CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson coach Dabo Swinney put on a slide show for his team this week with pictures of the College Football Playoff title site in Arizona and the White House, a privilege reserved for national champions.
“The best is yet to come,” he said.
The third-ranked Tigers, who landed atop the first CFP rankings this past week, took a huge step toward the playoffs with their 23-13 victory over the Seminoles.
“We won the Kentucky Derby tonight,” Swinney said. “But we want to win the Triple Crown.”
There was no dampening the party, though, for the thousands of orange-clad supporters who rushed the field to celebrate as the final seconds ticked off of Clemson’s 12th consecutive win. The scoreboard flashed “ACC Atlantic Division Champions” and the speakers blared the song, “I’m On Top of the World.”
“I’ve been voting us No. 1 for three weeks,” Swinney said. “Y’all are just catching up.”
Swinney promised bigger parties ahead, but only if his players keep the same approach they have all year of focusing on the next opponent.
No one’s sleeping on the Tigers now. They appear to have a glide path into the playoffs with games against Syracuse, Wake Forest and rival South Carolina — a combined record of 9-18.
Clemson will be a heavy favorite to defeat whoever comes from the ACC Coastal in its first league title game since 2011.
