Clemsoning should mean ‘best is the standard’
By: will-vandervort October 12, 2015

What does Clemsoning mean?

According to the Urban Dictionary it means “the act of delivering an inexplicably disappointing performance, usually within the context of a college football season.”

Okay, so we got that out of the way. So when will someone make up a word up for what Southern Cal has done the last couple of years. Did anyone watch that Washington game the other night?

How about a new word for Georgia? The Bulldogs have had “inexplicable” losses in each of the last three years, including last Saturday’s loss to unranked Tennessee. Georgia led by as many as 21 points in that game.

And for those South Carolina fans out there, you might want to chill before ragging on Dabo Swinney’s rant the other night. Do I have to remind you why the Gamecocks went 11-2 for three straight seasons, but did not play for an SEC Title? Yes, they had a couple of “inexplicable” losses during that run.

You know who has not had an “inexplicable” loss the last four years?  You guessed it, Clemson.

[aolon sid=”1789″ width=”570″ height=”351″ playList=”519145857″ responsive=”false” autoStart=”true” pgType=”console” pgTypeId=”editVideo-overviewTab-grabCodeBtn” ]

As a matter of fact, there is only one team in the country that has done a better job at avoiding an “inexplicable” loss than Clemson, and that is Alabama.

Since the start of the 2012 football season, Clemson has won 33 straight games against unranked opponents. That means unlike Southern Cal, Georgia and South Carolina to name a few, the Tigers have not had the proverbial “letdown” like the majority of the college football world has had since 2012.

In fact, if you really want to know, Clemson’s seven defeats since 2012 have only come to teams that finished inside the top 10. So according to the definition set by the folks at the Urban Dictionary, none of those defeats would be classified as “inexplicable.”

Ask Bob Stoops and Oklahoma what an “inexplicable” loss is.

So in my humble opinion, after his team just humiliated Georgia Tech for their 33rd straight win against an unranked opponent, Swinney had the right to go off in the postgame press conference when a reporter used the term “Clemsoning” in his question.

Clemsoning should be removed from the Urban Dictionary and replaced with words like “Trojaning” or “Soonering.”

Even the guy Swinney went off on proved that point on Sunday with this tweet.

I’m not the only one who feels this way. USA Today college football writer Dan Wolken said on twitter,

 

ESPN College Football Playoff reports Heather Dinich was trying to get the word eliminated even before the Tigers win over Georgia Tech.

 

I agree with Heather. Let’s keep the word “Clemsoning” but instead of using it as an “inexplicable” term, let’s use it like setting the standard or something along those lines. When a program wins 33 straight games against unranked opponents, plus beats national powers like LSU, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Georgia and Auburn in the same time frame, isn’t beating the best and playing as one of the best in college football the “standard?”

Now that is Clemsoning.