It might be overstating things to say that the beginning of the end of Clemson’s dominant run in college football happened on Sept. 4, 2021 when Georgia snagged a 10-3 win over a team that had reached six straight playoffs.

After all, there was the loss at N.C. State three weeks later and another at Pittsburgh three games after that. And three in the final six games of the 2022 season. Then a 4-4 start to last season.

Going 10-3, 11-3 and 9-4 would be celebrated at many places, but Clemson and Dabo Swinney went 39-3 from 2018-2020, winning a second national title in a three-year span starting in 2016.

Now, it’s Georgia that has moved to the top of the heap in the sport, going 42-2 the last three seasons and winning national titles in 2021 and 2022 and starting preseason No. 1 this year.

The Tigers Saturday in Atlanta go up against a team that sits where Clemson was accustomed to being.

Georgia has top-four finishes in four of the last five years.

After three years missing out on the playoff, Clemson is hungry to get back.

And just in time for a 12-team postseason, but is it a program that still is playoff caliber?

“Absolutely, as long as Coach Swinney is there it will be,” Oklahoma coach Brent Venables, defensive coordinator for the Tigers from 2012-2021 told the Athens Banner-Herald. “He’s a winner. They’re recruiting at a really high level. They’ve got excellent coaches. He’s as good of a leader as I’ve ever been around. He gets the most out of his guys. Clemson ain’t going nowhere.”

There are doubts. Swinney appeared on the Jim Rome Show Monday and was asked about his outlook after a 9-win season and a .500 ACC record and his message to his team.

“We got to finish,” Swinney said. “That’s my message. We’ve been really good the past three years, but we haven’t been great. A lot of people have their opinions as to why and all that type of stuff.”

He mentioned Clemson had the second most playoff appearances behind Alabama.

The Tigers play a Georgia team that reloads under coach Kirby Smart. It lost eight NFL draft picks, but still ranks No. 2 in the 247Sports Composite talent ranking. Clemson isn’t far behind at No. 5.

“We have the dudes in the locker room to compete with anyone in the country,” linebacker Barrett Carter told reporters.

Smart lauded Clemson as “one of the premier teams in college football in terms of the last 10 years, you could say."

Larry Williams, who has covered Clemson since 2004, said the Tigers’ playoff run from 2015-2020 came with an “extraordinary collection of generational talent,” particularly at quarterback, defensive line and wide receiver.

Clemson produced 12 first-round draft picks from those teams, including quarterbacks Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence, and six defensive linemen, including Pro Bowler Dexter Lawrence, Christian Wilkins, Shaq Lawson as well wide receiver Mike Williams.

“I’m not saying they got lucky, but the stars aligned for them in a very rare way,” said Williams, senior writer at the Rivals website Tigers Illustrated. “I think they’re recruiting hasn’t been vastly different in the rankings over the last four or five years, but it’s just they’ve had guys that haven’t panned out.”

Five-star D.J. Uiagalelei was next up after Lawrence at quarterback and started the Georgia game in 2021. He transferred to Oregon State after the 2022 season after Cade Klubnik replaced him in an ACC championship win over North Carolina. Klubnik ranked 10th in the ACC in passing efficiency last season.

Injuries particularly at wide receiver have hurt the Tigers in recent seasons, Williams said.

Swinney, entering his 16th full season as Clemson coach, has received blowback for not dipping into the transfer portal. The Tigers have had two transfers since winning the national title in 2018.

“It’s possible that Clemson has a great season this year and this game of referendum after every result on a controversial take or position, it could be that people are saying, ‘Oh, wow, man. His way kind of works,’” Williams said, “because the culture and the slow-cooked method actually has some appeal to parents and players.”

The Tigers slippage has come with the advent of NIL payments to players. Williams said while Clemson has targeted a few transfers that went elsewhere, landing top transfers means “you have to stroke them a check and Dabo just for better or worse, he thinks it’s unfair to the guys he’s recruited and are in their first, second, third year in the system.”

Clemson promoted Brandon Streeter in 2022 to replace offensive coordinator Tony Elliott who left to become the Virginia head coach. Swinney hired TCU’s Garrett Riley after one season and Streeter is now a Georgia analyst.

The Tigers were underwhelming last year under Riley, ranking 52nd in scoring (29.8). Although they were 15th in first downs (23.4 per game), they ranked just 98th in yards per play (5.25). Swinney hired former Georgia assistant Matt Luke as offensive line coach.

Defensively, the Tigers were 8th in yards allowed per game, but Swinney told the ACC Network that cutting down on big plays allowed and being better in the red zone are needed.

“We’ve got to win those close games,” Swinney said. “It’s a few plays. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but no question defensively, they’re going to set the tone for us.”

What’s the reason for the program missing out on the playoff the last three seasons?

“I’d say just the little details,” defensive lineman Tyler Davis, now with the Rams, told the Athens Banner-Herald. “Minor things. We were close to going (in 2023), but the turnover bug kind of got to us. I think just cleaning up the little details. Football is a game of inches. That will ultimately get us back there.”

Georgia ranked 130th of 133 teams in fumbles lost.

Swinney’s radio coach’s show got rid of fans calling in. That comes after a season in which “Tyler from Spartanburg,” went viral with his exchange with Swinney after a 2-4 ACC start.

“I think this season is immensely important to the fans in terms of wanting to see some evidence that they can back near the top of the mountain,” Williams said. “That said, I don’t think many Clemson fans think they’re going to beat Georgia. That opens up a whole other can of worms because it’s not easy for them that they went from looking down at Georgia for five, six years and not really considering them a threat.”

Swinney said Clemson has won more games the last three years than 126 of 134 FBS teams “in our terrible time.”

He's looking bigger picture than the difficult opening assignment with Georgia.

“They’re not going to give us the national championship trophy if we win the game,” Swinney said in a video posted by the game organizer. “It’s a long season ahead.”

It is shaping up to be an important one.

A fourth straight year of “sort of mediocre existence, at that point does the Dabo way, does it resonate with recruits as much?” Williams said. “The further you get from the glory days, the harder it is to sort of sell that not just to recruits but to your fan base.”

Clemson is certainly positioned differently than it was when these teams met three years ago.

"Tired of the disrespect,” Carter said. “Tired of all the negative stuff. Just ready to show what we know can do as a team. Just ready to put Clemson back to the top."

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Can Clemson football return to recent glory under Dabo Swinney?