The Clemson Insider went back and ranked Clemson’s 25 best teams of all-time.

What classifies a certain team as one of the best? Of course winning a championship—national or conference—will be the first qualification. The other qualifications are overall record, national ranking and where they fell in the conference standings.

We continue our rankings with the No. 5 team on our list:

The 1900 Tigers (6-0, 3-0 SIAA, SIAA Champions)

Before he came to be known as one of the best coaches in college football history, John Heisman was a tomato farmer somewhere in Texas.

However, unlike coaching football, Heisman was not a very good farmer. He lost all of his money in farming and had to get back to his real passion in life … football.

At the time, Walter Riggs, Clemson’s first football coach, was a graduate manager at Auburn and was in charge of hiring a new football coach there. Heisman was an ideal candidate because of the success he had as a player at the University of Pennsylvania, who at the time had one of the most successful and original programs in the country.

Riggs got Heisman to come to Auburn for a salary of $500.

Riggs soon after came to Clemson and started the football program there, and by 1899 the Clemson football program had raised steadily. That’s when Riggs got Heisman’s attention and drew him to Clemson.

A stern disciplinarian, Heisman expected his players to be of high character and performance both on the football field and in the classroom. Heisman’s ingenuity in originating plays was one of his strong points. He usually had something new up his sleeve for every game.

Heisman coached the Tigers from 1900-’03 and was responsible for putting the Clemson name among the annals of the great early collegiate teams. He guided Clemson to a 19-3-2 record in his four seasons, and his .833 winning percentage is still the best in Clemson history.

Clemson was a powerhouse during his tenure. He depended on smart, quick players rather than large size and brawn.

Heisman broke down football into these percentages, 25 percent talent, 20 percent mentality, 20 percent aggressiveness, 20 percent speed and 15 percent weight. He considered coaching as being master-commander, even a dictator. He had no time to say “please” or “mister” and he was occasionally severe, arbitrary, and something of a czar.

Clemson was so good in 1900, Wofford changed the rules in its game against the Tigers just to keep it close. The Tigers defeated the Terriers 21-0 on October 22, 1900, but the game was much worse than that. Prior to the game, both teams agreed that after Clemson scored its fourth touchdown, the Tigers were not allowed to score any more points.

The Tigers went up 21-0 after the first six minutes. From then on, all of Clemson’s touchdowns were called back and the ball was given to Wofford deep in Clemson territory. The Tigers were called for penalties such as running over a Wofford tackler.

On November 29, 1900, Clemson defeated Alabama 35-0, which allowed Heisman’s team to finish the season undefeated with a 6-0 record. This was Clemson’s first undefeated team and was the only team to win all of its games in a season until the 1948 squad went 11-0. The Tigers only allowed two touchdowns the entire 1900 season and were the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association Champions.