Clemson: Make AND Break Place for Bobby Bowden?

Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden made much of his reputation with a gutsy call at Clemson. That may be the same place that cements his exit from coaching.

Bowden had already built a power in Tallahassee when he called the famous Puntrooskie at Death Valley in 1988. The play set up the winning score for Florida State and cemented Bowden's reputation as a fearless gambler of a head coach who would play any team, anytime, anywhere.

Now, 21 years later, Bowden's post-game comments after his team was blanked 19-0 in the fourth quarter and fell 40-24 against Clemson may be the words that ends his run with the Noles.

Tallahassee Democrat sportswriter Corey Clark posted these exchanges between Bowden and reporters after the game where his recall of what had just happened apparently needed some prompting:

Bowden: "Both of us made errors. We probably scored on some of their errors -- I didn't keep up with it. But we'd turn the ball over and they'd go down and score. Then we'd turn it over and they didn't score. They'd turn it over back. And the game kind of went that way. We felt very comfortable. We knew it was a battle.

Bowden: "So you're feeling comfortable, but you know that it ain't won yet. Then of course the dam broke."

Bowden answered this question minutes later:

Reporter: "In the second half, when it seemed like momentum started to switch, how hard was it to try to reverse that?"

Bowden: "Then we got back ahead, huh? Umm, it was going that way, you know it? I felt very comfortable that if they could score, we could score. That's the way I felt, you know it? We've done it all year. But then we started turning the ball over."

Now I can tell you that Bowden hasn't always been the greatest of post-game interviews. While he's often entertaining in such sessions, details can often be difficult to track down.

He did a hilarious exhibition of the Puntrooskie call and used some folding chairs in the Clemson media room for his demonstration in 1988.

In 1997, when I covered the game between the Tigers and Seminoles at Death Valley, any question that required specifics were answered by Bowden with the words "I'll have to check with my coaches."

Look, Bowden has won 10 or more games 18 times in his career in Tallahassee. He is the only coach to ever lead his team to 15 consecutive New Year's Day bowl games.

It's also true that at the age of 80, while Urban Meyer and arch-rival Florida chase a third national championship, Bowden's Seminoles are barely a player in the ACC Atlantic division.

Florida State does have Jimbo Fisher under contract to succeed Bowden, but that might not be much solace when you look at the state of the program.

It didn't take long for Bowden to say what he wanted to do at Death Valley 21 years ago that helped take his program from good to great, but it looks like a lot of words could be the final details that will end a marriage that isn't likely to finish happily in any manner.