Dabo Swinney on Clemson's Critics: Who Has Beat Alabama in Last 5 Years?

One of the knocks against the undefeated Clemson Tigers to this point has been what is considered an easy schedule. According to USA Today's Jeff Sagarin, they have played the 64th-most difficult schedule in 2019, which is expected to keep them out of the No. 1 spot when the College Football Playoff rankings are unveiled Tuesday night.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney unsurprisingly finds fault with that line of reasoning, dismissing it during his press conference Tuesday.

"Who has beat Alabama in SEC? In the past five years? Ain't many," he said, per Sam Hellman of 247Sports. "Yet we've had a great run in our conference because nobody is else good. We've only won in postseason because people are tired or there are distractions...it's funny."

To answer Swinney's question, Alabama has lost to Ole Miss (2014, 2015), Ohio State (2014), Clemson (2016, 2018) and Auburn (2017) in the past five-and-a-half seasons. In that time, the Crimson Tide have won two national championships, lost in the title game twice and have reached the College Football Playoff five times. 

Granted, Clemson has also won two national championships in that time, and Swinney would be expected to advocate for his team. But the Tigers also lack a signature win this year, with their best victory coming against 6-3 Texas A&M by a 24-10 margin.

The rest of the top undefeated teams in the Associated Press Poll, meanwhile, have put up results against stiffer competition: 

• No. 1 LSU: Wins over Texas, Florida and Auburn. Strength of schedule ranks 34th.
• No. 2 Alabama: Best win over Texas A&M. Strength of schedule ranks 59th.
• No. 3 Ohio State: Best win over Wisconsin. Strength of schedule ranks 20th.
• No. 5 Penn State: Best wins over Iowa, Michigan. Strength of schedule ranks 39th.

It would be something of a surprise if Tuesday's rankings didn't include a Top Five of LSU, Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson and Penn State in some order. Certainly, the top of the college football world will have more clarity after this weekend, when LSU and Alabama clash in Tuscaloosa. 

And it's hard to imagine that the selection committee would ever hold an undefeated Clemson out of the College Football Playoff. The more fascinating discussion would be if the Tigers eventually suffered a defeat or failed to win an ACC title. 

When the one-loss teams enter the discussion, resumes are generally compared and held up to greater scrutiny. As for avoiding that dreaded defeat, Swinney said he feels good about his team.

"We are in a good place heading into November, but everybody has got to be a little bit better," he said. "Just a little bit better from everybody because, man, the air gets a little colder, a little thinner the higher that you climb. Guys get banged up, and you've got to have the guts to push through."

Clemson generally pushes through. But that doesn't mean this iteration of the team won't find itself ranked a little lower than it'd prefer Tuesday night, given its mediocre schedule to this point.