Clemson football has no business being in the 2020 ACC Championship game.
Hands down, this was the best coaching job of Clemson football head coach Dabo Swinney’s career. He has the Tigers sitting at 9-1 and ranked #3 in the country with a chance to go to a sixth straight College Football Playoff.
If Tiger fans are being honest with themselves, they shouldn’t even be in this position. The fact that they are tells you everything that you need to know the character of the young men and the talent level of the coaching staff.
There is not another team in the country that could be where Clemson football is given what this team has had to endure in 2020. Yes, other teams have had guys quit, errr “opt-out” and they have had injury issues as well but none of those teams are where Clemson is at the moment.
Clemson football is going to go the entire 2020 college football season and not have all original 22 starters play a single game together. Not one.
Look at the number of starters to miss significant time in 2020 – Justyn Ross, Xavier Thomas, Trevor Lawrence, Joseph Ngata, Frank Ladson, Justin Foster, Mike Jones Jr., Tyler Davis, James Skalski, Lannden Zanders, Derion Kendrick, and Braden Galloway.
That is a combined 55 starts missed this year from guys that were going to carry a heavy load of expectations – a team that was already replacing 45 percent of its production from 2019.
The Tigers defense alone lost half of its production from 2019 and replaced them with freshman.
Clemson football is in rebuild mode.
Let those numbers sink in – out of 130 teams in FBS football, Clemson was 96th in the country in returning production and yet they are 9-1 and in position to make their sixth straight College Football Playoff.
The only teams in the ACC that returned less production than Clemson football in 2020 – Miami, Syracuse, and Wake Forest. The only Power 5 football programs that returned less production in 2020 than Clemson – Miami, Syracuse, Wake Forest Missouri, Iowa, Washington, Baylor, Miss State, Colorado, Michigan State, Michigan, Kansas, LSU, and Utah.
Of all those teams listed, only Missouri, Miami, and Iowa have winning records.
As you can see, Clemson football has no business where they are in 2020 and the fact that they are should speak volumes about the character and determination of the young men that represent our university as well as the coaching and development staffs.