Championship Phase: Orange Britches
As Clemson players enter the locker room Saturday afternoon, their eyes will widen.
They know what’s coming, but when they catch a glimpse of the orange pants they will wear against Florida State, the idea of “Championship Phase” will become a reality.
It’s simple: when a championship is on the line, the orange britches are dusted off and brought out.
In 1980, Coach Danny Ford introduced the tradition just before a 5-5 Clemson team was set to take on 14th ranked South Carolina program. Needing a bowl win, Coach Ford took the idea of "Orange Britches" to team leaders Jeff Davis and Willie Underwood, but told them to keep it a secret.
After Clemson's Friday night dinner, Coach Ford gave a few words about the game, and then reached down and held up the orange pants stating, "This is what we are wearing tomorrow.”
The players went crazy.
Through the years, Clemson would continue to wear the orange pants for big games, including the Tigers 22-15 win over Nebraska in the 1981 National Championship game.
Eventually, the when, the where, and the why for the orange pants became random.
Wearing the unique bottoms lost some of the magic that once made them special.
Enter Dabo Swinney.
When Swinney took over at Clemson, he found a way to restore the tradition. Focusing on the "Championship Phase", Swinney managed to mark a specific time in the season that it is appropriate to wear the sacred pants.
As the final stretch approaches, Clemson has the chance to wear orange pants in every game they have remaining except for the Military Appreciation game against the Citadel. The Tigers will wear all purple that day to honor our country and Clemson's military traditions.
Florida State this week is for the Atlantic division championship, South Carolina on November 25th will be for the state championship, and if Clemson wins the Atlantic, it’ll move on to the ACC championship.
Without last week’s victory against N.C. State, the orange pants don’t come out this week and “Championship Phase” may be all but over.
There wouldn’t be an ACC championship and there almost certainly wouldn’t be a College Football Playoff appearance.
So once the calendar turned to November, “Championship Phase” began.
Co-offensive coordinator Tony Elliott played for Clemson from 1999 to 2003, and he said Monday that he got excited when the team got to wear all orange, but there wasn’t any significance to it.
“Coach Swinney has changed the mindset in that the tradition of the uniform, when we put on the orange pants, we’re playing for something,” Elliott said. “Our guys, they believe that. And they take pride in that. And they know that whenever we put on the orange pants, we’re playing for something on the line.”
The last time we saw Clemson in the orange pants, the Tigers were celebrating a national championship.
It may seem silly, but it really is a big deal when players get to put the big-game pants on. As Bryant said earlier this week, “You don’t just get to wear those. It has a special meaning to it. It means we are playing for some hardware.”
In an era where different uniform combinations are used as a recruiting tool, and teams try to push the envelope with it, Clemson keeps it simple.
Orange jerseys, white pants at home and all white on the road.
What is another team that prides its traditional uniforms? Alabama.
Swinney, an Alabama man, knows the importance of tradition and keeping uniforms simple, but takes it one step further adding an orange wrinkle when a championship is on the line.
The orange pants personify the big game, championship mentality that Swinney has drilled into the culture of his program since day one.
To Clelin Ferrell, the opportunity to wear orange pants is a huge deal. The players talk about it and know what is at stake when they run down the hill on Saturday decked out in all orange.
“This is our favorite time of the year because every week we’re playing for something big. It’s like we’re playing for a championship every week now.”
It’s simple. It’s significant. It's tradition.
It’s “Championship Phase.”