ESPN analysts react to Clemson's No. 4 CFP ranking

Clemson's initial spot in the CFP rankings raised the ire of a few ESPN analysts.

by TigerNet Staff - Wed Nov 02 12:32:03 GMT-04:00 2022

Clemson's spot in the initial top-4 of the College Football Playoff rankings raised about as much ire as anybody out of ESPN's college football analysts.

Greg McElroy took exception to the committee's overall view of the ACC and how that likely propped the Tigers into the top-4.

"Just saying, have you watched Clemson? Just watch them," McElroy said. "A couple good wins, I was a little bit surprised, frankly, where some of these teams ranked. How on God’s green earth NC State is in the top-25 is beyond me, but they’re in there. Even though last week’s game (against Virginia Tech) on Thursday night made me want to turn off the television. You know how hard that is to do as a college football diehard? Last Thursday's game was painful to watch. So you've got a win there. Got a win against Syracuse. Syracuse sits at No. 20. So Clemson have a couple good wins in there. Also have a win against Wake Forest. So you have a win against team 20, 21 and 22.

"Alright, should any of these teams be ranked where they're at? I would argue no, but they're sitting there with three wins against teams that are currently ranked in the top-25. So I can understand why they're where they're at."

McElroy said there's one team ranked behind Clemson that he would easily favor.

"I don't have a terrible issue with it, but if you just watch them, man -- if Clemson played Michigan, I would pick Michigan every day and twice on Saturday. All day long," said McElroy. "All day long. But, look at the resume: wins against 20, 21 and 22. So I understand why they sit where they sit."

McElroy added later, “I think the committee did a decent job. It’s not awful. Where they put TCU – terrible, relative to Alabama and Clemson, but I’ll live with it at this point. I’m rooting for TCU to run the table at this point so (the committee) can be proven wrong…"

ESPN Playoff ranking show panelists Joey Galloway and David Pollack shared a similar opinion on the look of the Tigers at 8-0.

"Clemson, probably for the past two years, even though they won 10 games last season, they haven’t jumped off the screen at you when you watch them," said Galloway. "You’re watching and expecting to see an explosive offense that we’ve seen over the past few years and we’re not seeing that yet. So I could see Clemson being a team that is like, ‘Hey, if they win, they’ll be fine,’ but they’re not jumping off the screen at me and making me say, ‘Wow, they’re a great team.’"

"I wonder why they’re at four ahead of Michigan when Michigan’s offense jumps off the screen to me and Michigan’s defense has been pretty dang dominant this year," said Pollack.

Ahead of CFP committee chair interviews later Tuesday confirming the idea, Kirk Herbstreit pointed to the schedule for that particular comparison.

“You wonder if it was the non-conference that was the difference in separating Clemson and Michigan," he said. "I think all of us who watch football and like to think we know about the game, have been very impressed with Michigan…If anything, they’ve raised a bar from a year ago. All this is for naught if they win out – they’re fine. Just interesting to see what the committee thinks."

On ESPN radio Wednesday, Jay Williams said he thinks the Tigers will slip up at some point down the stretch.

“I think Clemson is bound (to lose)," Williams said. "They’re not going to go unscathed. There have been too many games that have been close there where Clemson teetered. They don’t (look like a powerhouse).”