Despite the dominance that the Clemson football program has displayed, Pick Six Previews foresees a 2021 season that would fall well below standards for Tiger fans.
Pick Six Previews, which coins itself as the ‘home of the most accurate Power 5 college football previews, has released its predictions for the upcoming season.
The publication posted its top 15 for the 2021 season and what teams it believes will be in the CFB Playoff field when it’s all said and done and it might surprise you.
Pick Six Previews has a final-four that consists of Oklahoma, Georgia, Ohio State and North Carolina. That’s right. They’re calling for a playoff without Clemson and Alabama.
2021 Top 15
— Pick Six Previews (@PickSixPreviews) July 22, 2021
Playoff:
Oklahoma, UGA, Ohio State, UNC
#5 Alabama
#6 Clemson
#7 Iowa State
#8 Texas A&M
#9 TCU
#10 Oregon
#11 LSU
#12 Washington
#13 Wisconsin
#14 Utah
#15 Iowa
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The fatigue from Clemson football and Alabama has reached an all-time high
One can understand the excitement or intrigue that analysts might have with Georgia. The Bulldogs do have talent all over the field and they’re the clear favorite to win the SEC East. You can understand Ohio State and Oklahoma as CFB Playoff contenders because they’ve been there before and they’re going to be the favorites to win their conference.
But the idea that North Carolina is going to ascend to heights of being a legitimate National Championship contender and that the Tar Heels are going to knock off Clemson? It seems a little out there.
UNC is going to have an improved defense- simply because there’s nowhere to go but up for them- but their offense is going to rely solely on Sam Howell. They lost two NFL-caliber running backs and there are plenty of questions surrounding their lines of scrimmage.
Are you really going to take Sam Howell over D.J. Uiagalelei? You’re not going to if you know anything about talent. Are you really going to take Mack Brown over Dabo Swinney? Are you really going to take North Carolina’s roster- which is certainly talented- over Clemson’s depth? If you look at this objectively, we have a feeling you’ll come to the conclusion that the Tigers should be the favorites.
Instead, this seems more like a cry against Clemson and Alabama fatigue.
People get tired of seeing the same teams in the playoff year after year. UNC and Georgia are those ‘shiny’ toys that are becoming popular picks in the CFB world, but let’s not pretend that they are safe bets or even smart bets.