In just a few days, Clemson will take off for Glendale, Arizona to compete for what the Tigers have been fighting for all season. The College Football Playoff National Championship game is approaching quickly, and Clemson can practicaly taste it.

It’s an exciting time to be a Tiger fan, but perhaps even more thrilling to be a Clemson student. Spring semester classes are rolling in with the new year, but clouding that usual excitement is the opportunity that Clemson students have not had since 1981.

Their team is playing for the national title, and everyone will be watching.

If the reality of this special season didn’t sink in with Clemson students when the Tigers punched their ticket to the biggest game of the year after dominating Oklahoma in the Capital One Orange Bowl, the daily live SportsCenter broadcasts coming from the Esso Club this week certainly did.

“Just to see them around makes everything feel so real, and it just makes me more proud to be a Clemson Tiger,” junior Clemson student Madeline Korol said.

It is no secret that the Tigers have embraced the disrespect card and the continuous underdog role that the national media has attributed to Clemson, but the students have experienced that as well. It means a lot to the students that their beloved university, football team and head coach have now become the stars of SportsCenter and ESPN segments. Now everyone wants to talk about Clemson and the nation is listening.

“I think it is really cool that ESPN is reporting on our campus all week. It’s crazy that you see all these reporters on T.V. all the time and now they’re here and they get to see why we all think Clemson is so amazing for themselves,” Korol said.

SportsCenter broadcasting live from the Esso Club.

Korol is one of 500 lucky students who received a free student ticket to the National Championship Game provided by Taco Bell. Right before the start of the new semester, Clemson alerted students that there would be a lottery to determine who would win a free ticket and who would be granted the opportunity to purchase a student ticket for $550. Approximately 2,500 students entered for a chance to obtain a ticket, and for those like Korol who were chosen to receive a free Taco Bell ticket, they quite literally won the lottery.

“I was really excited to win a ticket because I had been talking to my parents all week leading up to the game, saying how much I wanted to go after seeing how much fun everyone was having in Miami,” Korol said. “I’m just really looking forward to it. It’s going to be a once in a lifetime experience.”

But getting a ticket was only half the battle. The next challenge lurked in the daunting process of finding a reasonable flight to Arizona. Although the easiest travel itinerary for a Clemson student would be a flight from Greenville to Phoenix, some Clemson students have even found themselves looking into flights to Las Vegas as a cheaper alternative.

For those Clemson students, desperate times call for desperate measures as long as they make it to the championship. Junior Clemson student Sanders Sullivan is “All In” when it comes to finding a way to see the Tigers play.

“I’ll be there somehow someway. I know a girl who goes to Pepperdine so I’m planning on flying to L.A. on Friday then staying in Malibu for the weekend then driving her car to the game which is almost 6 hours,” Sullivan said.

As for class on Monday and Tuesday, students attending the game will most likely have to miss out on two days of classes in the first full week of the spring semester. Although education is the main reason that students are enrolled in Clemson, the university has released a statement urging professors to be understanding of the once in a lifetime opportunity that exists for fans traveling to the championship.

An email from Robert H. Jones, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost

Although students may not be entirely excused from their classes, Sullivan says that the benefits outweigh the risks for having the potential to create such a special memory.

“I’m willing to do whatever it takes. I can’t believe we are playing for the championship. My mom was a junior here when we won in ’81 and I’m a junior here now, so it’s been a special experience. It’s a once in a lifetime experience, as a student, to see your team play for it all. Win or lose, it’s been a heck of a journey and the memories of the game and this season will last a lifetime,” Sullivan said.