(ESPN) Clemson fulfills its promise by beating its model, Alabama

Really, a team coached by Dabo Swinney couldn’t have won a national championship any other way.

The Clemson coach’s life story could have been written by Horatio Alger, the guy who invented the classic American success story, if Alger had a drawl and ever said, “Bring your own guts.”

Swinney, the former walk-on wide receiver, won his first national championship against his alma mater — the team that denied him a year ago, the monolithic defending national champion Alabama — with 1 second to play, on a throw to a former walk-on wide receiver.

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Coach Swinney: "At the top of the mountain, that Clemson flag is flying!"

Last team standing. #ALLIN WIN. pic.twitter.com/8ceZPKhxzJ

— Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) January 10, 2017