Clemson History

Nov 25, 2024, 1:07 PM

for those that have not experienced Clemson football like I have. Clemson back in the day was an average football team. they won the ACC here and there and that would have been considered an excellent year and getting to play in an above average bowl. Competing for a National championship title was not even on the radar especially with the way the bowls were structed we never got to see the top 2 teams play against each for the National Title very rarely if ever. The CFP Playoffs should have started over 40 years ago but that is a whole different conversation. a whole different ball game when it came to competing for a national title many years ago in College Football.

Along comes Danny Ford and low an behold some luck happened when Clemson was the only undefeated team in college football after the final game of the 1981 season. At that time Clemson got on the National Map. I remember during the broadcast of that game of the Orange Bowl Clemson vs Nebraska the announcers showed a map of SC and where Clemson was physically located.

Danny Ford had some successful years after that and of course Clemson was put on probation from what a previous coach did, (Charlie Pell) Prior to Danny Ford becoming the coach. so that a rough 3-year stretch being a top 10 team and not playing in a bowl game for 3 straight years

Rember the Tommy Bowden days. Good coach but just could not get over the hump to even play for the ACC championship.

Now fast forward to now.

Since let's say 2009 since that was Coach Swinney's first full year.
Record 175-42 that averages to 11 wins a season.
Competed for 9 ACC Championships- Won 8 ACC Championships. Only Bobby Bowden has more as a head Coach in the ACC.
went 6 Straight years to the 4-team college football playoff format.
Played in 4 National title games won 2 of them
Only 3 current colleges coaches have won National titles Dabo, Mack Brown and Kirby Smart.

Home Football Record since 2009 includes games in 2024. Best in the ACC and top 5 in the country over that period.
104-10. 91% winning percentage.

Record against top 25 opponents since 2009 best in the ACC in the period.
40-26

so pretty impressive record and resume. not many coaches that have coached at the same program for 15 plus years can say have that type of success. very few over the years.

So I am sure all of us get up and go to work every day and say hey I am going to give it 100% today at my job. yea right,

S0 for Coaches they can do but so much to get players to prepare them to compete at this level game after game year after year. Players also have to take accountability as well. The dynamics have changed in college football in recent years, so it's become even more of a challenge not a fan of it but it's what it is. I get just as frustrated when the team is not playing their best and we can be critical of what we see when we go to games or watch on TV but at the end of the day we need to put this in perspective on what has been accomplished and how much consistency Clemson Football has had over the past 15 yeas.I think Coach Swinney has done an excellent job at Clemson. I realize the expectation is high for fans but I appreciate what has been accomplished and just note great things do not last forever so enjoy it while you can.

One last note: Just look at Florida State in just 1 year.

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Clemson History

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