CLEMSON, S.C. --- On a lazy Sunday spring afternoon, Mary and O.T. Price have positioned their folding chairs to face Clemson's Allen N. Reeves Football Complex. Their nearby RV -- the only one in sight -- officially makes it a tailgate during the third week of April.

"When we started coming [to games], a lot of boys played both directions," Mary Price says.

That would trace the Prices fandom back to 1964 -- the introduction of two-platoon football in the college game. It goes back further than that. O.T. graduated from Clemson in 1956. The Prices have put three children through the university.

There is no game on this day. Far from it. Spring practice is over. The season is months away, but the Prices -- both in their 80s -- have driven 100 miles to watch a Clemson baseball game only if to stare across a lake at the football facility, paying homage to what their Clemson adoration has wrought.

"Oh my," Mary says of the $65 million complex that is largely considered one of the best in the sport. "Look what we built. What are we going [to do] for the next one?"

The last one was Clemson's second national championship in three years, which the TIger won in January with a whipping of Alabama. It positioned Clemson as not only the No. 1 team of 2018, but the No. 1 program heading into 2019.

And possibly the next college football dynasty, too. Sorry, Tide.

Argue if you will. For now, the intent in this space is to chronicle the unmitigated joy of being Clemson at the moment. It is a town so polite that superstar quarterback Trevor Lawrence can still walk across campus. It is a program not jaded over the trappings that come with this much winning.

Squint at Clemson's 2018 championship rings. On one side is Memorial Stadium. Dabo has made sure that etched in the West end zone is the tiny word "Joy."

The wonderfulness is so total you wonder when it will ever end.

"This could be one of those places that hangs around for a long time," athletic director Dan Radakovich said.

The current state of Clemson has been a decade in the making under Dabo Swinney. There is no other current coaching comparison for the 47-year-old from Birmingham, Alabama -- unless you know of another former Alabama walk-on wide receiver out there promoted from WR coach to interim coach to head coach and then … becoming the smilin', quippin', schemin' Clemson phenomenon.

"Even though we've all been together for a long time," Swinney said at last month's ACC Kickoff, "when we meet tomorrow, it's as if we just showed up and met each other for the first time. We're going to install the program, what we do, how we do it, why we do it that way.

"Then we just go execute the plan. That's just the mindset that's woven into the culture. It's always about what's next. You got to show up every year with something to prove."

There truly isn't that much more to prove. While laying waste to the college game, Clemson has won 36 of its last 39 ACC games by an average of 21 points.

"I think the way he's built the program is for it to last," said Lawrence said of his coach.

There is a lot of permanence around here. In the offseason, Swinney became the highest-paid coach in the country with a new 10-year contract.

"He ain't going nowhere. He loves Clemson," O.T. Price says proudly, "Dabo is one of a kind."

The school assembled a slick handout labeled "The Swinney Effect" to sell the Clemson board on the new deal. It details how, since 2010, season tickets are up 29 percent, licensing and sponsorship have increased almost 4.5 times.

University presidents love this one: Applications are up 71 percent.

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The Prices enjoy their view of the Clemson facility. Dennis Dodd / CBS Sports

The 2019 recruiting class was Clemson's third straight to be ranked in the top 10, according to 247 Sports. (The 2020 class is currently rated first.)

Twelve starters return to a team that kicks off Thursday night against Georgia Tech, a 36-point underdog. The NFL can't touch Lawrence, a sophomore, until the 2021 draft.

"It's Disneyland," Radakovich said. "It's the happiest place on Earth."

Across from campus on Old Greenville Highway sits the Esso Club, one of the most famous watering holes in college football. Kelly Grady, a 2016 Clemson graduate, is one of the managers. When she's not going to nursing school, she's witnessing history.

When A.J. Terrell's pick six started the four-touchdown rout against Alabama, Grady was working that night. She also cried.  

"I turned to everyone, 'We're going to beat these bastards,'" Grady said. "Tears came up in my eyes. People made fun of me. … The fans were tired and the coaches and players were tired of hearing how great Alabama was."

The rhythms don't change much at the Esso Club whether Clemson is strafing college football or not. As legend has it, the former gas station got its name in the 1950s when some low-achieving seniors needed accomplishments to throw in the yearbook.

They settled on becoming self-proclaimed members of the "Esso Club."

In the middle of an afternoon, Punk Boniford and other regulars can be seen carrying on the tradition. In other words: Cheers, y'all.

"The guys that ran the place had cases of beer in the back," Boniford said. "My grandfather came down at midnight that night [Prohibition was repealed]. My father, my mother and my grandfather all shared a beer."

Boniford related a story of how the Esso got some of its legendary status. Famous southern journalist Lewis Grizzard came up from Atlanta to do a story in the 1970s.

"He was looking for a beer and came in to get gas," Boniford said. "He came in and spent the rest of his afternoon here. Says it was the greatest sports bar he'd ever been in his life."

On game days (and nights), crowds of a couple thousand will spill outside. Win or lose. After games, fans still make their orderly way down to the field for one of the grandest traditions in the game.

"It's a gathering at The Paw [logo at midfield] to sing the alma mater and then they leave," Radakovich said. "Fifteen minutes after the game, they're all gone."

No crowd control needed.

" [The fans are] all waiting for the Sword of Damocles to fall and just cut this whole thing off," Radakovich added. "They're all worried about everything."

Being the first team in 121 years to win 15 is a good place to start.

Joy? The facility the Prices were staring at contains that famous slide. Players literally go from meeting to meeting down a level on their backsides. One Clemson official broke her ankle playing on the piece of playground equipment.

The Howard's Rock game entrance has been recreated in the building, right down to the 28-degree slope players run down to the field.

"Here it is, the most exciting 25 seconds in college football." Brent Musburger says on a recorded loop any fan can hear by pressing a button.

Lawrence drives about 20 minutes out of town to Anderson, South Carolina, for church. They leave him alone there, too. Same at Lawrence's favorite eatery, Yolk Asian Kitchen on Tiger Blvd.

"Some people come in and ask him for a selfie. Some people say congratulations," owner Troy Song said. "Mostly, people leave him alone."

When Lawrence first showed up at his place, Song thought Lawrence was "a model." Now his presence at Yolk commands this summary.

"Clemson right now is the center of the universe, at least in the South," Song said.

"They call it 'God's Country' for a reason," Grady concluded. "… You don't want to leave. Everyone is nice and kind."

"Little ol' Clemson," she added, parroting Dabo's description of his program after the national championship. "There's something special about this place."