The 2020 Clemson football team has a chance to go down as the greatest college football team of all-time.
There is no denying that the 125th version of Clemson football has an opportunity to be special. They have turned the corner from the hunter to the hunted and that is a point in which many programs drop off. They become comfortable about where they are and start to cut corners.
One thing that we know for sure, that is not how coach Dabo Swinney operates nor is it how he allows his program to operate. One of the greatest things that Coach Swinney does is he forces his staff and his players to focus on the small things and not get ahead of themselves. They understand that every year they have to earn their spot as nothing will be given to them.
There is a lot of debate about who the greatest college football team of all-time is. Yes, 2018 Clemson is in the conversation as they were the first modern college football team to go 15-0 and win a national title. However, the greatest football team in modern-day football has to be the 2001 Miami Hurricanes team.
That team was the most dominant team to ever take the field. That team had six All-Americans beat teams by an average score of 44-9 and had 38 NFL draft picks, 17 of which came in the first round. That 2001 Miami team produced 43 Pro Bowl selections and at least one Pro Football Hall of Fame member. That team was as dominant as college football has ever seen.
The 2020 version of Clemson football has the opportunity to be even better.
As we sit here today, the 2020 Clemson football team has the talent to replicate all of the success that Miami had in 2001. They have at least a dozen first-round picks and if guys buy into the work, could easily see nearly 20 players on this roster go in the first round of their draft.
To say at least 40 players on this current roster could be drafted would not be an exaggeration either. The talent is there and it will come down to how hard these players decide to work. While we may not see Clemson embarrass teams the way that Miami did on the scoreboard because of the development theory that Coach Swinney has, it does not mean that this team is any less talented.
We all know, as do other college football fans if Clemson starters played all four quarters like LSU players did 2019, that they would put up the most lopsided scored ever seen in college football.
If I were a betting man, I would bet when it is all said and done, the 2020 Clemson football roster will go down as college football’s all-time greatest team when we look back in 20 years surpassing everything that the 2001 Miami team accomplished.