Clemson Football: Tigers have no room for error with conference-only schedule

The Clemson football team has no room for error during 2020 season

We don’t know the official dates yet, but we do know the conference opponents that will make up the 2020 Clemson football schedule for the upcoming season.

Last week, the ACC announced that it would be playing a 10-game conference schedule with provisions for a ‘plus one’ non-conference model.

Unfortunately, the SEC shut down the idea of playing crossover games- including in-state rivalries– when it announced just a day later that it would be playing an SEC-only slate of 10 games.

While it’s unclear at this point if the ACC will continue with its plan to play 11 games or not, the truth of the matter is pretty simple when it pertains to Clemson football: The Tigers have no room for error during the 2020 season.

A loss for Clemson football means missing the CFB Playoff, in all likelihood

Even if we see Clemson football schedule a non-conference game, the likelihood that the opponent will bolster the strength of schedule greatly is minuscule.

But we all know what will be said if we do progress to CFB Playoff season if the Tigers- with their ACC schedule- are compared to a team in the SEC, Big Ten or even Big 12: They’ll instantly be given lack of respect.

Let’s say that all the Power 5 conferences play 10 games this year. A 9-1 SEC team will be given much more of a benefit of the doubt over even a 10-0 Clemson football team.

A 9-1 Clemson team, though. Well, you better hope there’s a lot of losses around the country because the Tigers would be on the outside-looking-in when it came time for the committee to make their selections.

It’s really not anything new, but the fact still remains: Clemson has little-to-no room for error this season and it all comes back to the perception placed on the ACC.