Clemson vaults into ESPN ranking Top 10

Clemson is up to No. 8 in the ESPN power rankings.

Brandon Rink - Assoc. Editor / Staff Writer - Monday, October 07 2024

Clemson football has some momentum out of a crazy weekend in college football.

ESPN moved the Tigers up three spots to No. 8 in their power rankings on Monday.

"Though the Tigers did not score 40 or more points against Florida State, they did rack up 500 yards of offense for the third time this season in a 29-13 win over the Seminoles. Coach Dabo Swinney was quick to praise freshman kicker Nolan Hauser for making five field goals, but the flip side of that is Clemson struggled in the red zone -- settling for field goal attempts rather than touchdowns on five trips that ended inside the 20-yard line," ESPN's Andrea Adelson said. "Phil Mafah had a huge game on the ground, with a season-high 154 yards. As for quarterback Cade Klubnik, he has gone 74-of-114 for 1,077 yards with 14 touchdowns and one interception in his past four games. Up next is a trip to Wake Forest. Wake last beat Clemson in 2008."

Miami paces the ACC at No. 6 after a Top 5 of Ohio State, Oregon Texas, Penn State and Georgia. Alabama dropped to No. 7 after the loss at Vandy.

The other ACC reps are Pitt (19) and SMU (22). Clemson heads to Pitt for a Nov. 16 game.

Per ESPN's analytics ($), Miami (39%) and Clemson (24.8) are the ACC Championship favorites, followed by SMU (16.2).

"Since tumbling to 31st in SP+ following their second-half collapse against Georgia in Week 1, Dabo Swinney's Tigers have overachieved against SP+ projections by 16.1 points per game and have charged back to 12th overall, ahead of where they were in the preseason," Bill Connelly said. "The offense was good but frustrating in Saturday's 29-13 win over Florida State; the Tigers gained 500 yards (6.8 per play) and led by double digits for the game's final 53 minutes in Tallahassee, but they also settled for seven field goal tries, two of which were blocked. That prevented them from pulling away, but they still doubled FSU's total yardage, and they're still on a roll."

Fellow ACC unbeaten Pitt is given just a 5.5% ACC championship shot currently.

ESPN's two postseason prognosticators predict Clemson as an at-large team as a 9-seed ($), heading either to Georgia (Kyle Bonagura) or Alabama (Mark Schlabach). Both pick the SEC at-large teams to advance on and both have projected ACC champ Miami getting bounced in the quarterfinals.

The Tigers return to action on Saturday at Wake Forest (noon/ESPN).