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October of 2018 ushered in a blissful new chapter of this masterwork called Clemson football under Dabo Swinney.

Fans had long been accustomed to winning a bunch of games, of walking into every stadium feeling like there was a good chance they were going to win.

But this was different. This was the strange feeling of sitting at your tailgate with almost zero suspense about what was going to happen for those three or four hours between the lines.

It was going to get so ugly for a succession of unmatched opponents that fans were more preoccupied with peripheral endeavors.

Such as figuring out what you were going to eat and drink in the second half while watching the rest of the game from your parking spot.