2019 and 1992: More Similar Than Different for Swinney

While many on the outside looking in at the Clemson program are not happy with the way the Tigers have reached 5-0 on the season, there is at least one person who is not going to apologize for any victory no matter how ugly it is—head coach Dabo Swinney.

CLEMSON— While many on the outside looking in at the Clemson program are not happy with the way the Tigers have reached 5-0 on the season, there is at least one person who is not going to apologize for any victory no matter how ugly it is—head coach Dabo Swinney.

The reason that the Tigers dance after each and every victory is because he understands how precious each one is—especially after defeat was staring them square in the eyes Saturday against North Carolina.

“You've got to win games like that to have a special season," Swinney said. "I understand that and I told them that, but these guys take a lot of pride in their performance and we know we have to play better.

“Right now, we’ve beaten everybody but Clemson. We’re trying to beat Clemson, but haven’t achieved that quite yet. Obviously we’re finding ways to win against good teams. There’s something to be said for finding a way to win and that’s all I can say. It’s not always pretty and you have to win games like that along the way.”

The Tigers head coach understands what it takes to win a national championship, because he has been a part of winning one as a player for Alabama in 1992. But there is one thing that he remembers more than the 34-13 Sugar Bowl victory over Miami in the National Championship game—it wasn’t always pretty.

“I told them (the team) when we won the National Championship my senior year at Alabama—everybody knows we went 13-0 and we killed Miami in the National Championship game, but what people don’t talk about is we’re down,” Swinney said. “I think it was 7-6, late in the game against (Louisiana) Tech. I’m on punt return team and the next thing I know, here comes David Palmer who takes a punt to the house and that’s how we won the game 13-7 against La. Tech.”

That is right, the mighty Alabama Crimson Tide were down to Louisiana Tech and mustered a meager 167 total yards of offense against the Bulldogs.

If that were the only time during that magical season that the Crimson Tide had struggled against a clearly inferior opponent one might dismiss it as coincidence, but six weeks later the Tide would need another miracle. This time at Mississippi State.

“I also remember later on in the year,” Swinney continued. “We had never been behind in the fourth quarter all year and we’re at Mississippi State and we’re down and it ain’t looking good and we’re backed up and have to punt the ball and just hope that we can use our timeouts and get the ball back. We punt the ball away and ol’ Steve Busky, a tight end, goes down there and knocks the ball loose and Willis Bevelle comes up with the ball, and that’s how we won the game… you’ve gotta win games like that to have a special season.”

But Swinney also understands that while a win is always something to celebrate, the time has come for his 2019 Clemson team to begin to play better if they want a shot at a national championship, because the road is about to get real bumpy with Florida State looming in eight days.

"(Our players) think they're supposed to win," Swinney said. "That's a mentality that's been ingrained in these guys no matter what. We're in control of our destiny in our division, which is the next goal, and anything that comes after that we have to earn. We're right where we hoped to be, but I can assure you there is no one satisfied in that locker room."