By Will Vandervort.

If the College Football Playoffs started last year, instead of this year, where would Clemson had fallen? Odds are, especially after the loss to South Carolina, the Tigers would have been on the outside looking in.

But does that mean Clemson was not a contender for a national championship? The Tigers did after all beat an Ohio State team that was 24-1 the previous 25 games in the Orange Bowl last January. For most of 2013, the Tigers played as well as anybody in the country.

“I don’t know. I mean, we can talk about that all day long,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “If that would have been the case, I certainly think we could play with anybody. I said that last year. I felt like we were one of the teams going into the season last year that had a shot, and I still feel the same.”

In the last two seasons, Swinney’s Tigers have won 22 games and lost four, but those four defeats have come at the hands of only two teams – the Gamecocks, of course, and defending national champion Florida State. That means the Tigers were 22-0 against everybody else.

“Ohio State was 24-1 when they came into our game and was a quarter away from playing for the National Championship, so I don’t think there’s any doubt that we were capable of competing for it,” Swinney said. “We just didn’t win the key games when we needed to like Florida State and Auburn did.”

[postvideo][/postvideo]

But the Tigers have won 18 straight games by double digits against non-ranked opponents and have beaten traditional powers Auburn, LSU, Georgia and Ohio State as well.

“I think there’s 10, 12, 14 teams a year that really have a shot (to win a national title),” Swinney said. “I felt like we were one of those teams last year. I mean, we finished (ranked) seventh so it’s not like we did bad. We lost to No. 4 and we lost to No. 1. So we certainly were capable of playing anybody at any time and winning.”

Now the question is can the Tigers do it this year?

With the schedule they have the answer is more than likely no. Clemson opens the year at Georgia on Aug. 30 and then visits the Seminoles on Sept. 20. That’s just the first three games of the season. After that they after hurdles at home in North Carolina, Louisville and South Carolina.

Let’s not forget Clemson also has to replace seven starters on offense, including quarterback Tajh Boyd and wide receiver Sammy Watkins.

“We definitely have to grow a few guys up early and find some answers offensively in a couple of spots and see how those guys perform,” Swinney said. “Hopefully, our defense will allow us to not have to be quite as perfect on offense, maybe take a little pressure off those guys. That would be great.”

Most people consider Clemson’s defense to be one of the best in the country this year as it returns seven starters, including all four up front. The Tigers are led by All-American defensive end Vic Beasley, All-ACC linebacker Stephone Anthony and All-ACC defensive tackle Grady Jarrett.

“I think that from year to year, the strengths of your team changes because maturity changes at different positions, and there’s no doubt that the majority of our veteran leadership is on the defensive side, in particular up front in the trenches,” Swinney said. “That’s where it’ll start for us, and hopefully, I mean, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings at all to be known as a great, great defense and the best defense in all the land. That would be just fine with me. We can win 10-7, and I’d be just fine with that.

“But, I still think when it’s all said and done, we’ll be one of the better offenses out there. We’ve got good personnel and I think it’s going to come together just fine.”

And that means Swinney thinks the Tigers are one of those few teams that has a chance to win the national championship.