Clemson head coach Dabo Swinner has his football team pointed in the direction of another playoff berth. The unbeaten Tigers, who visit Notre Dame this coming Saturday night, checked in at No. 4 of the initial CFP Rankings.
It’s not that the pretzel-logic isn’t prevalent from the opening kickoff of each college football season, it’s just that once the CFP rankings come out in Week 10 the mustard really starts to fly.
Pro or con, whenever someone wants to make a point, whether they’re a rabid fan of a certain program or a supposedly unbiased expert on some TV network, perception – or propaganda – often trumps reality.
Somehow Ohio State’s win at Penn State this past Saturday, a game in which it trailed in the fourth quarter, was more impressive than its principal rival, Big Ten connection or not, and fellow unbeaten Michigan was in completely dismantling the Nittany Lions two weeks prior.
Which is why the Buckeyes are the CFP’s Top 4 – at No. 2 – and the Wolverines are not.
Michigan fans can be comforted, though, with the knowledge that Blake Corum is being pushed for the Heisman – even though he’s the second-best running back in the conference behind Chase Brown of Illinois.
Some other narratives getting the overkill treatment: Georgia (No. 3 in the CFP) being unbeatable, Tennessee (No. 1 in the CFP) being a fluke, and Clemson being a pain in the y’ass to the whole CFP process. As usual.
Oh, Clemson, you rat bastard.
If it’s November, you can be rest assured that the Tigers are being picked apart for their good standing in the rankings. They check in at No. 4, and if they held that spot the rest of the way, they’d be playing in a national semifinal two months from now, with a chance to win their third natty since 2016.
Those crumb bums. How dare they …
The annual Clemson hate fest pretty much follows the same storylines just about every year: the Tigers are unbeaten, but they suck, because their conference sucks, and they haven’t played anybody.
And their presence in the Top 4 is royally screwing over some other squad much more deserving of that spot.
Snore.
Texas Christian is being pitched as the poor soul this time around, as stronger unbeaten due to the classic Rece Davis-speak “more impressive resume.”
Truth? Not gonna dismiss that TCU had a nice, four-week run of victories against ranked teams. It was nothing to sneeze at. But, if you’re really going to break it down, where things stand now, the Horned Frogs don’t have the better resume. Comparable, yes. Hell, the same, yes. Better? No.
Clemson rattled off wins against three ranked teams in a span of four weeks, and then beat a team that had been ranked the following week.
Only two of TCU’s victims are ranked in the CFP now – Kansas State and Oklahoma State, and the latter is a pretty shaky entrant with two losses in its last three games, including a 48-0 whiff at the former.
All three of Clemson’s victims are ranked in the CFP now.
Coming clean, if you asked me, Clemson has NOT been one of the four best teams this season thus far. Frankly, the opinion here is that’s largely due to the fact that head coach Dabo Swinney and offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter have failed to grasp that running backs Will Shipley and Phil Mafah are the keys to whatever the Tigers do with the ball.
Regardless, Clemson has not looked the part of a top-four team.
No, in order, these are the teams that have: Tennessee, Michigan, Georgia and Ohio State.
Wouldn’t have Clemson or TCU fifth, either.
Alabama – remember Alabama? – would check in there for me.
The one caveat? If Clemson wins out, beating a likely top-10 North Carolina in the ACC title game … yeah, it would be worthy of top-four standing.
QUICK HITTERS
Wonder what motivational speech Shane Beamer has for South Carolina after it entered the AP Top 25 last week for the first since 2018 and promptly fell out with a losing effort against mediocre Missouri.
How in the world does hesitancy exist as to whether Penn State should pull Sean Clifford in favor of Drew Allar at this point?
North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye is the best player no one is talking about … enough.
Ummm, anyone else notice the turnaround job that Jim Mora is pulling in his first year at Connecticut?
Considering what little respect the ACC and Pac-12 conferences have received over the years, it’s interesting to note that they – not the Big Ten or Big 12 – match the mighty SEC with teams ranked in the CFP. Each has 5. Both Bigs have 4.
Tulane, the most overlooked story of the season, and Central Florida, repping the American Athletic Conference, hold down the other two spots.
Wake Forest went all “Barry Switzer Era at Oklahoma: The Wishbone Crazy Years” with seven – that’s 7 – turnovers in a single quarter in losing at Louisville and imploding its top-10 status.
Quinshon Judkins, remember the name. Freshman RB for Ole Miss has rushed for 1,086 and 13 TDs while splitting carries thus far this season.
Super senior lefty QB Holton Ahlers already has 12,500 yards passing and 1,300 yards rushing in his East Carolina career, accounting for 111 TDs in the process. But now he’s doing the improbable, having the Pirates on the cusp of the Top 25 at 6-3 after directing them past Brigham Young this past Saturday
Pro or con, whenever someone wants to make a point, whether they’re a rabid fan of a certain program or a supposedly unbiased expert on some TV network, perception – or propaganda – often trumps reality.
Somehow Ohio State’s win at Penn State this past Saturday, a game in which it trailed in the fourth quarter, was more impressive than its principal rival, Big Ten connection or not, and fellow unbeaten Michigan was in completely dismantling the Nittany Lions two weeks prior.
Which is why the Buckeyes are the CFP’s Top 4 – at No. 2 – and the Wolverines are not.
Michigan fans can be comforted, though, with the knowledge that Blake Corum is being pushed for the Heisman – even though he’s the second-best running back in the conference behind Chase Brown of Illinois.
Some other narratives getting the overkill treatment: Georgia (No. 3 in the CFP) being unbeatable, Tennessee (No. 1 in the CFP) being a fluke, and Clemson being a pain in the y’ass to the whole CFP process. As usual.
Oh, Clemson, you rat bastard.
If it’s November, you can be rest assured that the Tigers are being picked apart for their good standing in the rankings. They check in at No. 4, and if they held that spot the rest of the way, they’d be playing in a national semifinal two months from now, with a chance to win their third natty since 2016.
Those crumb bums. How dare they …
The annual Clemson hate fest pretty much follows the same storylines just about every year: the Tigers are unbeaten, but they suck, because their conference sucks, and they haven’t played anybody.
And their presence in the Top 4 is royally screwing over some other squad much more deserving of that spot.
Snore.
Texas Christian is being pitched as the poor soul this time around, as stronger unbeaten due to the classic Rece Davis-speak “more impressive resume.”
Truth? Not gonna dismiss that TCU had a nice, four-week run of victories against ranked teams. It was nothing to sneeze at. But, if you’re really going to break it down, where things stand now, the Horned Frogs don’t have the better resume. Comparable, yes. Hell, the same, yes. Better? No.
Clemson rattled off wins against three ranked teams in a span of four weeks, and then beat a team that had been ranked the following week.
Only two of TCU’s victims are ranked in the CFP now – Kansas State and Oklahoma State, and the latter is a pretty shaky entrant with two losses in its last three games, including a 48-0 whiff at the former.
All three of Clemson’s victims are ranked in the CFP now.
Coming clean, if you asked me, Clemson has NOT been one of the four best teams this season thus far. Frankly, the opinion here is that’s largely due to the fact that head coach Dabo Swinney and offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter have failed to grasp that running backs Will Shipley and Phil Mafah are the keys to whatever the Tigers do with the ball.
Regardless, Clemson has not looked the part of a top-four team.
No, in order, these are the teams that have: Tennessee, Michigan, Georgia and Ohio State.
Wouldn’t have Clemson or TCU fifth, either.
Alabama – remember Alabama? – would check in there for me.
The one caveat? If Clemson wins out, beating a likely top-10 North Carolina in the ACC title game … yeah, it would be worthy of top-four standing.
QUICK HITTERS
Wonder what motivational speech Shane Beamer has for South Carolina after it entered the AP Top 25 last week for the first since 2018 and promptly fell out with a losing effort against mediocre Missouri.
How in the world does hesitancy exist as to whether Penn State should pull Sean Clifford in favor of Drew Allar at this point?
North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye is the best player no one is talking about … enough.
Ummm, anyone else notice the turnaround job that Jim Mora is pulling in his first year at Connecticut?
Considering what little respect the ACC and Pac-12 conferences have received over the years, it’s interesting to note that they – not the Big Ten or Big 12 – match the mighty SEC with teams ranked in the CFP. Each has 5. Both Bigs have 4.
Tulane, the most overlooked story of the season, and Central Florida, repping the American Athletic Conference, hold down the other two spots.
Wake Forest went all “Barry Switzer Era at Oklahoma: The Wishbone Crazy Years” with seven – that’s 7 – turnovers in a single quarter in losing at Louisville and imploding its top-10 status.
Quinshon Judkins, remember the name. Freshman RB for Ole Miss has rushed for 1,086 and 13 TDs while splitting carries thus far this season.
Super senior lefty QB Holton Ahlers already has 12,500 yards passing and 1,300 yards rushing in his East Carolina career, accounting for 111 TDs in the process. But now he’s doing the improbable, having the Pirates on the cusp of the Top 25 at 6-3 after directing them past Brigham Young this past Saturday
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