CLEMSON — The last time Clemson beat Notre Dame at Memorial Stadium was back in 2015.
After that dramatic two-point win, the Clemson program went on one of the greatest runs in College Football history. From 2015-’19, the Tigers posted a 69-5 record, played for the national championship four times in five years, while winning two of them.
What can Saturday’s 31-23 victory over No. 12 Notre Dame do for this year’s team?
“Hopefully, we will look back five years from now and we will be able to say that Notre Dame game is where the worm turned a little bit,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said.
Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, Coach. Let’s stick to what Saturday’s win means at the moment.
In the moment, it is exactly what the doctor ordered for a season that was on life support.
The Tigers (5-4) were coming off back-to-back losses for the first time in 12 years. A fan from Spartanburg was calling into Swinney’s call-in show and talking down to a future Hall of Fame Coach.
There are so many injuries, Clemson’s sideline looks more like a M.A.S.H. unit than a college football team’s sideline.
If any team needed a win on Saturday, it was the Clemson Tigers.
“This just propels us,” quarterback Cade Klubnik said. “We kind of talked about it a little bit last week. We just need momentum, and this is what we needed.”
What does this momentum mean? I guess we will find out in the last three games of the regular season, but in the moment, it gives the Tigers some confidence that they can finish, what has been a difficult season, strong.
“It is not going to hurt, that is for sure. We needed a win,” Swinney said. “Momentum and confidence are a big thing.
“You go back to the Florida State game. A game you really statistically dominate, and you get beat. If you win that game, the psyche and the confidence that comes from that is powerful a thing, especially with young people. It does not go your way and then you have a double overtime loss and it’s tough. It is a tough thing. A win like this is huge, especially with all (the players) out.”
Clemson closes out the season with home games against a Georgia Tech team that is playing well, a North Carolina team that was ranked in the top 10 three weeks ago and at a South Carolina squad that would love nothing more than to cause misery to the Clemson Football Program for a second straight year.
“It does not get any easier. It is kind of like playoff football every week for us,” Swinney said. “But today, we will enjoy it. We need to enjoy it. We are going to enjoy it.”
As they should.
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