Let's take a look at Clemson Football for the upcomnig season.
Best / Worst Case Record for :
Louisville | Virginia | Miami | Duke | Georgia Tech | SMU | Boston College | Pittsburgh | Florida State | Virginia Tech | Cal |
NC State | Syracuse | North Carolina | Stanford| Wake Forest
Clemson
It’s been a decade since Clemson entered a season with this much optimism. The team appears loaded with NFL talent, experience, and, of course 2 time National Championship winning coach Dabo Swinney. Clemson is trying to get back to being among the elite in college football, but there’s no question they’ve slipped. After 6 straight top 5 seasons, Clemson hasn’t finished in the top 10 and has lost 14 games over the last 4 years. That’s as many games as Clemson lost from 2012-2020. If it doesn’t happen for Clemson this year to be great again, when will that time come?
Will Go 12-0 (8-0) if:
Clemson beats LSU, South Carolina, Louisville, and Georgia Tech. If Clemson goes 4-0, I’m feeling pretty confident that the Tigers would go 8-0 in the rest. Sure, SMU could be tough, but that’s at Clemson. UNC is on the road, but Clemson should out talent them, and sure upsets can happen, but this seems like a 4 game schedule. LSU, South Carolina, and Georgia Tech have the best QB’s on Clemson’s schedule. Louisville might be not be far behind at that position, the game is at Louisville, and the Cardinals whooped the Tigers in Death Valley last year. What I like is the change at DC to former Penn State DC Tom Allen. A return to a quality defense could make Clemson very, very good. Beat LSU in the opener will have earned their lofty pre-season ranking.
Will Go 8-4 (6-2) if:
Clemson can’t start beating good teams. In the last 4 years, Clemson is 1-5 against OOC opponents ranked in the top 15, and 0-3 in the top 10. LSU is in the top 15 and South Carolina might be too. The Gamecocks won at Clemson last year and have won 2 of the last 3 in the series. Clemson could easily lose both of those games. Louisville has no fear of Clemson after the previous year, and if Georgia Tech can take Georgia to 8 OTs, they can beat Clemson at home. Clemson could slip up in a game elsewhere, too. The offense is really loaded, and has experienced QB Cade Klubnik back, but there are question marks at RB with converted WR Adam Randall the likely starter. The defense is full of future NFLers, but what if things with new DC Tom Allen take time to get settled?
