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Despite having a lead for over 58 minutes of action on Saturday night, the Clemson Tigers' hopes for an ACC Championship came down to the right leg of freshman kicker Nolan Hauser. Hauser drilled a 56-yarder as time expired, and Clemson, whose College Football Playoff hopes looked bleak at best just eight days ago, was suddenly ACC champs for the eighth time in the last ten years, and once again CFP bound.
Over the last few years, the Clemson football program hasn't necessarily performed to the level that they did for much of the 2010's. After making four National Championship Game appearances in a five year span between 2015 and 2019, the Tigers went four seasons without making the College Football Playoff before this year. Many blamed Dabo Swinney's unwillingness to utilize the transfer portal for this setback, but an expanded postseason has opened the door for the Tigers to play for a Natty once again.
After the 34-31 win over the SMU Mustangs, who could still potentially make the College Football Playoff with an at-large bid, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney went in on those who had called for the demise of the program he's overseen since 2008.
“We're at a point now where we don't win a championship and we've got to fire everybody, and it's just — same ol' tired narratives that come up every single year when we lose a game,” Swinney said following the win, per David Hale of ESPN.com. “You can check our record versus the SEC. You can check it versus the Big Ten. You can check it versus Notre Dame because that's really who runs college football.”
Based on how Swinney's players were talking after the game, it's clear this is a message that the 55-year-old coach has been imparting on his team all season long.
“Everybody counts us out, everybody talks down on Clemson like — ‘Oh, they play in the ACC,'” Clemson defensive end TJ Parker said after the game. “We don't listen to none of that. We see it, and we save it for later and keep working. The more we win, they'll change the narrative. [The ceiling] is through the roof. We just need to keep our head down and keep working.”
There's still plenty of work left to be done. If the rankings hold true, Clemson will likely be on the road for an opening round College Football Playoff Game in two weeks time.
