The Clemson football team is apparently the only team with flaws in 2019. The Tigers have to fight rhetoric from the national media.
The Clemson football team just blew out the Florida State Seminoles at home this past weekend, but that’s good enough for national pundits.
Instead, people continue to spew narrative that the Tigers are somehow ‘less than’ this season and how they don’t deserve to be in the CFB Playoff.
To help break it down, here’s a look at the rhetoric from the national media concerning the top teams in the nation. From seeing this, you’ll be able to tell the difference in how the media treats Clemson football versus the rest of the nation. We’ll start with the Tigers.
Clemson
The rhetoric surrounding Clemson football is that the Tigers play a ‘weak schedule’ and it’s their fault. The Tigers are punished because the ACC is bad and, somehow, that means they are bad. Because Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne haven’t lived up to their lofty expectations, Clemson’s offense is suddenly not explosive. People forget that the Tigers always get out to a slow start, but they want to punish them for it.
Alabama
The rhetoric with Alabama is the same as always: They’re dominant. No one can touch the Crimson Tide, except LSU, right?
Well, analysts tend to forget that Alabama’s defense can’t stop anyone this season. The Crimson Tide gave up 31 points to Ole Miss, 28 to Texas A&M and 23 to South Carolina.
But, who cares? Because TUA, SHINY OFFENSE and SEC!!
LSU
LSU would’ve won 10 National Championships in the past decade of the Tigers had an offense, according to the media. LSU finally has an offense led by an elite quarterback by the name of Joe Burrow. Ever heard of him?
Even though LSU just gave up 28 points to one of the most atrocious offenses in the Power-5 in Florida, it’s the same narrative. The Tigers should be given credit for two solid wins, but they’re certainly not unbeatable like many media members want to believe.
Ohio State
Ohio State is the most complete team in the nation with a dominant defense and an explosive offense, according to the media. The Buckeyes get credit for beating two bad teams- Nebraska and Michigan State- but they were ranked at the time, right? So, they’re automatically great wins. No one wants to point out the slowness of the Big Ten and how no team has any offense. There’s a reason the Big Ten gets blown out every year it gets into the CFB Playoff.
But, the media doesn’t care. It’s all about Justin Fields dropping dimes and Ohio State beating up on teams that are somehow considered better than teams in the ACC. But, let’s be honest they’re not that much better.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma’s defense looked really good against Texas, so now all of a sudden, they have an explosive offense and a dominant defense, according to the media. We can’t take into account that maybe- just maybe- Texas’s offense outside of Sam Ehlinger just isn’t any good.
The Sooners get credit for that big win over Texas, but no one wants to point out the Big 12 has just one other ranked team in its conference- Baylor- who will likely lose this weekend.
Georgia
Finally, we have Georgia. The Bulldogs just lost at home to a bad South Carolina team with its third-string quarterback.
But, Georgia still can get into the CFB Playoff.
This is the epitome of what’s wrong with the national media. When Clemson football beat UNC- a team that beat South Carolina- there were media outlets that ran posts about how the Tigers could go 12-0 and still miss the CFB Playoff.
The same media outlets came to Georgia’s defense and said that the Bulldogs could still make the playoff if they win out and “the South Carolina game really didn’t mean anything for Georgia.” It’s true, Georgia can still make the CFB Playoff because the Bulldogs are beneficiaries of playing inflated opponents in the SEC. Florida and Auburn are both overrated, but the Bulldogs will be back in the top-7, maybe higher, if they beat the Gators in a couple of weeks.
The point of this article isn’t to say that some of these teams aren’t good. I truly believe that many of these teams are good enough to compete with anybody in the country.
The problem is that everyone is attempting to discredit Clemson football by only pointing out the Tigers’ flaws. No one wants to talk about the flaws of other teams across the nation and that’s just bad rhetoric. Plain and simple.