There are a lot of doubters of the Clemson football program heading into the 2024 season, but both the US LBM Coaches Poll and AP Top 25 Poll were both friendly toward the Tigers with the revealing of the preseason rankings.
Revealed on Monday, the preseason AP Top 25 placed Clemson at No. 14 in the country. It’s a solid ranking for the Tigers, who have a lot of potential heading into the season.
On Tuesday’s installment of ESPN’s Get Up show, analyst Mike Greenberg asked analyst Heather Dinich who the most overrated team in the AP poll is, with Dinich naming the Tigers.
“Clemson,” Dinich said. “Why so much love for the Clemson Tigers? They had four conference losses last year, which is as many as they’ve had combined in the past six seasons.”
Clemson went 9-4 in 2023, breaking their streak of 12 straight double-digit win seasons. Despite a strong finish last year, the Tigers have missed the College Football Playoff for three consecutive years. Clemson hopes to return to the playoff this season with quarterback Cade Klubnik leading the offense.
“People keep telling me their defense is going to be great – their defense is always pretty good. But they’ve got to get a quarterback,” Dinich said. “Cade Klubnik is back. Until we see offensive improvement, I don’t see why there should be so much love for the Clemson Tigers.”
I get the point, but rankings go beyond the now. Especially in the preseason, you have to take into account potential. If you want to talk about love, it’s because of that potential.
Clemson’s defense has been elite more often than ‘pretty good’ during the Dabo Swinney era and this offense taking the next step is not remotely as insane as some people, including Dinich it appears, make it seem. Patience isn’t rewarded as much anymore and people may be having difficulty admitting we may have been too eager with this team last year.
Clemson’s offense is poised for a year two breakout with Klubnik and offensive coordinator Garrett Riley, so no, I don’t think they’re overrated.