Road to the College Football Playoff: Clemson Tigers
By Jack Crosby
The Tigers have headed back to the College Football Playoff once again.
This past January, head coach Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers were standing in the middle of the field in Tampa, hoisting the national championship trophy with the confetti raining down on them. Quarterback Deshaun Watson and the rest of the Tigers had gotten their revenge on the Alabama Crimson Tide for the defeat in the title game the season prior, cementing Clemson as one of the perennial powers in the game of college football.
However, there were a lot of doubts as to whether or not Clemson would be able to successfully defend its title in 2017. With Watson off to the NFL as a first-round draft pick and the Florida State Seminoles being the hot preseason pick to knock them off the perch, a third-consecutive trip to the College Football Playoff looked mighty difficult for the Tigers to pull off.
Not only were they able to pull that feat off now that the 2017 regular season has concluded, but they enter as the No. 1 team in the rankings, and will go up against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day in the third installment of their postseason series.
It was another memorable season for Swinney and Clemson which has ended with them in the College Football Playoff, so let’s take a brief look back to see how they’ve reached this point once again.
September
Right out of the gate, the month of September was a statement month for this Clemson team. They more than took advantage of the opportunity to show the nation they were up to the task of defending their title, and we also learned quickly that the team was going to be just fine without Watson under center because a new star was being born in Kelly Bryant.
After dismantling Kent State in the opener, the second game of the season brought upon a tough challenge in the form of the Auburn Tigers of the SEC and their high-powered offense. This 14-9 win over Auburn wasn’t so much a showcase for Bryant, rather it was a stark reminder that Clemson has one of the most ferocious defensive fronts in the country. Defensive coordinator Brent Venables’ unit held Auburn to just 181 total yards in the victory, and as Auburn’s season went along after that, our eyes were opened to just how impressive a performance this really was at the time for the defending champs.
There was no break for Clemson the following week, as they would go on the road to take on a team some had picked to claim the ACC Atlantic crown from them, the Louisville Cardinals, led by reigning Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson. In primetime on that Saturday evening in Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, well, Clemson put to rest any belief they were not the best team in the ACC. This was also the 2017 coming out game for Bryant, with the Tigers quarterback torching the Cardinals’ defense for 316 yards passing and a touchdown, while also running in two scores on his own. Clemson had a dangerous weapon on its hands to replace Watson, and it was evident on this night.
After routing Boston College, September would end with one more test for Clemson against a team many thought they’d be meeting in the ACC Championship Game for the second year in a row, the Virginia Tech Hokies. This was yet another September game on the road in a hostile environment against what was thought to be a formidable opponent, and yet again, Clemson took the opportunity to laugh in the doubters’ faces. In a 31-17 win in primetime, Bryant this time put on a show with his legs, gashing Hokies defensive coordinator Bud Foster’s defense for 91 yards on 19 carries.
Clemson tore through the month of September, flexing its muscles in the process and showing everyone the champs are here for anyone’s challenge. If you want that title, you’re going to have to take it from them.
October
October was not so kind to Clemson, however. The Tigers had three games total that month, with fairly easy wins over Wake Forest and Georgia Tech to bookend October.
But, it was the game sandwiched in the middle that would get everyone talking and bring Clemson back down to earth for a while.
On Friday night, Oct. 13, Clemson took a trip up north to the Carrier Dome to face off against the Syracuse Orange — not exactly a world-beater program in the ACC. Still, though, a Friday night road game up north in a dome for the Tigers — who were ranked No. 2 at the time — just gave some people an eerie feeling. That feeling would turn out to be warranted.
Bryant was knocked out of the game in the first half with a concussion and the Clemson defense, somehow, made Syracuse quarterback Eric Dungey look like a Heisman candidate as the Orange stunned the nation with the 27-24 upset win.
It truly was a stunning moment in what was a wild 2017 college football season but it also wasn’t looked at as the end of the world for Clemson either. Given how they played in September plus factoring in the injury to Bryant early, the Tigers almost got a pass for what happened on that Friday night in upstate New York.
Still, though, there was no room for error the rest of the way or hopes of a repeat are gone.
November
No room for error? No problem for Clemson.
The Tigers opened up the final full month of the college football season in yet another marquee game, this time against the NC State Wolfpack on the road in Raleigh, a surprise contender that had emerged in the ACC Atlantic Division. In what was one of the most exciting games of the 2017 season, the Tigers emerged victorious, 38-31, and proved to all they were the unquestioned kings of the ACC Atlantic Division, and probably the entire conference as a whole. Although, at the time, some would contend there was a team from the Coastal Division ready to challenge them for that crown … but we’ll get to them next month.
Clemson would head back home the following week to welcome in the Florida State team we spoke of earlier. You know, the Seminoles team that went completely off the rails after their opening-week loss to Alabama and the loss of starting quarterback Deondre Francois. While the Tigers needed to pull away late, they still came away with the convincing 31-17 win. This win over the ‘Noles handed the Tigers their third straight ACC Atlantic Division Trophy and cemented their spot in the ACC Championship Game. One step closer to defending their national championship.
Swinney and the Tigers closed out the month with beatings of the Citadel and archrival South Carolina, holding them as a one-loss team heading into December.
December
Of course, Clemson only had one game in December, and it was a pretty important one. On Dec. 2, the Tigers, the No. 1-ranked squad in the College Football Playoff Rankings, headed to Charlotte to face off against the No. 7-ranked Miami Hurricanes. Essentially, this was a win-and-you’re-in game in regards to the College Football Playoff. A one-loss ACC Champion was not being left out of the fold but a two-loss ACC team was left on the outside looking in. And while Miami was coming off their first loss of the season, an upset on the road against Pittsburgh the day after Thanksgiving, they had a November to remember with back-to-back blowout wins over Virginia Tech and Notre Dame, respectively. They could give the champs a run for their money, right?
Wrong. Oh my, that thought process was so very wrong.
On that Saturday night, Clemson made unquestionably its biggest statement of the year as it stomped its way to a 38-3 win. It was complete dominance by the Tigers en route to another ACC title, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Miami’s field goal came with just 3:29 left in the contest, one of the saddest field goals you will ever see in a conference championship game. Miami had an impressive season, no one doubted that, but it was proven they were nowhere near ready for the level of competition provided by a team the likes of Clemson, who once again stood alone atop the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Overall, it was a pretty dominant road back to the College Football Playoff for the Tigers, save for the October hiccup in Syracuse. But, what matters is that they’re back once again as one of the four best teams in the country, and now they head down a new path to see if they could become back-to-back national champions. That path begins on New Year’s Day when they will step onto the field in New Orleans for Part 3 of their postseason rivalry with Alabama.