Clemson’s grip on the ACC may have loosened a little, but the Tigers aren’t about to hand over the league’s top shelf to Louisville or SMU on Dabo Swinney’s watch.
That’s the reality behind all the chatter about the conference shifting around Clemson. The Tigers are coming off their worst season in a generation, and there’s been plenty of talk that they no longer carry the same intimidation factor they once did.
Miami has climbed into national title conversation. Louisville and SMU are also being treated like programs on the rise.
Still, Clemson remains a serious ACC title contender until it proves otherwise.
FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt put that tension into words on his podcast while questioning whether Clemson still has its old edge in the league.
“My wonder, is there still a fear factor of Clemson in the ACC? That used to be a team that was like, man, how in the world do you beat Clemson?
I don’t feel like that’s there anymore,” Klatt said. "A successful year for Clemson means that you’ve got to re-establish yourself as a minimum second-place team in the ACC.
What you can’t have is SMU and Louisville feeling as if they’ve passed you.”
That’s the heart of the matter for Clemson. There was a stretch when simply drawing the Tigers on an ACC schedule felt like bad news for everybody else.
From 2015 to 2020, Clemson reached six straight College Football Playoffs, played in four national championships and won two national titles. That version of the program set the standard.
Now the Tigers have to answer for last season, when they went 4-4 in ACC play. That kind of finish is a far cry from what Clemson has been under Swinney, and it’s exactly why the conversation has shifted.
Still, the path back is there. Clemson doesn’t play Louisville or SMU in the regular season, which means the Tigers may have to see one of them in Charlotte. Even then, the better outcome for Clemson might be that neither gets there and Miami does instead.
The bigger task is more basic than all of that: Clemson has to look like Clemson again inside the conference. That means turning ACC games into a grind for everyone else. The Tigers do not need to run the table, but teams beating them should have to survive a fight.
That starts with avoiding the kind of losses that damaged last season, when Duke, Georgia Tech and Syracuse got the better of Clemson. It also helps that Miami comes to Clemson in the first half of the schedule, before the Hurricanes have too much time to settle in.
If Clemson handles the rest of its conference slate outside that Miami game, the Tigers should be in strong shape to reach Charlotte. The rest of the ACC schedule is manageable enough. And if Clemson splits its SEC games against LSU and South Carolina, a 10-2 finish is in play, along with a trip to the ACC Championship Game with playoff positioning on the line.
That’s why the league doesn’t need to rush to crown Louisville or SMU as the new standard. Both programs are ascending, but neither has won the ACC.
Neither has shown anything that says they’ve surpassed Clemson in the conference hierarchy. Miami hasn’t won it either, though the Hurricanes just played for a national title.
Florida State has the kind of profile to carry that load, but the Seminoles have bigger concerns heading into this season. For now, Louisville and SMU are good programs. Clemson is still the one that has to be treated like the benchmark.
In Other News...
Dabo Swinneys First Clemson Scrimmage Brought One Early Concern
Clemsons first fall camp scrimmage was supposed to offer the usual August read on where the Tigers stand, and in some ways it did, with Dabo Swinney coming away able to point to both encouraging moments and places that still need work. He also gave updates on a few injured players, keeping the early part of camp in the usual mix of optimism and caution as the staff starts sorting out depth and emerging roles.
The bigger concern, though, arrived with the news that true freshman defensive back Polo Anderson was lost to a knee injury in Fridays practice, a setback that changes the outlook for a young player trying to carve out a place in the secondary. For a team still trying to settle in after its first scrimmage, the injury adds another layer to a camp that is already about finding answers, and it leaves Clemson with one less option as the competition tightens over the next few weeks. [Read more 🡒]
Dabo Swinney Brings A Personal Baton Rouge History Into Clemson Opener
Dabo Swinney is heading back to a place that has figured into his football life for a long time, and this time hes arriving as Clemsons coach for a season opener against LSU at Tiger Stadium. Before he was on the Tigers sideline in orange, Swinney was part of Alabamas run in Baton Rouge, a stretch he remembers as one of the more successful visits that program made to a stadium that has a way of testing everyone who walks into it.
Swinney has talked about those trips as part of the backdrop for this return, including a comeback he still clearly carries with him from his playing and coaching days. Alabamas streak at LSU eventually ended in 2000, but the setting and the history are still part of what makes this opener feel bigger than a normal nonconference game, especially for a Clemson program trying to make a statement in one of the sports loudest environments. [Read more 🡒]
Dabo Thinks Clemson Is Ready For Its Toughest Early Test
Clemsons trip to LSU is shaping up as the kind of early-season measuring stick that can tell a lot about a team before conference play even settles in. Dabo Swinney said the Tigers have spent the offseason with this sort of challenge in mind, pointing to summer workouts and fall camp as part of the preparation for a game that figures to be played in a hot, loud and demanding environment.
Swinneys confidence is rooted less in the matchup itself than in what Clemson has already put itself through to get ready for it. The setting will be difficult and the atmosphere should be intense, but he believes the Tigers are built to handle it and compete, which is exactly the kind of conviction a team wants going into one of its toughest early tests. [Read more 🡒]