Greg McElroy understands why Clemson came in at No. 4 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings that were released Tuesday night, given the fact the Tigers have wins over three teams in the CFP Top 25 – Syracuse (No. 20), Wake Forest (No. 21) and NC State (No. 22).
However, when it comes to the resume Clemson (8-0, 6-0 ACC) has built, McElroy would argue that the aforementioned three ACC teams shouldn’t be ranked where they are.
And when it comes to the eye test with the Tigers, the ESPN college football analyst doesn’t seem impressed.
“Just saying, have you watched Clemson? Like, just watch them,” McElroy said. “A couple good wins. I was a little bit surprised, frankly, with where some of these teams ranked. How on God’s green earth you can rank NC State in the top 25 is beyond me, but they’re in there. Even though last week’s game (against Virginia Tech) on Thursday night made me want to, literally, it made me want to turn off the television. You know how hard that is for me to do as like a college football diehard? Last Thursday’s game was painful to watch. So, you’ve got a win there. Got a win against Syracuse. Syracuse sits at No. 20. So, Clemson, they have a couple good wins in there. Also got a win against Wake Forest. So, you have a win against team 20, 21 and 22.
“Alright, should any of those three teams be ranked where they’re at? I would argue no, but they’re sitting there with three wins against teams that are currently ranked in the top 25. So, I can understand why they’re where they’re at.”
While McElroy said he doesn’t “have a terrible issue” with where Clemson is ranked, he left no doubt about who he thinks would win if the Tigers played the team ranked right behind them in the CFP rankings – No. 5 Michigan.
“If Clemson played Michigan, I would pick Michigan every day and twice on Saturday. All day long. All day long,” he said. “But look at the resume — wins against 20, 21 and 22 – so, I understand why they sit where they sit.”
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