The Southeastern Conference is the pinnacle of excellence. Teams from that league have won a staggering seven straight national titles. A team from another conference hasn’t even reached the championship game since 2010.

But if coaches and players throughout the Atlantic Coast Conference are to be believed, there’s a shifting tide in college football.

That’s why Aug. 31 was so important. Then-No. 8 Clemson had built a reputation. The Tigers are the premier team in the ACC, but almost every year there is a loss against a team they shouldn’t lose to or an early-season defeat that ends Clemson’s national championship hopes before they begin.

The Tigers welcomed Georgia to Death Valley — an SEC foe, ranked fifth in the country, with even more vivid championship hopes than Clemson. Tajh Boyd ran for a touchdown and then tossed a 77-yarder to Sammy Watkins. A duo of Heisman hopefuls scorched the Bulldogs.

This time it wasn’t the Tigers who went home disappointed.

“Being able to come out and get that win over Georgia at the beginning of the season was definitely good for our morale and our belief in ourselves,” linebacker Spencer Shuey said. “That was over and we still have a long season, so we just had to put that behind us and not focus on that.”

Flash forward a month. Clemson is 4-0 with its toughest challenge in its rear view and a No. 3 in front of its name. It will be a favorite every game the rest of the way. If this time it’s No. 1 Alabama or No. 2 Oregon who slips up instead of the Tigers (4-0, 2-0 ACC), Clemson will give the ACC a team in the national championship game — a game no ACC team has won since 1999.

But if there’s a tailor-made trap game, it comes this Saturday against Syracuse. The Orange (2-2) toppled No. 11 West Virginia two years ago in Central New York and No. 11 Louisville last year.

Clemson, though, is a different animal. In the Big East, neither the Cardinals nor Mountaineers had legitimate championship dreams. SU’s old conference wasn’t one that could challenge the SEC like the Tigers proved the ACC could with their win over Georgia.

“I think it kind of lessens some of the talk about us being the lesser conference, because I really don’t think that’s true,” Boyd said. “I don’t think that’s a true statement at all.”

The talent in Clemson was always up to par with most of the SEC. The Tigers recruit with the best of them and almost always find their logo as one of the top few in recruiting rankings. There were always just the one or two mistakes.

Last year it was a Week 4 loss to the Seminoles before they beat Louisiana State in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. The year before, Clemson started 8-0 before losing to Georgia Tech.

“I think all those experiences kind of helped,” Boyd said. “It keeps you focused throughout the year.”

Even if Clemson’s lone slip up comes on Oct. 19 against No. 8 Florida State, then the Seminoles could still place a team in the title game from the ACC.

“It speaks volumes to where the ACC’s headed,” Syracuse head coach Scott Shafer said. “I’ve said it in the past, I feel like in 10 years this conference will be fighting to be No. 1 with the SEC.”

It’s a sentiment that SU running back Jerome Smith echoed on Tuesday and isn’t something they could’ve realistically said a year ago in the Big East — or even the ACC, for that matter.

This year is a prime opportunity for Clemson. They have senior leadership on the defensive end, a senior quarterback in the Heisman conversation and the best wide receiver in the nation.

They’ve had their chance to learn. Now it’s time to finish.

“We have a lot of good leaders on this team that have been through those upsets,” Shuey said. “This year we’re a little more mature and having been through those losses is definitely going to help us out this year.”

Published on October 4, 2013 at 3:08 am

Contact David: dbwilson@syr.edu | @DBWilson2