Clemson Football: 11 biggest villains in Tiger history

COLUMBIA, SC - SEPTEMBER 26: Head coach Steve Spurrier of the South Carolina Gamecocks watches as his team takes on the University of Central Florida Knights during the second quarter on September 26, 2015 at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Todd Bennett/GettyImages) /

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Bobby Bowden, Tommy Bowden (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /

Biggest villains in Clemson football history: 6. Bobby Bowden

Back with another Florida State figure, there may not have been a more hated coach in the ACC in Clemson football history than Bobby Bowden.

Just like with Dooley, hate has subsided quite a bit for Bowden now-a-days, but when things were hot in the 1990s and 2000s, Bowden was considered one of the biggest supervillains out there for the Tigers.

After losing in 1989 to a Danny Ford-led Clemson team, Bowden wouldn’t lose a game to the Tigers again until 2003.

Bowden led Florida State to nine-straight ACC Championships (co-champs in 1995 and 1998) and would continue to be nationally relevant until the mid-2000s.

With him and the Seminoles in the ACC, Clemson became a second-tier team.

The Tigers had controlled the conference for the better part of the 1980s, but they were forced to sit back and watch Bowden have all kinds of success and absolutely dominate for nearly two decades. Clemson eventually got the better of Bowden and Florida State, but it certainly took quite the amount of patience and several coaching changes.

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