ESPN analyst says Clemson is propped up in CFP rankings by 'brand bias'

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Clemson checked in at No. 20 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday.

That's still plenty of work to reach high enough for an at-large selection in the new Playoff format (No. 11 Ole Miss is in that last spot currently), but that didn't stop ESPN analyst Greg McElroy from another pointed critique of the Tigers' ranking.

"Clemson is at 20. I'm not sure they should be ranked, if you want my personal opinion," McElroy said. "Not because I don't think Clemson is capable. They've beat a lot of really good teams convincingly -- well, I take that back. They've beat some solid teams convincingly, but the two really good teams they've played, they've not been competitive, against Georgia and Louisville. So if Clemson were to have been a little lower, I wouldn't have had a problem with that. If they had been outside the Top 25, I would have understood as well."

Clemson made six consecutive CFP appearances under Dabo Swinney before the recent drought since 2020. McElroy believes those years of success are giving the Tigers an edge in the rankings to this point.

"I think they might be the program that is benefitting most from brand bias right now, if you want my personal opinion on 1-25," McElroy said. "The team benefitting most from brand bias I think is Clemson. Their best win right now is versus a 5-4 Virginia team. Their two games versus teams with a pulse are both losses and convincing ones at that."

McElroy said last week that Clemson had "no business" being in the CFP Top 25.

McElroy is on the call for Saturday's ESPN broadcast of the Clemson-Pitt game (noon).

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