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
Division	Atlantic Division
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
Seasons ← 2005 2007 →

2006 Atlantic Coast Conference football standings

v t e	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 (FL)		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 McElrathbey taking care of his little brother while their mother receives treatment for drug addiction.

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.

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.

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

Rankings

See also: 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	18	18	RV	19	18	15	12	12	10	19	RV	25	24	RV	—	—
Coaches Poll	18	18	RV	23	19	15	12	12	11	19	RV	25	24	RV	—	—
Harris	Not released				19	15	12	12	12	19	—	—	24	—	—	Not released
BCS	Not released							12	12	19	—	—	24	—	—	Not released

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

Team	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
• TV announcers (ESPNU): Dave Armstrong, Mike Tomczak

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

^[1]

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

Team	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
• TV announcers (ESPN): Mike Patrick, Todd Blackledge, Holly Rowe

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.

^[2]