After Saturday's win vs. Texas A&M, let's bury the Clemson vs. SEC schedule talk, OK?
JNCO jeans, bowl cut haircuts, turtlenecks, Parkay floors and oversized shoulder pads.
They were fads that looking back, we wonder how they ever became popular. At some point, most of us looked at those things and collectively decided “yeah, we’re over that.”
After watching the double-digit loss that Texas A&M suffered on Saturday, let’s add “Clemson would struggle with an SEC schedule” to that group of outdated trends.
Looking back, anybody who believed in that should have at least some embarrassment. And to be clear, we’re talking about what would happen to Clemson if it had to face an SEC schedule for the entire season like say, Alabama or Georgia.
Clemson beat its 4th SEC team in the past 365 days. The Tigers outscored those teams by an average of 16.3 points.
That was the Tigers’ 17th consecutive win, the 15th in that stretch by double digits. Of course, one of those single-digit victories was against the same A&M team that was humbled by Dabo Swinney on Saturday. That’s why it was a huge opportunity for the SEC. I mean, can you imagine if the SEC’s 6th-best team (based on the Associated Press Top 25) went into Clemson and played another wire-to-wire game?
That wasn’t the case at all. Instead, Brent Venables made the right adjustments after Kellen Mond lit up Clemson for 430 yards last year. It seemed like the Tigers were playing with 13 defenders and blitzing their extra 2 untouched every time Mond dropped back.
Clemson won the battle at the line of scrimmage against another SEC team because, dare I say, it has a national championship-caliber roster. Stunning concept, I know.
Here’s the thing.
The following things can all be true about Clemson:
- A) A down ACC improves the path to the Playoff
- B) It is the best team in the country
- C) It would be just fine with an SEC schedule
- D) All the above
It’s always “all the above.”
You can think the ACC is down without assuming that Clemson only routed Alabama because it didn’t have to grind through an SEC schedule. My opinion? A 44-16 final wasn’t the product of what team either conference played in.
And I realize some people would argue that the depth of the SEC would make Clemson trip up. Well, at least more likely to trip up.
Uh, yeah. That’s true. What’s also true is that in 2 of the past 4 years, Alabama tripped up in conference play … and Clemson beat Alabama 2 of the past 3 times. Since the start of 2016, Clemson is 9-1 against SEC teams. That includes multiple wins against SEC West contenders Alabama, Auburn and Texas A&M.
What else does Clemson need to do? It already had multiple SEC teams on the nonconference schedule each of the past 4 seasons.
Do the Tigers need to go face LSU next week to show it can truly handle the SEC gauntlet? I just don’t get it.
I suppose the same people who are holding onto that dated take on Clemson against an SEC schedule also believe “Clemson-ing” is still a thing. Somebody needs to wake that person up and tell them that it’s not 2013 anymore. Shoot, that person was probably stunned to see Jimbo Fisher in A&M maroon instead of Florida State garnet on Saturday.
Yet still, I’m sure that person still will argue that Saturday didn’t prove anything. They’ll probably also claim that because it was a 2-touchdown victory, it wasn’t a blowout … even though Clemson led 24-3 until A&M scored in the final 10 seconds for its first touchdown of the day.
Clemson nearly clinched 2nd-half shutouts against A&M and Alabama. That further shows why the Tigers not being able to physically survive an SEC schedule is a silly notion.
But I suppose the person still doubting Clemson will tune into next week’s game against Syracuse and complain about the Tigers’ strength of schedule. They’ll also ignore the fact that the Tigers play 10 Power 5 opponents this year. Well, until their inevitable ACC Championship/Playoff berth.
You see, I’m with the times for assuming that’s in store for Clemson. The program that just completed one of the best seasons of the modern era of the sport looks plenty capable of doing it again with Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne and Justyn Ross. Win or lose come Playoff time, it won’t say anything about whether Clemson could survive an SEC schedule.
It absolutely could. Accept the belief that a team with 2 national titles in the last 3 years would dominate the SEC, too, and that it isn’t a product of its conference.
Ditch the JNCO jeans and get with the times.
uh Ok
They don’t dominate their own conference you asshat.
They have won the ACC 4 times in a row and this year will be 5. They didnt win it in 2013 and 2014 only because FSU went 27-1 during that stretch. Try again.
Syracuse
geez
Ole Miss?
Well said. I am an SEC fan, but attend a couple of Clemson games each season. I was at today’s game. Not sure how it showed on TV, but at the game, it was apparent how Clemson decisively won both sides of the line of scrimmage. They wore A&M down as the game went on. Additionally, Venables patiently coached a masterful game to prevent any deep A&M plays.
They really didn’t control the line tho. Clemson only scored 24. Mond is just terrible and Venables didn’t have to respect the pass at all
Did you watch the game it was 24-3 when Clemson has its third string in and Fischer was calling timeouts to score a TD with ten ticks left? 24-3 isn’t dominating at all?
Looked like A&M played sloppy
You sure they weren’t distracted by individual goals? Or worn out fromnthe SEC grind, even though they hadn’t played an sec team in at least three weeks? Or maybe they weren’t dominated or fooled maybe it was that they didn’t execute? Or that Oklahoma was the best team they played? Oh wait a second I get all these sec schools and their excuses confused that was the tide when the Tigers humiliated them in the title game. Same excuses the bulldogs used whentexas humiliated them? Right?
Or…it’s because Mond barely completed 50% of his passes and TAMU averaged 2 ypc in the running game.
But of course that had nothing to do with Clemson’s defense? The second play of the game was all on Mond. He hits that wide open receiver on the corner route and score a td on the second play and it’s a different ball game. He didn’t. The rest of the game he was under siege and he played like that. Off balance throws, bad reads, happy feet in the pocket. He was confused, he was battered and his performance was due, not to the fact that he’s a bad player, but instead to the fact that Clemson and their coaches are that good.
Good to know that tougher games and competition have no bearing on your chances of winning or your likelihood of injury.
Clemson is good and would be one of the best in any conference, SEC included. But seeing as it took until last year for them to even go undefeated in the ACC, I’d say it’s fair to question how they’d handle a tougher schedule. Right now it doesn’t really matter; their schedule is nowhere near UCF soft, so it’s good enough, and significant schedule discrepancies are part of cfb. So it isn’t an important discussion, but if you’re going to have it, you need to do better than that.
Clemson’s only loss in 2015 was to Bama. Try again.
No, the author is conveniently only going back to 2016 to fit his narrative, so I’m using the same timeline.
But going back to 2015 actually makes his argument stronger because they beat South Carolina that year.
…and lost the NC to Bama. Are you Connor? You’re both awfully selective about the data you use.
Read the article. The author clearly says “in two of the last four years Alabama was tripped up in conference play…” then he points out since 2016 they’re 9-1. Being that this was the second game of the season he obviously wasn’t counting this year as one of those four years. So that then takes you back to the 2015 season and in that season Clemson entered the title game 14-0, and Bama was 13-1.
Nope. Went undefeated in 2015 as well so before you wrote something know your facts
The competition you face has absolutely zero to do with injuries. Most ACL tears that occur are non contact injuries, an offensive lineman who is blocking, and has two three hundred pound men rollup on his ankle again has nothing to do with competition. A helmet to helmet hit against a defenseless receiver that causes a concussion has nothing to do with competition. Although when playing against Alabama the last one you might have a point because it sure seems like those boys try and try and try to go at the opposing teams star players head, early and often in games attempting to take them out of the game. Almost never seeing targeting flags for such hits. But that’s another story. What everyone seems to be missing here is the point of the story. SEC fans, which by the way is the most ridiculous thing ever I’m a Clemson grad and a Clemson fan i don’t ever chant A-C-C. SEC fans like their teams just cannot admit nor can they grasp the fact that the Clemson Tigers are better than y’all. It is “The” college football program in America. The 2020 recruiting class will go down as the greatest recruiting class in college football history with Clemson pulling in four of the top five ranked players in the country and at least Ten, yes ten five star recruits!! That’s more five stars than Alabama, LSU, UGA and Auburn combined. Kids want to play here. When they’re here they want to stay here. Coaches want to coach here and when they get a chance they stay here. How many times do you see Bama or UGA players come back for their last year when they’re graded out as first rounders? We had three in one year. Coaches don’t even want to stay at Alabama. SEC fans use every excuse they can to make themselves feel better but the fact of the matter is, Clemson is the best team in the country and it has the premiere program in the country. SEC fans are right, Clemson isn’t an SEC team, they’re better. 15-0 baby Greatest team ever! Go Tigers!
Clemson never would have established this dominant of a team if they played in the SEC. After Dabo’s interim season, he lost 5 straight to their rival, South Carolina. They only suffered one other loss in each of those last two seasons. If they were in the SEC during those 5 seasons, they would have lost a lot more games. Dabo would’ve been fired, and they would not have the program they have today.
Being in the SEC has financial and recruiting benefits that they don’t get playing in the ACC. Did ANYONE care about Texas A&M nationally before they joined the SEC? Nope. But they join and get their first Heisman winner, reel in a bunch of top 10 recruiting classes and hire Fisher from FSU. Any of that happens if they are still in the Big 12? Not a chance.
I don’t see how this is a response to my original post unless you clicked “REPLY” on accident. You’ve posted 9 times on this thread, which makes me think you’re a Clemson fan.
Regardless, the pros of being in the SEC are outweighed by the cons in Clemson’s case. They would NOT have been able to build their program to its current standard if they played in the SEC. Dabo would have been fired and relegated to being a position coach again.
That’s the most ridiculous comment. It is an arbitrary statement and there’s no way one can say that? Obviously the AD and the board of regents saw Swinneys plan and they allowed it to play out. So what you’re saying is the AD’s and the board of trustees at SEC schools have zero vision for the future, they don’t believe in building a program on building a culture they believe only in wins and losses? Well if that’s the case why aren’t more coaches fired every year? In an attempt to knock both Clemson and the ACC conference you instead make the SEC look silly. To scoff at Swinney and say “he’d never have been able to build a program in the SEC, he’s be fired” shows the ignorance of SEC fans. Kirby smart is building a program at Georgia so if by year five he hasn’t beaten Bama and won a title he’s out? UGA hasn’t won since Hershel Walker and Vince Dooley were there? It’s going to take jumbo Fischer five years to get that program the way he wants it, but he’s going to get canned in four because of his record? Swinney would have been a success at any program in the country. If the SEC has no visionaries doing their hiring, if all they care about is totals in the wins column is the SEC Really that wonderful then?
Fact is if Clemson played in the SEC over the last 5 years a team called Bama would not have dominated the SEC !
If my aunt had balls she’d be my uncle? Such sour grapes?
“Clemson nearly clinched 2nd-half shutouts against A&M and Alabama. That further shows why the Tigers not being able to physically survive an SEC schedule is a silly notion.”
Ok, now add in LSU, Auburn and UGA or another eastern team in one season and let’s see how they do. I don’t think anyone is saying Clemson isnt good. It’s just a little harder for SEC teams to get to the playoff in tact.
Connor just doesn’t get it I guess. Maybe he should return to B1G country…
1. Alabama has ruled the SEC with an iron fist since 2009.
2. Clemson has beat Bama twice in 3 years.
Add those up and the logical conclusion is that the SEC isn’t nearly as tough as SEC fans want to believe. 2006-2011 the SEC actually was brutal. Hasnt been since then.
You’re missing the point man. It’s the grind. To put it into perspective, the announcers even said A&M would be Clemson’s hardest game this year until possibly their conference championship. They’ll cruise through the rest of the season
As far as the SEC not being tough, have a look at the bowl records
I have. They aren’t nearly as good as they were 2001-2012. During that stretch ranked SEC teams rarely lost postseason games. Now they lose them all the time.
And the grind was tougher last decade when it was more than just Bama winning titles.
Let me get this straight, you’re saying the SEC isn’t tough to play in because the only team in the conference to win a title lately is Bama?
Show me another conference with a harder road to the playoffs.
If the SEC is so mediocre, then why are they the only conference that people can logically project to put multiple teams in the playoff as well as multiple teams in NY6 bowls?
The SEC had 8 teams in the top 25 at season’s end last year. The ACC had 2.
Yes but they had the one rank that mattered. Does anyone care who was ranked 22 at seasons end? Please tell me what grind? Alabama and UGA play South Carolina. They lost to UNC Clemson okays UNC. Tennessee, Arkansas and Ole Miss, a grind for those games? Wake forest hammers all three of them? Missouri? Oooh I’d be awake all night worrying about that squad? MSU?? Kentucky? Oh wait I forgot about that football factory down at Vanderbilt, nothing strikes fear in a man’s heart more than the commodores? Overrated Florida? Where is the grind? Alabama plays one semi difficult game a season in LSU. A team that only plays defense the last few years. Bama never had to worry about their offense? So where’s the grind? Tua never played in the fourth quarter last season? Is that a grind? Stop it.
Clemson has beaten Bama 2 out of the last 4 times. So they are 50% and not the 75% that you cherrypicked.
Clemson has played Alabama 4 consecutive years in the CFB playoff.The Tigers are 2 wins & 1 loss in the championship game.If you look at the game stats in that first close loss it shows that Clemson outplayed Bama badly in the one loss and could be 3-0 .They had about 150 more yards,10 more first downs,and far more time of possession.In fact in Deshaun Watsons two title games he personally accounted for almost a thousand yards against the vaunted Bama greatest college defense ever.Thats not small change.
They’re 2 and 1 in title games against Alabama. That’s not cherry picked that’s true. In 2017, when Alabama didn’t even deserve to be in the playoff we had Kelly Bryant and that year we looked like a typical sec team that Bama plays. Running QB who isn’t an elite passer who Alabama can easily make one dimensional. That’s what they did and they beat us. Clemson’s players and fans didn’t make excuses, we didn’t say things like we didn’t execute or players were thinking of individual goals or talk about coaching changes. We lost. Alabama has a good game plan that they executed and Clemson couldn’t stop it. Fast forward a year and you saw a different story. Clemson dominated both sides of the ball, Bama fans watched our better athletes running around and through and over their athletes. They heard their coach say at halftime “they’re doing things we didn’t expect” and panicked and runna fake field goal or go for it on fourth down at their own 30?
Like South Carolina or Tennessee like Alabama? They’ve beaten AUNBURN two years in a row beat LSU in a bowl game. A 270 pound kid tackling you in the acc is just as likely to hurt you as one in the sec. cut me a break. Alabama has a cupcake schedule and you’re insane if you think Clemson wouldn’t walk through it. Clemson wins with class they don’t play their starters midway into the second half so they can pad their stats and embarrass a lesser foe. They’d rather get more players experienced so they can embarrass the likes of Notre Dame, which UGA was supposed to be so much better than? At home a six point nail biter? 30-3 neutral site for the Tigers. Or A&M, or Alabama. We don’t need to pad at our stats against the cupcakes we prefer to do it against the better teams
I don’t think today’s game really proved much other than A&M isn’t ready to compete at championship level. Mistakes everywhere on the offense. Good or even very good by the defense to hold that team to 24 points. It’s all hypothetical whether Clemson could face the grind of the SECw. The truth is they don’t have to.
Yeah but, you have to consider the week end week out level of competition in the SEC as compared to the ACC (this was not factored in). I think it has been well documented that a typical SEC schedule is tougher than a typical ACC one. Klempson can play a couple SEC teams a year but every other game is Duke, Wake Forest, NC State. Klempson has a good team no doubt. I think it would be interesting to see them play our schedule and put in LSU in their slot in our schedule. If they go undefeated then yes I will say without question they are “The Man”.
Clemson has won 2 out of 3 titles and have had 3 of their last 4 QBs be All Americans. They are “the man” whether you acknowledge them or not.
Looking through the comments, someone really stepped on a nerve.
SC can play a couple of ACC teams a year (& get their arses whooped!) but every other game is Vandy, Tennessee, Arkansas & Ole Miss. I would include Kentucky on that list but you really can’t consider them an in-conference cupcake with the way they’ve owned y’all the last 5 years.
Clemson has plucked the feathers off the Gangklucks in many games. Lets watch a replay of the game that ended with a score of CLEMSON. 63 USC (aka KFC) 10 .The Gangklucks should have stayed in the ACC where they could have been a middle of the pack team.
We owned y’all with Spurrier. Guess you don’t want to talk abut that. Y’all play about 2 games a year and the rest is scrimmage. Y’all never have injuries because you play against Pop Warner competition.
I know SEC fans who absolutely refuse to attend away games at South Carolina because the fans are pitiful.To be more specific….. they indicate the Gangkluck fans are rude,hateful, and steeped in rednek culture.I’ve been to games at Georgia and they are pleasant, as well as Tennessee,and Alabama.
Didn’t South Carolina lose to UNC? The SEC east is a joke. Georgia plays who? Florida? Almost as overrated as Michigan. SEC grind? Tua they bragged last year had never played a down in the fourth quarter? That’s cause the competition is so good right? Since the start of the 2016 season Clemson is 9-1 against the SEC, y’all are just already setting up the excuses for when they win the title again. I desperately hope they let two sec teams in. So this season will end with Clemson hammering the gamecocks, then the bulldogs then the tide. That would be great. South Carolina cannot won four sec games and that’s their conference.
Or UNC. You forgot them? Is that because you lost to them?
No one claimed SEC play wore teams down and gave the competition an advantage until the SEC started losing title games. From 1995-2012, the SEC only lost 2 title games, both to Nebraska (UF in 1995, UT in 1997). During that era the SEC claimed that tough conference play made them battle tested. But since Alabama crushed Notre Dame in 2012, the SEC champ has been taken out by FSU, Ohio State, and by Clemson twice.
Now when Nebraska humiliated Danny Wuerffel and Peyton Manning the SEC wasn’t that good. It was Florida, Tennessee and everybody else. No one else even won the SEC back then. Now? Now it is more of the same. Since Alabama beat LSU for the national title, the league has been Bama and the 13 dwarves. Alabama has been undefeated in the SECCG and only Auburn has been able to topple them from the SEC West. Their recruiting, staff and on field gameday coaching has been miles ahead of the rest of the SEC during that time. That’s why Swinney called out the tough SEC claim as ridiculous and why Finebaum reacted by going nuclear. No one regards LSU, UGA, Auburn, UF etc. a threat to do anything but occasionally upset Alabama. And so long as so many major SEC programs are coached by former Saban assistants why should that change?
Cool man, we get it, you don’t like the SEC
Answer this…what conference has won the most championships with multiple schools over the last 15 years? What conference has more Blue chip players? What conference has the most NFL drafts? Yeah that’s what I thought, so go sit down.
In the last six years that would be the ACC? Last year the SEC had the most nfl draft picks in 64, Alabama has 10, A&M had 7, UGA 7, Auburn 6, then the rest of the teams had a few and Tennessee had zero. The SEC had 9 1st round picks the ACC had 7. SEC had five different schools with a 1st round pick, same as the ACC. Alabama, LSU A&M and UGA year in and year out produce the most draft choices. So the SEC is top heavy after that the SEC middle of the pack teams and bottom feeders are no different than those in the acc
Why dont you go ahead and pull dabos britches down and give him a wrap around connor? Lol..today was their schedule til the playoffs.. Cakewalk
Beat Bama and then lets talk. And if you are a Bama fan Clemson’s taken 2 out of 3 from you guys.
2 out of 4. Since all 4 games were in the playoff they all should be counted in your narrative.So keeping reminding yourself that you lose credibility when you feel the need to cherrypick.
Thays laughable listen to Alabama after the best down Clemson put on them? We didn’t execute wenwere tired we weren’t fooled coaching changes I had the flu. Wah wah wah. Look at the four games including in three of them Clemson had their way with the greatest defense ever? The outlier was the sugar bowl when Bryant was the qb and Clemson wasn’t explosive on offense. Watson had his way with Bama as did Lawrence what makes you think thatbwill change?
Fact is yes the ACC is a little down in football right now but a couple of years ago that was not true.You had powerhouse teams that contended for titles like FSU,Miami,Virginia Tech,and Clemson which has now risen to the top of the CFB world.You also had teams with great QBs like Matt Ryan,Phillip Rivers,Russell Wilson.I’m not against the SEC and would vote them the toughest conference as far as overall titles, but in reality I think the Big 10 is probably the toughest from top to bottom.Check out Clemsons record in bowl and playoff games in recent times versus Bama,Oklahoma,Ohio State,Tennessee,Notre Dame,LSU,Penn State,and Stanford.
A major point that is over looked is the god awful grind of a full SEC schedule. Injuries pile up when you play phyiscal teams week in and week out. Clemson gets two a couple of teams with a pulse and the rest are cupcakes. Playing Duke, Syracuse, Pitt, BC, and obviously ruined programs of VT, BC, Miami, Louisville and overrated Notre Dame don’t compare to playing Georgia, Florida, LSU, aTm, Bama week in and week out. To summarize Boise State could beat quality teams when they have weeks or an entire offseason to prepare and then play nobody. The ACC overall is the equivalent of the Mountain West, its literally Clemson and no one else.
Go watch the Texas aTm vs Clemson game, or any Clemson game vs sec team. The only team left skull drug with 15 injuries is you guys. They had to cart every aTm lineman off the field yesterday. Some physicality you teach down there. We had 30 minutes of injury time out due to all the AtM players dropping like flies.
You are spot on bisco loco ! Gage Cervenka our massive offensive lineman who bench presses 225 lbs 43 times put Aunt Jemima pancake blocks on a dozen TAMU boys.Like the song says “You ain’t seen nothin yet” and Dabo proclaims “the best is yet to come”, because this Clemson team is young and improving and the 2020 class of commits is being regarded as possibly not only # 1 class ,but perhaps the highest rated recruiting class in CFB history.
All I can say this is if everyone and they think that there are as good as Georgia or Alabama; I want some of the peace pipe that y’all are smoking!!! If Clemson join the SEC and see how truly good that you are, and quit begging about dominating the weakest ass conference in division 1-A. My high school alma-matter football team could dominate the ACC; and Clemson should know this, because they recruit enough players from it, Thomas County Central High School, in Thomas County, Georgia. On a large note just about any high school from southwest Georgia could dominate the ACC!!!
Problem with that is NO conference gets the championship ring and trophy.Only one team gets the Ring and that is the winning best team my friend !
Stop it clemson is obviously better than Georgia. In the last three years how many times has Georgia beaten Alabama? Wait for it wait for it… NONE! They had their hands full with ND at home last week, a team Clemson demolished 30-3? As far as Alabama goes I guess beating them by 28 points doesn’t prove that? I laugh at the physicality comments. In the title game with ten minutes to go in the fourth Jalen hurts threw the final incompletion for Alabama in the game and Bama punted to the Clemson 4. What happened next had nothing to do with SEC grind or executing. Bama knee Clemson wanted to run and run clock and Clemson just bullies them. Took their lunch money then their souls as they marched 92 yards and ate up the last ten minutes of the game. Get over it. Clemson won’t lose again until Trevor gets drafted. He’s going tos be 45-0 during his three years
Do it week in and out, not twice per season, and then we’ll talk.
The ball is in your court Clemson has no ability to do this unless it’s in your conference, unless you want to extend an offer of conference membership shut your mouth.
How does Saturday Down South, a SEC blog, have a resident Clemson writer?
He is a fan of all things Big10. Since his conference can’t get a team in the playoffs he has to pick someone. His conference isn’t good enough for him to troll the SEC so he has to use another.
Same reason other conferences write in ACC blogs…. It’s still a free country with freedom of speech ( at least for now until the Liberal whackos like the Squad, and Anteefa take over and impose their will
on anyone who doesn’t vote for them or agree with them.
Last I checked this was a SEC fan site. Why don’t you make a acc site since Clemson is giving you a rise?
While I agree with the author for the most part, I don’t agree regarding the Parkay floors. The word is parquet.
Further proof of Connor’s ineptitude as a writer!
That floor is like butter!
Ummmm no. A&M is an “average” SEC team. Consider if Clemson was, divisionally speaking, where USC is. Clemson would go through the east schedule, have two west opponents, and then see Alabama/Auburn/LSU again in Atlanta. Do you really think that’s the same thing as beating A&M, USC and Alabama in the title game? No way.
A&M finished second in the west last year. If you are calling aTm average than the whole sec West is average. Clemson knocked off the top 2 team from the top division in college football 3 years in a row.
Las Vegas has A&M forecasted to win 7.5 games. I know in the ACC that gets you a spot in the title game, but in the SEC that’s very average. I’m not saying Clemson is bad. Clemson can easily defeat Alabama and UGA. My point is that Clemson plays no one. The ACC, aside from Clemson is absolute garbage. That’s not Clemson’s fault but it is what it is. When you play in the SEC you have to get up 8 or 9 times for games that you can easily lose if you don’t bring it. Clemson does not have that reality. Think back to 2017 when Auburn beat Alabama and made it to Atlanta. Do you really think Auburn was the best team in the SEC West that year? Of course not. But Auburn beat Alabama on a day when Alabama didn’t show up…so Alabama was sitting at home in December.
Clemson has no situation like that. Your mom could QB her way through a schedule with Duke and NC State. That’s the whole point. Not that Clemson is bad. Not that Clemson couldn’t beat SEC schools. But that Clemson plays one decent team per year and they sleepwalk their way in the playoff.
and if Bama played in the ACC in the last 5 years they would not have been in the CFB playoff at least three of those years.
Alabama plays 8 or 9 games they have to get up for? Who? Lsu? Okay then who? Ole miss or Arkansas? Oh that Tennessee game is scary? Who? Give Clemson Alabama’s schedule and their path to the playoff is just as easy. This year LSU May be tough but the last four years they stink they can’t sckre. C’mon just stop. SEC fans just cannot come to grips with the fact that Clemson is king and the SEC teams are riding the ROY bus
With all that said you are very inconsistent. The argument is that it would be much more of a grind week to week. You then compare a weekly grind to 1 game. Yes, they have beaten SEC teams while getting weekly rest stops with all the ACC games. That’s why there are only 2 teams in the top 25. My bad. 1 team. Syracuse will be gone after that beat down from Maryland. I agree that they would be more than competitive but the weekly grind is much worse in the SEC.
All Dabo is doing is following the Jimmy Johnson formula at UM and the Bowden formula at FSU. Schedule matters. Clemson started preparing for Bama before they played ND last year. ND should have never been in the final four. GA showed that AL was quite beatable last year.
Notre Dame finished the regular season 12-0. If they shouldn’t have been in the CFP, who should’ve taken their place? 2-loss Georgia? Ohio State with the beatdown loss to Purdue?
We’ll trade Notre Dame, out and the extra prep time Clemson got in 2017 for the extra prep time bama got as a (#2 seed) in facing a pitiful (3 seed) Michigan state team in 2015.
So Clemson gets the 2015 national title and bama isn’t embarrassed as much in the 2018 game.
3 of the last four national championships for Clemson. Just have Saban fedex the trophy over and we’ll call it a day.
And Bama should not have been in the playoff in 2018.Notre Dame earned its ticket in 2019.They played Clemson closer than Bama.
Quite amusing to read a number of the comments here. Many of the commenters prove O’Gara’s point out precisely. Refusal to accept, can’t move out of the past, even when the evidence overwhelmingly shows otherwise. They are them who refuse to believe their own eyes.
Yep….. so true…. kind of reminds one of those Hollyweird Liberal freaks who whined and cried and still refuse to accept results of the 2016 election.Ahhhhhhhhh, if we keep being in denial perhaps the scoreboard will eventually change !
Yes yes yes. The comments are like the comments the Bama players made after the beating
“But who they even played Paw?!?”
Clemson can’t handle grind etc, blah blah blah.
In addition to manhandling Aggies today, beating Bama 2x, Auburn 2x, Gamecucks (4x or so in a row now?)… yes is abundantly clear Clemson would be an also ran in SEC. Please.
The one person arguing they’d struggle in SEC Easy, I mean East; save some hallucinogens for the rest of us. I suppose I am forgetting here those brutal games versus UT, Vandy or Missou. Look, I know, I know, Wyoming, BYU, and Georgia State began prep for those games this year back in 2008!!! That’s the ONLY reason that happened!
1: Conner O’Gara,,,2: one game 3: B-ll Stuff.
9-1 against SEC teams speaks for itself.Against teams such as Bama, LSU,and TAMU
Bama and Clemson both had a month to rest up before the title game.What is it that causes the Bama boys to be slow healers ?
Connor, I hope you are prepared to change your name, sell your house and enter witness protection. The inbred idiots aren’t ready for the truth yet. Your best shot at getting a steady paycheck is to report the SEC SEC SEC party line, which is Clemson is terrible, never mind the fact that there are plenty of sec east teams with a schedule comparable to or worse than clemsons.
I fear for you and your family’s life and well being. It’s ok us Clemson fans won’t take it personal if you print a retraction here in a few days. We’re used to being on the ROY bus.
Dec 7, 2019, a day on which Clemson will register its 28th consecutive victory.
You can gripe about whatever you like, but that’s really all that matters.
(To me, anyway.)
Then things might get tough.
Clemson 2015, 2016 and 2017 could not have gone undefeated in the SEC. Clemson 2018 and 2019 could (but of course could slip up). If you have a 90% chance to win a game, your chance of winning all 9 SEC games is 38%. It’s hard to go undefeated (even in the ACC).
Bama,Georgia,LSU,would not have gone undefeated in the ACC in 2015,2016,2017,2018,2019,2020,2021,2022,2023,etc.We have been rominating SEC teams with recruiting classes barely ranked in the top 10.Now that wevvhave what looks to be the # 1 rated recruiting class of all time coming in 2020 we will be recognized very soon as “The Dynasty ” !
This is late in the game for a comment on this topic but…klempson is a one man show, y’all have zero support from your fearless conference. Without you the ash she simply doesn’t exist.
So how many NCAA football titles do the Gangklucks hold,and how many will they have by the year 2050 ? By your standard Notre Dame has won 13 titles because they do not play in a conference.It really does not come down to who plays in the toughest conference.It all comes down to who is the best team (eg.. in 2018 Alabama won because they were the best team).
They beat a team pretty much all SEC teams have. So what???? And yea, they beat a very worn out bama team. So?????? Not to mention a bama team that did look past them a little!!!! It happens to the best of them!!!! One bad game at the wrong time means nothing.
But, let me ask.
HOW DID THE MIGHTY CLEMSON DO AGAINST LSU FROM THE SEC THIS LAST SEASON???? AND HOW DO THEY TRADITIONALLY DO AGAINST UGA????? UGA HAS DOMINATED CLEMSON!!!!
INCLUDING SINCE DABO HAS BEEN THERE TO!!!!! UGA BEAT CLEMSON IN 2014!!!! And UGA leads the SERIES something like 42-12 or 42-18 or something along those lines!!!!!
So just remember that when y’all play UGA in 2021 okay, DABO SPURRIER!!!! Sorry meant DABO SWINNEY OR IS IT SWEENY??? Who cares how your name is spelled.
YOUR BIG MOUTH CONFUSED ME. SOUNDED LIKE SPURRIER FOR A MINUTE!!! Oh well, I suppose good for UGA you don’t coach anything like sportier!!!!
Dabo, you look like WOODY WOODPECKER and talk like Spurrier. But you don’t coach like Spurrier and your not nearly cute as Woody Woodpecker!!!!!
Well allow me to put my finger on it. YOU ABSOLUTELY LOOK LIKE AND REMIND ME OF A PECKER!!! Just not Woody!!! You can’t even get a woody!!! Except when you see the state patrol in their uniforms riding their motorcycles!!!!!
CLEMSON PLAYERS AND RECRUITS….
Your whole team should be so ashamed. And so much so that they jump into the transfer portal. One thing is for sure!!! CLEMSON PLAYERS AND RECRUITS ARE NOT COMPETITORS!!!!! Who would go play in the ACC for clemson if they were????? ITS A BAD JOKE!!!!!!
I know a way for Dabo and CLEMSON to prove they can play an SEC schedule. JOIN THE SEC!!!! It’s easy enough!!!!! Why, I’m sure the SEC would be glad to have CLEMSON!!!! What is stopping
them???
PS. GET ALL YOUR BEST EXCUSES READY FOR 2021!!! BECAUSE UGA IS COMING AND DABO WILL PAY! AGAIN!!!!
King Negan