The Aftermath of Victory - National Championship Edition

I hope y’all are ready for a massive link dump.

Let me preface all of this by saying that Dabo Swinney and this Clemson program get a pass from criticism by me for at least a year. We won the National Championship... in my book, that gives you some leeway for a bit to do whatever the heck you want without having your every action scrutinized and criticized (but seriously though please please do good evaluations and make good offers and call good plays).

It is so so much better to win this year. Obviously it’d have been great if we won last year and this year, but losing last year and winning this year is, in my opinion, much better than winning last year but losing this year. I wanted to see these guys (Deshaun Watson, Mike Williams, Wayne Gallman, Ben Boulware, Carlos Watkins, Jorden Leggett, etc) ride off into the sunset on top.

I’m reminded of that Parks and Recreation quote from Ron Swanson - “Everything I do is the attitude of an award winner, because I've won an award.” Well, everything Clemson/Dabo Swinney does are the actions of a national championship winner, for we have won the national championship!

Let us bask in the glow of the national championship win by reading these things that people are writing about us:

• This is a 2015 story about Hunter Renfrow from Sports Illustrated, but I have never read it and it seems appropriate to re-post now. The story was written before Hunter Renfrow destroyed Alabama in two straight national championship games. Now in the wake of his national championship performance, here’s a new blurb from SI about Renfrow, which includes the video of when he got a scholarship that made him the “former walk-on” he is today.
• Colin Cowherd called Clemson a fraud before the playoffs (thanks for the bulletin board material buddy!) and you know Dabo must have used that to help pump the team up and sell the underdog “nobody believes in us” story. Dabo took time after winning the natty to call out Cowherd. Cowherd, to his credit, was gracious today and had a decent response.
• I may be a bit biased, but I thought (and I believe most unbiased people probably think) that it was an appropriate no-call on the game-winning pass to Hunter Renfrow. Clemson and (especially) Alabama disagrees, though.
• This clip of Christian Wilkins is everything and it’s amazing and I love it so much and you bet your ass you’re going to see this gif in our comment section for years to come.

• I remember 4-5 years ago when a young boy in high school said that if he ever got the chance to play in the national championship, he was going to light it up.

I wonder whatever happened to that kid?

• Speaking of Deshaun Watson, here’s a real gem of a quote from Dabo about Deshaun and the Heisman that I absolutely love:

“He didn't lose out on the Heisman; the Heisman lost out on him. They lost out on an opportunity to be attached to this guy forever.”

They need to change the voting on these awards. If they vote on this after the bowl games, I’m willing to wager a decently large sum of money that Watson is your Heisman winner, not Lamar Jackson.

• Speaking of wagering money, Vegas did not believe in the Tigers and it cost them big.

Love reading things like this:

“It was as bad as a result as humanly possible”

Bill Sattler, director of specialty games for Caesars Entertainment, said Clemson winning in a high-scoring game produced "the worst loss in any college football game I can remember."

Maybe have a little more faith in Clemson next time, guys.

• An ESPN story about a “most magical night” with Dabo Swinney, a long look behind the scenes of the last moments of the game and the aftermath. Great article. Many Dabo quotes. Highly recommend you read it. Here’s a nice quote:

“I told them there will never be anything in their lives that will ever take this moment away. I pointed to my teammate here from our 1992 national championship team (which he played on at Alabama), and I pointed to the former Clemson players who were there tonight, guys who played on the last national championship team (in 1981) and the guys who were on our teams over the last eight years who got us here tonight. This was for all of us. This will always be our bond.”

Indeed, nothing can ever take it away, well, nothing other than an NCAA ruling. But seriously, once I won an intramural flag football championship and it was an amazing moment and it is a linchpin in my bond with my old teammates, and this was just intramurals. I imagine it must be like that x 1000000 for this. It’s going to bind these teammates together forever, for sure.

• ESPN has like a zillion articles about our win (and I am going to read all of them damnit before rewatching the game about 10 times) which I will now share with you in case you wish to read them as well:

Social Media Reaction

Players saying how awesome Deshaun Watson is

Love this line from this story:

“This victory was not the grueling reality of fulfilling expectations, as Alabama might have felt with a win, but the unbridled joy of realizing a dream.”

High quality photo gallery from the game

Scenes from the Alabama locker room

A fairy tale ending

Terry Don Phillips got it right after all

• This really amused me:

• Here’s the cover of the next SI magazine, which I will be framing and putting in a place of honor in my room. Also SI’s cover story on the win is linked to in the tweet:

Do you like blocking? Look at Jay Guillermo and Taylor Hearn moving this Alabama defender on Wayne Gallman’s touchdown dive.

The game was amazing. This team is amazing. Y’all are amazing. Everything is amazing right now. What a time to be a Clemson Tiger.