Clemson Football: ‘Haters Gonna Hate’

Ever wonder why the orange, white, and purple seems more like the red and white of a bullseye for Clemson haters? It’s a fair question, considering recent and past articles and comments concerning Clemson.

Recently, Paul Finebaum has predicted a “changing of the guard” in the College Football Playoff, with Georgia overtaking Clemson, presumably for the long term. His prediction would have Clemson out of consideration for the CFP with an early, convincing loss to UGA.

Joseph Goodman of al.com just penned an article claiming that Dabo Swinney would retire due to the recent SCOTUS decision allowing a virtually unlimited amount of benefits that universities could award to student athletes.

Last year Swinney was toasted by the mainstream media for disagreeing that teams not having played a full season be ranked in the Top-10. The list goes on and on, and a quick Google search would find many more examples.

So why is it that Clemson seems to come under attack for things that other teams would clearly get a pass on? Has Clemson not proved itself with 6 straight playoff appearances and 2 national championship trophies in the CFP era? The answer may be a little more complicated.

Consider Clemson football history since Swinney became the head coach. Clemson hires a head coach in 2008 with no experience, not even as a coordinator, that most analysts considered a “bad hire.”

They immediately began recruiting and developing players at a level most thought not possible at Clemson. As revenue increases, Clemson continuously improves football facilities. Most Clemson fans would have been happy with just being able to beat rival South Carolina, but Swinney and Clemson had much larger aspirations in which most would have laughed at, at that time.

In 2012 they defeat a strong SEC team in LSU in an instant classic. In that moment, Clemson had flexed their muscles and proved that they could compete with the big boys.

Fast forward to 2015; Clemson puts a whooping on Oklahoma and advances to the national championship to meet Alabama. Again, most analysts doubt Clemson. Alabama was to win in blowout fashion. Only they didn’t. Clemson takes every punch Alabama has to offer, but keeps moving forward, almost straight out of a Rocky movie. Alabama only escapes with a win through special teams trickery.

2016; Clemson does the impossible. After shutting out OSU 31-0, they take down Alabama with a last second TD toss from Deshaun Watson to Hunter Renfrow, which is among the most memorable and beloved plays in Clemson history.

“Well, at least Deshaun Watson is gone to the NFL” thought Clemson haters. Surely Clemson will return to a good, but not elite team, right? Nope.

Clemson continues to win, and lands blue chip recruits like Trevor Lawrence, Christian Wilkins, and so many others that enable Clemson to hoist another Natty in 2018. The Cinderella story is concluded. Clemson now has what other teams feared, and even despised; staying power.

The clock was supposed to strike midnight and the Clemson Cinderella story surely would return to the proverbial pumpkin. It never happened. And that is why haters love to hate on Clemson.

Clemson is now viewed as an elite team, a title contender. That is a threat to college football Blueblood royalty. Obscure teams aren’t supposed to be able to rise from the ashes and compete with the big boys.

Teams like South Carolina, LSU, Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma, the rest of the unbeatable SEC, and many others have plenty of reason to hate Clemson and look forward to the day they return to obscurity. In the meantime, hopefully Clemson can continue to add fuel to their fire.