Former Clemson standout Eric Mac Lain agrees with his old coach when it comes to how a national champion should be declared if the ACC, SEC and Big 12 are able to play the 2020 football season in the fall as planned.
On Aug. 11, the Big Ten and Pac-12 postponed their 2020 seasons until the spring, causing some in the national media to wonder who would really be declared a national champion with split seasons?
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney was asked the question following practice on Aug. 12, as the Tigers continued to push forward through fall camp. Clemson, who concluded camp on Tuesday, is scheduled to start the season on Sept. 12 at Wake Forest.
“The four best teams can go play,” he said. “We’ve been one of those four for five years in a row. So, in my opinion, it doesn’t change anything for us. We’re just trying to be the best Clemson we can be.
“Whoever you play every week, you try to win that game, you try to keep moving forward. We don’t have any control over that stuff. And I certainly don’t judge them in any way. Everybody’s gotta make decisions that they feel is best. If they feel like that’s what best for them, then so be it.”
Some in the national media took exception to Swinney’s stance. However, he continued by saying whoever wins the national championship is the winner. They are the champs. He said it will be no different than what is going on right now in the NBA, Major League Baseball and the NHL, they are all playing to crown a champion.
“Somebody is gonna win a championship, so maybe it’s a shortened season, maybe it’s not as many teams or whatever. But you best believe whoever wins it is gonna have to earn it,” Swinney said. “Nobody’s gonna give nothing to nobody. So, you can only control what you control. We just hope we can have the opportunity to play.”
Mac Lain, who played for Swinney from 2012-’15 and was an All-ACC offensive lineman for the Tigers during their run to the national championship game in 2015, stands beside his former coach. He said on the ACC Network’s Packer & Durham Show Wednesday, that the last five national champions have come from the ACC and the SEC.
He is right. Clemson and Alabama have played for the national championship in each of the last five years, while LSU won he national championship last season. Clemson or Alabama won the previous four national championships.
The Pac-12 has had a representative in the College Football Playoff twice and has not had a team play for the title since Oregon lost to Ohio State in the 2015 CFP National Championship. That Buckeyes team is the only Big Ten team to play in the title game.
The Pac-12 and Big Ten are a combined 0-4 in the CFP over the last five seasons.
“When you see who has been there and who has done it, there is nothing going to change, right? It has been the ACC and the SEC battling it out and in one instance the SEC had two teams,” Mac Lain said. “I think there is no doubt in terms of stress, in terms of planning, the way this schedule is laid out, this is going to be one of the toughest championships to ever win.
“So, I do not think that you can discredit it or there should be some asterisk. Conferences made their own decision not to play football. You have states within those conferences where the governors have just announced football will be played, but unfortunately their conferences said ‘no.’ So, I think it is just an unfortunate time for those kids, those coaches and those fans. But this will not deter the amount of meaning of this national champion at all.”
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