There wasn't much to be optimistic about three days after a deflating 14-3 home loss to Georgia Tech, but Danny Ford was remarkably upbeat as his team prepared for a trip to Kentucky.

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"I'm more excited about playing this week than I was a week ago. I may be foolish, but I am," he said at his Tuesday press luncheon. "I'm glad that our football team is going to go and play on the road and play again because they've got a chance to get better."

Instead things got worse in a 26-7 defeat that saddled Ford with his first three-game losing streak as the Tigers' coach. Kentucky's prolific quarterback, Bill Rasdell, missed the game after suffering a punctured lung on the first play from scrimmage. The Wildcats still had no problem moving the ball, going up 16-0.

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The Tigers racked up seven turnovers, including three in the fourth quarter. Twice Ford's team was penalized for interfering with fair catches on punts as it fell to 1-3.

The lead paragraph from Ron Green in The Greenville News the next day:

"There's trouble in Tigertown. Big trouble."

The next week, Ford told his team to loosen up as it prepared for a visit from Virginia. He said the Tigers had nothing to lose with a 1-3 record, and he wanted them to have some fun.

"Probably for the first time in the history of the game, except the first time they ever played in the history of the game, Clemson is playing a Virginia team that will come to Clemson knowing that they can win the football game," Ford said in his Tuesday press conference. "It's probably the first time ever that they will come to Clemson knowing and expecting to win the football game."