Two days before Clemson's mammoth Top 10 showdown at North Carolina, The Washington Post ran an investigative piece by John Feinstein after Feinstein spent several days around the Tigers' program.

"On this idyllic campus where the trees are just now beginning to turn color, there is a darkening cloud on the horizon, one that threatens to engulf Clemson at the very moment when it should be celebrating its greatest athletic achievements."

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The NCAA was investigating Clemson after allegations of violations in the Tigers' recruitment of Terry Minor and James Cofer, who played high school football in Knoxville, Tenn.

Feinstein wrote that six coaches and 28 players were questioned on the NCAA's second visit to the campus less than two months earlier, just days after Clemson's groundbreaking 13-3 victory over Georgia at Death Valley.

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"According to sources at the school, the NCAA is considering as many as 100 charges against Clemson, some of which date back to the previous coaching regime headed by Charley Pell, now at Florida," said the article, which ran Nov. 5.

Feinstein observed in the article that Tigers coach Danny Ford was a "friendly man" who "turns cold at the mention of the NCAA."

"I don't see any cloud hanging over this program, 'cause we haven't done anything wrong," Feinstein quoted Ford as saying.

In the first Top 10 matchup in ACC history, Clemson earned an emotional 10-8 win in Chapel Hill by stifling the Tar Heels' prolific offense. Defensive tackle Jeff Bryant fell on a pass-turned-lateral at the North Carolina 25 with 57 seconds left, and the No. 2 Tigers moved ever closer to an Orange Bowl bid while improving to 9-0.