Clemson Football: Sports Illustrated doesn’t believe in Tigers for 2019

SANTA CLARA, CA - JANUARY 07: Trevor Lawrence #16 of the Clemson Tigers reacts after his teams 44-16 win over the Alabama Crimson Tide in the CFP National Championship presented by AT&T at Levi's Stadium on January 7, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
SANTA CLARA, CA - JANUARY 07: Trevor Lawrence #16 of the Clemson Tigers reacts after his teams 44-16 win over the Alabama Crimson Tide in the CFP National Championship presented by AT&T at Levi's Stadium on January 7, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

Sports Illustrated released its preseason top-25 poll and the publication had Clemson football ranked No. 2 in the nation behind Alabama.

Sports Illustrated released its preseason top-25 poll and predictions for the 2019 season and it’s clear that the publication doesn’t believe in Clemson football.

Despite the fact that the Tigers defeated Alabama 44-16 in the National Championship game last January, the publication has the Crimson Tide ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation coming into the 2019 season.

Taking it a step further, Sports Illustrated predicted that the 2019 season would end with Alabama defeating Georgia for the National Championship. That means that Sports Illustrated not only doesn’t respect Clemson football coming into the season, but that they don’t even think the Tigers will be Alabama or Georgia in a CFB Playoff semifinal game.

Here’s a look at the top-10, according to Sports Illustrated.

  1. Alabama
  2. Clemson
  3. Georgia
  4. Oklahoma
  5. Texas
  6. Ohio State
  7. Notre Dame
  8. LSU
  9. Oregon
  10. Florida

Thoughts:

There’s definitely a little SEC bias in the thoughts of the Sports Illustrated analysts coming into 2019. The publication is fully convinced, apparently, that Clemson’s win over Alabama was just a fluke and that the Crimson Tide will continue to be the dominant program in College Football.

They double down on this point in their ‘bottom line’ analysis for Alabama:

"Clemson may stake a claim as the top program in the country today, but only one team has made the playoff in all five years since its inception: Alabama. The Tide are still the standard."

Clemson has an opportunity this season to prove writers and analysts wrong. Though many respect what Dabo Swinney has built, those outside of the Clemson football program still don’t truly believe that the Tigers are on the same level as Alabama. They think of it more as Alabama then Clemson and Georgia in the same breath.

The Tigers have a chance to prove to everyone this season that they are not just on the same level as Alabama, but that they have moved ahead of Alabama for the top spot in the nation when speaking of programs.

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