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YOUR BALANCE
A very good read from an ESPN female writer . .
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A very good read from an ESPN female writer . .


Nov 5, 2019, 11:25 PM

Andrea Adelson
ESPN Senior Writer
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Defending champion Clemson entered the season as the overwhelming preseason No. 1, and without losing a game or superstar quarterback Trevor Lawrence or any of their other standouts, the Tigers find themselves No. 5 in the first College Football Playoff ranking.

As improbable as that might have seemed back in August, the selection committee made a resounding statement with the way it made its first selections on Tuesday night: The Tigers are not only being held to a higher standard than everyone else, they are being punished for playing in the ACC.

Specifically, they are being punished for a one-point win over North Carolina.

It is obvious when you compare the résumés of Clemson and No. 3 Alabama. Neither the Tigers nor the Crimson Tide have beaten a team ranked in the Top 25. They share the same "best" win: Texas A&M. Clemson has beaten more Power 5 teams than Alabama. Clemson has beaten more teams with winning records than Alabama. And Clemson's opponents have a better overall win percentage than Alabama.

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What is very clearly holding Clemson back is a closer-than-expected 21-20 road win against North Carolina, which currently has a losing record. The Tigers have been in several other close games against ACC opponents in years they made the College Football Playoff, and it didn't seem to hurt them as much (last year's 27-23 win over Syracuse, for example). The difference this year is what appears to be overwhelming agreement the ACC is the worst among the Power 5 conferences.

It doesn't help that No. 19 Wake Forest is the only other ACC team ranked. It doesn't help that Syracuse has had a dreadful season, one year after winning 10 games. It doesn't help that Florida State and Miami are average, at best.

Nothing, it seems, helps Clemson -- not a better schedule than Alabama to this point. Not a win margin of 29.4 points (and that includes the one-point win over North Carolina). Not seven games in which it has scored 40 or more points. Not a 24-game winning streak or its title as defending champions. Not even the advanced metrics, like FPI and SP+, which both rate Clemson higher than Penn State.

The selection committee has been clear it would judge each team based on this year and this year alone. Clemson is not going to get some sort of pass for winning the national title last year, even if the Tigers are the first defending champ to be outside the top four in the initial rankings. But the committee also has emphasized 'eye test,' and the thought was that overall schedule strength would only be one among many factors the committee considers.

Since a lousy first quarter against Louisville on Oct. 19, Clemson has outscored its opponents 160-31. Two of its last three wins have come against ACC teams with winning records. Lawrence has not thrown an interception over his last seven quarters, and the Clemson offense seems to have hit its groove. And oh by the way, the starters have played a complete game twice this year.

After the North Carolina win, Swinney defended his program, saying, "It's not easy to win. I know we're supposed to destroy everybody, like nobody else has scholarships, nobody else has coaches. It doesn't work that way. We're just normal people. There's nothing special about us. We're not perfect. We don't coach perfect. Unfortunately, we don't play perfect every down, every game, but we found a way to win an ugly game."

The truth is, nobody wants to see Clemson win an ugly game against competition others deem unworthy. There appears to be little Clemson could have done to avoid this scenario, except beat North Carolina by 30. But even then, you have to wonder whether the Tigers would be any higher than they are now given the expectation level relative to the competition. Having his starters play every snap in every game would not have made a difference, either.

During his weekly press conference on Tuesday, Swinney questioned why Alabama always gets the benefit of the doubt for beating up on its conference opponents, but not Clemson. "It is just the same ol' spin," he said.

He added that he wasn't sure whether he'd even watch to see where his team is ranked, "It just doesn't matter. If we're two, three, four, 15 -- it just doesn't matter. It's not worth the brain cells. We just go to work and try to have a good Wednesday practice."

Now granted, all of this will change once LSU and Alabama play this weekend. Penn State has a tough game this weekend at undefeated Minnesota, and then the Nittany Lions face No. 1 Ohio State in Columbus on Nov. 23.

So if Clemson wins out, the Tigers are almost assuredly in. But these rankings reveal there is no margin for error for the defending champs. It is hard to envision any scenario in which they can overcome a loss, the way they did in their 2016 championship season, unless there is absolute chaos down the stretch.

No matter what Swinney says, Clemson needs to be perfect. But even then, there will be questions about just how good this team is if they do, indeed, make it back into the playoff.

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Re: A very good read from an ESPN female writer . .


Nov 6, 2019, 12:03 AM

How far from the truth was Adelson, IMO she was about dead on, and Little ole Clemson FB is taking a beating from the committee for a close win away from home with Trevor having he worst game since becoming the Little ole Clemson starting QB. So is it fair that the committee made up of coaches, AD's, and sports media to hold an 18 year old college FB QB to being perfect without 1 bad game. Well those grown men of the sport of college FB feel that it is fair to hold Trevor Lawrence above what they can't do, and that is to get it right the first time. But it does seem that Trevor is the only college QB that should be mistake free to this point, and they are willing to crucify him bc he wasn't perfect!!!

I am proud that Dabo is teaching his young men to be better men than the men that are judging them now for not being perfect in that one game where the points that wasn't scored in that game as being their flaw, and trying to turn that 1 game into their down fall!!! Shame on those grown men for using those young men's less than perfect undefeated season thus far, to do what they wanted to do, and that was leaving they're team out of the top 4 to put lesser teams in!!!

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Re: A very good read from an ESPN female writer . .


Nov 6, 2019, 1:58 AM

insulted? absolutely. worried? not too much.

if we win out. we are looking at being 26-0 over the last 2 years. if the committee disregards this. their legitimacy will be over and cap will be looking for some other mechanism by which to determine the NC

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28-0 heading into the playoffs 30-0 at the end of the season***


Nov 6, 2019, 2:49 AM



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Re: A very good read from an ESPN female writer . .


Nov 6, 2019, 8:47 AM [ in reply to Re: A very good read from an ESPN female writer . . ]

The sports announcer world is trying to show you how much they don't want to eat crow again. We stomped the best team ever in college football history last year 44 - 16, remember? This is crap and we are being expected to swallow with "all you got to do is be perfect" when no one else has to.

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At the end of the day, it just doesn't matter (RIGHT NOW).


Nov 6, 2019, 8:19 AM

LSU and Alabama play this weekend.

Penn State has a tough game this weekend at undefeated Minnesota, and then they face No. 1 Ohio State in a couple of weeks.

Georgia, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah may have a say in how all of this shakes out as well. There is still A LOT of football left to play.

If Clemson wins out, the Tigers are in PERIOD. The rest is just fodder for the talking heads. Let them talk.





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Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.


Re: A very good read from an ESPN female writer . .


Nov 6, 2019, 8:56 AM

Her Twitter has been on fire over this, and she's right.

Another point people aren't bringing up - if we're being penalized for a close win AT UNC, how come UGA isn't really being penalized for losing AT Cuckton? Right now we both have the same plan: "win out and you're in".. except, Georgia has already been excused for their atrocious loss, while we, at the longest winning streak in the nation, is fighting just to stay on the bubble.

BS is what it is. If it was Ohio State, Bama, Georgia, Michigan or ND in our spot, the sports world would collectively be losing their minds over this unfairness.

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Re: A very good read from an ESPN female writer . .


Nov 6, 2019, 9:32 AM

The other part of this that isn't being brought up is that the #1 team gets to choose their playoff location. This year, the two playoff locations are Atlanta and Phoenix (again). By the end of this, our only hope is to be #4 and playing ??? in Atlanta. Otherwise we're either 2 or 3 and have another 20 hours of flights to see our team play. I can see very few Clemson fans making that trip again this year.

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Re: A very good read from an ESPN female writer . .


Nov 6, 2019, 11:21 AM

I'm guessing O31O State (if #1) will choose AZ over Atlanta. More retired fan support in the Phoenix area than Atlanta. Plus they will probably be playing Clemson or an SEC team and they will not want to turn Atlanta into an away game.

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Re: A very good read from an ESPN female writer . .


Nov 6, 2019, 3:35 PM [ in reply to Re: A very good read from an ESPN female writer . . ]

Well if I were able I would be there, and I pray that all the able bodied fans that are able physically and financially will be there bc our team will need our voices at both games as much or more than they ever have... And I really do pray this for our young men sporting that Tiger Paw that we're all so proud of. This is a team thing, and we the fans are an important part of our Tiger FB team. Show them all who's the boss of college FB, Go Tigerssss!!!!

Message was edited by: allorangeallthetime52®


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Re: A very good read from an ESPN female writer . .


Nov 6, 2019, 3:24 PM [ in reply to Re: A very good read from an ESPN female writer . . ]

These are your words an the absolute truth, ( Georgia has already been excused for their atrocious loss, while we, with the longest winning streak in the nation, and we're fighting just to stay on the bubble.) and it makes me so Angry that I have to keep talking myself out of sending them an E-Mail using the worst most awful language they have ever heard in their life telling them how incredible ignorant and plum stupid they truly are!!!

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They brought Jamele back?!?


Nov 6, 2019, 3:26 PM

Ungh!

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