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The aftermath of Clemson's ugly, awful, embarrassing, exposed-for-the-incredible-ACC-frauds-they-are loss to Alabama just keeps getting stranger.

As coach Tommy Bowden contmeplated Clemson’s flat-liner of an opener, he decided to “reach out and touch someone.” Four someones, to be exact.

Bowden’s first phone call was the source of the Tigers’ emotional travails: Alabama coach Nick Saban.

“I don’t have enough pride to think I have all the answers,” Bowden said. “So I’m looking for a guy who’s a proven winner, obviously an intelligent guy on defense and a guy who’s studied us for six months. What better guy to go to?”

Advice was a phone call away.

By Tuesday morning, Bowden also had sought out Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer, Georgia coach Mark Richt and his father, Florida State coach Bobby Bowden.

Reports from FSU claim the senior Bowden couldn’t remember his son's name.

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