Ben Boulware stepped on the stage with his coaches and teammates to celebrate the national championship, bleary eyed yet keenly aware that this moment belonged not just to them.
This moment belonged to Clemson, to the players who cast their all-in poker chips with coach Dabo Swinney, to the administration that never stopped supporting them, to the fans who kept turning out year after year, always believing.
More than three decades had passed since Clemson won a national championship, years filled with some highlights but more than a few middling seasons. There were years when Wake Forest and Boston College surpassed them in the ACC, years when mediocrity became the norm and the coaches who came through could not quite figure out how to get Clemson back.