Clemson football will continue to be the thorn in the side of the SEC

There’s a reason that many SEC fans were quick to balk at the notion that Clemson football could join the conference.

Over the past couple of weeks– culminating in just a couple of days ago– there were rumors swirling that both Clemson and Florida State could potentially leave the ACC for the SEC to join with Texas and Oklahoma.

Since that point, nearly every national and local reporter who has sources to both programs have said those claims are false and Clemson and Florida State both put out statements saying the rumors were untrue.

With those rumors put to bed, we can now pretty safely assume that Clemson is going to be in the ACC for the long-term. So, what will that mean?

Clemson football will continue to be the ‘thorn in the side’ of the SEC

There has been just one program to challenge the perceived dominance of the SEC over the last half-decade and that’s Clemson football.

While the SEC boasts National Championship victories– in reality it’s just Alabama and LSU, but the conference likes to claim everything as a whole– they can’t shake the fact that the Tigers have consistently competed on the same level as the Crimson Tide for the last six years and, frankly, they’re not going anywhere.

SEC fans want to make fun of Clemson’s schedule, but then ignore the fact that they’re bolstered with mulligans– ie. free losses– and that their conference isn’t as deep as they’d like to think it is. Sorry, but Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Missouri, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Kentucky haven’t proven in any way, shape, or form that they’re anything close to elite programs.

Does the SEC get the better of Clemson on occasion? Sure, and when that happens it’s cause for conference-wide celebration. Honestly, the success of Clemson football is something that gets underneath the skin of many SEC fans.

How can some ACC program be consistently better than everyone in the league not named Alabama? How can ‘little ole Clemson,’ who is 8-2 in its past 10 games against SEC competition most of which came against teams in the CFB Playoff, be dominating the SEC in a fashion unlike what any other program in the country is doing?

The truth is: Despite the extra revenue, the ‘conference prestige,’ the love from the media and, of course, riding on the shoulders of Alabama, the SEC finds its insecurity in Clemson.

So, Clemson won’t be joining the SEC. What will the Tigers be doing instead? They’ll be continuing their run at being the ‘thorn in the side’ of the SEC.