Clemson football built championships on strength of schedule (2024)

Whenever they cook up a future football schedule, Clemson University coach Dabo Swinney and athletic director Dan Radakovich stick to a traditional recipe:

• Eight games against Atlantic Coast Conference colleagues.
• The annual rivalry with the University of South Carolina.
• One game against a school from the Division I bowl subdivision Group of Five conferences, such as Charlotte, Appalachian State or Coastal Carolina.
• One game against a championship subdivision in South Carolina, such as Furman, Wofford or The Citadel.
• And finally, another marquee matchup with what Swinney calls a “Sho’Nuff.”

The playful pronunciation of “sure enough” is also a fitting reference to the villain from the 1985 film “The Last Dragon.” He was billed as the meanest, prettiest, baddest manin town. Swinney wants to supplement his schedule each year with that kind of team. A powerhouse from the Power Five conferences— the Southeastern, Big Ten, Big 12 or Pacific-12.

Texas A&M this season. Notre Dame in 2020, 2022 and 2023. Georgia in 2024, 2029 and 2030. Louisiana State in 2025 and 2026.

Presuming those traditional powerhouses will remain among college football’s meanest, prettiest, and baddest, Clemson schedules those games years and sometimes decades in advance.

“Don't forget Oklahoma in '35, '36. Get your tickets now,” Radakovich said last week with a laugh, alluding to the distant future series Clemson announced in March.

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This summer, The Greenville News and the Anderson Independent Mail have examined whatpropelledClemson to two national championships and four ACC titles in the last four years — and what will keep the program at this pinnacle.

Playing a second nonconference Power Five game each year has helped Clemson enhance the profile of its program. They attract national television audiences. That stage attracts top recruits.

Aggressive scheduling will be critical to extending Clemson's tenure on the throne. Yet, Clemson's sustained successhas not improved the reputation of the conference, at least not everywhere outside the conference.

For decades, the ACC has been portrayed as an inferior league, particularly when compared to its neighbor, the Southeastern Conference. Historically, the SEC has generated more revenue, produced more National Football League draft picks and claimed more national championships.

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The ACC has closed the gap some in recent years, winning three of the last six national titles. But that hasnot beenenough to dispel misconceptions. The ACC can only rewrite the negative national narratives by editing its schedules.

But the wide variance in geography and revenue yields a vast variance in schedule strength. Until the league collectively schedules toughergames and wins them, it will not win over its detractors.

“Certainly, the SEC is an unbelievable league...but this league doesn't take a back seat to anyone,” said Swinney, who played and coached in the SEC for 11 seasons at Alabama.

“I don't run around talking about league supremacy," Swinney said. "To me, it's about the program. You can be in a great league but stink as a program. What's that do for you? To me, it should always be about the program, but I think our league is so underrated it's not even funny.”

Perception is the reality of college football. The two major polls reflect the opinions of coaches and media members. The College Football Playoff teams are selected by a committee. They can all be swayed easily by their own biases or by an unfounded or at least outdated national narrative.

Four SEC teams— Alabama, Auburn, Florida and LSU— accounted for nine of the last 13 national championships, including seven consecutive from 2006 to 2012. ACC powers Clemson and Florida State accounted for three national titles since 2013.

From 2004 to 2013, the ACC suffered a 30-54 record against the SEC. Through the next five seasons, the ACC edged the SEC 28-26. Coincidentally, that was the final score of Clemson’s victory at Texas A&M last season.

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At least three ACC teams appeared in the final CFP Top 25 rankings in four of the past five seasons. Eleven ACC teams qualified for bowl games last season. The league compiled a 6-5 record in those games, including Clemson’s two playoff victories. Boston College also led its bowl game before it was canceled because of inclement weather.

“When you look at a conference, you want to look top to bottom,” Boston College coach Steve Addazio said. “Our top (Clemson) is better than anybody else's top. Our bottom, I believe, is higher than other bottoms.

“This conference is the most elite conference. I would've told you when I was at Florida (from 2005 to 2010) that the SEC was, because I think, at that time, the SEC was. I'm not sure that's the case anymore.”

The ACC could present more evidence for its case with more marquee regular-season matchups. But the scatteredschedule strength impedes that effort. Last season, merely five of the 14 ACC teams ranked in the Top 50 of the Jeff Sagarin schedule rankings, a calculation the CFP selection committee consults during its deliberations.

Clemson is one of merely six ACC teams that will play at least two nonconference Power Five opponents in 2019. Boston College will play three. North Carolina will play two, albeit one is against Wake Forest. The ACC teams agreed to play a nonconference game because the league scheduling rotation pits the rivals together once every seven years.

Conversely, Virginia Tech’s lone nonconference Power Five foe is Notre Dame. The Hokies will play two championship subdivision schools, Furman and Rhode Island.

The SEC enjoys the luxury of an elevated reputation. Many teams rest on the laurels of the league. Few test themselves outside of intrastate rivalries.

South Carolina, Florida and Georgia are the only SEC teams that will play more than one nonconference Power Five game in 2019. Arkansas and Tennessee will play none.

“You have to have a league policy on how many Power Fives you need to play and everybody adheres to that,” Addazio said. “Scheduling has a lot to do with what you can afford. Some schools pay an exorbitant amount of money to get teams in to play them. That's not really our situation, so we just have to find the openings.”

According to figures compiled by USA TODAY Sports, all 13 public SEC schools rank in the Top 35 of 230 Division I programs in revenue. Four ACC schools rank in the Top 35.

Because of the disparate circ*mstances, Radakovich said the ACC has no definitive scheduling policy, which grants schools flexibility to tailor schedules to the development of their programs.

“It’s very individual,” Radakovich said. “If you had a program that maybe was not doing so well and you change coaches, you want to give that new coach an opportunity to gather some success before going into some additional difficult games.”

That flexibility results in Clemson playing South Carolina, Texas A&M, Charlotte and Wofford, while its newest nemesis Syracuse, the only other ACC team that finished in the final CFP Top 25 last year, plays Maryland, Liberty, Western Michigan and Holy Cross.

The launchof the ACC Network, scheduled forAug. 22, may pressure the league to fortify its scheduling. After the novelty of the network fades, Friday-night dates between Wake Forest and Utah State may not entice viewers.

Until scheduling conventions are implemented, the ACC’s national perception will rely on ambitious schools like Clemson and Florida State. And for the rest of league, theeasiest path to widespread acclaim will be through one of those schools.

“Clemson didn't get to the national championship and fall on their face because they played bad competition. Common sense will tell you that,” said Pittsburgh coach Pat Narduzzi, whose team defeated Clemson in Death Valley in 2016.

“They were challenged during the year and what the conference did for Clemson helped them go in and win a championship," Narduzzi said. "I've been in different conferences. I've seen different teams play. This conference is as good as any. Clemson's good. They've got good players. They've been beaten, too.”