no, the clutch was not in backwards. i do not think it would even bolt up.
i did not have this car running yet. the marks that are in it, are from before i bought it, leading me to believe that there was an issue with it. and when i did start the car for the firswt time yesterday, i only fire off a cup of gas, just to check oil pressure, and never tried to push the clutch in, so it could not have rubbed then