Football headshots
As the 2021 version of the Clemson Tigers struggle to stay on the fringes on the top 25, their streak of 6 straight top 5 finishes is in serious jeopardy. The ACC program most often compared to this recent run of Clemson’s is Bobby Bowden’s Florida State teams.
Bobby Bowden sadly passed away this year, but the legend of his greatness cannot overstated and bears repeating.
From 1987 to 2000, Florida State never finished outside the top 5. That’s 14 straight years.
The current coaching standard Nick Saban’s streak of top 5 finishes stopped at 5.
When Pete Carroll was at USC, his top 5 streak made it to 7.
Urban Meyer only had a streak of 2.
The greatest coaches of modern college football history barely got half-way to Bowden’s remarkable accomplishment – not Saban, not Carroll, not Meyer, and barring some sort miracle not Swinney either.
Some have tried to split hairs over Bowden and Florida State playing in the ACC.
Don’t let perceptions get in the way of facts.
Bowden accomplished his streak during Steve Spurrier’s time at Florida, the majority of the Miami dynasty, and never played a bowl opponent outside the top 12.
Even within the ACC, he joined the conference as Clemson was still a top 25 fixture. He faced George Welsh’s Virginia teams, and Mack Brown’s excellent late 90s UNC teams. At the end of the FSU’s, there was George O’ Leary’s Georgia Tech teams that won 3 straight against Georgia.
In most years he was playing 4 or 5 ranked teams, and he still managed to pull off this remarkable feat along with a couple of national titles.
Clemson still is and has been the recent kings of the ACC, but Florida State’s run of dominance stands alone.
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