Second chances are rare in life. But when they come around, one had better take advantage. That's what Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney must do this weekend when his team plays in the ACC Championship Game.
By losing three games in the regular season, two in blowout fashion, Swinney and his team blew an opportunity to earn one of the at-large bids to the new 12-team College Football Playoff. Thus, after the Tigers fell to South Carolina 17-14 at home this past Saturday, it appeared that any hope of being a playoff team was dead.
However, thanks to an improbable 42-38 victory over No. 6 Miami by unranked Syracuse on Saturday evening, Clemson has been granted one of those rare second chances that so many people in life never receive. Now, by virtue of the Orange's win, the Tigers can not only capture the ACC Championship by beating SMU this weekend but they can also sneak their way into the College Football Playoff at the same time.
That's an opportunity that Swinney desperately needs to take advantage of because he needs to change the perception of his program on a national scale.
Sure, we are only six seasons removed from the last National Championship the Tigers won. However, in the world of college football, that is an eternity given all of the changes that have swept across the sport since 2018-19.
While the Clemson brand still carries significant weight in the sport, it doesn't have the type of cache that it did when Swinney last hoisted the National Championship trophy. Since that night in Santa Clara, California when the Tigers throttled Alabama 44-16 to capture the program's third National Championship, Clemson football has been on the descent.
The Tigers haven't played in a College Football Playoff since 2020 and they haven't won a playoff game since their last National Championship. What's more, 2024 will be the fourth season in a row in which Swinney's program has lost at least three games.
Now, instead of talking about competing for and winning National Championships, Swinney is touting his program's string of 14-straight seasons with nine wins or more. Nine wins? That's worth celebrating for Clemson these days?
Unfortunately, the bar is starting to lower and that's not what anyone in Clemson wants. A program that just a few short years ago was considered second to none in the sport now takes a back seat to Georgia, Ohio State, Texas, Alabama, Michigan, Notre Dame, and even Oregon. Times have changed but Clemson failed to get the memo.
This is a new era of college football. N.I.L. payments to players and the transfer portal have both changed the landscape of the sport and Swinney has been slow (if not completely unwilling) to adapt. That has left many to wonder if the golden era of Clemson football has come to an end.
While Swinney's tenure seems far from complete, it does feel like he's entering a new chapter of his Clemson career. How it reads will depend on whether or not he can keep his program as the powerhouse of the ACC and make playoff appearances the norm again.
Of course, the path to a playoff spot is not as narrow as it was prior to 2024. What's more, the ACC isn't exactly a murderer's row of college football elites, especially with the shocking fall from prominence by Florida State this season.
In other words, there should be no excuse for Clemson. With the pedigree, tradition, and resources that the program enjoys, it should expect to be a yearly playoff participant.
While the 2024 regular season didn't go as planned, the fact remains that the Tigers have a golden opportunity to get into the first-ever 12-team playoff by beating SMU this weekend. While the Mustangs are an excellent team, think about the reaction any Clemson fan would have had in August if they would have been told that the only thing standing between their program and a playoff birth was a win over SMU.
This is a game that the Tigers have to win and not just for the sake of the 2024 season. The big-picture ramifications are as clear as a mountain stream.
Swinney needs to prove that his program remains relevant in the new landscape of the sport. He must show that his way of running a program can still produce a championship contender. It is imperative that he keeps Clemson in the national conversation alongside the other power brokers or else he risks becoming yesterday's news.
All it will take to silence the critics is one win over a team that played in the American Athletic Conference a year ago. All Swinney has to do is win one game to get his program back where it was when the national college football conversation could be had without mentioning the Clemson Tigers.
Swinney has a golden opportunity this weekend. He can assuage his restless fan base and put Clemson right back in the mix for a title all while still doing things his way. It will be fascinating to see if he can take advantage of this second chance.