CLEMSON | The foundation for greatness is often built during those moments when it seems that simple competence is an elusive goal.

In November of 2018, Ed Orgeron was convinced that something had to change after watching his team get torn apart by Alabama in a 29-0 home shellacking. A year later, LSU was an unstoppable offensive force thanks in large part to Orgeron's decision to go modern with an NFL-style offense styled by a former NFL assistant.

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In January of 2017, Ohio State was confronting the lowest of lows after a 31-0 dismantling at the hands of Clemson in a CFP semifinal. Less than a month later, the Buckeyes put the finishing touches on a recruiting class that was the nucleus of their stellar 2019 season under first-year coach Ryan Day.

We could even spin this in a Clemson direction by thinking back to the formative moments that helped push and inspire the Tigers in the direction of perennial powerhouse. The five straight losses to South Carolina. The 70-spot against West Virginia. The humbling 2012 and 2013 blowout losses to Florida State.

The lesson here, reinforced a week ago in New Orleans, is that a lot of football programs out there care about winning big. A team almost totally off the championship-level radar can put it all together for something truly transformative and spectacular.

Maybe five years from now, if Clemson is looking back on four or five or six titles over a 10-year stretch, 2019 will be remembered as the season that all the stars aligned for a program sporting perhaps the best offense in college football history.

Maybe it'll be regarded as a big-picture one-off in a wide swath of Clemson dominance under Dabo Swinney.