Celebrating Swinney’s 50th birthday with 10 of his biggest wins
By: will-vandervort November 20, 2019

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney celebrates his 50th birthday today.

Swinney has obviously had a lot of success at Clemson, including on or right after his birthday. The Tigers are 9-2 during Swinney’s birthday, including six straight victories.

Clemson has played just once on Swinney’s birthday. On his 41st birthday, the Tigers went on and demolished Wake Forest, 30-10, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Though Swinney will say everyone of his 127 wins are big to him, he has actually never had one milestone victory on or around his birthday. The Tigers’ 34-21 victory over Virginia following his 40th birthday in 2009 clinched Clemson’s first Atlantic Division Championship, the first of many hurdles the Tigers have jumped on their way to becoming one of the two best programs in college football.

Below is a list of Swinney’s 10 best wins at Clemson to celebrate his 50th birthday.

  1. November 1, 2008: Clemson 27, Boston College 21

Swinney recorded his first win as a head coach. He had taken over the Clemson program on an interim basis on October 13 after Tommy Bowden stepped downs as head coach following a 3-3 start to the season. Running back C.J. Spiller caught six passes for 105 yards, while setting up one touchdown with a 57-yard run and another with a 64-yard kickoff return. It was Clemson’s first win over Boston College since 1958 and snapped a six-game losing streak to the Eagles.

  1. October 24, 2009: Clemson 40, No. 8 Miami 37 (OT)

Clemson recorded its first road win over a ranked team when Kyle Parker found Jacoby Ford wide open across the middle for the game-winning touchdown in overtime. The play covered 26 yards. At the time, it was Clemson’s first win over a top 10 team on the road in eight years.

  1. November 29, 2014: No. 23 Clemson 35, South Carolina 17

The Tigers snapped a five-game losing streak to rival South Carolina with a 35-17 win. Deshaun Watson, which Swinney revealed after the game was playing with a torn ACL, threw for two scores and ran for two more in lifting the Tigers to victory at Death Valley. Watson threw for 269 yards, while Wayne Gallman ran for 191 yards. Artavis Scott finished the game 185 receiving yards.

  1. October 3, 2015: No. 11 Clemson 24, No. 6 Notre Dame 22

Deshaun Watson threw two touchdown passes, ran for a third score as No. 11 Clemson withstood sixth-ranked Notre Dame’s second-half rally for a 24-22 victory at a rain-soaked Memorial Stadium in Clemson. The Tigers secured the win when Carlos Watkins and Ben Boulware combined to stop Irish quarterback DeShone Kizer on a two-point play with seven seconds left. Watson accounted for 190 yards, 93 of those coming on the ground. He had a 21-yard TD run early in third quarter to put the Tigers up 21-3. Kizer had a 56-yard scoring pass to C.J. Prosise to start Notre Dame’s comeback. The Irish closed to 24-16 on Kizer’s 3-yard scoring run and then he found Torii Hunter with seven seconds left to cut the Clemson lead to two points before Watkins’ winning tackle. It was Notre Dame’s first trip to Death Valley since 1979.

  1. December 21, 2016: No. 2 Clemson 31, No. 3 Ohio State 0

Deshaun Watson ran for two touchdowns and threw for another as Clemson handed Ohio State its worst bowl loss in history with a 31-0 victory at the Fiesta Bowl as part of the College Football Playoff Semifinals. The Buckeyes were blanked for the first time since 1993 against Michigan and head coach Urban Meyer had one of his teams held scoreless for the first time in 194 games as a head coach. Defensive end Clelin Ferrell had a sack among his three tackles for loss as Clemson allowed only 215 yards and nine first downs.

  1. December 31, 2012: No. 14 Clemson 25, No. 9 LSU 24

Chandler Catanzaro kicked a 37-yard field goal as time expired to give No. 14 Clemson a 25-24 win over No. 9 Louisiana State in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Trailing 24-22, Clemson took possession on its 20 with 1:39 remaining. Tajh Boyd completed a pass for 26 yards to DeAndre Hopkins on a fourth-and-16 play during the decisive 10-play drive. At Clemson the play is simply know as fourth-and-16. Hopkins finished the game with 13 catches for 191 yards and two touchdowns. Boyd completed 36 of 50 passes for 346 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He set career highs for attempts and completions while winning the game MVP award.

  1. December 3, 2011: No. 21 Clemson 38, No. 5 Virginia Tech 10

Tajh Boyd threw three touchdown passes and ran for another as No. 21 Clemson routed No. 5 Virginia Tech 38-10 to win its first ACC Championship in 20 years. The win also clinched the Tigers’ first BCS or College Football Playoff berth under Dabo Swinney and their first invitation to the Orange Bowl Classic since winning the 1982 Orange Bowl. Boyd finished the game 20 of 29 for 240 yards.

  1. November 29, 2008: Clemson 31, South Carolina 14

Without this win nothing that has happened in the last 11 seasons at Clemson would be possible. Two days after beating the Gamecocks, Dabo Swinney had the interim tag removed from in front of his title as became the Tigers’ 25th head coach. It was the Tigers 10th win in 12 years over the Gamecocks at the time. Clemson finished the 2008 regular season with four wins in its last five games to become bowl eligible for a 10th straight year.

  1. January 9, 2017: No. 2 Clemson 35, No. 1 Alabama 31

Clemson won its second national title in history and first in 35 years with a 35-31 victory over No. 1 Alabama, who had entered the game with a 26-game winning streak. Hunter Renfrow scored the winning touchdown with just one second remaining on a two-yard pass from Deshaun Watson. It was Clemson’s first win over the nation’s No. 1 ranked team. Watson threw for a championship game record 420 yards and three touchdowns in leading the Tigers back from a 14-point deficit.

  1. January 7, 2019: No. 2 Clemson 44, No. 1 Alabama 16

Trevor Lawrence became the first freshman since 1985 to lead his team to a national championship thanks to Clemson’s 44-16 win over Alabama. Lawrence played a big role in why the Tigers dominated the Crimson Tide like they did. He completed 20 of 32 passes for 347 yards and three touchdowns to earn MVP honors. The win was historic because of the nature in which the Tigers beat ‘Bama and because it clinched a 15-0 perfect season, the first in major college football since 1897.

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