Oklahoma defensive end Charles Tapper started it. His comments about talking trash during his team’s New Year’s Eve matchup with Clemson began a war of words between the teams that extended to gameday.
Afterwards, Tapper and his teammates had very little to say to the Tigers—and Tony Elliott had a message for Tapper.
“Just go out and represent your university, represent your team with your play,” Clemson’s co-offensive coordinator said. “Let’s set an example for the young people that are getting into this game, because there’s too much in college athletics about ‘me, me, me’. It’s still a team game.”
Elliott’s message was not necessarily to never talk trash. Indeed, Clemson has engaged in such behavior at various points in the season—but never as an instigator.
When Notre Dame players mentioned Clemson on social media and in quoted statements, the Tigers were more than willing to respond. The same thing happened with Florida State.
There was another team that talked trash with Clemson a good bit, and the Tigers have enjoyed the chance to remind those on the outside what happened in that particular contest.
“That was the same mentality that Miami had in this same stadium,” Elliott said after his team’s 37-17 win over Oklahoma. “That’s not what our culture is about. Our culture is about letting your pads do the talking, and let the best man win.”
“Culture” is a buzzword around Clemson these days. Really, it’s a buzzword all over college football—especially as it relates to the Tigers.
Dabo Swinney has built a model program in his image, one that reflects his values. He eschews the notion of style points, preferring building depth to running up the score. He repeats clichés (“best is the standard”, “it’s about Clemson”, “we do what we do”, etc.) to pound his points home.
Swinney preaches faith and family and promises a nurturing environment that allows boys to become men in every conceivable way. He makes no bones about his Christian beliefs, which can be confusing to some. (Swinney answered a recent postgame question about recruiting an atheist by saying, “If all I did was play the best Christians, I wouldn’t be here right now.”)
Swinney is proud that his program is a model of consistency. In the aftermath of the Oklahoma win, he cited his team’s 17-game winning streak that leads the country and 51-0 record since 2010 when leading after three quarters.
Swinney isn’t having to brow-beat his staff to get them to buy into his methods and mindset. They see the results, even someone like Brent Venables who has admitted being a bit skeptical of Swinney’s uber-optimism when he arrived from Oklahoma in 2011.
“Coach Swinney is just a magician, how he keeps our guys’ mindset—he keeps it real and genuine,” Venables said. “He appeals to their voice of reason. He doesn’t have to give them the rah-rah, but he knows how to touch and serve their hearts. As a result, they respond.
“We’ve got great leadership and we’ve got great players, but you’ve got to coach them, and you’ve got to get them to the moment, too. I think he does that as well as anybody I’ve been around.”
People in every corner of the globe have started to take notice, which harkens back to another of Swinney’s favorite quotes, from George Washington Carver:
“When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.”
Swinney’s real-life vision proves such a statement true. It’s the reason Elliott can admonish a college student for talking trash.
On Friday, Clemson showed people what Charles Tapper told people. On the field, the difference was immense.
On the scoreboard, it was twenty points.