Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. However, not all of them end up being right. While it remains to be seen if Greg McElroy's latest take on Clemson will come to fruition, it should not make Tigers fans feel great about the upcoming campaign. McElroy went on Always College Football to say that a longstanding Dabo Swinney streak could be coming to an end. It would be a major problem if it does.
McElroy firmly believes that Clemson will win fewer than 10 games for the second season in a row.
“I think Clemson finishes under 10 wins again,”McElroy said. “So that would be the first back-to-back sub-10s since ’09 and 2010. So here’s how I get there — it’s not that Dabo Swinney didn’t dodge it — he said it perfectly. Clemson really underachieved last year. That’s his phrase, that’s not mine. And here’s the detail that everybody quotes — Clemson tied a program record with nine draft picks off that 7-6 football team."
He then went on to talk about the Tigers' schedule by only highlighting their hardest games on it.
“And you look at the schedule — they open at LSU, Week 1, Death Valley, Lane Kiffin’s debut in front of a crowd that’s waited six years for something really special to happen,” McElroy continued. “Then Miami comes to Clemson on Oct. 3, and Miami just played for a national championship. That’s two playoff-caliber teams inside your first six games, one on the road with a reshaped roster.”
McElroy finished his point by saying concerning trends are making it so hard for him to trust Clemson.
“Now the case for Clemson, and it’s not nothing, they did exactly this in 2024,” McElroy finished. “They went 9-4, then 10 wins and an ACC title. And Swinney kind of broke his own tradition. He actually went to the portal for the first time. A man publicly reversing a position that he has defended for years. So my verdict is if they don’t get to 10, and if I’m wrong, it’s because Dabo is still Dabo, and I underestimated a program that has built a career out of this exact bounce-back situation.”
Look. McElroy is not the first person in the media to be let down by Clemson last season. However, his point of it being more of a coaching issue than a talent issue at land does land a certain way. All the players that were supposed to be great for Clemson last year still went onto the NFL after a dismal 7-6 season. Swinney is still able to recruit his kind of guys to the program, but they do need to produce.
Here is the episode of Always College Football where McElroy expressed his doubts about Clemson.
Add in Joel Klatt's thoughts on "We like you, but..." regarding Swinney, and this is getting out of hand.
Greg McElroy has Clemson winning fewer than 10 games again this year
If we were to go back to 2009 and 2010 at Clemson, Swinney was in his earliest years of running the program. Things had gotten quite stale under his mentor and predecessor Tommy Bowden. While it was a slow and gradual build up into their string of six consecutive College Football Playoff appearances from 2015 to 2020, this impressive streak under Swinney was set in motion before that.
Should we look at Clemson's schedule, the Tigers can probably go around 7-1 in ACC play in a best-case scenario. They do play Miami, but that game will be at home. Their hardest road game in ACC play may come in the penultimate weekend of the regular season at Duke. There is no telling how good or bad the Blue Devils may be at this point. What is challenging are their two SEC opponents.
Clemson opens the season at LSU, a year after dropping the first leg of the home-and-home at Memorial Stadium. The Tigers will also finish the season with a pesky South Carolina team. The Gamecocks were not the least bit good a year ago, but they did beat Clemson during their most recent trip to Death Valley two years ago. Simply put, Clemson needs to split these two games.
Also, let's not overlook the last wrinkle from McElroy's comments on the situation at hand. Clemson got to 10 wins two years ago by winning the ACC. The Tigers were a 9-3 team heading into Charlotte. The thrilling game that went down to the wire vs. SMU is what got them over the top. While we should be hoping for 10 regular-season wins, an ACC Championship, a playoff win, or a bowl would all count.
Overall, Clemson is certainly talented enough and has a navigable schedule to effectively get to 10 wins. The Tigers are going to play 13 games with some kind of bowl game included. A 14th could come if Clemson plays for an ACC Championship. If Clemson goes on a deep playoff run, the Tigers will easily surpass the 10-win threshold. Keeping the streak alive is important to keep Clemson afloat.
Right now, Clemson needs to handle business vs. the teams it should be beating during ACC play.
Add us as a preferred source on Google