Although the Clemson Tigers proved victorious over the Georgia Southern Eagles exceedingly late on Saturday night and into Sunday morning 22-7, the chances of Dabo Swinney's team picking up any AP Top 25 votes this week are incredibly slim. Yes, the defense played well, but the offense left so much to be desired. The good news is we did see some positive signs heading into ACC play next up.
Here is what the latest AP Top 25 Poll could look like entering Week 3 after this weekend's results.
- Texas Longhorns (4)
- Georgia Bulldogs (2)
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish (3)
- Ohio State Buckeyes (1)
- Indiana Hoosiers (5)
- Miami Hurricanes (7)
- LSU Tigers (8)
- Ole Miss Rebels (9)
- Texas A&M Aggies (10)
- Alabama Crimson Tide (12)
- USC Trojans (14)
- Texas Tech Red Raiders (13)
- BYU Cougars (15)
- Penn State Nittany Lions (16)
- SMU Mustangs (17)
- Tennessee Volunteers (18)
- Utah Utes (20)
- Houston Cougars (22)
- Missouri Tigers (23)
- Virginia Cavaliers (25)
- Iowa Hawkeyes (21)
- Louisville Cardinals (24)
- Michigan Wolverines (NR)
- Oklahoma Sooners (11)
- Oregon Ducks (6)
It is mostly the same cast of characters with Washington dropping out after surviving Utah State.
Clemson will not catch any lucky breaks in trying to crack the AP Top 25
As you can see above, all four ACC teams who started out the week ranked should all be moving up based on what transpired over the weekend. Miami is firmly a top-10 team, as the Hurricanes should benefit from Oregon falling flat on its face versus Oklahoma State. With SMU, Louisville, and Virginia all winning, they too will be moving up because of the Oregon loss and Oklahoma falling to Michigan.
The good news is outside of Miami, Clemson will not be playing any of those teams in conference play during the regular season. The bad news is there are not going to be many opportunities for the Tigers to put any pelts up on the wall. After a crushing 41-point road loss at LSU, the only other team Clemson is guaranteed to play that will be ranked at the time of their meeting will be Miami in Week 5.
In all honesty, if Clemson even gets one point from the Associated Press this week, that would be a huge accomplishment for Swinney's program. While the Tigers could potentially be a tougher out in ACC play than expected because of its improving defense and strong special teams, it will all be contingent on their ability to improve on offense. Quarterback play left so much to be desired again.
To be quite frank, the only way Clemson will find itself ranked anytime soon is if the Tigers beat North Carolina, Cal, and stun Miami in succession. At 4-1 (3-0), that will certainly be good enough to crack the top 25, mostly because it would require an almost unthinkable home upset of the Hurricanes. However, the chances of the Tigers comfortably getting to a bowl game are still well within reach.
For the foreseeable future, the AP Top 25 Poll is all about who Clemson is playing and nothing more.
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