Last time Dabo Swinney was at the Sugar Bowl, he won a national championship ... as an Alabama player

Clemson doesn’t have much of a history with the Sugar Bowl. The Tigers most recently played in the game back in 1959 when they lost to LSU, 7-0.

But Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has a much more recent Sugar Bowl memory, and a happier one at that. Swinney played on the 1992 Alabama team that won a national title on Jan. 1, 1993. Twenty five years to the day later, he’ll lead his Tigers into the Superdome.

Swinney was a walk-on on that Bama team and didn’t factor into the game’s outcome, but Alabama won 34-13 for its last pre-Nick Saban national title.

The game was pre-BCS, and the fifth time in the sport’s history that Nos. 1 and 2 met in the postseason. It was the first time the matchup had happened at the Sugar Bowl. Swinney recently attended a reunion for the 25th anniversary of that team’s accomplishment.

“And at that time, Alabama hadn’t won a National Championship — it’s not like now, they win it like every year or every other year with Coach Saban,” Swinney continued. “It had been a long time since Alabama had won a National Championship. And so for my last game, to be the National Championship Game and to do it against Miami was just an incredible moment and something that kind of bonded that group together forever.”

He isn’t returning with Bama, but the Tide will indeed be back in the game as well. For the third time, Swinney will coach Clemson against his alma mater in the College Football Playoff. The opponent is familiar, as is the setting.