Joel Klatt, the lead college football analyst for FOX Sports, recently expressed admiration for Clemson during a conversation with Colin Cowherd on The Herd, especially when discussing Dabo Swinney’s approach to the transfer portal. While Swinney has often faced criticism for his reluctance to fully embrace the portal, Klatt highlighted the Tigers’ continuity compared to teams like Florida State, which relies heavily on transfer players.
Cowherd started by noting how the transfer portal makes it challenging for teams to maintain cohesion, emphasizing the advantage of having players who have developed together over several years. Klatt agreed, pointing to Clemson as a prime example of a program benefiting from stability, saying, “As other teams lose that cohesiveness and chemistry, the margin between the teams that are rebuilding every single year out of the portal – like a Florida State – and the teams that can stick together – like, look at Clemson as a great example of this.”
The conversation continued with Klatt recognizing the improvement Clemson has shown, saying, “We bang on Dabo all the time,” while Cowherd added, “They’ve righted the ship a little bit.” Klatt’s response: “You betcha they have.”
Clemson, now 4-1 (3-0 ACC), has impressed Klatt during its current four-game winning streak after the opening loss to Georgia. Klatt pointed out that since that defeat, the Tigers have consistently improved and now rank as the third-highest-scoring offense in college football, averaging 48 points per game. He also speculated that Miami wouldn’t want to face Clemson in the ACC Championship, noting, “If you look at what they’ve done – they’ve grown, they’ve gotten better, they’ve developed, and now all of a sudden… who wants to play ’em? I can guarantee you, you know who doesn’t want to play Clemson? Miami.”
Miami might have their hands full against Clemson.