Mark Packer on Clemson: The '80s were "nothing compared to what it is right now’

On being in his old roommate Tim Bourret’s head on Saturday night:

"He may be the most perfect person on the planet to talk to when it comes to the tradition and the history of Notre Dame and the tradition and the history of Clemson football, and in fact anytime I see Notre Dame vs. Clemson-- it could be in cross country, it could be in basketball, it could be in crew, much less football. He really is the first person I immediately think of because when you start talking about people who have had ties to both schools and understand the nuances of what they're all about, there's not a better person on the planet Earth than Tim Bourret to break that down."

On D.J. Uiagalelei getting ready to play Boston College in just two days: 

"There's no doubt he was really impressive. We've all been hearing about it, but it's one thing to do it in a mop-up role where everything is gonna be kind of condensed, or you're just handing off and getting it to zero-- it's another thing when you get the start, and you're down 18, and you're thinking, ‘Oh my goodness. What in the world's going on?’ Give BC a lot of credit-- I've been so impressed with Jeff Hafley and the job he's done.”

On Clemson getting down 28-10:

“They (BC) took advantage of every opportunity known to man, created some of themselves, but when it was 28-10, it was more than just a little scary because plays were happening in that game that you got a sense of, ‘Hey, wait a minute now. This is how upsets happen.’ When you see crazy things happen 99-yard scoop and scores and penalties that take away an interception and guys making mistakes on 3rd and 17s to get first downs.”

On Clemson’s second half:

“In the second half, they shut everything down, no third-down conversions, basically under 70 yards of total offense. The offense opened up the playbook-- D.J. was out of sight. Etienne had an incredible day in terms of taking ownership of the ACC (all-time) rushing lead, not to mention the 42 touchdowns in different games. I think Clemson showed its championship DNA in the second half. That's what great teams do. They don't panic. They respond. They take a deep breath. They roll up their sleeves. They get to work. That's exactly what the Tigers did in the second half.”

On who Travis Etienne reminds him of:

"He's his own guy. I've never liked it when people start putting guys in categories. He's gonna be the next Michael Jordan. He's the next LeBron James. He's the next Dan Marino. I mean, pick one, right? And you're like, ‘No, the greats are their own deal.’ I just like the way he goes about his business. There's not any hype. There's no trash talking. He scores, he hands the ball off, he runs hard. He's developed his game.” 

On Etienne’s expanded skills: 

“We were kidding around this morning about when he got there as a freshman and couldn't catch a cold. Now you're watching catching passes out of the backfield. He's got great hands. He's got great speed.”

On Etienne’s abilities as a runner:

“He has unbelievable patience. One of the things we talked about with Dabo Swinney last week on the show was watching him develop patience as a runner. I think the great ones instinctively have it, but the super ones develop it even to another extreme. The fact that this guy a year ago could have taken the money, gone to the NFL, whether he was drafted, late first round, second round, third round, whatever, but said, ‘Nah, I love college life, I want to get my degree. There are still things I want to work on from a team perspective. We came close, but we didn't win the national championship.’ I’ve got nothing but respect for that.”

On seeing where Swinney’s program is as a Clemson graduate:

"Well, it's funny, because when I was in school, 100 years ago, during the Danny Ford era, during the 80s, it was pretty good. (They) won a national championship when I was a freshman, as a student, they had great teams. Danny's teams would line up and bloody your nose and make sure you enjoyed it. And you're thinking, man, it can't get any better than this. Then this Swinney guy shows up talking about the next decade's going to be the best thing ever. Like, ‘okay, great. That sounds good. But let's go see what's gonna be.’ Now you look back at the ’80s-- for again, a guy old as I am and you go, ‘boy, the ’80s were cool, but man, that’s nothing compared to what it is right now.’”

On the top teams in college football:

“Clemson is elite. And you know what? It's a short list because it starts with the A with Alabama, you add Clemson to it, and that's about where you draw the line and no disrespect to anybody else. Ohio State has a great program. I would say they’re as close to joining that mix as possible, but you know what? They've not won a College Football Playoff game in five years and counting. That doesn't happen at Alabama and Clemson. So to me, the list is two, it's Alabama and Clemson.”