How 2021 can give Clemson a better perspective for seasons to come

For six straight years, Clemson made the College Football Playoff and won the ACC championship.

That all ended in 2021.

As disappointed as the conclusion of those streaks were, Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney has been able to take a step back and assess his team’s situation. For the majority of the season, he’s discussed the kind of perspective a down year has given him and, he hopes, others as well.

“It’s really hard to win,” Swinney said. “I don’t know that people can appreciate what’s happened the last seven years here. You just kind of go and all of a sudden, we’re not entitled to win, and I know we’re expected to win, but I hope there will be a reset on the appreciation of winning and for our team, what it takes to win week in and week out, and how small the margin for error is. The fun’s in the winning.”

Prior to the streak ending, no other team had made the playoffs six years in a row. Alabama had made five in a row but missed in 2019-20. The Tigers made the championship game that year but lost to LSU 42-25. Likewise, no other team had won six straight ACC titles, though Florida State had a five-year run between 1996 and 2000. In 1998, the Seminoles and Georgia Tech were co-champions.

The Tigers (9-3) haven’t changed their standard of excellence. When it comes to winning, however, they’ve had to do it in a different way. Where in past years wins were guaranteed by double digits, the Tigers’ 2021 victories were much less certain, with most coming by a touchdown or less.

It’s not something any of the upperclassmen were used to, nor is it anything the underclassmen expected. In that time, however, Swinney said it’s given him the opportunity to coach in a way he hasn’t since 2014. Midway through this season, he mentioned going back to “fall camp” with the fundamentals about what the program is about.

It’s possible the Tigers felt entitled to wins given their success over the past 10 years. This season has shown them that’s not the case.

Nothing is given. Everything is earned.

“We’ve not had a lot of adversity in a long time,” Swinney said. “I know we’ve had some disappointments in losing a playoff game, but we’ve had a lot of success. To go to six playoffs, to win six league championships in a row, seven out of 10 years, I think sometimes you can lose your appreciation for how hard it is and what it takes.”

While the season hasn’t been what Clemson wanted nor expected, the Tigers had another perfect year in Death Valley to extend the home winning streak to 34 games, and recorded a seventh straight win over South Carolina. They also have a chance to win 10 games for the 11th season in a row with a victory in an upcoming bowl game.

The Tigers are also relatively young and will bring back the bulk of their players on both sides of the ball in 2022. The lessons the returning players have learned about the difficulty of winning and maintaining a high level of play will be key in getting back to the standard of success the Tigers have set for themselves.

“We’ve got a great group coming back,” Swinney said. “We’re going to have a great recruiting class coming in here. We’re going to do everything we can to finish up strong this postseason. We’ve got a great foundation in place for many years to come. There’s no doubt that this will be a year that I think will serve us well down the road.”