Rubbing the Rock
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Clemson Football: Can the Tigers just leave the ACC already?

By Andrew Boardwine

CLEMSON, SOUTH CAROLINA - SEPTEMBER 07: The Clemson Tigers touch Howard's Rock as they run onto the field before their game against the Texas A&M Aggies at Memorial Stadium on September 07, 2019 in Clemson, South Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
CLEMSON, SOUTH CAROLINA - SEPTEMBER 07: The Clemson Tigers touch Howard's Rock as they run onto the field before their game against the Texas A&M Aggies at Memorial Stadium on September 07, 2019 in Clemson, South Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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Is it time for the Clemson football program to make its way out of the ACC? It certainly would be nice from the Tigers’ perspective.

The ACC is beginning to make a bid for being the worst Power-Five conference in America, and it might already be there.

The Clemson football team has been carrying the banner for the conference for the last four years and over that time, the conference has gotten progressively worse. Just a few years ago, the ACC was on the verge of becoming one of the best conferences in the nation, even if national analysts wouldn’t recognize it.

With a top-10 Florida State team, a top-15 Louisville team, as well as programs like NC State, Virginia Tech, North Carolina and Miami who were all decent, the ACC seemed like it was trending upwards.

But it went down in a hurry.

While Clemson went on to win the conference the last four years, make four-straight CFB Playoff appearances and win two National Titles, the rest of the ACC has been nothing short of embarrassing.

This Saturday, we saw the embarrassment reach another level.

  • Georgia Tech lost to The Citadel
  • Virginia Tech barely beat Furman (and had to have official’s help to do so)
  • NC State was blown out by West Virginia
  • Kansas blew out Boston College in Chestnut Hill

Pittsburgh went on the road and should’ve beaten Penn State, but poor coaching gave that game away. Before this weekend, Florida State struggled to beat Louisiana-Monroe and Syracuse- the supposed second-best team in the conference- was beaten 63-20 by Maryland.

It’s not to say that the entire conference is bad or that there isn’t promise for the future. There are underrated programs like Virginia, Wake Forest and North Carolina, who look pretty good early on. Clemson may very well show up unfocused and lose a game, but it’s not because anyone in the conference has the talent to beat them.

It’s just a sad day when Virginia or Wake Forest is considered the second best team in the ACC.

The Tigers are constantly discredited by fans and analysts because of their schedule. Though the other conferences around the nation aren’t that much better near the bottom, the difference is that they have some competition to challenge the teams at the top. Not that much- so don’t get any ideas SEC fans– but enough to at least create some doubt.

For example, it’s not to say that a bottom feeder like South Carolina in the SEC would have success in the ACC. But, the Gamecocks are built up because the SEC at least has some decent competition like Alabama and Georgia at the top and then a few decent programs like LSU, Auburn, Texas A&M and Florida (possibly) below them.

If Clemson loses a single game this season, they will be out of the CFB Playoff picture barring a miracle. Analysts will harp on the “toughness of the SEC, Big 12 or Big Ten schedules” and completely disregard the Tigers because of the embarrassing losses suffered from other teams around the rest of the conference.

Is it time for the Tigers to leave the ACC? It’s certainly irritating to not have anything to rely upon if something went wrong one time over the course of a season.

It’s also irritating to have to listen to SEC flag-wavers who want to pretend that Clemson wouldn’t dominate their conference. The truth is that Clemson would be the best program in the SEC, Big 12, Big Ten or Pac-12. No matter what conference they play in, Dabo Swinney has this program on top of the CFB world.

Next. 5 signs Clemson has broken the SEC. dark

In the end, it’s not a realistic option at this time, but the ACC- especially programs like Florida State, Virginia Tech, Miami and NC State- needs to get better or a loss is going to cost Clemson at some point in the future. The ACC is never going to be a flag-waving conference like the SEC. Clemson is never going to pull for the ACC to get better, for obvious reasons.

But, the Tigers are certainly a fish out of water when it comes to football in the conference and it’s time for John Swofford to make a move for Notre Dame or for some of these other programs to step up, or the ACC will risk be relegated to less respect than it already has. And it’s already low.

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