The line doesn't come from Yogi Berra, but rather from college football's folksy equivalent: Clemson coach Dabo Swinney.

To be clear, Swinney isn't one to throw shade at the past. He played for Alabama, arguably college football's most tradition-rich program, and celebrates Clemson's history as any coach should.

But when Swinney surveys the totality of what Clemson has accomplished the past six seasons (69 wins, second most behind Alabama (76) in the FBS; six straight 10-win seasons; four BCS or New Year's Six bowl appearances; 31 top 10 AP Poll appearances) he tells his players to bask in the moment.

Because he believes this is the best it has ever been.

"It's funny," center Jay Guillermo said. "When I first got to Clemson and you get recruited, everyone always talked about the '80s. The '80s in Clemson were the good ol' days. Well, it's like Coach Swinney says: 'Now is the good ol' days.'"

Clemson went 87-25-4 in the 1980s. It had the fifth-highest winning percentage (.767) in college football during that decade. It never had a losing season under coach Danny Ford and had five ACC titles and seven top-20 finishes. Clemson also claimed its only national championship in 1981.

The Tigers are on track for an even better decade. Since 2010, they are 75-20 (.789) with three ACC titles and consecutive appearances in the College Football Playoff National Championship game. Clemson's recruiting and branding operations are the envy of much of college football. Swinney is firmly entrenched, and his staff, unlike many at perennial top 10 programs, endures minimal shuffling. Later this year, Clemson will open a $55 million football-operations building, which is expected to raise the bar for luxury and fun (there's a slide, a golf simulator and even nap rooms).

"It's better right now than it's ever been," said Billy Davis, who played safety for Clemson from 1980 to 1983. "I totally buy into that. I tell people, 'Enjoy every moment of this.' For someone who had been around the program since 1980, I'm just grateful to be able to see it, because they had some down years.

"It's reached elite program status."

There are two lingering questions about Clemson heading into Monday's College Football Playoff National Championship game presented by AT&T. The Tigers are flying high, but some wonder whether their stay in first class is merely temporary. Clemson also faces the unique urgency of trying to win a national title before quarterback Deshaun Watson, quite possibly the greatest player in team history, moves on to the NFL. If Clemson doesn't win Monday and Watson moves on, as expected, does the window close for the Tigers?

What Clemson doesn't want is to become Oregon, which fired coach Mark Helfrich on Nov. 30, less than two years after reaching the national championship game behind its own transcendent quarterback, Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota. Auburn won a national title in 2010 and reached the title game again three years later, but the team has since backslid. Virginia Tech reached the championship stage in 1999 but hasn't been back.

There's evidence to suggest Clemson will be different, from coaching to recruiting to location to program support.

"We're either going to be all in or not, as [Swinney] would say," Davis said. "But the ingredients were always there. They can sustain. I believe Clemson is where Florida State has been for a long time. FSU may not be in the [playoff every year], but they're right in the thick of it. Clemson can be a perennial top-10 program as long as they keep recruiting at the level they're at."

The difference is Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher doesn't have to stand on podiums and list the program's achievements like Swinney did after Clemson thumped Ohio State 31-0 in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl. Swinney does it because he senses the nonbelievers, or at least the not-quite-believers, are still out there.

In the past six seasons, Dabo Swinney has led Clemson to 69 wins, second most behind Alabama (76) in the FBS; six straight 10-win seasons and four BCS or New Year's Six bowl appearances. Take that 1980s. Stew Milne/USA TODAY Sports

There's also the clear difference in national titles: Florida State has three (1993, 1999 and 2013), while Clemson, for now, is stuck on one.

"I would have bet my house we would have won a couple more," said former Clemson linebacker Jeff Davis, the captain of the 1981 team and an All-American that season. "Coach Ford had built a great program, [and] we were enjoying great leadership from our senior administration to get resources we needed. We beat one of the best teams in the country, one of those great programs in Nebraska.

"We were well on our way."

Davis and his teammates thought Clemson would become a dynasty after the 1981 title. But then NCAA sanctions hit. Next came a messy divorce with Ford. Then more sanctions. The program was neglected in the 1990s and fell behind in facilities and other areas.

Clemson wasn't awful -- it had only two losing regular seasons -- but the Tigers hovered between seven and nine wins. Defensive ends coach Marion Hobby, who had the first of two stints on Clemson's coaching staff in 2005, remembers everyone being "really proud" of going 8-4. When he returned in 2011, Swinney had shifted expectations.

"I believed it with all my heart that once we won the national championship at Clemson, it became part of our DNA," said Jeff Davis, who serves as Clemson's assistant athletic director of football player relations and whose twin sons, J.D. and Judah, play linebacker for the current team. "We felt we had everything we needed. It was just a matter of having the right leader at the right time to wake [the] giant up, and Coach Swinney had the right energy and vision.

"The giant is alive and well. He's hungry, and he wants to eat."

Everyone in and around Clemson understands what Watson means to the program. "A once-in-a-lifetime type of player," linebacker Kendall Joseph said. There will be great disappointment in Death Valley if Clemson can't clear the Crimson wall of Alabama and win it all with Watson. But if the Tigers once again fall short against Alabama, they shouldn't fade from the playoff discussion.

Consider what has happened with Clemson's defense the past two seasons. The Tigers lost two first-round NFL draft picks -- Vic Beasley and Stephone Anthony -- and other key pieces from the 2014 defense, by far the best in college football. They reached the national title game the following year. Clemson then lost eight defenders who started last year's game with Alabama, including six early draft entrants. Now it's back in the championship.

"I know once Deshaun leaves they're bringing in a bunch -- more talent at quarterback," linebacker Ben Boulware said. "When [running back Wayne Gallman] leaves, they're bringing a bunch more talent. Our coaches recruit at a high level, and it's really because of the brand we have now.

"We're going to be a national contender for years to come, and I think that label and that brand that we've created, it brings in Deshaun Watson 2.0. It brings in Wayne Gallman 2.0. So whenever they leave, we reload, just as we did on defense the past couple years."

Maybe these are the best of times at Clemson. Win or lose Monday night in Tampa, Swinney and his Tigers aren't planning to leave the stage.

"Yes, you would want to take advantage of that and cash in with a national championship," Jeff Davis said. "But this is not by any sense of the word do or die. We're not going to lay down if something like [a loss] does happen, and ultimately we're going to hold that trophy again. Whether we win it or don't win it, you're going to hear from us.

"That's how we're building this program -- for a lifetime, and not for a moment."