How Does Clemson’s Undefeated 2018 Campaign Compare to 2025 Indiana?

The last team before Monday night's national championship game to go perfect was Dabo Swinney's Clemson Tigers.

Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney went perfect in the 2018 season, going 15-0 to win the national championship. | BART BOATWRIGHT/Staff

On Monday night, the Indiana Hoosiers became the 65th undefeated national champion since 1936, and the first team to ever finish a season 16-0. 

While Curt Cignetti and company celebrated, Clemson fans reminisced. Seven years ago, on Jan. 8, 2019, Trevor Lawrence led the Clemson Tigers to an undefeated season of their own. But how does the Tigers’ invincible campaign stack up against the Hoosiers’?

In the 2018-2019 season, the Tigers averaged 44 points a game with an average scoring margin of +30.4 points. Indiana scored, on average, 39.5 points per game with an average scoring margin of +27.1 this year. 

But Indiana surely takes the cake in terms of schedule strength. The Hoosiers faced three top-10 teams at the time of the matchup: No. 3 Oregon in October, No. 9 Illinois in September and No. 1 Ohio State in the Big 10 Championship.

Clemson played only No. 16 NC State and No. 17 Boston College before the postseason. 

Another blaring difference is Fernando Mendoza. More specifically, Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza. In 2018, the Oklahoma Sooners’ Kyler Murray was awarded the Heisman trophy, and Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence wasn’t. 

Lawrence threw for 218.7 yards per game with a 65.2% completion rate. The freshman quarterback hoisted the National Championship trophy with a 30-6 touchdown-interception ratio.

Mendoza averaged 220.9 yards per game on 72% completion rate, ultimately throwing 41 touchdowns to six touchdowns in the 2025 season. Hats off to you, Heisman. 

But in the 2018 season, Trevor Lawrence wasn’t even in Heisman talks. His teammate, Travis Etienne, was. Finishing seventh in Heisman voting, Etienne was the best running back in the country. In the National Championship game against Alabama, he showed exactly why. 

Against the Tide, Etienne recorded two touchdowns on the ground and another through the air along with 86 rushing yards. Lawrence had a game to remember, too, with 347 yards in the air, three passing touchdowns and 27 yards on the ground. 

In their 15th win of the season, Dabo Swinney’s 2018 roster blew out Nick Saban’s Alabama, 44-16. 

The Indiana Hoosiers 16th win of the season came down to the wire. 

Mendoza didn’t catch fire in the National Championship the way Lawrence did seven years ago, but he made big-time plays when his team needed it. Mendoza threw for 186 yards with no touchdowns, but his night will forever be remembered for converting a gutsy 12-yard rushing touchdown on 4th and five. When all was said and done, a game sealing pick sent Indiana to the promised land with a score of 27-21 over Miami. 

Mendoza and Lawrence both received the National Championship offensive MVP award. On the other side of the ball, Indiana’s Mikail Kamara and Clemson’s Trayvon Mullen were named defensive MVPs. 

With another college football season in the books, the longest part of the year begins: the offseason. But amid anxious anticipation for the 2026 season to begin, there should be no feelings of jealousy towards the Hoosiers. 

Indiana’s triumph should evoke feelings of respect, mixed with nostalgia. 

It was Indiana’s time, just as it was Clemson’s in 2018.