ACC Network analyst, Tiger alum reacts to ESPN personality who called Clemson 'most overrated'

Heather Dinich says she doesn't understand the love for Clemson, which checked in at No. 14 in the AP and Coaches polls.

by TigerNet Staff - Aug 13, 2024, 3:23 PM

The hot takes are still flowing from some ESPN personalities on Clemson, and one caught the ire of another analyst within the network family in former Clemson offensive lineman Eric Mac Lain.

ESPN Playoff reporter Heather Dinich questioned Clemson's No. 14 placement in the preseason AP Top 25, and a media outlet pulled this quote from a segment on ESPN morning show Get Up:

"People keep telling me their defense is going to be great, their defense is always pretty good. But they’ve got to get a quarterback," Dinich said. "Cade Klubnik is back, until we see offensive improvement, I don’t see why there should be so much love for the Clemson Tigers."

Mac Lain responded to the outlet's post and, therefore, Dinich's words on Twitter.

"Here we go with this trash again," Mac Lain said succinctly.

Dinich had Clemson as tagged as her "most overrated team" from the poll in the segment.

“Clemson, why so much love for the Clemson Tigers?” Dinich said, with fellow panelist Paul Finebaum chuckling in the background. “They had four conference losses last year, which is as many as they’ve had combined in the past six seasons.”

Mac Lain reposted the following before going more in-depth with his opinion on The Roar:

Fun fact:

After the 4-4 start, Clemson won its last five games. In four of those wins, they exceeded 30 points — and they’re bringing the vast majority of that offense back.

If that’s not “offensive improvement,” I don’t know what is. https://t.co/goeA4EUyoN
— Josh Graham (@JoshGrahamShow) August 13, 2024

Mac Lain had more to say on the matter, however.

"First of all, I'm just sick of hearing people -- and this isn't just a one person thing -- this is an industry thing, I'm kinda sick of hearing people talk about a conference, about a team, that they don't know anything about," Mac Lain said. "I'm so sick of it, and it's ridiculous when you have, No. 1, a partner, a conference network...anytime I hear somebody who doesn't have any clue what they're talking about, talking about a league, or that even, worse, clearly represents and has latched onto and the only reason that they exist is because of another league, talking about the ACC. I can't stand it, and it gets all kinds of clicks. It finds its way, and I made it worse because I interacted with one of those today. So that's the worst thing, I'm a part of the problem apparently...

"Just to look at the quote, and I didn't watch it, I only saw it (the quote)...What is 'pretty good'? What does that mean? Is that Top 50? Is pretty good Top 20? What is pretty good? Because since I strapped the helmet on and played for the Clemson Tigers, Clemson has been Top 7 every single year in Power 5 outside of one where they lost arguably the best defensive coordinator the game has ever seen, and they were Top 15 I think that year. So pretty good seems like quite the understatement. They're one of the best. But they've got to get a quarterback. Cade Klubnik was the No. 1 quarterback in his class so I guess that's not good enough...The deal with it all is, one, it's such an unnecessary random shot. I don't understand it.

"You're talking about a Top 14 team. You're not talking about a Top 5 preseason team. So the left hook out of nowhere is crazy, but it's something that for whatever reason some people want to do. Take shots at this conference. Take shots at Florida State. Take shots at Clemson. Things of that nature. And it's remarkable to me, at the end of the day. Quite frankly, if you look at the Clemson offense, and I'll be heading that way in three days... I think you see improvement. I think you see a quarterback going into Year 2 as a starter. We are so quick as a society (to declare) this guy is an all-world competitor right away. Easy, right? That's why everybody that's a 5-star quarterback comes in and does these things. No man, there's not a lot of those guys. There's very few, and it's extremely hard to do.

"For me, just the randomness of it, but it worked. It got our attention. I'm doing a radio show right now about it."

In the same segment, Dinich had Miami as her most underrated team, which checked in at No. 19.

Mac Lain went a little further in Finebaum's direction in responding to a Finebaum opinion on Florida State not staying in the Top 10.

"There's never any type of real analysis," Mac Lain said. "There's never any type of real reason. It's just BS spewed out. It's annoying. And again, I'm biased, I get it. It's my school. It's my conference. It's a school in my conference, but at the end of the day, you gotta get a little tired of it, right? The card that is played -- what are we even talking about? But hey, it's worked. Has a great career because of it, and congrats I guess."