Clemson football: UGA still holding on to ‘SEC prestige’ as reason they’ll beat Tigers

If Georgia Bulldogs fans think they’re going to beat Clemson football in the season-opener because of the patch on their jersey, they’re in for a rude awakening.

The 2021 Clemson football season is less than two months away from kickoff and the Tigers will be taking on UGA in a neutral-site matchup in Charlotte that will draw the eyes of the nation.

As we inch closer to the start of the season, it seems that Georgia media personalities and fans are holding on to this idea that they’re somehow ‘ready’ for the Tigers based off the conference they play in.

Dawg Nation’s Mike Griffith recently published an article sharing that the Clemson-Georgia game was projected as one of the most impactful regular season games for the CFB Playoff this fall.

Griffith argues in his post that the game against Clemson might be a big matchup, but the Bulldogs are “synonymous” with big games.

"“Big games are synonymous when it comes to SEC football, and that’s certainly no different when it comes to the Georgia Bulldogs,” Griffith wrote."

He goes on to say that the ‘depth’ of the SEC has many question the CFB Playoff field year-in and year-out.

"The level of competition in the SEC is such that there are questions as to whether the four best teams are making the playoffs, or the four best-looking teams.Teams like Clemson, Ohio State and Oklahoma do not face the depth of competition that exists in the SEC."

Griffith posts stats like the fact that the SEC has had ‘seven’ teams appear in CFB Playoff games (three different schools).

The problem with that logic, however, is that the SEC hasn’t proven to have ‘elite depth.’ The SEC has Alabama and then everyone else. In the CFB Playoff era, the Crimson Tide have won three National Championships. The rest of the SEC? One.

Alabama has carried that conference just like Clemson has carried the ACC and Ohio State has carried the Big Ten. Sure, are there some good teams in the SEC? Maybe. But we also know that programs in that conference are consistently overrated despite not having done anything to prove their ranking.

If Georgia thinks it’s beating Clemson football based off its ‘SEC prestige,’ Bulldog fans are going to be disappointed

There has only been one program in America to show any kind of success against Alabama and that’s Clemson.

You’re not playing some typical power like Notre Dame or Florida or Auburn, who are all consistently overrated.

We’re talking about Clemson- the only program in the nation to have as many CFB Playoff appearances as Alabama and the only program in the CFB Playoff era to have .500 record against the Crimson Tide. There’s a difference.

The fact of the matter is that if you combined the SEC and the ACC together and power ranked programs, it would be Alabama and Clemson at the top, followed by whatever order of teams you’d want to go.

The ‘depth’ of playing South Carolina, Florida and Missouri isn’t going to prepare you for the big stage against Clemson.

There are reasons- football reasons- that one might pick Georgia to beat Clemson, but saying anything about playing an SEC schedule- or pretending that the Bulldogs are used to playing ‘big games’ because they play in the SEC- is just about as silly and disingenuous as it comes.