A lot of planets aligned this year. A ton of upper-class defensive talent. Many of the "name" opponents having down years, especially FSU and USC. The toughest road game being Northwestern. A quarterback that fits the kind of offense Kelly wants to run (and well-coached, to the credit of Kelly and Rees).
It would be a shame to let this opportunity go to waste. You never know how long it will take to get back.
And I actually think on paper Clemson is the best match-up we have had in a major bowl since Holtz. An arguable exception is Ohio State in Weis's first year. But I think there was a bigger talent disparity between those teams.
There wasn't a talent gap for the starting units. If Weis had any kind of defense at all those first two teams would have been as good as any Holtz had.