I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord
And I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord
Can you feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord.....
Clemson versus Notre Dame 2015
I wonder if Phil Collins was thinking of this night when he wrote this lyric. Probably not, but he missed a good chance. David Hood, Senior Writer with Tigernet, would write, "The numbers of people who will say they were there will grow as the years pass, but only the ones that were there will understand what it was like....."
It simply cannot be described. I've been to games....many games....night games.... huge games. I was in fact there in '77 when Joe Montana broke the hearts of tens of thousands bleeding orange with a dagger of a drive to win the last match-up of these two for the Irish. I remember to this day the agony and the tears of that loss. But this, the 2015 version, from its very beginning was.... other worldly.
As we pulled into our puddled but luckily paved parking space, our tailgate neighbors' speakers blared Garth Brooks', "Bring me two pina coladas...," as all within earshot dreamed of a little more island-like weather for this epic matchup. It was not to be. Two bewildered Notre Dame fans wandered up to our meager weather affected tailgate to ask if they could pay us $2.50 each for a beer for, in a twist of irony, in the deluge, they couldn't manage to find a watering hole. Tiger Kids big and small nervously tossed their footballs back and forth in every possible paved opening, having been driven from their favorite play fields by the flooding rains. We sat in the car for most of hours....my sister knitting one, pearling two, dropping stitches....pregame jitters, I suppose, for she never drops. Nervous sister small talk filled the minutes.... Donna's new job, Di's trip to Florida, Dee's birthday wish list, kids, recipes. (Obviously, I contributed little to that last talk point.) But, it never changes...weeks can pass without us seeing each other, and even awkwardly crammed into an SUV in a torrential downpour, we pick up where we left off. We just do.
Little victories are won in the challenges of games like these. Bad hair days become baseball cap days, for me a definite step up. Fashion decisions become no brainers as we happily find we all look just the same in a poncho. Mom jeans sliding down exposing body parts no longer worthy of exposure are now covered completely by the afore mentioned orange poncho. I am finding balling in the rain can be, well, glorious.
The ESPN Gameday crew gushed lavish praise upon the unbelievable crowd that even South Carolina's worried Governor could not warn away. Dabo was to proclaim the Tiger Walk unlike any he had ever seen. Defensive Mastermind Brent Venables would say this was one for the ages. Again quoting Tigernet, for all "the fans who unified in their defiance against the weather, for those who wanted to keep these tickets forever but watched them disintegrate in the unrelenting rain, this was just that.....one for the ages." BTW, thank goodness the same dissolution does not happen to memories.
An hour until game time. Death Valley already filled with 83,000 drenched frenetic fans. Plastic ponchos melted into the fog and blur of steady blowing rain to create an eerie orange film over the stands. Buses rounded the corner onto Stadium Road. We could barely see them, but the crowd noise was unmistakable. Suddenly, through the gloom, players and coaches appeared at the rock. I could barely contain myself. I was not alone. And when Collins' "I can feel it coming in the air tonight'" belted out over the stadium sound system, it was almost an afterthought. The scoreboard tiger's eyes flashed. I already knew. My sisters knew. These fans already knew. The rabid, most faithful of the faithful knew, all of us brave enough to brave the elements knew, this was to be the night....a night for the ages.
Kickoff, and I see #4 trot excitedly onto the field. Funny, as Deshaun appears, I still sometimes see Steve Fuller. I know...I'm dating myself....remembering one of the heroes of Clemson's rebuilding. Today's players weren't yet born when Fuller dazzled Tiger fans and opponents with his talent and football intellect. And now an engaging young kid with mad skills..."the new face of college football" according to Herbstreit... is at the helm, a player so talented that Fuller himself allowed his jersey to come out of the hallowed halls of Clemson's retired, so that a Georgia phenom could start a new tradition of Clemson prowess wearing the number "4." It's a collision of the past and present, of a passer and a runner, of ebony and ivory, of Danny and Dabo, of Clemson past and Clemson future.
Two quick scores for the Orange, and although tested, the Tigers would never really look back in taking this classic rematch by two. It seemed at some point the fans took over to protect the lead, causing penalty after penalty and delay after delay, willing their beloved Tigers to victory. Finally a masterful defensive play would seal the fate of the visitors from South Bend. All too fast in the furious rain it was over. No one left; we barely breathed. No one dared believe it was complete, that we had done it. But we had. As fans flooded the field to celebrate and sing, we knew without doubt...this was one for the ages.
Fast forward, and now a week later, game day without Gameday starts much the same...it's raining, pouring actually. Could this be another 'one for the ages?' Somehow, I really don't think so.
Artwork credit to the Internet. Quote credit to Tigernet and Writer David Hood.
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