Clemson One Step From Becoming The Evil Empire

Here we are. Finally, after two long weeks of waiting, Clemson and LSU will finally step onto the field tonight to decide this years national champion. Honestly, should Clemson had even made the trip, seeing as they have absolutely no shot at winning?

The narrative over the past two weeks has been one of a David vs Goliath matchup. Oddly enough though, it isn’t the defending national champs, who have not lost a game in two years, playing the role of Goliath. No, that role has been awarded to LSU. A team making their first playoff appearance, and one that hasn’t won a national title since 2007.

Obviously, this is something most of you already know, and if you are a Clemson fan, get used to it. It isn’t about to stop anytime soon. As a matter of fact, Clemson is now very likely the nations most hated team. With a win over LSU tonight, expect that hatred to intensify drastically.

When this run of success first started for Clemson, most assumed it would be one of those short lived runs. They were thought to be nothing more than a flash in the pan, who caught lightning in a bottle with a generational quarterback in Deshaun Watson.

The causal fans tend to not like teams that dominate over an extended period of time, and that is exactly what Clemson has done. Think the New England Patriots, those Dallas Cowboy teams of the 90’s, or more recently in college football, Alabama, who Clemson has supplanted as the alpha dog of the sport.

With a win tonight, Clemson will have accomplished something even St Nick in Tuscaloosa failed to do, and that is win three national titles in four years. The fact that it is Alabama that Clemson would be replacing on the throne of college football will make it that much worse. Over the last few years, Nick Saban’s Alabama program had become the darlings of the media, despite the fact that the casual fan was sick of the Crimson Tide.

Let’s face it, fans with no ties to either team are suffering from Bama and Clemson fatigue. With Alabama out of the picture currently, that leaves Clemson as public enemy number one, and it has become very obvious.

With the program winning at the level it is right now, it is understandable that the Clemson Football team has become hated by the general public. Add in the fact that they obliterated the Crimson Tide team the national media has been so infatuated with, and here we are, Clemson has become the team everybody loves to hate.

Embrace it. Don’t shy away from it, and don’t lash out at it. It isn’t unfair, and it isn’t bias. It is par for the course, and isn’t unusual at all. In fact this is the way it works in the sports world. People take pleasure in seeing a teams fall from grace.

So, if you think it has been bad so far, watch what happens when Clemson knocks off the new darlings of the media tonight in New Orleans. Then, the transformation will be complete. Little Ole’ Clemson will have become The Evil Empire.

If you missed the preview and prediction for tonight’s game, click here.