Clemson football's incredible journey to becoming Alabama's equal

Clemson football’s incredible journey to becoming Alabama’s equal

SANTA CLARA, CA - JANUARY 07: Head coach Dabo Swinney of the Clemson Tigers celebrates his teams 44-16 win over the Alabama Crimson Tide with the trophy in the CFP National Championship presented by AT&T at Levi's Stadium on January 7, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

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(Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images) /

August 30, 2008

Clemson entered the season as the No. 9 team overall under the direction of head coach Tommy Bowden. The Tigers were coming off a 9-4 season in which they came up just short of clinching the ACC Atlantic Division and finished the season with a Chick-fil-A Bowl loss to the Auburn Tigers.

Alabama was in its second season under Nick Saban and the legendary coach seemed unafraid of the arguably overrated Clemson Tigers as they entered Atlanta, Ga. The Tide would go on to win the matchup 34-10 behind a huge game from kicker Leigh Tiffin and quarterback John Parker Wilson.

Even though Alabama wasn’t quite the Alabama team that they would later become, they were still a historically elite team who were on the rise due to the hiring of the legendary Nick Saban and the emergence of future Heisman winner Mark Ingram.

This loss not only sent Clemson spiraling down the AP poll but showed the world that even though they have the potential to be a good team, they were not a great team. The Tigers would go onto to lose two more games and looking for a change at head coach before their matchup against Georgia Tech.

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