5. Meneike Car Care Bowl debacle
Following Dabo Swinney’s first season as the full-time head coach, Clemson football fans had lofty expectations.
The Tigers made it to the ACC Championship game in 2009 on the shoulders of C.J. Spiller, but Spiller was no longer on the team. What came next was a season full of disappointment.
While the defense was among the best in the nation, the offense simply couldn’t score. The result was a 6-6 regular season that ended with a bid to the Meneike Car Care Bowl in Charlotte against USF.
Clemson won that one, didn’t they? Nope.
The Tigers capped off that disappointing season 31-26 loss to South Florida.
At that point, there were plenty of Clemson football fans calling for changes to be made and for Dabo Swinney’s tenure to be up. As part of the disappointing season, though, Swinney hired Chad Morris as the new Offensive Coordinator and things began to change from that moment on.