Watching Clemson in the second half Saturday was like watching ice cream left out in the sun. In both cases the result was inevitable — a slow, messy meltdown.
At least ice cream leaves a puddle, a reminder of what once was. The Tigers left questions, along with a stench that contributed to a lot of empty seats at the end of a much-worse-than-it-looked 33-21 loss to Louisville .
All of it was a reminder that Clemson isn’t back and, judging from Saturday, won’t be any time soon.
You see, the standard under Dabo Swinney is a College Football Playoff berth at the least. There was always the expectation of a championship contender, if not outright national championship.
That’s the Tigers’ standard for themselves. They created it. It comes from within.
But that standard is gone, or at least significantly diminished. A loss to a team Clemson had never lost to — at home, at night in Death Valley — begged a larger question. Is Clemson done competing for championships under Dabo Swinney?