Clemson football: What Tiger fans should watch for in the SEC

The start of the 2021 Clemson football season is just seven weeks away from kickoff and there’s a ton of excitement surrounding what might be another CFB Playoff run for the Tigers.

Clemson will open up the season with a neutral-site matchup against the Georgia Bulldogs in Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC. The Tigers and Bulldogs will both come into the matchup ranked inside the top-five and the winner of the game will be on the inside track for a spot in the playoff just one week into the season.

As we continue to prepare for the upcoming season, we’ve decided to take a look around the rest of the nation and give Tiger fans a little look at what might be of interest to them in other conferences outside of the ACC.

This series is going to give you a quick look at teams who could potentially be CFB Playoff contenders and how the conference shakes out as a whole.

Today, we’ll start with the conference that has become the ‘arch enemy’ of Clemson football in the SEC.

What Clemson football fans should watch for in the SEC

CFB Playoff Contenders:

• Alabama
• Georgia

The SEC is the conference most likely to garner two bids in the CFB Playoff and that’s why it’s the conference that Tiger fans have to keep an eye on the most of any other Power-5 league.

Alabama can lose and still not be out. The same with others in the SEC.

When you look at the top contenders in the SEC, it really  comes down to Alabama and Georgia. It’s not to say that another team can’t make a run, but the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs are heavy favorites in their respective divisions for a reason.

Potential Surprises in the SEC who could make a run if everything went right:

• LSU
• Texas A&M
• Florida
• Ole Miss

While many have already thrown in the towel on LSU, we’re not ready to do that just yet. They’ve got a ton of talent returning- even with the transfer losses- and they could potentially challenge Alabama in that division if everything went right.

As far as the others- Texas A&M, Florida and Ole Miss- are concerned, it would take them taking the next step forward as a program to legitimately become competitive. Still, you can’t count a ‘magical season’ for a team like the Aggies if everything were to fall the right way.

How does the SEC ultimately shakeout in 2021?

Though we’re still more than a month out from the start of the season, I think it’s pretty easy to peg Alabama and Georgia as the favorites to win their divisions- as we said earlier- and that’s how we see the SEC shakeout.

Right now, I think you’re likely looking at an 11-1 Alabama team winning the SEC Championship against a Georgia team that will likely be 11-1 or 10-2 coming into the game. In that scenario, a loss would likely leave the Bulldogs out of the playoff running.