After winning the last six ACC Championships, Clemson (9-3, 6-2 ACC) saw its hopes of a seventh straight conference title come to an end last Friday night when NC State defeated North Carolina in Raleigh, officially eliminating the Tigers from ACC Championship Game contention.
Former Clemson All-ACC offensive lineman and current ACC Network analyst Eric Mac Lain, who was a guest on College Sports Today on ESPNU Radio on Monday, compared the Tigers’ relatively down year to when Michael Jordan retired from basketball in 1993 after winning three straight NBA Championships with the Chicago Bulls and then decided to try a career in baseball before returning to the NBA in 1995 and leading the Bulls to another three-peat (1996-1998).
“It’s been very impressive to see both of these teams (Pittsburgh and Wake Forest) really just take advantage of kind of the Clemson off year, if you will,” Mac Lain said. “Our host on The Huddle (on ACCN), Jordan Cornette, kind of summed it up as when Michael Jordan went and played baseball. Well, this is Clemson’s ‘baseball year,’ in who was able to take over the ACC.”
Considering Clemson’s strong finish to the regular season, which saw the Tigers win their last five games – most recently a 30-0 rout of rival South Carolina – and the way Clemson’s suffocating defense has performed all year long, Mac Lain believes Dabo Swinney’s team would be favored over both Pittsburgh (10-2, 7-1 ACC) and Wake Forest (10-2, 7-1) if the Tigers had made the ACC Championship Game.
“Well, we just saw Clemson dismantle Wake Forest (48-27 on Nov. 20),” Mac Lain said. “I think that would be kind of similar again just because the style of Wake Forest with that offense that they run. Clemson being able to get pressure really affects them. And then with Pitt, it’s hard to beat anybody twice. And with the way that Clemson is playing right now, I would think they would be favored. Maybe it would be by three, maybe by five. But just going into that game, I think there would be a lot of respect with the Tigers and how they’ve finished this year. Not that it would be a dud, because I think (Pitt quarterback) Kenny Pickett is that good and he clearly showed the Tigers how good he is. But certainly, I think they’d be favored in another close game.”
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