Kelly Gramlich

Special to Orange and White

Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney is known for his one-liners – “Best is the Standard,” “All In” and “Bring Your Own Guts” just to name a few.

Recently, a certain saying that Swinney has used throughout his tenure at Clemson has become a point of debate – “Little Ole Clemson.”

Swinney has always referred to his program in this way, and when the Tigers were not making the College Football Playoffs and winning national championships, no one had a problem with the coach characterizing Clemson in this manner, because it made sense.

As of July 1, 2018, the population of the town of Clemson was 17,102. Clemson is the smallest college town, in terms of population, in the Power 5, which includes the 65 teams in the ACC, SEC, Big 12, Big Ten and Pac-12. The next smallest Power 5 town is Oxford, Mississippi – which has a population of 24,528.

Clemson University’s enrollment is also one of the lowest in the Power 5, even though it is growing every year. Clemson has a student population of 24,387 which, according to Matt Kupec of Medium.com, is the 19th-smallest enrollment of the 65 Power-5 schools.

Additionally, last September, Forbes released a list of college football’s most valuable teams, ranking each program by the amount of revenue it generated in the three years prior to the 2017 season – Clemson wasn’t even in the Top 25. According to Forbes, Clemson’s annual football revenue currently sits at $52.3 million, while its peer on the field, Alabama, brings in $108.2 million annually.

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So, judging by town population, university enrollment and revenue, it’s understandable why Swinney has always referred to his program as “Little Ole Clemson” and why he continues to do so even after the Tigers have won two of the past three national titles.

It should be mentioned that Swinney recently signed a 10-year, $93 million contract, making him the highest-paid coach in college football. The ACC Network will launch this August, and Clemson and the other 14 ACC schools will bring in substantial revenue from the new network. Also, with Clemson’s recent success in football, their revenue numbers will surely increase in the years to come.

All that being said, here’s what I imagine you are still thinking – we get it, Clemson is small and doesn’t bring in as much revenue as the other big boys in college football, but they still have won two of the last three national titles, so how can they play the underdog card?

I hear your point. I get why people get frustrated with Swinney’s “aw, shucks, we’re just little ole Clemson” narrative. But the truth is, the reason Clemson still sees itself as an underdog with a chip on its shoulder is because a large portion of the media still views Clemson that way in comparison to Alabama.

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The Tigers absolutely whooped the Crimson Tide in the National Championship game on Jan. 7 in Santa Clara, California, beating them 44-16. The game was a blowout; there’s no other way to describe it. However, even after that convincing win, certain media members have made excuses for Alabama, saying its SEC schedule was too difficult and it was fatigued or Tua Tagovailoa was hurt or Alabama just had a bad day. The list could go on and on.

Clemson beat Alabama by 28 points five months ago, and many media outlets still have Alabama as the preseason No. 1 team in the country and Clemson behind it at No. 2.

Clemson might never truly get the respect it deserves and the “Little Ole Clemson” narrative might live on forever. But, I’m sure that’s fine with Swinney, because you can’t bottle up respect and put it in a trophy case. Plus, national championship trophies look better anyway.

Kelly Gramlich can be heard from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday on “Out of Bounds” with William Qualkinbush on WCCP 105.5 The Roar. Find her on Twitter (@kellygramlich).