Losing to Alabama in the 2015 National Championship game was a game that broke the hearts of the Clemson faithful. Losing 45-40 to Alabama in Arizona was tough to swallow because we all knew had Mackenzie Alexander and Shaq Lawson not gotten hurt, Clemson would have shut down Alabama that night.
The most defining moment after that game came from Coach Swinney when he assured the Clemson family that it would not be 35 years before the Tigers made another national championship appearance and that the Tigers would work hard to get back.
Clemson football has made three more title appearances since that loss and has won two of those games.
The most impressive aspect of Clemson’s success is the number of players they are losing every year, not taking any junior college transfer and still finding a way to develop their kids and stay successful.
In 2017 when UGA lost to Alabama, then tight end Isaac Nauta was asked after the game about the worst part of the loss and he said: “all the hard work we put in to get here and knowing how hard we have to work to get back”.
Clemson has embraced that hard work and every year takes their level of play up a notch staying one step ahead of everyone chasing them. Champions do things that winner don’t and this is what this Clemson football program is about under Coach Swinney.