The No. 1 ranking, the Sports Illustrated Cover and Deshaun Watson being dubbed the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy has all brought a smile to Dabo Swinney’s face these days. But those are not the reasons on why he is smiling.
“I’m just happy for the Clemson folks,” he said after practice on Wednesday. “I’m happy to see our fans be so excited about a place that they love. To me, that is the coolest thing.”
As the Tigers get set to head to Syracuse for Saturday’s 3:30 p.m., kick in the Carrier Dome, Swinney says they are appreciative of everything that has been happening this year, and seeing Watson on the cover of perhaps the greatest sports magazine in the world, let’s them all know their efforts are being noticed.
“It’s a pretty neat thing. It just means you are having a good season. That’s about it,” Swinney said. “Hopefully, we can be on there a few more times. That would be great. Hopefully, we can give them something to want to continue to talk about around here.
“I’m happy for Deshaun. I guess you have to put somebody on there. I think he is playing as well as anybody in the country. As I have said, he is definitely the best quarterback, and very well may be the best player.
“It must be a slow news day, I guess. I don’t know. We are working our way up. Let’s see if we can keep going that way.”
Clemson is 9-0 at this point in the season for the first time since the program won its only national championship in 1981. It is just the third time a Clemson team has been this far into a season and has not had a blemish on its record.
“It is great that our brand is being recognized as one of the best, if not the best, and that is what we have been working towards forever,” Swinney said. “It is really just a lot of people recognizing things that we have known for a long time, that this is a special place. It is a great place. It is a wonderful university.
“There is an unbelievable passion here. There are great people in all facets of this university, no perfect people, but great people that love this university that try to do everything they can to make it better. It takes all of that to really build a great program.”
During last week’s broadcast on ABC, ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit said Clemson was one of the top 10 programs in the country and it’s only going to get better with the new $55 million football facility Clemson broke ground on last Friday.
With a win this Saturday against Syracuse, Clemson would earn its 10th victory of the season. It’s a milestone that would give the program five consecutive 10-win seasons – a first in Clemson history and just the 15th different school in college football history that has accomplished such a feat.
“We have been winning for a while. This isn’t our first time to win,” Swinney said. “It’s the first time we have been 9-0, and it only the third time that has happened. That’s brought a little extra love, I guess, from other people.”
And its love that is very much welcomed.