Clemson Proves Playoff Committee Right, Is College Football's Best Team

CLEMSON, S.C. — As a huge, orange-hued mass of humanity congealed on the Memorial Stadium field Saturday night, “Run This Town” blared from a sound system turned up to 11.

“We gonna run this town tonight!” Rihanna wailed, and there was a sense that this was a party that was just getting started.

With a strong fourth quarter against one of its most bitter rivals, Clemson proved that this wasn’t your father’s Clemson. Or even your older brother's. This is a force that is all-new and all its own—and one that clearly validated the College Football Playoff committee's decision to rank it No. 1 in its first Top 25 poll of the season earlier this week.

With a 23-13 win over 16th-ranked Florida State, No. 1 Clemson clinched the ACC Atlantic Division and earned a trip to Charlotte against a Coastal Division opponent to be announced Dec. 5. The win will be celebrated here, but it was only the first step in a long journey toward the ultimate goal.

Clemson’s second game ever as the nation’s top team (the first was the 1982 Orange Bowl, which clinched the program’s only national title) wasn’t always pretty, but it was certainly gritty.

Richard Shiro/Associated Press/Associated Press

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney already believed his team was the best in the nation. Saturday was just a matter of cluing in the rest of America to that fact.

“I’ve been voting our team No. 1 for three weeks,” he quipped. “You guys are all just catching up!”

Monday morning, Swinney had a feeling his Tigers would be No. 1 in the first playoff poll. So he prepared a slideshow for his team that showed all its potential destinations, from Williams-Brice Stadium to University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, which he dubbed “The Big Toaster,” to the White House.

But it also included slides of Clemson’s meeting rooms, its academic center, practice fields, the training room and a bed “because you need to sleep.”

“That’s where our focus needs to be,” he said. “Stay focused on the things that matter, and it’ll all take care of itself.”

It was never easy. Following a sluggish first half, Clemson trailed the Seminoles 10-6. Star sophomore quarterback Deshaun Watson wasn’t himself, completing 12 of 21 passes for 124 yards and no touchdowns. His decision to spike the ball on third down on the FSU 7-yard line with less than 30 seconds to play in the half forced the Tigers to settle for a field goal and put a fitting capper on an ugly half.

Senior left guard Eric Mac Lain said he sat down with Watson for a pep talk, and Swinney added that he “made a beeline” to Watson for a one-on-one.

“You’re the best quarterback in the nation,” Mac Lain said he told Watson. “You’ve got us at your disposal. Just tell us what you want us to do and we’ll do it.”

It woke Watson up. Clemson’s second drive of the third quarter was a seven-play, 80-yard march capped by Deon Cain’s 38-yard catch-and-run touchdown. But as the fourth quarter began, it was still anyone’s game, tied at 13-13.

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The Tigers completely dominated the frame, outscoring Florida State 10-0 with scoring drives of 75 and 60 yards. Wayne Gallman’s 25-yard touchdown run with two minutes and 41 seconds left sealed it, but the Tigers’ defensive impact can’t be underscored enough.

Linebacker Ben Boulware stoned FSU tailback Dalvin Cook on a 4th-and-1 call from Clemson’s 40-yard line and later forced a fumble from FSU receiver Travis Rudolph that fellow ‘backer B.J. Goodson recovered to end the ‘Noles' hopes. After yielding a 75-yard Cook touchdown run two plays into the game, Clemson held FSU to two field goals the rest of the way. 

“It was truly amazing,” Mac Lain said. “Our coaches put us in great situations to win, and we just dominated the line of scrimmage the last little bit, and that’s how we won the game.”

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For Mac Lain, Saturday was merely validation.

"I think we’re ranked No. 1 for a reason, and I think we proved that,” he said. “We just found a way to win like great teams do. FSU is an amazing team; they never quit, and there was nothing that was given to us tonight. We had to go and take it.”

With only Syracuse, Wake Forest and South Carolina (none of whom has a winning record) left on the regular-season schedule, followed by the ACC title game, there’s an excellent chance that Clemson will be 13-0 on the first Sunday in December.

The Tigers have a young-but-improving defense that hasn’t missed a beat despite losing its 2014 nucleus to graduation and the NFL, and if Watson is the player he was in the second half and not the first, the offense could be dangerous.

He finished just short of a 300-yard passing, 100-yard rushing day, passing for 297 yards and rushing for 107 as the team's leading rusher.

“Deshaun Watson showed why he’s the best quarterback in the country,” Swinney said.

Right now, the Tigers are on the short list with Baylor, Ohio State, LSU and Alabama as the best teams in the nation. But Clemson's defense is more complete than Baylor's, which still has a few shootouts ahead, and while the Buckeyes are defending national champions, their quarterback situation is uncertain. And would you put Brandon Harris or Jake Coker against Watson in a pressure situation? Of course not.

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Clemson's offense is potent, its defense is stout, and the Tigers have proved they can win all styles of games. Saturday was just the latest example. 

Swinney is still taking a long view of the road ahead. He said Saturday that he told his team he wanted to “make them print 15 tickets for 15 games” in 2015. Now, the Tigers are up to 14.

“If the time comes, and we win the (ACC) championship game, those are all realistic goals at this point," he said. "We’re in the conversation. Tonight just keeps the moment going.”

For now, Swinney and his team are soaking up the moment as best they can. As the nation’s best team, the Tigers have earned it.

“This is the best of times. This is the good old days,” he said. “I tell my players to enjoy it, smell the roses, and let’s keep plugging.”

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes for this article were obtained directly by the author.