GLENDALE, Ariz. — On a mild January night in 2014 in Miami Gardens, Fla., the Clemson dynasty started to take form.
The Tigers were in South Florida for the Orange Bowl, one of the most tradition-rich bowl games in a stadium where they lost 70-33 two years prior. They were back in town to play No. 7 Ohio State, which was disappointed after a Big Ten championship game loss ruined their national title hopes.
What unfolded was a thrilling shootout that continues impacting the sport six years later.
“The program is built on an attitude of belief. I think that was the win that put us over the top. It let us know we belong,” Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott said this week. “What we were working for, here’s the fruits of our labor. It was huge for our guys. We were in the Orange Bowl before and didn’t perform as well. It was a huge win that validated what we were working for while illustrating to us the best was yet to come. It was a big win for our program and set the stage for where we are now.”
No. 12 Clemson beat the Buckeyes 40-35, erasing a nine-point third-quarter deficit. A 13-play, 75-yard drive provided the winning points midway through the fourth quarter. The game is most remembered for Ohio State’s Philly Brown fumbling a punt that changed momentum and Clemson’s big-play receivers torching OSU’s secondary and leading to a staff overhaul.
Ohio State lost to Virginia Tech in the second game of the 2014 season, its third loss in four games before regrouping to win the national championship. The ensuing six seasons have been among the best in school history.
Clemson’s future was unforeseen by virtually everyone. The Tigers are 78-7 with two national championships, one other title game appearance, and five ACC championships. One of those wins was the last time Ohio State and Clemson were in Arizona — a 31-0 beatdown by the Tigers.
Clemsoning used to be a verb with a derogatory meaning, a team that came up short in excruciating ways. Now, the definition of Clemsoning is winning.
“It lends credibility,” Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables said, referencing the Orange Bowl win over the Buckeyes. “For us as a program, it also lent credibility to the idea that there is nothing that you can’t accomplish at Clemson. In a performance-based profession, as you compete and recruit, it’s important to be able to know that when given the opportunity on the biggest stage, your team has the ability to perform at a high level. That win helped support those things.”
Confidence is a powerful tool in sports, especially a college football program that was known more for losing than winning. Beating Ohio State helped Clemson — the fan base, coaches, and players — turn a corner. No longer was there constant dread of impending doom, similar to the psyche of Cleveland sports fans.
Clemson now believes it will win every game that’s played. And rightfully so. The Tigers entered Saturday’s Fiesta Bowl with a nation-best 28-game winning streak. When you’ve supplanted Alabama as the premier program, life is swell.
“The belief in your program with your players, with your staff moving forward, there’s a level of comfort,” Venables said. “If we don't beat ourselves, we believe we’ll have a chance to win every game.”
The Clemson dynasty has been built from the ground up during college football’s most competitive era, with recruiting becoming a more exact science and the best programs in a 365/24/7 struggle to attract the best talent. Swinney’s everyman ethos makes him a hit on the recruiting trail. And the winning doesn’t hurt.
But this undertaking in an out-of-the-way location with a program that rarely won for three decades is preposterous, a tribute to a head coach who always saw strengths when others viewed limitations.
“A lot of guys when they come in recruit try to put on a show and think they have to act a certain way to win a kid over,” said Fairfield High School coach Jason Krause, the coach of Jackson Carman, a five-star tackle who picked Clemson over OSU.
“Dabo Swinney does not do that. He is his genuine self. He is who he is. He's a very high character guy. He runs his program that way. He wants to develop every kid in that program to their culture. The way he acted in our building to our secretaries, to our people here was second to none.”
First Published December 28, 2019, 5:22 p.m.
