College Football Old School Game of the Week: The Catch(Clemson Version)

Jerry Butler makes "The Catch" for Clemson in their 1977 win over South Carolina.

When sports fans think of "The Catch" most of them either point to Dwight Clark's famous game-winning touchdown reception for the San Francisco 49ers as they defeated the Dallas Cowboys in the 1981 NFC Championship Game or Willie Mays' over the shoulder catch in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series to help the New York Giants defeat the Cleveland Indians.

But when someone mentions "The Catch" in the state of South Carolina, fans of both of the two major college football teams in the Palmetto state will think of Clemson Tigers wide receiver Jerry Butler's game-winning touchdown catch in the final minutes of the Tigers' 1977 win over the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Clemson came into the game needed to defeat the Gamecocks to earn an invitation to play the Pittsburgh Panthers in the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville on December 30th of that year which would be the first bowl game for the Tigers since 1959.

The Tigers were led by first-year head coach Charley Pell, whose offense was led by junior quarterback Steve Fuller and ironically Dwight Clark, who would only catch 32 passes during his career at Clemson as Butler, a junior, was the Tigers' leading receiver as he had caught 40 passes for 694 yards and three touchdowns.

While the Tigers were playing for a bowl game, South Carolina was looking to secure its third straight winning season under head coach Joe Corlen as the Gamecocks came into the "Palmetto Bowl" with a 5-5 record after starting out the season 3-0.

The South Carolina offense was led by senior quarterback Ron Bass or more famously known as "Sunshine" for the 1971 T.C. Williams Titans of Alexandria, Virginia that inspired the 2000 movie Remember The Titans and a plethron of running backs that featured 1980 Heisman Trophy winner George Rogers, who was the team's second leading rusher as a freshman in 1977.

 After both teams punted on their opening possessions of the game, the Tigers took over at their 10-yard-line as it took them eight plays just get to their 45-yard-line until Fuller ran for five yards on a quarterback option to the left side then lateraled the ball to running back Warren Ratchford who ran for 27 yards to complete the 32-yard play and give Clemson a 1st down at the South Carolina 23-yard-line.

Running back Marvin Sims would then get a carry as he ran for 19 yards to give Clemson a 1st & goal where Rutherford would cap off the 11-play, 90-yard drive with a four-yard touchdown run to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead with 6:36 left in the first quarter.

Clemson would get a golden opportunity to extend their lead when on the second play of the Gamecocks' ensuing possession, cornerback Roy Eppes would pick off a pass from Bass and return the interception 30 yards to the South Carolina 10-yard-line.

The Tigers would run the ball three straight times for a total of nine yards as Pell would take the points instead of going for it on 4th down as kicker Obed Ariri would make the 18-yard field goal to increase Clemson's lead to 10-0 with 3:59 remaining in the first quarter.

The Gamecocks would then drive from their 31-yard-line to the Tigers' 39-yard-line thanks in large part to a pair of 12-yard completions by Bass, first to Rogers and the latter to tight end Willie Scott, until running back Johnnie Wright fumbled the football as Clemson free safety Steve Ryan would make the recovery to give the Tigers the ball at their 33-yard-line.

From there, the Tigers would travel 67 yards in 14 plays, converting on four straight 3rd down conversions as Lester Brown would dive into the end zone for a one-yard touchdown to extend the Clemson lead to 17-0 with 9:39 to go in the second quarter.

Clemson quarterback Steve Fuller would complete 14 of 20 passes for 178 yards while running for 31 yards on 17 carries. 

South Carolina would get the ball back at their 20-yard-line as the Gamecocks ran the ball on 14 consecutive plays for 63 yards until Bass threw a pass that was batted down by Tigers defensive tackle Jim Stuckey on a 3rd & 5 as Carlen would send in the field goal unit to get South Carolina on the scoreboard.

But Britt Parish's 34-yard field goal attempt would side right of the uprights as the Gamecocks came away with zero points after a drive which lasted for seven minutes as the Tigers would get begin their next drive at their 20-yard-line.

The Tigers seemed poised to add on to their lead especially after a 41-yard pass from Fuller to Butler put Clemson in South Carolina territory at the Gamecocks' 33-yard-line with over a minute to go before halftime.

However, the Tigers would turn it over on the next play from scrimmage as Ratchford would cough up the football thanks to a hit by Gamecocks linebacker David Prezioso as defensive lineman Bill Janus would recover the fumble at the South Carolina 44-yard-line.

Carolina would try to get into field goal range before the end of the half but Bass would throw his second interception of the game as cornerback Rex Varn picked off a pass intended for wide receiver Phillip Logan to allow the Tigers to run out the clock on the first half and go into the locker room still ahead 17-0.

Midway through the third quarter, it appeared that the Tigers had put up the knockout punch as running back Ken Calicutt busted through a hole provided by guard Jon Bostic and ran for a 52-yard touchdown to push the Clemson lead to 24-0.

After an exchange of three-and-outs, the Gamecocks had the ball at their 14-yard-line when Bass completed a nine-yard pass to Rogers which was followed by an incomplete pass to set up 3rd & 1 when Bass ran a quarterback option to the right side and tossed the ball to running back Spencer Clark who outran the Clemson defense for a 77-yard touchdown to give South Carolina their first points of the game and trim the deficit to 24-7 with 3:58 to go in the third quarter.

The Tigers would begin their next possession at their 35-yard-line as Fuller completed passes of 17 yards to wide receiver Rick Waddington and 10 yards to Dwight Clark to help Clemson drive to the South Carolina 27-yard-line until Fuller pitched the ball behind Brown, leading to a recovery by defensive lineman Fred Sinclair to give the Gamecocks the ball at their 33-yard-line.

Three plays later, Bass would complete a 40-yard pass to Logan to put South Carolina at the Clemson 11-yard-line when running back Steve Dorsey took a handoff from Bass and ran up the middle for the touchdown to cut Tigers' lead to 24-14 just 37 seconds into the fourth quarter.

The Gamecocks kept the momentum on their side as they forced a three-and-out from the Clemson offense then got the ball at the Tigers' 39-yard-line after Dave Sims' punt only went 10 yards.

South Carolina would keep the ball on the ground as they ran the ball on 10 out of the 11 plays of their drive which ended with another touchdown run by Dorsey, this one from one yard out to make it a 24-20 game as the Gamecocks would go for two after the touchdown.

Bass would complete a pass to Scott but the tight end was out of bounds making the pass incomplete and keeping the score at 24-20 in favor of the Tigers with 7:02 to play in the game.

Clemson would pick up one 1st down before punting the ball back to the Gamecocks as Sims shanked another punt, this one going for 18 yards as South Carolina would take over at their 48-yard-line with a little over four minutes to play and a chance to take the lead with a touchdown.

Three straight running plays picked up 12 yards and a fresh set of downs at the Clemson 40-yard-line when Bass threw three straight incomplete passes to force a do-or-die 4th & 10 with 2:01 remaining when Bass threw a pass over the middle that was caught by Logan some 20 yards downfield, who then was able to break a couple of Clemson tackles to run into the end zone for the 40-yard touchdown.

It was the fourth touchdown for the Gamecocks in a span of 16 minutes and 10 seconds as they had wiped away a 24-point deficit to take their first lead of the game at 27-24 with 1:48 left to play in the game.

With their Gator Bowl hopes on the line, the Tigers would begin their next drive at their 33-yard-line after a 26-yard return by wide receiver Willie Jordan on the ensuing kickoff as Clemson had all three timeouts and 99 seconds to drive down the field for the go-ahead touchdown.

The drive would begin with an one-yard run by Fuller followed by a two-yard pass to Ratchford to bring up 3rd & 7 when Fuller connected with Waddington for a 26-yard completion to give Clemson a 1st down at the South Carolina 38-yard-line.

After throwing a pass out of bounds to stop the clock, Fuller would find Dwight Clark over the middle for 18 yards to move the chains as Clemson would have a 1st down at the Gamecocks' 20-yard-line with less than a minute to play.

That is when Fuller took the snap and drifted to his left side when he threw a pass toward the end zone for Butler that was too high and behind the wide receiver.

But Butler would contort his body to make the catch for the 20-yard touchdown to culminate the five-play, 67-yard drive and give Clemson a 31-27 lead with 49 seconds to go in the game.

The Gamecocks would get one last chance to pull out the win as an excessive celebration penalty and a 26-yard kickoff return by Rogers gave South Carolina the ball at their 49-yard-line.

However, Bass would throw four straight incomplete passes to force a turnover on downs as Fuller would take a knee to run out the clock as the Tigers had secured their first bowl game in 18 years with their 31-27 victory over the Gamecocks.

South Carolina would play one more game in 1977 as they traveled to Hawaii to take on the Rainbow Warriors where the Gamecocks would fall 24-7 to finish the '77 season with a 5-7 record while Clemson would be routed by Pitt 34-3 in the Gator Bowl to finish the season with a 8-3-1 record and #19 ranking in the final AP poll.

As for Butler, he would return to Clemson for his senior season where he led the Tigers with 58 catches for 908 yards to help Clemson win its first ACC championship in 11 years as the Clemson went 11-1 and finished #6 in the AP poll after a 17-15 win over Ohio State in the Gator Bowl, the infamous game where a Clemson player was punched by Ohio State head coach Woody Hayes.

Butler would then be chosen by the Buffalo Bills with the #5 pick in the 1979 NFL Draft where Butler would spend his entire eight-year NFL career as he caught 278 passes for 4,301 yards and scored 29 touchdowns.