The loss really clouds what should have otherwise been a memorable experience.
Pretty much every Clemson fan I encountered was nice and super welcoming. The typical, "hope you have a wonderful time but lose." Even a fan we ran into at a restaurant near Spartanburg on Saturday evening said we got robbed by the refs. But proceeded to ask me and my son what we thought, hoped we had a good time, etc. Had a lot of exchanges like that. They seem to take pride in being so welcoming.
Having been to many away stadiums, I thought the Clemson fans were pretty nice and well behaved -- if the Uconn fans are an F, Clemson deserves an A. I've seen worse behavior by Cuse fans at the Dome sometimes. And to be fair, worse behavior by Clemson fans in the Dome, too (like the little 10 year old kid who flipped me off at the game last year -- trash).
my son was super dejected leaving the stadium (shed some tears) and not a single fan said anything bad or even rubbed it in. They more wanted to get to their tailgates or post game parties. The entire city was a giant party. Seemed like 80k in the stadium and another 80k partying in town. Just insane.
Overall, the tailgating scene was unreal and impressive. It just kept going. And going. And going. Definitely a bucket level trip that I'd recommend others do.
Mark, as always, did a fantastic job and deserves a statue built for the work he puts in for these things at away games. Seemed like a really robust crew at the tailgate and everyone had a blast.
Few pics...