ESPN ranks Clemson in tier nationally affected by QB play

All eyes are on Cade Klubnik and if he can lead Clemson back to the Playoff this season.

Brandon Rink · Assoc. Editor / Staff Writer · Friday, August 23 2024

ESPN assembled all 134 FBS teams in ranking tiers, and for Clemson, it's grouped with a familiar foe related to quarterback play.

The Tigers are in a Tier 3 with Florida State, LSU and Michigan.

"Last season, Michigan won a national championship. Florida State had an undefeated regular season, LSU had the Heisman Trophy winner and Dabo Swinney annihilated some poor sap who called into his radio show before reeling off five straight wins to end the year," ESPN's David Hale said. "These are good programs with tremendous upside. What they don't have is a QB1 with a clear-cut track record of elite play...

"Clemson used to cycle in superstar QBs year after year, but Swinney hit a wall after Trevor Lawrence departed. First Uiagalelei struggled in 2021 and 2022, eventually ceding the job to Cade Klubnik, who posted a 55.8 Total QBR (seventh lowest among Power 5 QBs with 10 starts) and just 15 touchdown passes against FBS competition. From 2015 through 2020, when the Tigers made the playoff each year, they had the ACC's best Total QBR (82.4) against FBS foes. In the three years since, Clemson has a Total QBR of 54.8, the lowest mark in the ACC."

The ESPN stat for the tier is related to Clemson's passing game: "Clemson QBs threw deep (beyond 20 air yards) on just 7.8% of pass attempts last season. No team in the country had a lower rate."

Athlon Sports ranked Klubnik its No. 34 quarterback in the nation.

"Getting more production and better overall play from Klubnik is crucial for Clemson to return to the top of the ACC in '24. The Texas native was up-and-down in his first full year as the Tigers' starter, connecting on nearly 64 percent (63.9) of his throws for 2,844 yards and 19 touchdowns," Steven Lassan wrote. "Klubnik also added 180 yards and four scores on the ground. Although the top-level numbers aren't bad, a deeper look shows Klubnik has plenty of room to improve. His 6.3 yards per attempt rated as the lowest mark among qualified signal-callers in the ACC, while a 126.4 mark in quarterback rating placed No. 10 in the conference. Will the second year of coordinator Garrett Riley's offense and a couple of key freshmen pickups at receiver in TJ Moore and Bryant Wesco help Klubnik reach his potential in '24?"

Hale has Clemson eighth in his ACC QB rankings:

QB rankings (-tier break)
1. Miami
2. SMU
3. GT
4. NC State
-
5. Syracuse
6. FSU
7. Virginia Tech
8. Clemson
9. BC
-
10. UNC
11. Virginia
-
12. Cal
13. Pitt
14. Duke
15. Louisville
-
16. Stanford
17. Wake
— 💫🅰️♈️🆔 (@ADavidHaleJoint) August 19, 2024

The Athlon ranking works out to Klubnik being ranked sixth in the ACC.

Back to the ESPN rankings, Clemson faces a team in Georgia to start in Atlanta (Aug. 31/noon/ABC) that's in Tier 1 with Ohio State, Oregon and Texas entitled, 'The Fantastic Four.'

"So, is it Georgia and everybody else or Georgia, a handful of top competitors and perhaps a few upsets along the way in this new 12-team playoff era? That might be the overarching question of the season," Hale said.

The story notes that Georgia hasn't lost to a coach other than Nick Saban since Nov. 7, 2020 (Florida's Dan Mullen).