Keep Your Clothes On, But the Tigers are Streaking
Building a successful college football program is a multi-faceted process. While stringing together a few good recruiting classes might lead to some short-term success for teams, it takes much more to build a successful program.
Building something sustainable takes more than just bringing in talent, and it starts with great leadership.
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney has excelled in this department. The "family-like" culture he has created at Clemson over the years has been nothing short of remarkable.
It is a culture that focuses heavily on building relationships. When you hear a coach or player talking about everyone in the program being part of one big family, it isn't just talk.
"We're all hanging out together all day," Swinney said "If you come in my office, you see this huge picture of our entire staff and every child. And that's there because it's a reminder every day to me that it's not about me."
That culture has brought about, arguably, the greatest decade-plus in Clemson football history.
For evidence of the Tigers' unprecedented success, one needs to look no further than the list compiled by the Clemson Athletic Department:
PLAYOFF STREAK:
With five consecutive College Football Playoff appearances, entering 2020, Clemson's active playoff streak is as long or longer than:
- 31 of 32 NFL teams
- 29 of 30 MLB teams
- 28 of 31 NHL teams
- 27 of 30 NBA teams
So, despite only four teams making the College Football Playoff each year, Clemson’s playoff streak is as long or longer than 115 of the 123 teams in the four major professional sports.
POLL STREAKS:
Clemson has been ranked in the top 25 of 89 consecutive AP polls dating to the 2014 season, the second-longest active streak in the nation. That includes a streak of 80 straight top-10 rankings, tied for first in the country with Alabama. As far as total top-25 rankings since 2011, Clemson has appeared in 144 of a possible 151 polls (95.4 percent). That is the third-most in the nation, trailing only Alabama (151) and Oklahoma (147).
The 2019 season represented Clemson's fifth consecutive season finishing in the AP Top 5, tied for the sixth-longest streak in AP Poll history. On an individual poll basis, Clemson's 43-poll streak in the AP Top 5 is the longest active streak in the country and tied for the eighth-longest in AP Poll history. Clemson's current weekly Top 5 streak is the only active one in the country to predate the 2019 season.
STREAKS OF EXCELLENCE:
Included below are a number of additional historically profound streaks presently being produced by Clemson:
- Has won 74 of its last 79 games overall dating to 2014.
- Has won 44 of its last 46 games against ACC teams.
- Has won 80 of its last 82 games when leading at halftime.
- Is 102-2 since 2011 when leading after three quarters.
- Is 52-1 when scoring first since 2015.
- Has a 101-2 record when totaling more first downs than its opponent since 2011.
- Has a 58-3 record when winning the turnover margin since 2011.
- Is 65-1 when rushing for 200+ yards under Dabo Swinney.
- Is 51-0 when both passing and rushing for 200+ yards under Dabo Swinney.
- Is 47-1 since 2015 when outscoring opponents in the “Middle Eight,” defined as the final four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half.
- Is 50-2 when having a 100-yard rusher since 2011.
- Has won 25 of its last 26 games away from home against ACC teams.
- Has won 25 of its last 26 road games.
- Has won 40 of its last 44 games away from home.
- Has won 44 of its last 45 games at home, including a school-record 23 in a row.
- Has won 35 of its last 36 games against ACC Atlantic Division teams, including games against typical Atlantic division foes in a division-free season in 2020.
- Has won 24 games in a row in September.
- Has won 22 of its last 23 games in October.
- Has won 14 games in a row in November.
- Has won 12 games in a row in December.
- Has won 45 consecutive games played on Saturdays, tied with the 1953-57 Oklahoma Sooners for the longest streak in the FBS in the AP Poll era (since 1936).
- Has won 75 of its last 77 games against unranked teams.
- Has won 22 of its last 25 games against top-25 teams since the start of the 2015 season.
- Enters 2020 having won 48 of its last 51 games against teams that ended their season in a bowl game (including 2018 Boston College, whose bowl game was canceled as the result of inclement weather).
- Has won 83 straight games when holding teams under 23 points (dates to 2010).
- Has won 26 of 30 one-possession games since 2011, the highest winning percentage in the country in one-score games in that span.
ACC WINNING STREAKS:
Including 20 regular-season games and three ACC Championship Games, Clemson has won 23 consecutive games against ACC opponents, the fourth-longest such streak in conference history. Clemson accounts for three of the eight longest winning streaks in conference play in ACC history.
