While in some circles Saturday’s LSU 51-10 thrashing of Clemson was noteworthy, the reality is it shouldn’t be. I’m not taking anything away from LSU. It was a wonderful performance, and they dominated from start to finish. This is more about Clemson. They are just another program. This was a 7 – 6 team that finished 7th in the ACC. Most pre-season predictions didn’t have them among the top 4 ACC teams.
Clemson is a middle of the road at best team in the ACC. If LSU had done this to Boston College, would it have barely been news? Clemson is a brand name, but so is Nebraska. If Ohio State beats Nebraska this year, is anyone going to notice?
At some point, you are who you are, and Clemson is just there. Games at Death Valley don’t strike fear anymore. The personnel has talent here and there, but nobody really worries about it. Everything Dabo Swinney used to touch would turn to gold, but now he’s just a coach who talks about the good ole days.
For years, Clemson seemed to be just a move or two away from returning to some semblance of their former glory. Foundationally, things are so far gone; Clemson isn’t a coaching change, recruit, or portal pickup from success. It’s 2008 when Tommy Bowden was fired, possibly 1998 when Clemson went 3-9. At the very least, it’s 2010 when Dabo Swinney overhauled the program.
Clemson is in a spot where so many things need to be fixed that you don’t even know where to begin, and I think Dabo Swinney doesn’t know either.
When our ACC Power Rankings come out this week, there will be at least a dozen ACC teams above Clemson, maybe more. At the moment, this isn’t even an upper-half ACC team, much less anything resembling championship caliber.
