CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) – Around 70,000 smiling, cheering football fans turned out for the biggest party Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has thrown yet at Death Valley to celebrate the school’s first national championship in 35 years.
Last year, more than 30,000 people showed up for Swinney’s pizza party when Clemson was picked for its first College Football Playoff berth after the 2015 season. This gathering topped that, with all but the highest rows filled at the 80,000-seat Memorial Stadium.
Swinney closed the 90-minute ceremony, thanking all who supported and believed in him since his rise from interim coach to national champion. His team won the title with a 35-31 victory over defending national champ Alabama last Monday night when Deshaun Watson connected with Hunter Renfrow on a 2-yard TD pass with one second left.
Swinney recalled telling his players before heading to Tampa, Florida, that Clemson’s only other national title team in 1981 “has been awful lonely up on that stadium for a long time. And this team is the one that’s going to join them.”
Watson told the crowd these three years – the junior is giving up his final season for the NFL draft – have been the best experience of his life.