Winter Analysis: Clemson is the clear 2020 favorite and it’s not even close
Every national sports organization is releasing its way-too-early top-25 rankings for the 2020 season and Clemson is the consensus No. 1.
There’s only one program that returns two Heisman Trophy candidates and a ton of experience from a CFB Playoff run last season and that’s the Clemson Tigers.
The Tigers’ 2019 season didn’t end the way they wanted it to, falling to the LSU Tigers in the National Championship earlier in January.
Since that point, we’ve seen Clemson rise as the consensus favorite to get back to the National Championship game and potentially win it all in 2020.
The Tigers will return four preseason first-team All-Americans in QB Trevor Lawrence, RB Travis Etienne, WR Justyn Ross and OT Jackson Carman offensively, with a ton of talent defensively. Oh, and did we mention play-makers like Amari Rodgers, Frank Ladson Jr., Joseph Ngata, Braden Galloway and Lyn-J Dixon?
Clemson’s offense doesn’t just have the opportunity to be elite, the Tigers have a chance to have a historical offensive unit that may even measure up to the greatness we saw from LSU in 2019.
Who’s going to stop them?
The amount of play-makers across the field is going to be hard for any defense in any conference to match. Another year of experience and these guys are going to be coming out hungry in 2020 after losing left a bad taste in their mouths.
In addition to a prolific offensive attack, Clemson returns basically everyone in its two-deep along the defensive line and a plethora of talented options for Brent Venables to play with on his defense. This Tiger defense will transition back to a 4-2-5 or traditional 4-3 base, but you’re going to still see a dominant effort that puts this unit inside the top-three in the country, no doubt.
If you’ve got the best offense in the nation and potentially the best defense in the nation, it’s going to be tough for any team to compete.
dark. Next. 5 Tigers with something prove in the offseason
Clemson has a long way to go and the Tigers have to find a way to remain focused, but they certainly have the talent to get back to the CFB Playoff and compete. No matter how you look at it, Clemson is the clear favorite to win it all in 2020, and it’s really not even that close.