The Clemson football team will be back to a normal 12-game schedule for the 2021 season and that will feature a total of eight conference opponents.
While the ACC is still growing and not on the level- as far as depth is concerned- that most would like to see it, the conference does have some intriguing storylines heading into the season.
247 Sports’ Austin Nivison ranked the top 10 games for the ACC this fall.
Clemson football was mentioned twice on the list, including the top game
Nivison has Clemson’s matchup against Florida State ranked No. 5 on the list and he has the Tigers’ game against Georgia listed as the top game for the conference in 2021.
You can’t really argue that Clemson vs. Georgia is going to be the best game in the conference and, honestly, it might be the top game in the entire nation when it’s all said and done.
The game against Florida State? Well, the matchup on the field likely won’t be all that interesting. The Seminoles are recruiting at a higher level than what we have seen in the recent past, but to think that they’re going to come to Death Valley and find a way to win a game- that Dabo Swinney will have his team extremely motivated for, by the way- just doesn’t seem all that likely.
Here’s a look at the top-10 games, according to 247 Sports:
- Clemson vs. Georgia
- Miami vs. Alabama
- Miami at North Carolina
- North Carolina at Notre Dame
- Florida State at Clemson
- Michigan State at Miami
- Notre Dame at Florida State
- Louisville vs. Ole Miss
- Virginia Tech at West Virginia
- Northwestern at Duke
I’m not sure what the love here is with Miami or Florida State, for that matter, other than name recognition. If you’re looking at non-conference games- and this post is- I’d be more intrigued by the return of the ACC vs. SEC rivalries, like Clemson vs. South Carolina, Florida vs. Florida State or Louisville vs. Kentucky.
There are some fun ones on that list, but are these really the top 10 games in the ACC? Likely not.