poll after rallying to beat Kentucky in the 1993 Peach Bowl.
The 1902 Tigers were John Heisman’s third team at Clemson as they went 6-1 and won the SIAA Championship.
The 1993 Tigers advance to play the 1981 National Champions in the second round on Sunday. The 1981 Tigers walloped the 1918 team with 100 percent of the vote.
Though there were no other upsets, the 1979 Tigers, led by quarterback Billy Lott, barely held off the 1951 Tigers (52-48) in another No. 8 vs. No. 9 matchup. They now advance to play the top seed in the Midwest Region, the 2019 Tigers. Though the 2019 team won by a commanding margin (98-2 percent), it was surprising they did not get 100 percent of the vote.
Both No. 7 vs. No. 10 matchups, were close. The 1977 Tigers, led by Steve Fuller and Jerry Butler, edged out Frank Howard’s first team, the 1949 Tigers, 52-48 percent, in the West Regional. In the East Regional, the 1956 Tigers, the first Clemson team to win an ACC Championship, beat Charlie Whitehurst and the 2005 Tigers, 51-49 percent.
This was a back-and-forth matchup that was not secured by the 1956 Tigers until the last couple of votes. With the win, the 1956 Tigers will now face No. 2 seed the 1978 Tigers in the second round. The 1978 Tigers, in a battle of former ACC Champions, easily took care of the 1967 Tigers, 98-2.
Below are the results from Day 2 of Clemson Football’s March Madness on TCI. If you would like to comment and participate, visit our message board thread, it is free to sign up. We encourage you to follow and vote on Saturday’s second round games. They will be posted Saturday morning and will run all day.
Day 2 match ups (Friday):
West Region Matchup:
No. 2 1950 team vs. No. 15 1901
1950 team won the 1951 Orange Bowl and finished No. 10 in AP Poll
1901 team was John Heisman's second team at Clemson— Will Vandervort (@steelerwill) March 20, 2020
West Region Matchup:
No. 7 1977 vs. No. 10 1940
1977 team finished No. 19 AP Poll
1940 team won the SoCon Championship— Will Vandervort (@steelerwill) March 20, 2020
West Region Matchup:
No. 3 2013 vs. No. 14 1935
2013 Tigers won the Orange Bowl and finished No. 7 in AP Poll.
1935 Tigers were Jess Neely's 5th team at Clemson— Will Vandervort (@steelerwill) March 20, 2020
West Region Matchup:
No. 6 1959 Tigers vs. No. 11 2007 Tigers
1959 Tigers were ACC Champs and finished No. 11 in AP Poll.
2007 Tigers finished No. 21 in final AP Poll— Will Vandervort (@steelerwill) March 20, 2020
Midwest matchup:
No. 1 2019 Tigers vs. No. 16 1914 Tigers
2019 team won ACC and was national runner-up
1914 Tigers beat Georgia and South Carolina by an average of 22.5 points.— Will Vandervort (@steelerwill) March 20, 2020
Midwest matchup:
No. 8 1979 Tigers vs. No. 9 1951 Tigers
1979 Tigers finished tied for 2nd in the ACC
1951 Tigers finished No. 19 in final AP Poll— Will Vandervort (@steelerwill) March 20, 2020
Midwest Region matchup:
No. 4 2012 Tigers vs. No. 13 1984 Tigers
2012 Team beat LSU in Chick-fil-A Bowl, finished No. 11 in final AP Poll.
1984 Tigers were led by All-American and ACC Player of the Year William Perry— Will Vandervort (@steelerwill) March 20, 2020
Midwest matchup:
No. 5 1989 Tigers vs. No. 12 1957 Tigers
1989 team won the Gator Bowl and finished No. 12 in final AP Poll.
1957 Tigers finished No. 18 in the final Coaches Poll and won six of their last seven games.— Will Vandervort (@steelerwill) March 20, 2020
East matchup:
No. 2 1978 Tigers vs. No. 15 1967 Tigers
1978 Tigers won the ACC, beat Ohio State in the Gator Bowl and finished No. 6 in final AP Poll
1967 team won the ACC Championship and 5 of their last 6 games. Lone loss was by 3 points to No. 8 Alabama.— Will Vandervort (@steelerwill) March 20, 2020
East Matchup:
No. 7 1956 Tigers vs. No. 10 2005 Tigers
1956 team were ACC Champions, played in the 1957 Orange Bowl, finished No. 19 in final AP Poll.
2005 Tigers finished No. 21 in final AP Poll— Will Vandervort (@steelerwill) March 20, 2020
East matchup:
No. 3 1939 Tigers vs. No. 14 1919
1939 Tigers won the school's first bowl game, the 1940 Cotton Bowl, and finished No. 12 in final AP Poll. First Clemson team to finish ranked in final AP Poll.
1919 Tigers were the best Clemson team in 13 years at the time.— Will Vandervort (@steelerwill) March 20, 2020
East Region Matchup:
No. 6 2011 Tigers vs. No. 11 1928 Tigers
2011 Tigers won program's first ACC Championship in 20 years and finished No. 22 in final AP Poll.
1928 Tigers were Josh Cody's second Clemson team and beat a 6-2-2 South Carolina team. 32-0.— Will Vandervort (@steelerwill) March 20, 2020
South Region matchup:
No. 1 1981 Tigers vs. No. 16 1918 Tigers
1981 Tigers went undefeated and won the program's first national championship.
1918 Tigers beat rival South Carolina 39-0.— Will Vandervort (@steelerwill) March 20, 2020
South Region matchup:
No. 8 1902 Tigers vs. 9. 1993 Tigers
1902 Team was Heisman's third at Clemson and won the SIAA Championship.
1993 Tigers finished No. 22 in final AP Poll and beat Kentucky in the Peach Bowl.— Will Vandervort (@steelerwill) March 20, 2020
South Region matchup:
No. 4 1987 Tigers vs. No. 13 1909 Tigers
1987 Tigers won the ACC, beat Penn State in the Citrus Bowl and finished No. 12 in final AP Poll.
1909 Tigers beat rivals Georgia and South Carolina.— Will Vandervort (@steelerwill) March 20, 2020
South Region matchup:
No. 5 1983 Tigers vs. No. 12 1906 Tigers
1983 Tigers won 8 straight games to close the season, went 7-0 in ACC competition and finished No. 11 in final AP Poll.
1906 Tigers went undefeated and tied for SIAA Championship.— Will Vandervort (@steelerwill) March 20, 2020
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