The Clemson football program is one of the two premiere programs in the nation. With that success comes overbearing talent for opponents.
The Clemson football program has ascended to heights never really reached before.
The Tigers are among the elite of College Football. And by elite, we mean there’s Clemson, there’s Alabama and then there’s everybody else.
In the ACC, though, it’s a bit more than just that.
In conference, it’s Clemson, it’s Clemson’s backups, then it’s everybody else. A couple of years ago, the ACC was actually competing to be the best conference in the nation. There was a time where the Atlantic Division had four legitimate top-15 teams in Clemson, FSU, Louisville and NC State. The coastal had a couple of solid programs, as well.
But, the conference fell off last year. With the insurgence of new coaches and turn over, the conference took a major step back outside of Clemson in 2018. Though the ACC isn’t as bad as fans outside of the conference make it out to be, there aren’t many top-25 programs outside of the Tigers.
The real question is this: Can any team emerge to challenge the Tigers?
In 2019, the answer is probably no. Though the ACC is expected to take some steps forward this season and perhaps have a few top-25 teams by the end of the season [teams like UVA, Boston College, Syracuse, Miami, NC State and Virginia Tech have chances] this will likely still be a rebuilding year for the vast majority of the conference.
Florida State is not the same program that it was and the Seminoles are still probably a half-decade away from being back in the land of top-10 teams. Though Miami may be ranked at some point this season, the Hurricanes aren’t a dominant force as they were in the early 2000s. Several other programs are on the rise, but aren’t name-brand powerhouses, for sure.
The biggest competition…
Right now, I would be inclined to say that Boston College, Syracuse and NC State have the best chances of challenging the Tigers in the ACC. Though, I’m not sure that ‘challenging’ is really the correct word.
In the coastal, I expect UVA, Pittsburgh and maybe Virginia Tech or Miami to be the factors, but I don’t see any of those teams winning more than a cap of nine games.
Though there could be a few more teams ranked in 2019, there won’t be any in the top-10, making competition hard to come by for the Tigers.