Remember that Florida State-Clemson game last season?
How could you forget? You remember suspended Jameis Winston in pads, Jameis on the sidelines, Jameis’ exuberant reaction after the Seminoles survived. A late fumble and a failed fourth-down in overtime allowed Florida State to escape with a 23-17 win.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney recalls the version the cameras didn’t catch.
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“We had probably one of the worst losses at Tallahassee ever,” Swinney told Sporting News. “We dominated the game. We had over 500 yards of offense, and I still don’t know how we lost that game. That’s one of the most heart-breaking locker rooms I’ve ever been part of. But because of our culture, we didn’t let that derail us.”
The Tigers won nine of their next 10 games, broke a five-game losing streak to rival South Carolina and nuked Oklahoma 40-6 in the Russell Athletic Bowl.
So here’s Clemson, one of only four programs seeking a fifth straight season with 10 or more wins. Alabama, Oregon and Northern Illinois are the others. Here’s Clemson, which has beat LSU, Ohio State and Oklahoma in its last three bowl games. Here’s Clemson, a legit national championship contender for the first time since the Danny Ford heyday in the 1980s.
Sophomore quarterback Deshaun Watson, who is rehabbing from a torn ACL and won’t play in Saturday’s spring game, isn’t necessarily afraid to lay it all out there.
“The next step is getting better, win all 12 games and win the ACC championship,” Watson told SN. “Go undefeated and win it all. That’s the goal, and all of us really want it.”
Watson follows up with the required standard, singular one-week approach. There’s no time to even look at a loaded schedule that includes trips to Miami, Louisville and South Carolina and home games against Georgia Tech, Notre Dame and yes, Florida State.
That’s the process that helped Clemson ditch choking (also known as “Clemson-ing”) in favor of a different “C” word.
“The big thing for us is consistency,” Swinney said. “When we won the league in ’11 for the first time since ‘91, I remember vividly how everybody was excited. My message to the team was we have to have three, four, five 10-win seasons if we are going to develop the program we want and be known as one of the more relevant teams.”
Four years later, Clemson accomplished those goals, and Swinney rattles off the superlatives with ease. Three straight years of finishing in the Top 15 in football and academics. Another top-10 recruiting class. At total of 30 Clemson players have been drafted since 2008.
Could it all manifest into something more in 2015? That requires a four-word disclaimer: “If he stays healthy.”
He is Watson, the one who nearly beat Florida State in his first career start. Watson might be the best player in college football in 2015 if those four words stay true.
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How good is Watson? Winston took questions about Watson at ACC media day last year. Watson threw a 32-yard touchdown pass between two Georgia defenders on his second collegiate pass and doused North Carolina with six TD passes the week after the loss to the Seminoles. Watson is the real deal, and he’s equipped to handle the expectations heading into 2015. Nobody can truly block all that out, not after watching Johnny Manziel and Winston the last two seasons.
“Really that’s something that’s always on my mind,” Watson said. “Growing up as an athlete you never believe the hype. You have to prove yourself each week and each year. Every year is different. That’s how I was brought up.”
Now Watson must prove he can stay healthy. He suffered a broken hand last season. That one loss after Florida State? That’s when Watson suffered a torn ACL against Georgia Tech. Watson played through it against South Carolina – a decision he said was never in doubt after he “prayed on it” – before sitting out the bowl game. Now Watson is rehabbing through spring ball, but all indications are he’ll be ready for the opener.
“He’ll be ready to roll through skills and drills this summer,” Swinney said. “He’s just not a normal person. He’s a 4.0 student. The way he has recovered is just not normal. He’s incredibly humbled and committed to being great. The tremendous thing is he’s always the same. Every day you know what you are going to get.”
Day-to-day. Year-to-year. Watson isn’t the only one who feels the need to prove something every year. Swinney’s name seemingly is tossed into the conversation when an opening at a SEC school turns up each November. Yet every spring, Swinney starts again from the same place he’s called home since taking a job as an assistant coach in 2003. He’s not looking for another job. It’s a “bloom-where-you’re-planted” thing, and it sells.
Come to a game at Memorial Stadium. “It will change your life,” Swinney says.
Come play at Clemson. “Just see it for yourself,” Watson says.
That’s the quarterback-coach combination that could be college football’s next-big story, born out of a soul-testing loss in front of the whole nation last September.
Here’s Clemson, everyone. Are you ready?
“It’s been a lot of fun, but we’re not done,” Swinney said. “The 80s was the golden era here, you always hear, ‘Since the 80s, since the 80s.’ Hopefully we can build this program where they’ll look at 2010-on as the best decade in Clemson football. That’s the goal. That’s all I can focus on right now."
