It was the seventh bowl trip for a Clemson team and the sixth in 12 years.
The band holds another audition ("Final Look") to decide which of the current members will make the bowl trip.
If they remained, there would be two years without a bowl trip.
On bowl trips, Pruitt said, troopers "act as the eyes and ears for the coach."
With only two regular season games and a bowl trip left, any hopes for a repeat national championship looked slim.
"That game was the biggest thing in their school history and now they're up there with not much of anything but a bowl trip."
Certainly, the Rutgers group on this bowl trip is trying to project a spiffy image.
The Panthers have one winning season, and no bowl trips, this decade.
Michigan State ranked 19th in total defense in 1996 and 13th in 1997, making consecutive bowl trips.
On Wednesday, the Scarlet Knights left for their second bowl trip.