Swinney and Clemson are unquestionably elite

What do Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, Jimbo Fisher, Bobby Bowden, Les Miles, Gene Chizik and Steve Spurrier have in common?

Well, for starters, they’ve all won national championships as head coaches.

They’ve also all lost to Dabo Swinney.

Add Gus Malzahn and Mark Richt to Saban, Meyer, Miles and Chizik and you have the six coaches who have combined to win the last 12 SEC championships. Oh yeah, Swinney has beaten all of them, as well.

The most recent SEC champion head coach who does not have a loss to Swinney on his resume is Tommy Tuberville, who won most recently in 2004.

Of course, Swinney has also lost some games to those championship coaches, most recently and most famously splitting the last two national championship games with Saban.

But we should officially be beyond the point of wondering if Swinney and Clemson are a flash in pan, who will now fall back in line now that the greatest player in program history has taken his talents to the NFL.

Clemson is a 5-point favorite over another highly regarded SEC team Saturday night. Auburn could certainly pull off the upset. But even if that happens, Swinney and the Clemson Tigers don’t have anything else to prove. They are now unquestionably among the college football elite.

For Threaded Fasteners, I’m Randy Kennedy with Nuts and Bolts of the Game.