CLEMSON, S.C. --- It was nothing if not the darnedest victory speech in the history of such things.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney still had that fresh Atlantic Division championship aura as he rambled on so long that you wondered when the music would come on to play him off the stage. It was like an Academy Awards acceptance monologue after only getting nominated.
Swinney thanked God, his wife and kids, the military, some ailing fan named Mr. Farmer, Mac who flips burgers in town, the win-or-win fans and the all-in fans, a reporter for being so negative, Benji the state trooper, athletic director Terry Don Phillips for hiring him, Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner John Swofford for showing up, his players and his assistant coaches. He cited Sir Isaac Newton, the legacy of 9/11 and the troops in Afghanistan. He went on and on -- barely taking a breath -- for nine minutes before finally wrapping it up.
"Other than that I'm speechless," Swinney concluded.
You can forgive the man his enthusiasm. On the day after his 40th birthday, Swinney earned himself a $1 million a year raise before his team kicked off against Virginia in Death Valley.
I guess that's what you could say is the price of an ACC division title, since it was written right into Swinney's contract.
For a program starving for 18 years between opportunities to call itself "champion" in anything, an Atlantic Division title and the berth in the ACC championship game that comes with it is a very big deal.
That this Tigers team did it with a rookie head coach, rookie offensive coordinator and rookie quarterback is notable enough. That it did it after starting the season 2-3 with two early conference losses including a scratch-your-head defeat to the worst ACC team whose only other win came in overtime against a middling Division I-AA team is astonishing.
Even Swinney isn't suggesting that path as the optimal way to signal one's arrival.
"If I could do anything over I wouldn't want to start 2-3," Swinney said. "I wouldn't recommend that to any first-year coach."
That unthinkable Maryland loss to kick off October was so strikingly familiar to all the moments that have kept Clemson down for so long that it invited everyone to wonder whether the Tigers would ever escape the eddy of mediocrity. Swinney was fast approaching the abyss shared by Tommy Bowden and Tommy West.
But a funny thing happened after reaching that nadir. In a way, this division title was forged in the aftermath of that stunning defeat and the idle week that followed. These championship Tigers rose from those ashes.
"It was a great lesson," Swinney said. "We didn't all take genius pills and become smarter. We just grew as a team."
They grew in what Swinney called a "come-to-Jesus" team meeting that emphasized accountability and taking ownership.
In the six consecutive wins since, the maturation of that rookie head coach and rookie offensive coordinator and especially that rookie quarterback became evident.
Kyle Parker, the veteran baseball player/novice QB whose family lives in Evans, became the leader the Tigers have so often lacked. He grew from his mistakes and became the perfect compliment to the star players like C.J. Spiller and Jacoby Ford.
"I'm just being more consistent," Parker said. "Making the plays that are there instead of trying to create the plays that aren't."
Against Virginia, Parker completed 19 of 26 passes for 234 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
"The development of our quarterback has made a huge difference," Swinney said. "As he's improved we've gotten better and better."
Until Swinney's postgame exuberance, Saturday's coronation day was a little anti-climactic. The Tigers officially clinched the Atlantic Division title 20 minutes before kickoff when Boston College lost to North Carolina.
Contrary to rumor, the Tigers didn't run down the hill already soaked in champagne.
"I want to congratulate you for being division champs," Swinney told his team before the game. "But there's no celebrating. Champions take care of business."
The Tigers did that despite giving up 230 offensive yards in the first half and leading only 24-21 to a Virginia team that's last in the Coastal Division and primed to make a coaching change. In the second half, Clemson shut down the Cavaliers to just 43 yards and earned the right to celebrate with their title-starved fans at midfield after a 34-21 victory.
"Our fans deserve this," Swinney said.
There was a time before expansion when Tiger fans felt that ACC titles were some kind of birthright. Frank Howard's Clemson teams won six of the first 15 after the ACC was formed in 1953. Danny Ford picked up what Charley Pell started in 1978 and revived the winning spirit after a 10-season drought, sparking a wave of seven titles in 12 eligible seasons and that stand-out national championship in 1981. Even Ford's successor Ken Hatfield picked up an ACC trophy in 1991 before Florida State joined the conference and realigned the landscape.
So it's only natural that a young coach might get a little giddy after taking the first sip of success for a program emerging from 18 years in the wilderness.
A quick look at the team goals listed on the wall in the meeting room was a little sobering. The Tigers are only 40 percent of the way through the five-point list -- win the opener, win the Atlantic Division, win the state championship, win the ACC championship, win the bowl game.
For a veteran like defensive coordinator Kevin Steele who can't remember all of the titles he's been associated with, Saturday's milestone was just the 22-mile marker in a season-long marathon.
"A division championship is nice and fun," Steele said, "but we all know there can only be one ACC champion."
It's dizzying to imagine what that victory speech will be like if the Tigers exact revenge against Georgia Tech in two weeks.
Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.
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It's a shame that a columnist stoops to mocking another team's success and joy because he can't find anything positive to say about his "Beloved Bulldawgs".
Go Big Blue!