MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The 2015 football season saw an entirely new starting five on the offensive line. Although some may claim that each lineman had at least one career start prior to the season, redshirt graduate Eric Mac Lain will argue his one career start prior to this season doesn’t make him a returning starter.

At the beginning of the season, some regarded the offensive line as Clemson’s potential weak link, saying the lineman were not experienced enough to dominate in the trenches, but their opinions did not matter.

Head coach Dabo Swinney and the offensive line knew the group, who refers to themselves as the “Beard Gang,” would be a force to be reckoned with, and they have been. Mac Lain attributes some of the line’s success to the unique chemistry that the group has. Their willingness to work together and their special bond combined to create a solid unit up front.

“I think it’s been awesome to be able to replace essentially every single person on the offensive and defensive side of the ball, and to have zero dropoff, if not be even better, maybe statistically, on both sides, and just really to be able to take over games. We really understand that it all starts in the trenches, no matter who we’re playing, no matter where we’re playing,” he said.

In No. 1 Clemson’s 37-17 victory over No. 4 Oklahoma in the Capital One Orange Bowl, the Tigers rushed for more yards than they passed, racking up 312 yards on the ground. On the other side of the ball, Clemson’s defense held Oklahoma to just 67 rushing yards. Three of Clemson’s four scores were rushing touchdowns, and both Deshaun Watson and Wayne Gallman rushed for 145 yards or more.

“We lost all the guys in the trenches on both sides but yet we were able to stop the run and we were able to run the ball at an incredible pace. So I’m really proud of those guys up front, and Eric has been the cog in the wheel for sure,” Swinney said.

The line is led by vocal leader Mac Lain, who has helped Clemson run the ball 3,200 yards so far this season. Last year against Oklahoma, Clemson only rushed for 68 yards. This year, the Tigers rushed for over four times that amount against a defense that returned most of its starters.

This year, Clemson saw an array of different players rotating on the offensive line due to various injuries, but the strength of the unit as a whole showed no drop off, allowing for the Tigers to be consistently successful in the trenches.

“Eric has been an unbelievable leader. He took Mitch Hyatt under his wing, a true freshman left tackle, getting Guillermo back, Ryan Norton battling through injuries, Joe Gore, Maverick stepping in, Crowder, all those guys, they’ve been incredible. It doesn’t matter who we’ve played, they have been incredibly consistent,” Swinney said.

A common pattern in interviews this season has been that of players attributing their success to their fellow teammates instead of themselves. That is exactly what Mac Lain did after Clemson’s Orange Bowl victory.

“I think when you have guys executing on such a high level like Wayne and Deshaun where, it just makes our job a heck of a lot easier. We know with them back there we don’t have to block perfectly on every single play because they’re going to make the right cuts and the right reads to get us in the best position,” Mac Lain said.

However, Swinney chimed in to make sure the offensive line that has played tremendously this season despite the early outside doubters, got recognized for their effort in the win.

“You can’t state enough the job that that offensive line has done. All five of them made All-Conference,” Swinney said.