As Clemson's program moved further away from probation in early 1986, it was evident that Danny Ford was assembling the talent and the momentum for a return to greatness.
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The 1985 team that finished 6-6 was filled with freshmen and juniors. Clemson fans remembered that the 1980 team was composed similarly, and that team's mediocrity gave way to years-long dominance starting with the 1981 national title.
One of Ford's main objectives entering 1986 was to protect the football. Clemson committed 32 turnovers in 1985, when four of its losses came by a combined 18 points. The Tigers amassed 23 lost fumbles and tossed nine interceptions.
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"Instead of running an option drill at a manager, we're going to run it at a player," he said in The Tiger before spring practice. "We need to create more live situations in practice to cut down on our turnovers.
"Our number one priority this spring is to improve our option offense. We have to get the ball on the corners and execute the triple option offense."
The June death of former Maryland basketball star Len Bias rocked the country and introduced drug use to the growing list of problems that afflicted big-time college sports.
Bias, who'd been selected No. 2 overall by the Boston Celtics in the NBA Draft, died of a cocaine overdose. Two Maryland basketball players were indicted on drug charges in the wake of his death. Also during this period, three football players at Virginia faced cocaine trafficking charges.
Momentum for major NCAA reform was building as a result of pay-for-play scandals in college football and basketball. Overzealous boosters were blamed for destroying the system, and college presidents were compelled to rein in their athletics programs.
The NCAA adopted new rules to punish repeat offenders, and in the summer of 1986 revelations were coming forth at SMU that would lead to the "death penalty" for the probation-plagued football program.
In late July at the summer ACC football media gathering, the discussion and headlines centered on drugs and crime.
"Drug- and crime-related problems and everything else are not just an athletic problem," Ford told reporters at the event. "We have it with regular students at the university; we have it with high school students; we have it with our own children."
Ford's program was in the crosshairs of scrutiny after news broke in June that sexual assault accusations had been lodged against star tailback Kenny Flowers, who was considered a Heisman Trophy candidate entering the season.
A 37-year-old woman, the mother of a former Clemson player, alleged that Flowers, teammate A.J. Johnson and two former Tigers raped her at an off-campus apartment. The woman dropped the charges 18 hours after the alleged incident, and the case was dropped. The woman re-opened the case a month later after meeting with an Anderson attorney.
Clemson went through August practice with the case still unresolved as 13th-circuit solicitor Joe Watson and the Clemson police department conducted an investigation.
The woman had told police that she was approached by a man at a service station and forced to drive to the off-campus apartment. One of the accused, former player Craig Crawford, told police the woman wanted to buy cocaine and participated in consensual sex in return for the drug. The woman was reported to have been drinking at the time of crime she alleged.
When a group of ACC reporters visited Clemson in late August to get a preview of the 1986 football team, Ford was asked about the investigation.
"I know what I'd do if they were convicted of a crime. I've got my rules. But I'm not going to convict them. I'm not going to judge them. I don't know the facts. I'll agree with what the United States courts say."
On Sept. 2, 11 days before Clemson's season opener against Virginia Tech, a Pickens County grand jury cleared Flowers and the other three men after finding no cause to indict on rape, kidnap and robbery charges.
