Entering this season Clemson had two main goals. Win the ACC championship then win the National championship. After playing its first seven games of the season, both goals are well within reach. The Tigers are winning games convincingly. They’ve shown no signs of slowing down since the dominant performance against Appalachian State in week two. Now the Tigers will come out of one more bye week with a chance to run the table in conference, get to the ACC title game, and earn a bid into the 12-team playoff.
Resume So Far
Currently, the Tigers are 6-1 overall and 5-0 in the ACC. Clemson’s only loss was against Georgia in week one. The Tigers held strong in the first half but could not keep it together in the second. They were able to bounce back big time against App State, though, beating the Mountaineers 66-20. Since then, Clemson has won six straight games, all by at least two touchdowns. This includes all five conference matchups.
Right now, the Tigers are averaging 42 points per game. That is second best in the ACC and seventh best in the FBS. They also have the same rankings in average total yards per game. Clemson’s 490.4 total yards per game has it outgaining its opponents by nearly 150 total yards on average. The Tigers have handled their first five ACC foes in NC State, Stanford, Florida State, Wake Forest, and Virginia. They will have three more conference games before facing two in-state, out-of-conference opponents.
What’s Ahead
Clemson has five games left on its schedule. Coming out of the bye week the Tigers start with three straight conference games. They will face Louisville, Virginia Tech, and Pittsburgh. This will be a tough three-game stretch. Louisville was in the ACC Championship game last season and looked to be a contender again to start this season. Two tough losses to Georgia Tech and Miami may have put them just out of reach to make it back to Charlotte. Still, this Cardinals team could play spoiler for the Tigers if they are not careful.
Virginia Tech is a team much better than its record shows. The Hokies always have the potential to turn their play up a notch to end the season strong. Knowing they have a matchup with Clemson with a chance to ruin its season could give them the motivation they need. Last in the conference stretch is Pitt who the Tigers need to win every game until their matchup. This will give the Tigers one last chance to get a win against a ranked team in the regular season. It won’t be easy to get that win though as the Panthers are undefeated for a reason.
After the last stretch of conference games, Clemson will play two non-conference games against in-state opponents. First the Citadel out of the FCS. A good tune-up game before the rivalry game against South Carolina. The Palmetto Bowl should be a great one this year with how tough the Gamecocks have played everyone they’ve lined up against this season.
How to Achieve
For Clemson to achieve its goals this season, first and foremost the team’s got to win. With their schedule and the race for the ACC being so tight, the Tigers can’t afford to lose another game. Four teams are undefeated in conference games in the ACC. They are Clemson, Miami, Pitt, and SMU.
Out of that group, the Tigers only play Pitt. If the Tigers can beat the Panthers, that will knock them out of the race if they are still in it. Other than that, Dabo Swinney and his team have to hope Miami and SMU knock themselves out of contention. It is not going to be easy to get either the automatic or at-large bid for the playoffs.
If Clemson can stay hot through the rest of the season, especially on offense, it will be difficult to beat the Tigers. Cade Klubnik is playing out of his mind and bringing the rest of his guys along with him. Defensively the Tigers have not been as dominant as expected, but they are still stout as a unit. The front seven for Clemson has been exceptionally good. Teams have trouble running up the middle of the Tiger’s defense, but they need to fix the outside run defense.
At the end of the day, Clemson can only control what it can control which is winning the games on its schedule. Winning those games by as many points as possible will help in the case the ACC Championship race comes to a three-way tie. That way the Tigers will look better against similar competition. If the Tigers do that, their goals will be there for them to achieve. It will just take execution from Swinney’s squad.
