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Nov 19, 2015, 6:24 AM

Since the selection committee's debut last season, there hasn't been a lot of consensus between the committee, the AP poll and the coaches' poll. But at least for this week, they all agree on one thing: that Clemson is the best team in college football.

Committee chair Jeff Long said on Tuesday night that there was some discussion about whether to move Alabama into the No. 1 spot, but after that deliberation, the Tigers were the clear choice. It probably has a lot to do with Clemson having two wins over teams (No. 4 Notre Dame and No. 14 Florida State) that are currently ranked higher by the committee than any team Alabama has beaten.

But is Clemson really the best team in the sport? Or are the Tigers getting too much credit for rolling through what most people believed to be the weakest Power 5 league entering this season?

Let's look at a few of our ESPN metrics that are rating teams and players while adjusting for the level of competition.

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The first of these is FPI, which is a power rating. Clemson ranks fifth, which means that FPI would favor four teams (Oklahoma, Baylor, Alabama and Ohio State) over the Tigers on a neutral field, although only the Sooners would be considered more than a field goal better than Clemson (but less than a TD better).

In other words, there's negligible difference between the top five teams in FPI, and it clearly considers Clemson to be one of the best teams in the country, just not the best.

In our team efficiency ratings, the Tigers rank second behind Alabama in overall efficiency, which includes special teams play. Clemson and Oklahoma are the only teams that rank in the top 10 for both offensive and defensive efficiency. The Tigers are ninth on offense and second on defense (117th on special teams).

Clemson also ranks second behind Alabama in strength of record, which measures how difficult it would be for an average team to have your record, given your schedule. It's considered barely more difficult to have one loss against Bama's schedule to date than to be undefeated against Clemson's opponents. But that also means that Clemson's record is more impressive than that of the other four unbeaten teams in the FBS.

And the Tigers rank first in game control, which is based on a combination of in-game win probability and opponent strength. Clemson is the only team in the FBS to have an average in-game win probability of more than 50 percent in all of its games this season (Ohio State was barely under 50 at Indiana; Iowa was under 50 at Iowa State). The Tigers, like the Buckeyes and Hawkeyes, have not trailed in the fourth quarter at any point this season.

Even on the player level, Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson rates among the best at the most important position on the field. His Total QBR of 85.6 ranks third nationally. And making things more difficult on opponents, Watson ranks 10th in rushing QBR and 17th in passing QBR -- a true dual threat.

But with only one of these metrics actually ranking the Tigers No. 1 -- and since we consider game control more of a tiebreaking category than a decisive one -- they aren't the clear-cut best team in college football like Florida State was in 2013. On a composite basis, however, these numbers do make a good case for Clemson being the team most deserving of the top ranking right now.

But even if the committee is solidly behind Clemson, finishing strong may be crucial to it remaining on top.

One of the keys to the Tigers' season is that the defense has played remarkably well after losing several key players from last year's team. But over the past few weeks, that side of the ball has been slipping a bit. According to our expected points added metric, which measures how each unit affects the likelihood of scoring on a play-by-play basis relative to the strength of the opposing unit, Clemson's three worst defensive performances of the season have come in the past five games. This includes five touchdowns allowed to NC State (the Wolfpack scored another on a kickoff return) and giving up 27 points and 242 rushing yards to Syracuse.

While acknowledging those numbers, we also must recognize that those performances sandwiched the Tigers' biggest game of the season against Florida State. And in that game, the Clemson defense played very well after a shaky first quarter. So, while we could speculate that the Tigers aren't as great on both sides of the ball as they looked earlier in the season, that's probably a presumptuous stance based on a small sample size.

If that defense continues to look vulnerable the next two weeks against Wake Forest and South Carolina, committee support for Clemson as the best team could wane.

In what was admittedly a small, unscientific survey, I asked four of our ESPN analysts which team they think would be the worst potential playoff matchup for Clemson, and they were split between Alabama and Ohio State -- the teams ranked directly behind the Tigers in the committee's rankings. Three of them cited Clemson's offensive line likely being overwhelmed by the defensive front of Bama or OSU. Another questioned whether the Clemson defense could handle the Ohio State running game.

If Clemson remains the committee's No. 1 team, there's a good chance it won't have to play either the Tide or the Buckeyes in a semifinal. But if they fall from the top spot, they're more likely to face one of those teams on Dec. 31 (unless they fall because of a loss, which could keep Clemson out of the playoff altogether).

The Tigers, therefore, not only need to win their last three games to reach the playoff, but looking impressive in the process might give them the best chance for a favorable matchup in their national semifinal. Whether Clemson is the best team in the nation right now is up for debate, but there's one thing we know for sure: Being the best team on Jan. 12 is all that really matters.

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Brad Edwards has been a part of ESPN’s college football coverage since 1996 and analyzes the sport across several of the company’s platforms. He is best known for his expertise evaluating the ever-changing landscape of college football’s chase for the national championship. In this role, he frequently appears on SportsCenter, College GameDay, and College Football Live.

In 2009, Edwards joined the broadcast team for College GameDay on ESPN Radio, traveling to many of the season’s biggest games and discussing college football in a seven-hour time slot each Saturday in the Fall. He also writes for ESPN Insider, contributing weekly throughout the season and monthly in the offseason. Additionally, Edwards provides exclusive content to ESPN.com, including bowl projections.

Edwards works for ESPN’s Statistics & Information Group and began his time in Bristol as a college football researcher, providing information for the network’s game and studio broadcasts. At various points in his career, he has also served in a research capacity on college basketball, college baseball, the NFL Draft and international soccer.

Prior to joining ESPN, Edwards worked in public relations for the Birmingham Barracudas of the Canadian Football League. He also interned with the Indianapolis Colts and the United States Olympic Committee.

A native of Jackson, Miss., Edwards graduated from the University of Alabama with a broadcast journalism degree in 1994.

More hate from ESecPN

i'm not an insider either, so I can't read the rest.

What's with that, you can read every other article on the

Re: What's with that, you can read every other article on the

He's a coot

he didn't go to SCAR

Re: he didn't go to SCAR....Bammer

Oh. I just tired his name into Google and the first guy I

Insider Article Here

Re: More hate from ESecPN

just let it go, in the end all will know who is correct...***

They don't have much else to talk about, and this kind of

All you need to know...

Re: All you need to know...

I'm not sure we're the best team in the country. Are you?

Braxton STILL having nightmares about Shuey....***

ESPN gave us no chance against Ohio State the first time

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