Clemson takes step back, but still in national title contenders for important rating

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Clemson football took a step back in its number of blue-chip recruits, but it's still high enough to be among the teams that can take home a national title.

That's according to Bud Elliott's Blue-Chip Ratio on CBS Sports, which has Clemson at 64% -- 10th-highest in college football.

Clemson's blue-chip ratio is down eight percent year-to-year after reaching a program-best 72% in 2023, the fifth-highest in college football.

Sixteen teams made the list in all above 50%, which is described this way:

In simple terms: To win the national championship, college football teams need to sign more four- and five-star recruits (AKA "Blue Chips") than two- and three-star players over the previous four recruiting classes...

That is not to say that development does not matter. It certainly does. But nobody wins a national title by player development in lieu of elite recruiting. Plenty of coaches who are regarded as elite have never sniffed winning it all because they can't accumulate enough talent.

Going back to 2011, Dabo Swinney does own the distinction of doing the most with the lowest blue-chip ratio, at 52% in the 2016 national title year. The Tigers bumped the ratio up to 68% by the 2018 title. After teams cleared at least 60% after Clemson's 2016 title (including a whopping 83% from Alabama in 2020 and 80% from Georgia in 2021), Michigan won it all last year with a 54% BCR.

The Tigers almost upset the BCR's success in calling a title winner in 2015.

"I don't actually think that the Blue-Chip Ratio will hold forever. Standards are made to be broken," said Elliott. "At some point, a team with maybe a high 40s number, a transcendent QB and great injury luck could bust this. It's probably bound to happen. The closest was the Clemson team Alabama beat when Nick Saban successfully called for an onside kick to turn the tide of the CFP National Championship in 2015."

Who leads the BCR this year? Ohio State, at 90%, followed by Alabama (88), Georgia (80), Texas A&M (79) and Oregon (76). Clemson still leads the ACC, where only Miami joined Clemson in the national title contenders (61) and Florida State just missed the cut (49).

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