Editor’s note: Each week, the Clemson Insider honors Clemson’s 2016 National Championship Team by reliving that week’s game on the schedule. Follow all season long as we talk to players and coaches who lived through the up and downs of a dramatic season that brought Clemson its first national championship in 35 years.

Week 1: No. 2 Clemson 19, Auburn 13

CLEMSON – Southern Alabama humidity and potent expectations hung heavy in Jordan-Hare Stadium one late-summer night in 2016 as No. 2 Clemson rolled in to open its season against Auburn in an all-Tiger affair.

Clemson– led by eighth-year head coach Dabo Swinney– had the rankings and hype in its favor entering the venue that donned a hope-frenzied crowd and a somewhat less burnt shade of orange than found at Clemson’s Memorial Stadium.

The anticipation around the late-night season-opener made sense.

Clemson was fresh off a national championship appearance in 2015, going toe-to-toe with a prime Nick Saban Alabama team in a western-style shootout.

If the game was an old-fashioned western movie, Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson had been the outlaw, slinging attacks via 478 total yards of offense and four touchdowns, a national championship record at that time.

Seven months later, at No. 2 in the AP rankings– its highest-recorded start in program history– Clemson was favored to win by just over a touchdown against Auburn, despite playing in a hostile environment against a Gus Malzahn-led squad that yearned to improve off of a 7-6 finish the year prior.

Swinney knew not to count out the ‘other’ Tigers, despite several personnel matchups favoring Clemson.

“We recognize fully how difficult it is to win there,” Swinney said at his Tuesday press conference before the game. “You’re down a touchdown when you get off the bus. I know that firsthand.”

Still, entering that fateful night in Auburn, the conversation was all about Clemson– the little school tucked in a South Carolina corner that had just managed to dance with the big, bad program that had foraged a monopoly on success in the 2010s.

National pundits, and probably many Clemson fans, expected Watson and the Tigers’ offense, featuring wide receiver Mike Williams– newly recovered from a neck injury– Wayne Gallman, Jordan Leggett, and others, to continue their masterful 2015 campaign against Auburn, down significantly from the last time the teams met up in 2012.

Four years later, expectations had shifted mightily for Clemson, though there were still limited question marks for Swinney’s team entering 2016, particularly at defensive end.

With edge rushers Kevin Dodd and Shaq Lawson jumping off to the NFL one year early in the 2016 NFL Draft, the Tigers were comfortable with new starters Clelin Ferrell, a redshirt freshman, and Austin Bryant– who was coming off of a monster performance in an Orange Bowl win over Oklahoma. 

When Bryant went down with a foot fracture just three weeks before the Auburn game, however, Swinney and defensive coordinator Brent Venables had to get creative. As a result, the pair moved 305-pound sophomore defensive tackle Christian Wilkins, coming off of a phenomenal freshman campaign, to defensive end until Bryant’s return.

Thankfully, earlier in the summer, Wilkins had already been cross-training at defensive end.

“You are playing to more space for one, and two, there are a lot more things that can happen,” Wilkins said, explaining the differences in the positions. “You have down blocks from the tackles. You have sniffers and fullbacks coming at you, so you have to watch the quarterback. There are just so many different things.”

Ultimately, Clemson’s offense did not produce the expected circus-act numbers against Auburn, but Wilkins and the defense’s toughness certainly made the trip down Interstate-85.

As the saying goes, “Defense travels.”

Clemson dominated the stat sheet in the first half against Malzahn’s team, holding a 233-to-38 advantage in total yards and a 10-3 lead at the halftime break. Still, the Tigers did not put up any points in the first quarter, and both scores came after defensive penalties, a significant dropoff from early explosive expectations. 

Their only first-half touchdown came as Wilkins, defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, among several other now-well-known big men, held off Auburn’s defense for a fourth-down touchdown run from Gallman.

“It was the easiest touchdown of my life,” the running back later said after his one-yard burst into the end zone for a 7-3 lead.

In the second half, Clemson’s defense continued to hold down the fort for the offense, as Jadar Johnson caught the first interception of the game and linebacker Ben Boulware forced a fumble. Fittingly, Wilkins was the one to recover the stray ball and give Clemson another chance to buy some insurance points.

After an unforeseen defensive stalemate for the better part of three quarters, Watson showed off his arm and accuracy with a 16-yard touchdown pass to former walk-on Hunter Renfrow in the back of the end zone to give Clemson a 19-6 lead with 9:59 left to play in the fourth quarter.

Boulware followed it up with a goal-line interception– his second takeaway of the game– on the next possession, cutting through any Auburn momentum.

“That’s kind of the M.O. for my senior year,” Boulware said earlier that week. “This is my last opportunity to play at Clemson, so I’m going to make the most of it.”

And that he did. 

One possession later, Clemson turned the ball over on downs after Swinney opted not to kick a field goal and went for a first down on fourth-and-four. With 40 seconds to play, Auburn had one last shot to drive the field and score a game-winning touchdown.

The Tigers’ defense, again, stepped up, forcing three straight incompletions as time expired to give Clemson a 19-13 victory.

“Overall, our defense was tremendous,” Swinney said postgame. “I thought we controlled the line of scrimmage. Those guys were disruptive. Christian Wilkins was the player of the game. I can’t say enough about him.”

Clemson’s defense finished with 14 tackles behind the line of scrimmage, including four sacks, Boulware’s forced fumble, as well as the two interceptions. Seven defensive Tigers had at least one tackle for loss, while linebacker Kendall Joseph led the charge with three. Boulware finished with six total tackles, in addition to causing two of the three Auburn turnovers. 

Wilkins, Swinney’s proclaimed “player of the game,” had 2 ½  tackles for loss, a sack, a pass breakup and six total tackles. 

“I really feel like it was a team effort tonight,” the lineman said postgame. “It was a good job by our defense. We were tough tonight. We showed our guts and that we were not afraid to compete.”

On the other end, Williams finished with 174 receiving yards on nine receptions, while Gallman carried the ball 30 times for 123 yards. Watson completed just 56 percent of his passes for 248 yards, but still came away with his 18th win as a starter.

It may not have been a textbook victory on the Plains, or a standard performance from the most highly anticipated offense in the country, but Clemson found a way to start off its 2016 campaign with a win.