On October 23rd, the Clemson Tigers sat 4-3 after getting thumped by Pittsburgh 27-17. In 2021, there would be no national title, no playoffs, and no ACC Title.
For a perennial top 5 team, that left Clemson staring at a season with seemingly not a lot to play for.
Then Clemson started winning and getting better. An offense that was a total mess, scored more than 30 points in their next 5 games. The Tigers destroyed a top 25 Wake Forest team, and then flattened their archrival South Carolina 30-0 to finish the season.
Bowl season came, and the coaching departures started. DC Brent Venables left to coach Oklahoma. OC Tony Elliot was now the head man at Virginia.
Dabo Swinney hired from within and got his team prepared to play a dangerous Iowa State team.
Clemson won 20-13, for their 6th straight win and a stamp on the program’s 11th straight 10 win season.
As I said a few weeks ago after Venables and Elliot left, I don’t think Clemson will remain a perennial national title contender. That’s simply not sustainable for anybody other than Alabama.
In a season of attrition though, Swinney still guided the Tigers to a season the vast majority of college football would love to have.
This is a program bigger than player and coach losses. Swinney has built one of the top 4 programs in college football.
Guess what, next season Clemson will enter 2022 in probably the top 15, probably top 10. The defense is going to be immensely talented. New DC Wes Goodwin looked just fine in the bowl game. The offense will be healthy, and QB DJ Uiagalelei while still a work in progress improved significantly over the course of the year.
If he doesn’t come along, the nation’s top rated QB recruit Cade Klubnik is sitting there waiting.
There will be strong challengers in the ACC like NC State, but Clemson will be one of the favorites.
Clemson will remain a true force in college football.
Dabo Swinney can look back at 2021 as one of his best coaching jobs in any season at Clemson.
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