Clemson Football: SEC fans can never admit a Tiger victory

Though Clemson football has had more success against the SEC than many teams within the conference itself, fans continue to raise excuses.

Death, taxes and Clemson football beating teams in the SEC.

With a 24-10 win over Texas A&M Saturday afternoon, the Clemson football team improved to 9-1 versus SEC teams since 2016.

In the same time span, Vanderbilt (7), Ole Miss (6) and Arkansas (4) have each yet to win as many games in the conference as Clemson has in non-conference affairs. Interestingly enough, in-state rival South Carolina only has 12 total wins in the SEC, Mississippi State has 11 and Missouri has 10.

Over the past decade, the Tigers have beaten the likes of Alabama, Auburn, Texas A&M, Georgia and LSU. Clemson has looked for opportunities to play teams from the conference and has beaten them at a high rate.

Though the Tigers continue to win at a high rate, SEC fans continue to make excuses. Take this most recent victory as an example.

Instead of saying that the Tigers looked impressive or beat Texas A&M in the win, many SEC fans are now taking the stance that “Clemson barely beat one of the mid-tier teams in the SEC.” Texas A&M players said it was more about the mistakes they made rather than what Clemson did on the field. Never mind the fact that most of these SEC fans fully expected Texas A&M to win the game ahead of time and that the Aggie players predicted an upset.

They also continue to harp on Clemson’s schedule as if the SEC is a vaunted conference with a ton of great teams. No, the truth is this: the SEC has Alabama, Georgia and maybe LSU. After that, it’s just a bunch of average teams. Honestly, Texas A&M is probably the next in that tier. Auburn and Florida, as well as others, continue to be overrated.

Clemson has more than proven itself to the SEC. The conference wants nothing to do with the Tigers. Fans can think what they want, but the Tigers are in a tier by themselves and they’d have no trouble taking on any schedule in the country. No matter what SEC fans want to believe, you can’t change the results on the field.

As we’ve said from the beginning (until otherwise proven): It’s Clemson, Alabama and then everyone else.