Those waiting for Clemson to take one of its patented pies to the face — and Saturday’s game against FSU was rife with banana-cream potential — may just have to concede that a new gluten-and-remorse-free day has dawned.
Against their long-time tormentors from Tallahassee, the Tigers defended their house and their unfamiliar role as the top seed in the college firmament. They did not play like champions wall-to-wall, but didn’t need to. One quarter of winning football — fittingly, the fourth — was enough to secure a 23-13 victory.
There has been a slur applied to this program for too long, one that was irritating to the residents here beyond the usual level whenever a noun is unnaturally mutated into a verb.
“Clemsoning” they called it, and it used to mean the act of ending a season of promise with a crushing loss. Such disappointment is not unique to Clemson, yet it attached to this program above all others.
After beating the 17th-ranked Seminoles, clinching a spot in the ACC Championship game before the last of the leaves have fallen and staying supremely unbeaten, the Tigers may have just revised one entry in the Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary of College Football.
For one more week at least, “Clemsoning” shall be an antonym to itself. Think entirely opposite of what the term meant a month ago.
To “Clemson” now is to play with great purpose in the face of great pressure.
How would these Tigers react on the week they were named No. 1 in the college playoff rankings? When they gathered Saturday afternoon atop the end-zone hill to rub Frank Howard’s rock for pregame luck and launch themselves into opening kickoff, that little bump on the face of the Clemson campus also represented the high ground of all of college football. A most unfamiliar vantage point for everyone there.
It was shaky there for awhile, but as darkness settled and Wayne Gallman broke free for the 25-yard touchdown with just more than two minutes left, victory was assured. The Tigers had proved they could handle all that came with being No. 1.
“We just won a division championship against a team that has kicked our butts. I don’t think you can handle it any better,” Swinney said.
But, no, it is not easy to “Clemson.” Heavy is the head that wears the crown of top playoff seed. These Tigers are not used to wearing such a flashy accessory.
They did not play their best Saturday, but they played their best when they had to — outscoring FSU 10-0 in the fourth quarter, controlling the ball for 11:30 of the final 15 minutes.
Clemson’s dynamic import from Gainesville, quarterback Deshaun Watson, may not have played in a fashion that will impress Heisman Trophy voters. Swinney commented on his quarterback’s faulty aim: “Deshaun did not play well in the first half. It’s one thing to miss three-pointers. We were missing layups.”
Yet Watson finished with 107 rushing yards and 297 more through the air. By his standards, just OK.
When one “Clemsons,” one adjusts.
The Tigers seemed to come into the game with an unusual strategy for FSU’s dynamic back Dalvin Cook — just let him run wild-horse free up the long green field until he just grew too exhausted to continue.
His first touch, Cook went 75 yards for a touchdown, untouched until he was roughed up going into the end zone.
With his next carry, Cook was held to only 36 yards. By the end of the first quarter, he had 128 yards.
But when FSU pitched the ball to Cook on a fourth-and-1 midway in the fourth quarter, Clemson stopped him cold. He finished with 194 yards on the ground, but couldn’t get the one yard that may have turned the game.
More than anything else, “Clemsoning” is now an optimistic verb.
On Monday, Swinney had a little slide show for his team. He entitled it “Destinations.” It featured Williams-Brice Stadium, where they’ll play rival South Carolina at month’s end. And all the stadiums of the college playoff — in Miami, Dallas and ultimately Arizona. He even threw in a shot of the White House, where champions meet the president. And he threw in some perspective shots as well, those of the training room and the weight room, places where champions are built.
When this coach feels like “Clemsoning,” he does it with style.
“These are the best of times,” Swinney repeated again Saturday night. “These are the good ol’ days.”
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