Natty or bust for Clemson? Tigers address the question at ACC media days

CHARLOTTE — After Clemson defensive tackle Tyler Davis explained all of the reasons he decided to return for a fifth season, including one last pursuit of a "natty," the moderator at the ACC Kickoff asked one of his favorite questions.
"Do you have to win a championship in order to call it a successful season?"
Davis involuntarily let out an extended "Uhhhh," pausing as he tried to mentally find a happy medium between high expectations and not letting Clemson's message get ahead of itself.
"I would say, in my book, yes," Davis eventually continued.
"I mean, we come here, that's one of our goals. We come here to graduate and win a championship and to leave better prepared as a man. I would say, yes, to have a successful season, you have to win a championship of some sort."
Clemson wasn't trying to be brash and bold in its speech on the last day of ACC football media days at the Westin Charlotte on July 27. But expectations are what they are for a program that's won seven of the last eight ACC titles.
The narrative is what it is for a Clemson team that started last season 8-0 but was crunched at Notre Dame, flipped upside down by rival South Carolina, and fell flat in a bowl loss to Tennessee.
The question everyone is asking is whether this team, after back-to-back seasons outside of the college football playoff after six straight berths, will elevate Clemson to the ultimate stage.
Davis, an All-American and one of several seniors who returned to the defense, represents a veteran group that didn't return just to "hang out in Tigertown for another year," as Clemson coach Dabo Swinney put it.
In Cade Klubnik, the sophomore quarterback, the Tigers have a fresh-faced leader they hope can return a spark to a once-heralded offense with new play-caller Garrett Riley.
Klubnik, who replaced DJ Uiagalelei in the ACC title game with great success, only to participate in Clemson's exercise in red-zone frustration in the Orange Bowl, remembers the latter quite well.
"To finish with a loss, it's always going to leave something a little dirty in your soul," Klubnik said. "Going into this offseason, it's been great. I think it's been helping us have a little bit more of a grittiness to us than I've seen before."
Clemson certainly wants to finish this season better than the last, but there are weeks and months separating the Tigers from their loftiest goals.
They have to kick off against a much-improved Duke squad on Sept. 4, a Monday night. They then have to find their equilibrium quickly, because Florida State — a much-hyped challenger to the Tigers for the ACC throne — comes to Memorial Stadium for a Week 4 matchup.
And, if all goes well in 2023, Clemson might play FSU again in the conference title game in the first year of a division-less ACC.
Given the amount of love being tossed at FSU during ACC media days, Clemson center Will Putnam was asked if he believed the Tigers were flying "under the radar."
"I don't really write the narrative of the preseason rankings and the preseason polls," Putnam said. "All we can really focus on is getting back to Charlotte in December to raise that trophy. Whether we play Florida State or not in that game, I don't know. Honestly, it doesn't really matter."
What matters to seniors like Davis and Putnam is winning a championship — ACC or national — because winning those trophies played a part in why they came to Clemson in the first place. It's why they came back this offseason in large numbers, including defensive linemen Ruke Orhorhoro, Xavier Thomas, and Justin Mascoll and defensive backs Sheridan Jones and Jalyn Phillips.
Putnam recalls going to the national title game, which the Tigers lost, in 2019. He remembers the playoff in 2020, playing Ohio State and losing.
It feels like so long ago, he said.
"You want to end it the right way," Putnam said. "Going undefeated and winning everything, that's not everything. But, as a player, that's what you want to do. Being a senior, right, you want to win the big thing.
"But it's not just a pipe dream. It is a reality for us."
Titles became not just a reality but a sky-high expectation amongst the fan base following a CFP streak from 2015-20.
Swinney was asked if the Tigers have any kind of chip on their shoulder because national pundits are saying the program has fallen off.
"If not going eight years in a row (to the CFP) means we stink, well, I guess we stink," Swinney said, "but maybe we can get back there this year and be able to say we went seven out of the last nine years.
"That would be a pretty cool accomplishment."
They want to — because of course they do.
But just as Davis took that little pause before answering the moderator's question about a successful season, there is reason to pump the brakes.
There is much work to be done, before a championship is even on the table.
"That's not going to happen if we don't win the opener and win the state championship and win this league and win the closer," Swinney said. "That's all we're focused on."