Clemson Tigers Just Caught Some Shade From Josh Pate

The Clemson Tigers are no longer an elite football team. We all know this. In fact, Clemson's basketball program might have a shot of overtaking the football side.

That's how dicey it's gotten.

Nevertheless, Clemson is a respectable 3-2 coming out of its open date, and it will face Charleston Southern this Saturday.

The Tigers do not have a single ranked opponent remaining on their schedule, which is certainly great news after seeing what happened against LSU (who doesn't even look to be that good) and Miami.

College football analyst Josh Pate sees the remaining schedule as a positive for Clemson, but only because he views the Tigers in the same boat as the teams on their slate.

In fact, Pate even went on to compare Clemson in the ACC to that of a church softball team, claiming that "anyone can beat anyone" in that conference.

There was a time when the Tigers were the most feared squad in the ACC and one of the scariest teams in the country in general. Those days are in the past.

Pate even said that what Miami did to Clemson in Week 5 (the Hurricanes routed the Tigers by a score of 41-13 in Death Valley) was exactly what Clemson once used to do to other ballclubs.

But now, the Tigers are on the receiving end, and their best chance of winning ball games is making hay against mid-tier ACC teams.

Clemson has already beaten North Carolina and California this season, and both wins were impressive. But it's not like the competition was anything to write home about.

The Tigers do have a chance to run the table and finish the year 10-2. It sounds crazy, but considering that Virginia Tech and Duke probably comprise the two toughest remaining games on their schedule, they have a shot.

At the very least, Clemson has a great chance of surpassing last year's 7-5 regular season (the Tigers then ultimately lost to Penn State in the Pinstripe Bowl to finish 7-6), and while that wouldn't be much of an accomplishment, at least it's a step in the right direction.

There are some positives to Clemson. The defense has some really good pieces, and Tait Reynolds certainly has potential under center. But it's also clear that this team — which actually entered the campaign ranked 23rd in the Coaches Poll — is very far from actually challenging any of the top squads in the country.