The Clemson Tigers were clearly fighting for their head coach on Saturday.
You still think Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney is cooked?
Clemson came away with a 28-20 comeback victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday, winning their second straight game following their embarrassing season-opening loss at LSU.
Yes, the Tigers still have a long way to go, but this one felt different, and Clemson managed to snap an extended Bill Belichick streak in the process.
Going into the matchup, Belichick-coached teams had won 67 straight games when leading by 14 points or more — both on the NFL and the NCAA level.
Well, the Tigers trailed the Tar Heels, 17-3, at one point during the second quarter in Week 3. Based on Belichick's track record, Clemson should have been finished, but it managed to stage an impressive comeback for a pivotal ACC win.
Suddenly, the conversation surrounding the Tigers sounds different.
No, the win did not earn Clemson a top-25 ranking. Not even close. And no, the victory did not suddenly make them one of the top teams in a conference that includes Miami, SMU, Louisville and Virginia.
But what it did do is provide hope for the Tigers, and you kind of got the sense that the players were fighting for their head coach.
That's not something teams typically do for a coach that has lost the locker room. Had Swinney really lost his grasp on the ballclub, Clemson would have quit after falling behind by two touchdowns in the first half.
Instead, the Tigers chipped away. They put impressive drives together while also getting key stops defensively, scoring a solid all-around performance that absolutely put them back on the map as far as conference play is concerned.
The "fire Dabo" narrative was running rampant after Week 1. It didn't quiet down much in Week 2, either, as Clemson struggled to beat Georgia Southern.
But the win over North Carolina meant something.
The Tar Heels are not a bad team. Far from it. They actually looked very impressive over their first couple of games, surrendering a grand total of 13 points.
Then, Clemson dropped a 28-spot on them in Week 3, and Swinney bought himself some more time in the process.
If the Tigers go into California and win this Friday, Clemson might just have something.
