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Quick: Name all the big-time college football players to come out of Clinton in the past 10 years. Sure, there's Trent Smith and maybe the name Tim Duncan rolled off your tongue, but most likely the list stopped there with the two former Red Tornadoes who went on to play at Oklahoma. Past that, Clinton isn't exactly known for the talent it produces. However, Clinton is known for its championships. Clinton is the best football program in the state, despite not having ESPN kind of players. But what it does have is 14 state championships since 1965, including the past three and five of the past six in Class 4A. That's more titles than Jenks, Union and Ada whose programs churn out talent on a regular basis. "Oh we've had talent," head coach Mike Lee said. "We've got kids who have the ability to play at the next level if they're given the right opportunity." But for the most part, that opportunity hasn't presented itself. Sean Stephens, who has covered the Red Tornadoes almost religiously for the Clinton Daily News for eight years, said the lack of college coaches visiting the western Oklahoma town isn't due to a lack of Red Tornado talent. It's more or less a matter of stature, he says. "Clinton's kids don't normally pass the 'eye test' as being the prototypical player of bigger than 6-feet tall and more than 200 pounds," Stephens said. Coach Lee agreed. "We haven't been blessed with a lot of big kids," he said. So how does Clinton do it? How does a team without big-time talent make mincemeat of the rest of the state? "We've got tough, quick kids who are athletic and tough-minded," coach Lee said. "They play banged up and they think they're supposed to win. I think that comes with the tradition." Tradition. That might be the main reason the Tornadoes win when it looks like they shouldn't. "Since the initial state championship in 1965 and really probably since the early 1950s, Clinton has been a program that expects to win and win big," Stephens said. "Generation after generation sweeps across the gridiron knowing they are the toughest players ever to put on the maroon and gold." And each generation adds to the tradition. "Tradition is what defeats many teams the moment Clinton steps off the bus," Stephens added. "It's what makes anything less than an appearance in the championship game seem like a dismal year." "It's engrained in them," coach Lee said. "It's everything or nothing for them. We don't preach it. That's how it is. Sometimes it can be taxing, but I'd rather it be that way than to have no expectations." And the Red Tornadoes do it with a simple approach. They run the ball and play good defense. "We work on blocking and tackling a lot," coach Lee said. "We're not going to line up in the shotgun or spread a lot. Some people might say we're predictable, but I don't know what predictable is. We just try to put the ball in the hands of our best players." Yet those players don't get the number of scholarship offers of similar powers. "They have the talent," Stephens said. "They just don't get the recognition." "It bothers me somewhat because I'd like to see some of them go on," coach Lee said. But for now, Lee and his players will have to settle for something else. State championships seem to be a nice alternative.