Paul Finebaum calls Clemson a ‘sure thing’ to make the Playoff, hints at national title
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Paul Finebaum believes Clemson has the best quarterback in all of college football and the best roster Dabo Swinney has had since playing for a national title in 2019.
For those reasons, the SEC Network host believes the Tigers are as safe a bet as any to make it back to the College Football Playoff in 2025.
On Friday, Finebaum went on ESPN’s First Take to break down his top 3 storylines of the new college football season. Of course, the conductor of the Arch Manning Hype Train had the Texas quarterback’s starting debut as his top storyline of the season. He suggested Alabama and Georgia’s fight for Playoff spots would dominate the discussion as well. But he and fellow ESPN contributor Kevin Clark agreed that the ACC could be the “center of the football universe” in 2025 because of its intrigue.
Clemson, Finebaum alluded to, is still the class of the conference.
“I think they’re a sure thing to get back (to the CFP) and they may even (have) a legitimate shot at winning the title,” Finebaum said. “They have, in my mind, the best quarterback in the country in Cade Klubnik, they have an elite defense with perhaps 3 (first-round) picks on there, and Dabo Swinney, even though he’s fallen off the face of the Earth for a while, he’s back and I think this is his best team since his last national championship appearance in ’19.”
Clemson made the CFP in 2020 but lost to Ohio State in the semifinals. Over the next 3 seasons, the Tigers claimed only 1 ACC title and lost multiple regular-season games each year. Without a Trevor Lawrence or a Deshaun Watson to lead the team, Clemson lost games it had grown accustomed to winning and the Tigers slipped out of the national championship picture.
Last season, Clemson went 9-3 in the regular season with 2 of the losses coming to SEC opposition. The Tigers upset SMU in the ACC Championship Game to sneak in the back door of the Playoff and provide a sense of momentum heading into 2025.
Klubnik returns for his third year as the starter. He has weapons galore around him and a defense that could be one of the best in the country.
ESPN’s Kevin Clark, though, pushed back on Finebaum’s Clemson take, saying a CFP appearance wouldn’t be a surprise but contention for a national championship is a bit of a reach.
“I actually think LSU wins Week 1,” Clark said. “With Klubnik, it all comes down to whether he can reach the heights of Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence. The reason I say that is because they haven’t recruited at the level they did a decade ago. You look at those rosters when they won national championships, there were NFL bodies at every single part of the field. Now, it’s more of a top-heavy thing. They’re not on the trail like they used to, getting as many 5-stars as they did a decade ago.
“It comes down to whether Cade Klubnik is going to be able to elevate that roster to the big boys, to LSU, to a team they play in the CFP.”
At BetMGM, Clemson has the sixth-shortest odds (+900) to win the title in 2025. Clemson is the clear favorite (+110) to win the ACC and is viewed as more likely than not to make the CFP (-145).
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
