With the stadium nearly empty, the 10,000 or so Clemson fans inside Williams-Brice Stadium gathered in the corner with the Clemson players and broke out into a chant “Tom-my Bow-den! Tom-my Bow-den!”
Three weeks earlier they were chanting something totally different following a 45-17 loss at Wake Forest. Unlike that cold night in Columbia in 2003, Tiger fans were asking for their head coach’s head. But a surprising 26-10 victory over No. 3 Florida State the next week, a route of Duke and then a win over South Carolina that only needs to be introduced by its score, 63-17, took Bowden off the hot seat and up on a pedestal.