On October 13, 2008, Dabo Swinney walked into the team meeting room inside the Banks McFadden Building and asked the 100 or so young men that were a part of the Clemson football program to “Believe.” He asked them to believe in him and the coaches that were there.

It was a turbulent time in Clemson. The fan base was divided. The locker room was divided. The coaching staff was divided. In the midst of it all, then head coach Tommy Bowden stepped down and Swinney took over as the interim head coach.

Swinney asked his players at the time to trust him and the coaching staff. He asked them to come together for the common good of the program and to pick up the pieces of a season that had so much promise, while trying to find a way to salvage something.

Thanks to that first senior group, which included wide receiver Aaron Kelly, center Bobby Hutchinson, quarterback Cullen Harper, running back James Davis, wide receiver Tyler Grisham, nose guard Dorell Scott, safeties Mike Hamlin and Chris Clemons and punter Jimmy Manner, Clemson turned things around and fought its way to a Gator Bowl berth.

Swinney became the first interim coach in college football history to lead his team to a winning record and a bowl game, while all the while he and those 2008 seniors laid the foundation for what was to come.

“Those guys were special to me,” Swinney said.

Seven years later, Swinney will be saying good bye to another special senior class, but this time it’s different.

When Clemson’s 2015 seniors run down the Hill on Saturday to take on Wake Forest they will have an opportunity to cement their legacy as the greatest class in Clemson history. In their four years in Tigertown, they have won 42 games and lost just seven. They have won a record 27 ACC games, two division titles, and in two weeks will have a shot to earn an ACC Championship.

They have also won 25 home games, including a record 15 straight dating back to 2013.

Now they sit on the cusp of greatness, a spot only one other group of seniors at Clemson has ever done. They’re ranked No. 1 in the country by every major poll or ranking, and if they continue to win they can stand aside the seniors of 1981 as national champions.

But to understand where these seniors are at now, you have to understand where they came from. Eric Mac Lain, Charone Peake and B.J. Goodson were still going through the recruiting process while Swinney was building his program to where it is today.

In 2010, the Tigers struggled through a 6-7 season, which included an embarrassing loss to South Florida in the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte.

“We are this close,” said Swinney to the media at the time while pinching his index finger and thump nearly together.

Swinney continued by saying help was on the way. With some pieces already in place like wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, tight end Dwayne Allen, running back Andre Ellington and quarterback Tajh Boyd, Clemson added five- and four-star talent such as Sammy Watkins at wide receiver, Bashaud Breeland at cornerback, Martavis Bryant at wide receiver, Stephone Anthony at linebacker and guys that had not come household names yet such as defensive tackle Grady Jarrett and defensive end Vic Beasley.

“There was definitely a culture change,” Mac Lain said. “That’s something Coach Swinney has been doing the entire time he has been the head coach. I think he finally has all the people he wanted in this program, whether that is his staff, coaches and players. I think we are all doing our best each and every week to keep making those changes.

“It is a constant process. There have been headaches and hiccups along the way, but I think it has just been great for this program with the things he has been able to do.”

Mac Lain, who was redshirted in 2011, never imagined when he was being recruited in 2010, that he would be a part of an ACC Championship, five 10-win seasons in a row and two 11-win seasons.

“But I knew with the recruiting class that we had, with the personalities and closeness that we had, though we met each other maybe two or three times, I knew we were going to kind of be that building block or that foundation, if you will, for the program,” Mac Lain said. “It has been pretty amazing to watch it develop.”

It has developed into a consistent top 10 program that currently sits No. 1 in the country. The Tigers will charge down the Hill on Saturday as the first Clemson team to be 10-0 when it made its way into Death Valley.

“Coach Swinney has done a great job,” Goodson said. “From the time that I have come in, he has been talking about his vision and changing this facility. It has been going on. I think he has done a great job working with us and keeping the strong culture for what Clemson stands for.”

Goodson says he thinks back to guys like DaQuan Bowers and how they put forth the same effort, sweat and tears, and how they poured everything they had into the program, though the results did not always show up on the scoreboard.

“Those guys fought and clawed just like we do,” the senior middle linebacker said. “Our success is just as much theirs as it is ours. We are the ones that are just getting acknowledged for it. A lot comes with it, like the coaching and things like that. Those things being changed played a role, too. But I think they are just as much a part of our success as we are.”