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 ups and downs of a dramatic season that brought Clemson its first national championship in 35 years.

No. 5 Clemson 26, Georgia Tech 7

CLEMSON – Between the years of 2005 and 2016, the world, as a whole, and its microcosmic college sports counterpart experienced some major changes.

The span included two different United States Presidential elections and, thus, the better parts of four terms at the nation’s helm. Apple released the iPhone in 2007, sending dumbfounding amounts of information and free time onto pocketbook-sized screens as social media blossomed.

Dabo Swinney went from newly-hired wide receivers coach at Clemson to a National Championship-contending head-man for a once-dormant program in the Upstate of South Carolina.

His quarterback, Deshaun Watson rose to become 2016’s Heisman Trophy favorite after suffering an ACL tear back in his fourth career start in 2014.

Still, with all the changes in the world, the United States, and in Swinney’s “little ole Clemson,” one thing remained constant for the Tigers from 2005 to 2014– they could not seem to find a way to beat Georgia Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta.

Following a 39-3 victory in Atlanta in 2003, Clemson lost its next five games at the oldest on-campus stadium in college football, despite simultaneously rising to national prominence in the same span. For whatever reason, a copperhead, cottonmouth or another snake native to the Peach State had bitten Clemson, keeping the Tigers from succeeding in Atlanta.

The most recent defeat at Bobby Dodd came in 2014, when Watson saw his team off to a 3-0 start, then suffered the dreaded ACL tear that kept him out for the rest of an eventual 28-6 loss just 45 minutes away from his hometown.

Two years later, however, the writing was on the wall and on Watson’s handwritten ‘815’ wristband message– a tribute to his former Gainesville, Ga., home address– in Atlanta in late September of 2016. Clemson, ranked fifth in the country, was not leaving Georgia Tech’s leafy green campus without a victory.

Especially not with a vengeful Watson quarterbacking the Tigers.

After the first kickoff on that warm, Georgia night, Clemson took no time imposing its will against the undefeated Yellow Jackets. Watson completed all five of his initial passes, including a four-yard touchdown heave to Mike Williams, to put the Tigers up 7-0 before many late-arriving fans had even found their seats.

“I thought they set the tempo for the whole night on that drive,” Swinney said. “I thought that was a tremendous drive.”

Another 25-yard connection from Watson to Trevion Thompson put the Tigers just shy of Georgia Tech’s goal line a few minutes later, and workhorse running back Wayne Gallman punched in the second score of the game to put Clemson up two touchdowns by the end of the first quarter.

“We came in focused in that first half,” Watson said. “We just wanted to finish the deal.”

That deal was, for all intents and purposes, sealed by halftime, as another touchdown and a safety put the Tigers up 23-0 just before the break. In the meantime, while Watson was on the sidelines, Clemson’s defense forced a fumble and four punts, evaporating the once-electric energy right out of the Tigers’ former temple of doom.

Still, the first half was even more lopsided than the score suggested. The Tigers boasted massive advantages in both plays (56-21) and yards (347-22) in the first half, as the Yellow Jackets failed to make it past their own 30-yard line.

Clemson defenders Ryan Carter, Van Smith and Carlos Watkins continued to terrorize Georgia Tech in the second half, though the Tigers’ offense was mildly sedated after its early explosion. With Watson, a sturdy centerpiece still in the game, Clemson’s widespread offensive attack was more limited in what Swinney called a “weird” third quarter.

In that period, the Tigers possessed the ball for only three minutes, punting twice after just seven combined plays for 26 yards, though they did render a five-minute Georgia Tech drive scoreless to open the half.

The Yellow Jackets avoided a shutout with a rushing touchdown to open the fourth quarter and the Tigers eventually tacked on a field goal for a final 26-7 score in Watson’s redemption tour.

“I didn’t get to finish the last game when we came down here two years ago,” the signal-caller said after the game. “So that’s what I wanted to do, finish it and get the W.”

The junior finished with 304 passing yards and two touchdowns in the victory, adding another 36 rushing yards on 12 carries, making him the Tigers’ second-leading rusher. Gallman, a constant in Clemson’s young season, finished with 59 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries.

Through the air, Ray-Ray McCloud led all offensive players with 101 receiving yards, though he did not find the end zone for the first time since Clemson’s season-opening win over Auburn. Behind him, eight other Tigers caught passes from Watson, and Williams and Cornell Powell finished with 11 combined receptions for 105 yards.

While the second half was far from perfect, by Swinney’s “one thing at a time” mantra, the Tigers came to Atlanta on the prowl for their first taste of ACC victory in 2016, a chance to play dominant football against a Power Four opponent, and a much-needed salve to cure a decade-plus of Yellow Jacket stings.

Thanks to a Heisman-worthy four quarters from Watson, another shutdown from the Tigers’ defense and standout performances from a veteran supporting staff, Clemson finally reached its destiny of lifting its pesky Bobby Dodd curse, or burying it deep below historic Grant Field.

“Clemson folks know how hard it is to win down there,” Swinney said. “I love our guys. They were locked in. They had a great mentality. They really bought into what we needed to do to get ready for this game from fall camp on.”

The sledding will not get any easier for the College Football Playoff hopefuls, as next week, Louisville’s formidable quarterback Lamar Jackson and his band of Cardinals head to Memorial Stadium in a battle of undefeated teams ranked in the top 5.

But with all the changes in the world and in Clemson’s football program, one thing remained the same – walking out of Death Valley with a victory is a tough ask.

And it is one that Jackson will have to worry about in the first week of October.

Reliving 2016 and Clemson’s first National Championship since 1981:

Week 1: Clemson’s Defense Wills a Win at Auburn

Week 2: Reliving 2016: Clemson Survives Trojan War

Week 3: Reliving 2016: Clemson Plays ‘Clean and Complete Game’