In the week leading up to the College Football Playoff Championship Game, no one gave Clemson’s offensive line a chance at handling Alabama’s massive defensive front.

After the Crimson Tide physically dominated Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl the week before, the so-called experts thought there was no possible way Clemson could block Alabama. One national writer even tweeted just seconds before kickoff.

Though Alabama still won the game, it had nothing to with its defensive front.

“Honestly, I thought Oklahoma’s and Notre Dame’s defensive fronts were much better,” said Joe Gore, who started for the Tigers at right tackle in the CFP Championship Game.

Gore says Alabama tries to intimidate its opponents with its size and speed, and then it likes to play mind games. But, the former Clemson offensive tackle said the Tigers had the Crimson Tide figured out on the first series of the night, and the rest of the game was just a matter of executing the game plan.

Alabama was only able to sack quarterback Deshaun Watson twice all night, and the Crimson Tide had just five tackles behind the line of scrimmage. That explains why the Tigers racked up 540 total yards and 40 points against what was being called the “greatest defense” of our time prior to the game.

Clemson finished the night with 145 rushing yards on 38 carries as well. The 3.8 yards per carry average was an entire yard better than Alabama’s average allowed per carry all season.

“That’s not just Coach (Robbie) Caldwell, that’s our whole coaching staff going so in depth with things. They do such a great job,” Clemson center Jay Guillermo said. “Once again, it’s just guys learning and paying attention, and I think that has really set us up for success.”

Gore said he learned more from Caldwell in his final season than he had the previous three seasons. It’s not the Caldwell’s changed his coaching tactics because he did not. It was the simple fact everyone in the room was a year older, a year wiser … and they all wanted to learn.

“We did not just have to stick with the basics of ‘Oh, I already know that.’ We had guys that were willing to learn and go into more depth about football knowledge. I think that did not just help one specific player, but like Joe said, it helped us all,” Guillermo said. “Coach Caldwell has been in the business, he was a great offensive lineman. I don’t think there was much difference. I don’t think his coaching philosophy was different, I think we were a little different where he could kind of open up to us and teach us a little bit more of the little things that can help us be better players.”

Knowing more of the little things and what to look for is one of the reasons why Clemson ran for 223.0 yards per game in 2015 and had two players—Watson and running back Wayne Gallman—rush for more than 1,100 yards. It was the first time two players did such since 2000, when that Clemson team also averaged 223.0 yards per game on the ground.

Guillermo said the loss of a few guys who were not necessarily all in all the time when they were in school also played a role on why the offensive line gelled so well last season.

“He doesn’t want to overwhelm us because, once again, we had guys that did not quite get it or would not listen very well,” the Clemson center said. “He did well with what he had. Unfortunately, those two or three players can bring a whole offensive line down.

“That’s just a good example of how they have recruited so well to have such great people in here that are willing to work and are willing to go at it.”

It’s the same reasons the Tigers leave the spring and head into the summer feeling they’re just as good, if not better, than they were the year before on the offensive line.

“They are willing to be coached, and that is the biggest thing. (Caldwell) has been able to get more of those little things in there like … the defensive linemen is doing this, and the defense is set up like this. He wasn’t just coaching us, but he was teaching us what to anticipate, making us better players.

“I don’t think he has changed so much himself, but I think our culture has changed a little bit and that has helped us out as an offensive line.”

It has made them a very good offensive line.