Clemson Football: Biggest national competition with Big Ten, Pac-12 out
The biggest national competition for Clemson football during the 2020 season
With the Big Ten and Pac-12 bowing out of the 2020 CFB season, what teams should Clemson football fans keep their eyes on as potential competition?
After the Big Ten announced its postponement- leaving Ohio State out of the mix- Clemson football automatically became the sole favorite to win the National Championship during the 2020 season, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any other talented programs ready to compete.
Here’s a look at the teams most primed to make a potential run this season outside of Clemson football. We’ll break it down by conference:
- ACC: Notre Dame, North Carolina
- SEC: Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Florida
- Big 12: Oklahoma, Texas
- Other: UCF
Clemson football will be looking to capture its third National Title in five years
Really, if you’re looking for an exhaustive list of teams that could potentially win the National Championship this season, that list above is about as far as you need to look.
Yes, a program like Auburn could make a run. Maybe there’s another Group of 5 team that miraculously gets into the playoff and pulls off some major upsets, but the truth is that the National Championship will be won by one of those nine teams listed above and really you could narrow it down a bit more.
If you’re looking for the major competition, it all starts in-conference. Both North Carolina and Notre Dame are top-10 teams and they’ll provide some competition for Clemson football. If they somehow upset the Tigers, they could actually eliminate Clemson from CFB Playoff contention altogether.
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Assuming that doesn’t happen, though, I would look at Alabama and Georgia as two major competitors for the National Championship. The Crimson Tide are motivated after missing last year’s playoff and Georgia has a ton of talent and is seemingly coming into the new age of College Football with a different offense. If that’s the case, the Bulldogs could actually become the favorite in the SEC.