Danny Ford says Tigers stack up favorably to 1981 national champs

Danny Ford’s teams set the standard by which all others at Clemson are measured, and, eight games into the season, he is sufficiently impressed to say that this Tigers team has the earmarks of a national champion.

Standing between Clemson, No. 1 in the first College Football Playoffs rankings, and its first 9-0 record since 1981 is Florida State on Saturday.

“They’ve done everything they had to do, and they looked pretty doggone good doing it in pretty much all phases,” Ford said this week. The coach of Clemson’s national championship team in 1981, he sees a lot to like, including the physical lines — a staple of Ford teams — and quarterback Deshaun Watson.

“They are more physical. I don’t know where they developed that, unless they did it in the spring when they might have ran the ball more rather than throwing it,” he said.

When Dabo Swinney talks about the greatest decade in Clemson football history, Ford’s 11 seasons are the standard. Named head coach in 1978 at age 30, Ford’s teams won 76 percent of their games and five ACC championships. They were ranked in 41 consecutive polls, won six of their eight bowl games and had 42 players drafted by the NFL.

Ford’s teams were tough and physical. He preferred the run to the pass. He believed that “offense sells tickets, defense wins championships.” And his reputation as a tireless recruiter was legendary. So when he looks at the job Swinney has done, Ford likes the evolution.

“Their toughness on both sides of the line of scrimmage (in the past) hasn’t been what it is this year,” said Ford, like Swinney a former player at Alabama. “Now, how they developed it? I don’t know.

“They probably got better people, and I think they’re running the ball a little tougher, and their defensive people are having to defend the run more than the pass out there in practice. I think that’s made them a lot tougher.”

Ford said the defense has been a surprise, the front four in particular.

“Nobody’s lined up and just tried to run the ball completely against Clemson,” he said. “Georgia Tech tried it, and they weren’t very good. Wofford, of course, and they and App State tried some stuff, but they were out-classed because of scholarship numbers and stuff.

“I don’t know who’s developed it. I think you’ve got to give credit to the coordinators, but I think the defense surely has been the surprise of the season so far.”

Ford met Watson on a couple of occasions and liked what he saw, both up close and on the field.

“I haven’t seen him lose control of his football team,” Ford said. “He seems like he’s in complete control. He seems like he knows exactly when to do what, how to do it and where to do it. Just a very cool customer. I hadn’t seen anybody rattle him.”

Ford was also pleased Watson has remained upright.

“(I) hadn’t seen him get hit like he was before. He might be smarter than he was. I notice he’s getting down faster,” he said. “That would be the only thing that would concern me if I’m the football coach coaching Watson. Can he stay healthy, and he has. There’s no reason that he can’t stay healthy. There early on, I didn’t know if he could, because of his past injury history, but I think he’s proven so far that he can.

“I think he’s probably matured a lot, grown a lot, gotten stronger and bigger, and got a lot smarter, too, about getting down.”

Ford sees a great future for Watson and the program.

“I don’t think there’s any question about that. I think, if he can stay up, level-headed like he is and stay as calm and cool as he is and continues to strive,” Ford said. “I understand he’s probably a better person than he is a football player.

“I’ve met him a couple of times, and he seems that way. I don’t think the off-the-field, the attitude and the personality are going to change, so as long as he continues to stay healthy and keep working at it, I don’t see anyway he can’t get better.”

Ford said not only is this a potential championship team; it is one that could surpass the success of his teams.

“I don’t think there’s no question on that. If they keep going at the pace they’re going,” he said. “As long as they continue to do what they’re doing now, yeah, they can set the bar real high at Clemson.”

While he doesn’t count himself as a “fan” in the traditional sense, Ford was proud of how the team has performed and how it has represented the school and the state.

“I don’t lose sleep over whether they win or lose, but I pull for them,” he said. “I’m proud of what they’re doing.”

While there are a number of commonalities and ties between this team and his 1981 team, getting to the top could be more arduous.

“They can win a championship, but their path is tougher than ours was,” he said. “To do what we did in ’81 they’ve got to play a lot more games, because we didn’t have but 12 games. We didn’t have a conference championship. We just had a bowl game, and they have to play two or three more to get there.”

Ford cautioned against celebrating too soon after being ranked No. 1 by the College Football Playoff committee. The only other time a Clemson team was ranked No. 1 was after the Orange Bowl win over Nebraska after the 1981 season.

“All that’s good and dandy but that’s about 10 or 12 people sitting around a room,” Ford said, “That don’t mean a crap of beans or nothing. Whoever’s standing in January, that’s all that matters. I hope people don’t get so crazy that they think they’ve arrived, because they still got a long way ahead of them.

“But they’re very capable, too.”

This week’s game with nemesis Florida State should be a huge barometer, he said, but the team has done a commendable job of taking care of business one week at a time.

“It only takes one Saturday. You just need to stay away from that one bad Saturday,” he said.

This story was originally published November 5, 2015 at 8:45 PM with the headline "Danny Ford says Tigers stack up favorably to 1981 national champs."