The Clemson Tigers have landed a rather dubious comparison following their surprising ranking in the coaches poll.
The Clemson Tigers earned themselves a rather surprising ranking in the AP Coaches Poll that was released this week, coming in at No. 23.
Feast away, Paul Finebaum.
Clemson went just 7-6 last season and lost to Penn State in the Pinstripe Bowl. It also lost plenty of its best players to the NFL Draft.
But the Tigers do still boast a talent-laden roster, and they have Dabo Swinney as head coach. That can be a positive or a negative depending on who you ask.
Nevertheless, some have questioned exactly why Clemson is ranked so high, and Stewart Mandel of The Athletic recently compared them to the Miami Hurricanes in the mid 2000s.
“The most glaring thing of all is that Clemson is ranked at all — the Tigers are No. 23. What is this based on?” Mandel wrote. “They went 7-6 last year, nearly all of the key players from that team got drafted and QB Christopher Vizzina (Tier 5, No. 53 in The Athletic’s QB tiers) is completely unproven. It reminds me of Miami in the post-2002 era, when the pollsters kept ranking them high long after the program began declining, under the assumption that, ‘Well, it’s Miami.’"
Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney. Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports.Well, could it be based on the fact that the Tigers are loaded with talented players like wide receivers T.J. Moore and Bryant Wesco, linebacker Sammy Brown, defensive end Will Heldt and cornerback Ashton Hampton?
And let's not all of the youngsters oozing with potential like freshman wide receivers Naeem Burroughs, Gordon Sellars and Connor Salmin, not to mention redshirt freshman defensive tackle Amare Adams, a former five-star recruit.
Clemson also has a very good chance of collecting double-digit victories this season. Outside of matchups at LSU (in the season opener) and at home against Miami (ironically enough), the Tigers should be favored in all of their other games.
And if you look at some of the teams ranked in front of Clemson, you'll likely have some questions, as well. SMU feels high at No. 20, for example. Yale at No. 15? Seems a bit much for an Ivy League program.
For some reason, the Tigers have become very "hateable" in the national media, and I'm not really sure what the issue is. Is everyone just following Finebaum's lead at this point?
It's fair to question Clemson's ranking, but pretending like there is no way in all heck that it should be ranked in the top 25 seems a bit disingenuous.
