Clemson Flashback: Tigers beat No. 4 Georgia to spark 1981 run

Thanks to its victory over 14th-ranked South Carolina, Clemson finished the 1980 season with a 6-5 record. It was not anything to brag about, but for the players coming back for the 1981 season, they felt as if they won the national championship.

“What Willie [Underwood] did, and that game, motivated us the entire off-season,” former Clemson running back Cliff Austin said. “We were changing. That spring, we were changing from being a loser to a winner. We were fueled by our upset win over South Carolina to end the season and it just kept going.

“We came out of that spring a better football team. Our confidence level was high. That was the roughest spring, but the best spring that I went…