PHOENIX — They are unbeaten, the No. 1-ranked team in the country and playing for a national championship. Yet, the Clemson Tigers are a seven-point underdog to win the national championship Monday night at University of Phoenix Stadium. It’s logical only because Clemson is matched against the tradition-rich Alabama Crimson Tide and coach Nick Saban, winner of four national championships. It seems like they should always be favored.
Reputation means a lot in college football and Monday night’s game in the desert represents Clemson’s first real chance to prove it can be part of college-football royalty. It’s a chance to be the kind of program in which the best players believe they can be considered the best. Alabama is already there. Win or lose, Alabama still will be stocked with stories of Bear Bryant, Gene Stallings, national championships and now the Saban era.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney is part of that tradition, having played on Alabama’s 1992 national championship team under Stallings. The Crimson Tide hadn’t won a championship since 1979 before that night in New Orleans when they defeated No. 1 Miami in the Sugar Bowl. That was largely a one-shot wonder as Alabama didn’t win another national title until Saban arrived. He since has created his own legacy of dominance producing three national championships since 2009.
Swinney wants to build Clemson (14-0) into the next Alabama, and that starts Monday night.
“We want to be a program that is competing at this level on a consistent basis,” Swinney said. “I think to do that you’ve got to be a top-10, top-15 type program year in and year out. That’s the thing that I’m most proud of with our program because only us and Alabama have had five 10-plus win seasons in a row. That’s the type of consistency that you have to have and the type of culture that you have to establish in your program to have this opportunity. This is the culmination of seven years of a lot of consistency. Hopefully, this won’t be our [only] time. Hopefully, we can be back. I don’t know if we can make it four out of the next seven years. But it won’t be for a lack of effort.”
Swinney will be coaching in his first national championship game. He has deep admiration for what Saban has accomplished at his alma mater after winning his first national championship at LSU.
“He’s already won four national championships,” Swinney said. “This is the first one I’ve sniffed as a coach and he’s going for his fifth. It’s incredible. People sometimes will say, ‘Anybody can go win at Alabama.’ Well, no, that’s not the case. Not everybody can coach a great team. Not everybody can coach a great player and I think that he has a gift to be able to do that.”
We have come to expect Saban to be on this stage. A loss to Ohio State in the semifinals last season kept him out of the inaugural College Football Playoff title game. He insists there’s no magic for being successful in these pressure-packed games. He relies on preparation.
“I think what we’re trying to get our players to do is stay focused on the things that are going to help them play well in the game and not be affected by external factors, all the things that are going on around this game” Saban said. “It’s a big game. But you’ve got to focus on the next play and do what you have to do to do your job to help your team be successful. That’s the message that we’re trying to give them so they can go out and have the best opportunity to be successful.”
Swinney is hoping his players won’t be overwhelmed by the atmosphere and what’s at stake.
“It’s truly how you play the game and how you play the game is a direct reflection on how you prepare,” he said. “That’s really what matters. It’s winning your individual matchups. It’s big plays and special teams. These are two great teams.”
One is football royalty, the other is trying to be.