Bowdens proud of their role in rise of the Clemson-FSU rivalry

It’s not the Bowden Bowl anymore, but the former coaches helped make the Clemson-Florida State rivalry one of the bestin the ACC and the country.

Legendary Seminoles coach Bobby Bowden is not surprised the series has turned into what it is today, a marquee matchup in college football.

“When we joined the ACC back in 1992, I thought there would be some great rivalries, and I thought one of them would be Florida State and Clemson and the other would be Florida State and Georgia Tech because they were so close,” Bowden told The State. “This has become quite a series, and I think it’s predictable.”

Florida State owned Clemson when the Seminoles first joined the ACC, winning the first 11 meetings. But Bowden said he could tell Clemson had the potential to compete with the Seminoles.

“I’ve always had a lot of respect for Clemson. I think it’s a special place. It’s not a downtown school, it’s an out in the country school. I think, in those type of atmospheres, the students and the athletes and the professors, they’re all a little bit closer,” Bowden said. “The series, it has really balanced. It’s turning into what I thought it would.”

Bobby’s son, Tommy, played a key role in making the series competitive. After losing the first four games he coached against his father, Tommy led Clemson to wins in four of the next five meetings.

Tommy said he realized early if he was going to compete for ACC titles and keep his job he was going to have to start beating FSU.

“Florida State, they were the best team in the conference. If you were ever going to have a chance to compete for the conference championship, you had to beat them,” he said. “It seems like about every other year I was on the hot seat. That game was more significant for me than it probably is for Dabo (Swinney) because he might have been on the hot seat one time since he’s been there.”

Swinney replaced Tommy midway through the 2008 season, and while he is 2-5 against Florida State, he has made the Tigers more nationally relevant.

Clemson has won 10 or more games in each of the past four seasons and played in two BCS games during that time. Clemson also won its first ACC title in 20 years in 2011 under Swinney.

“The thing he’s done is recruiting, and he’s done a great job with the staff,” Tommy said. “Hiring Chad Morris, he kind of went out on a limb, that was a great hire. Brent Venables was a great hire. Jeff Scott and Tony Elliott, that shocked a lot of people, two young guys who had never called plays, and that’s turned out well. He’s a big picture guy.”

Swinney likely would have led Clemson to ACC titles in 2012, 2013 and 2014 if not for Florida State. The past three seasons, the Tigers have dropped four ACC games. Three of the losses were to FSU.

Tommy said it seemed at times like Clemson players were pressing against the Seminoles.

“Sometimes you can try too hard and you can, obviously, start making mistakes,” he said. “The quarterback can start forcing the ball. Tajh Boyd did not play particularly well in a couple of those games.”

While Florida State might have the mental edge after winning three straight in the series, Bobby said Clemson’s home-field advantage will make it tough on the Seminoles.

Of the many football stadiums Bobby visited as an opposing coach, he said Death Valley is near the top in terms of environment.

“In the ACC, it was tops. In the nation, I would think it would probably be in the top five,” he said. “It’s a very difficult place to play because of the noise. I remember we played them one year when Tommy was at Clemson, I went out on the field before the game and you couldn’t even hear. I couldn’t hear what he was saying. He couldn’t hear what I was saying. I couldn’t hear what my coaches were saying, because it was so loud.”

This story was originally published November 6, 2015 at 7:26 PM with the headline "Bowdens proud of their role in rise of the Clemson-FSU rivalry."