3. The near-elimination losses
To get to these next couple of haunting experiences, we have to fast-forward a few years.
The Clemson football program made it to its first CFB Playoff and competed for a National Championship during the 2015 season. The Tigers were favorites to get back to the CFB Playoff in 2016, but their hopes were almost dashed in November when they lost a home tilt to Pittsburgh.
The same thing happened during the 2017 season when Clemson went up to Syracuse and was upset by the Orange on a Friday night.
Fortunately for Clemson, other teams lost around the same time that they did in both instances and the Tigers still earned a CFB Playoff berth in both of these seasons. The 2016 team went on to win the National Championship.
However, for any Clemson football fan that was living in the moment, these were absolutely haunting experiences. Tiger fans were left stunned in both cases and the program was very fortunate to see other teams lose and allow them to get back into the mix and compete- especially as late as the 2016 loss was.