Clemson QBs top ESPN's top-25 most important players in Playoff race

All eyes are once again on Clemson's QB spot in the Playoff race.

Brandon Rink · Assoc. Editor / Staff Writer · Monday, October 24 2022

Two Clemson positions -- not necessarily just players -- made the top-25 most important players for the College Football Playoff race according to ESPN on Monday.

And at No. 1 on the list? Clemson's quarterback spot.

"While Uiagalelei's performance against Syracuse was indeed dismal, the Orange have a higher defensive SP+ ranking (31st) than any of Clemson's remaining regular-season opponents, and his performance in the four games prior -- which included a game against an even better NC State defense -- saw him complete 63% of his passes with a 12-to-1 TD-to-INT ratio. He was great before he was terrible," said ESPN's Bill Connelly. "Uiagalelei remains by far the weakest link among these six quarterbacks (QBs for primary Playoff contenders Clemson, Georgia, Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State and Tennessee), however. There's no getting around that. And considering that the Tigers' No. 14 ranking in defensive SP+ is only fifth best among these six teams, Clemson needs to figure out how to extract more upside from its offense.

"If Uiagalelei suffers another poor stretch against solid Notre Dame and/or South Carolina defenses in the coming weeks, Swinney will be forced to think about benching him again, even if we have no confirmation that Klubnik will perform at a higher level."

Clemson defensive tackle Tyler Davis also made the top-25 in the "key positions for primary contenders" tier.

"The Clemson pass defense was indeed torched by Sam Hartman and Wake, and while the Tigers have improved a bit since then, they still aren't as disruptive as expected up front -- they're 60th in success rate allowed (72nd rushing), 35th in stuff rate (run stops at or behind the line) and 51st in sacks per dropback. They're making up for that with stellar big-play prevention and red zone defense, but with their current limitations at quarterback, the Clemson D must raise its game. That could start with Davis, who came up big against Syracuse with two sacks among 2.5 tackles for loss. More of that would be helpful," said Connelly.