Dabo Swinney can’t explain what he does with his program that is different from everyone else in college football.

Whatever it is it is working.

Clemson is making its fourth straight appearance in the College Football Playoff, second only to Alabama, who has appeared in all five thus far. The Tigers beat the Crimson Tide in the 2017 National Championship Game two years ago and are the favorite to challenge them again this year.

“It’s hard for me to answer that because I don’t know what really everybody does. I just know what we do,” Swinney said. “We are just very committed to how we do things. Who we recruit, who I hire, and I think we are very disciplined when it comes to that, you know?

“Clemson is not for everybody. This is a hard place and I know that. There is a lot of structure, a lot of accountability and I am going to hold everybody accountable. It does not mean young people will not make mistakes or sometimes let you down or disappoint you.”

There has not been much disappointment inside or outside the program the last eight seasons.

Clemson is the second winningest program in college football behind Alabama since the start of the 2011 season. The Tigers are 95-15 during that span. They have now earned eight straight 10-win seasons, only Alabama has more 10-win seasons in a row nationally.

The Tigers have won five ACC Championships during that stretch, including the last four, played in two national championship games and of course won the 2016 National Championship.

Off the field, Swinney has had 183 of his 188 senior-letterman (97 percent) graduate since he has been at Clemson, that includes all 24 seniors from the national championship team.

Clemson’s current APR score of 987 is the fifth best among Power 5 schools, trailing only Northwestern (997), Vanderbilt (993), Duke (992) and Michigan (990).

So, what is the secret?

“We try to recruit people first,” Swinney said. “I recruit people first as coaches and players second. You can’t be just a good player to come to Clemson. You have to be more than that.

“So, we have been very disciplined to our formula, our criteria. I think we have evaluated extremely well. We don’t worry about what other people think or whether he is a great player in some people’s eyes and we don’t think so, or he is a bad player in some people’s eyes and we think he is a great player. We are just very disciplined when it comes to that and we know the fit.”

And knowing that fit has the Tigers (13-0) back in the College Football Playoff and playing Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl as part of the national semifinals.

“It is not lightning in a bottle,” Swinney said. “It’s hard to be consistent. Coach (Nick) Saban in fact said something at our little press conference thing last week and I appreciate what he said, and he is right. There are a lot of books written on how to be successful, but there are not many written on how to stay successful.

“That is really hard and that is why I have great appreciation for our program and what we have been able to do.”