ESPN ranks Clemson in 'Tier 2' for college football preseason |
Clemson is seeking a return back to the College Football Playoff.
The 2022 season appears to have a clear top-3 of Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State according to pundits and metrics and Dabo Swinney's Tigers are seeking to find a way into that rarefied air this season. With that picture, ESPN has Clemson in its 'Tier 2' for college football rankings ($) in a group with Michigan, Notre Dame and Oklahoma. "Clemson made the College Football Playoff six straight seasons, but in 2021, the offense fell apart and the Tigers ceded the ACC to Pitt," ESPN's David Hale wrote. "Was that a blip or the start of a trend? Dabo Swinney has made no secret that he doesn't enjoy the cool new trends sweeping college football (name, image and likeness, the transfer portal, and for most of 2021, the forward pass) and with a slew of new assistants (nearly all of whom were promoted from within), 2022 stands as a referendum on whether Swinney's old standards will hold up in the modern era." The next group includes NC State as "rising stars," with Miami in Tier 4 with Texas and Southern Cal as former prominent programs that could ascend back toward the top. New Virginia coach Tony Elliott and South Carolina's Shane Beamer are in the Tier 12 category listed as "the overachievers."
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