Dabo Swinney and the Tigers earned their first ACC win of the season Saturday as Clemson took down Syracuse 31-14 on the road in a strong showing.
Clemson (3-2, 1-2 ACC) hasn’t had the start to their 2023 season that many imagined, but the Tigers are still one of the better teams in the country. They are near the top from a talent standpoint, but their record this season doesn’t reflect it.
We all know this team had issues out of the gates, but with the bad, we’ve seen a ton of good. This team has outplayed every team they’ve faced this season statistically, but turnovers and miscues were a big part of their losses against Duke and Florida State.
In their win against Syracuse, the Tigers looked excellent in the first half. While the second half wasn’t as strong, the defense showed up, and the offense did its part.
With the win, the Tigers moved up in the USA TODAY Sports College Football 1-133 re-rank after Week 5, but not much. Moving five spots, Clemson now ranks No.34 in the weekly rankings. This still feels too low like last week after their loss to Florida State.
Obviously, the Tigers have two losses, and the Week 1 loss to Duke wasn’t pretty, and they are the highest-ranked team with two losses. That alone makes it tough to complain… but I’m still going to!
For me and rankings such as this, I like to compare what I’ve seen from one team to the next. When looking at Clemson and the teams above them, multiple teams are not as talented as Clemson and haven’t looked as good as the Tigers.
I’d say there are at least eight teams ranked above them that Clemson would be betting favorites against, and I’m saying at least here. The Tigers have a lot of season left to prove why they should be ranked higher.