Numerous elements make 13-0 run a reality for Clemson

Clemson is 13-0 and playing in the College Football Playoff on Dec. 31 against Oklahoma.

The Tigers are ranked No. 1 in the nation. They have a Heisman Trophy finalist at quarterback and an offense that's posted 500 total yards in nine consecutive games — despite replacing four starting offensive linemen. The defense that lost nine starters from the best unit in the country in 2014 yet still ranks in the top 10 in 2015.

It's been quite the season, but none of what has happened has exactly shocked Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, who said the only real surprise was losing receiver Mike Williams on the first drive of the Week 1 to a neck injury that he won't return from this year. "We went into the season with a high level of expectation, expecting to win all the games," Swinney said. "And we've had a little luck too."

It takes a bevy of elements, incredible plays and memorable moments to get where the Tigers are — and none of that is easy.

Since Clemson went 12-0 in 1981, 32 FBS teams have posted a perfect record. Since 2000, no team did it in 2003, 2007, 2011 or 2014. Swinney's squad is the last one standing. Nobody else in the country has a chance to become the first college football team to go 15-0.

"If you are really about the right things and you don't change how you coach and you don't change how you call a game, this is how you do it," Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables said. "And you do it week in and week out. Can you do it for 15 games? Can you do it for 13 weeks? That's the challenge for coaches and players and teams, and it's hard to sustain success."

Venables, who was a co-defensive coordinator at Oklahoma in 2000 when the Sooners went 13-0, said it's hard to play with the right kind of emotion every game. Swinney, who was a player on the 1992 Alabama squad that also went 13-0, prides his program on treating each week as the biggest game of the year — a strategy that's helped Clemson win 10 or more games five consecutive years.

And Clemson certainly has been tested: on the road at Louisville on a Thursday night, at home in a torrential downpour against top-10 foe Notre Dame, in the Atlantic Division clincher against Florida State and star running back Dalvin Cook (despite trailing at the half), in their rival's house against a team with nothing to lose and in the ACC title game against a high-powered North Carolina offense.

Those are just some of the moments that have separated this Clemson squad from the rest of the country.

"Our team last year might have been better than this team, but we had some tough breaks (in 2014)," Swinney said. "We were a mash unit in the OL, quarterbacks were hurt. We still found a way (to go 10-3). That team achieved at a high level last year. This team has found a way each and every game."

Top-10 moments of Clemson's 2015 season

10. Pizza party

While Swinney was presumably joking when he initially suggested in early November that Clemson would host a College Football Playoff pizza party, the publicity it received forced the university's hand into actually throwing one at Death Valley the day after the ACC title game win. It turned out to be a unique and special way for Clemson to celebrate 13-0 and CFP selection with fans.

9. Tigers lose big-time playmaker

It was the first drive and touchdown of Clemson's season, junior receiver Mike Williams, a preseason All-ACC selection, hit the padded goal post and suffered a small neck fracture that ended his season, but as 2015 went along, the offense survived as freshman Deon Cain and senior Charone Peake stepped up and make huge plays.

8. Ending the Al Golden era

This probably would've happened eventually anyway, but Clemson going down to Miami and dismantling the Hurricanes 58-0 — the worst loss in that proud program's history — got the coach fired a day later and gave the Tigers their second road win of the season in resounding and surprisingly easy fashion.

7. Kevin Dodd steps up on the road

With Louisville driving for a chance to either win or tie the game with less than a minute left, defensive end Dodd's sack on Kyle Bolin put the Cardinals in a desperate situation on the next play, which was a game-sealing interception for Clemson that established the unheralded Dodd as a playmaker and set the tone for the Tigers' season with a difficult, crucial road win.

6. What a catch, what a throw

Clemson led rival South Carolina 28-25 in the fourth quarter of the regular-season finale, but the Gamecocks had all the momentum after back-to-back TDs. On the next drive, Deshaun Watson's 24-yard pass through the USC defense to Trevion Thompson on third-and-7 set up a 3-yard TD run by Watson three plays later. That gave Clemson the cushion it needed to win in Columbia for the first time since 2007.

5. Becoming No. 1

When the first College Football Playoff ranking of 2015 was released on Nov. 3, Clemson sat atop the entire field and ranked No. 1 for first time since the 1981 season. The Tigers won their first ever game as the top-ranked team a week later against Florida State and haven't given up the top spot yet.

4. Title scene

Moments after the preseason ACC favorite's 45-37 win over North Carolina at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, championship confetti flew everywhere, a trophy was hoisted, Watson did the Heisman pose and the second conference title of the Dabo Swinney era was celebrated.

3. The "Clemsoning" rant

Search Dabo Swinney's name on YouTube. Two months later, this moment is still at the top of the list. In a rant after the Georgia Tech game, the Clemson coach made it clear that his program meant business this year and that it was sick of being a punch line.

2. Watson makes history on awards circuit

With his stellar season, Watson became the first ever Tiger to be named as a Heisman Trophy finalist, but he watched Alabama RB Derrick Henry take home the honor from New York. Two days earlier, though, Watson became the first Clemson QB to win the Davey O'Brien Award, which is given to nation's top signal caller.

1. Stopping Kizer

The single-most crucial play of the year came with seven seconds left in the fourth quarter against Notre Dame. On Irish quarterback DeShone Kizer's 2-point conversion run, Ben Boulware, Travis Blanks and Dodd closed all running lanes to allow Carlos Watkins to make a tackle short of the goal line that prevented Notre Dame from tying the game and preserved Clemson's undefeated season.