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Following a wild victory over Notre Dame last year, Dabo Swinney gave a speech for the ages in the middle of a driving rainstorm. After a hard-fought, seemingly impossible win, Swinney described the victory as a “BYOG” game. “We had to bring our own guts,” the Clemson coach said.
I couldn’t help but think about the speech following Clemson’s wild, unpredictable, thrilling, 37-34 victory over Florida State on Saturday. Although Swinney didn’t call the victory over the Seminoles a “BYOG” game, it certainly was. The Tigers brought their own guts, and now have their path to the playoff laid out in front of them.
There were 100 ways the Tigers could have lost. They were on the road in Tallahassee, a place that Clemson hadn’t won since 2006. After taking a lead into halftime they gave it up, and then when they regained the lead, 29-28, they lost it again. Yet somehow, when the team needed to make the biggest plays, that’s exactly what the Tigers did. That’s what championship teams are built on, and right now, the Tigers have the look of a championship team.
Most of the credit on will go to the Clemson offense, and with good reason. It was again phenomenal. DeShaun Watson threw for 378 yards and two touchdowns, and Wayne Gallman had some tough runs for 82 yards and two scores. Overall, the Tigers as a team topped 500 yards of offense, something they’ve now done in three of their last four games.
Credit also has to go to the defense as well. While it wasn't great, it came up big when the team needed it most. Specifically, the defense was best on the final two plays of the game, when Florida State was driving, and appeared to be inching towards field-goal range, which could have tied things up. Instead, Christian Wilkins and Dexter Lawrence combined on a sack, and then Ben Boulware got one a play later, to seal the game.
This win for Clemson felt a lot like the Louisville game earlier this season. In that game, Clemson fell down early, and Louisville had the Tigers on the ropes late. But when the team needed to make plays it did, with Watson and the offense putting up the points necessary, and then the defense holding on, on the final possession of the game.
Like Louisville, this win was a team effort, and with the win, we all know what that means: Clemson is continuing its march toward the College Football Playoff.
With games left against Syracuse, Pitt, Wake Forest and South Carolina, it’s hard to find a realistic loss on their schedule, and even if the Tigers do lose one, a loss doesn’t look as bad now as it might have a few days ago. With so many teams losing on Saturday, and with Clemson sporting three quality wins --- at Auburn, Louisville and at Florida State --- the Tigers would have about as impressive a resume as any one-loss team could have.
