PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. -- Dabo Swinney is the current unchallenged master of poor-mouthing. Long since Clemson became a football powerhouse and a program to be envied this decade, the Tigers' coach has done his darndest to keep it unreal.
Upon administering an epic shellacking of Alabama in January, he labeled the accomplishment by "little ol' Clemson" something akin to turning tap water into a fine Cabernet. Translated into gridiron: A minor football miracle.
Never mind the result was anything but that. The margin of victory that night had been years in the making. It was absolute and defining, 44-16 over Alabama -- a four-touchdown beatdown on a neutral field 2,600 miles away from little ol' Clemson in Santa Clara, California.
Dabo continues to motivate through hyperbole headed into Saturday's College Football Playoff semifinal against No. 2 Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl.
"Everybody loves a challenge or at least we love one here," Swinney said. "You're always looking for little things along the way. Free fuel, man. When you're going across country, man, free fuel is good. Gas costs a lot of money. So when you can get free fuel, it's always good."
Late this season, Swinney suggested there were unnamed forces out there who "couldn't wait" to drop the undefeated Tigers out of the playoff race if they lost.
Here's the circular logic: We'll never know if NO. 3 Clemson would have dropped out of the top four because it was seldom challenged down the stretch. So Swinney created that challenge: They're out to get us.
It's a tactic as old as Lou Holtz, and it's one that continues to work. That fuel reached the players to the point it has been molded into sarcasm.
"Everybody definitely knows, we don't play anybody," linebacker Isaiah Simmons said. "… We're 9-1 against the SEC in our past 10 games. I guess we don't play anyone still.
"A lot of people think we're not supposed to be here. … That's been the rhetoric out there. I would probably say, yeah, we've got a chip on our shoulder."
Though a lot of the rhetoric is manufactured, some of it is real. It's hard to question a program that has won five straight ACC titles and gone 54-2 during the regular season since 2015. It was in this Fiesta Bowl semifinal three years ago against Ohio State that the Tigers announced themselves as a national power.
Against Alabama in January, one dynasty rose while another was at least dinged.
There's that, too. Little Ol' Clemson is the reigning, defending national champion looking for a third title in four years.
"It's just a small town, a small college atmosphere, but yet you've got this 80,000-plus seat stadium and 150,000 people roll into town on the weekends. It's incredible," Swinney explained. "But then they all leave. Monday through Friday, we kind of have our own world. … So there's just a simplicity there that's unique."
Meanwhile, Clemson has spent time latching onto the fact it was the only program not represented among the Heisman Trophy finalists. All-America running back Travis Etienne wasn't so much as a finalist for the Doak Walker Award (nation's best running back).
It works for the Tigers. The approach is also a little bit misleading. There is the assumption that -- because of the nation's perceived impertinence -- Clemson can somehow play harder and better than its present run suggests.
"Nobody's been 30-0 ever with back-to-back CFP National Championships," Simmons said. "So to make history would be awesome."
It's all a little high schoolish; perhaps it's even become annoying. Clemson's "disrespect" card is being thrown around like nickels into a fountain.
There are conflicting truths. Only nine other schools in history have longer winning streaks than Clemson's at 28 games. Its winning margin during that run is more than 33 points per game.
"Why not make a goal? Dream big. Shoot for the stars," Simmons said. "You don't ever go into a game just hoping to squeeze out a win and everything. You want to have a goal, something you can reach for to do it. You don't ever want to go in the game thinking, 'That was my last field goal.'"
The other truth: There is a hedge when considering Clemson.
The competition it saw this season was at least a notch below what LSU, Ohio State and Oklahoma faced. In some metrics, the ACC was ranked below the much-derided Pac-12 and best Group of Five conference, the AAC, this season.
The Tigers went almost three months between playing ranked teams. None of their 2019 opponents are currently ranked. If we were still in the old BCS, No. 3 Clemson might have been left out of a two-team championship game.
Meanwhile, No. 1 LSU is about to take on its fifth top-10 opponent. Oklahoma beat Baylor twice. Both times the Bears were ranked in the top 13. Ohio State comes into the Fiesta Bowl with three consecutive top-10 wins.
"If it was as easy as everyone is saying, then why aren't more people doing it?" Simmons said.
Perhaps the best indicator of the Tigers' accomplishments: They've won 50 games in a row when scoring first.
"If they're able to score first, it kind of destroys a team's morale," Ohio State cornerback Jeff Okudah said. "We've been in our share of dog fights. And if they do score first, I feel like records must be broken. Everybody wants to be the team that sets the tone. But it's a heavyweight fight. If they punch us, we'll brush it off, get back up. We'll throw our punch. We'll just see who recovers better from that first punch."
Swinney always seems to have the last word. He went out of his way to point out that Clemson was the first team since 1966 to be a preseason No. 1, win all its games and finish ranked third. That assertion needs some definition.
That 1966 Alabama team Swinney is referencing was largely thought to be "penalized" by AP voters at the height of racial unrest in the country.
Also, Florida State in 2014 started No. 1 in the AP Top 25, won all its games and finished No. 3 in the final CFP Rankings. That takes two polls and different circumstances to clarify Swinney's point, but again, it works for him and his Tigers.
"If people think we're the third-best team, so that's just how it's going to be until we prove it," quarterback Trevor Lawrence said.
"Happy" - Google News
December 27, 2019 at 05:34AM
https://ift.tt/2rz3npA
Reigning champion Clemson is happy to play the disrespect card, reality be damned - CBS Sports
"Happy" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2VPek0I
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment