Dabo Swinney’s goals chart Clemson’s course toward Houston and a national title

CLEMSON — RJ Mickens heard Dabo Swinney say it, just like many others did.

But the senior safety from Southlake, Texas, was actually in the room when Swinney stood before his team and manifested a vision of Clemson making a run to Houston, the site of this year’s national championship game.

Everyone else heard Swinney’s words clipped and distributed on social media in a video recap of motivational speaker Eric Thomas’ visit with the Tigers.

“Frickin’ comin’ to Houston,” Swinney said, building off of Thomas’ theme of going “15-for-15” in 2023. “Y’all got it? Y’all see it?”

After two seasons without a playoff appearance, and after Swinney’s recent comments to the fan base about the program’s stated goals not including a national title, a statement about Houston was going to raise eyebrows.

As the Tigers geared up for a Sept. 4 opener at Duke, Mickens gladly re-raised them.

He offered a roster rundown as his preamble, hyping a new signal caller in Cade Klubnik, an established rushing duo of Will Shipley and Phil Mafah, deep and experienced lines on both sides of the ball, and a heralded linebacker duo in Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and Barrett Carter.

“We’re really confident in each other. Not just in our own abilities, but I know the guy next to me is a dog, too,” Mickens said. “That’s why we are so confident we’re going to go to Houston, and we’re going to win it all. I know everyone believes that, and Coach Swinney instills that belief in us.”

There is room for the public at large to believe and disbelieve, because the glory years of national titles aren’t that far behind the Tigers, and memories of a lackluster offense and a defense short of dominance are even fresher.

But this is still a program with seven ACC titles in eight seasons. The fruits of a 2021 recruiting class, ranked top 5 nationally, are about to reach maturity. Members of Clemson’s 2018 and ’19 classes, attracted by the Tigers’ rise, have returned for fifth and sixth seasons to title-chase once more.

In another viral clip, Swinney called out the ’19 seniors, reminding them every class since 2013 has won a national title and they were “on the clock.”

“I’m always direct and transparent and brutally honest with every team,” Swinney said. “I just don’t let a lot of clips of me in the team meeting room get out.”

Now that it’s out there, Swinney adds context.

Yes, he likes to stick to a drumbeat of winning the “opener,” winning the ACC, winning the “state title” over South Carolina, and winning the intentionally non-specific  “closer.” But the latter’s lack of specificity cuts both ways.

Swinney recalls the end of the 2015 season, racked with guilt as he reviewed Clemson’s list of goals after a 45-40 loss to Alabama in the national title game. 

Win the opener. Win the division. Win the conference. Win state. Win the bowl.

“This is all on me,’” Swinney said. “They hit every goal we had on the board.”

Swinney hadn’t left enough room with the term “bowl,” because Clemson defeated Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl to advance to a title game. He painted a vision, naming an end goal while also marking the path with enough steps to keep his players in the here and now. But he missed a step.

In 2016, he changed “Win the bowl” to “Win the closer.”

“Well, guess what? In 2016, we hit every one of those,” Swinney said, “and we won the national championship.”

Swinney sees no reason why this year’s team, if it hits all five of its goals, can’t do the same. The only difference is “Win the division” has been replaced by “Win 10-plus games,” because the ACC abolished divisions to allow its top two teams to rematch in the conference title game.

And it’s likely 10-plus wins, which Clemson has claimed in every season since 2011, will prove a worthy benchmark when the playoff expands to 12 teams.

The difference between the goals the Tigers dream and the ones they state might seem a little murky, because Swinney told fans it would be wasteful to not appreciate Clemson seasons that ended short of a title. But Swinney is not scaling back the level of ambition he fosters within his program’s walls.

That’s why he brought in a new coordinator, Garrett Riley. That’s why he recruited a five-star quarterback like Klubnik, who was drawn to Clemson by the playmaking exploits of Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence.

That’s why Swinney challenged his team about “comin’ to Houston,” even if he didn’t necessarily intend for the whole world to hear it.

“Coach Swinney wants to go to a national championship, I think everyone here wants to go to a national championship,” offensive tackle Blake Miller said. “I hope if someone’s here that doesn’t want to, they either get on board or get off board. Go over the ship.”

But that’s what gives Swinney optimism about this team. They seem on board. The seniors who are “on the clock” seem committed to making the most of each day, in pursuit of those five goals.

“If we hit all those goals,” Swinney said, “we’ll win it all.”