With Clemson reaching the college football playoffs for the 3rd year in a row, already hoisting up a national championship trophy, and pulling in another monster recruiting class you have to wonder is Clemson on the verge of becoming College Football’s next dynasty?
That’s exactly what Dan Wolken at USAToday writes about in his piece “Clemson in position to take over as college football’s reigning dynasty”. It’s worth your time to read.
Wolken states
But what could change for Clemson, and for all of college football, will be determined on New Year’s Day in a third consecutive Playoff matchup against the Crimson Tide. Now the stakes for Clemson aren’t just about hanging another banner after a 35-year wait. What lies ahead is nothing less than an opportunity to change the way we talk and think about this entire era of the sport.
It’s been Alabama and the rest of college football since 2009. They’ve won 4 national titles in that time span. Alabama is the standard. They’ve earned that title, but Clemson is pushing and pushing very hard to usurp Alabama.
I don’t think you can really talk in terms of ending Alabama’s run. As long as Nick Saban is their head coach, they aren’t finished making playoffs. What can happen is that Clemson can stake claim to being the country’s premier program if they can beat Alabama on January 1.
From Wolken again…
If Clemson wins a second consecutive national championship and beats the Tide two years in a row along the way, it would mean a legitimate claim to their own dynasty. It would mean Clemson making a serious run at Alabama as the program of the decade. It would mean Clemson, in college football’s most stunning and impressive development in quite some time, becoming an equal in an era where it seemed Saban simply wouldn’t allow any.
The other contenders to challenge Alabama have fallen away. Florida State couldn’t maintain their status as an Alabama challenger – post Jamies Winston. Ohio State can’t stop getting blown out at least once a year, but Clemson so far remains.
To be great you have to win one national title, but to be a dynasty you have to win multiple national titles in a fairly short period of time. That’s what Alabama has done. That’s what Florida did under Urban Meyer, and USC in the early part of the 2000s. Going back to the 90s there was Tom Osborne’s Nebraska teams, Florida State and Miami. Clemson is 2 games away from joining them.
The Tigers aren’t just playing for a title, they are playing for history.
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