CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson family pleasantries will be put on hold this week when Tommy Bowden takes Clemson to Tallahassee, Fla., to meet the Florida State football team coached by his father.
Two years ago, the Bowdens went out to dinner the night before Bobby Bowden’s Seminoles ripped Tommy and Clemson 54-7. Even though Bobby treated that night, Tommy provided a glimpse of how much he wants to defeat his father when he said there will be no
such meeting this week before
the teams play Thursday in
Tallahassee, Fla.
“I just don’t feel the love this year,” Tommy Bowden said this week. “The same feeling just isn’t there.”
Tommy Bowden spends so much time making jokes about his father that it’s easy to lose sight of his desire to defeat Florida State while Bobby Bowden, who will turn 73 on Nov. 8, still is coaching.
Tommy’s sense of humor makes it appear to the folks he entertains on Clemson’s IPTAY booster speaking circuit that he has no great desire to defeat Bobby.
“I am in the will, so you’ve got to keep the lines of communication open,” Tommy said last week, explaining why he was talking to his father while Clemson was preparing to play Florida State.
But the humor can’t hide Tommy’s heartfelt desire from his players. Clemson is 0-3 under Tommy Bowden against Florida State, and the players say their coach is excited about having another chance to defeat his father.
“I know one of Tommy’s biggest goals is to beat his father before he retires,” said Clemson quarterback Willie Simmons. “Hopefully we can get that for him this year, because I know it’s dear to his heart and it’s dear to all of us to get that for him.”
Tommy has to be pressed to admit it. Most of the time, when he talks about his father, he jokes about Bobby’s age or his weight.
He has said Bobby “gums” bananas for breakfast in the morning because he doesn’t have teeth. He jokes about Bobby needing a siesta to make it through the day.
“I stay intense and emotional during the game,” Tommy joked a few years ago. “And he naps.”
Bobby just laughs at those
remarks because he is a jokester, too. On the field after Florida State defeated Clemson two years ago
in Tallahassee, Bobby told Tommy simply that he needed to
go recruiting.
If Bobby runs into Tommy on the recruiting trail, Bobby will tell a prospect that Tommy is
the lyingest kid he’s got. What Bobby doesn’t know is how much Tommy wants Clemson to defeat Florida State while Bobby is still the coach.
Tommy admitted earlier this week that he would have regrets if Bobby retires with an undefeated record against him.
“To me it would be like beating (Tom) Osborne,” Tommy said. “When you beat a team coached by (Bobby), you beat the best.”