Clemson has already made history before the 2019 season even starts, but it's not the kind of history Tigers coach Dabo Swinney cares about.
Clemson is ranked No. 1 in the preseason AP poll for the first time in school history, it was announced Monday. The Tigers are also ranked No. 1 in the preseason USA Today coaches poll, which came out earlier this month.
Swinney downplayed the honor of being preseason No. 1 and said it's really not much of an honor.
"Unless they bring us a trophy and tear the concrete out over there and put the preseason champs up there, I don't think we're going to do that. So it just doesn't matter," Swinney said. " It's just is a distraction for people to ask me questions about it because it just doesn't matter.
Alabama is ranked No. 2, followed by Georgia, Oklahoma and Ohio State.
Clemson plays two opponents ranked in the preseason AP top 25, facing No. 12 Texas A&M in Week 2 and No. 22 Syracuse in Week 3. The Tigers had previously been ranked as high as No. 2 in the preseason twice _ 2016 and 2018 _ before being preseason No. 1 this year.
"I guess that means that people think we've got a good team coming back, and I guess that means that we were a good team last year, so I guess that's a pro," Swinney said. "I guess that beats not being ranked at all because everybody thinks you stink. I guess that's the pro."
While Clemson made history with its preseason ranking, the Tigers also have a streak that is coming to an end.
Clemson has finished higher than its preseason ranking in the AP poll each of the previous eight seasons. The best the Tigers can do this year is tie their No. 1 ranking.
"Can't we finish like negative?" Swinney joked. "We'd be zero. I guess that'd be the next one. Super duper (one). Maybe we can tie it. We'd have to change the rhetoric."
Clemson and Georgia Tech kick off the season as part of the launch of the ACC Network with an 8 p.m. game next on Aug. 29.
"Clemson is the 23rd team to be preseason No. 1 and the first first-timer since Georgia in 2008. The Tigers will try to become the 12th team to start No. 1 and finish No. 1 since the preseason poll started in 1950. The last to do it was Alabama in 2017. Only two teams have gone wire-to-wire as No. 1: Florida State in 1999 and Southern California in 2004. Alabama has now been No. 2 to start the season nine times, matching Oklahoma for the most in AP poll history. Just as many teams (11) have started No. 2 and won the title as No. 1."
