Clemson Football National Championship: The Time is Now
By Ben Greeson
The pendulum doesn’t always swing in your favor. The time is now to capture that elusive Clemson football National Championship.
Put on your thinking caps and go back to a place in time when the landscape of college football looked very different. There have been massive swings, in who sits on the top of the mountain over the last 15 years.
Very few teams have sustained a consistent level success over an extended period of time. Go back to the year 1998. Odd year to use as a starting point, but it has significance. 1998 was the first year of the BCS. Before that, the media and the coaches decided who the national champion was every year.
The BCS, while a good idea, had its troubled moments. There were some kinks they had to work out, but overall it was better than the alternative of just letting the writers pick
. I like the playoff much better. I, for one, would like to see the playoff expanded to another round, but that’s not the premise of this article.
Tennessee was your first ever BCS National Champion.
They beat Florida State 23-16 in Tempe, AZ and that has been the last time you’ve heard from the Vols.
When I think about the current dominate teams in the FBS, of course Alabama comes to mind. It wasn’t that long ago that Mike Dubose, Dennis Franchione and Mike Shula were the head coaches at Bama. The Tide produced records of 7-5, 3-8, 6-6, and 4-9.
Can you imagine now, today, a Bama team losing nine games? The earth may tilt off its axis or something. My point is, there are big momentum swings in college football.
Pete Carroll had the USC Trojan’s winning at a record pace.
Disputable wins in hindsight, but they were on top of the mountain and it seemed they’d always be in the national championship conversation. The same can be said for the Gators. UF was on fire with talent stacked up like cord wood and two seasons ago, they lost nine games, including a game to FCS Georgia Southern.
The Gators hated rival, the Florida State Seminoles, were ranked in the top-5 for 14 consecutive years. How’s that for longevity. Then, things went south.
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The pendulum swung back in their favor after struggling for a few years and they won another national championship.
The reason this comes to mind, is the iron is hot for Clemson football. Right Now.
The Tiger Paw flag is ready to be planted on top of the College Football world and it needs to happen soon. Clemson football has been the model of consistency over the last five seasons.
Coach Swinney has guided the Tigers to 10 or more wins every season since 2010. An overall record of 56-12 is in line with the best of the best. Judging yourself against what Bama has done isn’t really fair.
The Tide have accumulated a 62-7 record in that same time frame. As well as four national championship trophies (09′, 11′, 12′, 15′). Those are PlayStation, dynasty type numbers.
It only takes a couple of injuries, or the ball to bounce the wrong way a couple of times to take you from the Penthouse to the Outhouse.
This very well could be the most talented, deepest roster that has ever Rubbed the Rock. Clemson must capitalize on that this season and a trip to Tampa to play in the National Championship game is the only legitimate way to end the 2016 season.
must read: Clemson Football: Road Warriors
There will be adversity, there will be some bumps in the road, but champions overcome those obstacles. The pendulum only swings your way every so often. The Tigers must strike while the iron is hot. And currently, its white-hot.
The momentum is wearing orange. The time is now.