In the last eight years, Clemson has become an elite college football program.
To you remember the days before the current run? The days when you clamored for just a shot at Clemson winning the Atlantic Coast Conference again.
Those days seem like a distant memory, but the reality of it is we are just eight years removed.
The Clemson football program has been so good for so long no one really remembers what it was like when fans got excited about being bowl eligible.
In 2009, the Tigers cleared the first hurdle in reestablishing itself as a contender in the ACC. Of course, that is the year Dabo Swinney took the program to its first ACC Championship Game. At the time, Clemson fans were so happy to reach that point, they had no idea what Swinney was building.
Two years later, the Tigers won their first ACC Championship in 20 years and produced the program’s first 10-win season in 21 years. Again, two major hurdles were cleared.
Clemson fans rejoiced everywhere. Their Tigers finally won another ACC Championship. Tiger fans seemed happy and satisfied. Once again, they had no idea what was going on inside the program.
Quietly, Dabo Swinney was building a giant in college football that no one saw coming. In 2012, ’13 and ’14, Clemson continued to do things it had not accomplished as a program in a long while. It won 11 games in 2012 and 2013, while beating elite programs such as LSU and Ohio State.
Clemson won its first Orange Bowl since 1982 with its win over the Buckeyes. Again, Tiger fans everywhere were excited and again they had no idea what was about to come.
Though Clemson lost three games in 2014, the foundation for the next four seasons was laid at the end of the year.
The Tigers cleared another hurdle by ending its worst losing streak to rival South Carolina with a convincing 35-17 victory at Death Valley. They then followed that up with a 40-6 win over Oklahoma in the Russell Athletic Bowl.
At the time, with four straight 10-win seasons in hand, an ACC Championship in the back pocket, beating the Gamecocks, again, and with wins over LSU, Auburn, Georgia, Ohio State and Oklahoma, Clemson fans were satisfied. There was not much else they could ask for.
Once again, they had no idea what was about to take place, and to be honest, no one did.
After its win over South Carolina in 2014, Clemson kept winning and it really has not stopped since. In fact, the Tigers have lost just four times since then.
Of course, we all know the rest of the story. Three national championship game appearances, two victories in the title game in the last three years, including a 28-point thumping of Alabama in this past year’s national championship.
Oh, by the way, Clemson also became the first college football program in 121 years to go 15-0 in a season.
Once again, Tiger fans are glowing. Clemson is on top of the college football world. Everyone is satisfied.
Once again, we have no idea what’s about to happen.
Dabo Swinney did not get his program where it is today by being satisfied.
Move over Alabama, Clemson is the new King of College Football. In our new magazine “Little Ole Clemson”: The Best “Little” Dynasty Ever, we examine not just the 2018 team’s run to being “the best ever” but examine the last four seasons and how Dabo Swinney turned Clemson into the new dynasty of college football. We also take a look at the role former athletic director Terry Don Phillips played. We go behind the scenes at the Tigers’ run to a second national championship in three seasons and the previous three national championship runs. It also features stories on the Power Rangers, the 2018 senior class, high quality photos and much, much more.
We are pleased to announce that our latest magazine is ready for order. Get your order in today to make sure you get a copy of this collector’s edition.