The Citadel may have gotten spanked by Clemson on Saturday, but at least it left with its dignity … and a $450,000 check.
Clemson beat The Citadel 49-0 to improve to 2-0 and drop the Bulldogs to 0-2. The Tigers were up 49-0 at halftime and apparently offered to spare The Citadel from further embarrassment.
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney offered to switch to shorter quarters in the second half or operate with a running clock. The Citadel head coach Brent Thompson explained after the game why he declined.
“We came here to play 60 minutes of football, and that’s what we were going to do,” Thompson said after the game, via The State’s Greg Hadley. “It didn’t matter whether I was gonna get beat by 100 or I was gonna get beat by 50, we were gonna stand in there and we were gonna play a full 60 minutes of football.
“I believe they wanted to shorten it to 10 minutes or a running clock. That’s not what we came here to do, that’s not what The Citadel’s about, that’s not what we’re about. I’m not gonna cave into that at all. I understand that that’s something that they can certainly offer to me, but it doesn’t matter to me. If I’m gonna get beat, I’m gonna get beat. It doesn’t matter to me.”
You have to respect Thompson and his program for the choice. That’s admirable.
The decision also makes sense in context.
The Citadel plays in the Southern Conference, which canceled the season. That left The Citadel with only four games on its schedule since it decided to try to play. It also has games against Eastern Kentucky and Army remaining. It’s possible it could still add more if teams are looking for opponents.
Also, the final score was the same as the halftime score: 49-0. Keep in mind Clemson has done this in the past and been taken up on the offer.
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