2006 Clemson Tigers football team

The 2006 Clemson Tigers football team represented Clemson University in the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season The team was coached by Tommy Bowden and played their homes game in the Memorial Stadium.

2006 Clemson Tigers football
Music City Bowl, L 20–28 vs. Kentucky
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
	Atlantic Division
2006 record	8–5 (5–3 ACC)
Head coach	Tommy Bowden (8th season)
Offensive coordinator	Rob Spence (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	Multiple
Defensive coordinator	Vic Koenning (2nd season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium (c. 80,301, grass)

2006 Atlantic Coast Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Atlantic Division
No. 18 Wake Forest x$		6	–	2					11	–	3
No. 20 Boston College		5	–	3					10	–	3
Maryland		5	–	3					9	–	4
Clemson		5	–	3					8	–	5
Florida State		3	–	5					7	–	6
NC State		2	–	6					3	–	9
Coastal Division
Georgia Tech x		7	–	1					9	–	5
No. 19 Virginia Tech		6	–	2					10	–	3
Virginia		4	–	4					5	–	7
Miami		3	–	5					7	–	6
North Carolina		2	–	6					3	–	9
Duke		0	–	8					0	–	12
Championship: Wake Forest 9, Georgia Tech 6
$ – BCS representative as conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

Portions of the season, specifically the games against Florida Atlantic and Florida State, were featured in the 2020 film Safety, which is about sophomore safety Ray Ray McElrathbey taking care of his little brother while their mother receives treatment for drug addiction.

Notable

ESPN's College Gameday show made its first-ever appearance in Clemson for the game between the Tigers and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on October 21. Kirk Herbstreit mentioned both during and after the show, that he felt that Clemson hosted one of the best Gameday audiences he'd ever seen. The Gameday audience at Clemson also set a new noise record when measured in the latter half of the show.

Season

Entering the season, the Tigers had high expectations, hoping to compete for a spot in the ACC Championship Game. After a defeat at Boston College in the second game of the season, Clemson achieved off six straight victories, during which they averaged nearly 42 points a game. But things soon fell apart, with Clemson losing four out of their last five, including a loss to Kentucky in the Music City Bowl, and a 31–28 loss to arch rival South Carolina. The team finished the season with a disappointing 8–5 record.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	3:30 p.m.	Florida Atlantic*	No. 18	Memorial Stadium Clemson, SC	ESPNU	W 54–6	78,693[1]
September 9	3:30 p.m.	at Boston College	No. 18	Alumni Stadium Chestnut Hill, MA (rivalry)	ABC	L 34–33 ^2OT	44,500[1]
September 16	7:45 p.m.	at No. 9 Florida State		Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL (rivalry)	ESPN	W 27–20	83,510[1]
September 23	Noon	North Carolina	No. 19	Memorial Stadium Clemson, SC	Raycom/LFS	W 52–7	81,886[1]
September 30	7:00 p.m.	Louisiana Tech*	No. 18	Memorial Stadium Clemson, SC	ESPNU	W 51–0	81,564[1]
October 7	Noon	at Wake Forest	No. 15	Groves Stadium Winston-Salem, NC	ESPN	W 27–17	35,920[1]
October 12	7:30 p.m.	vs. Temple*	No. 12	Bank of America Stadium Charlotte, NC	ESPNU	W 63–9	30,246[1]
October 21	7:45 p.m.	No. 13 Georgia Tech	No. 12	Memorial Stadium Clemson, SC (rivalry) (College GameDay)	ESPN	W 31–7	82,630[1]
October 26	7:45 p.m.	at Virginia Tech	No. 10	Lane Stadium Blacksburg, VA	ESPN	L 24–7	66,233[1]
November 4	Noon	Maryland	No. 19	Memorial Stadium Clemson, SC	ESPN2	L 13–12	80,556[1]
November 11	Noon	NC State		Memorial Stadium Clemson, SC (Textile Bowl)	Raycom/LFS	W 20–14	81,785[1]
November 25	Noon	South Carolina*	No. 24	Memorial Stadium Clemson, SC (Palmetto Bowl)	ESPN	L 31–28	83,428[1]
December 29	1:00 p.m.	vs. Kentucky*		LP Field Nashville, TN (Music City Bowl)	ESPN	L 28–20	68,024[1]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Coaching staff

• Tommy Bowden – Head Coach
• Rob Spence – Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
• Vic Koenning – Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Backs
• Brad Scott – Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Line
• David Blackwell – Recruiting Coordinator/Linebackers
• Burton Burns – Running Backs
• Billy Napier – Tight Ends
• Chris Rumph – Defensive Line
• Dabo Swinney – Wide Receivers
• Ron West – Outside Linebackers
• Mike Dooley – Defensive Video Graduate Assistant
• Andy Ford – Defensive Graduate Assistant
• Paul Hogan – Offensive Graduate Assistant
• Willie Simmons – Offensive Video Graduate Assistant

Game summaries

Florida Atlantic

1 2 3 4 Total Florida Atl 0 0 6 0 6 • Clemson 10 14 14 16 54 Date: September 2 Location: Memorial Stadium, Clemson, South Carolina Game start: 3:30 p.m. EST Television network: ESPNU

Scoring summary Q1 CLEM Dean 25 yard field goal CLEM 3–0 Q1 CLEM Stuckey 31 yard pass from Proctor (Dean kick) CLEM 10–0 Q2 CLEM Merriweather 1 yard run (Dean kick) CLEM 17–0 Q2 CLEM Kelly 14 yard pass from Proctor (Dean kick) CLEM 24–0 Q3 FAU Leroy 24 yard field goal CLEM 24–3 Q3 FAU Leroy 33 yard field goal CLEM 24–6 Q3 CLEM Davis 22 yard run (Dean kick) CLEM 31–6 Q3 CLEM Taylor 18 yard pass from Proctor (Dean kick) CLEM 38–6 Q4 CLEM Dean 41 yard field goal CLEM 41–6 Q4 CLEM Ford 92 yard punt return (kick failed) CLEM 47–6 Q4 CLEM Gilliam 34 yard fumble return (Dean kick) CLEM 54–6

[2]

Part of that game would be recreated at halftime of the Clemson game between UNC Charlotte on September 21, 2019 as part of a Disney movie.

Florida State

1 2 3 4 Total • Clemson 6 8 6 7 27 Florida St 2 7 3 8 20 Date: September 16 Location: Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee, Florida Game start: 7:45 p.m. EST Television network: ESPN

Scoring summary Q1 CLEM Davis 8 yard run (kick blocked) CLEM 6–0 Q1 FSU Carter returned extra point CLEM 6–2 Q2 FSU Carter 69 yard blocked punt return (Cismesia kick) FSU 9–6 Q2 CLEM Stuckey 19 yard pass from Proctor (Stuckey pass from Proctor) CLEM 14–9 Q3 CLEM Proctor 20 yard run (run failed) CLEM 20–9 Q3 FSU Cismesia 25 yard field goal CLEM 20–12 Q4 FSU Surratt 1 yard run (Davis pass from Weatherford) Tie 20–20 Q4 CLEM Davis 1 yard run (Dean kick) CLEM 27–20

Clemson's first win in Tallahassee since 1989.

[3]

References

1. "2006 Clemson Football Stats" (PDF). Clemson University.
2. ESPN. Retrieved 2014-Sep-09.
3. ESPN. Retrieved 2014-Sep-09.