Clemson coach Dabo Swinney had a revealing response when reflecting on his team’s loss to Alabama in the College Football Playoff championship.

In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Swinney said he felt validated by his program’s progress even with the near miss against the Crimson Tide in January. Check out what he had to say below:

Campus Rush: Now that you’ve had some time, what’s your takeaway from just how close you were to beating your alma mater, Alabama, in the College Football Playoff championship?

Dabo Swinney: Everything in life is how you respond to it. If everything went perfect all the time—you never lost a game, you got to the championship every time, you always won, you always got the top recruit, you always made the A—you really wouldn’t truly appreciate all that goes into it. Our guys have responded well. As I’ve said many times, it’s one thing to dream about something, it’s another thing to experience it. It’s one thing to think you’re good enough, it’s another thing to know you’re good enough. We didn’t win the game obviously, but I think our brand won. I don’t know how to explain that other than Alabama has been kind of the standard. When you consider we out-rushed, out-passed, out-gained, out-sacked, out-tackled-for-loss them, we really played great, outside of four plays defensively. Physically, we matched up. We had a lot of things validated for our program.

It’s an interesting answer, and it’s one that makes sense. Clemson out-gained Alabama 550 yards to 473, and the Tigers had 405 yards passing to the Crimson Tide’s 335. Clemson also produced more rushing yards, with 148 to Alabama’s 135. Anyone who watched the teams go at it had to be entertained.

Still, Swinney and the Tigers learned how thin the line can be between victory and defeat. Alabama proved once again why it’s the premier program in the country.